Roosevelt Ravens Review
January 2020
Let’s Celebrate Reading!
Reading to your children at home or having them read to themselves every single day is critically important to their development as readers. A recent study coming out of the University of Ohio found that young children whose parents read them 5 books a day enter kindergarten having heard about 1.4 million more words that children who are not read to at all. This exposure to books increases their vocabulary and prepares them to learn to read in school at faster rates.
Our staff has been thinking a lot about homework and the things we ask families to do at home to help our efforts at school. This work has helped us streamline the homework expectations around reading. At this time, every grade level has a reading slip (pink in color) that goes home every Monday and comes back to school every Friday. The expectation is that students are spending at least 30 minutes engaged in reading at home every single day.
Beginning in January, we are going to be emphasizing the pink slips and incentivizing reading at home. Every Friday, we will collect the pink slips at school and enter them into a drawing. On Monday morning, I will draw slips out of the bins. Students who have their names drawn will get to pick out a brand-new book to take home! Additionally, we are going to keep track of our school-wide percentage for pink slips that are turned in every week. At the end of every month, we will have a school-wide read-in if students meet the school-wide goal that we select. In January, we will earn our school-wide read-in if we have 75% of our students turn in pink slips every week through the month.
Please help us with at-home reading and pink slips. Not only will you help your child earn fun things at school, but you will be improving their basic reading skills. Fluent reading is essential for success in school.
Martin Luther King Jr. and National Day of Service
In 1983, the birthday of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was recognized as a federal holiday. In 1994, Congress designated the Martin Luther King Jr. federal holiday as a national day of service. MLK Day of Service is intended to move us closer to Dr. King’s vision of a “Beloved Community,” where racism, poverty, and militarism are eradicated from our society.
This year, our school is going to engage in a service project with the Thurston County Food Bank as part of our efforts in teaching around Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Students and families can bring non-perishable, boxed, and canned food items to school between the dates of January 13th and 31st. We will have collection bins located outside the main office. Together, as a community, let us remember to give back, help others, and continue to achieve the ideal of a Beloved Community.
In addition to our school-wide service project, we will have a school-wide assembly on Wednesday, January 22nd at 2:00 PM where our students will learn more about the tenets of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and how his message from the 1950’s and 1960’s still rings true today. Classrooms will use the information from the assembly to engage in projects throughout the remainder of the month and school year.
Save the Date!
February 19 from 5-6 p.m. in the RES Library (child care and snacks provided)
"Guiding the Media Generation - New Adventures in Parenting"
Internet Safety, Paired Learning On-Line, Phone and Tablet Peace, and other topics will be covered in this evening with Jean Schuna, Librarian and Kevin Oiseau, Counselor. More details to come.
No School, Early Release and Half Days in January
- Early Release Days (Dismissal at 2:42 PM): January 8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th
- No School Days: January 20th for MLK Jr. Day
- Half Day (Dismissal at 12:15 PM): January 31st for Report Card Preparation
Report Cards First Semester
Report card season is almost upon us! This year, teachers have a half day release on January 31st to prepare report cards for all students in our building. The plan at this point is to have all report cards done, approved, printed, and sent home on Friday, February 14th. We will send the report cards home in envelopes with students at the end of the day on Friday the 14th.
Earthquake Drill in January
This month we are going to practice an earthquake drill on January 16th at 10:00 AM. During the drill, we teach students to drop, cover, and hold until the shaking stops. When it feels like it is safe to move, the teachers will move students out to the field off the playground.
The field is where we will form our reunification site for families to come and pick up children in the event of an actual emergency. Every year, the safety committee reviews the reunification plan and checks all emergency supplies to ensure they are up-to-date.
Measure of Academic Progress (MAP) Assessments in January
Late January is time for an academic progress check with all students in grades 1-5. Beginning on January 22nd, students will take the winter version of the MAP assessment in both reading and math. Once complete, we will be able to see for each individual student, who is on track with learning related to grade level standards, and who is not. We will make plans to move all of our students forward through the Spring, and communicate with families when plans are made. Below is the schedule for each grade level. It is really helpful if students are in school on these days. Thank you for scheduling appointments accordingly.
- January 22nd and 29th: 1st Grade reading and math assessments
- January 23rd and 30th: 2nd Grade reading and math assessments
- January 24th and 28th: 3rd, 4th, and 5th Grade reading and math assessments
School Improvement Plan
This year, every school was asked to write their school improvement plans around four of the six new student outcomesOpening in a new window. Our Roosevelt School Improvement Plan can be found by following this linkOpening in a new window. As this format is new and different, an incremental approach is being applied. By next Fall, every school will write goals and have an action plan for all six student outcomes.
In January, the school-based leadership team will be reviewing the school improvement plan to determine progress and implement an action plan for the remainder of the school year. I will share the action plan that we create, in the February newsletter for everyone to see. In the future, I plan to create and share a community survey that will help include a parent voice in the school improvement planning process as it relates to the six student outcomes. That survey is being developed this year and will be ready for the late Spring of 2020. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions about the school improvement planning process.
Upcoming Events
- January 13 - 31st Canned Food Drive
- January 14 - PTA Mtg. @ 6:30 in Library
- January 15 - Early Release @ 2:42 PM
- January 16 - Earthquake Drill @ 10:00 AM
- January 17 - Movie Night @ 6:30 PM
- January 20 - No School-MLK Jr. Day
- January 22 - Early Release @ 2:42 PM
- January 22 - MLK Assembly @ 2:00 PM
- January 25 - PTA Winterfest Event @ 1:00 PM
- January 29 - Early Release @ 2:42 PM
- January 31 - Half Day-Report Cards-Dismissal 12:15 PM
Library News
Welcome back! We are jumping right back into things in the library.
WCCPBA
In Kindergarten through third grade, we are continuing with the Washington Children’s Choice Picture Book Award (WCCPBA). 20 finalist books are being read to the kids, who will vote for their favorite book. Votes from our school will be tallied and sent to the committee who will announce the winner in early Spring. The kids are really enjoying being read to each week and thoroughly enjoy having a voice in who wins!
Battle of the Books
The Battle of the Books will be starting in January!! Our 4th and 5th-grade reading competition will start the first week back to school. Kids will be placed on teams within their classrooms. Team members will plan which books they will read from our (still top-secret) list of 14 books. Library lessons will focus on literacy skills to help the kids get the most out of their reading, and practice and elimination battles will take place during library lessons. Our final battle is tentatively scheduled for late March or early April, date to be determined.
S.T.A.R. Night
Save the date! Roosevelt’s annual Sit Together and Read (STAR) Night has been scheduled for Thursday, March 5th from 6:00-7:30. Books have been purchased for the book giveaway and other preparations are now underway. As usual, we will have guest readers, a free book giveaway, bookmark making, and the Parade of Characters. Hope to see you there!
Roosevelt PTA
Welcome back Roosevelt families! We hope you had a relaxing and fun filled break! Please join us at our next PTA Meeting on Tuesday, January 14th at 6:30 PM. Superintendent Murphy will be joining us to talk about the upcoming levy as well as other topics from the district. We hope to see you there!
Winterfest
Join us at Roosevelt on Saturday, January 25th from 1-3pm for Winterfest. We will provide free snacks and a hot cocoa bar. There will also be games, crafts, face painting, and a photo booth. Coloring sheets will be sent home in blue folders for our annual coloring contest. Voting will be held during Winterfest and winners will be announced the following Monday during morning announcements.
If you would like to volunteer or have any questions please contact Katie Douglas. Thank you so much and I hope to see you there!
PTA Family Movie Night: Friday, January 17th 6:30pm
Join us at PTA Family Movie Night on Friday, January 17th, 2020 to see “The Lego Movie.” Doors open at 6:15 PM and the movie begins at 6:30 PM. This free event is sponsored by the PTA. Bring cushions or blankets to sit on and enjoy free popcorn! Children must be accompanied by an adult throughout the movie. Please confirm that this movie is appropriate for your child. There are many good resources including commonsensemedia.orgOpening in a new window.
Questions
Contact [email protected].
Finance Committee
The PTA Finance Committee is reviewing our budget and spending for this year and next year. The next meeting will be January 27th at 6:30 in the Roosevelt Library. All are welcome.
We have created a priorities survey to help us identify programs that are important for the community. Please take the survey here: https://forms.gle/WFj1t4Vf7rWaKEr59Opening in a new window
Readathon
In February, students will dive into tracking their reading all month for the Readathon, our fun, educational, PTA fundraiser. This is Jim Burlingame’s last year overseeing it and he needs helpers for a variety of tasks, such as running off copies of materials and stuffing them in teachers’ boxes and tallying weekly reading slips. If you’re interested, come to the January PTA meeting, or contact Jim anytime at (360) 402-8145.
ColorCycle Program
Crayola has a ColorCycle program that will repurpose your used markers into building materials and to make electricity! The PTA is expanding this program at Roosevelt and we hope families will participate! Just send in any used markers to school. Your student can place the used markers in the marked bins around the school. Please note that ANY kind of marker can be recycled...dry erase, permanent, watercolor, fat, skinny, etc., but they NEED TO HAVE THE CAPS ON. Questions? Contact Kim Murillo.
School Play
We are excited to bring you the school play again this year! This year's production will be The Wizard of Oz Jr. The performances will take place on March 6th and 7th. Stay tuned to purchase tickets. The play is open to 3rd-5th grade students. If your student turned in a permission form, you should have received an email prior to Winter Break. Due to an overwhelming response there is currently a waiting list. If you did not receive an email, please contact Ashley.
Yearbook
Now's the time to order your yearbook!
Yearbooks cost $15 and are available for online order through April 30, 2020. Flyers were sent home in blue folders with instructions on how to order, but if you don't have yours, you can also find instructions on how to order on our websiteOpening in a new window.
New this year, you can now sponsor a yearbook to go to our scholarship yearbooks! When ordering your yearbook, you should see a sponsor option as well as the standard yearbook option. If you would like to sponsor a yearbook this year, just click "sponsor" and purchase as you would a standard yearbook. You will need to make a separate order to place an order for a Sponsor Yearbook. Please note that while the sponsor name and child fields are required, that information will not be included at the end of the year when yearbooks are passed out.
If you have questions, please contact Aniysa Zuchowski.