River W ood s Elementary S cho o l DMP S

River W ood s Elementary S cho o l DMP S

January 2013
RIVER WOODS EAGLES ARE SAFE, RESPONSIBLE & RESPECTFUL!
River Woods Elementary School DMPS
River Woods Mission Statement
The River Woods School Community strives for excellence by engaging learners
in meaningful experiences designed to meet the needs of all.
SCHOOL SAFETY
Dear Parents,
On December 14th a horrible tragedy involving
elementary-aged children occurred in our country.
As your school counselor, I wanted to take this
time to offer some suggestions about how to talk
about this incident with your children. Remember,
talking with children is different than talking with adults.
 Tell the truth and give simple facts. Children
need facts, but not a lot of details.
 Keep the television off as much as possible
while children are awake or around. Visual
images can be very powerful.
 Children may feel scared and confused.
Acknowledge their feelings.
 Assure your children that they are safe. Tell
them that you love them and are there to
support them.
 Take care of yourself. We are all affected by
this. Acknowledge your feelings, but only with
other adults.
We hope that your family will take a moment to
pause and send caring, positive thoughts to the
families that are hurting across the country.
We assure you that we have a safety plan in place
at River Woods, and continue to review it regularly
with staff and students.
Sincerely, Ms. Collison & Ms. Burnett
******************************************************************
Estimados Padres,
14 De diciembre ocurrió una tragedia horrible
donde se vieron envueltos niños/as pequeños de
una
escuela primaria en nuestro país. Como su
consejera escolar quisiera tomar este tiempo para
ofrecerle algunas sugerencias acerca de como hablar con sus hijos/as sobre este incidente. Recuerde
que hablar con niños es diferente que hablar con Adultos.


Dígales la verdad y ofrézcales hechos simples.
Los niños necesitan hechos pero no tantos
detalles.
Mantenga la televisión apagada la mayor parte
del tiempo que sea posible mientras los niños
estén despiertos o estén alrededor. Imágenes
visuales pueden ser impactantes y ponderosas.
2012-13
Every Wednesday students will
be dismissed at 1:50.
Other dates to remember:
Date
Mon., Jan. 21*
Mon., Feb. 18*
Wed., Feb. 20 &
Thurs. Feb. 21
Fri., Mar. 8 –
Fri., Mar. 22
Event
SCHOOL IN
SESSION
SCHOOL IN
SESSION
Parent/Teacher
Conferences
No Classes Spring Break
Mon., April 22 –
Fri., April 26
No Classes
Thurs., May 23
Last Day—
Dismiss @ 12:20
April Break
*Weather ‘make-up’ days!
Wed.
Thurs.
Fri.
Jan. 2
Jan. 3
DAY 1
DAY 2
Jan. 4
DAY 3
Remember gym shoes for P.E. days!
Los niños pueden llegar a sentirse
asustados y confundidos. Conozca y
permita que expresen sus sentimientos
 Asegúrele a sus niños que ellos están y
estarán seguros y a salvo. Dígale que los
aman y que los apoyan siempre.
 Cuidese usted también. Todos estamos
afectados por esto. Exprese sus
sentimientos pero solo con otros adultos.
Esperamos que ustedes como familia puedan
pausar por un momento y enviar cariño y
pensamientos positivos a las familias que
están dolidas á través del país.
Les aseguramos que nosotros tenemos un
plan de seguridad establecido en River
Woods y se revisa regularmente con
maestros/as y estudiantes.
Sinceramente, Ms. Collison & Ms. Burnett

Page 2
R IV E R WO OD S E L E ME N TA R Y SC HO OL D MPS
J A NU AR Y 20 1 3
RW Average Daily Attendance:
December 1—19: 93.2%
November 1—28: 95.2%
RW CLASSROOM NEWS
Kindergarten with Miss Bradshaw
A big emphasis in kindergarten has been on the students
learning their sight words. Sight words are words such as like,
the, and me that appear frequently in written language.
Sometimes we nickname these words “snap” words, because
they need to be “read in a snap!” The kids get excited when they
find these words in the books they are reading.
In writing we have been learning about how good writers use a
capital letter at the beginning of their sentence and some form of
punctuation at the end. We have been looking at lots of samples
of good writing in books and working on making sure we
include these things in our own writing. The kindergarteners are
becoming great readers and writers!
1st grade news from Ms. Hart
First grade has been working hard to learn how to identify
the difference between fiction and non-fiction text. In
both kinds of text we are working on identifying and using
key details through the words and illustrations. This helps
your children understand what they have read so that they
are able to retell the important parts of the text, ask and
answer questions, and understand the central message.
In math students have been making counting strips to
practice writing their numbers and recognizing number
patterns. They’ve also been having fun conducting
surveys and discovering the many different ways to record
and interpret their data.
Ms. French’s Fourth Grade Classroom
The fourth grade students of room 105 are
continuing to improve upon our multiplication
facts and we are now beginning to broaden our
horizons with division! We are going to be learning
several new strategies and methods to solve those
larger division problems. The week of December
17 we will be taking our Comprehensive Reading
Standards Assessment, given to us from the
district. The test will cover the strategies from the
first three reading units of the year. We have been
reviewing hard for the past couple weeks! Wish us
luck!
Persons with disabilities who need information about
accessibility or who need sign or language interpreters, please contact the
Director of Student and Family Services,
(515) 242-7714.
RW Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) NEWS
Our next meeting will be Tues., Jan. 8 @ 6:30 P.M.
in the River Woods Library.
Please join us!
Please remember to save your Campbell’s Soup and “Box
Tops for Education” labels again this year. You may turn
the labels in to the office at any time. Thank you!
*********************************
Bundle Up!
Please make sure that your child is dressed
warmly each day—students need to stay warm
and dry for safety and comfort. Weather
permitting (and the blacktop is cleared), students
will have outdoor recess on days that the
temperature and wind chill are at appropriate
levels for outdoor activities.
Health Concerns
When students should stay home…
To prevent spreading illness at school, please keep
your child home if s/he has:
 An oral temperature of 100 degrees or greater
 Vomiting or diarrhea
 Undiagnosed rashes
Children need to stay home for 24 hours after
vomiting, diarrhea or fever!!
*Please remember that good hand washing habits
(with soap!) will help to prevent many illnesses!
Keep Bringing Us Your Plastic Bags!
Thank you for participating in our program to collect and
recycle plastic bags! We will continue to accept plastic bags
throughout the school year at River Woods to
emphasize the importance of reusing, reducing, and
recycling to support our environment. The large white boxes
will remain in the hallways near both west entry doors for
your bags.
It is the policy of the Des Moines Public Schools to not illegally discriminate on the
basis of race, color, national origin, gender, disability, religion, creed, age (for
employment), marital status, (for programs) sexual orientation, gender identity, and
socio-economic status (for programs) in its educational programs and its
employment practices. There is a grievance procedure for
processing complaints of discrimination. If you have questions
or a grievance related to this policy please contact the District’s
Equity Coordinator Patricia Lantz, General Council, 901 Walnut
Street, Des Moines, Iowa 50309, (515) 242-7837; email:
[email protected]