Broken Arrow Elementary WE HONOR THE GREATNESS IN YOU From the Principal—Heather Renk On Monday, Sept 28, the Lawrence Board of Educaon voted to transion our current fully remote learning model to a hybrid learning model beginning Oct 19. You should have receive informaon sent to every family in the district, leng you know that you have the opportunity to choose the learning model (hybrid or distance learning) that will best meet the needs of your family. While you made this choice once, we recognize that some situaons or preferences have changed. If you are a Broken Arrow family and did not receive this informaon, please call our office at 785-832- 5600. We are excited to have students back in our building, but also want you to be comforta- ble with your decision. Our Broken Arrow Together Again plan is available on both our building website at hps://www.usd497.org/Domain/8. It is also been sent via email. Please review the plan and reach out if you have quesons! As we finalize plans to return to the building, I will connue to update families with our weekly Friday Fly- er! Please note that although students and teachers will be in the building, our plan at this me is to keep our PTA and Site Council meengs online. If you are new to the Broken Arrow family, please try to hop on to a PTA meeng. When discussing the “best things” about Broken Arrow with staff, the PTA was at the top of everyone’s list! It is a great way to be involved in what is happening in the school and also a great way to get to know others in our building. We appreciate your connued support this year! We are so excited to conn- ue working together to make sure, regardless of circumstances, that our students learn and grow! Please call the school at 785-832-5600 or email if you have quesons. October 2020 Volume 15 Issue 1 6 PTA Meeng via Zoom 19 Hybrid Schooling Begins 23 No School– Elementary Planning Day 29 End of first Trimester Grading Period 30 No School—Recording and Reporng Redesign Update From Amanda Green, Instrucon and Curriculum Coach at Broken Arrow "Even through these unique mes, our staff has been thinking of ways to move forward with our Redesign goals and our overall mission of helping all BA students SOAR (Succeed, Over- come, Apply and Reflect). One area we have been pung into acon is connuing our First 15 iniave where students are able to have choice in how they start their day. Offering student choice and the ability to prepare your mind and body for learning in a way that works best for each individual is something we all felt strongly about making sure students sll had the opon for during remote learning. Many of our intermediate classrooms have been trying our a few different First 15 remote models and we are excited to share these ideas with all staff members at our next Redesign meeng, as well as focus more on our goal of Personalized Learning and the wonderful connecons/opons there are to carry out this goal during remote instrucon." November PTA will meet via Zoom on Oct 13.
Transcript
Broken Arrow Elementary
WE HONOR THE GREATNESS IN YOU
From the Principal—Heather Renk
On Monday, Sept 28, the Lawrence Board of Education voted to transition our current fully remote learning model to a hybrid learning model beginning Oct 19. You should have receive information sent to every family in the district, letting you know that you have the opportunity to choose the learning model (hybrid or distance learning) that will best meet the needs of your family. While you made this choice once, we recognize that some situations or preferences have changed. If you are a Broken Arrow family and did not receive this information, please call our office at 785-832-5600. We are excited to have students back in our building, but also want you to be comforta-ble with your decision. Our Broken Arrow Together Again plan is available on both our building website at https://www.usd497.org/Domain/8. It is also been sent via email. Please review the plan and reach out if you have questions! As we finalize plans to return to the building, I will continue to update families with our weekly Friday Fly-er!
Please note that although students and teachers will be in the building, our plan at this time is to keep our PTA and Site Council meetings online. If you are new to the Broken Arrow family, please try to hop on to a PTA meeting. When discussing the “best things” about Broken Arrow with staff, the PTA was at the top of everyone’s list! It is a great way to be involved in what is happening in the school and also a great way to get to know others in our building.
We appreciate your continued support this year! We are so excited to contin-ue working together to make sure, regardless of circumstances, that our students learn and grow! Please call the school at 785-832-5600 or email if you have questions.
October 2020 Volume 15 Issue 1
Calendar of Events
October Check out the website calendar for
up-to-date information.
6 PTA Meeting via Zoom
19 Hybrid Schooling Begins
23 No School– Elementary
Planning Day
29 End of first Trimester
Grading Period
30 No School—Recording
and Reporting
Redesign Update
From Amanda Green, Instruction and Curriculum
Coach at Broken Arrow "Even through these unique times, our staff has
been thinking of ways to move forward with our
Redesign goals and our overall mission of helping all BA students SOAR (Succeed, Over-
come, Apply and Reflect). One area we have been putting into action is continuing our First
15 initiative where students are able to have choice in how they start their day. Offering
student choice and the ability to prepare your mind and body for learning in a way that
works best for each individual is something we all felt strongly about making sure students
still had the option for during remote learning. Many of our intermediate classrooms have
been trying our a few different First 15 remote models and we are excited to share these
ideas with all staff members at our next Redesign meeting, as well as focus more on our
goal of Personalized Learning and the wonderful connections/options there are to carry out
ATTENDANCE: Parents should contact the office before 8:30 am to report an absence for all or
part of the day. The office will alert the teacher. You may also contact your child’s teacher to
request homework. Mrs Walthall can be reached at 785-832-5600 or [email protected]
Broken Arrow will follow attendance and truancy procedures as stated in Board Policy .
PHONE CALLS AND MESSAGES FOR STUDENTS AND STAFF: We request that after-school plans
be finalized and communicated to your child before drop off in the morning. If you need to have
an emergency message given to your child, please call before 2:30 pm. Since situations may arise
that prevent staff from checking voice mail or email before dismissal time you should not leave
messages for your child on voice mail or email.
KIDS VOTING: Thanks to the district’s partnership with the Boys and Girls Club of Lawrence, all students in Lawrence Public Schools will be able to vote online in November. All votes will be anonymous, and the results from across the district will be shared as soon as available. While student online voting does not count for the general election, it does provide students with the opportunity to participate in the elec-tion and learn about the candidates, issues, and the voting process. Additional information will be forthcoming in the weeks to come.
K-2 students will vote for President and Vice President. Grade 3-5 students will vote for President
and Vice President and the U.S. Senator and Representative to the U.S. House from Kansas.
Grade 6-12 students will vote for President and Vice President; their choices for U.S. Senator and
Representative to the U.S. House from Kansas; Kansas Senate (2nd, 3rd, or 19th district), Kansas
House of Representatives (10th, 42nd, 44th, 45th, 46th, or 54th district), County Commission
(2nd or 3rd district) for the district in which they live, State Board of Education, District Attorney,
County Clerk, Treasurer, Register of Deeds, and Sheriff.
BGC INFO— Lacee Greene is the Site Coordinator for Broken Arrow. You can contact her at 785-
Red Ribbon Week/National Bullying Prevention Month— Because Red Ribbon Week and National Bullying Prevention Month both fall in the month of October, we have decided to combine the two to create “Healthy Choices Week” that will occur Oct 26-29 Please keep an eye out for details later this month. (*Note: Due to COVID-19, activities will look a little different than they have in the past.) Zones of Regulation/Emotion Regulation— What is it:? The ability to identify and manage an emotional experience. Why is it important:? Zones of regulation helps children label feelings to identify how they are feeling, teaches coping and self regulation skills, helps children under-stand that there are no “bad” emotions— all emotions can be experienced at different times, and helps children recognize if their emotional response is appropriate to the situation. What can I do at home? Talk to your student about how they are feeling, body cues when they are feeling an emotion, why they are feeling a certain way, and various healthy coping strategies they might try.
Notes from the Clinic Any and all medicine dispensed to your child at school must be provided by a parent or guardi-an. Permission forms for dispensing medicine at school are required. Prescription medicine must come with the pharmacy label on the bottle or box. New this year: No nebulizers can be used this year at school due to aerosol emissions. Inhalers continue to be permitted.
Do we have a very good way of reaching you or someone else QUICKLY? Please make certain you have provided contacts that will be reachable in short order. Email or call the office to up-date your own or your emergency contact.
SITE COUNCIL ANNOUNCEMENTS—Principal Renk is currently seeking members for Site Council and plans to have meetings via Zoom three times this year. Please reach out to the school office 785-330-5600 or email [email protected] if you would like to join Site Council and give input on the direc-tion and plans for Broken Arrow. LAWRENCE SCHOOLS FOUNDATION—Learn more about what they do and how you can help enrich the education of all students in the Lawrence Public Schools by visiting their website at www.LawrenceSchoolsFoundation.org, liking them on Facebook (@LawrenceSchoolsFoundation) and follow-ing them on Twitter (@LawSchoolsFndn).
3
Appreciation to….
Eat and Earn Oct 21 At Chipotle
One easy way to support the Broken Arrow PTA is to shop using Ama-zonSmile. If you already have an Ama-zon account, you can go to smile.amazon.com on your web browser to check out. You will find the same prices and selection. AmazonSmile will donate 0.5% of your eligible purchases to the charitable organization of your choice.
If you love it, label it!
There is a better chance of clothing articles getting returned to their rightful owner if they are labeled. Items in Lost and
Found get recycled quickly. With fall weather hear and fluctuating temperatures, students often discard outerwear and
misplace it. When students return to the building, encourage your student to reclaim their items. Due to the current re-
strictions, parents will not be allowed to come into the building to search the Lost and Found.
Sign Gypsies. Welcome Back signs turned some heads in
the neighborhood Sept 8 as the school year started.
Crunch Fitness. Much appreciation for donated school
supplies.
Zion International and retired teacher Val Howland.
New donated clothes and shoes are in the clinic in case
of life’s little emergencies.
PTA. New water bottles are here so every student has
one at school. Drinking fountains bubblers are currently
disabled. Bottle refillers on the fountains are working.
Lawrence Schools Foundations. General school supplies
for students by grade level were provided.
PTA, Site Council and Business Partners
You can support the PTA when you dine at the 23rd Street Chipotle 5-9 pm on Wednesday, Oct 21. Tell the cashier you are supporting Broken Arrow PTA or show them this flyer on your smartphone and 33% of proceeds will be donated.
ProjectCREATE “Engineers” Are you someone who likes to design and build things? Find out if they work? Discover solutions to problems? Then YOU are an engineer! Join us as we continue our exploration of many types of engineering - industrial design/engineering, electrical engineering, and chemical engineering, to name a few. We will use the engineering design process to think critically about a real world problem and create a real world solution. As we explore these areas of engineering, we will use project-based learning to pinpoint problems, suggest solutions, produce products, and size up our solutions for success! Ready to register? Click the links below for the sessions that work for you!
October 5, 2019, for Industrial Design/Engineering. $40 by September 30, $50 for late registration.
February 1, 2020, for Electrical Engineering. $40 by February 3, $50 for late registration.
April 4, 2020, for Chemical Engineering. $40 by March 30, $50 for late registration.
From Mrs Epperson, Music Teacher: Thank you to all the students who signed up for Fortissimo choir! We are so excited to have such a great group of students. We will have an informal performance for the school board on Oct 8 before school while the school board visits during breakfast. Stay tuned for more infor-mation! Fourth graders will be allowed to bring recorders home soon. Thank you in advance for helping your 4th grader remember to bring them back for music or keep them at school so they have an instrument to play during music class.
