Principal’s Message:  Uncertain Times

This last week or so has certainly been a rollercoaster of emotion and has brought enough shock factor to last for a long, long time.  As I sat and watched the president address the nation in his oval office address, I couldn’t help feel like I was living in a movie of some sort.   This situation is uncharted territory for us all, and with uncertain times such as these we can experience a lot of stress, fear, and worry. Our kiddos are not any different.

Below are a few links that offer some insight for all of us and ways to support our kiddos in dealing with some of the stress over this situation:

https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/coronavirus-how-talk-child.html 

https://childmind.org/article/talking-to-kids-about-the-coronavirus/

Please check us out on Ch. 14, 25, and 44 tonight.  Ch.25 will be going live at 4:00, 5:00 and 6:00.

• THIS IS Rockport Reads Week ! March 2-6 We will be celebrating reading from March 2-6.   Each day there will be Dr. Seuss themed attire to wear. Monday - Marvelous Monday Mixup - Wear Mix and Match Clothes Tuesday - Top Hat Tuesday - Wear a Cat in the Hat hat or a fun hat Wednesday - Wake-up and Go Wednesday - PJ Day Thursday - Theodor Thursday - Dress as your favorite Dr. Seuss character Friday - Fuzzy Socks Friday - Wear crazy socks Lunch   will be special as well!  We will have the following menu: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs - Meatball Sub Monday Dragons Love Tacos - Taco Tuesday We Love Green Eggs and Ham - Wednesday Can I Eat That? Thursday - New fruits or veggies to sample. One Fish, Two Fish... - Fish Stick Friday We will have guest readers coming in to read to classes throughout the week.  Want to be a guest reader? Contact your child’s teacher!!! On Wed., March 4, we will have a Rockport Rockin’ Read-A-Thon. The goal for the day will be for every student to read or be read to for a minimum of 100 minutes.   Staff and students  will be rockin’ and readin’  (in rocking chairs) for the entire day!  We will have prizes to give away, too! There will also be a Reading Challenge for the week.   If the school, as a whole (staff and students), reads for 60,000 minutes Monday - Thursday this week, Mr. Hunt will go “Rustic for Reading”.  He will camp on the roof of the school for one evening!  Help your child read at least 30 minutes each evening!!!

Spring Carnival is Coming Soon!!!!    This year's carnival will be May 2! It is that time of year again and we are planning our 10th Annual Spring Carnival. If you know of a business or individual that would like to donate, please contact the PTO by emailing Mr. Hunt or messaging on our Facebook page. We would love to reach out to them. Below is this year's classroom basket themes.  Please send items for the baskets to your child’s teacher. Baskets:    Office/Custodians /Special Teachers: Gift Card / Lottery Basket Special Ed Team: Grilling Out                      PreK: Disney               K: Baking                            1: Fun in the Sun     2: Camping

Daddy Daughter Dance is next Friday March 6.

Rockport Reads Week is Coming Soon!

March 2-6

We will be celebrating reading from March 2-6.  

• Each day there will be Dr. Seuss themed attire to wear.
  • Monday - Marvelous Monday Mixup - Wear Mix and Match Clothes
  • Tuesday - Top Hat Tuesday - Wear a Cat in the Hat hat or a fun hat
  • Wednesday - Wake-up and Go Wednesday - PJ Day
  • Thursday - Theodor Thursday - Dress as your favorite Dr. Seuss character
  • Friday - Fuzzy Socks Friday - Wear crazy socks

• We will have guest readers coming in to read to classes throughout the week.  Want to be a guest reader? Contact your child’s teacher!!!

• On Wed., March 4 we will have a Rockport Rockin’ Read-A-Thon.
  • The goal for the day will be for every student to read or be read to for a minimum of 100 minutes.  
  • Staff and students  will be rockin’ and readin’  (in rocking chairs) for the entire day! 
  • We will have prizes to give away too!

• There will also be a Reading Challenge for the week.  
  • If the school as a whole (staff and students) reads for 60,000 minutes Monday - Thursday that week, Mr. Hunt will go “Rustic for Reading”.  He will camp on the roof of the school for one evening!

• How can we get to 60,000 minutes? It is easy.  60,000 minutes is each student and staff member reading 30-40 minutes each night Monday-Wednesday and then 100 minutes on Wednesday during the Rockin’ Read-a-Thon.  

• At the end of the day Thursday, if we hit the goal, the entire school will come out to watch Mr. Hunt climb to the roof.  He will stay on the roof overnight and will be reading books aloud for anyone in the community that wants to come by and listen.  On Friday morning, the school will come back out and wake Mr. Hunt up from his slumber on the roof!  (If weather is too poor to allow students to come out either to see Mr. Hunt to the roof or in the AM to come and wake him, we would do it the next good day.)

Valentine’s Day Party Information Valentine’s Parties are right around the corner on Friday, Feb. 14. We encourage all students to have fun and bring Valentines to pass out to their classmates. Please remember that Rockport Elementary has a Healthy School Policy. Please do not send in candy or other sweet treats for the party. If you wish to send a “treat” you might consider nonfood items such as pencils, erasers, party favors or something similar. We ask that parents do not send in or have delivered flowers, balloons, or other Valentine’s gifts for their children. In recent years, this has become more popular, but it creates quite an issue at school with delivery to the student, figuring out transportation for the items home, and it is a disruption of the day. Please consider having these items at home to surprise your child. If you need help with getting Valentines for your child, please let your teacher or Mrs. Bush know. We can help. Parents must have signed up as a PTO room parent and have a completed background check to volunteer at the party.

South Spencer School Corporation and Rockport Elementary intend to ensure our students develop healthy habits as they grow.  To help with this, we have established some guidelines for healthy eating habits. Please review the items below. We ask all parents follow these guidelines to help us support healthy habits in our school:

• For school parties and birthday celebrations, we do not allow candy and other unhealthy snacks.  We have a specific healthy snack list, but we encourage parents to think of other “treats” than food items.

• No cola or soft drinks should be packed in a lunch or for any other activity.  This would include when you bring in a lunch from an outside restaurant.

• We recommend visitors purchase a school lunch.  We ask that parents try to avoid bringing in fast food for lunch, and if you must bring in fast food that you try to bring it in a bag or container that does not advertise the restaurant’s logo.  

• School Staff is also working to support this effort by avoiding eating our drinking unhealthy items in front of children.  We are also working to take time to participate in the walking club and other healthy initiatives. 

• Peanut Free / Nut Free School - We have students with life threatening nut allergies. 

• Bottled Water - Students may have a bottle of water in the classroom.  Refillable bottles are encouraged, but they should contain only water.

Click the link below for the January breakfast and lunch Menu for Rockport Elementary!

http://www.sspencer.k12.in.us/re-lunch-menu/file

Daddy Daughter Dance February 7, 2020  6:00p-8:00p Rockport Elementary School Click Here for More Information

Welcome to "Season 2" of Reading with Mr. Hunt... starting a new season in the new year, 2020!  Mr. Hunt will be reading several favorite books that you can win!  That's right.  Rockport Elementary students who respond to Mr. Hunt in the comments on the video or who come to talk to Mr. Hunt in person will be entered into a drawing to win the book!  This week's book is The Stinky Cheese Man and other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith. Click Here to Watch!  - Don’t forget to subscribe to get updates when new videos are posted!

PTO MEETING - January 7 - 6:00 PM

As always, we encourage your participation in the PTO.  Please make an effort to attend our January meeting. We will be planning for the Daddy/Daughter Dance, Spring Carnival, and other fun school activities.

 

Our Character Trait for November was Generosity. We want to thank everyone who gave and was so generous during the month of November.  WE BROUGHT IN OVER 3,000 CANNED FOOD ITEMS!!! WHAT AN AMAZING DISPLAY OF GENEROSITY!!!!

READING WITH MR. HUNT                 . One of my goals this year is to encourage a reading life for all of our students, staff, and community.  Reading is a critical skill for every student, and reading daily is important for us all. Below are the first installments of Reading with Mr. Hunt.  This is a way to ensure every student can be read to. My goal is to read aloud a couple of books each week. I hope students will watch or listen. Parents, we all get busy and you might not have a moment to grab a book to read… here is a prepared bedtime story!  Students, I hope you enjoy and I hope you let me know what you are reading!! Reading with Mr. Hunt - Ep. 1 https://youtu.be/_uXMpsNnM4U  Reading with Mr. Hunt - Ep. 2

Want to see pictures of our students learning and participating in some great activities?  Want to keep up on Rockport Elementary’s daily events?  

Check us out on Facebook!

https://www.facebook.com/rockportelementarysouthspencer/

 

Thank you for helping with the PTO Walk a Thon!  We raised over $5,000!!!!!  Now it's time for Mr. Hunt to kiss a pig!   oink, oink, oink, oink