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Shelledy Elementary

Newsletter: November 2016

From the Principal’s Desk,

Dear Shelledy Families,

The month of October has been a month filled with change, changing temperatures and changing colors

in nature. We are also growing and changing. Shelledy is becoming a school that is identified by our efforts to

support the whole child. Academic learning and social and emotional learning are intertwined. Every day offers a

chance for us to grow in our learning and build relationships with others. Our school-wide goals this year are

reflective of who we are as we strive to improve student learning by narrowing our goal focus and improving

communication. Our goal focus has been narrowed to two goals: Working together to grow a culture of growth

mindset and focusing on vocabulary instruction k-5.

In support of our goal to improve communication, we use a variety of methods to communicate within

our staff and beyond to our school families and community. Some of these methods are Thursday folders, class-

room/school newsletters, emails, phone calls, conferences, and our marque/electronic messaging board. One

resource we use to improve communication is our district-wide communication system called

School Connects. This system allows schools and the district to contact you with information on

events, important news and emergency or safety related situations. SMS text messaging from

Shelledy or the district can only be received if you:

Provide your cell phone number to the school to be listed in our data base under mobile.

Text the word join to the number 56360 from your SMS-capable telephone. A confirmation message will be

generated upon finding a match for your phone number in our system thanking you for joining school alerts.

If your number is not found in the system you will receive a message stating that the number could not be

found. If your number isn’t found please contact the school to have it added to our student management

system. Wait 24 hours after adding your number to text join again. At any time you can unsubscribe by tex-

ting stop.

Lastly, create a contact with the name of Shelledy, D51 or any other meaningful name and the phone number

56360 to identify any future text messages you receive.

At this point in time the District will only contact you regarding emergencies or safety related situations.

The District will reach out to parents using phone, text and email or a combination. You may also check the dis-

trict website (ww.d51school.org) or social media accounts (faceboook.com/schooldistrict51 and twitter.com/

district51 for news and emergency alerts.

Our Unified Improvement Plan (UIP) will be finalized and shared at a District Accountability Review during

our School Accountability Meeting in the library on Tuesday, December 6th at 6:30 pm. At our last SAC meeting

we shared how we chose our goals. This meeting we will share our action steps and how we will measure our

success toward our goals. We look forward to a great conversation about learning and improvement.

Sincerely,

Deb Lamb

Mission: We empower, challenge, and inspire all students to reach their full potential.

Motto: Making Tracks toward Excellence

Shellledy Elementary

353 North Mesa Street

Fruita, CO 81521

970-254-6460

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Social and Emotional Learning

From Mrs. M.C.

The Core Practice

Pause. Listen. Breathe. These steps are at the heart of our social and emotional learning from the MindUp©

Curriculum for the month of October.

Learners discovered that by combining deep breathing with mindful listening in the Core Practice they are

able to teach their brains to release their reactive amygdalas so their PFC’s (prefrontal cortexes) can help

them feel calm and focused throughout their day. The Core Practice is a breathing routine that takes less

than one minute but yields powerful learning results. The routine begins and ends with a resonant tone pro-

duced from an instrument such as a tuning fork or chime. Children listen and breathe deeply for about 20

seconds during the routine. Ask your child about the power of deep breathing and the Core Practice.

If you want to give the Core Practice from MindUp© a try at home, check out the routine below. You

will need a chime or bell to signal the beginning and ending of the activity or you can use one online

like this one from Scholastic http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/mindup/img/chimes6.mp3 .

Children will sit cross legged on the floor, resting their hands naturally on their laps or knees. Play the

sound. Ask your child(ren) to take calm slow breaths. Pause for at least 10 seconds after the sound

has faded away, before playing the note the second time to signal then ending of the exercise.

The Core Practice Breathing Routine

Sit comfortably and close your eyes or look down at your hands.

When you hear the instrument, listen as long and carefully as you can.

When the sound has faded completely, begin to focus on each breath.

When you hear the sound again, listen as long and as carefully as you can.

Keep breathing calmly.

When you can’t hear the sound any longer, slowly open your eyes.

Remain still and quiet.

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Important Upcoming Dates

Nov. 1: PTO Meeting 5:30 PM in the library, child care provided

Nov. 4: Original Artworks Order due

Nov. 7: PTO Fundraiser, Shelledy Night at Get Air

Nov. 10: 3rd Grade Music Program, Veterans Day Celebration

10:00 AM and 6:30 PM

Nov. 11: No School, Elementary & Middle School Plan Day

Nov. 15: PTO Fundraiser, Domino’s Dough Night

Nov. 21-25: No School, Thanksgiving Break

Vision: All students prepared for their future.

November 2016

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PTO News

PTO Meeting Tuesday, November 1st – Join us at 5:30 PM in the

Shelledy library. All Shelledy parents and guardians are invited to attend. Free childcare is provided and our door prize of the month will be Fruita Chamber Bucks to use at partici-pating local businesses in Fruita! The December meeting will be on Tuesday, December 6th.

Soccer Goals and Playground Equipment Update – Thank

you to our DMD’s for coming to set up the new soccer goals on the intermediate playground and for repainting the lines on the primary lineup and foursquare box-es! The PTO is very excited to see the Shelledy learners enjoying the new soccer goals and playground equipment! We have received so much positive feedback from the intermediate students (3rd through 5th grade) regarding the soccer goals that one of our next PTO goals is to work on placing soccer goals on the pri-mary side (K to 2nd grade students).

Our Get Air at the Silo Family Fun Night on Monday, November 7th – Please join us anytime between 3:00 PM and 9:00 PM. The cost is

only $12 per child for 90 minutes and parents jump free! Be sure to say you are there to support Shelledy Elementary to obtain the special pricing!

Domino’s Dough Night Tuesday, November 15th – Domino’s Pizza® is very excited to sup-

port Shelledy Elementary PTO by helping to raise money for their much-needed programs and supplies. They’ve developed a program that’s easy to participate in, that will provide you with a night off in the kitchen and will help your local community. On our Dough Raising Night, Domino’s will donate 15% on any order back to the PTO. A Dough Raising Night Purchase Form will be sent home for you to give to your driver or to the store upon

pick-up.

Additional Items: Charleston Wrap fundraiser items will be sent home on Wednesday, November 2nd. If you have bulky items,

the items will be available for pick up anytime that day.

Original Works Fundraiser have been sent home. The orders are due back by Friday, November 4th and will delivered on or around December 6th.

T-shirt winners of the Shelledy PTO Facebook page were drawn at the last meeting. The winners were: Savan-nah Myers Julie Gastineau, Jolene Pietz, Dayana Bueno, Rachael Berens, Angela Flinn, Kevin Myers, Chris-tina Lueras, and Jeri White. Please stop by the office to grab your Shelledy Bobcat shirt! Be sure to like our “Shelledy Elementary PTO” page for future contests!

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Music News

The third grade program will be November 10 at 10:00 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. The morning performance will be outside on the south side of the playground. The Grand Valley Combined Honor Guard will be attending and helping with the program. The evening performance will be in the gym and the Colorado State Honor Guard will be attending. Please let Veterans know about this program that we do to celebrate and honor them. Students should wear red, white and blue clothing and dress for the weather.

December 13 will be the music fundraiser at Barnes and Noble for all students from 5:30-8:00 p.m. The money will be used to purchase music curriculum and instruments. I have received word from Santa Claus that he will be attending our fundraiser! Come and sit on Santa’s lap, tell him what you would like for Christmas and have your parents take your picture! Kindergarten students will be providing our entertainment and this will be their program. Mrs. Idler’s class will perform at 6:00, Mrs. Wooley’s a.m. class

at 6:30, Mrs. Wooley’s p.m. class at 7:00 and Mr. Green’s class at 7:30. Please mark your calendar for this very important date! Parents, Mrs. Barger will be sending a note home soon with information about volunteering to be a greeter, gift wrapper, or Santa’s helper. Please sign up to help on the sign-up genius or contact Mrs. Barger. December 16 will be our annual caroling day at Shelledy. Permission slips will be sent home in December. Please return the permission slip promptly. Parents are welcome to walk to the location or meet us there to hear your children carol. We will have the traditional cocoa when we return to Shelledy. Please feel free to come and visit your child’s music class at any time. We love visitors! If you have any questions about music classes, programs, or other issues, please feel free to see Mrs. Barger at any time.

Shellledy Elementary

353 North Mesa Street

Fruita, CO 81521

970-254-6460

Deb Lamb, Principal and Stacey Morton-Cohen, Assistant Principal