JOHNSON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

THUNDERBIRD NEWS

P R I N C I P A L - C H E R Y L G O M E Z , A S S I T A N T P R I N C I P A L – S H E R R I E G A L L E G O S

JANUARY 2017

Message from our

Assistant Principal

2

Boys 2 Men 3

Staff of the Month 4

Physical Education 5

Library 6

Health News 7

Counselors Corner 8

JES letter 9

Inside this issue:

January

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

2

*NO SCHOOL

3

4

5 6

*Boys 2 Men (3:05—

4:45)

9

*Playground Cham-

pion Meeting (3:10-

4:00) (3rd Grade)

10

*JES Spelling Bee

(9:00—10:30)

*Student Council

Meeting (3:10-4:10)

11

*PTC Meeting

(6:00pm)

12 13

*Boys 2 Men (3:05—

4:45)

16

*NO SCHOOL (Martin

Luther King Jr.)

17

*Chilli’s Giveback

Night

18

*Chilli’s Giveback

Night

19 20

*Boys 2 Men (3:05-

4:45)

23

*Playground Cham-

pion Meeting (3:10-

4:00) (4th Graders)

24 25 26 27

*Boys 2 Men (3:05–

4:45)

30

*Playground Cham-

pion Meeting (3:10—

4:00) (5th Graders)

31

*IMPORTANT INFORMATION*

Tardy Policy For the second half of the school year, we will be enforcing our Tardy Policy.

Student’s who enter the building after 7:55am will be considered tardy and will be marked as such. We understand our drop off loop can become quite busy and full in the mornings, so please leave yourself ample time to complete the

drop off process. Student’s may be dropped off as early as 7:30am. Thank you for your cooperation.

No Bullying

Friendly reminder that we have Sprigeo and Safe 2 Tell as alternative methods for reporting bullying, mean and cruel behavior or any other unsafe behaviors. We have direct link on our website at jes.mcsd.org or their direct websites at

sprigeo.com and safe2tell.org.

Testing Update

1/9-1/20 Access Testing (Make-ups the following week)

3/3 NAEP testing (fourth grade)

3/13-4/27 District window for PARCC and CMAS (3rd-5th)

4/24-5/19 iReady testing window

5/2-5/12 DIBELS window

Morning Drop-Off

Our current enrollment is 590 students—that means, more traffic! We

have staff on morning duty starting at 7:30am. We encourage you to

drop off your child earlier rather than later. Dropping of your student

during heavy traffic times could cause them to be tardy. The morning

bell rings at 7:50am.

Pickup/Bus Plan Changes

Please revisit end of the day plans with your

child each day so they know what their plan is.

When necessary, all end of the day changes for

student pickup or bus changes need to be called

into the front office no later than 2:30pm (1:30

on Wednesdays.)

Page 2

School Hours:

First Bell 7:50Am

Tardy Bell 7:55AM

Dismissal Bell 3:05PM

Wednesday times for K-5th 7:50AM-

2:10PM

Boys 2 Men would like to thank the following Businesses/Individuals for their generous

donations!

*San Juan Construction Inc.

*Alpine Bank

*Alexander Orthodontics, Inc.

*Davis Service Center

*Abel’s Ace Hardware

*Ken Kiehlbauch

*Ken Boese of The Horace Mann Companies

*Ross Turner of Turner Automotive

*Montrose Home Depot

*Chucker Vanderwist of Montrose Makerspace

*Alex Ganskow of Easy Day Fitness

Page 3

The following staff members have recently been recognized for their out-

standing performance.

Page 4

P.O. Box 10,000 13820 6700 Rd.

Montrose CO 81402 Phone (970) 249-2584

Fax (970) 240-6408 Website:

http://jes.mcsd.org/

News from the Physical Education Department

We hope everyone had a safe and active Christmas break. We are climbing our way

into the 3rd quarter at Johnson. We have a traverse wall, as well as a cargo net and

climbing ropes that will allow students to move vertically and horizontally work-

ing on balancing, weight transfer, critical thinking skills, muscular endurance, agil-

ity, flexibility and muscular strength. Students are grouped in “family groups” for

the month of January in order to work on teamwork, cooperation, and communica-

tion skills. The new Montrose Recreation Center has a climbing wall where kids

may also keep active and climb. The GRAND OPENING is January 27th-29th.

Please remember that students NOT wearing tennis shoes are NOT allowed to

climb for safety reasons.

We are also working on jump rope skills in preparation for our Jump Rope for

Heart which will take place in PE classes on Feb. 13-14th. Your son/daughter has

the option to participate in Jump Rope for Heart in order to raise money and

awareness for the American Heart Association and their battle against heart dis-

ease. Information packets will be sent home with your child if they are interested

in helping raise money for a great cause.

Thank you,

Mr. Imus and Mr. Harris

Page 5

Check It Out!

What’s Up at the Library January 2017

GIVING TREE: I believe that this year’s Giving Tree canned food drive was our

BEST ever!! I am always overwhelmed with the generosity of our Johnson students!

Over 1,000 pounds of food was donated to Sharing Ministries to benefit many families

in our community! Thank you all for your participation!

Character Trait for January – We will be talking about COMPASSION as our focus

this month. The book we will read is called “The Three Questions”, a Jon J. Muth

based on a story by Leo Tolstoy.

Colorado Children’s Book Award (CCBA) – When we come back from break every

year, we begin to read the 10 Picture Book nominees for the Colorado Children’s

Book Award. During library time over the next several weeks, we will read all these

books and then vote on our favorites. The votes will be sent to Denver by March 1,

and we will anxiously await the announcement of the 2017 winners! Last year’s Pic-

ture book winner was The Book With No Pictures by B. J. Novak, and the Junior

(chapter) book winner was “Sisters” by Raina Talgemeier! Both would be great addi-

tions to your family library!!

Here is the CCBA website, if you want to look at the list of this year’s nominees

(10 chapter books, and 10 picture books)

http://www.ccira.org/ccira-awards/Colorado-Childrens-Book-Award-CCBA.html

We have a lot of fun reviewing each book and seeing which ones win!

It is what you read when you don't have to that determines what you will be when you can't help it. ~Oscar Wilde

– Mrs. Mahan

Johnson Elementary Librarian

Page 6

Welcome back Thunderbirds! Hopefully everyone had a restful vacation! Here a few reminders to help keep us all healthy and ready to learn as we embark on the remainder of the school year. Please keep your child home if any of the following symp-toms are present: Diarrhea; Fever over 100 degrees F; Severe cough, flu-like symptoms, or sore throat that presents with fever; Vomiting; Strep throat; Skin infections such as ringworm or impetigo

Please visit the MCSD homepage >District Depart-ments>Health Services for more information on MCSD's Illness Policy. Some of our friends have severe allergies that can be life-threatening. The following precautions can help us keep these friends safe: Please encourage your child NOT to share ANY food with other students. Please check with your child's teacher before providing snacks or treats for the class. More information concerning Allergy Awareness can be found on the MCSD homepage under the District Depart-ments> Health Services tab. Please call 249-2584 or visit http://mcsd.org/District_Departments/health_services for an-swers to any questions you may have. Thank you for doing your part to help us cre-ate and sustain a healthy learning environ-ment!

Page 7

Page 8

Building Resiliency in our Children Pain is a part of life and comes in a million different varieties, so it’s important for kids to learn

how to deal with it. The everyday stings of disappointment, discouragement, and frustration

provide opportunities for children to build resiliency. Overprotected kids become emotionally

fragile and never learn to bounce back from adversity. All parents want their children to be

able to handle adversity, to grow into individuals who can bounce back from tough

times. Resiliency is the quality that enables them to do that. Just as we have to teach children

to be respectful, we also have to teach them to be resilient. When our kids learn to deal with

little setbacks as they grow up, they are better prepared to deal with bigger ones

later on in life. We all learn how to cope through failure and mistakes. If a child never loses,

she never learns how to deal with loss. If he is never disappointed, he never figures out how

to deal with disappointment. If she is never frustrated, she never discovers how to overcome

frustration. If he never has to struggle, he never develops the traits of persistence and determi-

nation. Sometimes, the most uncomfortable situations present the biggest opportunities for our

kids, helping them to forge the internal resources they need to succeed. Resilient children will

be willing take on big challenges and take appropriate risks because they will be less afraid

than kids who have never had painful experiences.

*Excerpts taken from “No, Why Kids – of All Ages – Need to Hear It and Ways Parents Can

Say It” by David Walsh, PhD.

Don’t worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you. –

Robert Fulghum

If you are interested in viewing online videos that offer informational parenting tips (that you

can watch at your leisure) Jean Granberg know that we have permission to use your email ad-

dress to send you these links. And, don’t forget that we have started a parenting section in our

JES library and are encouraging families to come and check out some of these knowledgeable

parenting books.

Dear Johnson Elementary Community: As we begin the second half of the school year, we want to bring to your attention a growing concern for your children. We have seen a trend of younger and younger children using the Internet in loosely supervised or unsupervised situations outside of school, beyond the ethical considera-tions, there are safety and behavioral implications that sometimes spill over into the school day. Elementary children may not have the necessary maturity and judgment to use these sites appropriately. Their poor judgment can lead to a long term consequence. Comments, audio, photos, or videos may be posted without the permission of the subject, containing content that can be embarrassing or hurtful. Some children, who would not behave this way in person or in the presence of their family may do so online because no one is watching. The reactions of their peers is muted and once-removed by the technology. Moreover, children of this age do not realize that it is difficult, once something is posted, to take it back, because content can be printed, copied, saved, and forwarded to others. We are asking parents to take a moment to PLAY with your kids on their devices. Have them explain to you how the device and app work. Create with them, explore with them. Most importantly please review with your child who they are “following” or who is following them on social media. Same rules apply in the digital world. You wouldn’t want a stranger following your child down the street. Some concerning details specific to Mu-sic.ly, Snapchat, and KiK have caused us serious concern. These apps are concerning because:

Dangers for kids: 18+ content in the songs lyrics. Swearing and adult concepts in the provided music. Pornography, graphic content, suicide notes. Musical.ly users can search for other users to view or follow near their own location/city User generated videos can be viewed and shared onto other social media and messaging apps increasing exposure Bullying in comments. Users can publicize their massager usernames or social media profiles on their Musical.ly profile Live.ly live streaming is not private even if you have the privacy settings set up. Using live streaming Musical.ly app Live.ly may mean larger exposure with mean comments, interacting in real time with viewers. Many fake user accounts, used to hijack views or set up to bully. Hacking of accounts by promotional accounts (Free Musical.ly Crowns) within the apps. Not easy to report accounts for being fakes or underage inside the app. Many underage accounts with large amounts of followers. Easy for users to create multiple accounts and hide them from their parents. Fake Musical.ly apps on the app store that charge for download or offer followers Digital Citizenship Resources https://youtu.be/OH6869bD8iU -video on digital citizenship What are some resources for teaching digital citizenship? What is digital citizenship? (More Info.) Childnet International Learning About and Teaching Digital Citizenship

Sincerely, Johnson Elementary School Staff

Exceptional Teaching Exceptional Relationships Cheryl A. Gomez, Principal * Sherrie Gallegos, Assistant Principal * Jean Granberg, Counselor * Amanda Braaten, Academic Coach

Page 9