Grove Newsletter 3

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The Grove Grizzly A Note from the Office   Hurricane Harvey Help The Grove Avenue Staff will be collecting supplies and monetary donations in order to help schools in Houston that were negatively impacted by Hurricane Harvey. We would like to extend the opportunity to our students, families, and community members to also join us in these efforts. We will collect items in two different phases.   For our first phase, our efforts will help Rhodes School of the Performing Arts support their students and staff with getting back to school and to a sense of normalcy. The campus we will support experienced over five feet of water in their main area and they lost thousands of dollars in books, electronic devices, and supplies. In addition, they have many students and staff members who are displaced. Of the 85% of their students who are returning to school this week, over 90% of them were affected by the Hurricane and they are still working to connect with the remaining 15% of their students. Consequently, they are in need of some specific items for their students starting back to school. In order to help fulfill this need, we will collect school supplies, cleaning products, toiletries, and monetary donations in order to purchase vouchers for school uniforms for students. We are also looking for donations to help with the cost of shipping materials.   If you are interested in helping with phase one, please consider purchasing supplies for students of the same grade that your child is currently in this year. I have included the specific school supply lists for each grade at Rhodes School below. Any cleaning supplies or toiletries are welcomed and you may also provide monetary donations by providing cash or Visa gift cards that will be used to purchase vouchers for school uniforms. On average, the school uniforms cost $45-$50 for both boys and girls. Additionally, monetary donations intended to help with the shipping of supplies are needed. Please contact Mrs. Matthews via phone or e-mail if you are willing to help with shipping.   Kindergarten Supply List 1st Grade Supply List 2nd Grade Supply List 3rd Grade Supply List 4th Grade Supply List 5th Grade Supply List   The collection for Phase I will go from Monday, September 11th – Friday September 15th, as we would like to send supplies as soon as possible. More information will be shared in the coming weeks regarding Phase II.    Grove Avenue School Receives 2017 Active Schools National Award Grove Avenue School has been nationally recognized for its outstanding efforts and commitment to helping students learn, focus and grow through the integration of 60 minutes of physical activity before, during and after the school day. Active Schools, a national movement to help schools provide active school environments, recently honored Grove Avenue with the coveted 2017 Let’s Move! Active Schools National Award.   To earn a Let’s Move! Active Schools National Award, a school must have met significant benchmarks in five areas: physical education; physical activity before and after school; physical activity during school; staff involvement; and family and community engagement.   We are proud to be an Active School because we know that physical activity translates to student success both in the classroom and in life. Please join us in celebrating this achievement. Talk with your kids about the importance of physical activity, and ask them how they move during the school day.   Back to School Night We will be hosting our annual Back to School Night for parents on Wednesday, September 13th starting at 6:30 p.m. in the gym. Please plan to join us that evening in order to learn about plans for our school, as well as, to meet with your child’s teacher and learn more specifics about the classroom and your child’s grade level curriculum. A schedule for our evening together is provided below. Please note, this event is intended for parents only, but it is important to us that we have all parents here. If childcare is a concern for the evening of this event, please contact the school office.   Schedule for the Evening: 6:30-7:00 p.m.   Principal Presentation - Gym 7:05-7:35 p.m    Classroom Session 1- Individual Student Classrooms 7:35-7:45 p.m.   Transition 7:45-8:15 p.m.    Classroom Session 2 - Individual Student Classrooms 8:15 p.m.             Evening Concludes Upcoming Dates: Tuesday, September 12th - Running Club begins Wednesday, September 13th – Grove Parent Curriculum Night, 6:30 p.m. Friday, September 15th – PTO Back to School Bash, 4:30-7:30 p.m. @ Grove Monday, September 18th – 3rd Grade Field Trip to Grigsby Prairie Monday, September 25th – PTO Room Parent Meeting, 9:15-10:00 a.m. Tuesday, September 26th – 5th Grade Outdoor Education Parent Info. Night, 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, September 27th – Family Picture Night Thursday, September 28th – Picture Day for Students and Family Picture Night Thursday, September 28th – 4th Grade Field Trip to Stillman Nature Center Wednesday, October 4th – Friday, October 6th – 5th Grade Outdoor Education Positive Claw Award  Week of August 25th              MINDFULNESS IN THE CLASSROOM Dear Parents, You may have noticed the term “mindfulness” in the media a lot recently. Mindfulness is the quality of paying attention in an open, balanced, and curious way.  Mindfulness can be applied to all sensory experiences, thoughts, and emotions. More than thirty years of research has shown the benefits of mindfulness in adults to range from decreased stress and chronic pain to improved emotional and mental well-being. This, plus emerging research on children, offers compelling evidence to support using mindfulness in education.  The application of mindfulness by students may improve academic achievement, mental health, and inter- and intra-personal relationships. Studies find that learning mindfulness benefits students in terms of improved: attention, emotion regulation, behavior in school, empathy and understanding of others, social skills, and test anxiety and stress. Through a Projects for Innovation & Enhancement (PIE) grant I received from the Barrington 220 Educational Foundation, this summer I completed training on how to teach a mindfulness based classroom intervention to students.  My training was completed through the organization Mindful Schools. Please check out their website: www.mindfulschools.org. The Mindful Schools curriculum provides 16 core lessons, plus additional lessons and short daily practices.  Lessons range from 15 – 20 minutes, two times per week for 8 consecutive weeks. Teachers and students are supported to continue mindfulness on their own once the program is complete.  Students learn to apply mindfulness to all daily experiences including: mindful listening, mindful breathing, mindful test taking, and heartfulness (cultivation of positive states like kindness, generosity, and gratitude). I will be teaching the curriculum to all classrooms at Grove, on a staggered basis, beginning at the end of this month. Lesson topics and ways to support mindfulness and practice small moments of mindfulness at home will be posted weekly on my website. You will be notified when I begin teaching your child’s class. Mindfulness lessons will complement, not replace, the current social-emotional curriculum taught by Grove teachers (Second Step). Please feel free to contact me with questions or if you would like additional information! Mary Rosen, Ph.D. School Psychologist https://sites.google.com/bsd220.org/maryrosen Twitter @DrMaryRosen220 Great Grove Reads Dash by Kirby Larson Mitsi Kashino has never really thought of herself as different from her friends. Ever since she can remember she has been friends with Mags and Judy but all of that changes after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Suddenly people are looking at her with suspicion, her friends don’t want to come to her house anymore, and kids at the school are ignoring her. Her dog Dash is the one constant thing in her life. Then Mitsi learns that she and her family must move to a Japanese Relocation Camp and she cannot bring Dash. Upset, she writes a letter to General Dewitt to ask if the rule could be changed since Dash is such a good dog. His answer is no. Dogs are not allowed. Luckily an elderly neighbor agrees to take Dash until Mitsi can return. In the camp everything is wrong. Barbed wire surrounds the camp, visitors are not allowed so people have to carry messages for people waiting behind the fence, there are lines to use the restrooms, lines for food, and there is never any privacy. Then one day a letter arrives for Mitzi from Dash. In this way Mitsi learns what Dash’s new life is like. Will they ever be together again? Will the war ever end? This book is nominated for the 2018 Illinois Bluestem Award. Follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Grove-Avenue-School-Library/330160290370450 BACK TO SCHOOL BASH UPDATE!  Buy Back-to-School Bash Tickets Here! http://tinyurl.com/GroveBSBTickets2017 These events are not possible without your help! Please sign up to volunteer here! http://tinyurl.com/GroveBSB201 Spiritwear is still on sale!    The Grove Avenue Spiritwear webstore is now open for business!! We have 21 styles to help you show your love for Grove Avenue School! This year we are going paperless, so all orders will be placed online. The ordering process has been made easy by following 3 easy steps: 1. Go to  https://www.headsupapparel.com/ 2. Click "Find Your School" and enter Grove 2017 3. Show your school spirit and start shopping! Click on photos to see additional colors! Orders are due by September 17th!