Husky Happenings

Iditarod Elementary Schools Monthly Newsletter

801 N. Wasilla Fishhook Road ~ Wasilla, AK 99654

November 2012 Volume 2, Issue 3

Ph: 907-352-9100 Fax: 907-352-9180

Principals Page

Iditarod Elem. School

School starts9:15 AM School ends3:45 PM Visitors are welcome. ALL visitors need to sign in at the front office before going to a classroom. Please sign out as you leave. If picking up your child for an appointment, your student must be signed out before leaving our campus. Thanks!S

The first quarter of the 2012-2013 school year has past and Im excited to say its been a positive start to a new school year. Our family back to school Pumpkin Festival night was a hit as we had new and old students and family members attend our new annual event. As we look at all the positive indicators at our school, its about Civility: its a concept most think they are familiar with. It is synonymous with courtesy and politeness. It includes good manners and the absence of rudeness. Our subtitles of civility on campus, civility in the community, and a civil attitude this year at our community is very evident. It echo this years in our hallways, classrooms and out on the play ground during recess here at Iditarod. We call it virtues. This work to teach civility has been a part of the purpose of education since ancient Greece. Through different eras of time, prepping people to be citizens has been at the heart of education. Have a great month. Happy Thanksgiving! Jim Shetter Principal

In this issue:
Principals Page
Month @ a Glance

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Students of the Week

Our Guidelines for Success at Iditarod Elementary are to be safe, to be responsible, and to be respectful. The staff crafts daily lessons that incorporate these three principles. The goal is that these life lessons rub off on the students and become part of their character. Im happy to report that we see living examples of these guidelines each day. Next time you visit Iditarod, take a moment and stop at the Student of the Week display case in the front lobby. Each week at least two students receive this award for outstanding character. Congratulations to Kolton, Svetlana, Riley, Daina, Jordan, Veroinia, Mariah, Madison, Kyle and Baylee!

From the Classrooms PTA News Parent Survey Husky Virtue Vouchers Parent Information This + That
Imagination Library Lunch Menu

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Month @ a Glance

November 2012
National Diabetes Awareness Month ~ National Adoption Month ~ National Lung Cancer Awareness Month Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
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Virtue of the Week: Perseverance 4 Virtue of the Week: Perseverance 11 Virtue of the Week: Perseverance 18 Virtue of the Week: Honesty
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6 Election Day

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Professional Development

STEPP Meeting 4:00 PM (Library)

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PTAs

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Holiday Craft Night 6:00-7:30 PM

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GAGGLEMSBSD is launching student e-mail for grades 3-12 for the first time in history. This is a filtered and monitored service to ensure compliance with Federal internet safety requirements. Students can access their Gaggle account by clicking on the Gaggle icon in the Student Quick links on the District website. Student e-mail addresses follow this convention: Jr12345@matsuk12.gaggle.net The first time 6-12 grade students log into Gaggle, they are required to take a 20 minute Internet Safety training quiz. This can be done at home. In addition to Internet Safety training, Gaggle has many embedded applications such as GaggleTube (teacher approved YouTube videos), Homework Drop Boxes, 7 Gigabytes of storage space for each student (Digital Locker), and more!
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EED has purchased a state-wide BrainPOP license for all schools to use. To access this award winning website, just look for the BrainPOPO icon in Student Quick links on the District website. The username and password are embedded in the link so there is nothing to remember. Just click and go. BrainPOP creates animated, curricular content that engages students, supports educators, and bolsters achievement.

From the Classrooms... Kindergarten

Thank you to all families who sent in treats for our bake sale. We raised $250.00. Thanks, too, to all students who supported the sale! In our classrooms we are wrapping up our "mini" unit on spiders and will begin focusing on nutrition. The students will learn where our food comes from, the basic food groups, and how different foods make us healthy and strong. You may mark your calendars as we will be having a short Thanksgiving performance in the gym on Wednesday, November, 21st at 11:00 (more information to follow). Each child has a part in the performance and will have special projects to share! We will also have a family feast following our performance. We are also continuing to learn about letters, sounds, and are beginning to read many high frequency words. In math, we can count to 50, write numbers 1-5, and are learning to understand partners for numbers 1-5. We are so proud of the progress our wonderful kindergartens made this quarter!

1st Grade
Our fantastic first graders have been involved in a fun-filled month of learning this November. Our Literacy theme has been I Am Responsible. We have been talking about what good readers do. A couple of strategies we have been practicing include: looking at the pictures, thinking about the story and saying the sounds. Our phonics lessons have focused on long vowel sounds. Students are reading the Decodable readers to practice the phonics skills we cover during the school day. Please continue to review the POPcorn words with your child until they are able to recognize and read them instantly. Math: Our first Graders have been working on learning how to write addition and subtraction equations in word problems. We have also been working on counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s. Social Studies: We will be learning about the First Thanksgiving and how it relates to history. During our celebration we will actually make butter and put it on our cornbread. We will also complete a turkey cookie project. Fundraiser: Starting in November we will be selling soda floats once a month. Do we have any first grade parents that would like to help work at the table? Field Trips: We will be going to the Theatre in Anchorage to see The True Story of the Three Little Pigs on November 1st. On Nov 8th we will be going on a field trip to the Imaginarium.

From the Classrooms... 2nd Grade

Second grade is still feeling the excitement of our first field trip of the school year. The play was a blast and we are looking forward to the second one just before Christmas break. Hopefully the chocolate sales will help with the admission prices for "Junie B. Jones". Look for additional information on the upcoming trip in the next few weeks. Academically, Second Grade is moving like a steam roller and chewing up every bit of information in its path. We just finished a short section on the metric system and now we are going to be hitting the story problems and concepts hard. Double digit problems will be part of the new concepts being introduced. Our second graders are also studying fictional storytelling in writing and our reading will focus on research and observation. Thanksgiving is just around the corner, so we will also be studying some social studies focus on Early American History.

3rd Grade

Greetings from Third Grade

Over the next few weeks our focus in reading will be people and nature. We will be reading a story about how a community comes together to rescue whales, a story about a girl who observes the natural world around her and a non-fiction piece about volcanoes. We are moving into unit 5 in math which covers more addition and subtraction problems, including money. Adding money amounts and making change will be a part of our focus. Students will also use their knowledge about place value to compare, order and round numbers. In Language Arts we will be writing thank you letters to the Kiwanis Club of Palmer for the wonderful dictionaries they presented to each student in third grade. We have been using them each week to look up spelling and vocabulary words. We will also be writing another personal narrative about how we celebrate Thanksgiving in our homes.

4th Grade
Fourth grade just finished Grace and the Time Machine, a play about a group of friends who travel through time. Students practiced their lines for an entire week, focusing on expression and fluency. They then peformed their play for several audiences from around the school. The performances received several positive reviews, and was a ton of fun! Fourth grade is also ready to start Alaskan Native Studies in the next week or so. To kick off our study of Native storytelling, we have invited Patricia Wade, a renowned storyteller and author. She will combine her sons cartoon art with the oral tradition of her culture to give a captivating introduction of Alaskan folklore.

5th Grade
We would like to congratulate all of our new Student Council Officers and Classroom Representatives. We are proud of the way they ran their campaigns with kindness and respect. This is an exciting opportunity for them this school year. All 5th grade students participated in a national "Mock" Presidential election on October 30th. They have been learning about how our government works and were excited to place their votes. Mrs. Jacobson Mrs. Hoffner
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From the Classrooms... Special Education

Reading and Writing: Its a Wonderful Thing
I recently started reading a book about early settlers of the West who crossed the plains in 1856 using handcarts. These pioneers could not afford to buy a wagons or oxen to pull themselves and their belongings across the continent. They people spent months walking through the heat of late summer and continued to walk into an early bitterly-cold winter. Because the trek took longer than expected many ran short of food. Needless to say some of these determined people died from exposure and the extreme conditions. Even though many of these people died I am thankful that so many of the participants kept journals of their experiences and what they went through to get to a new land and a new way of life. The reason I bring this up is that one of those journals kept so long ago was written by an ancestor of mine. I have so much interesting information about what happened in their lives because they took the time to write. They probably thought their day-to-day lives were mundane or ordinary but when I read their entries they are very thought-provoking and novel to me. I too have kept a journal from a young age and occasionally go back and read about my own thoughts, ideas, and happenings from years ago. The skills we develop here at school to learn to write can benefit us throughout our lives and our childrens lives. I have shared some of my own journal entries with my own children. Sometimes they have laughed or were curious as to why I said or did something. When I have written about something they have done often times they will remember and ponder why they said or did something. In either case a journal has been a great way to keep a record of myself and my family.

Music
Christmas Concerts are just around the corner!! The Primary Concert is Tuesday , Dec 4th @ 7:00 p.m. and the Intermediate Concert is Thursday, Dec 6th @ 7:00 p.m. Hope to see you there. Mrs. Carte

Book Fair
Book Fair was a huge success!! Thank you for supporting our school library with the purchase of Scholastic Books from the October Book Fair. Look for our Spring Book Fair in April!! Mrs. Carte, Mrs. Sullivan, Mrs. Way and Coach S.

Title I
Our next STEPP meeting will be on November 13th from 4:00-5:00 PM in the library. Our next Title I Family Night is Do it Yourself Holiday Craft Night on Thursday, November 29th from 6:00-7:30 PM

Come join us as we have fun making crafts before the holidays! Families will take home crafts that they make that evening and the directions to make more for gift giving and fun!

Student Council
Congratulations to all the 4th and 5th grade students who submitted nomination paperwork, prepared speeches, and campaigned last month. The 4th and 5th grade students held their election on Friday, October 19th. Many of the races were close. After all the votes were counted the following students were elected to serve as this years Student Council here at Iditarod Elementary School: President: Olivia Young Vice President: Brooklyn Compton Secretary: Titus Brigman Treasurer: Noah Williams Historian: Brian Nagl Classroom Representatives: Mrs. Hoffner Z Cruz Hanson Mrs. Jacobson Svend Lindquist Mr. Nighswonger Mazee OKelley Mrs. Wolfer Nicolina Burrell

Ms. Pike and Mrs. Young, Student Council Advisors

Greetings From PTAFirst off, we want to thank everyone who helped our Iditarod students by participating in our Believe Fundraiser. Secondly, we have placed our first Spirit Wear clothing order. If you missed this order, you haven't missed out. We will have another order soon. We also want to thank everyone who helped with the annual Pumpkin Festival. We couldn't have done it without all your donations a support. Just a quick reminder that our first movie night will be held on Friday, November 16 in the gym. We plan on showing BRAVE. Please look for more information about this closer to the date. Don't forget this month we are trying an evening meeting. This PTA meeting will be held on Tuesday, November 13 at 6:30pm in the library. If you weren't aware, we are in need of a secretary for the remainder of this school year. If you feel you can help us out, please make sure you come to this meeting. We hope to see you soon.

* November 13th 6:30 PM (in the Library) * December No Meeting * January 15th -- 4:00 PM (in the Library) * February 12th -- 6:30 PM (in the Library)

Meeting times for March, April, and May will be decided at a later date. Membership forms are printed on neon green and located outside the Music room. Membership is only $9. We hope to see you in November.

SchoolStore.com
We are pleased to be participating in SchoolStore.com, an online shopping mall with over 400 merchants including Sears, Kohls, Target, Office Depot, Walmart, Discovery Store, Family Book Store, and many more. When your family and friends make everyday purchases from their favorite merchants, our school earns money. Iditarod Elementary School has earned hundreds of dollars over the last couple years. SchoolStore.com is a simple and safe ongoing fundraiser that rewards our school every time you shop. Please consider shopping at SchoolStore.com when you shop online. We appreciate your support.

Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District Parent Survey of Teacher Performance

The purpose of this form is to provide feedback to your childs teacher to improve the quality of instruction. All information should address the local teacher standards and be observable in the teachers workplace. If this information is to be considered as input into the teachers evaluation, this form must be signed and submitted by February 1st. To electronically access this form, go to the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School Districts web page. Click on Parents, Quick Links, Parent Forms & Docs, District Forms (under Maps & Calendars along the left side menu of resources) and type in Parent Survey in the Form Name box. You now have the option to click on Parent Survey Teacher. Paper copies of this performance survey are located in the information display at school, too.

The Virtues Project

Iditarod Elementary is embracing The Virtues Project. The purpose of the Virtues Project is to help develop a culture of character where respect, responsibility, kindness, enthusiasm, excellence, perseverance, honesty, cooperation and joy for learning are among the virtues our children master. The character education of our children has become a priority. We are making Iditarod a caring community where all students are encouraged to live by the virtuesthe best within them. Our school newsletter will include descriptions of the virtues that we are working on each month. We hope you will get ideas from this so you can carry on the language that we are using to encourage living by the virtues at home and in the community.

Celebrate Husky Virtue Vouchers!

You will notice that your child will periodically bring home a Husky Virtue Voucher. This program is new this year at Iditarod. Teachers are acknowledging students who demonstrate virtues by giving them Husky Virtue Vouchers. It is a time to celebrate! When a child has one of his or her virtues acknowledged, it awakens their awareness that they actually have this virtue and that acting on it is a choice, and they can choose to practice this virtue in other situations. Classrooms are celebrating the practicing of each virtue.

Husky Virtue Focus for November:

Iditarod staff members are using the following language when we introduce and practice these virtues at school.

~ PERSEVERANCE ~
The sense of obligation to continue is present in all of us. A duty to strive is the duty of us all. I felt a call to that duty.

~ Abraham Lincoln You are practicing Perseverance when you

Think before deciding to commit to someone or something Set goals and stick with them until they are completed Take one step at a time, remaining steady Dont let doubts or tests blow you off course Stand by your friends and loved ones

Pace yourself

~ HONESTY ~
Every man takes care that his neighbor shall not cheat him. But a day comes when he begins to care that he does not cheat his neighbor. Then all goes well. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

You are practicing Honesty when you

Be true to yourself and do what you know is right Say what you mean and mean what you say Make promises you can keep Admit your mistakes Refuse to lie, cheat, or steal
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From the Office

~ iParent ~ ~ iParent ~
iParent is a parent/guardian web based access to student information including attendance, scheduling, discipline and grades. A single password and login allows parental access to all family members that have students. Just follow these easy steps: 1) Sign onto the School Districts homepage at matsuk12.us 2) Select the PARENT block 3) Click on Quick Links 4) Click on iParent Frequently Asked Questions 5) In upper right-hand corner, click on Click Here to Request an iParent Key There are several short screens to fill out. Your initial sign-on information will be e-mailed to you.

WINTER COATS
Does your child need a winter coat? The Salvation Army has a few coats in various sizes to give away. For more information, call 745-7079.

MEAL CHARGES
Unpaid meal charges are quickly surmounting and need to be paid immediately. Even though your child may be on the Free & Reduced Lunch Program, meal charges prior to acceptance into the program are required to be paid. These charges will follow your child from grade to grade unless they are paid to date. All charges must be paid prior to any child being withdrawn from the school district.

FRONT OFFICE HOURS: MondayFriday 8:00 a.m.4:00 p.m.

HAVE YOU MOVED??

GOTTEN A NEW PHONE NUMBER??

Have you moved to a new address or gotten a new telephone or cell phone number? If so, please take a few minutes to log in to your iParent account and make sure all of your family information is up-to-date.

ONLINE ABSENCE REPORTING AVAILABLE ON iPARENT

Parents now have a method to report online student absences. A written note or telephone call is still acceptable, but online reporting is easy through iParent. Parents know if the absence is excused and for what reason. It is a way for schools to accurately report and track data on student absences.

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Student Drop Off Time

Parents, please do not drop your children off until after 9:00 AM. Buses unload at 9:05 AM and school starts at 9:15 AM. Our doors may be locked until 9:00 AM as that is when there is student supervision.

Student Pick-Up
In the interest of safety, we have started a new dismissal procedure. Every teacher now has a roster when they bring their non-bus riding students to the gym. Parents, we ask that you sign out your child each afternoon. If there is another designated person who picks up your child, you may want to give them a heads up about the sign out procedure, too. While a signature may take a couple more seconds, the accountability piece is so worth it. When it comes to our children, safety is number one.

After School

District Tobacco Policy

IDITAROD ELEMENTARY IS A TOBACCO-FREE CAMPUS

Tobacco use is prohibited on all school district property, including vehicles. This applies to: students, parents, contractors, all district employees and other visitors. Tobacco is defined as: cigarettes, electronic cigarettes, cigars, pipes, smokeless tobacco (dip or chew), clove cigarettes, snuff and bidi cigarettes.

Parking Lot Safety Guidelines

When visiting Iditarod Elementary School, ALL motorists need to park in designated parking spots. (The lines were repainted this summer and are easily seen.) The drop off lane is reserved for school buses and parents dropping off students.

Parking in the drop off lane is prohibited.

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That

You may follow these safety guidelines for your safety and the safety of your vehicle.
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Books for Mat-Su Children

It sounds almost too simple to be true, but by reading regularly with your children during their early years from birth! You are giving them the biggest boost toward success they will ever get.

Thanks to generous donations from local sponsors and the Dollywood Foundation, you can sign up your child or children to participate in the Mat-Su Imagination Library program. Your child will receive, free of charge:

one, age appropriate, quality book delivered to your mailing address every month until your child turns 5 years old

To be eligible, you must maintain a mailing address within the Mat-Su Borough.

Registrations forms are available at the front office at Iditarod Elementary if you are unable to register online.

Sign up online:
http://imaginationlibrary.com/usa info@matsuimaginationlibrary.org

BEST BEGINNINGS
Alaskas Early Childhood Investment

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