Principal's Report

Elementary Principal’s Report

 

May 2018

 

Mr. Stephen Waigand

 

 

 

• March attendance was 97.88% (182 students).  2nd grade claims their second title in a row and third title overall for monthly attendance...this month they had 98.78% attendance.        

 

• April Blue Jays of the Week were recognized for showing PERSEVERANCE - Fenix Green, Piper McKenney, Camden McEnaney, Jacoby Driskell, Bannack Skillen, Lily Wilroy, Alex Gibson, Olivia Roup, Jacob McMahon, Levi Lucas, Emoree Green, Holdyn Moore, Stevie Gaines, Archer Meyerkorth, Dawson Baker, Corbyn Jakub, Lily Lager, Corbin Wallace, Zane Cook, Ryan Paris, Rogan McCown, and Taylor Cook.  Special thanks to Pastor Shimmel and Grace Church for the pizza party on April 26. May’s character trait is Patience - the ability to remain calm and wait for what you want.

• MAP Testing for grades 3-6 is finished.  The students did a really nice job taking their time and showing effort on the state assessments.  Our teachers had them well prepared for the task at hand. A special thanks to Mrs. Farmer and Mrs. Ellis for some technical, behind-the-scenes work, on entering students names and other information into the testing site.

• Preschool and Kindergarten Round-Ups were held on May 4.  Half day students got an opportunity to visit the full day preschool classroom and full day preschool students went to Kindergarten for the morning.  Mrs. Hughes and Mrs. Farley held a Kindergarten parent meeting while the students took a bus ride. The students finished the morning in the classroom with some activities and lunch at the “big” tables.  The highlight of the day for many students was having three different choices for milk...strawberry, chocolate, or white. :) Total projected enrollment for Kindergarten next year is 30 (26 incoming, 3 retention, 1 transfer-in retention).

• Students from our local Cub Scout Troop did a nice job helping lead the Pledge of Allegiance at the National Day of Prayer at the Memorial Building on May 3.

• Homework Club finished up their last day on May 3.

• Kindergarten and first grade took a field trip to Omaha to the Rose Theater and then enjoyed some active time at Pump It Up on May 3.

• 3rd Grade students did a great job with their annual Coffee House Poetry on April 30.  Students and family members enjoyed some refreshments together after the performances.

• Preschool took a field trip to the Shatto Milk Company on April 27.  They learned about life on a dairy farm, got a chance to milk a cow, and sample some of the different flavor milks...some favorites were Cotton Candy, Banana, and Bubble Gum.  The adults were provided with samples of the Coffee flavored milk and it was a big hit.

• 3rd Grade traveled to Jefferson City for an overnight field trip to culminate their unit on Missouri History.  They visited the Supreme Court Building and State Capitol Building while in Jefferson City. They got to meet our local legislators and were even given a behind the scenes tour by Representative Allen Andrews all the way to the top of the dome!  A great experience all around for the kids. Thank you to Mrs. Geib and Mrs. Amthor for organizing the trip and to the many parent chaperones willing to take on the overnight challenge!

• Plans for summer school are underway.  The theme is “Game On” and picks up right where our MAP Testing theme ended.  We currently have 93 students (K-5) enrolled and 17 in grades 6-8. Classroom teachers will be focusing in on a few specific standards from each grade level that could use a little extra attention during our time together.  Incentives for attendance this year will be Chamber Bucks and near the end of the summer school session we plan to take students shopping at local merchants to spend their hard earned money. It is something new we are trying and excited for students to visit businesses on Main Street and around the town.

• Our Teacher Appreciation Assembly was held on April 16.  Students wrote letters to their own classroom teachers and others throughout the building.  A letter was read for each teacher in the Elementary. A special thanks to Mrs. Evans coming back to read those letters!  In addition, Pastor Shimmel and Grace Church provided a gift card to teacher of the ‘winning’ student letter. This year’s recipient was Mrs. Weber.  Her letter was written by a new student to our elementary this year, Ally Y., and spoke of the love and kindness that Mrs. Weber showed her throughout transitioning to a new building.  Mrs. Vette was presented with a hanging flower gift from the PTO for her upcoming retirement.

 

      

 

Upcoming Events

 

May 14

 

• 4th grade field trip

 

May 15

 

• 5th field trip to KC (Gage Center)

 

May 16

 

• 8:30am - Step-Up Day (students find out classroom teacher for next year)

• Last workout Wednesday for year

• Last Day of Preschool

 

May 17

 

• 6th Grade Heptathlon

 

May 18

 

• 8:30am - Reading Incentive Talent Show (North Gym)

• Dismiss at noon

 

May 21

 

• 8:30am - Awards Ceremony - School awards (South Gym), Classroom awards (in the rooms) afterwards

• Last Day of School

• Dismiss at noon

 

 

 

STAFF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

 

• Ms. Armstrong and Mr. Hendricksen had their last new teacher/mentor meeting of the year on April 20 to celebrate year one at Rock Port.  A special thanks to mentors Mr. Herron (JH/HS) and Mrs. Amthor (Elem.) for all their support and guidance throughout the year.

• I attended a Northwest Principals meeting in St. Joseph on April 17.  Dr. Schooley, Director of Missouri Association for Elementary School Principals, spoke about the of current state of the State School Board and budget proposals for the upcoming year.

 

• Mrs. Geib attended a 3rd Grade PLTW Network Day on April 17.

• Collaboration groups met this month (PK-1, 2-3, 4-6) with a focus on generating class lists for next school year.

STAFF REPORTS

Mrs. Skillen

 

I have surveys made for elementary students so I can get some library feedback.

 

I am planning on starting inventory of the books in the libraries today. Mrs. Cook and I almost have all the books in the elementary cataloged (3 shelves left!!!!!), so I will have final statistics about collection value, age, etc. (The program estimates values for books that have been entered without a price - everything we've entered that was already in the elementary library does not have a listed price.)

 

I need to total up what I made selling used books to students; now that everyone has had first choices, I plan to let each student pick a book for free from the weeded ones and hopefully get some books into some homes that may not have many.

 

I plan to make a trip to Omaha in the near future to trade in the remaining weeded books for "new" (to us) ones at Half Price Books.