Kathy Tucker, Principal

tuckerk@stjohns.k12.fl.us

Jim Roberts, Asst. Principal

robertj2@stjohns.k12.fl.us

Volume 87, No. 9

October 25, 2012

Tonight is our FALL FESTIVAL! No school on Friday, October 26, 2012! Have a great weekend!

If you are a person with a disability who needs assistance, please contact Jim Roberts, Assistant Principal/LEA at 547-8540.

Parade with a Purpose!

Wednesday, October 31st (weather permitting)

KES has a long tradition of having a cos-

tume parade each October. This year, our

costume parade will be on Wednesday, October 31st at approxi-

mately 8:50am in the bus loop. Our parents and students have al-

ways enjoyed this event very much. We would like to continue a

tradition that started last year by having our students participate in a

community project. This year, we would like the students to bring in

$1.00 and/or a canned good. The $1.00 will go towards Ketterlinus

Kids Care Program, and the canned goods will be donated to St.

Francis House Food Pantry. The Ketterlinus Kids Care Program

provides funds to purchase items (food, clothing and toys) for chil-

dren during the holidays.

To ensure that your child can fully participate in and enjoy this

event, please follow our guidelines. Costumes should be age appro-

priate and fit appropriately to ensure your child’s safety when walk-

ing around. It is very difficult, and takes valuable time away, when

we have to remove costume items or not allow a student to partici-

pate who does not follow our guidelines.

*Students should wear sneakers (no heels or boots) with their costumes.

*Students should come to school wearing their costume and bring their school clothes in a bag to change. It is very helpful for students to wear as much of their school clothes under their

costume for ease and time. *No makeup (including fake blood) or sprayed colored hair

*No “scary” costumes or masks – Ex: Hockey or “Scream”

masks

*No weapon props Parents should sign in at the front office on the clipboards and report

directly to the bus loop – not the classroom. In addition, we ask that

parents stand on the INSIDE of the loop. This will allow parents to

have a good view and will not interfere with students watching the

parade.

REPORT CARDS— Please READ! Report cards will be issued on Monday, October 29th. I

have mentioned in the past that there have been several

changes. One of the many changes is our new student infor-

mation system – eSchool Plus (ESP). This system also gen-

erates our report cards. As a result, our K-5 report cards will

have a different layout and will be 3-4 pages. In addition,

students in grades kindergarten and first are implementing

the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). This will be

reflected on the new report card. The standards on the

report card are the expectations at the end of the year. As

a result, your child may receive more “P’s” for progressing

on their report card. Some of these standards, specifically

Language Arts and Writing, are just being introduced and

are not expected to have been mastered during the 1st nine

weeks of school. However, I ask that you call your child’s

teacher if you have questions or concerns.

The Book Fair is HERE!

The Scholastic Book Fair is currently set up

in our KES library from Wednesday, Octo-

ber 24 through Wednesday, October 31,

2012. The book fair will be held in our media center each

day from 8:30 AM until 3:30 PM and on Thursday evening

(October 25) for the PTO Fall Festival from 5:00-8:00 PM.

We invite you to visit our book fair to experience a cele-

bration of reading that provides families the opportunity

to get involved with encouraging children to read. Re-

member, the more they read, the better they’ll get. We

hope to see you there.

Please take our School Survey Parents, please take a moment to complete two surveys on our school website under the “Parent & Student Information” section (one is for the parent, and one is for the student). This feedback is greatly needed to assist our School District as we pursue accreditation. You can find the survey on our web-site on the left hand side: http://www-kes.stjohns.k12.fl.us/

Congratulations!

Jane Wood -KES Teacher of the Year

Veronica Celeste - KES Rookie Teacher of the Year

Stacey Gwaltney - KES Employee of the Year

These employees represent our staff’s dedication and commit-

ment to our students each and every day! We congratulate

them for their hard work and dedication to our school!

RED RIBBON WEEK - OCTOBER 22 - 25

Theme: “I’VE GOT BETTER THINGS TO DO THAN DRUGS”

This week we celebrated Red Ribbon Week along with schools throughout

America. This is the week that we focus some of our time and activities to

help our kids learn about the importance of making healthy choices. We talk about

saying “NO” to the things that are bad for our developing bodies and our minds and

saying “YES” to the things that will help us as we grow and learn. We ask that you join

with us as partners to help to reinforce the lessons that we are teaching and learning

about at school. The statistics about underage drinking and children smoking cigarettes is scary. Chil-

dren today are bombarded with messages from the media and a variety of social oppor-

tunities and invitations to experiment with dangerous substances. Most children lack

the decision making and critical thinking skills to be able to make good decisions. They

need your help to develop these skills. Red Ribbon Week is one of those teachable

opportunities parents can use to plant the seeds about core beliefs and discuss refusal

strategies to stand up and say “NO” when needed. Children need to know that if “100

people say or do a dumb thing....it is still a dumb thing!!” Let your child know that they

can always use you as an excuse for saying NO to the things that they know are harm-

ful. “My mom and dad would ground me for the rest of my life if I did that!!!” (Of

course do let them know that you will not be their excuse for not doing their home-

work!) In case your child comes home telling you what has happened at school this week, I

wanted to give you the ‘scoop’: As a parent, I didn’t want to believe that my children needed to know about such things

and wanted to protect and shelter them from being exposed to harmful things. In an

ideal, make-believe world, that might be an appropriate attitude, but in the real world

that we currently live in, as parents, we must be aware of what’s in the real world is-

sues of our kid’s world. We must prepare them with the ability to make responsible,

healthy choices. Even as early as elementary school, kids hear about and talk about

such issues. They see adults smoking and drinking alcohol in their neighborhoods and

glamorized in the media of TV and movies. Most importantly, your kids need experience in making choices within the supportive

and caring environment of home and school. At school we constantly reinforce the idea

that kids are responsible for school choices which includes such things as classroom

behavior, organization, time management, and homework. A few suggestions for helping kids make responsible choices include: **Give your kids lots and lots and lots of opportunities to make choices. Give choices

between two or three things, each of which are acceptable choices to you. When a

choice is made, validate your belief that they make good choices. **Let your kids know that they have absolute control over their behavior and the words

that come out of their mouths at every single moment. They choose their actions and

words and that neither you nor their teacher can ‘make’ them do anything. They make

choices for themselves…some good, some not so good. However, the child does not get

to choose the consequences for a bad choice. When your child makes a bad choice,

instead of getting frustrated, be thankful that you have just been given a golden op-

portunity to teach responsible behavior. Ask if they know what a better choice would

be. If they give an appropriate choice, let them know you agree and give an appropriate

consequence that would reinforce the lesson. Let them know that you are sad they

made the bad choice because you know how much they wanted to watch their favorite

TV program, or whatever the consequence is. If they respond with an inappropriate

choice, ask what they think the consequences of that choice would be. Here is the

teachable moment. Give examples of what you believe would be better choices and

enforce the consequence. Yes, it definitely takes more time, more energy, and more

thought but can buy you some peace-of-mind later knowing that you have given them

the skills to stop and think and make responsible choices. If you are worried about

damaging self-esteem, think about this ........ ”The child who is not disciplined at home,

with love, will be disciplined by the world, without love.” Thank you for taking the time to read this article and for allowing me the opportunity

to help you help your children. Have a super RED RIBBON WEEK! Respectfully, Mary Warren, Ketterlinus Guidance Counselor

Dolphin “Lunch Box” All lunches served with a variety of milk. Ice Cream can be purchased on Fridays for an additional charge.

Mon., 10/29 Max Cheese Sticks w/ Marinara Sauce, OR Chicken Quesadilla Max, Steamed Broccoli Florets, Green Peas, Peaches

Tues., 10/30 Grilled Cheese Sandwich on Honey Wheat Goldfish Bread OR Beef Taco on Ultra Grain Flour Tortillas w/ Taco Sauce,

Lettuce/Tomato/Cheese Cup Baby Carrot Dippers with LF Dressing Cup, Corn, Mandarin Oranges

Wed., 10/31 Chicken Nuggets w/ Dipping Sauce Dunk Cup, Baked Beans, Cherry Tomato & Celery Stick Dippers with LF Dressing Cup,

Whole Grain Breadstick, Sliced apples, pears, or oranges

Thurs, 11/1 Spaghetti & Meat Sauce OR Fajita Chicken Wrap, Spinach / Romaine Salad Mix with LF Dressing Dunk Cup,

Cucumber & Baby Carrot Dippers with LF Dressing Dunk Cup, Mixed Fruit

Fri., 11/2 Oven Baked Chicken OR BBQ Meatballs, Whole Grain Breadstick, Baby Carrot Dippers with LF Dressing Dunk Cup, Green

Beans, Applesauce

*~* Dates to Remember *~* 10/29 1st Nine weeks Report Cards

10/31 Costume Parade @ 8:50 a.m.

(weather permitting)

11/12 Student / Teacher Holiday—Thank a Veteran!

11/13 Spirit Night at Dairy Queen! 5-8 p.m.

11/20 KES Family Movie Night—Francis Field

Become a Surrogate Parent for an ESE Student There are exceptional students in our community who very much need a surrogate parent. A surrogate parent is an individual who has been appointed to act in the place of a parent in safeguarding a child’s rights in the special education decision-making process. The surrogate parent represents the interests of the child in all areas relating to the exceptional student education process and the provision of a free appropriate public education. A surrogate par-ent is not someone who takes care of the child (like an adoptive parent or a foster parent). A surrogate parent is not financially responsible for the child. Surrogate parents have a very important role. They help the child and the school; they also help their community meet the needs of its exceptional students. The rewards for surrogate parents: the opportunity to share your time, use your skills, build relationships and see the results in your own community and in the life of a child. We will be hosting a training on November 16, 2012, from 8:00 – 10:00 at 40 Orange Street, please contact Jill Bullard at 547-7712 to register. If you have questions about becoming a surrogate par-ent please contact Tina Kennon at kennont@stjohns.k12.fl.us.

RECORDER LETTER Dear Parents of KES 3rd 4th and 5th Graders, Beginning MONDAY, NOVEMEBR 5TH 2012 your student will be

studying the RECORDER (a song flute-like instrument) throughout the

rest of the 2012-2013 School Year. Playing the recorder is a vital part of

an elementary music class experience. It is an opportunity for every

child to own and care for their personal musical instrument and the bene-

fits are numerous including:

Improves note-reading skills and develops musicianship

Provides an instrument for improvisation and personal expression

Develops ensemble performance skills

Transitions them to various middle school band instruments in the

coming years

Many students already own a recorder from previous years here at Ket-

terlinus or from another school. IF YOU OWN A RECORDER, YOU

DO NOT NEED TO BUY A NEW ONE. If you need to purchase a

new recorder, please send a check or cash with the students name on it in

the amount of $5.00. All 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students here at Ketterlinus

are required to have their recorder with them every day. If there is a

financial hardship, please send a note to me and we will help provide

one for the student.

Here are a few helpful hints to help ensure your child’s

success on this instrument:

Be sure that the students names are labeled under-

neath their recorders

Be sure that your recorder stays in your BACK-

PACK EVERY DAY

Only take your recorder out in 2 places: 1) HOME

and 2) MUSIC ROOM

Thank you for your continuing support of the K.E.S. Music Program.

Please encourage your child to practice the recorder at home and we

hope to see you at this years’ MUSIC IN OUR SCHOOLS MONTH

performances during your child’s music class day and time during

the week of MARCH 4TH – 8TH, 2013.

Literacy Coaches Corner—Mrs. Beth Upchurch

Although the word ‘data’ may not have been in math books when you were in school, you can be certain elementary students are quite familiar with the

word and its various forms. Students track their data on tests, keep data notebooks, interpret data from computer websites and more. Included in the under-

standing of data is the expectation that students are able to create data charts. With the national shift to Common Core standards, students starting as early

as second grade are expected to draw picture graphs and bar graphs (with a single-unit scale) to represent a data set with up to four categories. What exactly

does that mean? Well, it means that students are being challenged to think more graphically as they learn to create pictures of information to compare, ana-

lyze, and interpret.

As a parent, how can you help your student practice this important skill? Students as young as kindergarten should understand how the vertical and hori-

zontal lines on a graph form a framework for plotting points of information, much like in the popular game ‘Battleship.’ Students benefit from graphing data

that applies to their life in the form of bar graphs. Take Halloween, for instance. Challenge your child to draw their top five candy treats across the bottom

of a graph. Then color in bars on the graph, using single numbers (units) on the vertical line to represent how many of each candy they collected on their

candy hunt. The graph will give them a visual image of the contents of their bag. Most importantly, extend any graphing activity by having your student

make statements based on their graph that prove their understanding of their graphic representation. For example, “ I collected 3 more packages of Skittles

than Milky Way bars.” Encourage your child to update the graph as they eat their candy.

Knowing how to make a graph, understanding that graphs change as data changes, and watching your student make accurate predictions and statements

about their graph, is the highest form of understanding and synthesizing information. And yes, it starts in kindergarten!

Morning Breakfast We stress the importance of students arriving to school and class on time. Students who need to eat breakfast at school need to arrive by 8:10 a.m., at the very latest, in order to eat breakfast and make it to class by 8:30 a.m. That is when the tardy bell rings. We are finding that many students are arriving late, then eating breakfast. This is making them tardy to class. All car riders, walkers and bike riders who arrive to class after the tardy bell will be marked tardy, even if they were at school on time. Instruction begins first thing each morning, and it is important for all students to be in class, on time, every day.

Pledge for Parental Involvement As a parent, guardian, or caring adult, I hereby give my pledge to support a high-quality education for all of Florida’s students to the best of my ability. I have high expectations for my child and all of Florida’s children to succeed in school and in life. I pledge to stay involved, serve as a positive role model, and maintain open communication with my child’s teacher and school to ensure education remains a top priority in my household. I understand that it is my responsibility to stay informed and involved in all aspects of my child’s education. Education is the key to success, and I will do everything I can to nurture my child’s ability to learn.