Winter

Dear Burr Families,

Happy Friday.

Carole Maravich, Burr's music teacher, has been out on a leave since before Thanksgiving. She was expecting to be back earlier in December, and both of us were hoping that we could continue our tradition of Songfest on December 20th. Unfortunately, her return has been delayed until after winter break, and we will not be having Songfest (as we know it) this year. I know both students, staff, and parents will be disappointed by this news. She and I have talked about starting a different tradition later in the year to help students and parents celebrate together the awesome singing that students do. I will be in touch when I have more specifics.

On another note, I wanted to briefly discuss student attendance. As you know, attendance is very important to school success. While students don't lose course credit at the elementary level - like they would in high school - being present in school during the entire school day is extremely important. For one, our curriculum and instructional methods are not easily reproducible. (You really have to be here.) Also, there is a large social component to our work. Students are constantly interacting with each other and their teacher. In other words, when you miss a class period, you are missing a lot - including opportunities to confer with your partner and/or the teacher, a targeted mini lesson, group discussion, shared reading and interactive writing lessons with the entire class, and small group or 1-1 support. While teachers do their best to support a student who is absent, it's not realistic to be able to reproduce all of these components of the day for a student who is absent. That's a core reason why we don't/can't give students work to do when they miss school because of a vacation. We ask that they read a lot, keep a journal (to keep their writing skills sharp), and maybe complete math practice. Ours is not a workbook/worksheet driven curriculum. Thus, in general, we are not able to provide those types of resources for students to complete. We of course understand that things happen and sometimes missing school is unavoidable. However, we ask you to consider the following when making plans or organizing your day:

• Make sure your child gets to school on time. The easiest way to do this is have them ride the bus (which we recommend.) If you drive your child to school, set up your morning, so you get your child to school with time to spare. The doors to Burr open at 8:45, and the school day begins at 8:55. Students who are tardy find themselves in constant catch up which adds a level of unnecessary stress for both students and teachers.
• Schedule appointments after school whenever possible. With doctors and dentists, this is not always easy. Certainly an occasional appointment that pulls your child from school early is not a big deal. However, consistent early dismissals can make it that much more challenging for students to keep up with their work at school.
• Whenever possible, we recommend avoiding vacations while school is in session. Sometimes this is unavoidable. Certainly students have worthwhile cultural and learning experiences while on vacation not to mention quality time with their families. Sometimes family vacations are built around when adults are free. However, our hope is that these important opportunities for students can be organized around students' school schedule as much as possible. As I mentioned above, there are practical reasons for this related to curriculum and instruction. There are also symbolic reasons too - sending the message that attendance in school is important and valued.

Work/life balance is always a challenge for all families. We very much appreciate your help and support with school attendance.

Have a great weekend!

Jason

Family Handbook

I have included a link to our family handbook. It contains practical information about our school as well as links to many district resources.

2019-2020 Family Handbook

lost and found

Please have your child claim their clothes. Every 6-8 weeks, we donate what's left to Goodwill and/or shelters. I would also suggest discussing taking care of clothes with your children. It's a good opportunity to talk about responsibility, and your expectations for how they manage their belongings. In elementary school, students should be responsible for getting their clothes to and from home to school.

Behavior handbook

Below is a link to our Behavior handbook. For the month of December, please focus on the topic of respect. We want students to know that respect encompasses a number of behaviors that combine both an admiration and deference to the feelings and wishes of others.

• Pages 4 and 5. These pages define what respect looks like across different parts of the school day. I would ask that you review this information with your children as well as think about how your child can demonstrate respect in settings outside of school.
• Last Page. This page has a list of books that can be used to teach positive qualities such as respect. I would encourage you to read multiple books from this list. They have great messages which could lead to great conversations about how to apply these skills in your child's everyday life.
• Stop and Think Sheets. Stop and Think Sheets are near the back of our behavior handbook. They serve a number of purposes including: 1) Being a communication tool between home and school. 2) Helping students self reflect about their behavior and how to make better choices. 3) Helping Burr School keep track of behavior patterns among individual students and/or groups of students which, ultimately, could lead us to intervene and support a student (s). If your child gets a think sheet, we ask that you review it with them and return it to school signed. Think sheets can originate at either the classroom level or school level - although they most often originate at the classroom level. Think sheets are usually followed with a phone call from school. After four think sheets at the classroom level, the office will intervene and most likely meet with both the student and their parents.

Behavior Handbook 2019-2020

dismissal manager

We are in the process of making a decision about whether to use Dismissal Manager for the 2020-2021 school year. We have been utilizing a free trial which will end in June of 2020. We are trying to decide whether a paid subscription to Dismissal Manager - which runs approximately $2,500 a year - is worth it. Your feedback would be greatly appreciated. Please use the following link.

Dismissal Manager Survey

Upcoming Dates

Progress Reports - Released through Infinite Campus, Wednesday, December 18

Winter Break - December 23 - January 1