WooHoo! 52!! Fifty two what?? Fifty two students were celebrated at the

last Terrific Kid Assembly for per-fect attendance the first 100 days of school!!

We are challenging the rest of our students to make the Big Three Super Star Wall of Fame by:

1) being on time every day,

2) being at school every day,

3) getting all homework in on time.

Successful students will be honored later this spring. We wonder how many are up to the challenge!

There’s still a lot of learning to be done this year. Students need to continue to attend regularly, get to school on time (and in uni-form), keep reading every night and practice those math facts. We are busy doing MSP practice so that we can show our best on the test. We are also getting ready for our jam-packed spring schedule of events—stay tuned for details!!

While all this is going on, we are also in the planning stages for next

year.

Registration opens March 3rd for next year’s kindergarten. We are scheduled to have four all day sessions. When you register please have a copy of the birth certificate and immunizations. Priority is given to families that live in our attendance area, but we do accept students from other areas on a space available basis.

Projections are in for each grade level. It looks like we may be adding a 2nd grade and two 5th grades to accommodate predicted growth. We should drop down to three 4th grades. In the interests of making sure we have room for all of our returning students, we ask parents to notify us of intent to return. We will send a form home with each child right after Spring Break. It is important to return that form. Then we’ll know which students will be returning and which will be leaving our school. Then we can continue to plan with as much accurate infor-mation as possible.

Spring Conferences are right around the corner. March 11th and 12th are early dismissal days so that parents can conference with

STAFFORD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 1615 S. 92ND, TACOMA, W A 98444 PHONE 571-4300 FAX 571-4301 EMAIL: CEVANS@TACOMA.K12.W A.US

Volume 8, Issue 6 March 2014

From the Pr inc ipal ’s Desk Happening This Month Mar 3 Kindergarten Registration

Mar. 6 Literacy Night 6:00-7:30

Mar 9 Move clocks forward 1 hr

Mar 11-12 Early Release 12:15

Mar 12-14 5th grade camp

Mar 25 Terrific Kid Assembly

Mar 28 Class Pictures

Mar 31-Apr 4 Spring Break NO SCHOOL

Looking Ahead April 25 Terrific Kid Assembly 2:30

April 10 4th grade to Capitol

Lion’s roar

WHEN: Registration begins March 3rd Evening Registration-

March 3rd, 4:30—6:30

WHO: Children who are five years old on or before August 31st, 2014

WHAT SHOULD PARENTS BRING:

1. Birth certificate to verify age,

2. Proof of immunization.

3. Verification of Address.

teachers. We try to rotate our conference appointments, but if there is a concern we can certainly change that ro-tation to meet the needs. Please contact your child’s classroom teacher if you are requesting a conference.

Finding Out About it

The fifth graders are work-

ing on their Classroom

Based Assessments this

month. This is a state man-

dated assessment that

gauges a student’s ability

to research, understand two different points

of view, and argue for his or her viewpoint.

It’s not easy to do—and the research

process itself is a little daunting. Although

students do reports throughout their school

career, very few of them ask the writer to go

beyond the bare facts of the topic. So, for

example, third graders are working on animal

reports, in which they discuss (briefly) an

animal’s appearance, its habitat, what it eats,

and two more or less interesting facts about it.

Persuasive writing is likewise a bit more boiled

down. Fourth grade is creating persuasive

PowerPoints with the intent of getting other

students to read a book that they think is

worth marketing. They rely on their own

opinion, but they sure don’t have to try to

understand anyone else’s. Indeed, the point is

to bring other folks around to your point of

view. And while it might seem as if students

have worked with the pieces of the whole

that is the Classroom Based Assessment, put-

ting them together is not that easy.

We’ve started with how to do research,

P A G E 2

and are looking on the library website, going

through WebPath Express, a search service

provided through the online catalog. This search

engine gives hits to kid-friendly sites. Additionally,

the Grolier—located on the Stafford homepage,

and useable from home, with a username of

“tacomasd” and a password of “home”—is an

encyclopedia that gives students access to a

number of articles. The whole note-taking,

deciding which facts to use, figuring out the

report-out format process is taking a while; but I

am very impressed with the diligence of all

students as they move through the steps in-

volved.

Many students are using a multimedia

format for their report, in our case PowerPoint.

While the web based version seems to have

some limitations, it does allow students to work

on their projects from home. As your student

progresses through his or her report, don’t hesi-

tate to ask about viewing their work. They

should be able to get to their SkyDrives from any

internet connection that allows access to the

Tacoma School District website. And, of course,

parent help and insight is more than welcome.

Some of the topics, dealing with the Holocaust,

the Japanese Internment, or even family experi-

ences, are fertile ground for meaningful discus-

sion.

Ann Welton, Librarian

L I O N ’ S R O A R

LIBRARY BASICS

P A G E 3 V O L U M E 8 , I S S U E 6

Counselor’s O R n E r

Meet the Counselor - Ms. Susie Mathews Phone: 253-571-4305: M-F 8:30AM-4:00PM e-mail: cmathew@tacoma.k12.wa.us

Greetings Stafford Families,

As always I hope you and yours are healthy and in good spirits!

This Winter Stafford has been fortunate to have many new students move into our attendance area. Most classrooms have several newcomers getting used to Stafford’s schedules and rules. Sadly, we have also had students move away. Despite those children leaving, many Stafford classrooms are at maximum capac-ity. These events can create a shift in how school feels to your child.

I hope you will make time to chat with your child about the new students in her/his class and how to help them feel welcomed in class, at lunch and recess. Asking if old friends have moved is also important. Grief is a typical response when the predictable companionship of a friend is lost.

Another way school may feel different to your child is that the steady academic rigor and pace of learn-ing may be more noticeable. January and early February had many days away from school. Late February to the end of March offers consistency and is commonly an intensely academically focused period.

Making sure your child has plenty of rest (8-10 hours), time for daily exercise, and opportunity to play help her/him respond optimally at school. Setting aside a regular, predictable homework time also sup-ports your child’s best efforts.

~*~Classroom Guidance ~*~

Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd

March Second Steps lessons in the EMOTION MANAGEMENT unit introduce life-long skills in SAFE-LY managing strong emotions like anger and worry. The very beneficial use of “belly breathing”, calming self-talk, and talking with a grown-up are included in the lessons.

3rd , 4th and 5th grades

Second Steps lessons in these classes target the empathy and self-management skills necessary to respect different perspectives, express compassion, and sustain personal responsibility for recognizing and safely managing feelings.

~*~Small Group Guidance~*~

Small guidance groups continue through mid-March. New groups start in April.

~*~Kids United By Service~*~

This student led organization now has forty-one 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade student tutors. They volunteer once a week during recess to help a younger student improve reading or math skills. Future KUBS activi-ties will focus on additional service projects.

P A G E 4 L I O N ’ S R O A R

PTO NEWS Our second book fair of the year is coming up! We are looking for volunteers to help during the days of March 3 –5, as well as during Reading Night on March 6. If you would like to participate, please be sure you have a current volunteer form and background check competed from the office. For more information on what you can do for your school please contact Shantia Johnson, PTO president.

Lost Glasses

Is your child missing a pair of glasses? The office has many a pair that have not been claimed. Please come take a

Terrific Kid - Inclusive SOM - Music

Jaasko-Fisher Ellie Welton-Loiselle Vivyan Ly H. Stewart Jacob Sterrett Gabriel Davis S. Stewart Royal Charles Qiji Burrill Taylor Angie Juarez-Ibarra Anh Tran Allen Karolyn Martinez Diilea Miller Cook Babriella Angeniy Marteze Saing Hartley Leilani Gacita Joshua Nelson Vine Samuel Cao Cindy Pham Hunter Austin Vo Gemari McClendon Nofo Makaylah Toves A.J. Tanupo Thompson James Jones Rees Sao Maul Ellana Meas Brandon Pham Potts Penny Pet Ashley Colbert Roetcisoender Selita Tauiliili Gonzalo Sanchez Hinds Herminio Cabiya Tauinaola Tauiliili Kinsey Sergio Cuevas Kayden Toomey Sinding Mark Faavesi Alondra Garcia-Soto Twohy Vadim Angeniy VanAnh Nguyen Gray Mason Lemmon Atasia Jackson Redal Soteira Phan Rysara Thim

P A G E 5 V O L U M E 8 , I S S U E 6

ELL News & Notes Serving Stafford’s English Language Learners

Mrs. Almonte, Mrs. Latimer & Mr. Son

Stafford Family Fun Night

Thursday, March 6th from 6:00 – 7:30 pm

Community Resource Fair & Literacy Night

Games, Activities, Book Fair, Prizes

No Te Pierdas Esta Reunión de Familia

En la Escuela Stafford! El Jueves 6 de Marzo de 6:00-7:30 pm Feria de Recursos para la Comunidad

y la Noche de la Lectoescritura Juegos, Actividades, la Feria del Libro, Premios,

Y un gran pastel para la celebración del cumpleaños del Dr. Seuss!

Đừng bỏ lỡ cơ Stafford Family Fun Night.( đêm Gia đình vui vẻ ) Thứ 5 ngày 6th Tháng Ba Luc 6:00 - 7:30 buổi tối.

Cộng đồng Resource Fair & Literacy Đêm

Trò chơi, Hoạt động, Hội chợ sách, Giải thưởng & Chúc mừng sinh nhật Tiến sĩ Seuss Bánh Sinh Nhật!

ELL Homework Club

Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday Beginning at 8:00 a.m.

in Room C-15

P A G E 6 V O L U M E 8 , I S S U E 6

MARCH 2014

SUN MON TUES WED THURS FRI SAT

1

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Kindergarten Registration

Opens Evening

Registration

4:00-6:30

Literacy Night

6:00-7:30

Free Dress

PJ Day

9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Move clock Forward 1 hr

16 17 18 19 20 21 22

23/30 24/31 25 26 27 28 29

Spring

Break begins

Terrific Kid

Assembly

2:30

To View an updated calendar as things are added, and in Color, Visit our school Website: www.tacoma.k12.wa.us and click the School tab, then Stafford, then School WebSite, then Calendar and month.

5th Grade Camp

Early Release 12:15 Conferences