FROM THE PRINCIPAL’S DESK
We are excited to announce that Stafford is being named a 2015 School of Distinction
(SOD). The School of Distinction award is the only one in the state currently that focuses
on improvement in reading/ELA and math, sustained over a five-year period. Achieving
this award requires continued, intentional effort from leaders and staff members. It is
truly an award that recognizes the accomplishments of a dedicated and focused group
of adults doing their best work for their students over several years.
VOLUME 4 ISSUE 4
JANUARY 2016
This award is made to Stafford as one of the 5% highest improving schools in the State
of Washington for increased reading/English language arts and mathematics, over the
past 5 years by The Center for Educational Effectiveness (CEE). In the Puget Sound ESD
region, 37 schools in 13 school districts achieved this high standard.
STAFFORD ELEMENTARY
Tacoma School District Public Information office asked the following three questions for
a press release:
TACOMA, WA 98444
What do you cite as reasons why Stafford achieved this award?
Stafford has strong collaboration building wide with a high focus on academic achievement and social/ emotional development. Stafford does this through integrating the
arts, utilizing technology, teaching virtues, and celebrating children. Stafford staff are
highly committed, innovative, compassionate, and persistent.
How many years has Stafford won this award?
This is Stafford’s fourth School of Distinction award. 2010, 2013,2014,2015
What will you do to build on this progress?
Stafford will continue to be an innovative school implementing best practice. This year
Stafford has a literacy focus and a work shop model of instruction to enable every child
to work at their own level and pace to achieve their goals.
This is truly a group effort which includes teachers, staff, parents, students and our
community. Thank you for your continued support and commitment to our children.
A brief report of how the measures were calculated and other information about the
School of Distinction Award can be accessed through the CEE website:
http://www.effectiveness.org/school-of-distinction.aspx
Shannan Graves
Principal
SCHOOL
ADDRESS: 1615 S 92ND
PHONE: 571-4300
FAX: 571-4301
EMAIL:
[email protected].
WA.US
What’s New?
Library Newsletter
January 2016
So, here we are in a new year, and that means learning new skills and developing new abilities. During January, our library instruction takes on a tech focus, as
students learn to use online resources to research and create projects. Grade by grade,
it looks like this:
Preschool through First grade: All of these students will be working with basic
computer skills—bringing a computer up, locating a site, using it, leaving it, and
shutting the computer down. Naturally, the preschoolers get a lot more help than the
first graders, who are mostly pretty tech literate. Expect to be hearing about PBS
Kids from your early primary students.
Second grade: These students are going to hone their search skills using our district
library catalog. They’ll learn how to search for books in our library and translate a
call number to a location on the shelves. As we get toward the end of the month,
they’ll learn how to search all the district libraries and use the catalog at the public
library to locate books and media materials and place holds.
Third grade: Ever created a document and saved it somewhere—and then you can’t
find it? Yeah, that’s when you appreciate the importance of file management. Third
graders will be creating Word documents, saving them to their WinHome drives, and
using the documents to draft and edit reports. As the year goes on, we’ll be moving to
Office 365, which will allow them to work from home or the public library—
wherever they have an internet connection.
Fourth and Fifth grades: These students are already pretty good at finding print resources, so we are moving on to online resources—and I mean on beyond Google.
We will be taking a quick look at the ProQuest database, which they will be using
extensively in their secondary education. ProQuest gives students access to a
database of full text newspaper and magazine articles on a wide range of topics.
While the reading level approaches the adult, it’s good for them to know that the
database exists, as well as how to navigate it. Then we will move on to the Grolier
Online. Grolier has a stable of vetted resources, including Culturegrams, for information on states and countries, and the New Book of Knowledge, a standard online
encyclopedia. Students will be selecting topics, using the resources provided by the
Grolier to get information aimed at giving a sound overview, and then condensing and
presenting the information using PowerPoint, which gives them a chance to put those
third grade file management lessons to the test.
Tech month is always popular with the kids—ask them about what they are
learning.
Ann Welton, Librarian
P.E. Happenings
The name of our new run/walk challenge
is: Frosty's Fitness Journey It will run Jan 6- Jan
28th. The theme is New Year's Resolution
for Healthy Eating and Exercise.
This will be a class competition and will also
involve lunch (a student seen eating healthy
vegetables or being caught eating a special
designated vegetable will earn a ticket).
We will have two divisions: K-2 and 3-5. The
winning class in each division will get 15
minutes of extra PE.
Plus the overall winning class (K-5) will earn a
"fancy" lunch setting with a special table in
the cafeteria .
ELL News & Notes
Serving Stafford’s English Language Learners
Mrs. Almonte, Mrs. Latimer & Mr. Son . . . . . . . . Room C-15
Happy New Year
to our ELL families!
Thank you to those who
attended our classroom
Open House before the
break.
Apreciadas Familias,
Thưa quý phụ huynh,
Cumpleaños son días especiales para todos los estudiantes y
especialmente para los niños muy pequeños. En la escuela
Stafford, reconocemos la importancia de estas celebraciones, y
haremos lo possible para que este día su hijo/a lo disfrute.
Ngày sinh nhật là một ngày rất đặc biệt, đặc biệt là cho thanh
thiếu niên. Hiện tại Stafford nhận ra tầm quan trọng của kỷ niệm,
và chúng tôi sẽ làm hết sức để làm cho ngày thú vị cho trẻ em
của bạn.
Entendemos que es muy divertido celebrar los cumpleaños en
la escuela y animámos a los estudiantes que traigan algún antojito saludable o cupcakes para que compartan con sus compañeros.
Chúng tôi hiểu bao nhiêu niềm vui nó là để chào mừng ngày sinh
nhật tại trường và khuyến khích trẻ em đến mang lại một món
ăn lành mạnh hoặc cupcakes để chia sẻ với bạn học của mình.
Es muy importante que ustedes platiquen con anticipación con
la maestra/o de su estudiante para que conozca cuando van a
enviar los antojitos. Le pedimos que los deje en la oficina para
que el maestro/a de su hijo pueda recogerlos cuando ella / él
está listo para ellos.
Finalmente, tenga en cuanta que una celebración en la clase
no es una fiesta de cumpleaños. Por favor, no envie pasteles
grandes, velas , globos, etc.
También recuerde que invitaciones para fiestas de cumpleaños
no pueden ser distribuidas en el aula de clases.
ELL
Before-School
Homework Club
Tuesday, Wednesday &
Thursday
8:00—8:50 a.m.
Room C-15
Nó là quan trọng mà bạn làm cho sự sắp xếp với giáo viên của
con quý vị trước khi gửi trong một điều trị. Chúng tôi yêu cầu
bạn để điều trị trong văn phòng vì vậy mà bạn trẻ em của giáo
viên có thể chọn chúng lên khi cô đã sẵn sàng cho họ.
Cuối cùng, hãy nhớ rằng một kỷ niệm lớp không phải là một bữa
tiệc sinh nhật. Xin vui lòng không gửi hoặc đưa toàn bộ bánh,
nến, bóng bay, Quà tặng vv.
Ngoài ra, hãy nhớ rằng lời mời sinh nhật bên không nên được
phân phối trong lớp học.
Cảm ơn bạn đã giúp đỡ của bạn tối đa hóa thời gian có giá trị
học tập của con quý vị trong khi ở trường.
A reminder that all ELL students are invited to come to
Homework Club! Homework finished? This before school time
is a GREAT time to work on the IMAGINE LEARNING
computer program, read & take AR tests, and get extra help.
This is a fun way to begin the day!
Counselor’s Corner
Dear Stafford Families,
I hope you had a restful and rejuvenating Winter Break with your family! We are excited to jump back into our Guidance Lessons where the students have been busy exploring different emotions and how to handle various feelings.
These lessons have been presented in a variety of methods: 5th graders experienced standing on cartons of eggs
(which are amazingly strong as long as no cracks or flaws are present in the egg shells!) This was to show that a sharp,
angry response to an emotional situation can often cause a lot of damage (cracked eggs) whereas a softer, rounded and
more carefully thought out approach can be stronger in the long run (like the surprising strength of an intact egg!). 3rd
-5th experimented with whole milk , Dawn dish soap and food coloring to show that it is natural and healthy to have
more than one feeling at a given time. They also created THINK sticks (ask yourself “is it True, Helpful, Inspiring, Necessary, Kind” before speaking) to use as strategies to avoid “erupting” (baking soda, glitter and vinegar experiment to
go along with the book “My Mouth is a Volcano” by Julia Cook.). See if they can explain these experiments to you! 1st
and 2nd graders have been learning what our own emotions look like to others through modeling different facial expressions into a mirror. They also learned how it is important to control our emotions so that we don’t push others
away accidentally (pepper and dish soap experiment) as well as learning some strategies to avoid having our volcanoes
erupt (baking soda, glitter and vinegar experiment to go along with the book “My Mouth is a Volcano” by Julia Cook.)
Kindergarteners have been exploring pictures with different emotions and practicing expressing feelings through modeling activities. They also love to dance to “The Feelings” song!
In all of the grade levels, the students have learned that you can often tell how someone is feeling by looking at their
facial expressions, body language, and at the situation or environment. Your child has been encouraged to practice
naming the feelings of others...so don’t be surprised if they might try to guess how you are feeling at any given moment!
It will also be helpful for them to practice verbalizing their feelings with you...or hearing you model expressing feelings
in a calm, positive way so that they become more adept at communicating their own emotions appropriately. My goal
is that by noticing their own feelings as well as the feelings of others, students may experience a positive effect on the
quality of their school friendships and family relationships at home.
Our PAWS Club has been busy planning and implementing our community service
projects! Our December project was to write Thank You cards to the men and women
serving in the Tacoma Police Department and Tacoma Fire Department. A representative from each of those agencies will be joining us at our next assembly so that we
might present our thanks to them in person! The January project will be writing Get
Well cards to kids at Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital and will include a small treat
with each note (crayons, stickers, etc…) to cheer them up during their hospital stay.
The kids have done such a nice job spreading kindness to our local community and
have had fun doing it! If you have any project ideas for upcoming months, don’t hesitate to contact me!
Warmly,
Adrienne Petrie, School Counselor
Stafford elementary kindergarten
open house
January 21, 2016 5:30-6:30pm
for students who will attend the
2016-2017 school year.

Come tour our Kindergarten classrooms
and meet our teachers

Enjoy some sweet treats

Pick up a Kindergarten “swag bag”

Fill out registration paperwork
( you will need proof of address, child’s birth certificate and proof
of immunizations.)
Dear Parents,
Birthdays are a very special day, especially for young children.
We at Stafford recognize the importance of celebrating, and we
will do our best to make the day enjoyable for your child.
We understand how much fun it is to celebrate birthdays in
school and encourage the children to bring in a healthy snack
or cupcakes to share with their classmates.
It is important that you make arrangements with your child’s
teacher in advance when sending in a treat. We request that you
leave the treat in the office so that you child’s teacher can pick
them up when she/he is ready for them.
Lastly, keep in mind that a class celebration is not a birthday
party. Please do not send or bring whole cakes, candles,
balloons, gifts etc. If brought in, these items will be kept in the
office until the end of the day.
Also, remember that invitations to birthday parties should not
be distributed in class.
Thank you for your help maximizing your child’s valuable
learning time while at school.
If your child is
sick or will be
absent please
remember to call
the attendance
office at:
253.571.4302
JANUARY
1
4
5
6
7
8
11
12
13
14
15
TERRIFIC KIDS
ASSEMBLY
2:30PM
WAIVER DAY
NO SCHOOL
18
19
20
MARTIN LUTHER
KNIG JR DAY
21
22
KINDERGARTEN
REGESTRATION
OPEN HOUSE
NO SCHOOL
5:30-6:30PM
25
26
27
28
29
MARTIN LUTHER
KING JR
ASSEMBLY
FEBRUARY
25th– JUMP ROPE FOR HEART
8