River Woods Mission Statement
The River Woods School Community strives for excellence by engaging learners
in meaningful experiences designed to meet the needs of all.
January 2014
2013-14
RW Average Daily Attendance
RIVER WOODS EAGLES ARE SAFE, RESPONSIBLE & RESPECTFUL!
River Woods Elementary School DMPS
December 1—19: 95.4%
November 1—22: 95.4%
October 14—29: 96.3%
Great American Reading Rewards Program
River Woods will be participating in the Reading
Rewards Program again this year. To participate,
families simply fill out and return the coupon
books to River Woods—Great American takes care
of the rest!
Monies generated by magazine sales from Great
American for River Woods will again be used to purchase new reading materials for our students.
Thank you!
Attendance
It is very important that your child be in school
every day! It is just as important for all children to
be here ON TIME. Our school day begins at 8:35
A.M. and ends at 3:20 P.M., and students are learning
from bell to bell.
Attendance is tracked by minutes, so late arrivals to
school and early pick-ups from school affect a
student’s attendance record.
Breakfast is served 8:00—8:20 A.M. Students who
are not eating breakfast at school should not arrive
before 8:25 A.M. There is no supervision for
students before 8:00 A.M., so students should
not be sent to school before that time!
Children at school before 8:00 A.M. must be enrolled in the Metro Kids Child Care Program (2427951).
Health Concerns
Our school nurse, Carole Voorhis, is in the building from
8:00 A.M.– 3:45 P.M. daily. Please contact her with questions or concerns about your child’s health (242-8433).
To prevent spreading illness at school, please keep your
child home if he/she has:
- An oral temperature of 100 degrees or more
- Vomiting or diarrhea
- Undiagnosed rashes
Children need to stay home for 24 hours after vomiting,
diarrhea or fever!
Please call the office when your child will be absent from
school! (242-8433)
Every Wednesday students will be
dismissed at 1:50.
Other dates to remember:
Date
Mon., Dec. 23 –
Wed, Jan. 1
Event
No Classes
Mon., Jan. 20
No Classes
Wed., Feb. 19 &
Wed., Feb. 26
Parent/Teacher
Conferences
Fri., Mar. 7–
Fri., Mar. 21
No Classes
Mon., April 21 –
Fri., April 25
No Classes
Mon., May 26
No Classes
Fri., May 30
Last Day—
Dismiss @ 12:20
Spring Break
April Break
Thurs.
Jan. 2
Fri.
Jan. 3
Mon.
Jan. 6
DAY 1
DAY 2
DAY 3
*Please remember gym shoes for P.E. days!
Background Check Required for
Volunteers with DMPS
Starting this year, our district is requiring
a background check for anyone
volunteering in our schools. You may
complete an application on the district
website (click the ‘careers’ tab).
Questions? Call our office at 242-8433
Bundle Up!
Please make sure that your child is
dressed warmly each day—students need
to stay warm and dry for safety and
comfort. Weather permitting (and the
blacktop is cleared), students will have
outdoor recess on days that the
temperature and wind chill are at
appropriate levels for outdoor
activities.
Persons with disabilities who need information about accessibility or who need sign or language interpreters,
please contact the Director of Student and Family Services,
(515) 242-7714.
Page 2
R IV E R WO OD S E L E ME N TA R Y SC HO OL D MPS
J A NU AR Y 20 1 4
RW CLASSROOM NEWS
Kindergarten News from Miss Woody
Kindergarteners in Miss Woody’s class are
learning to read and write sentences. We have
been working hard on learning our sight words
and recognizing them in books. We are
reading different versions of the gingerbread
man book and are going on a scavenger hunt
around the school to find our missing
gingerbread man.
games and lessons for all levels of math students, from
kindergarten through fifth grade, and beyond!
www.coolmath.com
www.fun4thebrain.com
www.abcya.com
www.coolmath-games.com
www.sumdog.com*
*students use their assigned log in code and password from school
Fast Math**
**students log into www.dmschools.org, ‘student’ tab, ‘
SMI’ assessment
1st Grade with Ms. Hart!
First grade has been working hard to learn how to
identify the difference between fiction and non-fiction
text. In both kinds of text we are discussing what the
author’s purpose is for writing the text. We know that an
author sometimes writes to inform us of information
about a specific topic, another reason could be to
persuade us to change our point of view, or the
author may just want to entertain us through his
writing. Knowing the author’s purpose helps your child
explore the text s/he are reading to better understand it.
In math students have been making counting strips to
practice writing their numbers and to recognize number
patterns. We’ve also been working on comparing
numbers through story problems. This helps your child
to identify how many more or how many less someone
might have.
Ms. French’s 4th Grade Class
Happy New Year from the 4th grade classes at
River Woods! Just in time for 2014 we are finishing up our
third math unit over geometry. The students have learned
all about angles, perimeter, area, and quadrilaterals!
Wish us luck as we prepare for our unit test!
Just before winter break we finished up our third
unit in reading. During the second week of January we will
be taking our unit test. The assessment will cover the
different text structures, main idea, and firsthand and
secondhand accounts. Your student may have also shared
his/her reading level with you recently; in December
teachers assessed student’s reading levels to measure
progress. Please encourage your students to continue to
choose books that are at their reading level and discuss
with you, at home, what they have read!
From Title Math
Math is an important part of every student’s school
day. It is also an important part of everyone’s daily
life. There are many fun websites that your students
can go to in order to practice their math skills. Here
are a few that we have used at school. They have
RW Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) NEWS
Our next meeting will be Jan. 7th @ 5:00 P.M.
in the River Woods Library!
Please remember to save your Campbell’s Soup and “Box
Tops for Education” labels again this year. You may turn
the labels in to the office at any time. Thank you!
Communication
We would like to remind you about the district’s
automated communication system (DMPS MESSENGER.)
We use this system to contact families about school events.
Voice messages will be sent to your telephone and
email (if provided.) Text messages are also an option—if
you are interested in receiving texts, you need to
complete a form in our office.
The telephone system is voice activated, so once your
telephone is answered you will hear the prerecorded
message. There may be a brief delay, so please wait for
the message! It is critical that we have updated phone
numbers for each family for this system to be effective!
Your telephone’s caller i.d. will show the school’s telephone
number for messages sent through our automated system.
However, for calls coming to your phone directly from the
school, your caller i.d. may only display the four digit number
of the school’s phone line that was used to place the call.
It is the policy of the Des Moines Public Schools to not illegally
discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender,
disability, religion, creed, age (for employment), marital status, (for
programs) sexual orientation, gender Identity, and socio-economic
status (for programs) in its educational programs and its employment
practices. There is a grievance procedure for processing complaints of
discrimination. If you have questions or a grievance related to this
policy please contact the District’s Equity Coordinator Patricia Lantz,
General Council, 901 Walnut Street, Des Moines, Iowa 50309,
515) 242-7837; email: [email protected]