Concord Elementary School
Newsletter
October 2015
Principal’s News
Laura Anderson, Ed.D., Principal
Concord Elementary School Celebrates October Kindness Month
Inside this issue:
Girl With A Cape
Assembly
2
Prekindergarten
Family Day
3
First Grade
Native American
3
Principal’s ABC
Recognition
4
Important
Reminders
5
Arrival/Dismissal 6
Reminders
Upcoming Events

10/30 Report Cards Issued

11/3-11/6 PTC Book Fair

11/5-11/6 Parent Teacher
Conferences

11/6 NO SCHOOL
Conferences

11/9 NO SCHOOL
Veteran’s Day

11/12 PTC Family Game
Night 6:00-8:00 p.m.

11/19 Third Grade Music
Program

11/25-11/27 NO SCHOOL
Thanksgiving Break
Concord Elemenary School students celebrated acts of kindness during the month of
October. Here were several of the featured activities that took place.
The Girl with a Cape: Concord Elementary School welcomed local author Amy
Logan to share her book series with our students. Logan’s story focuses on a little
girl who wears a leopard scarf as her cape.
In doing so, she transforms herself into a
superhero who then uses her everyday
interactions to impart kindness unto others.
The students participated in hearing the
author read these books as well as
meaningful discussions that followed. Check
out www.gotyourcape.com for more
information about the author and her books.
Kindness…Pass it on! As a follow up activity to the Girl with a Cape assembly,
Concord’s PE/Fine Arts/Social-Emotional
Learning Team hosted each grade level to
participate in a kindness promoting exercise.
Each student was given the challenge to pass
on an act of kindness to someone at Concord.
As they wrote down and role-played their
ideas, their written acts of kindness were then
displayed into a rainbow of kindness.
Red Ribbon Week: At the end of this month, schools nationally celebrate Red
Ribbon Week and how to stay drug-free. Our students will learn about the history
of this special week as well as take part in a variety of activities promoting
healthy choices in their Skills for Learning, Physical Education, Fine Arts, and
Learning Center classes.
And although October is coming to an end, we want to encourage all students to
continue the theme of kindness and pass it on!
Page 2
Concord Elementary School Newsletter
A Girl With A Cape Assembly
On Friday, October 9 children's author Amy Logan visited
Concord Elementary School to read her book A Girl With
A Cape and spoke to students about how they can be
superheroes by spreading kindness through words and
actions.
The book is about a girl who believes that she has the
power to make a difference by being kind and uses her
scarf as a cape to represent her power. As the girl's week
progresses she fails to see the greater good in the simple
acts of kindness that she performs. On Thursday she gives
up and quits until her mother explains how her random
acts of kindness had a positive effect on people, many
that the girl did not see and does not even know. The
mother says, "You ARE a superhero, your WORDS are
your cape. When you say kind things, it makes people
feel great."
Amy read the book to the students and then explained that every person has the power to make a difference,
regardless of how young and small they are. Simple acts of kindness add up to great things by paying it forward.
She explained to the students how they can make a difference and demonstrated the process with a playground ball.
She chose students to stand up and as they passed the ball to each other they needed to say something nice to the
next student. The students were then asked how it made them feel. They replied that they felt happy inside and Amy
explained that is how the kindness starts. She also explained that a single Lego® brick can build nothing, but when
the bricks add up, the possibilities are endless. Each simple act of kindness is a brick and as the acts grow in number,
so do the number of bricks. The students are only limited by their imaginations.
Amy created a Movement, Rock the Cape! wherein we are Creating Action with Positive Encouragement to help
Create A Positive Environment. As she states of her web page,
"When we teach children to use kindness when they speak, and when we encourage kids by focusing on the
positive things they do and say, we raise a generation of confident kids that feel good about themselves,
and kids then learn to treat people the exact same way. When this happens, it eliminates bullies. Essentially,
with encouragement, we are creating action in people to create a positive environment."
Each student was given a Kindness-A-Thon Reflection sheet for homework and they were to: make three people smile,
compliment three people, and do three kind deeds for people. They recorded what they did, how it made those
people feel, how they themselves feel, and what difference it made. Students also filled out an activity sheet about
what is SUPER about them and they colored their own capes on either boy or girl sheets. Finally they signed the Rock
the Cape! Pledge that they do and say kind things.
In addition to reading the first book, I also read her second, A Girl With A Cape and Her Jar Full of Pennies to the
students to further enforce how something so small and insignificant as a penny can add up to greatness. This message
will tie in with the pennies we collect this school year for the charity project chosen by Helen Park and Amy Malone.
The children will be able to see in their individual classrooms how the penny jars add up and will turn into toys for less
fortunate children in other countries.
The library also received a copy of her first two books. Her third book was just released this past week and her
fourth book, A Boy With A Cape is in the creation process.
Additional information and activities are available on her website http://www.gotyourcape.com .
Page 3
Concord Elementary School Newsletter
Prekindergarten Family Day
Families enjoy Prekindergarten Family
Day
Prekindergarten families participated in our second Family
Day on Friday, October 9, 2015. Family Days, a regularly
scheduled parent and child learning opportunity, features
various educational opportunities which enhance the
Prekindergarten program. This month’s even featured hands
on learning games that promote literacy development. At this
family day parents learned some easy/practical ideas about
literacy development that they can use at home to help
develop their child’s cognitive development. At the close of the
event, each child was able to take home a book of their own.
A Behind the Scenes Look at Native American Day...
Thanks to our PTC who so kindly funds our Native American Day each year and our parent volunteers
who helped out with some of the day’s activities! Once again our day was a huge success and offered
an authentic learning experience to our first graders! The children created a parfleche, danced at a
powwow, created a Native American painting, played Native American games, sat in a teepee, and
were mesmerized by the storytelling of Jon Jordan, a Lakota Native American.
Before all of this could take place, teachers and students alike were busy
preparing for this day. The students were studying and investigating the
transportation, shelter, clothing, and food of the Plains Indians. They were writing
Native American stories on “buffalo hides” using symbols rather than words.
Thanks to the use of our Discovery Box provided by the Matthew Voss
Foundation and Mrs. Voss (our retired Physical Education Teacher), the children
held bones of a buffalo, touched buffalo fur, unraveled sinew, and held many
other authentic items that once were a part of the Plains Indians culture. Mr.
Kirchen and Mr. Damrow had to dust off their moccasins and prepare to teach
our first graders the corn dance, the rain dance, and the inter-tribal dance. These
two have also become experts on the symbolism and importance of nature that is
involved in the Native American culture. Mrs. Brncich has become an authority on
the decorative facet of Native American cultures, and brings to life, with her
storytelling talents, why corn has the golden silk on it. If you happen to see her,
ask her to tell you the story!
While our Native American Day is now over, our learning is not. The students will
continue studying other Native American cultures in regions throughout the United
States. Many new discoveries await our first graders over the next three weeks!
Page 4
Concord Elementary School Newsletter
Principal’s ABC Recognition
The purpose of this program is to recognize and support students for demonstrating our school beliefs in strong
Academic performance and good Behavior and Character. The following students were chosen by their
teachers for the months of September and October.
KINDERGARTEN FIRST GRADE
Leonardo North
Alex Bryant
Mateo Cordova J’Lani Mendez
Natalia DeHaan Camryn Beringer
Simas Mockus
Bella Evers
Caroline Nash
Lucy Foerster
Layan Qaddoura
Emileigh
Gallagher
Madison Witucki
Orion Christman Tasanee Hilsen
Mina Lin
Damian Lopez
Keshav Menon
Kavyaa Naveen
Jillian Ockrim
Josie Krown
Teagan O’Connor Kaden Ewins
Lincoln Glasgow
Alixandra Smith
Yusra Hussain
Leya Nair
Blake Levine
Kaneez Syed
Connor Caldwell
Grayson Rupsis
Wanghao Li
Miabella Porro
Kajal Kapur
Natalie Martin
Sara Delurgio
SECOND GRADE
Anna Wilcox
Elliot Davis
Antonio Bosiljanov
Abdur Rahmaan
Christian DeSalvo
Diana Elhrisse
Riya Prasad
Asmitha Pallath
Sydney
Absalonsen
Kayla Ayala
Jessica Aillon
Kris Gallegos
Andrew Bishop
Jackson Dybcio
Samanta
Linceviciute
Andrea Nastali
Naxin Yang
THIRD GRADE
Kaden Alavi
Niko Villagomez
Andrea Crisp
Tijana
Samardzjia
Ylli Ajdini
Collin Caldwell
Kamile Zinis
Joshua Yoon
Hailey Radicker
MacKenzie
Schlossberg
Benciana Lewen
Brody Hallman
Natalia Cruz
Lukas Didzgalvis
Olivia Ruffolo
Sam Rallo
Peyton Drouin
Davin Frasco
Max Wyderski
Abby
Wolniakowski
Devin Casey
Natalie
Bretthauer
Caitlin Fisher
FOURTH GRADE
Annika Nicol
Ella DeGuzman
Sam Johnson
Landon Schroeder
Morgan
Zaliauskas
Mateo Cruz
Hailey Bishop
Mason White
Adrian Folfas
A.G. Wilcox
Brookelyn Baur
Ashley Berg
Kelsey Pettry
Evan Choisser
Austin Young
Jill Patel
Page 5
Concord Elementary School Newsletter
REPORT CARDS
Report cards will be issued October 30. Included with the first quarter report cards you will also receive, if applicable to your child’s grade level, NWEA results.
PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCES
If you did not sign up for Parent-Teacher Conferences on Curriculum Night, please contact your child’s teacher
to set up an appointment.
Parent-Teacher Conferences will be held on November 5 from 3:00-8:00 p.m. and on November 6 from
12:00-5:00 p.m. There will be NO SCHOOL on November 6 for students.
Concord Elementary School First Grade students tape their acts of kindness on the rainbow of kindness.
STARTING SCHOOL ON TIME IS IMPORTANT
As part of their daily routine and learning process, it is critical that students attend school on a regular basis as
well as be on time.
The beginning of the day is so very important for learning to occur in a positive, developmentally appropriate
manner. When a child is consistently tardy, it is disruptive not only to your child, but to the other students and
the overall learning environment.
Please ensure that your child arrives at Concord Elementary School in time for their classes no later than 8:10
a.m. each day. The car rider line starts at 8:00 a.m. each day and is always moving so that the students can get
to class on time. Once in a while, due to weather or unsafe road conditions, the Concord Elementary School staff
intentionally slows down the car rider line to help ensure the safety of everyone. When this occurs, no students
are recorded as tardy for that day.
Page 6
Concord Elementary School Newsletter
Arrival/Dismissal Reminders
We would like to remind you of important procedures that we have in place to help us provide for
the safety of students.
 All students must arrive at school between 8:00-8:15 a.m. and enter through the front or the gym
doors. Any student arriving at or after 8:15 a.m. will be marked tardy.
 When picking up your children in the car rider line after school you need to have the “Concord”
sign displayed in your car with the students names written on it. Please leave the sign displayed in
your window until your child is in the car safely.
 Prekindergarten students will be picked up by the gym doors. Please go through the normal car
rider line and make a right hand turn to go to the back parking lot.
 If you need to change how your student is to go home on or before afternoon dismissal please
send a note in the morning or call the office prior to 2:00 p.m. each day. Please do not email the
teacher without also calling the office as teachers do not always have planning time to check
email throughout the day.
 If your child attends B.A.S.E. afterschool you will need to wait until dismissal procedures are
completed at 2:50 p.m. and then please sign your child out on the provided sheet from B.A.S.E.
Thank you for following these important safety procedures.
Follow Cass School District on Twitter
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