K-4 Connection
Partners in Education
February-March 2017
From the Principal’s Desk
Greetings Swather Families,
Parent/Teacher Conferences
Thank you families for taking time to meet with your child’s teacher at Parent Teacher Conferences on February 20. Communication between home and school is key to improving academic
achievement, as well as supporting and motivating each student in the classroom. Families
can support these efforts at home by establishing homework routines and reading with their
child. In addition, helping your child master addition and subtraction facts in grades K-2 and
multiplication and division facts in grades 3 and 4 assists them as they learn to solve complex math problems. We applaud your efforts and know it takes both school and home to
make the biggest impact on student learning. Thank you for your support!
Kansas State Assessments:
Third and Fourth Grade students have been preparing all year to take the Kansas State Assessments. These assessments are designed to measure student proficiency against the
Kansas College and Career Readiness Standards. Assessments start April 3 and run
through April 21. Students will be tested in areas of English language arts and math. These
important assessments allow teachers, parents, and students to see what skills have been
mastered throughout the year. We ask for parent support in helping your child get plenty of
sleep, eat a good breakfast, and encourage them to give their best effort. These assessments will occur during the morning hours, so as you schedule appointments please keep this
in mind. If you have further questions, please check with your child’s teacher.
Testing Dates:
April 3-6: English Language Arts - Grades 3 and 4
April 18-21: Math - Grades 3 and 4
Community Recreation Project
The Community Recreation Project remains on schedule for our new facilities. Bids have gone
out and are scheduled to be finalized the beginning of March. We are looking forward to construction beginning later this spring.
(continued on next page)
Hesston Elementary School
300 E Amos Hesston, KS 67062
620-327-7102
Web Site: es.hesstonschools.org
620-327-7153 fax
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K-4 Connection
From the Principal (continued)
Drop Off/Pick Up
Please help the drop off/ pick up line move efficiently by not leaving your vehicle unattended. If
you need to leave your car, you will need to park in the lot or street. Another reminder for everyone’s safety, please Do Not use the mailbox parking between the exit and the alley as a
drop off zone.
Keep up with us on Twitter. Join us at #HESSwathers to see activities and classroom happenings. Thank you to all our Watch Dogs, parents and families for your continued support.
It is a privilege to work with your child(ren). If you have questions or concerns, please contact
me or your child’s teacher.
Alisa Krehbiel
Team I
Mrs. Tammy Gunden Mrs. Danae Kaufman Mrs. Valarie Nickell
We have started the semester with a lot of exciting events! At the end of January we celebrated Kansas Day with a fair where kids got to see a lot of pioneer type activities. Kids got
to see bread making, butter making, quilting, a one room schoolhouse and homemade ice
cream along with several others. Kids went through 15 stations that highlighted pioneer
times in Kansas. Ask your student which one was their favorite! We have also celebrated the
100th day of school. Students enjoyed a variety of 100th day activities, like sharing 100 collections, reading 100th day of school books and challenge activities. This week we've been
learning about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln in celebration of President's Day.
In Reading kids are really starting to make progress. Remember to be looking for reading baggies as kids might be bringing them home for practice. The best way to get better at reading
is to READ, READ, READ! Keep practicing those sight words at home and if you need another
copy just let a teacher know!
In Math we are starting a new unit on shapes, ask your student about open and closed
shapes as well as a shape's attributes. We are also continuing to work on math facts within
10. Your help with those at home is critical. If your student has mastered addition and subtraction within 10, move on to facts within 20.
Spring is such a fun time to be in First Grade; their learning is taking off and they are reaping
the rewards of their hard work. Thank you for all the hard work that is being done at home
with reading and math facts, it really does make a difference!
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Counselor
K-4 Connection
Miss Chelle Tedrow
Hello HES Families and Friends!
WOW! This has been an awesome beginning to 2017!
Counselor time during Wheel in December and January was focused on the character traits of
Caring, Kindness, and Friendship. We did science experiments that showed us about relationships between elements, and how changing just one thing in the experiment can make a huge
difference in the outcome. We took a pie tin and added a little bit of milk which represented
HES. Then we put drops of food coloring into the milk, representing the students, staff, and
parents at school. The final ingredient, representing each one of us as individuals, was a Q-Tip
soaked in dish soap. We talked about how one person can make a difference in the world, because even one act of kindness can have lasting effects. As students placed the tip of their
Q-Tips into the solution, they immediately saw positive effects of bursting colors and swirling
designs that bumped into each other and made beautiful and unique works of art! Excitement
filled the room, and discussions about paying it forward, having caring conversations, noticing
acts of kindness around us, and doing nice things for others, saying thank you to others, and
asking someone if you can help them, helped us see that Kindness Matters.
We accepted The Great Kindness Challenge, and during the week of January 23-27, our entire
school focused on noticing acts of kindness, and challenged ourselves with seeing how many
acts of kindness we could perform during that week. The students had a great time during the
week. Some did projects at home with the Kindness Matters theme, took pictures and emailed
them to us. Several kids were sad on that Friday that the week was coming to a close, but the
right time for Kindness is always right now, so we aren’t going to stop being kind because the
week is over. It was a week of fun activities that enhanced our kind and caring learning environment. At last count, we had a total of 3,666 acts of kindness at HES during that week. It
was an awesome week.
During the next couple of months, classroom counseling sessions will focus on Honesty, Citizenship, Safety, Perseverance, Careers, and Transitions to the next big thing!
Thank you for all of your support and helping us reach our Great Kindness Challenge goals...We
truly have been able to see that Kindness Matters on so many levels.
Chelle Tedrow, LCPC
HES Counselor
K-4 Connection
Hesston Elementary Parents = H.El.P.
Our January Movie night (101 Dalmatians) was a blast!! Thank you to all that attended and
helped make it successful. Events like this just are not possible without you!
Don't forget Trash Bag pick-up is at the Bus Barn on March 10 from 3-5 pm. And thank you
to everyone that ordered Trash Bags. The money raised stays right here at our school to help
support our activities ( such as Movie Night, Christmas Concert, Daddy/Daughter Dance,
Mother/Son Nite of Fun, etc) Christmas gifts to Teachers and Students, teacher supplies,
etc.
A couple of dates you might want to mark on your calendar are: the next 2 H.El.P. meetings
on March 13 and April 10 at 5 pm. We'd love to have you join us! And Spring parties are
on Thursday, April 13th at 2:40.
The 'big' event coming up is the Father/Daughter Dance on April 28 from 7-8 pm so clear the
dates now Dads! This is a fun and free event so please join us!! There will be pictures, songs,
dancing, silliness, and lots and lots of memories. Please, please join us! Moms, unfortunately
this is for Dads only, sorry! We promise to take lots of pictures to share with you!
Congrats to our HES Swather Superhero students for their RECORD participation in Box
Tops submissions this spring. We had 115 students submit labels or UPCs this spring alone!
WOW!!! Now we are down to our final 2 months of collecting Box Tops for Education, Tyson
Project A+, and Sunny D UPCs for this school year! May 1st will be the final deadline for
counting towards prizes this year. The Superhero Mission Award Patrol will be visiting classrooms soon to give individual and class prizes earned in the spring collection period. Will Mrs. Bucklin's class retain the BTE Traveling Trophy
or will it travel to another class for March & April? We will know very
soon!
Thanks for helping to make this school Awesome!
From the Office
You will notice that there are only updates from Team I and Art in this K-4.
Teams take turns in the K-4 newsletter to be in the spotlight to share what
they have been doing in the classroom. This varies from Team to Team
throughout the course of the school year.
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K-4 Connection
Kindergarten Round-Up
Monday, April 3rd, 2017
1:45 pm at Hesston Elementary School
Any child who will be 5 years of age on or before August 31, 2017 is eligible to
attend Kindergarten. Parents and children are invited to attend round-up.
Kindergarten round-up allows children an opportunity to meet the teachers and visit classrooms. Parents will attend an informal session and meet the staff.
*Things to bring: Your Child’s Birth Certificate, Immunization Records, and your child’s Social
Security Number.
If you have questions, please call the school at (620)327-7102.
S.W.A.G.
IS BACK!
SWAG (Swather Walkers Achieving Greatness) will return
MONDAY, February 27th.
Students will be given the opportunity to par cipate in this
walking/running program at recess-it is completely op onal. Through the
program students can earn rewards at certain mile markers and a er they
reach 50 miles they can earn a shirt!
Students have been trained in the program and it will last 8 weeks. We
have talked about staying hydrated and stretching as a part of their SWAG
rou ne.
If you have any ques ons about SWAG feel free to contact Mrs. Coker or
Nurse Tammi any me!
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K-4 Connection
ART
Mrs. Shea Neufeld
I hope Art continues to be a highlight for your child each week. We have been working on so
many wonderful projects. We have learned we are not all artists, however, as their teacher, I’m
always looking for students who are trying their personal best! Art can be fun, hands-on,
messy, exciting, social, and many other potentially new and sometimes out of the ordinary experiences. Thank you for allowing me to invest in your child. Who knows, one of them may be the
next Leonardo Da Vinci or Pablo Picasso.
A
rtists at HES– displayed artwork throughout the hallways and display cabinet; Pop Art,
Cardinals, Silhouettes, clay handprints, the Cat and the Hat portrait.
R
ecreating “Farbstudie Quadrate” by Wassily Kandinsky with 1st grade.
T
eaching one-point perspective while drawing a city with 4th grade.
W
O
orking on self-portraits for their Famous Americans with 2nd grade.
pportunity in 2nd-4th grade to create clay projects thanks to The Hesston
Community Foundation.
R
eading “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” By Dr. Seuss while designing a hot air balloon with 3rd
grade.
K
indergarten creates coffee filter art with the tie dye effect.
March 10– Trash Bag Pick-up 3-5 pm at
the Bus Barn
March 13 —HElP Meeting,
SITE Council Meeting,
BOE Meeting
March 14– Last Good News Club
March 20-24—NO School– Spring Break
April 14—No School– Holiday
Meal Prices for March—18 Meals
HES meals are the same as HMS and HHS meals—can be found on
USD 460’s website or in the Hesston Record
Full Pay
Lunch—$45.00
Breakfast—$33.30
Reduced
Lunch—$ 7.20
Breakfast—$ 5.40
Extra Milk—$ .35
Guest Prices—$ 3.50
ATTENTION LUNCH VISITORS!!
Our students love having guests in the lunchroom. If you would like to eat lunch with your
student, please take the following steps:
1—Call the school by 8:30am to let us know you’re coming, so the cooks can be prepared.
2—Please stop in the office for a visitor’s pass before heading to the lunchroom.
3—Please bring exact change and pay in the lunch line.
All guest meals are $3.50 each. Thank you and enjoy your lunch!