Liberty Hill Elementary School

October 2005

A Note From the Principal:

Dear parents;

"A vowel is an open sound with voice." Did you know that? I was always taught that a vowel was an a, e, i, o, or u, and sometimes y. That was my simplistic understanding of vowels. But yesterday I went to listen to Louisa Moats, a linguist and author of materials for teachers, who taught us language essentials for teachers of reading and spelling. Regarding vowels she went on to say that there are 18 vowel sounds that we use in the English language. So, we have six possible symbols to use, but we have eighteen sounds. No wonder children take a while to learn to read, write, and spell. The encouraging thing to me was that our teachers in the audience were whispering the answers to her questions/exercises ahead of her. In other words, they knew this stuff. However, afterwards they told me how much they learned.

I see two important lessons in this. One, teachers are experts in both subject matter and teaching methodology. They are both specialists and generalists in that they teach many subjects, but their subject knowledge, especially the teaching of reading is very specific. The more I learn the more I respect their expertise. The second lesson is to remember that language skills cannot be acquired overnight, and we shouldn't expect our children to read immediately. Even the child who learns the sound-symbol relationship quickly and “reads” still needs to learn to comprehend what is he is able to “read”. Many words that novice readers can “call” are not fully understood and must be learned through the reading of many books and passages before true reading takes place. Many times we assume that because the student can call a word that the knowledge of the meaning is there, but indeed, it is not. This is one reason teachers are hesitant to move students quickly through the AR grade equivalencies.

Regards,

Larry Nicholson,
Elementary Principal

Dessert & Talent Night
3 nights
2nd grade: Monday October 17
1st Grade: Tuesday October 18
Kindergarten: Thursday October 20

We will have Music and P.E. performances, an Art Exhibit and Dessert in the cafeteria. Your child will show you what he/she has been working on in Music, P.E. and Art since school has started. This night will be fun for everyone, so please try to attend. The money raised from this night’s event will be used in the Music, Art, and P.E. classrooms to help us further enrich the quality of what we teach in the classroom. Money will be spent on needed equipment, materials, music, etc…

We will need donations for desserts. Mrs. Freeman, Elementary volunteer coordinator, will be requesting donations from parents.

Tickets are $2 per adult and $1.00 per child. Your maximum cost will be $5 per family.

See the Schedule of Performances at the end of this newsletter.

Character Education

Through the school year we will learn about six different character traits. Our character education traits are respect, responsibility, honesty, compassion, perseverance and teamwork. The students will learn what each trait is and why it is important to exhibit these traits. We will be hearing about these during our morning announcements as well as in our classrooms.

Love and Logic

The following are some excerpts from Discipline with Love and Logic by Jim Fay and Foster W. Cline, M.D. Our faculty has begun study sessions using this curriculum.

“The four basic principles of Discipline with Love and Logic are:
1. The student’s self-concept is always a prime consideration. Love and Logic teaches us to be aware of the unstated and implied messages that either enhance or reduce self-concept. Before we change the behavior, we must first change the self-concept.
2. The child is always left with a feeling that he/she has some control. Teachers learn to replace demands with alternatives.
3. An equal balance of consequences and empathy replaces punishment whenever possible. The best lessons are learned when the consequence is experienced with an equal balance of understanding and empathy on the part of the adult.
4. The student is required to do more thinking than the adult. It is far easier to maintain firm limits and expectations through the use of thinking words rather than through the use of fighting words.”

Message from the Library

Library books are a very valuable part of our school and the students are learning they need to take care of them. Some students have experienced library books with torn pages. Food and water bottles that have been left in backpacks with their books and this can and does cause damage to the books. Sometimes the books cannot be repaired.

Luckily we have a great group of volunteers who help keep the books repaired and on the shelves. We would like to thank everyone who has helped support the library.

Some students keep a plastic zip lock bag in their backpacks to store their library books in. This is a great idea to keep your books dry

Parents, students and staff of the Primary Campus enjoy the aquarium in the library. We do appreciate the donations of filters and food for the fish in the library aquarium.

Happy Reading
From Your Library Staff
Ms. Larson and Mrs. O’Dell

Red Ribbon Week

We will be celebrating Red Ribbon Week the week of October 24-28. The themes each day will be used for all campuses district wide.

Monday – “Drugs turn you inside out” Wear your clothes inside out.
Tuesday – “Drugs and I don’t mix” Wear mis-matched clothes.
Wednesday – “RED HOT against drugs” Wear red clothes.
Thursday – “Sock it to Drugs” Wear crazy socks.
Friday – “Lei off drugs” Wear Hawaiian shirts/clothes and I will provide the Lei’s.

Smile…It’s Picture Day

Tuesday, October 11 will be picture day. Everyone will have their picture taken for yearbook purposes. If you want to order pictures you MUST PREPAY. An order form will be sent home with your student. Picture retakes for those absent on that day will be on Nov. 15.

Halloween Parade

The Halloween Parade will be on Oct 31 beginning at 8:15 am. The parade should last about 30 min. All children are welcome to participate in the Halloween Costume Parade. However, please do not send your child with any item that resembles a weapon (toy or otherwise). This would include but not limited to toy guns, sticks, swords, etc…

Face painting and colored hair is to be limited and capable of being removed following the parade. Any costume that might cause a disruption to normal instruction time must be removed after the parade. Parents, please sign in at the office when you come to see the parade.

Morning Car Line Drop Off

When you are within 5 or 6 cars from the front of the line and the greeters are busy, please have your child go ahead and exit your car if he/she is able to do so. This will help speed up the line and prevent some tardies. Also, remind the children to step behind the yellow line on the walkway, this prevents a child stepping off the curb into traffic. When the greeters come into the building, they lock the doors behind them, so please bring tardy children to the front and have them stop in the office.

Changes to Afternoon Transportation

If you need to change the way your child leaves from school, whether it’s a change from car rider to bus rider or vise versa, please contact the office by 2:30 the afternoon of the requested change. If you are putting them on a bus we must have the bus number and physical address that they'll be going to. We would appreciate your cooperation in this matter.