It has been a fast and furious 1st 6 weeks and we are well into our 2nd 6 weeks. We have lots to celebrate as classes are running smoothly and students are in routines. We have our first students of character for kindness. We have our Courtesy Crew up and running where students help with the younger students in unloading cars, walking to class, and helping them get breakfast. We also have our RRC up and running, which is our welcome committee. Two students in each class are trained on how to be a friend to new students to Ross. We feel this helps students acclimate to Ross, making them feel welcomed and a part of our school family.
We recruited some fathers to volunteer through our Watch DOGS program. You will see them helping with lunch and recess as well as dismissal. It’s always exciting to see Dads getting involved and our students LOVE to see Dads around the building. If you are a father figure and are interested in Watch DOGS, please reach out to Toi Davis at toi.davis@bryanisd.org.
We had a wonderful event sponsored by our PTO recently. Family Game Night was a huge success. We hope you were able to attend and have quality time with our school family. Our PTO would love to have you volunteer with them. Please consider attending our PTO meetings the first Tuesday of every month.
Attendance Matters
We celebrated our Exemplary Attendance students with lunch at a special table and an ice cream treat. Students had a great time with their friends enjoying each others company and, of course, they loved the ice cream. In order to participate, students cannot have more than 1 absence during the 6 weeks and 2 tardies or early pick ups.
On Mondays, we put all students names who had perfect attendance the week before into a drawing. We draw a few names from each grade level at lunch for random prizes such as toys, gift cards and snacks.
We are currently at 96% attendance. We would love to be at 97%. Anything that you can do to support attendance is appreciated.
Maker Space
We have added maker space on Fridays. It is enrichment, team building, and involves challenging students thinking. For example, if they are learning about predators in science, on Friday they may be challenged to create a predator out of random items to accurately display the predators features. We know maker space will expand students abilities to be creative and problem solvers.
Sleep Requirements for Children
A reminder about how much sleep our students need in order to be primed and ready to learn. We often have sleepy students who struggle to concentrate. Sometimes misbehavior can be attributed to sleepiness. Please ensure your children get lots of rest. Make sure that technology is not accessible to students. Some have been known to wake up in the night and watch TV or play video games.
- preschool (3–5 years): 10–13 hours, including naps.
- school-age (6–13 years): 9–12 hours.
- teens (14–17 years): 8–10 hours.
Classroom Snacks
Thank you to parents for sending snacks to school. Students do get hungry in the mornings and afternoons. We would like to focus on healthy snacks at Ross so that the food is helping students concentrate. Unhealthy snacks such as potato chips or Cheetos do not nourish the body and therefore can leave students irritable and unable to focus on learning. Food really does matter. Here are some suggested snacks for the classroom. I am sure there are more options but these can help get you started.
- Fresh fruit
- Fresh Vegetables
- Fat-free or Low fat yogurt
- Dried fruit with no added sugar
- Raisins
- Whole grain crackers/chips
- Cheese
- Popcorn w/out too much butter
- Whole grain cereal bars
- Nuts (pending no allergies)
Verbal Threats
Unfortunately we live in a time where threats, even from elementary students, must be taken seriously. Please visit with students about the importance of not making threats of any kind. Our counselor, Ms. Davis, has visited with classes about the seriousness of threatening to harm oneself and threatening to harm others. Reinforcing this at home will go a long way in curbing this type of behavior. Let’s teach students alternative words such as I am very angry about ______________. I am frustrated and need a break. Every classroom has a safe place where students can regain their composure. Let’s work together to help our students word their frustrations in a more appropriate manner.
The B Safe App
The B Safe App is an anonymous reporting tool. If you or your child do not feel comfortable reporting an incident to an adult at Ross you can use the App. Telling an adult is the best form of reporting so that we can immediately take action. However, sometimes there are cases where you want your identity hidden.
The B Safe App is available to students on their Classlink dashboards. Parents can download the app to their phones as well.