The Counselor’s Corner-
A Message from Ms. Voegele
Happy Fall, Everyone! It seems like the first few months of the school year have flown by. We are now welcoming the month of November. It’s time wrap up in winter coats and gloves, especially during the early morning hours. I hope yourfamily enjoyed a relaxing fall break.
Locust Grove will be a very busy place the weeks of November. The end of a trimester always brings progress reports and parent-teacher conference time. You will hear soon about conferences from your child’s teacher. We as a staff encourage you to contact your child’s teacher to set up an appointment for a conference, as soon as the teacher shares the information with you about scheduling. Collaboration between home and school is an essential part of your child’s academic and social growth. Feel free to let me know if you have any concerns that arise during or after speaking with your child’s teacher. I’ll be happy to offer assistance in any way I can. Conferences are also great for seeing examples of your child’s work, discovering scores on various academic assessments and assisting the teacher to plan goals for your child to accomplish this school year.
First, before sharing what November holds for the students, a few words of thanks are in order. The parent volunteerism at Locust Grove has been wonderful this school year. A huge thank you to the following:
· Thank you to the Locust Grove PTA and the Oldham County Challengers for supporting Red Ribbon Week this year. Our PTA purchased the red ribbons sent home with children and all of the prizes awarded. Each student in the school earned a special prize to take home this year. The Challengers Organization donated $50 to use toward the purchase of ribbons. We as a staff have encouraged your children to make healthy choices for their growing bodies, and although Red Ribbon Week has concluded, encourage them to make healthy choices all the year through. Special thanks to Anne Ely for providing assistance by contacting the Challengers program with our grant proposal.
· Thank you to those parents respecting our car line procedures in the morning. The orange cones are placed in the middle of the road to make the drive ONE LINE. Please do not pull around the car in front of you. This is for the safety of each student climbing out of their cars. We appreciate your patience.
· Also, please follow the new traffic expectations distributed before fall break and on Monday, October 26th. If you need a copy of our car line rules, please contact me and I’ll send you a copy.
· Thank you to parents who’ve written their child’s name inside their coats and sweatshirts. Our lost and found is full of items that are too nice to be donated to the Good Will! If your child has recently lost a jacket, sweatshirt, etc., please stop by the office to see if it’s one of the many piling up!
· Thank you to our wonderful PTA for organizing and implementing our Fall Festival! Our PTA board did a wonderful job (as always) and we thank you for your hard work. Amy Weiss, we appreciate you so much!
· And thank you to our families that donated candy and treats for our Trick-Or-Treat night. Without your donations, that night would not have been possible!
Now, on to the information about what’s up next this month. Beginning soon will be a food drive of canned and boxed goods for families in the Oldham County community for the holidays. Is it really that time already!?! The food drive will start on November 9th and end on December 11th. We would appreciate any donations you have to offer. It’s our hope that all students will participate by bringing in 1-3 items apiece. There will be two tables in the lobby where the food will be collected. I’ll be looking for student helpers to assist with the food drive, so have your child contact me if they’d like to help.
If your family would like to donate money toward the purchase of perishable items for the Christmas baskets, please send your check to me (payable to the South Oldham Inter Church Council). I will forward your check to the president of the council, Bobbie Stoess. She has already contacted me about this year’s collection. The donated funds are used to purchase turkeys, bread, apples, potatoes, milk, etc.
Congratulations to each student listed below for having been chosen as a “Mega Skill Student of the Month.” The students learned about our first Mega Skill, teamwork, during September. Teachers selected students from their classes that demonstrated that skill during class time. Each student’s name was read on the newscast and they were presented with a certificate. The month of October’s Mega Skill is motivation. Spend some time at home discussing the importance of motivation and how your children demonstrate motivation in day to day activities.
Again, congratulations to the following students:
Early Primary-
Luke Simpson, Ethan Mutchler, Trenton Dietrich, Brian Monteleone, Lainey Thomas, Tricia Johnson, Kimberly McGaughey, Caden Hoffman, Bailey Fisher, Hayden Burgess, Rachel Grigg, Adleigh Mayes, Allie Viney, Blake Wainer, Lee Reisch, Aaron Shaffer, Elise Mittlestat, Chad Phillips, Katie Mushkin, Erick Ramirez, Izzy Stodghill, Jamie Dake, Ella Shaffer, Scott Monteleone, Alandra Carroll
Upper Primary-
Carson Deckard, Garrett Walsh, Bayleigh Richardson, Koby Thomas, Caleb Berry, Sidney Salvadalena, Lane Cheatham, Lauren Heelan, Elijah Skaggs, Madison Petter, Kendall Shaffer, Andres Vazquez, Ivan Roblero, Baylee Perry, Taylor Jackson, Jake McClintic, Shelby Scanlon, Grant Shinn, Allison Ward-Martin, Jacob Buechele, Charlie Yonts, Luke Miller, Matthew Duvall, Jackson Deckard, Tristan Boney, Aubree Alford, Anthony Asay
Intermediate-
McKenzie Logsdon, Abbey Morgan, Aron Gonzalez, Morgan Jemtrud, Ashley Spillman, Emily Smith, Skyler Hewett, James Kotcamp, Makenzie Hargan, Chris Whitmer, Haley Cuzick, Kelsey Kasischke, Austin Volz, Kim Kukla, Chase Heid, Trevor Gurr, Meg Blackford, Taylor Sheller, Nathan Willey, Allison Lentz, Ryan Heelan, Shelby Hargan, Jessica Watson
Also, I have incorporated the Jump-Start! program into our newscast production three days a week. The program focuses on the school as a whole and emphasizes behaviors that cultivate and support respect, friendship, individuality and compassion. Daily lessons include inspirational role models, fun and lively skits and goals to achieve at home/in school teach and reinforce positive behaviors. In order to prevent such behaviors as aggression, bullying, violence and relational aggression, we must teach our students to cultivate empathy and courage, to think about the feelings of others, respect themselves and others, and stand up for their own rights and the rights of others.
Listed below are the topics covered during the last month of school. I’ve also listed an activity to try at home to reinforce the main ideas from each week.
· Help Others- As a family, help someone in need by making a meal and delivering it to him/her. Or help someone in need with some chores around the house. Talk to your children about the importance of helping others. Praise your children when they help others.
· Go Above and Beyond- Point out times when your child goes above and beyond. Praise him/her for these actions!
· Make a New Friend- Here’s a simple at-home activity that teaches your children the importance of getting to know the “inside” of someone, rather than judging others by how they look or the way they act:
Place your child’s favorite snack or candy in a plain brown lunch bag. Place a rock or other heavy object in a gift bag. Let your child choose which bag he/she would like. (Most likely the gift bag will be chosen.) After your child opens the gift bag and sees what it contains, give him/her the snack in the brown bag. Talk with your child about how we cannot judge what is inside something (like a bag) just by looking at it, just as we cannot judge a person’s personality by looking at him/her!
