Sunday, November 2, 2014

GRATITUDE


Dear JES family and friends,

 Thank you to everyone who helped to make Red Ribbon Week fun and informative for our children. A big thanks to the Harding family for decorating our school in RED. Sean, Courtney, Houston and Hayden Claire have taken this on the last two years as a family project. Thank you also to Kim Franks and Tracy Lentz for their help with the many preparations for the “Dogs of Character” assembly and Fire Safety Visits. You are so very generous with your time and your help is greatly appreciated. Thank you to our PTO for funding the “Dogs of Character” assembly.



Mrs. Chapman's class donating their canned goods to GRACE
The" I Believe I CAN" drive was a great success! GRACE expressed sincere appreciation for the generous contribution. The Ambassadors loaded the items to send to the food pantry on Friday. Thank you to all who contributed.

Thank you to Officer Womack for arranging the Southlake Firefighters’ visit for Kindergarten -2nd grade students. We also appreciate having Renni Burt, Community Initiatives officer, meet with our 3rd and 4th grade students to emphasize having a Home Fire Escape Plan and to discuss general personal safety. It was an informative day. Has your family designated a location to meet outside of your house in case of fire? Ask your children about suggestions they might have.

Our Core Essential character value for November is GRATITUDE which is defined as letting others know you see how they’ve helped you. We will be talking about GRATITUDE on the announcements and in guidance lessons. Gratitude is an important character value and can easily be reinforce at home.  Working together, we can help our children learn to recognize the quality of the feeling that accompanies showing appreciation.

 We will be working on multiple projects throughout the year to give our students opportunities to “give back”. Research shows that when children (and adults) give they in turn have positive feelings that lead to a greater sense of self-worth. Giving promotes cooperation, social connections and gratitude. And research has found that gratitude is integral to happiness and health. Here are a couple of opportunities for our students to get involved in the experience of giving.

 Gift for Buckner

All JES students are challenged to “earn” a dollar to donate to the Buckner Foundation which is being collected by the JES Choir. The money will be presented to the foundation during the winter holiday concert.

 ANGEL TREE
Our traditional angel tree will be decorated in the front office before we leave on Thanksgiving Break. Each year, we have our own Angel Tree to provide for children at Johnson Elementary.  If you are able to help, I hope you will choose an angel and make it a family project of showing gratitude and compassion for those families at Johnson who can use our help.


 BASKETS OF THANKS
Our Ambassadors of Kindness will be leading us in a collection for holiday food baskets for our cafeteria and custodial staff. If we each contribute a dollar, we can give them a nice basket and gift card to show our gratitude. They do so much for us around our campus and we celebrate the opportunity to show them our appreciation.

Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) and Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) were completed for second and fourth grade students. Make ups are complete. The results will be sent home around mid semester.
 
As always, if I can assist you in any way, please call.

Kindest regards,

 Ziba Johnston
Counselor
Elizabeth.johnston@southlakecarroll.edu
817 949 4500
Giving connects two people, the giver and the receiver, and this connection gives birth to a new sense of belonging.” Deepak Chopra