HaPpY SuMmEr!!!

Have a great summer! Read lots of books and take a walk! Look at the stars and make a wish....one for yourself and one for someone you care about. 

Thank you to all those who donated shoes for our annual shoe drive. We delivered 402 pairs of shoes to the Buckner Foundation. Thank you to Josh Bowen, parent to Ethan, Trevor and Ella for delivering them!

I'll be back at school on August 13th! If you need to reach me before then you can email me at Elizabeth.Johnston@southlakecarroll.edu

Have a safe summer!

Dear JES family and friends,

ONE Day Without Shoes at JES April 17^th!!!

How perfect that our character trait for April is PEACE! With ONE Day Without Shoes, we are giving children hope that they might have a peaceful future. One pair of shoes for a child can gain them entry to school, keep them healthy, protect them from injury, and most of all give them the knowledge that someone cares about them. Not to mention the peace our children feel when they give to others, especially those in need.
                                                     

 On April 17^th, we will be going shoeless (wearing clean socks!)at school to bring attention to the needs of children around the world who miss opportunities in life because they do not have shoes. Send in a NEW pair of shoes to donate to Shoes for Orphan Souls on April 17th. For more information visit the Shoes for Orphan Souls website at:

                                  http://www.shoesfororphansouls.org/ .shtml

STAAR testing for fourth grade writing is coming up on Tuesday, April 10^th. Third and fourth grades will be testing on May 14^th and 15^th.  Our students are well prepared. The most important thing that parents can do is make sure your child is rested, well fed, and in attendance  and on time for testing days. Thank you for your help.

Fourth Grade Orientation
Student Orientation for our fourth graders going to Durham Intermediate next fall is on May 21st. All fourth graders will travel to DIS by bus for an informational talk by the DIS administrators and a tour of the campus. A Parent Orientation is May 9^th at 6PM-8PM in the Durham Intermediate Cafeteria. Transition to fifth grade can be a challenge. Attending the orientation meetings can ease some of the anxiety by answering many of your questions about procedures, the schedules and the “always challenging” lockers!

Mental Health and Wellness News

April's focus topic is Resiliency and Child Abuse. Visit our newsletter for current information about what we are doing to promote resiliency in our growing Dragons.https://www.smore.com/467q3

Also, please check out the Let's Talk section  which provides anonymous phone lines to report concerns to help keep our Dragons safe. 

As always, if I can assist you in any way, please call.
Kindest regards,
Ziba Johnston 

JES Counselor

KINDNESS - February's Character Trait

Dear JES family and friends,

Our character trait for February is KINDNESS defined as showing others they are valuable by how you treat them. When thinking about the most important skills to teach a child, we think of reading and writing and of course math and then there is science and social studies which is important too. But, perhaps one of the most valuable skills a child learns at school is to be kind to their peers. We will be focusing on the value of KINDNESS all this month.

 KINDNESS RALLYX2!!!

 The finale of the  Kindness Rally featuring the Morris Brothers. 

We started the second semester with a KINDNESS RALLY to reemphasize the importance of being kind at school and in the community. The Morris Brothers came for an assembly to talk to the student body about being a super hero by treating others with respect and standing up when others are in need. The Morris Brothers also reminded the children to keep up the good work and earn Dragon Diamonds.

The Dragon Diamonds incentive program provided by our generous PTO has issued an extra incentive! Dragon Diamonds will be rewarded to those students who do acts of kindness “above and beyond” every day courtesy. All eyes are looking for acts of kindness!!! As Coach McDade said to the children, they are challenged to "step up and take our acts of kindness to the next level."

A teacher incentive has been added to the rewards. Each Friday five students’ names are drawn from the collection of Dragon Diamond slips in each grade. The winner comes to the Friendship Bench to select a prize reward! From those five winners, one name is drawn and that student’s teacher (or whoever awarded the slip)will receive a gift certificate. Let’s work together to help our children know that we can choose to be kind in all circumstances.

Thank you to our PTO and all the parents and staff who support it!

Parenting Support

One last thing, I want to share a helpful website that offers useful parenting articles based on current research. The website is Hey Sigmund http://www.heysigmund.com and currently addresses the continuing concern about anxiety in our children. Resiliency is also a relevant topic that is addressed. We are working in the district to learn how to increase resiliency in our students. I would enjoy hearing what you think about this website.

As always, if I can assist you in any way, please call.

Kindest regards,

Ziba

JES Counselor
Elizabeth.Johnston@SouthlakeCarroll.edu
817 949 4500
Visit the K-6 Counselors' newsletter DRAGON's BREATH at https://www.smore.com/xaejd-carroll-dragon-s-breath?ref=email-content#w-5734206185

KINDNESS RALLY on FRIDAY!!!

Dear JES family and friends,

Happy New Year! Thank you for your generosity throughout the holiday season. Our Angel Tree program is a blessing to many of our families. It is such a joy to be a part of it. Our Johnson families are kind and generous beyond measure and show great concern and kindness in making sure that all of the children in our Johnson family receive gifts during the holiday.

Project Generosity

We collected over $800 to give the ladies in the cafeteria and the housekeeping staff a poinsettia and a generous gift card to WalMart. PTO gave each custodian and cafeteria worker a gift card that was presented, as well. The Ambassadors of Kindness delivered the gifts during fourth grade lunch, right before we all left on winter break. Your generosity is greatly appreciated by the workers and all of our students who have an opportunity to show their appreciation for those who work so hard to keep us healthy.

KINDNESS RALLY on FRIDAY!!! 

Our character trait for January is Commitment defined as making a plan and putting it into practice. We are committed to making Johnson Elementary the BEST school! We are committed to making it a safe and happy place to be so children can focus on learning.

On Friday, we will be having a Kindness Rally to reinforce our commitment to the Dragon Diamonds incentives program that our PTO so generously supports. The children will rally together and be treated to a presentation by The Morris Brothers. If you have not seen the Morris Brothers’ program, they are a couple of nerds who use silly humor to support Character Education.  You can see a clip at  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_eJ3EE-0T0  We anticipate that this Kindness Rally will remind everyone how important it is to always be kind with both words and actions.

CogAT & ITBS Results

Fourth grade parents should receive CogAT and ITBS results in the mail this week. If you have any questions or need help interpreting the results, you can contact me at Elizabeth.Johnston@southlakecarroll.edu .

As always, if I can assist you in any way, please call.

Kindest regards,

Ziba Johnston
JES Counselor

Gratitude ~ A Time for Thanks

Dear JES family and friends, 

Thank you to all who contributed to our Can Drive for GRACE in observance of Red Ribbon Week. We were able to donate 858 items to GRACE. When everyone gives a little we are able to give a lot!

Thank you to everyone who helped to make Red Ribbon Week fun and meaningful for our children.  Thank you to Nancy D’Luca  and Casey Guidry for helping with the Fire Safety Visit.  Much appreciation goes to Julie Bedgood and the volunteers who prepared the giveaway items for the children. You are so very generous with your time and your help is greatly appreciated.

A special thanks to Officer Womack for arranging the Southlake Firefighters’ visit for Kindergarten -3^rd grade students. 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 learned.

                                                                                      

The firemen loved the cards the students made for them to show appreciation as an act of kindness. The cards made the firemen smile!

Red Ribbon Week reached a high point when the Compassion Cup was presented to the whole student body and staff! A Back to Back honor for JES! What a special event! The picture says it all!

Compassion Cup Winners for 2017

An Attitude of GRATITUDE

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 is an opportunity for our students to get involved in the experience of giving.

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 and our extended staff..  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 connected to 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.

As always, if I can help in any way, please contact me.

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

Be a Force for KINDNESS#BeKind

Dear JES Family,

Red Ribbon Week is in full swing at JES this week! We have had some interesting visitors around campus and some fun activities going on to celebrate "Be a Force for Kindness"!

TUESDAY - we will be having a can goods drive to help restock the Food Pantry at GRACE 
WEDNESDAY - Cards of Gratitude - we will be making cards to show our appreciation for people in our lives every day
THURSDAY - wear BLUE and we will be encouraging children to reach out with a Random Act of Kindness
FRIDAY - Safety Officers will visit our campus to talk about personal safety along with the firetrucks

Every night during Red Ribbon Week students can eat at CiCi's Pizza at 2100 W Northwest Hwy in Grapevine for a 99 cent pizza buffet! Just let them know you are from JES and have your child show their Be A Force of Kindness dog tag.
Thank you for making this an educational week for our students by emphasizing the message of being drug free and being a force for kindness to knock out bullying.
                                           May the Force of Kindness Be with You!

October Is Nearly Here!

Dear JES Family and Friends,

October is shaping up to be a busy one! Our character value for this month is CREATIVITY defined as: using your imagination to do something unique. I can dream and imagine.  I hope you continue to use the Core Essentials home link to spark discussions that lead to reinforcing what we are sharing at school about CREATIVITY.

DRAGONS GO BLUE!!!

DRAGONS Go Blue on October 2^nd as we celebrate World Day of Bullying Prevention. All throughout Dragon Country, we ask that everyone wear blue to bring awareness to the issue of bullying. We will be participating in activities that raise awareness of being kind and standing up for others.

CogAT and ITBS Testing for 4th Grade 

On the 3rd of October, our fourth graders will be taking the CogAT test. The Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) measures students’ learned reasoning abilities in the three areas most linked to academic success in school: Verbal, Quantitative and Nonverbal. On October17^th, 18th, 19^th our fourth graders will be taking the Iowa Test of Basic Skills or ITBS. Although the primary goal of CogAT is to assess students’ reasoning abilities, it can also provide predicted achievement scores when administered with The Iowa Tests.

Second graders will not be tested as a grade level this year unless they are nominated for QUEST. 

There is no special preparation you need to do at home for these tests. What you can do to help your student is make sure they are rested, well fed, and present at school on time on testing days. Please check your calendar and make sure that you have not scheduled doctor appointments during these days. The CogAT will be administered in three different sessions on the testing day. Testing for ITBS will take place in three sessions during the morning on the testing days.

A parent letter went home last week about the upcoming tests that should address any questions you might have about the actual test and its purpose.   Of course, as always, if you have additional questions, please contact me at Elizabeth.Johnston@southlakecarroll.edu.

Parents, mark your calendars for a free parent education program on October 19^th at 7PM. The topic is Finding Focus: Paying Attention in a Distracted World. Have you ever wondered how to nurture the ability to be attentive, what is normal and when is inattention a problem to be addressed? Come hear two experts in the field discuss attention and the brain. Join us in the JES Library. 

Red Ribbon Week will be celebrated the last week in October. This is a district wide drug awareness celebration.  We will kick off the week with a fun theme for each day! We will emphasize the benefits of leading a healthy lifestyle. Please take advantage of this opportunity to talk with your children about making good decisions. It’s never too soon to start that conversation.

Congratulations to the most generous school family!!!! Back to Back Compassion Cup Champions! What an achievement for our campus. There is no higher honor that we could receive than recognition as the most compassionate school in CISD! Way to go JES!

As always, if I can help in anyway, please contact me.
Kindest regards,

Ziba Johnston
Elizabeth.Johnston@southlakecarroll.edu
817 949 4500