“Be Respectful” Dance at The Station

As we move into our daily practice of learning how to be kind, we had our first Station all school meeting on Friday afternoon. We read a story about being respectful that showed how to help someone work through a hard time, how to speak respectfully to teachers, and how to compromise. Then we learned the first part of our “Be Kind” dance – the “Be Respectful” move. We’ll be practicing this move this Friday. In September, we’ll combine this move with the “Be Responsible” move.

The students had fun and look forward to our next Station event. The “Be Kind” pledge is starting to be very meaningful to them all and is providing a common language for us to be a community making life-long connections.

As a brief reminder, signups are now open for Parent/Teacher conferences. Click on your child’s teacher’s name to sign up. Also, school will be ending at 12:00 noon on Thursday, August 29, 2019 and Friday, August 30, 2019 for Parent/Teacher Conferences. There will be no school on Monday, September 2nd.

PARENT TEACHER CONFERENCES

Sign-ups for our Parent/Teacher Conferences on August 29th and August 30th are now active. These conferences offer an incredible opportunity to touch base with your student’s teacher and see how the year is progressing, review benchmark testing data, and discuss observations/goals for the year.

Please contact us sooner if there is any concern/issue you would like to discuss at any time. Furthermore, please feel comfortable requesting a meeting with your student’s teacher at any time (no need to wait for a formal conference).

Please use the links on the website to access the sign-ups for each teacher. Sign-ups will be available until August 26th. After this time, please email the teacher directly to see if there are additional slots available.

To find the sign up go to mycanyon.org and click on your teacher’s name. You will see a link to sign up for conferences.

We look forward to meeting with you!

Be Kind Project Assembly

Today we had a very special assembly all about being kind and making a difference in our classrooms, school, and community.

Part of the visit was Baxter from the Diamondbacks coming out. The Arizona Diamondbacks and the Be Kind Project donated a Buddy Bench for the school. The way the Buddy Bench works is that when someone is feeling down or doesn’t have someone to play with they sit on the bench. When someone sees them they go over and invite them to play or talk. Students were excited to see the bench and learn how to use it.

The Be Kind Crew also used dance, music, poetry, and great moves to travel through the Be Kind City and demonstrate ways for students to act and pay it forward for kindness.

The students were excited and eager to learn more. Ask them what their favorite part was. Or what was their favor part on the Be Kind City map? What does pay it forward mean? What is a pay it forward card? What does it mean to be considerate? These are just a few of the questions posed today and answered by the Be Kind Crew.

Next up for the Be Kind project in our community is our focus on the Be Kind Pledge during our Station time on Friday afternoon. All year we will be learning about the Be Kind Pledge while learning a cool dance routine. At the end of year, we will know the pledge, what it means, and be able to demonstrate why kindness and all its components matter. We can’t wait to see how this part of our story unfolds!

New Morning Routines

Getting ready to say the Pledge of Allegiance, Preamble to the Constitution, and The Be Kind Pledge

We have started a new morning routine at Canyon Pointe. Each morning, promptly at 8:00, the students gather on the basketball court. Led by the fourth through sixth graders we say the Pledge of Allegiance, the Preamble to the Constitution, and The Be Kind pledge.

The littlest students are still learning these things. But all students have enjoyed practicing respect and acting with dignity. We love starting the day on such a positive note!

In case you want to ask your students what the Preamble and “Be Kind” pledge include, here they are.

Preamble:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United Staes of America.

Be Kind Pledge

I pledge to: Be Encouraging, Be Supportive, Be Positive, Be Helpful, Be Considerate, Be Thankful, Be Responsible, Be Respectful, Be a Friend

The Be Kind Project is our new Community/Leadership skills curriculum. You can learn more about it here.

Fall Club Sign Ups

Fall Clubs begin August 13th! We have an exciting selection to choose from this quarter. There are some old favorites including Theater which is open for students in grades 1-6, complex coloring for older students, and art for younger students. We also have some great new editions including sewing and embroidery, Legos, and Latch Hook Rug Making.

Also, this quarter we’ve instituted a $25 fee for clubs to help pay for supplies. Feel free to drop off the fee to the front office or send it in with your student.

More information will go home in the Friday Folder today! Sign up for clubs here until August 9th.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!

We are off to our first day of school today. Students are so excited to be back and we are so excited to see how they have grown over the past year!

As a reminder, please review the blue folder that you picked up at Meet the Teacher night or that is going home with your child today. Pickup directions and uniform requirements are included in the information.

Don’t forget that you can order Lunchkins for school lunches. If you tried a sample the other night, you know how delicious it is! Our school code is FGMOQ963. You can also find a link to the website at our school website as well. At this time, we do not have snacks or drinks for students to purchase so if they aren’t ordering from Lunchkins, please send them with a lunch. Please make sure to send your child with a refillable water bottle each day, especially now as it is very hot outside.

Friday Spirt Shirts are going home today. Students can wear these shirts on Fridays with blue denim pants that do not have rips or tears (no jeggings or leggings). Please take a minute to review the dress code for Friday (and everyday) to ensure your student is dressed appropriately for school.

We are going to do our first volunteer training on Thursday, August 8th at 1:00 pm. We will offer this training at different times so if this time won’t work for you we will have another time soon! Please call the office if you plan to attend so we have enough packets for everyone.

Finally, don’t forget that our first 1/2 day is on August 9th. Dismissal is from 12:00 – 12:30. Lion’s Den After School club does have room for 1/2 day enrollment. Please email Ryann Sutterfield at rsutterfield@pointeschools.org for more information.

I am looking forward to an amazing year and can’t wait for you to see all the exciting things in store for our learners!

Kinder Camp Pirate Day

Some of our incoming kindergartners had a great morning as they did a treasure hunt around the school, got to go to the treasure box, and did a pirate parade!

School starts August 1st. We’ve expanded our kindergarten to 2 classrooms and it isn’t too late to enroll for the upcoming school year!