Good Afternoon Yealey Families,

I hope you've had a great week.  We have been very busy here.  Fifth grade attended the symphony and Kindergarten & Preschool visited the farm.  There were lots of cute pictures taken while we were out and about so be sure to check all those out on our social media.  The buttons in this blog are live links to our social media feeds if you're not already a follower.  Following us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter are great ways to "see" your children in action while they are here. I have had a lot of fun this week working with students on math story problems.  I love to see their ideas and watch light-bulbs go on!  I've also been impressed this week with the amount of students who are approaching me and Mrs. Hiatt about ideas they have for our school.  We are really starting to develop leaders here!

Next week we will have our annual costume parade on October 31st.  The parade will begin at 9:15 and parents who would like to attend should line the sidewalks between the canopy and gym doors.  If the weather cooperates, there will be no need for parents to enter the building to view the parade.  Most years this has worked out perfectly!  But, last year, rain got in the way, so we paraded inside the building.  If we do move the parade inside, parents please arrive around 9:00 so you can sign in at the gym to view the parade from the bleachers.  We will parade through the school and across the stage.  We will only move the parade inside if the weather is too wet or cold to stay outside.  Right now the forecast says rain is likely so fingers crossed this changes!

Thank you to everyone who attended and volunteered to make our Fall Festival a success. And, to all the parents who attended conferences this week. It's great to have so much family and community support of our school!

I hope you all have a great weekend spending time with family and friends.  Good luck to our 5th graders who are participating in the PeeWee Super Bowl this weekend! See you next week!

Mrs. Turner
principal

Hi Yealey Families,

It has been a great, fast week here.  I have loved being in classrooms seeing kids learn to decode and read new words.  I also spent time with a class analyzing character traits and seeing how they searched for text evidence to support their thinking.  It's always fun to be a part of the learning process!

Thank you to all the families who came in for conferences on Thursday night.  Hopefully we will see everyone else this Wednesday for our next conference night.

On Tuesday, the teachers worked with our Leader In Me coach to learn how to write Wildly Important Goals with our students.  This is a very exciting process.  Over the next few weeks all of our students should be making a Wildly Important Goal (WIG) for the progress that they hope to make in writing.  We are going to be working with all the students on writing to demonstrate learning.  So, we will really be focusing on the ability to communicate their thinking and to justify their answers.  We believe all the students will make growth in this area and  we are excited to see how far they will go!

I hope everyone is able to attend the PTA Fall Festival tonight.  I'm sure it will be a lot of fun.  I'm especially excited by the chili cook-off.  Good luck to all the participants! 

Have a fun, safe weekend!

Mrs. Turner
principal

Hi Yealey Families,

I hope everyone had a great Fall Break over the long weekend.  That was a great opportunity for us to practice Habit 7 - Sharpen the Say.  I hope you all had the chance to spend time doing activities that make you feel renewed!

This week we had a chance to spend a day with our Leader In Me coach reflecting on the progress we've made so far in the implementation of this program.  This program takes 3 - 5 years to fully implement and we are in year 2.  It was a great reflection and showed us that we've made amazing progress.  We are so excited not only by the events and more tangible things that have come from the program But, even more by the way we are seeing the program effect how our students behave, interact with others, and take responsibility for their education.  That is sometimes harder to see at a quick glance but having the chance to sit down and reflect on what we are seeing from the students showed us that they are really starting to own the 7 Habits.  As a parent, you can use these habits at home also.  If your child is struggling with getting their homework done, remind them of Habit 1 - Be Proactive and Habit 3 - Put First Things First.  If you are dealing with sibling or friends arguing, then remind them of Habit 5 - Seek First To Understand, Then To Be Understood and Habit 4 - Think Win-Win.

Next week we are going to spend another day with our coach working on writing Wildly Important Goals. We are very excited to get this process started with our kids!

Be sure to check out the links on the side to see updates from the PTA, the FRC, and the Guidance Counselors.  Red Ribbon week info is there.

I hope everyone has a great weekend and spends time with family and friends!

Mrs. Turner
principal