September 1, 2022

Dear Parents,

We have had a fantastic start to the 22-23 school year!  Thank you all so much for entrusting your children to us.  We take great pride in teaching them and partnering with you so they will have the best educational experience as possible while at Morningside!

I apologize in advance for the length of this email, but there is some information I wanted to be sure you had as we begin the school year.

All of the students are getting acclimated to their new classrooms, teachers, friends and schedules very quickly.  Even our youngest students already know their way around the building, have learned rules for their classroom, hallways, playground, fine arts times, etc.  It’s truly exciting to see their eyes light up during lessons as they explore, create, and demonstrate all they can do!

Each month, as close to the 1^st as possible, I will be sending out the Morningside Messenger Newsletter to all parents.  My purpose is to share highlights about the previous few weeks, give information about upcoming events for the month and brag on a few teachers and students along the way.

For this month, I’d like to recognize our librarian, Emily Wyatt.  She was new to us last year and had quite the task of getting our library organized and ready for students.  This year, she has taken on the job of becoming our Morningside Website Webmaster and has also formed the 4^th and 5^th grade News Crew who will record our daily morning announcements!  We are thankful to have Mrs. Wyatt with us and look forward to seeing our students on announcements again after a brief hiatus.

Overall, our students have really done a great job showing they are CHAMPS at school.  Be sure to ask your child about CHAMPS and how they can earn tickets when they are “caught being good” (or kind, helpful, empathic, etc.) to those around them and for following campus wide-expectations. At our first Mustang Round-up, (which is held on most Friday mornings with the whole school), we announced the first 12 CHAMPS who then had breakfast with Ms. Shelton in our conference room.  We took pictures and soon you will see their sweet faces on our CHAMPS bulletin board in the main hallway near the cafeteria.  We look forward to adding more CHAMPS each week.

CHAMPs is an acronym that reflects the types of expectations used by the teacher to clarify the activity and transitions occurring in class and around our building. The acronym stands for Conversation, Help, Activity, Movement, and Participation.  The program was developed to help classroom teachers develop a proactive and positive classroom environment so that learning time can be maximized. This is a Campus-Wide Program.

Last but not least, I want to brag on our entire staff for making each and every day a joy for our students.  They work countless hours to bring your children the best lessons and activities to help them learn and grow.  If you are ever at school and have a few minutes to spare, there is a Teacher Appreciation Station right in the foyer where you can leave a note for a specific teacher or staff member.  Every couple of weeks, our PTA Teacher Appreciation Chairperson will gather these notes and share them with the teachers.  There is no better way to give teachers a “pick me up” than through kind and thoughtful words.

Reminders:

1. Car Line – For all parents who utilize the car line for pick-up, we need your help.  We have a “loading zone” between 2 white lines where we want cars to be between before we allow students to exit/enter cars.  The morning is a little different, but for the afternoon, here is what we need. We are trying to create a system where the students are called out ahead of your car getting to that loading zone space.  When the student does get outside for pick up, they can go straight to this area, quickly get in the car and hopefully all 4-5 cars get loaded and leave at the same time.  Then the next set of cars moves into the space and the procedure is repeated.  The system will work if we can get everyone to work with us in this endeavor.  The students in the gym are actively listening for their car tag number to be called.  When that occurs, they should quickly exit the gym and come outside.  They will be directed by campus teachers/personnel on where to go to wait for their vehicle (signage is on order to make this easier). There is also a space marked by a yellow line which has been created so students have a space to walk during rainy weather to avoid the mud in the grassy area.  We asked that parents keep their cars to the right of that yellow line.  Please practice your car tag number with your students so they can become familiar with their number. (See attached graphic to help you understand the expectations for arrival/dismissal).

          Arrival:Dismissal Map 22-23.png 

         Car Line Loading:Unloading Zone.pdf 

2. Another item that will help move the car line along – we need all parents to practice having their children buckle and unbuckle car seat buckles or regular seat belt buckles, have their items ready for exit/entering the vehicles and for parents to remain in their cars.  We all need to work together to help our students become more independent.  This will also assist us in getting the line moving more quickly.  If for some reason you need to assist your child, we would ask that you go ahead and move the vehicle to the parking lot area where you can park and then assist your child before getting on main roads. This will help us move cars along quicker.

 

3. Front parking lot – Our front parking lot is becoming a bit of a dangerous place as cars are continually come in the wrong way. Please, please, please, ALWAYS veer to the RIGHT when entering the lot.  There is a ONE WAY sign right as you enter the lot with an arrow pointing in the direction in which cars should go.  Just today, a grey van almost hit an LISD maintenance van because the person in the grey van was driving the wrong way. We need all drivers to follow the signs and drive in the correct direction.

 

4. Large parking lot – This lot is reserved for teacher parking, but also for our day car vans, yellow buses and parents of special needs students to drop off and pick up each day.  We encourage all parents to utilize the car line and avoid coming into this parking lot if at all possible.  If you find it necessary to walk your child to the doors in the morning or pick up in the afternoon, we do ask that you park in this larger north lot and walk to the front door to drop off or pick up your child.

 

5. Clinic Needs – If you have any boy or girl underwear, in any size, that you are willing to donate to the Nurse’s Clinic, we would appreciate receiving them.  When students have accidents at school, we want to be able to have them change into dry clothing and we are running low on underwear.  In the event your child needs to have extra underwear provided by the nurse, please just wash the items we’ve sent home on your child and return them to the clinic so we will have “back-up” undies for emergencies.  Of course, parents are encouraged to send their child’s own clothing in their backpack if they are prone to accidents or just to have extra on hand should they be needed.  We always welcome new underwear as well, but “hand me downs” do the job just fine. 

 

6. Have you completed your child’s “Back to School” forms in Skyward?  Do you have your child’s AUP (Acceptable Use Policy) signed so they can access technology on campus? Let us know if you need assistance with these.

 

7. Thank you to all those who are visiting our building, having your ID ready to present at the ring doorbell and for letting us know your business at the campus!  You are helping to make our job easier!

 

Below are some September Events that are occurring over the next several weeks.  Please take a moment to jot down some of these dates.  I’ve highlighted some that you may want to attend.

September Events:

National Hispanic Heritage Month; Hydrocephalus Awareness Month

2^nd – EARLY RELEASE for students at 11:45 a.m.  Please make arrangements to have your children picked up on time as teachers have required meetings in the afternoon.

2^nd – Change of Plans – Friday Nite Live will be open! K-5^th graders welcome - $15.00 per student – 7:00-10:30 p.m.!

 

5^th – No School - Labor Day Holiday

6^th-7^th – Little Mermaid Musical Try-outs, starting after school until 5:00 p.m. both days

7^th-11^th – National Substitute Appreciation Week

8^th – International Literacy Day

9^th – Texas First Responders and Patriots’ Day Observation

9^th – Friday Nite Live – K-5^th graders welcome - $15.00 per student – 7:00-10:30 p.m.

 

11^th-17^th – Celebrate Freedom Week

12^th-16^th – LISD Kindness Week – stay tuned for details on fun dress-up days

13^th – Fall Picture Day and PTA Ice Cream Social/Membership Drive – 5:00-7:00 p.m. - This is an updated time!

16^th – Big Kahuna Fundraiser Kick-off for Teachers; End of the 2^nd 3 weeks of the 1^st 9 weeks

16^th - Friday Nite Live – K-5^th graders welcome - $15.00 per student – 7:00-10:30 p.m.

17^th – Constitution Day

 

19^th-23^rd – Parent Lunch Week!!

19^th – Grades due for Progress Reports

20^th – National IT Professionals Day

21^st – Progress Reports will be uploaded in Skyward

23^rd - Friday Nite Live – K-5^th graders welcome - $15.00 per student – 7:00-10:30 p.m.

 

25^th – Rosh Hashanah begins

27^th – 5^th Grade Level Performance – 7:00 p.m. – school cafeteria

30^th – American Indian Heritage Day

30^th – PTA Birthday Table (during lunches)

30^th - Friday Nite Live – K-5^th graders welcome - $15.00 per student – 7:00-10:30 p.m.

 

Always let us know if we can help with anything. 

Thank you again for working with us this year!

Rita Bacque, Principal