A big THANK YOU to Gray Lumber for donating buckets to our First grade drum ensemble! Please support our local businesses who support our schools.

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1 FROM THE PRINCIPAL S DESK The week of May 4 th is Staff Appreciation week. This is an opportunity to celebrate the dedication and support of our Stafford team. And wow! There is a lot to celebrate!! Washington State just named Helen B. Stafford Elementary as a recipient of the 2014 Washington Achievement Award. This the highest honor the state bestows on elementary schools. Stafford was particularly commended on math scores and high progress. While these awards are based on test scores earned by our 3 rd, 4 th and 5 th grade students they really celebrate the hard work of our whole staff, our students, and their families. So, take a few minutes during May to celebrate the Stafford learning community. They really are making a difference! Later this spring we will be organizing classes for next year. Teachers look at a variety of factors when they place students in classrooms for the next school year. Combinations of students, balance, and learning styles are all included in the decisions. If you, as a parent, have specific requests those can be involved as well. No guarantees, but requests that are received in the office before May 15 th will be considered. Try to give us the reason for your request so that we can look at all the factors involved. Sometimes staffing changes during the summer so the following list is tentative: VOLUME 6 ISSUE 6 MAY 2015 STAFFORD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ADDRESS: 1615 S 92ND TACOMA, WA PHONE: FAX: CEVANS@TACOMA.K12.WA.US Preschool: Kindergarten: Kling Nygard; Stewart; New; Thompson; 1 st grade: Cook; Allen; Jaasko-Fisher; Vine 2 nd grade: Best; Hartley; Nofo; Hunter 3 rd grade: New; K. Redal; V. Kinsey; Lopez 4 th grade: New; Gray; Tyson (looping) 5 th grade: Potts; Schoening; Twohy (looping) If you know of new families in our area please remind them to register for school as soon as possible. We want to have a place for all of our neighborhood children! A big THANK YOU to Gray Lumber for donating buckets to our First grade drum ensemble! Please support our local businesses who support our schools.

2 Counselor s Corner Dear Stafford Families, We ve had a busy month of learning in our guidance lessons! In Kindergarten through Third Grades, we have continued our Child Protection Unit. One of the reoccurring themes in the lessons is remembering the Three Ways to Stay Safe: Recognize (Is it safe? What s the rule?), Refuse (Say words that mean NO), and Report (Tell an adult.) Ask your child if they can sing to you the Three Ways to Stay Safe song (Three..eee..eee Big R s) or the Never-Never song! I ve heard from teachers that the kids have been getting the songs stuck in their heads, which is great since they are making an impact! To encourage linking the concepts from school to home, the students have been given Home Link worksheets to be completed through discussion with their grown -up at home. At the end of the month, we will have one drawing per grade level (K-3) for a special prize. Students earn an entry into the drawing by returning their completed Home Link worksheets signed by a parent/ guardian. Fourth Grade has been continuing to learn how to solve problems using specific S.T.E.P.s! They had a lot of fun creating chalk drawings to help remember the process. Fifth Grade has been continuing our Middle School Transition lessons. We have learned the ins and outs of reading a middle school schedule, how to open combination locks and have reviewed how one person taking a stand against bullying can make a world of difference. If you would like a great resource for anti-bullying information, check out If you have any questions yourself about the transition to middle school, please don t hesitate to call! May your family enjoy these next few weeks as we wrap up the school year! Warmly, Adrienne Petrie

3 Oops! Remember the great literacy night in March? Remember the Cat in the Hat who was available for pictures? And do you remember the cart of books near the Cat s photo booth? Maybe not. After all, there were books all over the place that night, which is just what you want at a literacy night. Free books in the kindergarten wing, the Book Fair down in the art room, and those books for posing by the booth. So, it s no surprise that folks got confused and those library books that were supposed to be, well, models for the lack of a better term, ended up leaving the school as free books. We ve asked the kids to return them, but so far we only have gotten six back. And there were a bunch. Since I didn t anticipate having the books depart, I don t have a comprehensive list of which books I put out on the cart, but the list below is a partial one. If you have any of these books in your home, would you please have your child return them? The missing books represent a $ loss to our library, which we can t really afford. How do you know if it s a library book? Well, it will have a white spine label and a barcode on the back upper right that says Stafford. There will also be school stamps on the inside of the book in several places. A partial list of the books is given below. Please, please, if you attended the literacy night in March and your child came home with any of these books, send them back. We will make sure that students get a compensatory free book. Missing Books: One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish McElligot s Pool Horton Hears a Who The Cat in the Hat Comes Back If I Ran the Circus Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You? Clifford s Amazing Animals Fly Guy vs. the Flyswatter All That Glitters (Disney Princess) Pet the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Middle School, the Worst Years of My Life: Save Rafe Jabba the Puppet Minecraft Redstone Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Happily-Ever-After Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Long Haul Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Ugly Truth Thanks so much! Ann Welton, Librarian

4 ELL News & Notes Serving Stafford s English Language Learners Mrs. Almonte, Mrs. Latimer & Mr. Son Stafford Elementary ESL Summer School ESL Summer School provides an opportunity for students to continue enhancing their English proficiency through mathematics and literacy instruction using listening, speaking, reading & writing skills. Enrichment activities including cooking, arts, music and field trips are all a part of the program. Summer school applications will be sent home with students who show a need to attend. If you have questions or need help completing the form, please contact the ELL team before or after school by calling or by stopping by the office. Completed registration forms should be returned to Mrs. Almonte by May 18, 2015! Transportation will not be provided. July 6 July 30, 2015 Mondays through Thursdays 9 a.m. 12:30 p.m. Breakfast served at 8:30 a.m. ############################################################### Join us for the Stafford Elementary Annual Art Show & BBQ Thursday, May 28 th Student artwork will be on display throughout the building. ELL families are invited to come by the ELL classroom Room C-15 anytime between 12:00 and 1:30 for dessert. We hope to see you for this end of the year celebration! Están invitados al festival annual de arte y a la barbacoa que se llevará a cabo el día juéves, 28 de mayo en la Escuela Stafford. Las obras de arte de los estudiantes estarán en exhibición por todo el edificio. Las familias del programa ELL están invitadas a comer postre entre las 12:00 y 1:30. Aúla de clase C-15. Esperámos verlos para celebrar juntos la finalización del año escolar. Tham gia với chúng tôi để các tiểu Stafford Nghệ Thuật hàng năm BBQ chương trình & học trên Thứ 5 ngày 28 Tháng 5. Tác phẩm Nghệ Thuật của học sinh sẽ được trưng bày khắp tòa nhà. Gia đình ELL được mời đến bởi các lớp học ELL - Phòng C mọi lúc 12:00-01:30 cho món tráng miệng. Chúng tôi hy vọng để xem bạn đã kết thúc này của lễ kỷ niệm năm!

5 Come join us for Stafford Elementary annual Art Show! May 28th Student Art Work Throughout the Building

6 8 Facts about attendance 1. Absenteeism in the first month of school can predict poor attendance throughout the school year. Half the students who miss 2-4 days in September go on to miss nearly a month of school. 2. An estimated 5 million to 7.5 million U.S. students miss nearly a month of school each year. 3. Absenteeism and its ill effects start early. One in 10 kindergarten and first grade students are chronically absent. Poor attendance can influence whether children read proficiently by the end of third grade or be held back. 4. By 6 th grade, chronic absence becomes a leading indicator that a student will drop out of high school. 5. Research shows that missing 10 percent of the school, or about 18 days in most school districts, negatively affects a student s academic performance. That s just two days a month and that s known as chronic absence. 6. The academic impact of missing that much school is the same whether the absences are excused or unexcused. Suspensions also add to lost time in the classroom. 7. Low-income students are four times more likely to be chronically absent than others often for reasons beyond their control, such as unstable housing, unreliable transportation and a lack of access to health care. 8. When students improve their attendance rates, they improve their academic prospects and chances for graduating. Stafford elementary is committed to having our students in school and on time everyday. Being tardy to school as well as being picked up early disrupts a student s day as well as the other students in the classroom. Please try to have your child to school on time and limit early pick ups.

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8 MAY CHUCK E CHEESE TAKEOVER 3:00-9:00P.M NO SCHOOL MEMORIAL BREAK NO SCHOOL MEMORIAL BREAK BOOK FAIR BEGINS ART WALK STAFFORD BBQ TERIFFIC KIDS ASSEMBLY 2:00P.M. BOOK FAIR ENDS JUNE 3rd & 5th 1st GRADE TO CHILDREN S MUSEUM 4th-NATIONAL RUN A MILE DAY 8th & 10th TRAVELING FARM 11th FIELD DAY 12th LAST DAY OF SCHOOL 8

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