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T he week of October 7th is called October count week. This is
very important to the
schools because Mad River receives funding from the state for
the total number of stu-
dents in attendance each day this week. If your child should be
out sick, please make sure
you call the school office to notify us, and send a written note
with him/her when they return to
school.
O ur third graders will be taking the Ohio Reading Achievement
Test Tuesday, Oct. 8.
Students have up to 2 1/2 hours to take this test. It is very
important that they have a good nights sleep and a
good breakfast before the test.
P arents you will continue to hear about the 3rd Grade Guarantee
from the Ohio Department of Education.
The law states if a student is struggling in Reading they will
be placed on a RIMP plan, Please read page 5 for
more information.
S tevenson uses student data and differentiates to meet each
child's need. Teachers do this in their own class-
room, during intervention and during flexible Reading and Math
groups. The term flexible groups might be
new for some parents but it is a model that has been used
successfully for years in education. If you have
questions about flexible grouping or want more information
please ask your child's teacher.
Cory Miller, Principal Phone
Darlene Miller, Secretary 937-259-6630
October 1, 2013
Virginia Stevenson
Elementary
Mad River
Local Schools
A Title I School
Special points of
interest:
District Events pg. 2
Calendar pg 3
Community Update pg 2
School News pg 4
Counselors Corner pg 4
3rd Grade Guarantee 5
Important Dates:
A Note from the Principal….
Fall Weather Again!
Again a reminder about the cool weather. Please make sure your
child is wearing or
bringing a jacket to school. If it gets warm, they can always
put it in their book bag.
OCTOBER 2nd - SCHOOL PICTURES
Thursday, October 17th
1:10 Early Dismissal
Friday October 18th
No School
Stevenson Math Committee is
hosting a “Monster Math” on
Tuesday, October 15th
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Learn About the District’s Schools & Programs
WHAT: A unique opportunity for parents and members of the
Riverside Community to come
and learn more about the district’s schools and programs
Over thirty booths and stations, which will allow parents to
experience the everyday
education their children receive. Some of these booths
include:
● Career Technology ● Athletics
● Military Family Information ● Food Services
● Special Education Resources ● Community Resources
At 6:30 p.m. parents and community members are invited to attend
a special information
session in the auditorium from Sgt. Jones of the Riverside
Police Department on bullying.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: The event is free and open to the
public. Hot dogs and refreshments
will be served. For additional information, call
937-259-6609.
LOCATION: Stebbins High School – Hall of Fame/Auditorium
Drop Off &Pick-Up Procedures Due to an increase of drop offs
and pick-ups, it is important to remember the following proce-
dures in order for our students to safely enter and leave the
building:
No student shall be dropped off prior to 7:45 am
Please pull up to the curb and let your child/children out of
the car on the curb side when
dropping them off.
If you need to come into the building with your child/children,
pull into a parking space so
you do not cause a backup of traffic flow.
When picking up your child:
It is important we are patient and join the line of cars who are
waiting for their child
Please do not pull in a parking spot and wait for your child,
this creates a back up as well as
multiple safety concerns (only use the parking spots if you are
entering office)
If your child is a walker please wait on the steps near the
board office. Students will be es-
corted across the parking lot
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October
2 Fall School Picture Day
4 PBS reward Day (kickball)
4 Bush, Hearns & Ottmar Field Trip to Boonshoft
9 PTO Meeting 5:30 pm (Library)
10 Gr 2 Music Performance at 6:30 pm
15 Family Math Night at 6 pm
17 Early Release at 1:10 pm (end of 1st qtr)
18 No School
31– 11/8 Book Fair
November
1 PBS reward Day (WII dance party)
6 PTO Meeting 5:30 pm (Library)
7 Parent/Teacher Conferences 5-9 pm
8 NO SCHOOL for Students—Parent/Teacher
Conferences
11 NO SCHOOL for Students—Prof. Dev.
14 Parent/Teacher Conferences 5-8:30 pm
20 Fall picture re-take day
26 PBS reward Day (gym)
27-29 NO SCHOOL—Thanksgiving
MORNING: Erin Kavanagh, Jeremiah Parton, Mackenzie Shirk, Nikki
Huber , Kyan Thorton
AFTERNOON: Aniyah Gregory, Chanya Spratt, Stephanie Likens,
Jesirae Yarbrough
Calendar of Events
Page 3 Stevenson Status
Stevenson held fourth graders audition for 10 spots to become
the new voice of Stevenson El-ementary. The top ten candidates for
the new voice of Stevenson were selected Friday, Sep-tember 20
th. The staff at Stevenson would like
to thank the candidates who chose to partici-pate.
Congratulations Morning Announcers
Neya Ames-Ravenel Day’Shaun Elijiah
Jesirae Yarbrough Shaunna Hasty
Xander Cullum Stacey Jones
Isaris Walters Justin Lovette
Kadience Roberts Connor Kaufmann
Nikki Huber
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SCHOOL BUSINESS— What’s Been Happening?
Stevenson 4th grade
Fourth Grade went on a field trip to Sunwatch Indian Village.
The students are learning about Ohio's early people and we got to
see first hand how they might have lived. We were able to walk
through what their homes would have been like, play musical
instruments that were made out of gourds and learn dance steps. We
enjoyed our visit and it has made our learning of their way of life
more understandable.
Page 4 Stevenson Status
Stevenson 3rd grade
Third grade students, teachers, and parents had a great day at
Carillon Historical Park. We learned many things about the history
of the Miami Valley from its founding in 1796. We saw many
important contributions made in Dayton through the Park’s
historical buildings, artifacts, and exhibits. A favor-ite was
seeing the 1905 Wright Flyer III, invented and flown in Dayton by
Orville and Wilbur Wright. Each class spent an hour in an 1896
one-room schoolhouse. We experienced the same type of classroom
that a 1st – 8th grader would have experi-enced long ago, including
oil lamps for light, wood for heat, and chalk slates to write on.
The environ-ment was realistic right down to the strict teacher
carrying a paddle! Each student had an opportuni-ty to write with a
pen dipped in an ink well. We found it more messy and challenging
than our pens and pencils of today. It was an exciting adventure to
see how Dayton’s own inventors and inventions
Counseling Corner (Mr. Ward)
Playing… and Learning! Weaving lessons into everyday life,
especially fun activities like a game that your child chose to play
with you, is a very effective means of education. Here are some
ideas to turn an ordinary game into a springboard to impart
timeless values for your chil-dren. Remember that often actions
speak louder than words.
Integrity: The urge to win a game can become so powerful that we
are moved to cheating. You can discuss the benefits of honesty and
the detriments of cheating, while playing a board game with your
kids.
Here are some winning points:
Winning: It is human nature to feel good when you win, but how
did you make your opponent feel? Did you gloat in arrogance or
handle the winning with modesty?
Taking advantage of the weak: While playing a game with your
child, there are abundant opportunities to take advantage of other
players who are younger, less experienced, or not as attentive to
the rules. This is a good time to talk about fairness versus
aggres-sion.
Be happy with what you have: There is a fine line between
striv-ing to become better and being content with who you are and
what you have now. Share insights with your children that
often-times when looking back the bad things were blessings in
dis-guise.
The glass is half full: Whether you won or lost, you as the
parent can use the game as an opportunity to complement your child
on a smart move, or getting along with another player amicably. No
matter how well or poorly the game was played; you can always find
a way to praise an aspect of how your child played.
Here’s to your success!
[email protected]
BOX TOPS!!
Please remember that Stevenson is continuing to collect Box Tops
for Education this year. Last year Stevenson students brought in
21, 234 box tops which brought in over $2, 100 for our PTO. Our
goal is to have every student bring in at least 10 Box Tops per
month. If your student brings in at least 10 (or more) his/her name
will be put into a drawing for a $10 gift card to Barnes and Noble.
The class with the highest Box Tops per month will get to display
the golden scissors and have bragging rights for that month. We
will be keeping track to see which class is “blowing by the
competition” with yearly totals in the main hallway. Happy
collecting!
http://www.raisingsmallsouls.com/playing-and-learning/
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WHEN: Tuesday, October 22rd—5:30 p.m. 7:30 p.m.
Beginning in the 2013-2014 school year, any child that scores in
the low Basic range (below a 392) on the 3rd Grade Ohio Achievement
Assessment (OAA) will not move on to 4th grade. To help us prepare
for this and intervene earlier, the State has said that every child
in grades K-3 must take a reading assessment by September 30, 2012,
to determine if they are “on track” to be reading at a proficient
level by the end of the third grade.
Having students participate in multiple assessments is not
something new to students at-tending Mad River Local Schools.
Teachers use this data to provide more tailored instruc-tion to
your child. All students within Mad River Local Schools participate
in some level of academic intervention throughout the year. This
could be a small group, a large group, or even a specific goal
within the classroom. Mad River has taken pride in its student
achieve-ment growth throughout the past decade.
What is new this school year is the level of accountability this
law brings. Regardless of what growth a student has made, they will
be retained in the 3rd grade if they don’t meet the minimum cut
score.
The law requires us to communicate to parents when a child is
“not on track.” The district will be doing this in the next few
weeks. Further, if your child is “not on track” your child’s
teacher will review a Reading Instruction & Monitoring Plan
(RIMP) during conferences or before.
As a parent, this means you should continue to do what teachers
have long advocated for:
1. Be involved with your child’s school.
2. Ensure you know if your child is performing on grade level or
not.
3. Continue to read, practice math facts, and provide an
environment for homework at home.
Please, ask your child’s teacher if you have questions about
his/her progress.
Throughout the coming year, the district will strive to keep you
informed about the impact of this
law.
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Taking Care of Freddy the Freeloader
Prevention and early detection are the best ways to deal with
lice. Un-
fortunately, no one can know when or where a child will be
exposed to
these pesky critters; and your child’s school can’t know every
child
who’s had lice. As parents, you can play a key role in
preventing the
spread of head lice. We recommend that parents check their
child’s
head once a week.
Friday is a great day to check your child’s head…
Before she goes to a friend’s house to spend the night
Before he visits Grandma for dinner
Before you and your child snuggle up to watch a movie
Before school starts Monday morning
Before Freddy the Freeloader has the chance to invite his whole
family
So make Every Friday
Finding Freddy the Freeloader Day!
