LITERACY COACH/TITLE ONE

Title 1 is a federally funded program to support students in reading. The Title 1 push in program at Jasper Elementary is designed to meet the following objectives:

    Identify student strengths and weaknesses in reading.
    Improve student performance in reading.
    Assist each student in reaching his/her academic potential.
    Reinforce learning that occurs in the classroom.

All JES students are assessed four times during the school year using Renaissance Learning STAR Reading Enterprise for first and second graders and STAR Early Literacy Enterprise for kindergartners. Assessments from Journeys, our Houghton Mifflin core reading program, and teacher developed standards are also used when ascertaining student strengths and weaknesses. Data from beginning of the year assessments identifies students eligible to participate in Title 1. Continuous progress monitoring throughout the school year enables us to differentiate the instruction for those students who need their instruction altered by being released from Title 1 or added to the program. We opened a testing window at the end of February to make certain all students are staying on track. The end of the year data is valuable to identify placement for the next school year.

If a student qualifies for Title 1, families are immediately notified. As with any federally funded program, there are several rules and regulations that our school must follow. Families are strongly encouraged to communicate suggestions, concerns, and questions with the school, along with participating in school functions. School and family need to work together for the benefit of the child.

Social Worker

SOCIAL WORKER

From Mrs. Krueger...

I am the School Social Worker for Jasper Elementary School. My main goal is to improve communications between school and home, and to help students feel good about themselves and their success in school.

I work with students in all grades at JES. I meet with students who are having problems or difficulties at school. These problems or difficult situations may include: divorce, retention, low self-esteem, poor self-control, behavior problems, academic limitations, disabilities, or social and emotional concerns. Students may be referred to me by their teachers, the principal, their parents, or by themselves. My sessions with students can vary from just once during the school year to once each week throughout much of the school year.

Besides helping students, I also try to help parents. I am happy to meet with parents at school at a time that is convenient for you. If you have problems or concerns that you think I can help with, please do not hesitate to contact me. If needed, I can also assist you in receiving help for your children through other professionals or agencies outside of school.

Jasper Elementary school will be implementing our school-wide Positive Behavior Support program for the fifth year. We will also continue to focus on the strengths of all students through The Leader In Me and The 7 Habits of Healthy Kids.

It is my goal to improve the services I provide, so please offer suggestions or ideas that may help meet that goal. If I can be of any help, please feel free to call JESl anytime.

Thank you for your time and have a great year!

The Leader in Me

WHAT IS THE LEADER IN ME ?

The Leader in Me is an approach to developing a culture of leadership in our schools and is based on The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People® by Stephen Covey. Founded on internationally recognized, universal principles, The Leader in Me model emphasizes skills that parents, teachers and business leaders want and that students need to be successful in an ever changing society:

Leadership Responsibility
Accountability Problem Solving
Adaptability Communication
Initiative and Self-direction Creativity
Cross-cultural Skills Teamwork

RESOURCES:

7 Habits

The Leader In Me Parent Resources

Kids Explaining the 7 Habits Video

The Leader In Me Website

Kid President- Inspiring Pep Talk

Resilience Education

ABOUT RESILIENCE EDUCATION

We live in a stress-filled world! While brief periods of stress can be helpful in maximizing our focus, effort, and performance, research is showing that chronic levels of stress can actually negatively impact the neural pathways in our brains. This is particularly true for children as their brains continue to grow and change, well into young adulthood. The good news is that research is also proving that specific strategies can calm the brain and body’s stress response which leads to positive impacts on the neural pathways in our brains. These strategies can help children become more resilient as they face adversity in their lives.

The Leader in Me program recently offered the following definition of resilience: “Resilience is really the counterbalancing of difficult things that may exist in the child’s life with positive things that occur within the family/community. When positive experiences accumulate and children learn coping skills that help them to manage stress, the fulcrum can slide so the scale tilts towards positive outcomes more easily. That’s what resilience is all about.”

Fifth Street Elementary is implementing a school-wide resilience education focus that will teach our students about their brains, what happens in their brains when they experience stress, and strategies they can use to cope with the stress in a healthy way. The resources and strategies will be updated on the website as they are taught to the students and we hope they can be helpful for families at home.

The Brain

Students are learning about their brain. Controlled breathing sends the brain a signal that "all is well" and starts to calm the nervous system and slows the body's stress response.

The video below explains more about the "upstairs" and "downstairs" brain. It also starts the discussion of strategies that can be used when emotions start to become overwhelming.