“Turtle Talk” for the Week of September 27th

Just a reminder that this Wednesday, 9/30 is an Early Release Day. Here’s the schedule for students:

Because teachers and staff will be participating in professional development activities and meetings in the afternoon, it’s important all students are picked up or met at the bus stop on time. Teachers and staff will not be available to supervise students who are not picked up on time.

One of all three Norton elementary schools’ most important goals this year is to improve daily attendance for all students. Regular and punctual attendance is essential to the overall academic, personal and social development of students. Last year, JCS made a significant improvement in lowering our school’s chronic absence rate and we’re again looking to partner with families to help all students be successful at school, beginning with consistent, on-time daily attendance.

A preliminary study of data in California showed that students who had good attendance in Kindergarten and 1st grade were significantly more likely to read proficiently in 3rd grade than students whose attendance was at risk (missed more than 9 days per school year) or were chronically absent (missed 18 or more days per school year).

Like last year, we will be periodically celebrating school-wide Spirit Days when we invite students and staff to participate in the celebration. One way to participate might be by inviting students to wear a certain color or wear clothes with a specific theme. As always, we do not want any families to feel the need to buy anything special for these days and student participation is voluntary.

The Spirit Days that we will be celebrating in October are:

As part of one of our district’s wellness committee initiatives, all three elementary schools are kicking off including a “Tasty Tidbits” segment of our daily announcements. Each Monday and Friday we will be sharing information about healthy foods with all students. The goal is to get students excited to explore and try new foods, specifically fruits and vegetables. Ask your JCS sea turtle about what “Tasty Tidbit” they learned about each Monday and Friday!

We know that the Thursday ice cream service during lunches is popular for many of our students. Here is the schedule for October:

There WILL be ice cream service on 10/1, 10/15, and 10/29

There will NOT be ice cream service on 10/8, and 10/22

View and subscribe to the JCS Public Events Calendar at https://bit.ly/jcspubliceventscalendar. Click on the "Add to Google Calendar" button in the lower right corner to subscribe to the calendar using your own calendar app. Events from the JCS Public Events Calendar also appear on the JCS website.

Early Release Day, Wednesday 9/30

Beach/Ocean Spirit Day, Friday 10/2

SPO Meeting, Thursday 10/8 at 6:00PM

NO SCHOOL, Columbus Day, Monday 10/12

Pink Out! Spirit Day , Tuesday 10/13