⭐January 24 - February 4, 2022 ⭐

Upcoming Events:

January 24 - School Board Meeting 6-10
January 31 - Fitness Gram Begins For All 3rd-5th Graders
February 3 - 100th Day of School!
February 21 - Student Holiday
February 25 - Spring Pictures
March 14-18 - Spring Break
May 10 - 4th Grade Math STAAR
May 11 - 4th Grade Reading STAAR

Reminders

COVID Positive Student Return Dates

Please be aware that LHISD has a 10 day quarantine policy for students. We understand that the doctor may provide you a return date for school, but all campuses follow the return dates given by the LHISD Health Department team. These return dates will shared with you from the campus nurse. If you have any questions regarding return dates please call Nurse Kelly.

LHISD COVID Updates

Dear Parents and Students,

We have begun to see an increase in COVID positive staff and students along with a normal annual increase of wintertime illnesses. If a student has a fever, is ill, or has COVID-like symptoms, we ask you to keep your child home until the symptoms have resolved and contact us to report the absence.

Anytime a student will miss school, please contact the school using the Student Absence Form located on our Santa Rita Elementary campus webpage. If you choose to keep your student home because you think they may have COVID or were in close contact with someone who is COVID positive in your home, report that to us and we will mark the absence as excused.

Our current health guidance for students that have or may have COVID are to:

Report it to LHISD Health Services
Isolate away from others at home for at least ten days.

At the end of the 10th day, if the student may return to school the next day if:

Fever free AND
The original symptoms are better AND
There are no additional symptoms

If you have any questions about your child's attendance, please contact Mindy Story at mstory@libertyhill.txed.net. Also, if you have any questions about our COVID guidelines, please visit our LHISD COVID Website.

Panther Partners

The LHISD Board of Trustees voted unanimously to increase pay rates for Substitute Teachers, also known as Panther Partners. We would be unable to meet our target level of excellence in our classrooms without our Panther Partners.

Each day we have unfilled vacancies and could use your help. If you would like to become a Panther Partner or know someone who would be interested. Please use or share the link below.

LHISD Panther Partners

Other Useful Reminders:

🧁Elementary Birthday Policy

We love to celebrate student birthdays here at Santa Rita! However, we do have birthday policies in place to protect students who may have food allergies and policies regarding party invitations. Additionally, this year, we are asking that all birthday treats be store-bought and individually wrapped. You may also provide non-edible birthday treats in lieu of food items. Below is LHISD's Elementary Handbook policy regarding birthdays.

"Birthdays: Please coordinate with your child’s teacher one week prior. Parents are welcome to bring commercially prepared baked goods or non-edible ‘goodies.’ Treats will be shared at a prearranged day and time agreed upon by the teacher based on the policy of each individual elementary school. Please do not send balloons or flowers to your child’s classroom as it causes a distraction to the instruction day. As a district, we value the inclusion of all. For this reason, IF you send birthday party invitations to school to be distributed, you MUST invite all students in the classroom."

For information on other policies, please visit the Elementary Handbook.

🍽️PARENTS MAY JOIN THEIR CHILD FOR LUNCH

Starting November 2nd, parents may come and eat lunch with their child in the cafeteria. If you wish to join your child for lunch, you and your child will sit at the V.I.P tables located on the staging map below. All parents will be required to check in at the front office to receive a visitor badge. You must have a valid photo I.D. to be scanned in to receive your visitor pass. This is a district requirement to enter the school building. Please be advised that if you do not have a valid photo I.D., you will not be able to enter the building.

Parent Guidelines:
Parents/Guardians will only have access to the cafeteria
Students will arrive and exit the cafeteria with their teacher
Parents/Guardians may not walk students back to class or to other parts of the building
Parents/Guardians may ONLY sit with their personal child. Other children can not come join you
Parents/Guardians may only bring and or purchase food for their personal child

Peanut-Free Zone

We have several 4th grade students with peanut allergies. In order to keep everyone safe, please save the peanut snacks and lunch items for home. Thank you for helping us keep the classroom safe for all of our friends~

Transportation Changes

All transportation changes need to be submitted to the office no later than 1:00pm. Please visit the LHISD Transportation Change Request site before sending the notice to the SRE transportation change email. We are asking that parents remind their students to always go to their normal dismissal location unless they have a note from the office. Thank you!

Car Rider Tags

All students should have a car rider tag on their backpack, even if they do not typically go home as a car rider. If your student is a car rider one day in the future, this will help us make sure they get home safely. If you did not receive a car rider tag for your vehicle, please let us know.

🧥 Labeling Jackets and Water Bottles

Jacket weather is here! (Well, sometimes. Texas weather can be so unpredictable!) Just to be safe, please make sure your student's jackets and water bottles are labeled with their first and last name. This will help us reunite lost jackets and water bottles with their owners. 🙂

Please don't forget to send a water bottle to school with your child each day. The bottle filling stations are operational, but all water fountains have been switched off out of an abundance of caution.

Chromebooks & Headphones

Our Chromebooks have been delivered! The computers will stay at school this year, but we will use them frequently in class to expand and enhance the learning experience. Please make sure your student has headphones or earbuds in their backpack each day.

Weekly Spirit Days

Mondays are College and Career Days! Wear your favorite college or career readiness shirt! Fridays are Panther Spirit Days. We can't wait to see your purple and gold! 🥳

Reading/Writing:

We will be exploring the genre of literary nonfiction, which includes biographies, personal narratives, and opinion texts.

We are working on our researching and writing skills to create a biography project of a famous Texan.

Social Studies:

We are learning about Spanish explorers and the discovery of Texas by European nations.

Math:

We will wrap up our current unit, Applying Mathematical Concepts. We will solve one and two step problems using all four operations. We will also interpret data from tables and charts, as well as discuss the concept of profit.

Science:

We will wrap up our unit on Earth's resources and then begin learning about the water cycle.

SRE January Trait of the Month: Patience

PATIENCE: Waiting until later for what you want now

Patience is a virtue, but also an essential skill. You can help children learn and understand patience through practice! Children who learn to practice patience also develop self-control and critical thinking skills. Here are some tips for teaching patience to your children…

Let them experience the wait. Try to find productive ways to pass time without always relying on a screen. Get creative!
Give them information. Let them know what is coming next, and when it will happen.
Have a countdown or visual representation to understand the concept of time.
Follow through when you say you will “get to it”. This helps children understand that being patient can be positive.
Be an example of patience to your children. It’s a skill for everyone!

Specials Rotations:

Monday, 1/24	Tuesday, 1/25	Wednesday, 1/26	Thursday, 1/27	Friday, 1/28
Orange	Yellow	Green	Blue	Purple
Monday, 1/31	Tuesday, 2/1	Wednesday, 2/2	Thursday, 2/3	Friday, 2/4
Red	Orange	Yellow	Green	Blue

Chapman	Cravens	Garner	LeCaptain	Malone	Schultze	Styskal
*Art/Music/Spanish	Music	Art	PE	PE	PE	Spanish
PE	PE	PE	Music	Spanish	Art	PE
*Art/Music/Spanish	Spanish	Music	PE	PE	PE	Art
PE	PE	PE	Spanish	Art	Music	PE
*Art/Music/Spanish	Art	Spanish	PE	PE	PE	Music
PE	PE	PE	Art	Music	Spanish	PE