Update with Mrs. Layman
School Family News
Alison Layman
Assistant Principal
We are family
I got all my huskies with me
We are family
Get up ev'rybody and sing
Husky Breaths- Our husky breaths are a part of our culture here at Animas Valley! These breaths are used to help disengage stress and support us in making healthy decisions. As a school we have reviewed the Balloon Breath, S.T.A.R breath, and just introduced the Drain breath at our Monday Morning Meeting. All of our Husky Breath visuals can be found on our web site under For Families à Husky Breaths or under Our School à Staff à Alison Layman. These breaths are a great resource that can also be used at home!
P.A.W.S- As part of our School Family model we use the acronym P.A.W.S as a part of our school wide behavior system.
Throughout the 2018-19 school year, we created videos for each of these character traits. These videos can be found on our website under For Families à Videos They are a great resource for behavior expectations here at school. At home, you can name and notice when your child is practicing respect, activating their independent thinking, working cooperatively, and showing commitment!
ZONES of Regulation- We use the ZONES of Regulation school wide to support students in identifying their emotional state. This image is posted within all classroom regulation stations/safe places as well as in our Husky Regulation Station. It is a great visual for children as it associates a color, visual, and vocabulary to describe emotions.
Self-Awareness- Connected to the ZONES of Regulation we are focusing on self-awareness school wide. Students are coached to identify when they are feeling frustrated, over excited, or have some loss of control (yellow zone) and WALK AWAY from the situation. When we walk away, we allow our brain and body time to regulate so that we can make smart choices. All Kindergarten through 5th grade students have learned about Kelso’s Choices. As adults want to empower our students to know that, they are smart enough and strong enough to handle small problems by using Kelso’s choice!
Colorado Measures of Academic Success (CMAS)- State testing will begin for all 3rd through 5th grade students following Spring Break. Parent letters will be sent home Friday, March 6th with more information regarding this assessment.
Attendance- Creating healthy habits regarding attendance is important for elementary school age children. Our school and district policy regarding student’s attendance includes:
Parents are notified when their child has missed 10 days within a calendar school year. Attendance letters are mailed home to all students in which this applies to. If a child has missed more the 10% of the school year, the school will partner with the family in creating an attendance plan and contract.
Attendance is important to us and as a school, we are here to partner with families to improve attendance and help build healthy habits regarding attendance.
Explore It!- Ways to be Helpful
AVE is exploring the School Family Structure: Ways to be Helpful. Ms. Barb has worked with each class to identify helpfulness and our staff is on-boarding the language of helpfulness.
Here is the formula if you would like to use this language at home:
“You ______ (describe what the child did), so _______ (how it helped others). That was _____ (kind, helpful, caring)!”
The purpose of this specific language is to provide children with images of helpful and safe actions. Children 12 years and younger have brains that learn primarily from positive feedback.
Family and Friends Board
The purpose of our Family and Friends Board is to create a like between home family and school family. Please either send in a picture or email [email protected] a picture of your family to add to our board.
One of our goals is to create a positive school climate that supports all children and staff.
