Submitted by Dr. Stephen Waigand,

Rock Port Elementary Principal

Our Energy Bus principle for this month is “Love Your Passengers.” Loving your passengers means to pour kindness and love into the people and situations around us. To illustrate this principle, at our most recent school assembly we did an experiment with water. We took a clean glass of water and placed some dirt into it. The dirt represented negative, unkind words and actions. The water became cloudy and mucky, and despite our best efforts to spoon out the dirt chunks the water remained dirty. We then took a gallon of clean water that represented positive, kind words and actions. We poured the gallon of clean water into the glass of dirty water. As more clean water was poured into the glass, the glass of water began to clear up and ultimately we ended up with a clean glass of water. The result and challenge we presented to our students and staff was to pour more good into the people and situations we encounter each day.

Throughout the school year our Title reading and math classes have hosted a couple of parent involvement activities before school in the elementary library. In the fall, a Muffins with Moms event focused on literacy activities. Students were able to participate in phonological awareness, phonics, and comprehension activities with moms, grandmas, and other loved ones.  Recently, a Donuts with Dads event focused on math activities. Dads, grandpas, and other loved ones joined us for some estimation and fact fluency activities. A special thank you to Mrs. Mertens, Mrs. Spiegel, Mr. Gaines, and Mrs. Gaines for organizing these events for our students and families!

There are several items on the local election ballot for April 4 including Proposition 2 on the demolition of the dome and construction of a new classroom building serving both elementary and junior high/high school students as well as some updates to the elementary building. Proposition 2 is a no tax increase bond issue which would allow these district improvements to take place.

Several upcoming events include our third quarter Parent-Teacher conferences, preschool registration for next year, Battle of the Books competition, Spring Scholastic Book Fair, and our statewide MAP assessments. Stay connected with daily classroom events and school updates on Twitter @RPBluejays as we finish this year strong. As always we strive to . . .

Love all our Passengers

Serve their academic needs

Care for the whole child

Every Student, Every Day