Verne A. Duncan Elementary Newsletter - September 2015
THE BUZZ
MINDSET INTRO FOR PARENTS
™
Your school is teaching kids about Mindset. It is important for you to be aware of what it is, why it’s
important, and how you can support it.
Mindset is a simple idea discovered by world-renowned Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck in
decades of research on achievement and success—a simple idea that makes all the difference. Dr. Dweck
realized that there are two mindsets: a fixed mindset and a growth mindset.
In a fixed mindset, people believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are simply fixed traits.
They spend their time documenting their intelligence or talent instead of developing them. They also believe
that talent alone creates success—without effort. They’re wrong.
In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard
work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is
essential for great accomplishment. Virtually all people who achieved top performance had these qualities.
Research shows that people with this view reach higher levels of success than people with fixed mindset beliefs.
Teaching a growth mindset creates motivation and productivity in the worlds of business, education, and sports.
It enhances relationships, and increases achievement.
No parent thinks “I wonder what I can do today to undermine my children, subvert their effort, turn them off
learning, and limit their achievement.” Of course not. We think “I would do anything, give anything, to make
my children successful.” Yet many of the things we do boomerang. Our best intentioned judgments, our
lessons, our motivating techniques often send the wrong message, unintentionally.
In fact, every word and action sends a message. It tells children – or students or athletes – how to think about
themselves. It can be a fixed mindset message that says: “You have permanent traits and I’m judging them,” or it
can be a growth mindset message that says: “You are a developing person and I am interested in your
development.”
The most important thing you can do to help your child instill a growth mindset is to praise them for effort
rather than for talent. Messages like “You learned that so quickly! You’re so smart!” teach the child that effort is
a sign of weakness and that they either are or aren’t smart. If they encountered difficulty in the future, they
wouldn’t know how to deal with it. Instead, messages such as “I like the way you approached that problem”, or
“good job to hang in there and find a different strategy that did work”, or “sorry, that seemed to be too easy for
you, let’s do something more challenging”, teaches kids that effort is something we can all benefit from to reach
our full potential, and that they need to be working purposefully in order to grow.
You can visit the Mindset website, http://mindsetonline.com/, read Dr. Carol Dweck’s book Mindset, or visit
the Brainology website, which your kids’ school is using to instill a growth mindset in kids and adults:
http://www.mindsetworks.com/
© 2013 Mindset Works, Inc.
Calendar of Events:
October
8
9
12
13
28
29
30
JOG-A-THON
Teacher Work Day - NO SCHOOL
PICTURE DAY
PTO Meeting - 6:30 PM in the library
Teacher Work Day - NO SCHOOL
Conference Day - NO SCHOOL
Conference Day - NO SCHOOL
November
9
10
11
13
20
23-25
26
27
PICTURE RETAKES
PTO Meeting - 2:15 PM in the library
VETERAN’S DAY - NO SCHOOL
MOVIE NIGHT - 5:30 PM
Kindergarten Harvest Party
SCHOOL IS NOT IN SESSION
THANKSGIVING
SCHOOL IS NOT IN SESSION
Important Reminder
If your child is going to be picked up by someone
other than a parent, or if your child will be going to a
“different than normal” destination after school, we
must have a note from you with new instructions, or at
the very least, a call to the office by 1:30 pm. Without
this communication from you, we will not allow the
student to alter his/her regular end of day routine.
This is for the student’s safety. Students are not
allowed to call from school to make after-school plans
if they forgot their note.
IS YOUR CHILD ABSENT TODAY?
Please call the office to let us know when your
child will not be coming to school. This is true
even if you have left a message with the teacher.
503.353.3270
Did You Know?
We remind students to bring money for their
breakfast/lunch account by putting a stamp
on their hand. We feel that this has been
helpful to students. Whenever your child’s
account falls below $0.00 your child’s hand is
stamped as a reminder that he/she needs to
bring money to be deposited into his/ her
account as soon as possible.
You may sign up for email alerts, as well as
make payments to your child(s) account at
www.nclack.k12.or.us. Click on MEALS
located under the quick links section on the
left, then click on Pay for Meals Online. Feel
free to call the school office for your childs ID
#, in order to establish an account. We
appreciate your cooperation in helping your
child maintain a “positive” lunch balance.
PICTURE DAY
Please remember that MONDAY,
OCTOBER 12 is Picture Day.
Use these tips to help your child get ready for a greatlooking school portrait that you’ll treasure forever.
• Help your child pick out clothes and colors that look good on them. After
all, your child is the star of the photo—not their shirt, so avoid slogans,
logos, and big patterns. Small jewelry and accessories are fine but nothing
too big or distracting.
Make sure to check your flyer to see sample poses for your Picture Day.
Some poses may show pants or skirts, so plan the complete outfit.
• Glasses are okay! Lifetouch photographers know all the tricks to reduce
glare.
• Any hairstyle works for Picture Day. Schedule haircuts a few weeks ahead
of time to allow hair to grow back a little, or you can go for a fresh-cut
look.
• Keep kids relaxed and ready to be themselves. Smiles can look fake if
they’re practiced ahead of time. Remember, smiles are like french fries—
they’re better when they’re fresh.
• Don’t worry about “perfect”! That hair that always sticks up or a missing
tooth shows your child just as they are right now—and you’ll enjoy looking
back on that for years to come. On Picture Day, teachers and volunteers
will help straighten collars and check posture. And, if you like, we have
retouching options for scrapes and blemishes.
Please mark your calendars.
PTO NEWS
!
Jog – a – thon!!!
!
Fundraising for our annual Jog-a-thon has begun! Our goal this year is
$22,000. This year we are working to purchase picnic tables for the
Outdoor Classroom. Funds from Jog-a-thon will also support our school
by funding teacher grants, supplementing field trips, putting on
community events like Carnival and Movie Nights, funding an
instructional assistant, and much more! Please encourage your student to
ask family and friends to sponsor them. Don’t forget to sponsor your
child too! Donations can be made through PayPal. You can find the link
on the Duncan Elementary website.
The Jog-a-thon will be held Thursday, October 8th.
We’d love to have you join us and cheer the kids on as they run!
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SAVE THE DATE!!!
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February 20&th, 2016
Silent Auction
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Spaghetti Feed
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Have goods or services you’d like to donate to the& auction?
&
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!
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!
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Our$next$PTO$general$meeting$will$
be$October(13th(at$6:30pm$in$the$
library.$$Free$childcare$is$available!$
Contact us at duncanpto@gmail.com
&
More details on the event to come!
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Have!you!bought!your!
&
brick!for!the!Outdoor!
Classroom?!Our!next!
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order!is!due!October!7th.!
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Prices range from& $50 to $300
&
& coming
Watch in the
months for some exciting
developments in the
Outdoor Classroom!
Don’t forget to turn in those
BoxTops and Labels for Education!
Remember to clip them neatly and
check the expiration date!
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Scrip&orders&are&placed&the&1st&and&3rd&&
Mondays&of&the&month.&Our&first&order&
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raised&over&$175!&Consider&purchasing&
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Scrip&for&your&monthly&grocery,&
&
entertainment&and&dining&expenses.&The&
&
school&benefits&at&no&cost&to&you!&Contact&
us&if&you&have&questions&about&how&the&
program&works.&&
! Like us on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/DuncanPTO
! Check out our website at:
www.duncanpto.com
! Email us anytime at
duncanpto@gmail.com
!
3rd annual verne duncan elementary Back to School
Carnival
September 25th, 2015 5pm-8pm
Verne Duncan Elementary, 14898 SE Parklane Dr., Happy Valley, OR 97015
cotton candy, concessions, popcorn, face painting, Bean Bag toss,
balloon darts, bowling, can toss, duck pond,
candy crawl, estimation station, go fish, football toss,
hockey puck chuck, lollipop tree, spin a toy,
ring toss, treasure dig, photo booth…and a whole lot more!
………………………………
New this year . . . FOOD CARTS!
(10% of your food purchase is donated back to our school)
DUNK TANK!
Come dunk your favorite teacher . . .
or maybe even Mr. Branstetter!
GET YOUR DUNCAN WEAR!!!!
We’ll be taking orders for the new t-shirt and sweatshirt designs!
……………………………….
50¢/ticket or $10.00/25 tickets
!