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INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Flu Shots

Scholastic Book Fair

Early Dismissal Plan

Veteran’s Program

K-3 Christmas Concert

PTO News

Muffins w/Mom

Menu/Schedule of Events

Farm2School Lunch

Dear Parents,

SCHOOL UPDATE

With Parent-Teacher Conferences around the corner, I want to let you know that we desire 100% participa-tion. Connecting with teachers about children is one of the most important steps we can take together for the benefit of all our students. We will see you on November 7th. PBIS UPDATE – CATCH THE WAVE The November theme in the school

is Respect. This area will be dis-

cussed and targeted in the class-

rooms. It is so important to teach all

students and adults the proper way

to interact with each other. Please

discuss at home ways to respect all

people.

BEHAVIOR DATA:

Goal 1: To decrease the number

of minor and major referrals by

5% in the respect and defiance

behavior area category.

Goal 2: To decrease the number of

minor and major referrals by 5%

in the physical contact behavior

area category.

Teaching focus areas will target re-

spect and defiance. Monthly themes

include:

September: Expectations in all Loca-

tions

October: Appropriate Ways to Han-

dle Conflict

November: Respect

We encourage all parents and

teachers to guide students on how

to respect authority. Begin by de-

fining authority figures in their

lives (aunts, uncles, babysitters,

teachers, paraprofessionals, and

parents, to name a few). Then you

can try some short, fun lessons that

talk about how students can treat

authority figures. If you are in

need of some ideas, Google search

Dr. Michele Borba

(www.micheleborba.com). This is

just one of many sites that can be

viewed as a resource.

I would like to remind all students

and parents of our Winter Play-

ground Expectations. Please un-

derstand that snow pants, boots,

coats, mittens, and hats are re-

quired to play on the entire play-

ground for grades K-4. Students in

grades 5 and 6 need hats, mittens,

and coats. Please note: When it is

below freezing and there is no

snow, ALL students K-6 must

have a coat, hat, and gloves.

HOW CAN I SUPPORT MY

CHILD AND RIPPLESIDE

SCHOOL

What can I do as a parent?

Be part of PAC team at Ripple-

side: contact Bobbi Jo Bourassa at

(218) 927-4838.

Be part of District Parent Advisory

Team contact: Dan Athman at

(218) 927-2115.

Attend Entrance, Fall and Spring

Conferences.

Get involved in (PTO) Parent

Teacher Organization (contact Rip-

pleside Elementary School)

Volunteer in your child’s class-

room and other school activities.

Read to your child each day.

Guide them to independence as

they prepare for school each morn-

ing.

Thank you for your constant sup-

port for the continuous improve-

ment of all children.

Sincerely,

Andrew Dokken

Rippleside Elementary Principal

K-3 Christmas concert tickets available at

conferences

ASK Session 2 begins November 11th

Early Dismissal plans due December 6

Muffins w/Mom is November 14th

2019-2020 November Issue

From Your Principal, Mr. Andrew Dokken

Flu Shots Offered During Conferences

Fall conferences are scheduled

for Thursday, November 7th

from 8:00—7:30. This is a non-

school day for students. Aitkin

County Public Health will be

offering flu shots to students and

their families during that time

frame in the nurse’s office. Flyers

with more information will be

sent home with students. If you

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need to confirm your child’s

conference time please con-

tact their classroom teacher.

Scholastic Book Fair!

Our annual Rippleside Scholastic Book Fair is

being held Monday, December 2nd—Friday,

December 6th in the Rippleside Media Center.

The fair is open from 8:00AM—3:30PM. Please

be sure to sign into our visitor book at the main

office if you will be going to view and/or pur-

chase books during school hours. Students are

given the opportunity to shop at the book fair

before and after school, as well as with their

class throughout the week. You do not need to

have an elementary student at Rippleside to

shop at the book fair, so spread the word to

grandparents or friends who may want to come

shop too! Book title selections range from pre-

school through adult ages. Online purchasing

will also be available 21 days before the book

fair opens at http://www.scholastic.com/bf/

rippleside and we accept cash, checks and cred-

it card payments at the book fair. The proceeds

from the book fair go directly into pur-

chasing new books for our elementary

school library. If you are interested in vol-

unteering to work a shift during the book

fair, please email our Volunteer Coordina-

tor Brittney Galbraith at bgal-

braith@isd1.org

Winter Gear Available

during Conferences

On behalf of Knights of Columbus and countless community members and organi-zations, Rippleside has been provided with an abundance of coats, hats, gloves and snow pants. If your child is in need of any of the above listed winter gear please stop by the old gym during conferences on Thurs-day, November 8th from 7:30 AM—7:30PM. There will be tables full of items. We never want a child to have to go without.

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Our first concert of the year will be on

Tuesday, November 5, 2019 at 9:30AM

in the cafeteria, with black, white or red,

white & blue dress attire. This will be a

choir only concert for our 4th, 5th and

6th graders. This is a change from previ-

ous years. We will be having a second

performance for the student body at

1:30PM. If you are unable to attend the

morning concert you are welcome to

come in the afternoon, but please note

that we have a limited amount of seating

as we have to accommodate our entire

student body. Please do not plan to ar-

rive for the morning concert before

9:10AM as we will need time to clean up

from breakfast and set up seating. The

first band concert will be on January

14th.

Choir ONLY Concert

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Coats for Kids—Knights of Columbus

The Knights of Columbus

Cuyuna Range Council

#3473, together with gener-

ous donations of others in the

community, provided 240

new coats and 150 snow

pants to local elementary

schools. The coats and snow

pants were distributed to

Rippleside Elementary

School in Aitkin, McGregor

Elementary and Cuyuna

Range Elementary School in

Crosby. The coats will now be

distributed by the school

staff.

This was possible because of

the support from the follow-

ing organizations and people

in our local community.

Aitkin VFW Post 1727, 40

Club Inn & Banquet Center,

Early Dismissal/Cancellation Plan

As winter approaches there is an increased

possibility of severe weather. If the situation

should arise that the weather deteriorates

during the school day, we may decide to dis-

miss school early. Decisions to close early are

made in the late morning, but transportation

occurs at 1:00PM or after.

Please take time to fill out the attached form

with instructions telling us where your child

should go if there is an early dismissal. If you

usually pick up your child after school, it is

especially important for you to be aware of

deteriorating weather conditions and listen to

the local radio stations. The stations are

KKIN-94.3 (FM), WCCO-830 (AM), WJJY-

106.5 and KEZZ 930 (AM). We will also be

sending out messages on phones signed up

through Parent Portal.

Aitkin Lions Club, Hudrlik

Carpets & Home Service

Store, Thomas Bedard, Marv

Chmelik, Ed Spiel, BLAL—

Lions Club, Ed Kirk, Bob

Janzen, The Kenneth L. Kel-

ler Foundation, Robert

Wander, Mille Lacs Energy

Community Trush, Mark

Greninger, Mid MN Bank

Crosby, Roth RV, Tom Prov-

ost, Roger Marks, Cuyuna

Discuss with your child what he/she should

do if schools gets out early. Remind them

that all after school activities such as bas-

ketball, gymnastics or volleyball will be au-

tomatically cancelled.

In case of a late start, please be aware that

breakfast will not be available due to lunch

preparations. The “Early Dismissal/

Cancellation Plan” will be kept by your

child’s classroom teacher to be referred to

in case of severe weather. Please have your

child return this no later than Friday, De-

cember 6, 2019.

Range Lions Club, Steve

Freese Residential Drafting,

Dr. Jeffery Fish DDS, Gloria

Bordwell, Brad McCusker,

Super One Crosby, Mike

Aspelin.

Thank you for your generosi-

ty to provide a new warm

winter coat to a child who

would otherwise go without.

Return to your classroom teacher by December 6, 2019

5

Veteran’s Day Program

Our Veteran’s Day Pro-

gram will take place on

Tuesday, November 12,

2019 from 8:20—9:15AM

at Rippleside Elementary

and Monday, November 11,

2019 from 9:00—10:30 in

the High School gym.

Please invite any active or

retired members of our

armed forces that you

know to attend our celebra-

tion of songs and poems

performed by our students.

Refreshments will be served

afterwards. If you have a

photograph you would like to

submit for our Veteran’s wall

display, please send it with a

student to Rippleside or drop

it off at the front office. We

will not be able to send the

photographs back, however;

so please only send a copy of

your photograph. If you do

not have a photo that you are

able to send, we would still

like to honor the veteran by

having our students draw a

picture of them.

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Thank you Rippleside Foster Grandparents!

For years we have been fortu-

nate enough to have three

wonderful people involved in

our school that have been

hugely beneficial to many

classrooms and a countless

number of students. Joann

Oaks, Audrey Bistodeau and

Dennis Bistodeau have been

foster grandparents at Ripple-

side for a combined total of 47

years and decided it was time to

retire at the end of our last

school year. We wanted to take

this month to honor all of the

work they did over their years of

service. Joann served 12 years,

Dennis served 15 years and

Audrey served 20 years.

They have all done such a won-

derful job in this program and

they will be missed!

If you are interested in learn-

ing more about this program

and becoming a foster grand-

parent yourself, please contact

Marcia Ferris at 218-839-6650

or email at Mar-

cia.ferris@lssmn.org

Grades K-3 will present their annual

Christmas Program in the Aitkin High

School Auditorium on Thursday, De-

cember 5, 2019 with two performanc-

es. The first performance will be at

6:15PM for Kindergarten and 1st

grade students and the second perfor-

mance will be at 7:15PM for 2nd and

3rd grade students. We are very excit-

ed to share our music with you! Your

tickets will be available to pick up dur-

ing fall conferences on Thursday, No-

vember 7th from 8:00AM—7:30PM

from our music department. More

details will be provided by a letter

from the music department in the

days to come. Please plan to have your

child wear red, green, black or white

clothes. We understand this is diffi-

cult for many families, so we have

provided several options. We are

thrilled that your students are partici-

pating in the concert, so please use

your discretion and dress your child

appropriately—we fully support

whichever clothing you are able to

provide. We understand that extra

tickets are in high demand, but we

can only allot four tickets per child

until the night of the concert to ensure

we have sufficient seating in our audi-

torium. Extra tickets, if available, are

given out on a first come first serve

basis, so please check in at the ticket

table as soon as you arrive if you

need any extras or if you have

tickets that you will not be using

and would like to leave them for a

family that may need additional.

Concert DVD (12/19/2019)

(12/5/2019)

7

Rippleside Elementary

PTO News

Monthly Meetings

Golden Gobbler Award!

The next PTO meeting will be

November 18, 2019 at 5:30

P.M. in the Media Center at

Rippleside. Meetings are typi-

cally held the third Monday of

the month. There will not be

childcare this year, but feel free

to bring your children to the

meeting.

The Ripplside PTO has creat-ed the Golden Gobbler Award in an effort to recognize the many wonderful workers who make up Rippleside Elemen-tary. Each month parents and Rippleside employees will be able to nominate any employ-ee (Teacher, Paraprofessional,

Custodian, Bus Driver, Secre-tary, etc) of Rippleside that they think has done an exceptional job. This month the Golden Gobbler is Mrs. Carlson! Con-gratulations!

Fall Conferences

Childcare Childcare will be provided during conferences on Thursday, November 7th from 8:00 AM—7:30PM in the Kid’s Club room.

Fall Fundraiser

If you participated in the Charleston Wrap fundraiser, distribu-

tion will take place on Wednesday, November 20th from 3:15—

6:00 in the old gym. If you are not able to come during that time

to pick up your order, please make arrangements with a friend,

relative or neighbor to pick up your order for you as we do not

have adequate space to store items overnight.

THANK YOU to everyone that participated in the fundraiser or

donated money. *Note: We do accept donations if you do not plan

to participate in the fundraiser. You can label them for field trips,

technology, etc.

PTO Funded

5th Grade Mask Making

8

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Nov. 1st—Quarter

1 Ends

Nov. 5th—4-6

Choir Concert

9:30AM

Nov. 7th—

Conferences

8:00AM-7:30PM

Nov. 8th—No

School Teacher

In-Service

Nov. 11th—ASK

Session 2 Begins

Nov. 14th—

Muffins w/Mom

Nov. 18th—PTO

Meeting 5:30 Me-

dia Center

Nov. 18th—PAC

Meeting 5:00

Nov. 20th—

Fundraiser Dis-

tribution

Nov. 21st—

Farm2School

Lunch

Nov. 28th—No

School

Nov. 29th—No

School

Schedule of

Events

10

AITKIN PUBLIC SCHOOLS

This would be a good place to insert a short paragraph about your organization. It

might include the purpose of the organization, its mission, founding date, and a brief

history. You could also include a brief list of the types of products, services, or

programs your organization offers, the geographic area covered (for example, western

U.S. or European markets), and a profile of the types of customers or members served.

It would also be useful to include a contact name for readers who want more

information about the organization.

PBIS MONTHLY THEMES FOR 2019-2020

December – Random Acts of Kindness January – Healthy Relationships February – Problem Solving March – Anger Management April – Personal Responsibility for Self and Others May – Staying Strong

Aitkin Public Schools Primary Business Address

Your Address Line 2 Your Address Line 3 Your Address Line 4

Phone: 555-555-5555

Fax: 555-555-5555 E-mail: someone@example.com

YOUR LOGO HERE

Aitkin Public Schools

Rippleside Elementary 225 2nd Avenue SW

Aitkin, MN 56431

www.isd1.org/rippleside Phone: 927-4838

Fax: 927-4608

“Empowering students to

be life-long learners.”

The Ripple Effect: Catch the Wave

We are respectful

Always responsible

Very safe

Excellent attitude

November focus: Respect

Farm 2 School Lunch

November 21, 2019

Menu: Turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole, wild rice stuffing, dinner roll, grapes and zucchini muffins.

Provided by: Turkey by Willowsedge Farm, Wild Rice by Mille Lacs Wild Rice Corporation, Zuc-chini by Firefly Farm

Adult Guest Price $4.15

Child Guest Price $3.55

RSVP by November 14th on http://home.isd1.org/rippleside.html or call the Rippleside office at 218-927-4838.

Thank you to all the volunteers that have helped get the 2018-2019 school year off to a great start! Parent and grandparent volunteers are always needed to make our school a better place. If you are interested in becoming a volunteer please contact Brittney Galbraith at bgal-braith@isd1.org or 218-927-4838. A background check is required for anyone to volunteer in the school and will be completed once your form is turned in to the office. You will be contacted only if your background check does not come back clear. If you are interested in volunteering for special events around Rippleside, I will contact you closer to those event dates to schedule times with you. Thank you to all of our volun-teers!

Parent Volunteer Coordinator by Brittney Galbraith

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