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Dear Altura Prep Families and Caregivers,
Happy November! Our first couple of months have passed by quickly, and it is exciting to see how much your children are learning and growing each day. We look forward to Parent-Teacher Conferences this month to share your child's learning goals, achievements, and successes with you. So here's the scoop for November:
Month-At-A-Glance
Tuesday, November 1, 2022: New Student Enrollment for 2023-2024 is OPEN!
Wednesday, November 2, 2022: Istation Assessments (Math and Reading, all grade levels)
Friday, November 4, 2022: School Picture Retakes
Sunday, November 6, 2022: Daylight Savings- Turn your clocks back!
Tuesday, November 8, 2022: No School (Election Day)
Friday, November 11, 2022: No School (Veteran's Day)
Monday, November 21, 2022: No School (Parent/Guardian-Teacher Conferences)
Tuesday, November 22, 2022: No School (Parent/Guardian-Teacher Conferences)
Wednesday, November 23- Friday, November 25, 2022: No School (Thanksgiving Holiday)
Parent Conferences
November 18, 21, and 22 are designated Parent/Guardian-Teacher Conference Days. Families received parent conference invitations in your child's binder on October 27, 2022.
Please review the letter, and return the completed confirmation slip to your child's homeroom teacher to confirm that you will attend your child's conference.
Please note that we do our best to accommodate your family's schedule needs, but there are many moving parts to our parent conference schedule. Therefore, we can only sometimes accommodate requests for different time slots.
Attendance Policy
Parents/guardians are responsible for ensuring their child is at school on time daily. In addition, Altura Prep must report regular attendance to the state of New Mexico.
Though we categorize excused and unexcused absences, all absences count as part of the number of missed days. Therefore, students who miss more than 10% of the academic year (regardless of whether or not the absence was excused) are considered chronically absent.
We strongly encourage families to schedule non-essential appointments or travel on Fridays or school vacation days to minimize the amount of school time students miss.
Absent students are expected to complete missed assignments when they return to school. Students who are absent should complete makeup work in one day for every day the student is absent. For example, if your child has been absent for two consecutive days, they will have two days to complete their makeup work.
It is the expectation that parents contact their child's teachers about missed assignments when their child is not at school. You can find all staff emails here on our school website.
MySchoolBucks
We kindly remind families to check their child's MySchoolBucks account weekly. Students must have sufficient funds in their accounts to purchase lunch or breakfast. In your MySchoolBucks account, families can view student purchases and current balances and set up the account to reload when balances get low automatically.
Mrs. Cynthia will notify families by email/call that your student is low on funds once the account hits $5.00.
If you need assistance with MySchoolBucks, please call them directly at 1-855-832-5226.
Picture Day Retakes
Students absent from school for the first picture day will be able to take their school pictures this Friday morning, November 4, 2022. Students may bring a change of shirt for their picture but must be in uniform aside from the time they take their picture.
Lost and Found
Please mark ALL personal belongings with your child's full name to aid in return if lost. The lost and found rack can be found in front of the school daily from 7:15 am - 3:15 pm. We will donate all articles of clothing not claimed by Friday at 3:15 pm on the last day of each month to a charitable organization.
Name labels help reduce lost items! You can help support Altura Preparatory School by purchasing your child's name labels from Mabel's Labels. Click here and enter "Altura Preparatory School" before purchasing personalized labels for your child. These labels are fantastic and are waterproof, dishwasher, and microwave-safe.
Holidays
Just like religion or politics, holiday celebrations can become controversial at schools. Yet, holidays are an unavoidable fact of life. All families have meaningful religious or cultural celebrations, so we observe seasonal celebrations at Altura Preparatory School that serve an appropriate instructional purpose. We teach our Prepsters about various holidays to give our students cultural literacy but are mindful that learning about specific holidays is not the same as celebrating them. Children need to know how holidays bring joy to people around the globe while simultaneously being mindful of the diversity of the families in our communities. When children learn about how others celebrate and what they believe, they are expanding their understanding of the world and building a foundation for appreciation, respect, and inclusion of all people.
We encourage our Altura Prep families to ensure you are building customs and traditions at home that will show your child the familial importance of celebrating something meaningful together. In the words of the world's best neighbor, Mr. Fred Rogers, "As different as we are from one another, as unique as each of us is, we are much more the same than we are different. That may be the most essential message of all, as we help our children grow toward being caring, compassionate, and charitable adults."
School Phone Calls
We kindly remind our community that the school office hours are from 7:30 am - 3:15 pm daily. Calls before 7:30 am are forwarded to Ms. Cynthia's cell phone. We have had quite a few families make very early morning phone calls to Ms. Cynthia.
Please be mindful that Ms. Cynthia is also a mother with young children and our amazing office manager. If you need to leave a message for the school early in the morning, we ask that you send an email to [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], or [email protected]. We thank you in advance for your cooperation.
New Student Enrollment for 2023-24 is OPEN!
New student enrollment for the next school year is now open! Current families with siblings ready to enroll may now apply for a new student through SchoolMint, our enrollment and registration portal. Additionally, if you have friends or family interested in sending their child to Altura Prep, now is the time for them to create their enrollment application. The lottery for new students will be held in April 2023. Returning students DO NOT need a new application. Returning student enrollment will take place in January of 2023 for the coming year.
Parking at the Adjacent Business Lot and Church
This last week, our neighbors at Hope in the Desert Episcopal Church have had to resort to having signage installed in front of their church parking lot due to the large number of Altura Prep parents parking there during the school day. We have regularly asked and reminded our parents and visitors not to park in our neighbors' parking spaces. If you need to pick up your student/s early, we ask that you call the school (505.539.5369) about 10 minutes before arriving at Altura Prep, pull up to the fire lane, and we will bring your student/s to your vehicle. Please DO NOT leave your car unattended in the fire lane!
We wish we had a facility with ample parking, a gymnasium, and a large multipurpose room that would accommodate all of our students and their families for large-scale events. That being said, we are blessed to have a beautiful facility with lovely businesses next to us that work in partnership with our team to keep your kiddos safe each day. Please help us to keep these partnerships strong by doing your part as a family to abide by these strict guidelines we have with our property management and neighborhood association. We truly appreciate your cooperation and support.
Value of the Month- Using Our Good Judgement
At Altura Prep, we teach students that we develop good judgment by making decisions based on analyzing situations and experiences we have had in our lives. As one of the wise sages of Ancient Greece noted, "Judgment develops from experience. Good judgment develops from a bad experience."
Our goal is to give our students experiences in making decisions and ensure they can reflect on those experiences and learn. As a learning community, it is vital that we provide our students with opportunities to make decisions for themselves and make sure that they then have the chance to reflect on those experiences and learn from them. It is also important to raise children who feel good about themselves, so they make wise choices each day rather than poor ones. Good judgment skills are necessary to lead a happy and content life.
Research has shown that when children are taught good judgment skills from a young age, they grow into problem-solvers and increase their ability to think logically and react rationally. The following are some strategies to use to help your child develop good judgment skills:
Teach your child that mistakes are a part of life. At Altura Prep, teachers often remind their students that mistakes are proof that they are trying. Let your child make mistakes, and let them see you make mistakes. Then, directly demonstrate to them how you correct mistakes you make in your adult life. The earlier children realize that mistakes do not define them but help shape who they are, the better!
Model the process of decision-making. Share how and why you make decisions with your child as early as the toddler years. In the educational world, we often refer to this method as a think-aloud. For example, "It is cloudy outside. I think we should bring an umbrella on our walk today." Then, as they get older, give them two options so that they can practice how to make decisions for themselves. For example, "Would you like to wear your gray sweater today or your blue sweatshirt?"
As your child grows, they will have more significant decisions to make. Some of these decisions will require negotiation and compromise. Even so, don't always jump in if you see your child making a wrong decision. Children often learn best when they learn directly from a mistake. If it is a safe situation, it may be good for them to make a wrong decision.
When they make mistakes, please help them learn to stay calm and not to blame others. If they regret their choice, support them while they are feeling difficult emotions and help them to think about what they could do differently next time. For example, your child chooses to play a video game before going to bed and then forgets to put his Home-School binder that has his homework assignment that is due the next day in his backpack. He calls you from school during morning recess and begs you to please bring his Home-School binder to him so that he doesn't receive a consequence from his math teacher. As easy as it would be to fetch the binder from his room and drive it to school, do not bring it to them. Experiencing consequences from mistakes helps your child to grow.
Over the last decade, we have seen a drastic increase in parents who want to shield their children from experiencing difficult emotions. However, it is from experiencing those upsetting feelings that children learn how to make better decisions. Having children experience consequences from poor choices that they have made, and learning to work through those difficult emotions, will not only help to shape their character but help them to develop the self-confidence to trust themselves to know how to make good choices as they move towards adolescence.
Let your child know that you trust and believe in them each day. As I leave the house each morning, I repeat the same quote to my daughters that they have heard every day since they started preschool: "Work hard, be nice, and know that I trust you to make good choices." It is crucial that, as parents, we work hard to form a close relationship with each of our children. We want them to know that we trust and love them and that they can always come to us for support when they muck things up because they will. Every child needs to know that as their parents, you love them unconditionally and accept them for who they are, even when they make the wrong decisions. Taking the time to build a relationship of trust will ensure that they open up to you when they have a dilemma.
During this month of Thanksgiving, we would like to take this opportunity to let all of our Altura Prep families know how much we appreciate each and every one of you. Your support since our inception in 2018 has meant the world to our team. Have a wonderful month.
In partnership,
Lissa and Meaghan
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