Welcome Back to Estes

We hope that everyone has had a great start to the year. I know the staff at Estes loves having your children here at school.

Please remember that schools starts at 8:05. I would like to thank all of the parents that get your children to school on time. At Estes, our teachers pride themselves on not wasting any instructional time during the day. It might not seem like a lot of time, but when your child shows up at 8:30 they have already lost 25 minutes of instruction. This also requires your child's teacher to stop class and get them caught up with the rest of the class, which then wastes the time of the students in class. 

Breakfast in the cafeteria is served until 7:50. If your child enters the cafeteria at 7:50, they will receive a breakfast bag that your child can take back to their teacher's room.

I believe we have worked out most of the kinks for the walker and car rider lines. Thank you for your patience in dealing with those issues.

Parents we would just like to thank you for everything that you do to help your child become a successful student at Estes! It takes a village to raise a child and with us working closely together we can raise your child to do amazing things! I have a senior this year and there is no way I could have gotten him to where he is today without the help of his teachers. I am so blessed that he had teachers that looked out for him and pushed him to do well in school. As you can see I highlighted "pushed" because let's me honest most kids need to be pushed. If you want to succeed in life you need someone that is going to push you to greatness and that is what our teachers at Estes are trying to do with your children.

Thank you for taking time out of your day or night and checking their folders. My wife and I have a place for each one of our children's backpacks, so that we can do a quick check to see what important information their teachers shared with us that day. Having a place that your child keeps his or her backpack also makes it easier for you and them to find it the next morning. Please continue to keep in communication with your child's teacher with any questions or concerns that you may have. 

Thank you for asking them about their day. If you want to get something besides nothing for an answer change up your questions. What was the best part of the day? Can you teach me something that you learned today? What was something that made you laugh today? What was something that made you proud today? If you could change one thing about today what would it be? How can we make tomorrow better? 

Thank you for reading to them or listening to them read at night. A parent that shows interest in a child's education will have a child that understands the importance of why they come to school. Reading to your child is a simple way of showing your child that an education is important and it is also a way of bonding with your child. Please cherish this time you have them at this age because before you know it they will be looking at colleges with you. I truly miss holding them, reading to them and talking to them about the books.  

Parents lets do something special and show the world that our little school is the best in the world!

Sweet Dreams

I saw this infographic on the news and I thought I would share this with all of you. I have 3 boys and I know the struggle of getting children to bed. It is so important to get your children in a bedtime routine because lack of sleep is dangerous to a child's body, mind and spirit.
I know when our boys were little we would turn off the television an hour or so before bed to allow their eyes and mind to rest. We then would move to giving them a bath and finally read them a bedtime story. This helped them wind down and get a full night's sleep.
Now we parents have to deal with all the technology that our children are on at night. I am speaking from experience and I will tell you that they need to get off all devices at least an hour before bed. My youngest was having trouble falling asleep and it was because he was on his iPad right before bed. I am not going to bore you with all the research, but if you google screen time before bed you can see what I mean.
Good luck and good night!

Engineering in Third Grade

Estes third graders are engineers! When given materials and a task, these students turned to the engineering design process to solve a problem. As you can see, they engineered some original designs. When asked what they learned, most agreed showing grit during the improvement stage is a necessity for successful engineering.

Mrs. Jewell's Leaders

During the first three days of school we worked on creating visuals to display which focus on characteristics of a great classroom community. The students are working on showing what each of these characteristics look like, sound like and how they make them feel as a part of our community. Our words include: kindness, effort, respect and responsibility and were generated by the students! These posters will also help us craft our Leader In Me classroom mission statement!

Pete the Cat

Here is a video from the first week of school of Mrs. Harralson's class and Pete the Cat! Enjoy!

OCTC Is For You!

Amanda Brothers, who works for Owensboro Community and Technical College, recently shared some information with me and I would like to share it with our parents. Here are some just a few of the things OCTC offers: English as a Second Language Classes, GED classes, help with the WorkKeys, College prep  and AOKY classes where they can take college classes when they are working on their GED. We also have the Ready to Work Program and the Work and Learn Program for those who are receiving KTAP and would like to get their GED or go to College. 

Heart of a Champion

Ladies and gentlemen we have six weeks of school left in this school year. The last six weeks of the year are where champions are made. Why? It is because champions don't let distractions stop them from achieving their goals.
What goals are you talking about Mr. Williams? The one and only goal I would like to address is being the best version of yourself that you can be. I would like to describe what I believe this looks like for our students. This is based on 18 years of being an educator and what I have seen during my 18 year career.
Students you need to remember why you are at school. The main reason you are at school and why your parents want you in school is to be successful in life. The world is a hard place that will chew you up and spit you out if you aren't prepared for what life throws at you. In the final six weeks you are going to have distractions that will test your heart and if you are a champion. You are going to have ball games and practices to go to. Here is what I have seen in champion students: THEY GET THEIR WORK DONE either before practice or after practice. These students understand that less than 1% of all students that have attended schools in Owensboro and Daviess County have played professional sports. They also understand that if you don't do your work in middle school and high school you will not participate in any sporting events. I have one son that plays high school baseball and one son that plays little league and they know that if their work isn't completed they aren't playing that night.
What other distractions are going to be thrown at you? Daylight lasts longer and you will want to stay outside and play longer. Trust me I get it and I am right there with you wanting to stay outside, but you still have to do your work. I suggest getting everything completed right when you get home. Once your work is done you will have all night to play.
What else? Bedtime! You still need to get to bed on time. Champions know that their body needs ample amounts of rest to perform at high levels. If you stay up late and get up early, you are setting yourself up for failure.
Still more? Getting to school on time and coming to school every day is very important if you want to be a champion. Champions know about preparation and know how important it is to show up on time and be ready to put in work. Champions don't call in and say they are too tired to come in. Quite frankly and this is going to sound harsh but it needs to be said- Losers do this. Don't fall in the there is only six weeks of school left and I am going to slack off! Champions don't think that way and neither should you.
Like I said earlier I have been doing this for 18 years and I have seen champions that were made in the last six weeks of a school year. There are students of mine that our in college, playing college sports, in the Armed Forces, working skilled jobs and supporting not only themselves but also their families. I have also seen students that didn't take school seriously and lets just say the best version of them didn't happen and they are still having a hard time figuring things out.
I can't wait to see all the champions that are made in the final six weeks of this school year.