Raintree Village December 2017

www.RAINTREEVILLAGE.com
ELEMENTARY EDUCATION CORNER
FOR AT HOME PRACTICE
By Jeff Carrus
This month we will discuss behavioral
expectations and structures that you can
practice at home with your students to
help them improve in school. It is extremely
important to reinforce behavior at home
so students see the connection between
school and home.
One way to do this is to check your child’s
daily communication from teachers and
give specific praise and correction when
needed. For example, if your child has done
very well in completing their work then
celebrate that with them by saying, “You
have really been focusing on getting your
work finished in class and putting effort
into it” rather than just telling them, “Great
job today.” This gives them some specific
feedback on what to continue doing.
The same goes for providing correction.
If your child needs to work on talking at
appropriate times, then give them specific
feedback and practice doing this. Show
them what it looks like to talk at appropriate
times and reinforce them for doing this
at home.
Positively reinforcing correct behaviors has
a much more significant impact on changing
behavior than just giving consequences for
misbehavior. One reinforcement system
you may use is an incentive system. Have
a family meeting where you discuss the
expectations and what you want them to
do and how they should behave and write
this down on a chart for them to reference.
Also come up with some incentives they
want to earn such as iPad time, playground
time, a special treat or anything else you are
comfortable with and write these down on
a list. You may find a small container and
beads and tell your child that every time
they display certain behaviors in school and
at home, they earn 3 beads. When they fill
the jar with beads, they can earn an incentive
from their list.
Post the expected behavior chart and incentive
list where they can see them and
refer to them when making corrections. It
is crucial to separate the misbehavior from
the child and say, “We love you and are not
mad at you, but the behavior you chose is
unacceptable in this family.” It is important
to have consequences but make sure your
child knows it is because of their choice and
next time they can choose to act differently.
A great resource for students who may
struggle with certain behavioral expectations
is www.pbisworld.com. Here you can
click on a wide variety of behaviors and if
that sounds like what you are seeing click
yes to get to a list of intervention strategies.
You can then click on the intervention strategy
for more details to see if this is an intervention
that may work at home or school.
DRIVING IN RAINTREE VILLAGE
Our community has grown significantly
over the past year. Moreover, our community
has numerous homes along our main
street, Raintree Village. With such growth,
it’s important that we’re more cognizant of
our speed while driving through Raintree
Village and parking on community streets.
I’m sure everyone has noticed increased congestion
along with cars parked along various
streets within our community. However, it’s
important that all of us adhere to the speed
limit and encourage others to do the same.
The following tips serve as a reminder for
driving & parking in our community:
1. Drive the speed limit - 35 miles per hour
2. Do not block your neighbor’s driveway
3. Make sure you park in the direction of
traffic when parking on the street
4. Make sure you park within 18 inches from
the curb
5. Remain mindful if the street is narrow,
street parking impose greater limitations
for emergency vehicles
Finally, we must be mindful that emergency
vehicles are wider than personal vehicles.
Some community streets impose greater
limitations for emergency vehicles when
there’s street parking. Although residents
have the right to park on the street, let’s be
mindful of the aforementioned tips.
TIPS TO REDUCE YOUR
RISK OF BURGLARY
It cannot be stated enough of the importance
of minimizing our exposure to crime.
Our contract deputies stated that certain
vehicles have increased exposure to theft,
specifically the tires and rims. The vehicles
commonly targeted are Ford F150, Dodge
Chargers and Chevy Tahoes. Although these
vehicles have rim locks, another safeguard
is to park your vehicle in the garage or close
to another vehicle. Anyway, you can either
slow down or cause attention will help reduce
the risk of theft.
Since we are approaching the holiday season,
you need to be mindful to breakdown
bags and boxes of large purchases, if possible
place in trash bins or bags. Although it’s
time consuming and burdensome, it doesn’t
call attention to such items in your home.
The list below simply reminds us of other
things we should be mindful each day.
1. Take the time to meet and know your
neighbors. Let them know if you notice
anything unusual such as cars or people at
their homes.
2. Make sure to close garage doors when at
home & away.
3. Don’t keep garage door openers in the car,
take them in the house with you; a garage
door opener makes it easier for someone
to enter your garage or house to remove
personal property.
4. Keep car doors locked and take valuables
either in your home or ensure the items are
not in plain site; remember to take down
the attachment for your Garmin too, as it
alerts individuals that something valuable
may be in the car.
5. If possible, keep a car in a driveway as it
gives an impression that someone is home.
6. Keep all shrubs and plants at a level low
enough that passing by officers or other residents
can see if someone is lurking in those
bushes! Shrubs should also be trimmed
high enough to show “feet” of someone
hiding in them.
7. Have keys in hand before leaving the
store, house or office, avoiding standing by
the car searching for them.
8. Don’t leave ladders on the side of the
house or in the back yard. Ladders provide
easy access to open second floor windows
and no one will be able to see.
9. Make sure you close blinds when you are
inside at night with the lights on, potential
burglars can see right inside and know who
is at home.
10. Use sensor lights outside the home. It
deters criminals by “spot lighting” their
efforts to enter your home.
11. Use double key locks: locks that require
a key from the outside and from the inside.
12. Repair any broken areas of your fence,
reducing the access of potential burglars or
mischievous kids.
13. When on vacation, let your neighbor(s)
know so they can keep an eye out for suspicious
activity. You can also inform the Harris
County Deputy’s Office serving our area. The
Storefront Office is located 19818 Franz Rd.,
Katy, TX 77449, 281-647-9371. The storefront
hours: 9 AM - 5 PM.
14. When on vacation, keep yards mowed
and trimmed, burglars spend a lot of time
in a neighborhood looking for their next
targets. Overgrown yards are a sure sign no
one’s home.
4 December 2017 | Community Newsletter