We thank our Olmsted Elementary students this month for sharing their Encouraging Words:

  • "Flowers can’t grow without sun AND rain - like you. You need people and things in your life to grow." Sydney H./4th Grade

  • "You are perfect the way you are. Don’t listen to the haters. They are just jealous." Isabella/4th Grade

  • "When I am struggling, I go somewhere there is no one. The quiet helps me." Anonymous/4th Grade

  • "Light can make your day brighter." Vanessa/4th Grade

  • "Something someone has said that encouraged me was at baseball and although I didn’t hit it, my Dad said, 'Good eye!' Everyone encouraged me by cheering for me." Ethan D./4th Grade

  • "If you give up, you’ll never know if you would have succeeded." Jayda F./4th Grade
We’ve all been in situations where we feel nervous. It might be due to a difficult conversation we’re about to have, a presentation we’re about to give, a situation we’re unfamiliar with, or trying something for the first time. Whenever we’re in a situation where we begin feeling anxious or nervous, we can begin to overcome those emotions through our own self-talk. 

Alison Wood Brooks, Harvard Business School, shares research about “anxious reappraisal” which is the intentional act of reframing our self-talk when we’re feeling anxious or nervous. Instead of saying to yourself, “I’m nervous to give this presentation” or “I’m nervous about the first day of school/a meeting/an event/etc” instead say to yourself, “I’m excited to give this presentation” or “I’m excited about the first day of school/a meeting/an event/etc.” 

Trying to relieve your nerves by telling yourself to calm down isn’t as effective because you're asking yourself to shift from a high arousal feeling (nervousness) to a low arousal feeling (calm). By reframing a high arousal feeling (nervousness) with another high arousal feeling (excitement), you signal to your mind that you’re experiencing an opportunity (positive) instead of a threat (negative). Click here to view the full research and/or click here to view Daniel Pink’s 90-second video summary . 
You may have seen recommendations from the FBI to reset your router by turning it off and then on again. This is in response to a Russian-linked malware system that has infected over 700,000 routers of home and small businesses in over 50 countries.

Specifically, "The FBI recommends any owner of small office and home office routers reboot the devices to temporarily disrupt the malware and aid the potential identification of infected devices,” FBI officials warned. “Owners are advised to consider disabling remote management settings on devices and secure with strong passwords and encryption when enabled. Network devices should be upgraded to the latest available versions of firmware.”




  • Flyer Hub (flyers for community activities and events)
Educational Equity Statement
It is the policy of the Urbandale Community School District not to discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, sex, religion, marital status (for program), ethnic background, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, age (for employment), or socio-economic background (for program) in its educational programs and its employment practices. There is a grievance procedure for processing complaints of discrimination. If you have questions or a grievance related to this policy, please contact the District office at 11152 Aurora Avenue, Urbandale, IA or call 515-457-5000. The District’s Equity Coordinators are Dr. Keri Schlueter, Coordinator of Student Services (schlueterk@urbandaleschools.com), Mark Lane, Director of Human Resources (lanem@urbandaleschools.com), and Crista Carlile, Director of Teaching and Learning (carlilec@urbandaleschools.com).
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