Principal

Terrace Park Elementary

Principal’s Update

November 2008

Dear Terrace Park Families,

November traditionally brings a variety of important learning and community-building experiences to the students, families and staff of Terrace Park Elementary. With the approach of Thanksgiving, it is the perfect time to reflect on the many things that we are thankful for at our school.

Thank you to each and every parent who prioritized time to meet with your child(ren)’s teacher during the Parent-Teacher Conferences to share important information and discuss student progress. Thanks, also, to all of the family members and friends that are planning to share the morning with us on Parent-Grandparent Day next Tuesday. The children just love to share their work, classroom and teacher with a special person in their lives!

Parents and staff made possible a number of other special experiences during November including a very successful Author Visit and Book Fair. We welcomed acclaimed children’s poet and illustrator Douglas Florian to our school. Mr. Florian presented three very entertaining and humorous assemblies which focused on how his ideas become a book and the elements of poetry. Later, the whole school gathered for a “Florian Fair” celebration of the children’s work (writing pieces and artwork done in Mr. Florian’s style.) We were all inspired to be poets and artists after his visit! Many thanks to committee members Roseann Hayes, Linda Ramey, Mary Kay Kroeger, Diane Gunter, Sandy Wittman-Shell, Julie Coates and Wendy Woodruff for making this wonderful experience possible for our children.

Our annual Book Fair also put the spotlight on the joy and importance of reading and books. Thank you to Jody Kauffman, Diane Gunter, Sandy Wittman-Shell and all of the parent volunteers. Everyone loved shopping for the wonderful gift of a book or a favorite new read!

Earlier this month, TPE students had the opportunity to learn more about their country’s democratic process and history with a focus on the Presidential Election and the contributions of those who have served our country. TPE held our own mock Presidential Election in the library. Students were able to cast their votes for president and learned how our system works in the process! Thank you to Melissa Mathis for organizing this event and to the 5^th grade parents that “worked the polls” and provided cookies. The children continued to learn about what makes our country great as they observed Veterans’ Day by exploring the meaning and history of the holiday, by learning from speakers and through presentations shared by our sixth graders with the rest of our school.

A big thank you to all of the parent volunteers who facilitate the very important on-going programs and activities throughout the year including all of the moms, dads and community members that regularly read to and tutor children and help out in the classrooms and library, to the room parents and volunteers that helped with the Halloween parties and that chaperone field trips, to Sherry Holcomb and Tammy Koreman for planning the fine arts assemblies and field trips for the year, to Shannon Decamp for heading up the sportswear sale, to Sally Vianello for coordinating the Birthday Book Club, to Melissa Gearheart for collecting product labels, to Libby Gohman for running Wednesday Envelope copies every week, to Sonya Geers for keeping our school door so beautifully decorated, to Sally Gaburo for facilitating the volunteer database, to Janis Dietz for coordinating the teacher treats, to Jeri Gatch for running the Kroger/Biggs card program and to Nikki Utt and Dawn Harden for organizing Wednesday Envelopes.

As November activities become memories, I am reminded of how thankful I am for our fantastic TPE students, staff, parents and community!

Sincerely,

Linda Lee

Upcoming at Terrace Park Elementary:

November 19 – Parent-Teacher Conferences

November 20 – 6^th Grade Field Trip to the Playhouse & Art Museum

November 21 – 2^nd Quarter Interim (Check Grades)

November 25 – Parent-Grandparent Day

November 26-28 – Thanksgiving Break (No School)

December 4 – District Facilities Planning – TP Community Tour (6:00 pm)

December 10 – Gr. 5-6 Holiday Instrumental Concert (7:00 pm in the gym)

December 11 – Gr. K-4 Holiday General Music Concert (7:00 pm in the gym)

December 16 – Board of Education Meeting (7:00 pm in the MJHS cafeteria)

December 20-January 4 – Winter Vacation (No School)

Terrace Park Elementary

Principal’s Update

October 2008

Dear Terrace Park Families,

October has been an extremely busy month at TPE - with staff, students and parents working hard to make sure that we challenge our children to achieve to their potential and make the most of the 2008-09 school year.

Several weeks ago, our student-produced monthly video news program debuted for this year. Sixth graders, led by Bob Fleckenstein, are writing and filming the stories and are learning to edit the news program. Each month the video will highlight the terrific activities in our classrooms and school. You can view the first edition of 2008-09 of the “TP News” via the TP Web page and the local cable access channel. Stay tuned for the November show coming soon…

Also in October, the PTO sponsored the COSI on Wheels Science Education program for our children. The students learned about wildlife diversity with the “What’s Wild?” assembly and hands –on experiments facilitated by parents. Students explored animal habitats and how wildlife biologists use technology to study and manage animal populations. They also had a blast finding and identifying birds using binoculars, catching and measuring “fish”, and discovering clues to identifying animals from what they leave behind.

We are looking forward to November’s learning and community-building activities as well, including next week’s school-wide mock presidential election and visit from children’s poet and illustrator Douglas Florian. Later in the month, parents will meet with teachers to discuss student progress at elementary conferences and families will join us in classrooms for our annual Parent-Grandparent Day.

This month our appreciation goes out to all of the parent volunteers who have helped in the classrooms, library and office in the last month. A huge thank you, also, to the many parents that helped make picture day, vision and hearing screenings, COSI and the DIBELS testing go so smoothly. Thanks to Nikki Utt, Dawn Harden and Libby Gohman for getting out Wednesday Envelopes out each week, to Jeri Gatch for facilitating Kroger/Biggs cards, to Sherry Holcomb and Tammy Koreman for chairing the Fine Arts Committee, to Sally Vianello for facilitating Birthday Book Club, to Patti Saxton and Tom Zaya for organizing the COSI science program for our children and to Gregg Seigfried and Tom Zaya for mentoring our Lego League Robotics Team.

Finally, it wouldn’t be October in Terrace Park without the PTO Pumpkin Festival! Each year, I am overwhelmed with the number of parent volunteers who work so diligently to make sure that this event is a fun family evening and a successful fundraiser for our school. Not only do the donations allow us to purchase items and fund educational programs for our children, it is another opportunity for our students to see the dedication that our parents and community members have to our school. Many, many thanks to the multitude of TPE parents working on committees, making donations, lending their talents and working at the festival! Our sincere appreciation also goes out to Sonya Geers, Dawn Hardin, and Dawn Burke for chairing Pumpkin Fest, to Sybil Schooler for helping with all of the details, to Angela Lemay for organizing the Bootique, and to all of the chairs and volunteers who worked on the Bid & Buy, Haunted House, Casper’s Corner, decorations, classroom projects, games, raffles, sportswear & ticket sales, money counting, clean up crew, café and Bootique. Thank you!!

Have a safe and fun Halloween! If you ever have any questions or concerns, please call or e-mail me.

Sincerely,

Linda Lee

October 29 – Fine Arts Assembly: Playhouse in the Park Production of “Noonie” (1:00 pm in the gym)

Terrace Park Elementary

Principal’s Update

September 2008

Dear Terrace Park Families,

As we finish the first month of school, I would like thank our staff, parents and students for working together to make the start of the 2008-09 year a terrific one! September has been filled with the excitement of a new school year, a renewed sense of community with friends and lots of great learning experiences in the classroom (not to mention a windy day and several unexpected days off of school!) At Terrace Park Elementary, we believe that by working together as a team with parents and students, we can accomplish our mission of nurturing “Scholars of Today and Leaders of Tomorrow.”

There are several new initiatives in the Mariemont School District and at TPE that you will learn more about as the year progresses. Last week the Board of Education began a year-long process of engaging the community to study the long-range needs of our facilities. Parents and community members will be encouraged to participate in a series of meetings and activities throughout the year to give input into what we would like to see in our school facilities well into the 21^st century. If you were not able to attend last week’s Board Meeting, a video of the facilities process presentation as well as an informational power point is linked to the district Web page (under “District Facilities Planning Process.”) Superintendent Paul Imhoff will also be at our PTO meeting on October 15^th at 7:00 pm in the cafeteria to explain the process and answer questions. If you are interested in serving on the TPE facilities committee, please call or e-mail me.

At TPE this fall, teachers in K-6 have begun to implement a new social studies course of study. Parents may notice that the social studies curriculum is more closely aligned with national and state standards. Students will notice new textbooks and support learning materials in class. The district will review the Physical Education, Health and Technology courses of study in kindergarten through 12^th grade during this year. In the spring, this committee will present their recommendations to the board of education.

TPE’s technology continues to be enhanced with the addition of several new SmartBoards. We now have SmartBoards in all of our gr. K-6 classrooms. The district has also upgraded teacher computers to better utilize options with the SmartBoards, replaced the student computers in the library and has provided additional laptops for our students to use in the classroom.

Over the summer there were some facility changes as well. We remodeled a space in the lower level into a beautiful intervention classroom and we moved several classrooms to accommodate new sections of kindergarten, 4^th and 5^th grade. In addition to the regular summer clean up, the custodian and maintenance crew did extensive work cleaning up our grounds, put together two sets of new classroom furniture, cleaned vent and air conditioners and did numerous repairs throughout the school.

September is also a good time to focus on promoting a safe environment for our children. To help with supervision at arrival in the mornings, we have two adults outside from 8:15-8:30 am. Parents can help keep our children safe, too, by remembering to have students exit cars on the sidewalk side of the street when dropping them off in the morning. This will prevent little ones from stepping into the street at a busy traffic time. Also – please remember when picnicking at lunchtime that preschoolers may not be on the playground during recess. It is sometimes very difficult for staff to know which children they are supervising.

Finally, many thanks this month to TPE parents for helping us get off to a great new school year! Our sincere appreciation goes to all of the parents that attended Parent Information Night, to Carolyn Falknor and Sybil Schooler and student volunteers who assisted at New Family Welcome Night, to Lisa Henkel for organizing the school supply distribution, to Nikki Utt and Dawn Harden for getting our Wednesday Envelopes up and running, to Beverly Dziedzic and Tracy Swords for chairing Market Day, to Lynn Siegfried for putting together the school directory, to the Kaschalk family for beautifying our landscaping for the start of school, to Jean Marie Nelson for coordinating room parents, to Barbara Jane England for running the Market Day fundraiser, to the many parent volunteers that helped us with Picture Day and DIBELS testing, and to Nisa Simons for organizing Elementary Football Fever.

I am looking forward to an extremely successful 2008-09 at Terrace Park Elementary. If you ever have any questions or concerns, please call or e-mail me.

Sincerely,

Linda Lee

October 7 – 4^th Gr. Art Field Trip to the Freedom Center & Historical Tour of TP

October 30 – Elementary Parent-Teacher Conference Online Scheduling Begins at 8:00 am

Welcome to the 2008-2009 school year! I hope that this letter finds your family enjoying the last few weeks of the summer.

I look forward to working with each and every child and parent this year in order to provide the very best education possible for our students. With your daily support, our mission is to provide a safe, nurturing and challenging learning environment for your child. The outstanding staff at Terrace Park Elementary will strive to foster a climate in which your child can develop, celebrate his/her personal and academic achievements as well as celebrate the achievements of others. Together, we will make this a wonderful and successful school year for each TPES child.

Enclosed in this packet each family will find important information for your child(ren) regarding the start of the year. Please note that families with kindergarten children will receive two packets due to the addition of some “kindergarten only” information.

Start of the New School Year

Class lists for the 2008-09 school year will be posted on the double glass doors at 9:00 AM on Wednesday, August 13^th. With several new registrations coming in during August, this gives us an opportunity to ensure that adequate thought and care go into every scheduling decision.

The new school year begins Wednesday, August 20th for students in grades 1 through 6. The opening bell is at 8:30 AM. Lunch is from 11:20 to 12:10 PM. The school day ends at 3:20 PM.

Each kindergarten child will attend school on only one of the first three days of school, giving Mrs. Concannon and Ms. Miller the opportunity to initiate a more individualized and personal relationship with each child. Following the “phase-in,” all kindergarten children will attend school during their assigned sessions on Monday, August 25^th. Morning kindergartners will attend school from 8:30 to 11:30 AM. Afternoon kindergartners will attend school from 12:20 to 3:20 PM.

New Additions to the Terrace Park Elementary Staff

We are excited to introduce several terrific new staff members to Terrace Park Elementary. Welcome to Mrs. Heather Alexander, who will be teaching sixth grade this year along with Mrs. Muennich and Mr. Fleckenstein. Mrs. Alexander has taught fifth and sixth grade for the past ten years at both Fairfax Elementary and Mariemont Elementary. We are also pleased to welcome Mrs. Ann Williams to the fourth grade team. Mrs. Williams is returning to Cincinnati from Portland Oregon, where she taught 4^th and 2^nd grade for six years.

We have also recently added a third kindergarten class due to several new enrollments over the summer. Ms. Courtney Miller will be joining Mrs. Concannon in teaching a second morning kindergarten class this year. Ms. Miller has taught preschool in the Boston area and last year worked as an instructional assistant at Mariemont Elementary. We are thrilled that Ms. Miller be working with our kindergarteners!

Additionally, we would like to welcome several staff members to our special education department. Mrs. Lauren Wolterman will be our new K-2 intervention specialist (in addition to Mrs. Ader.) Mrs. Wolterman has worked in that capacity at Mariemont for the last four years and we are glad that she will be joining us at TPES. Mrs. Becky Banks, also coming to us from Mariemont Elementary, will be a new instructional assistant working in the preschool and kindergarten. Welcome Mrs. Alexander, Mrs. Williams, Ms. Miller, Mrs. Wolterman and Mrs. Banks!

Welcome Program for Our New Families

We would also like to welcome all of our new students and their parents to our annual Welcome Night on Monday, August 18th, at 7:00 PM in the school library. PTO and student volunteers will be available to conduct school tours. There will be a short meeting at 7:30 PM in the cafeteria to answer any questions. We have attempted to reach our new families directly by mail, but there may be some who have not yet registered at school. If you know of a new family whose child(ren) will be attending our school this fall, please feel free to invite them to the Welcome Night.

The TPPTO would like to invite all of our families to participate in the many PTO sponsored activities and programs throughout the school year. Information from the PTO will be sent home in the first few weeks of school regarding volunteer opportunities and program information. If you have any questions, please contact this year’s PTO president, Sybil Schooler at sybils@fuse.net or 576-1571.

Information Night

One of the most important meetings of the school year for parents is Information Night. This is an excellent opportunity for you to meet with your child’s classroom teacher to get a preview of what to expect for the school year. This year’s Information Night for grades 1-6 is scheduled for Thursday, August 28th. Parents of students in grades 1-3 will meet with teachers in their classrooms from 6:45-7:30 PM. Parents of students in grades 4-6 will meet with teachers from 7:45-8:30 PM.

Information Night for kindergarten is scheduled for Monday, August 25th. The parents of morning and afternoon kindergarten students will meet from 7:00-8:00 PM in the kindergarten rooms. Please note that Information Night is for parents only.

School Fees

School fees for the 2008-09 school year will be reflective of the actual cost of the materials at each grade level. Much care and effort has been given to ensuring that all items that appear on the fee schedule are necessary to effectively deliver the instructional program to your child. (Sixth grade parents please note that a separate check needs to be submitted for the Camp Kern experience.) Please make checks or money orders payable to the Mariemont City Schools. If you need additional time to pay your child’s fees, please contact me so that appropriate arrangements can be made.

If your child forgets or loses his/her lunch money, the cafeteria will provide him/her with a hot lunch and send a note home via your child regarding the amount owed.

School Supply lists are available for grades K-6 online on the school home page (www.mariemontschools.org – click on the Terrace Park page and then “School Supplies”) and are posted on the front double glass doors.

This year we will have a new drop off/pick up procedure for students who come to school by car. Instead of dropping off/picking up students in the back parking lot as we have done in the past, we will have a one way, designated “drop off/pick up” lane that will flow from the parking lot entrance on Myrtle, up near the gym steps and exit out the back driveway. We ask that parents drop off/pick up their child(ren) at the designated spot near the gym. There will be a staff member outside to help with the process from 8:15-8:35 am and from 3:15-3:30 pm. Thank you for helping to make sure that our children are safe!

As in the past, TPES students have the opportunity to go home for lunch. This year, we are requiring our youngest children in grades 1 and 2 to have a parent note stating their lunch plans. If your child will do the same thing every day or week, one note at the beginning of the year is all that is needed. If your child has a change in his/her lunch plans or if he/she will have an unpredictable schedule, we ask that parents send a note any time he/she plans to go home. Again, safety is our priority!

Medical/Allergy Information

Your child’s physical health is as important to us as his/her academic well-being. Therefore, if your child has any serious medical or allergy conditions, please notify the school office immediately so that the information regarding your child’s physical needs can be communicated to all staff members who interact with your child. We can be reached at 272-7700

Just a reminder that school personnel cannot administer any medication at school without submitting a Mariemont Administration of Medication form. The form must be completed by the child’s doctor and parent (see Student Handbook – which will come home on the first day of school.) All medication (prescription and over-the-counter) must be brought to school in the original container by the child’s parent.

Please remember to call the school office before 9:00 AM on the days that your child will be absent or tardy. This is done to assure the safe whereabouts of each child.

School-Home Partnership

I look forward to your child having a very successful school year. The Terrace Park Elementary staff is dedicated to providing a school atmosphere that promotes an excellent education in a safe and caring environment.

I truly appreciate your involvement at Terrace Park Elementary this year. It’s important that you have every possible opportunity to be part of your child(ren)’s education. I invite you to visit the school often, to call or e-mail me when you have questions or need more information, communicate regularly with the teachers, and to talk with your child about what he/she is learning.

I am committed to partnering with our staff and each of our families to create a caring and exciting environment, where all students can achieve to their potential.