Terrace Park Elementary PTO

Principal’s Report

November 12, 2008

 

  • Mariemont District Facilities Planning Community Forum – Please plan to attend the District Facilities Planning Community Dialogue tomorrow night, 11/12, at 7:00 pm in the MHS Commons. You will have the opportunity to learn about the state of our school buildings and will have a chance to express your view. All are welcome!

 

  • Pumpkin Festival – Thank you, thank you, thank you… to the army of  parents and community members that contributed their time, creativity, hard work and donations to this year’s Pumpkin Festival and Bootique. The combined efforts resulted in a fun-filled afternoon and evening for families and a huge success for the PTO and our school. Our sincere appreciation goes out to festival chairs Sonya Geers, Dawn Harden & Dawn Burke, Bootique chair Angela Lemay, and to all of the festival event chairs and to the tremendous number of volunteers who served on each of the committees and/or donated items. We can’t thank you enough for all that you do for our school!

 

  • Elections – Last Monday, TPE held our own mock Presidential Election in the library. Students had the opportunity to learn about our democratic process and cast their vote for president! Many thanks to Melissa Mathis for organizing this event for our school and to the 5th grade parents that “worked the polls” and provided cookies.

 

  • Author Visit – Last week, we welcomed acclaimed children’s poet and illustrator Douglas Florian to our school for a visit. 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 and artwork done in Mr. Florian’s style.) We were all inspired to be poets and artists after his visit! Thanks to committee members Roseann Hayes, Linda Ramey, Diane Gunter, Sandy Wittman-Shell and Mary Kay Kroeger for providing this invaluable experience for our children.

 

  • Veteran’s Day – Today each of our grade levels will observe Veteran’s Day by learning about different aspects of the holiday, by learning from speakers, and through presentations shared by our sixth graders with the rest of the school

 

  • Parent-Teacher Conferences – Parent – Teachers conferences are coming up this Thursday, 11/ 13, and next Wednesday, 11/19. Please contact your child’s teacher if you would like a conference but have not yet signed up for one.

 

  • Book Fair – Book Fair chairs Jody Kauffman, Sandy Wittman-Shell and Diane Gunter have been busy preparing for our fall Book Fair, which runs today through Thursday. Come and browse for a favorite read or a holiday gift!

 

  • Parent-Grandparent Day – We are looking forward to welcoming parents and grandparents on Tuesday, November 25th. Students are excited to share their classroom experience with a special person or family member!

 

  • Appreciation!  – A big thank you to all of the parent volunteers who facilitate the very important ongoing 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, Jeri Gatch for running the Kroger/Biggs card program, to Libby Gohman for running Wednesday Envelope copies every week, to Sally Gaburo for facilitating the volunteer database, to Janis Dietz for coordinating the teacher treats, to Nisa Simons and Joy Glaser for regularly helping in the teacher workroom, to Tracy Swords and Beverly Dziedzic for facilitating Marker Day, to Melissa Gearheart for organizing product labels, and to Nikki Utt and Dawn Harden for coordinating Wednesday Envelopes.

 

Upcoming at Terrace Park Elementary:

November 11 – Veteran’s Day

November 11-14 – Book Fair

November 12 – District Facilities Planning Community Forum (7:00 pm in the HS commons)

November 13-14 – WrAP Testing (gr.3-6)

November 14 – 2nd Gr. Field Trip to Native American Historical Site in Mariemont

(9:00 – 12:00)

November 13 & 19  – Elementary Conferences (4:00 – 8:00 pm)

November 18 – Board of Education Meeting (7:00 pm in the TP cafeteria)

November 20 - 6th Gr. Field Trip to the Playhouse & Art Museum (10:15 – 2:15)

November 21 – 2nd 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)

Terrace Park Elementary PTO

Principal’s Report

October 15, 2008

 

·         Teacher In-Service – On Friday (10/17) students are not in school due to a teacher in-service day. This year’s staff training activities for K-8 will be hosted at TPE and will focus on curriculum alignment and assessment in the areas of math and reading. Teachers will begin the year-long process of aligning and mapping our courses of study to ensure that it meets the district’s highest standards and includes skills that students will need to know to be successful in the 21st century.

 

·         TP Video News Program – This month our student-produced monthly video news program for the 2008-09 school year debuted. Sixth graders, led by 6th grade teacher Bob Fleckenstein, are writing, filming and editing a news program each month highlighting activities in our classrooms and school. It is available for parents to view via the TPE Web page (click on the box in the lower right hand corner) and will run on local cable access. Stay tuned for monthly updates…

 

·         Youth Frontiers Program – TP’s fifth graders will participate in a day-long workshop in January focused on kindness and treating others with respect. This program was piloted at Mariemont Elementary last year and will be facilitated by the Youth Frontiers organization. It is designed to reinforce good citizenship, responsibility, and creating a caring school climate. Please see www.youth frontiers.org or contact me for more information on the Youth Frontiers workshop.

 

·         Spanish Update – The district is in the midst of an extensive study on the logistics of incorporating Spanish instruction into grades 3-6. More information will be coming home in the next few months on this exciting program.

 

·         Lego League Team – Our Lego League robotics team is off to a fantastic start! Once again, teacher Tom Zaya and parent Gregg Seigfried are coaching our students in their multi-dimensional tasks. Our students are studying a local environmental problem, developing a presentation on how they would solve it and programming a robot to perform a variety of tasks. Our team will present their research and compete at a local competition later this year. Best of luck to them!

 

·         4th Grade TP Art History Project – TP’s fourth graders recently teamed up with the Terrace Park Historical Society to learn about the history and landmarks of our village. In art and social studies classes they are going to use the information that they learned to create a mural of historical Terrace Park in the style of Ohio artist Aminah Robinson. Many thanks to Shelley Komrska, Melissa Rupe, Mary Kay Kroeger, Steve Early and Susan Abernathy Frank for planning this wonderful project!

 

·         Student Testing Information - In the last several weeks, all Mariemont students in grades K – 6 have been involved in district and/or state testing. The DIBELS assessment was administered to children in K – 2. DIBELS is given three times throughout the year and is designed to assess early literacy skills. Earlier in September, second through sixth graders took the ERB achievement tests in the areas of reading, writing and math. Third graders took the Ohio Reading Achievement Test on October 7th. Teachers and the district use the data from each of these tests to monitor student progress, develop individual and class interventions and evaluate district instructional programs. Student results will be sent home to parents and discussed at conferences.

 

·         Safety Update – So that we are prepared in the case of an emergency at school, our students and staff regularly practice fire drills and tornado drills throughout the year. Additionally, we work closely with the Terrace Park Police and Fire Departments to plan for and practice building evacuation and lockdown drills in case there would be an emergency outside or inside the building (bomb threat, gas leak, intruder, etc.). Our students take this practice very seriously and do a terrific job.

 

·         Many Thanks – Thank you to all of the parent volunteers who have helped in the classrooms, library and office in the last month – you make a huge difference for our students! A big thank you, also, to the many parents that helped make picture day, vision and hearing screenings and the DIBELS testing go so smoothly. Our appreciation goes out to Barbara Jane England for chairing the Market Day fundraiser, to Jean Marie Nelson for organizing room parents this year, to Lynn Siegfried for putting together the school directory, to Nisa Simons for coordinating Elementary Football Fever, to Beverly Dziedzic and Tracy Swords for getting Market Day off to a great start, to Patti Saxton and Tom Zaya for organizing the COSI program and to Gregg Seigfried and Tom Zaya for getting our Lego Robotics teams organized.

 

Upcoming at Terrace Park Elementary:

            October 17 – Teacher In-Service (No School for Students)

October 24 – End of First Quarter - Early Dismissal for Students (2:20 pm)

October 24 – PTO Pumpkin Festival (5:30 – 8:30 pm)

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

October 29 - Board of Education Meeting (7:00 pm in the MJHS cafeteria)

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

October 31 – Halloween Parade (2:00 pm)

November 3 – Elementary Report Cards Go Home

November 4 – Election Day

November 5 – Douglas Florian Author Visit to TPE

November 5 – Market Day

November 10 – Early Dismissal for Students - 2:20 pm (Teacher ERB In-service)

November 10 – Picture Retakes

November 11 – Veterans’ Day

November 11 – PTO Meeting (9:30 am in the cafeteria)

November 11-13 – Book Fair

November 12-13 – WrAP Testing (gr. 3/4/5/6)

November 13 & 19 – Elementary Conferences (4:00 – 8:00 pm)

 

 

                                         Terrace Park Elementary PTO

Principal’s Report

September 9, 2008 

  • 2008–09 School Opening – Congratulations to TPE students, staff and families for a fantastic start to the new school year! Thank you to Carolyn Falknor and the student volunteers for an extremely successful New Family Welcome Night. Thanks, also, to Lisa Henkel for organizing the school supply kits and distribution, to Nikki Utt and Dawn Harden for once again, getting our Wednesday Envelopes up and running and to the Kaschalk family for beautifying our landscaping for the opening of school.

 

  • New Staff – Welcome to several terrific new TPE staff members: Courtney Miller in kindergarten, Ann Williams in 4th grade, Heather Alexander in 6th grade, and Lauren Wolterman and Becky Banks in our special education department.

 

  • State Report Card – The Mariemont School District and Terrace Park Elementary, once again, earned the designation of “Excellent” from the state of Ohio. Congratulations to our students, teachers and parents who, working together, make our school an excellent place to learn!

 

  • Summer Facility Improvements – Over the summer, we remodeled a space in the lower level into an intervention classroom. Additionally, we moved several classrooms to accommodate new sections of 4th and 5th grade. A big thank you to our custodian Darrell Deskins and our district cleaning and maintenance crews for their excellent work this summer getting the building ready for the start of school. In addition to the regular summer clean up , they did extensive work on cleaning up our grounds, put together two sets of new classroom furniture, cleaned vents and air conditioners and did numerous repairs throughout the building.

 

  • Technology Projects – This fall, we have added several new SmartBoards. We now have Smartboard technology in all K-6 classrooms. The district also upgraded student computers in the library and we added 12 new laptops for student use with funds from the Oxley grant.

 

  • Parent Information Night – Kindergarten and Gr. 1-6 Information Nights were very well attended. Teachers were able to share classroom information and curriculum highlights. Teachers provided Camp Kern information to sixth grade parents.

 

  • New Social Studies Curriculum – All social studies teachers in grades K – 6 have begun to implement the new course of study that more closely aligns with the national and state standards. Students will begin using new social studies textbooks and curriculum support materials. This year, the district will review the technology, health, PE and foreign language courses of study.

 

  • Progress Book – The district plans to send parents password information by 9/19.

 

  • Upcoming at Terrace Park Elementary:

September 8 – 12 – Camp Kern (6th gr.)

September 10 – Market Day

September 11 – Patriots’ Day

September 12 – District 1st Gr. Enrichment Day at TP

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

September 16 -19 – ERB Testing (Gr. 2-6)

September 17 – Constitution Day

September 19 – Elementary Football Fever

September 22 – DIBELS Assessment (K – 2)

September 24 – 4th Gr. Art Field Trip to the Freedom Center & TP Historical Tour

September 25 – Picture Day

September 28 – Check Interim Grades

October 2 – 3rd Grade Reading Achievement Test

October 2 – Bootique (3:20-5:00 pm)

October 3 – Vision & Hearing screenings (Gr. K, 1, 3, 5)

October 7 – 3rd Grade Reading Ohio Achievement Test

October 8 – COSI on Wheels Science Program

October 10 – Vision & Hearing screenings (Gr. K, 1, 3, 5)

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