Chagrin Falls PTO

It’s time to re-register your school choice with the Heinen’s Reward Program!  Heinen’s begins collecting your shopping credits this week and will use your total from now through April to determine how much they will donate to Chagrin Falls Schools.  1% of every dollar you spend in their stores will be donated to our schools.  Everyone must register their cards EVERY year.  Click the image or here to visit the Heinen’s Rewards page now.  If you are already registered with their program, log in.  Go to “Update My Profile” in the upper right corner.  On the Profile Page, scroll to the bottom section on the ABC School Donation Program.  There is a drop down menu to select a city and then a school.  Update the page and you are done for the year!

Giant Eagle also has a program to contribute a percentage of your purchases to local schools.  You can register for it online at Giant Eagle’s Apples for Students page – and if you happen to have a Target VISA card, you can register that to a school of your choice as well.  There are a number of options that can financially support local schools through the expenses you already incur – and the list of these opportunities seems to grow every day.  Check back at our site for information on new programs like these.  We’ll post them if we find them and explain exactly how they work.  As always, contact us with any questions you may have.

Thanks!!

So, I guess summer is over.   It’s still hot and we’ve still got 23 vacation days left on the wall calendar – but a sure sign of the coming school year has arrived.  The Chagrin Falls PTO calendar is now on sale at Fireside and Heinen’s.  This year’s calendar is in the same convenient size we offered last year.  We’ve tweeked the layout and added monthly divider tabs  – but kept all those important dates that you count on us providing to you.   Once again, calendars are $10.    They will be available at school open houses and welcome back events at the beginning of the year and by special request until November – unless we sell out.  Great for the PTO, not so great for you.  Get yours now and have one less thing to remember the week  school starts.

And if you have a high school student, why not purchase one for them to use for their school planner?

Enjoy the last 23 days of summer break!

Sheri Halagan had interesting news about iPod Touch applications in the classroom. Gurney recently received a grant from an independent foundation for a classroom set. They will start using them soon.

The Gurney School report was presented by Sherrie Halagan.

Thank you for the lovely luncheon and plants on Staff Appreciation Day!

• THANK YOU TO ALL OF THE VOLUNTEERS WHO MADE KINDERGARTEN SCREENING RUN SO SMOOTHLY!
• THANK YOU TO ALL OF THE VOLUNTEERS WHO HELPED WITH LUNCH TIME ON ELECTION DAY!
• THANK YOU TO ALL OF THE VOLUNTEERS WHO HELPED US SO MUCH TO MAKE THIS SUCH A SUCCESSFUL YEAR!

• Rotary Teacher of the Year nominee:  Congratulations to Jillian Langer, 2^nd grade teacher, who has been nominated as the Rotary Teacher of the Year!  Good luck to her as she heads in for her interview!

• Kindergarten Screening:  It went incredibly smoothly!  We have 115  Kindergarten students registered for next year and it looks like we will have 4 full day kindergarten classes, 1 morning class and 1 afternoon class in 2010-2011.

• Open Houses:   When the calendars come out for next year, you will notice no Open House for kindergarten.  This is because Kindergarten Kick-Off Night is considered their Open House and they have an Orientation Day.  After all of that, there isn’t much left to tell the parents.  Also, by contract, we can only ask the teachers to do one Open House per year and Kindergarten Kick Off Night is more valuable than Open House in the fall after an Orientation.

• Field Day/Clap-Out:  June 8^th is Field Day and we have a lot going on!  Third Graders will have their Field Day activities at the High School stadium!  Second and First Graders will rotate around our own campus for fun activities and Kindergarten Classes each have their own schedule planned for the short day.  Thanks to PTO we will all enjoy a pizza lunch!  And finally, at 12:45pm, we will clap-out our 3^rd graders.  The day ends with early dismissal at 1pm.

• Report Cards:  Report Cards will be mailed home by June 16^th.

• iPod Touch Project:  Mrs. Halagan presented our new iPod Touches, applications we are starting to use with them, and the foundation that graciously granted us the money for them.

Gurney PTO Report

The Gurney School PTO report was presented by Karen Ostanek.

• Recent Events and Updates from Gurney:
  • Teacher Appreciation Day went well. Hospitality chose to purchase the food form Costco.  The menu consisted of shrimp, sandwiches, salad, fruit and cake.  It was very much appreciated as were the gift plants received by both the teachers and the bus drivers.
  • All Room Parents provided cards for their teacher, a staff member and a bus driver.
  • Kindergarten Screening went well.  About 105 children were screened with the help of 30 PTO volunteers over a two day period.
  • The May election went smoothly as well.  It is suggested that at least one parent per room (two would be ideal) to help the children who are buying their lunch and manage the classroom for the lunch period.
  • 3rd grade testing was fine.  Room Parents provided snack and water for the testing days.

• Thank You To:
  • The Hospitality Committee for providing lunch for Teacher Appreciation Day
  • The Kindergarten Screening Committee
  • Kathy LaMonica and the room parents for providing the lovely cards for their teachers, staff members and bus drivers
  • The last minute helpers for Election Day
  • The yearbook committee for all of their diligent work that began with Picture Day in October and will end with the distribution of the beautiful Yearbooks

• Upcoming PTO Related Events
  • Tiger Trek – May 27 – t-shirts are ordered, Sponsorship sheets due Friday May 21.  Each class is responsible for their own water bottles and PTO will supply the popsicles.
  • Field Day – June 8^th – providing 3 half sheets of pizza per room.  Lunch will begin at 11am or 11:30 and should end by 12:30.  Clap-out is scheduled for 12:45.

• Approved Grant Requests from Gurney Building Fund
  • Approved a $313 request by Pam Fox for playground balls, jump ropes and hula hoops.

• Miscellaneous
  • 2010-2011 Committee Chair forms and First of the Year help forms are distributed to teachers for take-home folders this week and will appear in the May newsletter (or download   and send in with your child)
  • Kindergarten for next year will consist of 4 full days and 1 morning and 1 afternoon class
  • Jason Wise will move to First Grade
  • Michelle Edwards will stay in  2^nd grade for Mrs. Greene who is taking next year off.
  • Walk-through for August is scheduled for the afternoon of the 19^th for 1st grade  and for the morning of the 20^th for 2nd/3rd grade.

Gurney participated in a Zero Waste Challenge this month through the Greener Grass Club.

The Gurney School report was presented by Regina Lantsberg.

• Thank you to all of the volunteers who provided us with dinners on conference nights!  They were fabulous!
• Zero Waste Challenge: Thanks to Mrs. Garvey, we are looking forward to a successful Zero Waste Challenge tomorrow, on Earth Day!  Her Greener Grass Club has provided us with great morning announcements and information to give our students and parents regarding how to pack a zero waste lunch.  We practiced today and kindergarten did the best (and when we had the teachers try it last week, the kindergarten teachers did the best and won Heinen’s gift cards)!  It was a very close race though.  Tomorrow, our goal is to have less waste (measured in pound per student) than the Intermediate School did when they did this.  If we reach that goal, each grade level will get an extra recess.  The grade level that does the best tomorrow will receive a reusable, Gurney Tiger Pride water bottle for each student!  This has been both a fun and educational activity for the whole school!
• Right to Read Week: Next week is our Right to Read Week.  Information will be coming home this week.  It is a sports theme and students are encouraged to wear different sports jerseys and tshirts on certain days next week.  We have an incentive for students to read at home and enter a drawing to participate in our Friday assembly with a special star guest!  All week, we will be playing music over the p.a. spontaneously as a signal for the whole school to stop and read!
• Kindergarten Screening:  Kindergarten Screening is May 6 and 7^th.  Please spread the word that parents must register their child before they are screened and registration can be done at central office.  If anyone needs to sign up for screening, they just need to call the Gurney office.
• Full Day Kindergarten:  The deadline to sign up for full day kindergarten in May 7^th.  A $200 deposit is required to hold the spot in full day kindergarten.  Rachel Gebler is moving to teaching full day kindergarten for next year.  We don’t know which teacher will take over the ½ day classes – it will depend on the numbers that enroll.
• Summer Reading and Math Camp flyer:  Information on the Gurney Summer Reading and Math Camp is included in the Gurney newsletter.  Please consider registering your child.
• Summer Science Camp flyer:  Information on Camp Invention at Gurney is included in the Gurney newsletter.   Please consider registering your child!
• Dr. Rasinski Training:  Wondering why your child’s teacher was out for 3, ½ days right when we got back from spring break?  Sorry!  But, it was the only time we could get this phenomenal early literacy instructor, Dr. Tim Razinski.  He is a professor at KSU and has written over 200 articles and co-authored or edited over 50 books on reading education.  He is author of the best-selling book on reading fluency, The Fluent Reader.  His research has been cited by the National Reading Panel and has been published in journals such as Reading Research Quarterly, The Reading Teacher, Reading Psychology, and the Journal of Educational Research.  Tim was recently elected to the International Reading Hall of Fame.  So you can see, we couldn’t pass up on the opportunity and he was worth it!

Gurney PTO Report

The Gurney School PTO report was presented by Kristin Wood.

• Recent Events/Updates

• Grant request pending for 1^st grade cameras.
• 3^rd grade Reading and Math Achievement testing finished today – Tuesday and Wednesday am.
• Sports theme for Right to Read week culminating with a special guest on Friday.
• Thank you’s from teachers re: the school conferences dinner.

• Upcoming PTO Related Events
  • Right to Read Week — April 26 – 30
  • Teacher Appreciation luncheon – May 5
  • Kindergarten Screening – May 6 and 7
  • Tiger Trek Walk-a-thon – May 27

• Approved Requests

Kindergarten science grants

• Miscellaneous

Staffing changes for 2010-11

• • Curtis Howell (2^nd) moving to Middle School; Shelly Zdolshek taking his place in 2^nd grade; Rachel Gebler (half day Kdg) taking Z’s Kindergarten full day class.
  • Julie Greene (2^nd) is taking all of next year off and will return the following year.
  • Sheryl Butler will be the Gurney Math Intervention Specialist for 2^nd and 3^rd grade.  Never had math intervention before.
  • Justin Wise and Kelly Shanaberger (both Kdg) RIF’d – hoping to hire back once Kindergarten numbers come in.
  • Jason Starynchak resigned (1^st).

The Gurney School report was presented by Lisa Todaro.

• Thank you in advance for the always delicious dinners on conference nights!  We truly appreciate your thoughtfulness in providing us with that nice meal so we can take a short break on those evenings.
• Third Grade Testing Week March 22nd:  Next week all of our third graders will be tested for gifted identification purposes.  They will all be taking a cognitive abilities test and achievement testing in reading and math.  These are different from our Ohio Achievement Assessments because they are nationally normed tests which is required for gifted identification.
• Kindergarten:  Kindergarten Kick off Night was March 18th.  We appreciate the parent volunteers who helped to sign parents up for kindergarten screening.  We also had Mr. Holzheimer there to answer transportation questions and Mrs. Ritz there to help with registration for any parent who has completed it.  Parents were  able to choose from three different presentations for the evening:  Full Day Kindergarten Presentation, Half Day Kindergarten Presentation, and a Presentation of Both Kindergarten Programs for parents who have not yet decided.  Parents were also welcome to tour the kindergarten classrooms and the school during this evening open house.
• Parent Conferences/Report Cards:  Gurney Parent Conferences are next week on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.  All parents who have signed up for a conference will receive their child’s report card at the conference.  If a parent has signed up for a phone conference or an email update, their child’s report card will be sent home for them.

Gurney PTO Report

The Gurney School report was presented by Lauren Jones.

• Recent Events/Updates
  • Set Teacher Appreciation Lunch for May 5 – Spoke with Rachel about idea for a plant and a wonderful lunch and she thought it was a great idea.
  • Rachel had an idea that it would be nice to involve the kids in Teacher appreciation week and each day they can bring in something small to combine into a larger appreciative gift. For instance one flower, a school supply for the classroom, a small sweet or treat, a note or card form the child. This could occur on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, with the lunch on Wednesday.
  • We requested the numbers for yearbooks and Tiger Trek T-shirts that are donated to needy families. This year we will but an extra box on the sheet for parents to indicated if they would like to make a donation to help a needy child receive a t-shirt. The same type of box will be on next year’s yearbook order form.
  • Kindergarten registration numbers are low this year but will hopefully increase as the year ends.
  • Right to Read Week is coming up with a sports theme.
  • Gurney staff is already planning for a new reading adventure called One School, One Book.   It is a month long event which consists of a shared book between the grades and is customized to the grade level with fun games and questions/trivia. It will culminate with a shared activity. The parents will need to be an active participant in this activity as they will need to read to their child. There will be podcasts that a child can listen to as well. Gurney is looking for PTO support to help with this program not only monetary but through PR and home support. This program is currently active at Kenston and is receiving accolades. Plans will be finalized this summer.

• Upcoming PTO Related Events
  • Kindergarten Kick-off – March 18
    • Both events are running well and have sufficient volunteers and staff
    • Need for 300 more spirit banners which will be ordered
  • 3rd Grade Testing – will check with room mothers for snacks
    • Gifted Testing next week Mon-Thurs
    • Achievement Testing April 20 and 21
• Approved Requests
  • Grant Request for Shanaberger  and Gebler approved.
  • Grant request for First Grade flip cameras is pending approval.
• Miscellaneous
  • Hospitality is planning dinners for Conference nights. Lasagna one night and a “picnic” supper the other night.
  • Tiger Trek is in the process of being planned and they are working to get a discounted price on the t-shirts. There will be both paper flyers and download forms for sponsorship and the t-shirts soon.