Alcott Elementary eNews (not so) Brief

February 26, 2010

CATCHING UP

It is taking me time to catch up from my family vacation/college search to Southern California over the mid-winter Break, but much is going on here at Alcott Elementary.  Besides our regular daily work, we have identified areas that we would like to work on in the coming weeks, months and years that will continue to maintain and improve our service to students even in times of dwindling resources.

SCHOOLS OF DISTINCTION PRESENTATION

Now called the ‘Great Schools Award’

Monday, March 1, 7:00-7:15, Lake Washington School District Resource Center

The local chapter of Phi Delta Kappa will be presenting the Schools of Distinction/Great Schools Award to Alcott and Rush Elementary at the beginning of the School Board Meeting.  Alcott and Rush are the only two schools from the Lake Washington School District to achieve this distinction this past year, with Alcott one of only nine schools in the state to have done so for three years in a row.  We are very proud of our students, staff and community for their hard work and commitment to achievement.

If you have the opportunity to stop by the meeting on Monday for our presentation, we welcome you to do so.

ALCOTT USED BOOK SALE—March 1^st thru March 4^th

The Alcott used book sale starts next week.  No book is over $2. 

 Hours available for buying books are:

• Monday, Tuesday and Thursday: 8:30 – 9:15am; 12:00 – 1:30pm; 3:00 – 4:00pm
• Wednesday: 8:30 – 9:15; 12:00 – 2:30pm
• Students can purchase books during lunch recess and must have money with them.

HOMEWORK CLUB-Session Four 2009-2010 Sponsored by the Alcott PTSA

Is your child struggling to get homework turned in and meet important deadlines? Homework Club might be one way to help improve their study habits and get organized to be successful at school. Homework Club will be offered to 3rd – 6th graders on Thursday afternoons from 3:30 – 4:45 pm.

Mrs. Rothlisberger and Mrs. Hobbs will run the club in 6-8 week sessions for the first 20 children to sign up and pre-pay. This is a great opportunity for your child to receive extra instruction and help on their homework from some of our Alcott teachers.

Who:  3rd – 6th graders

What:  Homework Club

When:  Session Four runs from March 4 – April 22

·         Dates: 03/04, 03/11, 03/18, 03/25, 04/08, 04/15 & 04/22

Where: Room 129 – Mrs. Rothlisberger’s Room

Why: To help students who are struggling with homework completion, study habits, and organizational strategies (20 student maximum)

Cost: $14/session – Total: $98.00 Checks only made payable to Alcott PTSA

Contact: Molly Rothlisberger mrothlisberger@lwsd.org

Please see the attached .pdf (Session 4) for registration forms

UPCOMING EVENTS

PTSA SPECIAL GENERAL MEETING

Please update your calendars for a change to the date and time of our next regular Board meeting and our PTSA general meeting in March - the regular Board meeting is now scheduled for 9 a.m. on Friday, March 12th, in the Alcott library and will be immediately followed by the PTSA general meeting at which nominations for next year's PTSA Board will be reviewed and approved as appropriate.  I am anticipating that the Board meeting will be fairly brief so we can adjourn for the general meeting.  Obviously we will need a quorum present so please invite your friends.

Also attached are a newsletter and information about PTSA membership to take a look at.  Thank you.

HONOR CONCERT PARTICIPANTS

Please help me to congratulate the following students who participated in the LWSD Honor Concerts Feb 2, 3 and 4 – they all did a fantastic job!!  Many thanks to parents who drove them back and forth to rehearsals as well!

Orchestra:  Clarie Puryear, Rachel Goodall, Yash Pahade and Siri Mellem

Band:  Matthew Lockwood, Timothy Atkinson, Kelly Yang, Abel Fong, Ethan Perrin

Choir:  Ian Drazkowski, Heidi Metzger, Alex Okun, Jenna Oratz, Sierra Scott, Alana Wang, Jordan Gazitt

Don’t forget to check the Music page on the Alcott Website for current Music News and ACT Club info! 

Ms. Wendy Pappas – Vocal Music and Drama

REFLECTIONS ART PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS

Reflections Art Award Program - "Beauty Is..."
 
Alcott had a very successful participation in the Reflections PTSA Arts Award program this year.  The theme "Beauty Is..." inspired many of our students to create fabulous entries!

We had 77 total entries in visual arts, photography, literature, and film production.  Congratulations to Mrs. Isaacson's and Mrs. Blackburn's classes who had the largest percent participation.  All of the entries were displayed at our Alcott Art Walk in December.

 
25 Finalists represented Alcott at the District level.  These entries were displayed at the LWSD Art Show in January.   Congratulations to our Alcott Finalists:

·         Visual Arts: Izabella Filippini, Belle Pan, Harini Shankar, Kelly Wang, Hamsa Shankar, Arushi Aggarwal, Jessie Liu, Lana Nguyen, Joanne Park, Erica Li, Suren Sivaram

·         Photography: Griffin Hoffman, Jordan Gazitt, Elise Petit, Sarah Raza, Erin Carter, Luke Jianu, Quinn Hoffman

·         Literature:  Belle Pan, Emmaline Spencer 

·         Film Production:  Allison Chen

At the District judging, three the Alcott entries received awards.  Special congratulations to:

·         Luke Jianu - Award of Excellence

·         Erica Li - Award of Excellence

·         Hamsa Shankar - Award of Merit

Luke and Erica's entries moved on to the State competition.  At the State competition, Luke Jianu won a Washington State PTA Reflections Award of Excellence in the category of Primary Photography for his entry "Beauty Is...An Ice Skate Ring for Ants"and was ranked as one of the top 8 Primary Photography entries in the Washington State PTA Reflections contest.  Luke will be honored at an awards ceremony in May.
 
Great job to all of our Alcott participants!    

COMINGS AND GOINGS

The school year always seems to slip by so quickly…it is hard to believe that next week is the beginning of March!  However, in the flurry of activity, we do want to slow down a little and keep in mind that a couple of our staff members will be transitioning in while others transition out. 

Monday is the last official day for counselor, Laura Lynch, with our regular counselor, Abby Rogers, returning from maternity/family leave.  Also, 3^rd grade teacher, Stephanie Johnson is soon to have her little one and her replacement will be a familiar face at Alcott, Samantha Tusler.  Best wishes to all of our staff members whether coming or going.

Alcott Elementary eNews Brief

February 10, 2010

USED BOOK FAIR COLLECTION

Starting Feb. 16^th – 26^th we will be accepting donations for the Used Book Fair. 

You can donate the following: Children’s books, Adult fiction and non-fiction, DVD’S, Board games, E-rated video games 

Come Shop March 1st – 4th

All books .50 - $1.00

Nothing over $2.00

Students can purchase books during their scheduled lunch/recess time. (They will need to have funds to do so).

Don’t forget about yourself.  We’ll have plenty of books for adults.

Please come shop, we’d love to see you!

 LEVY and BOND RESULTS

As of this writing, we have mixed results on our bond and levy measures.  It appears that the two levy measures are passing, but the bond measure is not meeting th 60% requirement at this time.  The Kirkland Reporter has a story that summarizes the situation well and I thought I’d pass that along to you.  It also has other links to information about the specifics of the bonds and levies.

 http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/east_king/kir/news/84026797.html

 We will keep you posted on developments and ramifications of the votes.  We are very happy about the passing of the levies which are an important foundations

 UPCOMING EVENTS

 IMPORTANT PUBLIC SERVICE REMINDER

This Sunday is Valentine’s Day…Remember, Sunday is Valentine’s Day…your valentine wants you to know, Sunday is Valentine’s Day. J

 INTERNET SAFETY FOR CHILDREN RESOURCE

The Federal Trade Commission has issued Net Cetera: Chatting with Kids About Being Online. This booklet is chock-full of practical tips to help parents help their kids navigate the online world – from dealing with social networking and cyber bullying to talking about sexting and file-sharing. The guide is at http://www.onguardonline.gov/topics/net-cetera.aspx (English) and http://www.alertaenlinea.gov/topics/net-cetera.aspx (Spanish).  Net Cetera is free: visit http://bulkorder.ftc.gov to order as many copies as you can use. It’s also in the public domain: there’s no copyright. You can include sections of it in your newsletter or on your website, reprint it with your own logo (the FTC will supply the specs), or co-brand it with OnGuard Online.  For more information contact Julia Plonowski of the FTC Division of Consumer and Business Education at (202) 326-2289 or by email at jplonowski@ftc.gov.

Alcott Elementary eNews Brief

February 3, 2010

ALCOTT IS GOING GREEN(ER)

Alcott Staff and Students have made a simple change that has resulted in significant savings and a positive impact on our environment.  With the help of our kitchen staff and custodians, students have been using red lined baskets for most of their meals as opposed to Styrofoam trays.  Also, in the event that Styrofoam trays are used, students are stacking their trays to reduce the amount of space needed to dispose of it.

The good news…as a result of the stacking of Styrofoam and the use of the red baskets, Alcott is saving about $4,150 per year since we were able to go to a smaller dumpster with fewer pickups during the week.  John (head custodian) and the district representative from Support Services believes, thanks to our combined efforts, that we might even be able to go down one more dumpster size and realize another $700 per year in savings.

We also know that as the rates go up, so will our savings.  Great job Alcott staff and students!

STUDENT COUNCIL FUN DAY

If you happen to have another child show up at your dinner table…

From our Student Council:

Our next Student Council Fun Day will be Wednesday, February 10th.  The theme is "Twin Day."  Students and staff are encouraged to dress as a twin with someone else at the school.  (Please, twins only and not triplets, quadruplets, etc.)  The class with the most participation will receive a special recognition (not quite sure yet what that will be).  Student Council representatives will come around on that day to count the number of participants.

TAE KWON DO

This week, all Alcott students are practicing Tae Kwon Do in PE classes. 

Mr. Andrews, the chief instructor from Washington Black Belt Academy in Redmond, is graciously teaching all of our students the basics of this martial art.  Students are learning about discipline and perseverance while practicing some of the basic moves (no moves were performed on other students.)   Along with this week of Martial Art in PE your child will have the opportunity to attend classes for up to several weeks at Washington Black Belt Academy at no charge!  

UPCOMING EVENTS

NW REGIONAL SPEEDSTACKING TOURNAMENT

Let’s cheer on our Speedstackers!

The Northwest Regional Speedstacking Tournament is Saturday, March 13 beginning at 8:00 AM at Auburn High School.  It will probably last until sometime in the afternoon.  We have never brought a team down there, but Blackwell Elementary has done it the past two years with much success.  We have a great team too, so I think we would do really well if we competed in this event.  I went to the event to watch the Blackwell kids a couple years ago and it is wild how many kids are there!!!  Lots of fun.

Thanks!

Matt Laughlin, Alcott Speedstack Coach