3/31/2011

Real Soccer PTA Night April 13th


























Come Play with the PTA. Real Soccer is hosting a Utah PTA Community Night on Wed. April 13th. Order your tickets through the PTA website and with your membership and get a discount. Click Here to be taken directly to the UtahPTA website for more information.



Click on image to see a larger size or to print.











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3/24/2011

School Trust Lands Video Contest Announced

Dear Utah PTA Members,

I am pleased to inform you of a great School and Institutional Trust
Lands initiative that benefits students, teachers and schools.


As you know, Trust Lands in Utah directly benefit schools each year when
interest and dividends are disbursed to School Community Councils. The
School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration (SITLA) manages
these lands for the benefit of our school children and it’s important to
recognize the value of these lands through their efforts to make them
profitable. SITLA has been very successful in that regard as they
responsibly manage these lands.


To this end, SITLA has organized a RideOn! YouTube video contest to teach
students that respecting school land benefits all schools. RideOn! is
cosponsored by SITLA, Utah State Parks and Recreation and the Larry H.
Miller Group. Contest winners will receive $1500 cash, distributed
evenly between the winning student(s), teacher and school.


The contest can be integrated into health and technology curricula. Sample
lesson plans will be emailed next week to principals for distribution to
teachers providing instruction in health and technology. Students will
learn how good land stewardship directly benefits their school; as
healthy school lands generate revenue, the money is saved, and the
interest and dividends go to academic programs as determined by their
School Community Council.


To learn more about the RideOn! YouTube video contest, including submission categories and dates, please visit: www.stateparks.utah.gov/rideonvideocontest

Tyler Slack
Trust Lands Appointee

3/10/2011

Notes from a Librarian: Katherine Paterson

Katherine Paterson has recently been named the National Ambassador for Children’s Literature by the Library of Congress. Ms Patterson visited Provo a few years ago and I was lucky to hear her speak. She is one of those authors whose personal life is as fantastic and interesting as any of her books. She was born in China and her parents were Christian missionaries there. Amazingly, her first language was Chinese, and she struggled with English when her parents were forced out of China because of WWII and moved to Virginia. She clearly overcame this challenge and graduated from college, majoring in English, before entering the ministry. As a missionary for the Presbyterian Church she lived in Japan and Africa. In her talk at BYU, she said that in Africa some local witch doctors were giving her missionary church a difficult time. So she paid a different witch doctor to make a voodoo doll of one who was bothering them. She finally settled in Virginia, and became a pastor there. She primarily writes historical fiction with strong girl characters who overcome amazing trials. Her best known book, The Bridge to Terabithia, won the Newbery award in 1977, and was made into a major motion picture in 2007. Here are the Katherine Paterson books I have read and enjoyed.

Bridge to Terabithia, 1977
Jess Aarons had to be the fastest runner at Lark Creek Elementary School, but when he was beaten in a race by Leslie Burke it was the beginning of a new season in Jess's life. Jess and Leslie become friends, and Leslie shows Jess a new world of the imagination that gives him the strength to meet the challenges ahead.

The Great Gilly Hopkins, 1978
Gilly does not want to be a foster child. She wants to live with her beautiful, but parentally incompetent mother. So she develops skills and techniques that drive her foster parents crazy so she doesn’t have to stay with any one foster family for long. She meets her match when she is sent to the home of Maime Trotter, a fat, old, nearly illiterate widow, who knows a thing or two about difficult foster children.

Jacob Have I Loved, 1980
Caroline and Louisa are twins, but Caroline is blond, beautiful and talented, while Louisa is dark, plain and taciturn. Louisa struggles to find her own place in the world and begins working as a waterman beside her father. Her experience on the sea gives her the courage to start to make a life for herself far away from her perfect sister.

Lyddie, 1991
Lyddie’s father has died, her mother is losing her grip on reality and the family is on the verge of losing their farm. So Lyddie, at age 12, decides to go to work to earn money for the mortgage. She becomes a factory girl and soon masters her job running a loud, fast, and dangerous weaving machine. As time passes and her childhood and health are devoured by the relentless factory life she begins to wonder if the extra money will be enough to save her crumbling family.



Donna Cardon is a children's librarian at Provo City Library and a well known children's book critic. We'd like to thank her for allowing us to republish her articles for our readers. You can visit her children's book blog HERE

3/01/2011

What's Happening in your Grade in March?

KINDERGARTEN no report.

In FIRST GRADE we've been busy singing our hearts out for our program! Our first grade program will be in March. Because of limited seating, we want to invite or encourage grandparents and other extended family to attend one of our final rehearsals. Our family rehearsal will be on Tuesday, March 22 at 11:00 am in the gym. We will also be performing for the school on Wednesday, March 23 at 2:00 p.m. in the gym. Our parent night for the program will be Thursday, March 24 at 6:30. Watch your child's backpack for notes with information. We are also spending some time learning about weather. The saying "March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb" takes on meaning as we study the changes from winter to fall and see how wind affects things. It is fun to see the changes that are happening in our first graders as they are slowly changing into second graders!

March is just around the corner for SECOND GRADERS and we are all waiting for SPRING to come in. Tracks A & B want to thank parents for coming to conferences. Tracks C & D will be scheduling their Parent Teacher Conferences soon. Look on the on-line scheduler for set up your appointment time. The book fair will also be open during the conferences. In Math we will be learning more about fractions and geomentry as well as continuing with adding and subtracting with regrouping. Somethings we will be studying St. Patricks Day, Dr. Suess' Birthday and the upcoming season of Spring with our reading and writing activities. If you have any questions, contact your child's teacher.

THIRD GRADE Erin Go Braugh!!!! That means Ireland forever. Happy March to all our parents. We enjoyed seeing A and B track at conferences and will soon see C and D. Our school fundraiser was "Pennies For Patients" and many of the students donated their own money from their piggy banks to help kids that have Leukemia. In Miss Gilan's class Garrett Pusey was made an honorary Herriman/Riverton police officer. Garrett's class also made blankets that they donated to help people in need at the police department. Our character trait this month is "cooperation," we look forward to showing how the 3rd grade excels at this trait. Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Geometry, weather, and county reports are a few of the things FOURTH GRADERS will be doing in March. Some will also be working on becoming great writers. The Church History Museum will be teaching us more about pioneers on March 14. C and D tracks will be holding Parent Teacher Conferences on March 16-17. Make sure you sign up for an appointment. May the luck 'o the Irish be with you this month.

FIFTH GRADERS have been busily preparing to take the Direct Writing Assessment. Half of the 5th graders took the test in February, the other half will take the test in March. Thank you to Mrs. Onederra for helping our students out with their persuasive writing. We have been studying fractions, fractions and more fractions in math. In Science we have been studying Chemical and Physical Change and also Heredity. We have also been learning so much about the Civil War.

SIXTH GRADE celebrated Dr. Seuss Day (March 2) a little early this year. The students became acquainted with Dr. Seuss books along with fun activities from each 6th grade teacher as they rotated through. Peanut butter sculptures, fish origami, Cat in the Hat activities, book discussions, art activities, etc. were all a part of this fun day!

Loading/Unloading Reminder


Parents, as a reminder, there is NO PARKING in the drop-off lane in front of the school at any time.

The Loading/ Unloading Safety Procedures, given to us at the beginning of the year, state:

1- Stay in the RIGHT lane by curb for drop off.

2- Do not exit your vehicle. Park in the parking lot if you need to help child out of the car or to wait with them.

3- Pull as far forward as possible.

4- Use crosswalk only

These rules also apply during the afternoon Kindergarten pick up/drop off as well.

In addition, do not wait in your car with your child in the drop off zone until the bell rings; instead use the parking lot. Last Friday, there were angry parents because several cars were parked in the drop off zone. Please follow these rules so no further actions (by angry parents) need to be taken. Please be courteous to all.
You can find a post with the Loading/Unloading Procedures HERE