Chaires Elementary News
4/25/08
PRINCIPAL'S PAWS
We hope you'll come out and join us for the Second Grade Musical and the
Book Fair on Tuesday evening. The Book Fair will be taking place in the
Media Center during the day from April 28-30 and during the evening on
April 29th. Kids love to have their own books and especially enjoy picking
them out!
Music Program News
Come and join us for the Second Grade Musical and Fourth Grade Recorder
Program on Tuesday, April 29th at 6:00pm in the cafeteria. Supper will be
made available by Chick-Fil-A for $6.00 per dinner and will be served from
4:30-6:00pm. The dinner includes a chicken sandwich, chips, brownie, cole
slaw, and a drink. Hope to see you there.
Book Fair
The book fair will be open Monday-Wednesday (April 28-30), from 9:00am-
1:00pm. or join us Tuesday (April 29) for family night from 5:00-7:00pm.
Student's who would like to purchase books may bring their money in to
their teacher. Now is the time to stock up for summer reading!
Kindergarten Orientation
Kindergarten Orientation for the upcoming school year (08/09) will be on
Wednesday, April 30, 2008 from 8:30-9:30am. We will have registration
packets available along with some other documentation you can take with
you. If you know someone who has a Kindergarten student starting in the
fall, please let them know about this upcoming event. New Kindergarten
students are welcome and encouraged to attend with their parents.
KINDERGARTEN REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS
* Completed registration packet
* 2 current proofs of residency (1 proof must be a mortgage
statement, lease agreement or property tax record and 1 other proof can be
a utility, cable, or waste mgmt bill or drivers' license.)
*Copy of certified birth certificate
*Copy of social security card (optional, but helpful for testing purposes)
*Completed Immunizations (blue card)
*Current physical (yellow form), (physical must have been done sometime
between Aug. '07 and Aug. '08)
MCBREARTY'S CORNER
The Leon County Health Department will be offering immunization clinics for
those who need shots. Please bring your child's current shot record with
you. For more information call Ann Waltz, RN at 606-8023 or 528-1398.
May 8th 4:30-6:30pm Health Department
2965 Municipal Way
May 27th 4:30-6:30pm Roberts & Stevens Clinic
1515 Old Bainbridge
June 18th 4:30-6:30pm Health
Department.
2965 Municipal Way
June 24th 4:30-6:30pm Roberts & Stevens Clinic
1515 Old Bainbridge
Appointments are strongly encouraged.
Lost and Found
Our lost and found is growing!! Please have your child check the lost and
found in the cafeteria for jacket, sweaters, sweatshirts, etc. that they
may be missing. All items will be donated to Charity at the end of the
school year.
NEXT SCHOOL YEAR (08/09)
Orientation for the whole school will be Thursday, August 14th from
12:30pm - 2:00pm. At this time, you will be able to meet your child's
teacher, provided that all registration requirements have been met.
The first day of school will be Monday, August 18, 2008.
Our school hours will remain the same (7:30 - 1:50).
TEACHER APPRECIATION DAY
Teacher Appreciation Day is Wednesday, May 7th. PTO is holding a luncheon
for the teachers on that day. We will need coverage for the teachers so
that they can enjoy an hour lunch that day. If you can volunteer to pick up
the students from their lunchtime in the cafeteria and take them to the
playground during this time, please let your child's teacher know or e-mail
Julie Sander (our volunteer coordinator) at postnbeam@att.net.
YEARBOOKS
Yearbooks are going FAST!! We have some yearbooks available in the front
office if you would like to purchase one for your child. The cost is $20
and checks can be made payable to Leonards.
MEDICATIONS
Parents, if your child has any type of medication in the clinic, please
plan to pick it up by the last day of school which is Friday, May 30, 2008.
If you have any questions, please contact Ms. Church in the clinic at 878-
8534.
2/29/08
Get Involved!
We've got a number of ways for you to get involved in school-wide
events planned, so please join us when you can!
On Monday, stop by or call in a to-go order at Beef O'Brady's on
Capital Circle at Apalachee Parkway. Remember to put your child's
teacher's name on the receipt; you might just win a class party! A
portion of the proceeds go to the Chaires PTO!
On Tuesday, our fundraisers are due! Please be sure to turn yours in.
Thanks for helping us to raise money for our school. We're really
working to put new technology in each classroom! Also on Tuesday, at
5:30 p.m. in the Media Center, we will have a General PTO meeting. This
will be our big planning meeting for the Spring Festival, so please plan
to attend and bring a friend or relative! We will have free childcare
for school-age children.
Spring Photo Proofs
Your child's photo proofs have been sent home today. If you would
like to order pictures, fill out the enclosed form including payment and
return to the main office. Picture orders need to be in the office no
later than March 10th. Picture packages will be shipped to the school
within 3 weeks after the Leonard's receives the proofs.
March is for Art
The month of March is Youth Art Month. All month we will be displaying
students' art at the Leroy Collins Public library downtown. This year we
will feature the 1st graders Monet pastels and their clay lily pads. We
will also feature the 5th graders Romare Bearden Collages. We will have
a reception at the library for the artists on Thursday, March 13, 2008
from 5- 7PM. Come join us for a fun evening.
Sad news and glad news
Our wonderful volunteer of the year 2007,
Phyllis Elmore has to retire from the art classroom. We will miss her
help and loving attention very much. Good news Mrs. Elmore is feeling
better and we will send work to her home. Mrs. Elmore will still come
help us at Spring Festival, after school and at programs and meetings.
Thank you Mrs. Elmore for all of your hours of hard work. We all Love
You and miss you very much.
Upcoming Events
Mar 3: Beef O' Bradys night, 4:00-9:00 p.m., to-go orders count too!
Mar 4: PTO General mtg in the Media Center, 5:30-6:30 p.m.
Fundraiser Due
Mar 11: Skate Night at Skate World, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Mar 12-14: FCAT testing, Grades 3-5
Mar 15: 5th Grade Honors Chorus Performance at Ruby Diamond
Mar 17-21: FCAT testing, Grades 3-5
Mar 21: Hat Day for Relay for
Life in Cafeteria, $1.00
Mar 25: School Advisory Council mtg. in the Media Center 5:30-6:30 p.m.
Skate Night at Skate World, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Mar 26: Report Cards go home
Mar 27: Honor Roll Assemblies
Mar 31-Apr 4: Spring Break, NO SCHOOL
FOR STUDENTS
2/11/08
Art News
February is not only Black History month it is our month for the Tallahassee Democrat's Design-an-Ad contest. Four of our 4th grade classes will participate this year. Each class has an account that they will design an ad for. Our accounts this year are;
Barineau Heating and Air
Pathway Wellness Chiropractic Clinic
Capitol Euro Cars
Leon County Schools' Foundation.
A representative of each company will visit the art room telling us about their business. Yesterday Jeff and Max visited from the Chiropractic clinic. We all enjoyed learning about our spine, nerves and bones. We will keep you up to date on our progress. Keep an eye out around Chaires for our Story Quilts, we will hang many of them this week.
Extended Day-Activity Day
Come and join us for a day of science fun and entertainment with Mad Science. Kids get tuned-in to science with exciting demonstrations and experiments, such as the surprisingly loud "Dinosaur in a can". Become a Mad Scientist and explore the science in sound and sound waves. Discover more scientific processes in making gak, slime, and goop! Feel the excitement all day long and spark your imagination with numerous interactive science experiments, crafts, and fun sports and games. Call Cathy Davis at 922-2866 for more information. Limited enrollment.
Writers at work for "Panther Construction Company"
On Friday all fourth grade students were employed by the Panther Construction Company. The company’s logo is “Where the finest writing is built.” As writers at work, students were engaged in the following activities: “Watch Your Step: Slippery Similes, Caution: Transitions Ahead, Watch Out! Falling Dialogue, and Use Caution! Vocabulary Ahead.
As a member of the Panther Construction Company students signed an employee pledge “to do their best on every piece of writing built”. Each student received a uniform “hard hat”. Classrooms were decorated as construction sites with yellow caution tape and orange traffic cones. The writing event was a fun way for Chaires students to get ready for FCAT Writing+! “Hard hats” off to our fourth grade teachers! Your blueprints and hard work really paid off in student excitement and great review and application of writing skills.
1/23/08
Safety Patrol News from Chaires Elementary
Hi, I'm Jamie Morgan, Captain of the School Safety Patrol for the third nine week grading period. We have been doing some new, exciting things and would like to share them with you. First, our Pizza Hut fundraiser was very successful. We will know by this Friday how much money we raised. Next, we have added fourth graders to the patrol for this nine weeks. They are helping us at the car ramp, since fifth graders have chorus practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We now have six students at the car ramp every morning. We continue to patrol the K-2 playground. Every morning, there are four students patrolling this very busy place! Our end-of-the-year trip is quickly approaching. We will either go to Wild Adventures or have a lock-in at Fun Station. We will vote after the fourth nine week patrol is created.
Box Top/Campbell Soup News
Attention all parents! Although we have had a lot of box top and Campbell Soup label donations I believe we have not made it known how easy it is to collect money and points from these companies. Not only do we collect Box tops and Campbell Soup labels, we also participate in Community Coffee and Tyson E+ products. We could earn a great amount of money for our school and our students if everyone participates in submitting the above labels to the front office. We can earn up to $10,000.00 a year from Tyson and Box Tops for Education. For those of you who have been participating great job! I challenge all the wonderful parent of Chaires Elementary to triple out next Box Top check for this year! If you have any questions feel free to call Amy Rivera at 877-3893.
12/14/07
Chaires choral students gave a special musical presentation to residents at Westminster Oaks. One of the residents there was former Chaires principal Roberta Faulkner. Mrs. Faulkner requested each child walk by her slowly so she could say something to each of them.
You better watch out . . . Pajama Day is Coming!
We are excited to present our second annual “Pajama Day” at Chaires Elementary School on Friday, December 21st. This is an exciting day of read-a-thons, movies and fun, so we include the element of pajamas as a fundraising opportunity for our “Chaires Cares” Relay for Life team. This year, children in each class will be able to bring their pajamas with them on the last day before the holiday break as they participate in their class read-a-thon and view the recently released G-rated movie “Ratatouille.” (Pajamas must meet school-wide dress code rules! See article above.) As long as children have purchased their ticket from their classroom teacher during the week and their pajamas meet the dress code, they will be eligible to wear their pajamas at school for the entire day! Teachers, staff, and administrators get to participate too, if they pay!! As is our custom, we will also sell “Jingle Bell Necklaces” for one dollar, as well. Children enjoy wearing a large jingle bell – even if they don’t wear their pajamas! And, it’s all for a great cause. Please join us as we watch Disney-Pixar’s Ratatouille, encourage reading, jingle along, and have fun in our jammies at Chaires! If you would like for your child to participate, please cut off the bottom portion of the newsletter, send it in to your child’s teacher in an envelope with payment. If you’ll be volunteering that day, feel free to bring your jammies and join the fun! We appreciate your support of the Chaires Cares Relay for Life Team!
12/03/07
Tropicana Public Speaking Contest breaks into song
As a new assistant principal to Chaires Elementary this school never ceases to amaze me. Our students are an awesome group of children with many diversified talents. Chaires Elementary School’s Tropicana 4-H Public Speaking school contest was held on Wednesday, November 28. Five judges from the Garnet & Gold Toastmasters Club at Florida State University volunteered their time to help in the difficult task of determining the fifth grade winners. While the judges retired to the lounge to tabulate the scores, fourth and fifth grade students broke into spontaneous song. As the students waited for the judges’ decision they sang songs such as “Somewhere Beyond the Sea” and “Hot Chocolate” from their recent musical “Lights, Camera Action” performance. They really rocked the cafeteria. Judges said they were entertained by the performance as they tallied the scores. When the winners were announced there was joy and applause for first place winner Nathan Vinson, second place winner Zoe Tribley, and third place winner Jessica Milam. We are so proud of all our students who had the courage to get up in front of fourth and fifth grade classmates and speak. Our participants are Ben Bryan, Jacob Geiger, Brielle Dozier, Mitchell Roddenberry, Elizabeth Clark, Emily Guimaraes, Breon Randall, Dakota Williams, Grayson Scott, Savannah Gibson, Katie Simmons, and Kyle Hunter. Nathan Vinson will represent our school in the Leon County public speaking contest to be held on Saturday, January 19th at the Perry Paige Auditorium on Florida A&M University campus. We know that we can all be proud of the impression our school and students made on these judges. Our students’ singing was the icing on the cake!
11/13/07
Visitors from Japan
We enjoyed having 26 visitors from Japan and their translator along with Jim
Warford (CEO, FASA) and Tricia Arnold (CFO, FASA) at Chaires Elementary
School this morning. The visitors are learning about the Teacher
Evaluation System in Florida and Leon County. They asked a variety of
questions regarding standardized testing, teacher evaluation and
professional development (for teachers of regular and special education
students), implications of standardized testing (i.e. performance
pay/school bonuses, school grades, NCLB, etc.) free/reduced/full-pay
breakfast and lunch, and more.
We toured a variety of classrooms (first, second, third, fifth grades;
regular education, inclusion, self-contained ESE; and special area.)
The visitors asked pertinent questions about the inclusion model, the
teacher-student ratio, interns/participants, use of technology in
instruction, school size, class size, credentials of para professionals,
and curriculum. They commented on how well behaved the children were
when they visited classes and as they passed by classes in the hallways.
Also, the visitors shared how they use a similar inclusion model to
provide additional teacher support in their classrooms for children with
ADD/ADHD.
At the end of our visit, we were showered with gifts that we will share
with our teachers and students.
10/31/07
Goodwill Clothing Drive
Chaires will be participating in a district wide clothing drive. You may collect clothing items (laundered, please, if used) from home and bring them to school for collection by Goodwill. We will be collecting clothing from Monday, November 5th to Wednesday, November 7th. The bin will be located in the Guidance hallway. (Please note that the focus of this project is clothing only, and not other household items or food).
10/29/07
Good News
I am very proud to announce that we WON the CANpaign 2007! I am so proud of all of our Panthers. We have shown the entire community our PANTHER PRIDE!! Special thanks to Tallahassee DCJ and Rental Service Corporation for their support in helping us win the CANpaign 2007. Thirty-four area schools and college organizations participated in this year’s CANpaign, up from 15 in 2006. Chaires collected 410.0 lbs. This will give us $328.00 GO PANTHERS!
Marjie Beal, Secretary
Chaires Elementary School
878-8534
10/26/07
Wow! Our Fall Science Fair was a great success! Our school had over 300 projects and more than half the students earned Master Scientist this year. Our 12 Master Scientists who will represent Chaires in the EXPO at the Challenger Center in the spring will be: Michelle Tomblin, Ben Bryan, Tifara Clark, Dakota Williams, Mitchell Roddenberry, Nathan Veatch, Nikolas Benjamin, Duncan Wiley, Lillian Sander, Wesley Lamb, and Connor Burk.
Mad Science of Tallahassee has donated a Mad Science Class Party/Workshop to our school. All the Master Scientists have automatically been entered in the drawing. The winner is Nyriel Geathers in Mrs.. Bearden's 4th Grade class. Congratulations.
Marjie