March 2008

Science Fair Success, FUN RUN , Kinder Round Up and More...
PTA President’s message

Over 200 of our school community enjoyed pancakes and all the fixins before heading off for rodeo break. Now back, and with less than 70 days left of school, we continue to excel in the education of our students. The Science Fair was a great representation of all the knowledge in our young minds. Thanks to all the volunteers who made it possible.

Spring pictures are a great way to see how our kids have changed from the first day of school. If you know of any families who have children joining Fruchthendler in the fall for kindergarten, please mention our great Kinder Round Up. It’s a fantastic way to become acquainted with the teachers and staff, and gives us chance to showcase our excelling talents.

Ready, get set, go on Saturday, March 8 as we host our annual FUN RUN event. Safe Routes to School continues to educate us on transportation safety… mark your calendars for the next Walking School Bus Challenge on February 28 and more challenges to come on March, 6, 13 and 27.

With a grading day March 19 and Spring Break March 20 - 24, we will come back refreshed and ready for those next challenges.

SUCCESS IS A JOURNEY, NOT A DESTINATION

Marcy Briggs, PTA President 2007-08

PTA Board Openings

I have really enjoyed being on our PTA Board this year. This dedicated group of volunteers planned some really fun events, and continues the vision of our PTA membership.

We will have the following openings for the 2008-09 school year, and would welcome anyone who would like to join the board to contact one of our board members… we are listed on the web or in this issue of Footnotes on page 12.

BOARD OPENINGS
Vice President
Secretary
Fundraising Co-Chairs
Volunteer Coordinator

 

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Letter from Principal John Heidel

Dear Fruchthendler Families,

It’s hard to believe that it’s already time to start thinking about the 2008-20009 school year. We will be having Kindergarten Roundup on March 5 in order to pre-register our new kindergarten students. If you know of any new kindergarten students/families that haven’t given their names to the office, please remind them to do so. We have sent out packets of information to the new students explaining the special activities planned for that day.

I hope everyone had the opportunity to visit our Science Fair. We had over 80 entries this year. The projects were outstanding and exemplified our young scientists’ hard work. I want to thank Mrs. McNerney and Mrs. Giampapa for their hard work in planning, mentoring, organizing and recruiting the judges for the fair. Ten of the projects will go on to represent Fruchthendler at the Southern Arizona Regional Science and Engineering Fair (SARSEF) this month. We wish them luck.

I had a wonderful time at the Rodeo Pancake Breakfast. It was the perfect time to visit and relax with good friends and good food. A special thank you to Mrs. Molloy and her volunteers for their hard work in planning and setting up the breakfast. I also want to thank the teachers and staff for their pancake flipping expertise. A GREAT time was had by all.

We are pleased to announce that our application towards A+ Rating has progressed to the next level. Judges will be visiting March 25 and 26 to evaluate our school in this process. We appreciate all your work and support in this endeavor. Fruchthendler is an outstanding school and this is another way to showcase our excellence.

Thank you, parents, for signing in when dropping your child off at school. Remember to sign in at the office when you are visiting or volunteering too. Our students’ safety comes first. We also want to keep track of the many volunteer hours.

Please remember to make after school arrangements with your child before school starts.  We are overwhelmed with the number of message requests towards the end of the day.  We can’t guarantee those messages will reach their intended recipients if they are received just before the dismissal bell rings.

With the warm weather, our lost and found has been growing by leaps and bounds. Please check the rack for any misplaced sweaters, jackets, etc., located in the cafeteria. We also have a large number of unclaimed lunch boxes.

March brings about the end of our third quarter. Remember that March 19 is a grading day for teachers. (Students have it off.) This is followed by Spring Break. School will resume on March 25.

We will need a morning crossing guard on Cloud Road starting the end of March. This is a paid position. If you are interested and or know of someone that would be interested, please contact the front office.

I want to thank all the volunteers who continue to support our students’ success. I so enjoy seeing the interaction between students and volunteers and witnessing the learning taking place. Fruchthendler is such a wonderful place to work… thanks to all for your care and concern.

Cordially,

John Heidel, Principal

 

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Science Fair Success

Congratulations to all our students who entered the Science Fair this year! We were excited to see a total of 81 projects entered, which included 68 individual projects, 11 team projects and 2 class projects. These were done by a total of 94 students (not including all of the students in Miss Konrath’s kindergarten class and Mr. Rule’s 4th grade class who worked on the 2 class projects). All of these students deserve recognition for their hard work! We hope you had a chance to stop by the fair and see some of the great projects.

We would like to thank our panel of judges for their time and dedication. The judges, who are professionals with a science or engineering background, are assigned to work in pairs to judge the projects. If they are from the Fruchthendler community, judges are never assigned to judge the grade in which they have children themselves, regardless of whether their child entered in the fair or not. Each project is kept anonymous— the judges do not know whose project they are judging or whether it is done by an individual or a team. Judges agree amongst themselves which projects earn place awards as well as which of the place awards are nominated to represent our school at SARSEF. Judging took place on Monday evening from 5-10 p.m.

Here are this year’s place awards and the 10 projects that were selected to go on to SARSEF (Southern Arizona Regional Science and Engineering Fair). SARSEF will be held March 17-21 at the Tucson Convention Center. Good luck to all of our SARSEF nominees!

 

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Annual Art Show Coming Up

What could be better than your child’s art work other than a showing of it?! This year’s show is Tuesday, April 1 at 6:30 p.m. in the school cafeteria. It’s an evening affair with dessert served and all the art of our incredibly talented students will be on display.

Every student is allowed two entries. This can be art they have done anywhere, anytime, of any kind within the last year. All art for the show must be submitted on Thursday, March 27 along with the entry form. The forms can be found in the Firebird Folders and extra forms will be in the organizer in front of the school office.

We are so looking forward to the gallery of artwork. It is a special evening for our students to dress up, eat yummy desserts, and admire good art with their family and friends. Mark your calendars for April 1 and plan to be wowed and impressed all over again by our children.

If you would like to help put together the event, please contact us at Lori@coffeebuilders.com

Thank you from the art show committee

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Notes from the School Counselor

Fruchthendler students have continued discussions and activities investigating the content of one’s character. All students spent time thinking of kind words to describe their classmates’ characters. The students were encouraged to keep the content of character documents to remind themselves to look for the positive in themselves and in others.

Students listened to a story about gossiping and learned a song that reminds us, “If you cannot say something nice, do not say anything at all.” Students were reminded to treat others the way they would like to be treated.

If you are interested in checking out some books on communicating with and parenting children, I’d like to recommend a couple of my favorites: How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish; and Parenting with Love and Logic by Cline and Jim Fay. Kidsgrowth.com is a wonderful website for parents. The Parent Connection (321-4612) has classes and workshops on a variety of issues that may be of interest to parents.

Thank you for sharing your wonderful children with us!

If you have any questions about the counseling program, please call 731-4400 between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Monday through Friday. Sincerely,

Shannon Bohan
School Counselor

 

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Do You Want to Support OMA and the Teachers/Artists
that Make it All Possible?

If the answer is “YES,” you are invited to attend the OMA Showcase! The OMA Foundation is proudly sponsoring the OMA Showcase on Saturday March 8 at 3:00 p.m.  The 4th annual event will be held at Rincon/University High School auditorium.

The program will feature 120 OMA students and their teaching artists, as well as honor retiring Superintendent Roger Pfeuffer and Superintendent Patti Lopez. Next year we hope to have some Fruchthendler students participate in the Showcase.

A reception will immediately follow the program. The Blue House Catering Company is generously underwriting the reception.

Tickets are $25, of which $15 is tax deductible, and may be purchased by calling 225-4900. For more information, please contact our OMA teacher Mr. Barrett, or Kathy Campbell at kq@ghostdance.net

All proceeds from this event benefits Opening Minds Through the Arts and helps support the teachers and artists that make it all possible.

 

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Thank you for your A+ feedback!

Between personal interviews and online survey responses, we had over 200 comments that helped document the dedicated efforts of our staff, students, and parents. The A+ Proposal Panel was impressed, and as a result our school advances to the next level of judging. An Arizona Educational Foundation Team will visit our school on March 25 and 26 to meet with our school community and to observe first hand what makes our school special. We are very excited about this opportunity to showcase the dynamic relationship that exists between our students, parents, community and staff. Thank you for taking the time to contribute your input about our extraordinary school.

Cheryl Bowman, Instructional Coach.

 

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Fruchthendler’s 2nd Walking School Bus Challenge

In an effort to increase our Golden Sneaker Thursday participation and incorporate the new walking path on Cloud Road, Fruchthendler has been awarded a second incentive package from YMCA Activate Tucson and Pima County–Tucson Safe Routes to School Program to get more students and parents to enjoy the benefits of walking to school by sponsoring another Walking School Bus Challenge.

The Walking School Bus Challenge (WSBC) has been created to encourage more walking and bicycling to school by offering prizes for participants during the challenge period. The WSBC will utilize a punch card to track and reward students and parents when they walk or bike to school during the five-week period starting on February 28, 2008 and continuing every Golden Sneaker Thursday through April 3 and culminating on Walk ‘n Roll to School Day on Friday, April 4. Students who ride the bus are doing their part to reduce traffic congestion around the school so they can also earn punches. Each time the student or parent walks, bikes or buses to school on Golden Sneaker Thursdays, their WSBC card can be punched by the volunteers in yellow “Walking School Bus” t-shirts. During the challenge period there will also be one random day that cards will be punched.  Students and parents must bring their cards to the volunteers to be punched.

When the student or parent accumulates 5 punches, their card can be entered into a drawing to win valuable prizes with the drawing held at the end of the challenge. Prize winners will be selected at random from all eligible entries received. Grand Prize is an I-Pod Nano 1GB. Additional prizes include Razor a3 scooters with helmets, basketballs, soccer balls, jump ropes, and passes to Rocks and Ropes for Kids Climb Saturdays. There will be one drawing from the parent’s cards for a $25 gift certificate to a favorite restaurant.

The Walking School Bus Challenge:

• A minimum of seven (7) opportunities to get your WSBC card punched
• A minimum of five (5) punches are needed to enter the card into the drawing
• WSBC Volunteers in yellow t-shirts will be in front of the school by the marquee and at the top of the stairs on Lodge
• All punches are subject to verification
• Students/parents are responsible for having WSBC cards on all days
• Lost WSBC cards can be replaced but previous punches cannot be replaced
• All WSBC cards, regardless of number of punches, must be turned in on Friday,
• April 4 to be eligible for the drawing
• Drawing winners will be announced on Monday, April 7
• Being driven to school, parking a block away and walking the last block is not considered walking to school and therefore not eligible for the WSBC

For more information or to volunteer to punch WSBC cards, please contact Karen McWhirter, Safe Routes to School Chairperson, at 751-6795.

 

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Thanks for Collecting Box Top$ and Labels

Keep up the good work! A very special note:

It is very important that when you submit Campbell’s Labels for Education, the UPC code needs to be intact. If it is damaged or missing it can’t be submitted.

Labels for Education earns us points for school merchandise. For the complete product list go to: www.labelsforeducation.com/

Box Top$ for Education earns us cash! Please no Betty Crocker Coupons. Also, please trim the coupons close but don’t trim off the expiration date (these coupons have an expiration date). For the complete product list visit to:www.boxtops4education.com/

Please deposit all items in the Collection Boxes near the front door.
For more info contact Moira Richards at 290-3709 or neomom@comcast.net

 

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Reminder: Fun Run Signup Deadline, March 5

The Fruchthendler Fun Run is on Saturday, March 8, 2008. Registration is at 8:15 a.m. with the run starting at 8:30 a.m. The deadline to register is Wednesday, March 5, 2008. Keep an eye out for the flyer in your Firebirds folder.

 

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Got Thin MINTS?

 

Just a reminder that Fruchthendler’s 1st grade Brownie troop will be selling Girl Scout cookies after school on the back patio on the following days:

Friday, February 29
Friday, March 7

Cookies sell for $4 a box. We hope to see you there!!

 

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Townsend Middle School invites you to the HOUSE

 

Looking for an alternative to the traditional middle school program?

Here is what the HOUSE program at Townsend Middle School offers:

• Smaller community of learners
• Block scheduling with Core teachers
• Spanish instruction/Technology emphasis
• Accelerated curriculum/high rigor

We have a waiting list… so come visit to learn more! Contact Barbara Kohl (Principal) or Bernadette Boschert (Counselor) at 232-7900.

Come visit! We are taking names for the waiting list now! For more information call 232-7900.

Townsend Principal Barbara Kohl

 

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Attention all 3rd - 5th graders:
Track and Field Try-Outs this Month

Track and Field try-outs will be held for the next three weeks during 3rd - 5th grade lunch recess every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Please make sure you wear proper foot wear for try-outs, no open toed or high heel shoes will be allowed. We will be finishing up all running events and starting on the softball throw this week.

Next week we will begin the running long jump and the high jump. Some scores are posted and more will be added as we finish events. The top three best scores in each event, for each group, will be circled in red, with the alternate circled in blue. Our Regional Track Meet is scheduled for Tuesday, April 1 (no fooling). Those that do make the team will be missing school that day. Any questions, please contact Coach Kim at721-6357.

 

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Writing Buddies Stories

Editor’s note: Writing Buddies are students from Mrs. Tinsley’s and Mr. Dye’s classes who work together on stories once a week for 40 minutes. The fifth graders and second graders buddy up and write stories together. The second graders help remind students that writing is fun and that it’s good to be a kid. In this edition, the kids were asked to write a creative adventure story where the main characters were bugs of their choosing. They worked on using more adjectives, and they discussed how similes can make a writing piece come alive.

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Going To The Sea
By: Maddie, Hana, Lindsey, and Elizabeth

Hi! I’m Cloey, I’m Jade, I’m Lee Ann, and I’m Sally. I’m a ladybug, I’m a praying mantis, I’m a spider, and I’m a butterfly. Today we are making a long journey to see the sea turtles laying their eggs. I know it might seem strange for bugs, but we like it. Just picture it the water as blue as the sky, and the eggs like glistening pearls in the sand; it’s wonderful.

Right now we’re packing up and are about to catch a ride to the beach. Which truck looks right Cloey? Ummmm. Too old, I mean look at it. There’s so much rust it looks like it’s about to fall into a pile of gears and oil. That one’s too dirty, that one’s too ugly. Who puts pink polka dotted stripes and puke colored splatters on their window? Ok that one’s ok.

We’re finally at the beach. Oh woooow! The moonlight on the water is like the million shining stars in the night sky. Look there are the turtles. I love the color and the eggs; they’re so pretty.

The eggs were as white and shiny as pearls. The sand was as smooth as a plate of steel. After the turtle laid her eggs, Sally was watching Lee Ann. Jade saw what was happening and she flicked Sally on the arm and said, “No eating friends!” to praying mantis.

We left the beach an hour later. On our way home we came to a river that was as blue as the great light blue sky. We came to a tree as tall as a mountain.

The 4 bugs watched the sunset and realized that today was an absolutely perfect day!

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Bon Voyage, Autumn
By: Paige and Sydney

Hello! I’m Autumn, I am a cricket. I have 28 sisters and brothers, and my whole family is crickets, except for Sara. She is a firefly. She lives in New York, and I live in France. She can be very helpful. When I was 2, she used her light to light my room when it was as dark as a dungeon. I always wanted to go to New York, and in this story I do.

I dialed up my phone, which was as white as snow, to call Sara. “Hello? Hi. Sara! Tonight I will be traveling in a boat to see you in New York.” Sara said, “You can’t; it will be too dark and you will crash!” I hung up. It became night and Autumn was getting on the boat. The captain shouted, “All aboard!” Then, the boat took off. Soon, it became as dark as a pot of ink. The captain couldn’t see anything, so we couldn’t see where to go.

All of a sudden, a light as bright as the sun appeared. “I know that light!” said Autumn. It was Sara! “Sara, what are you doing here?” I exclaimed. “I’ve come to lead the boat!” Sara said. Soon, Sara was going too fast and left the boat behind. “We are going to crash! Get your floating vests on!” The captain shouted. “Where is the other vest?” Autumn asked. “There is only enough for five bugs, and there are six bugs here.” The captain said. “We’re going down!” Autumn cried. A light came back again and took Autumn into her arms. “Sara! You saved me! Thank you so much!” Autumn said gleefully. “Let’s go to New York.” Sara said, and she buzzed as loud as a horn.

After flying for a while, Sara got bored. “Can you make music?” Sara asked. “Sure!” Autumn said. She began chirping to a beat. Soon, New York came into view, and it was a beautiful as a rose. “I have to admit, France is as beautiful as a meadow.” Said Sara. “My dream finally came true!” Said Sara.

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The Bug Story
By: Catherine and Caroline

Once upon a time there lived a friendly ladybug named Sarah. She lived in a huge, red, soft mushroom with her friend. Her friend is also a ladybug and her name is Rachel. Winter just ended and beautiful flowers were blooming. Nevada just had a horrible snowstorm and the girls were happy to be out of their cozy home.

Sarah flew out of the mushroom as fast as a cheetah. Rachel could smell the fresh breeze of grass and bark.

Rachel felt like going on vacation, so she told Sarah. Sarah loved the idea of the beach and also wanted to visit her cousins in the rainforest. The rainforest had a huge pond that Sarah loved to float on. The pond was as big as an elephant compared to a bug.

Just as the girls got all packed up. A huge monster picked up the mushroom and took it to it’s home.

“Hey mom; look at this pretty, little flower” said the monster in a loud voice.

“It’s even probably something poisonous or a baby spray painted tree.”

The little boy ran to his house and stuck the mushroom in his dirty room. It was so dirty it looked like a pig stall.

“Oh no what are we going to do?” said Rachel.

“We’re going to brake out,” said Sarah.

Right as she said that a huge cup came over the mushroom trapping the girls inside of the cup.

The girls started pushing the sides and the cup and it fell over letting the ladybugs free. All of a sudden they flew into a shoe as big as a boulder.

“Ow, that really hurt!” said Sarah.

Then they sprang out to the outside. They loved the wind that carried them along. It was as windy as the cold winter and they liked that.

“I don’t think that I actually want to go on vacation. I had enough excitement for one day!” said Sarah.

  

Important Dates for March

Feb 28           Spring Pictures

March 5          Kindergarten Round Up

March 6,13,27 Walking School
                        Bus Challenge

March 8          Fruchthendler FUN RUN

March 10-14    SARSEF 2008

March 18         Deadline for April issue
                     Firebird Footnotes

March 19         Grading Day (no school)

March 20-24    Spring Break

March 26         Firebird Folders go home

 

Early deadline for the next issue of Firebird Footnotes!

The deadline for the next exciting issue of Firebird Footnotes is March 18, slightly early this month because of spring break. We hope you find the Firebird Footnotes monthly newsletter enjoyable and informative.  It is here that you can catch up on school announcements, student activities, class events, fundraiser updates and other items of interest.

To submit an article or item to be considered for publication, send via email to Firebird.Footnotes@gmail.com by the published deadline. Items can be submitted as text documents,  as Word documents, or as text that’s cut-n-pasted into the body of the email message. If you have any questions you can call 979-4769 or send an email to the address above.

Steve Delgado, Newsletter editor


                       

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