Ms. Poppen Principal of the Academy of Tucson Elementary School: February 2011

Bear Cub News

Academy of Tucson Elementary School

March, 2011

Principals Message

March is quickly approaching and I thought it would be appropriate to have this issue of the Bear Cub News focus on the events being held in March and to give you updated information on the Parent Advisory Committee. I am organizing this newsletter on Friday Feb. 25^th and we are in the midst of having our Rodeo Round-Up Luncheon. I am thankful for all the dedicated PAC members who are organizing this event. We are also enjoying our time learning about “Eli” Mrs. Fite’s horse. The afternoon assembly I’m sure will be fun because the 2^nd graders will be doing a cute dance dressed up as “pillowcase cowboys.” The kindergarten students will sing and the student square dancing club will show off two of their dance routines. We will also have an outside square dancing club come be a part of the assembly. Eva Siath, one of our 4^th grade students, will play her violin and she has even composed one of the pieces she will be playing. In the morning, Fire Station 21 came to the school to talk with the 3^rd grade students about fire safety and explained the various parts of their fire engine. It’s hard to believe that all of this will happen in one day. Whew! Well continuing on, we seem to have worked out the kinks with the Bear Cub E-Mail account so this will be the first month that I will send out the newsletter electronically. Also, please take the time to read over the newsletter so you do not miss out on any important dates and/or activities. Wishing you the best in March!

Calendar

March 4^th: PAC Meeting 8:00 am

March 11^th: Science Fun Fest

March 18^th: Skate Country Night/End of 3^rd Quarter

March 23^rd: Parent Teacher Conferences/Early

Release Day

March 24^th: Parent Teacher Conference/Early

Release Day

March 26^th: Academy of Tucson Elementary School

Rummage Sale

Parents Corner
There will be a parent advisory meeting in the intervention room at 8:00 am on Feb. 4th. Please come and join us if you can. This meeting will replace the March 11^th meeting because of Science Fun Fest.
Bear Cub E-mails Update: Mrs. Gardlund has the class e-mail lists completed. She also worked with Mr. Dool who is the school technology coordinator to get a different e-mail account. Please disregard the old e-mail address. The new one is: espac@at.tuccoxmail.com (add to your contact list)
REMEMBER TO CHECK YOUR JUNK MAIL TO SEE IF THERE ARE ANY E-MAIL MESSAGES FROM PAC. MAKE SURE TO UNBLOCK THE PAC E-MAIL ADDRESS.

Science Fun Fest:
This event is quickly approaching and will be on March 11, 2011. You should have received a flyer asking for help either as a volunteer or monetarily with this event. Thanks to those of you who have already returned your forms. For those of you interested in learning more about this event or to volunteer please contact Jaime Lines at jandjlinesfam@hotmail.com, Mindy Seagraves at dnmeseagraves@yahoo.com. or Trish Anthis at mailto:trishanthis@hotmail.com.
Science Fun Fest will be an all day event and is shaping up to be a scientifically enriching time. Students will be exposed to rainwater harvesting, paleontology, and reptiles. For the 4^th/5^th graders they will have the opportunity to make and launch rockets. Another wonderful aspect of this event is that we will have high school students volunteering to assist in the day activities as well as parents and outside business professionals.
The Science Fun Fest organizers are in need of kids plastic gardening tools (rakes, shovels, hand-held diggers, scrapers, etc.) Please mark them with your child’s name and bring them to school by Fri. March 4^th. They will be returned after March 11^th.

Skate Country Night:
On March 18^th from 5-7 pm students and families can enjoy a fun filled night of roller skating at Skate Country on

22^nd street

and Pantano. This activity will be open to the Academy of Tucson Elementary School/Middle School. The funds raised by this event will be deposited into each school’s PAC accounts. More information will be coming.

Rummage Sale: It’s Spring Cleaning Time:
The Academy of Tucson PAC group will be hosting a rummage sale at the elementary school on Saturday March 26^th from 7:00 am – 12:00 pm. They are in need of donations as well as volunteers to work this event and help to price items.
Donations will be accepted on the following days/times:
Wed. March 23^rd starting at 10:30 am-12:00 pm (small to medium items) This is an early release day. Help is needed to take donations.
Thurs. March 24^th starting at 10:30 am-12:00 pm (small to medium items) This is an early release day. Help is needed to take donations.
Friday March 25^th starting at 1:30 pm – 4:30 pm (small, medium, and larger items such as furniture) Help is needed from 1:30-6:00 pm to take donations, set-up, sort, and price.
Help is also needed on the day of the rummage sale which is on Saturday March 26^th. The time frame for volunteers is from 6:00 am – 1:00 pm. Please contact Margie Laube at any of the following numbers: 546-2247, 820-5006, 324-5786
PAC Members will be at the North end of playground to accept your donations. Please make sure that items are clean and in good, workable condition. Please be patient when dropping off items.
This is an advertised event and proceeds from this sale will go into the PAC account to assist with school activities throughout the year.

Brownie Troop Recycling Project:
The Brownie Troop that meets at the Academy of Tucson Elementary School is kicking off their water bottle recycling project. One of their goals is to raise awareness for the need to eliminate the use of plastic water bottles. They will be working with the school community to recycle plastic water bottles and to educate students and families on how to choose   more environmentally friendly water bottles for future use. Posters will be put up around the school and the Brownie participants will be going into classes to talk about their project.

Open House For Prospective Students/Kindergarten Screenings:
We will be having open house events for prospective students who are new to the Academy of Tucson Elementary School. This is a designated time to tour the school, get questions answered about the school, meet teachers/principal and complete registration forms. The following are the dates and times of the Open House Events through May:
Tuesday-March 1^st 5:00-6:30 pm
Tuesday-April 5^th 3:30-5:00 pm
Tuesday-May 3^rd 5:00-7:00 pm
Kindergarten Screenings will be held on March 5^th and then on an as needed basis after March. PARENTS WILL BE MAILED A LETTER DESIGNATING THEIR CHILD’S SCREENING TIME. Note: The screenings are not used for admittance purposes.
Please Note: If new families are unable to attend any of the open house events, call to schedule a tour of the school in order to become familiar with the Academy of Tucson. We accept registration packets year round.
Middle School (MS) and High School (HS) Open House Schedule:
March 1st-MS 4:00-5:30
        HS 4:00-6:00
April 5th-MS 4:00-5:30
        HS 4:00-6:00
May 3^rd-HS 4:00-6:00
May 10^th-MS 4:00-5:30

Music Classes at the Elementary School:
We are happy to welcome back Mrs. Flory, our music teacher, from her maternity leave! Students will be attending their regular music classes starting the first week in March.
Mrs. Flory is in need of a piano accompanist for the Middle School on Mondays or Wednesdays. If you know of someone who would be willing to volunteer their time please have them contact Mrs. Flory at eflory@ateschool.net

Character Counts/Positive Behavior Intervention and Support Song:
The Academy of Tucson Elementary School has started singing their character building song after the Pledge of Allegiance has been recited. We wanted to share the words with you so that you can sing along with us if you are at the school in the morning. The song is courtesy of our wonderful faculty and staff.
TRRFC-Tune is to Yankee Doodle Dandy:
At Academy of Tucson we will show, ways to be Terrific. Be trustworthy, respectful, responsible, and fair. Always a good citizen, caring for each other, Character Counts at Academy and we think it’s TERRIFIC! (Hands in the air)

Library News from Mrs. Teitelbaum:
Parents, our Book Fair was a huge success and thanks to all of you who made it happen. Our library was able to purchase 171 books from the fair. I have processed all of the books and they are available to the students for checkout. Our sales were $4100.00 and the “Lunch with a Loved One” was a success as well.
Our winner for the peanut shell guessing game was Carina Cruikshank-Taylor. She is a 5^th grader at the Academy of Tucson Middle School. Congratulations Carina!!
The Bookman’s Challenge is going strong. I received the numbers and we are currently in 6^th place. We take the number of books read across all grades at our campus and divide it by the number of students we have enrolled. The first month our students read an average of 37 books each!! That is approximately one book per day per student. Congratulations to Ms. Sanchez’s class as they read a total of 1,865 books during the first contest month. Way to go! Let’s keep up the great work Academy Students.

Note From Art:
Fourth grade classes are submitting books to be published. They have been working hard in their Language Arts and Art classes to produce the words and illustrations. The book titles are as follows:
Mrs. Fata’s Class: “The Best School Ever”
Mrs. Brown’s Class: “Rock on at the Academy of Tucson”
Mrs. Van Hises’s Class: “19 Awesome Reasons to Attend the Academy of Tucson”
These books are scheduled to be published March 10^th. Great Job 4^th Grade Classes!

PAC Perpetual Fundraising Opportunities:

Attention all Parents and Bear Cubs from March 1 until April 30, bring in your Box tops, Campbell Soup labels and Tyson A+ for education labels to help your child’s classroom earn a pizza party and our school some extra dough!

Fundraisers...
Do you know that the Academy of Tucson Elementary School collects: Box Tops for Education, Campbell Soup labels (found on soups, Goldfish crackers, etc.), Tyson Food labels and empty ink cartridges?

Boxtops - Please help our school earn free money by clipping box tops from General Mills and other products! Each box top is worth 10 cents to PAC. Some products are Betty Crocker, Kleenex boxes, Ziploc, Pillsbury, Chex Cereal, Green Giant, Welch’s, Avery..for a complete list go to http://www.boxtops4education.com/Image.aspx?id=3878&WT.ac=FMA_ParticipatingProd_08012010jg or go to http://www.boxtops4education.com and click on "Earn" to register to earn more money for AOTE by shopping online and joining Barnes and Nobles Reading Room.

Campbell Labels for Education - register your Shopper Card Number for e-Labels for Education at http://www.elabelsforeducation.com/Sites/Campbells_eLabels/Page/HomePage once you are registered every time you shop at your favorite supermarket*, and purchase any eligible Labels for Education products, total points earned will be credited to your school's Labels for Education account automatically. In addition clip Campbell product labels and turn them in to AOTES. AOTES receives credit towards educational material for each Label we receive.

Coke Rewards Go to https://secure.mycokerewards.com/register.do
The reward points are on the bottle caps and the inside of the box. You can create your own account or bring them into the school and we will enter them for you. If you already have an account and don't know what to do with your points, we will be happy to have them. Under "Spend Your Points" click on Donate to your school. Follow the steps and your donation will help support the school.

Tyson A+ for education labels – Check your Tyson brand products for the A+ for education labels, go to http://www.tyson.com/projectaplus/ to see the A+ labels. PAC receives 25 cents for each A+ for education label received.

Recycling Ink Cartridges and toners - We need your help collecting used ink & toner cartridges. Bring your empty printer cartridges into Ms. Fite & she'll turn them into needed supplies for our school! Every ink cartridge recycled gives the school .25 cents. Don't throw those cartridges away! Bring them to school & turn them into cash.

            Drink juice pouches We collect ALL types of juice pouches (Capri Sun, etc.). Please cut the top off the pouch and rinse out with water then the school can send them in to help raise money for our school.

            Safeway cards eScrip* - is a fundraising program where families can sign up and support the school of their choice by simply shopping at Safeway with their Safeway Club Card. To sign up your Safeway card go to http://www.escrip.com

            Target Take Charge of Education - Go to https://sites.target.com/site/en/corporate/page.jsp?contentId=PRD03-005157 to enroll your Target Red Card or Target Visa Card and earn 5% for AOTES each time you use your Target Red or Visa Card.

            Mamapedia.com donates 5% of your purchases to the Academy of Tucson Elementary School.

Ms. Poppen Principal of the Academy of Tucson Elementary School

Monday, February 28, 2011

March Newsletter

Friday, February 11, 2011

February Newsletter