Spirit Night Tonight and So Much More...

This week has been another great week. We've had several students receive their second terrific tickets. We are so proud of the good choices they are making, as well as the good example they are setting for our student body. Be sure to check out our "Terrific Ticket" tab to see our wonderful students!


Today we were blessed to have our third grade students lead chapel. They truly did an amazing job, and I was so proud of them! They showed how scriptures in the Bible also appear in songs we sing in chapel, Sunday School, and church. All the third grade students had memorized their scriptures and songs. Thank you, third grade parents, for attending! You all should be very proud of your children's efforts and the Christ-like attitudes they showed while leading today. There are pictures under the "EAGLE NEWS" tab. Next week, we will have an all school chapel. Be sure to check the "Chapel Speaker" link to see who is coming to visit us next!



DON'T FORGET TONIGHT IS "SPIRIT NIGHT" at Chick-Fil-A in Smyrna, from 5-8 p.m.! The PTO is putting this night together to earn money for our school. All you have to do is show up with a flyer in hand. Help support our school by bringing your friends and family to eat.

**BOX TOPS**: WE HAVE till TOMORROW to turn in our first box tops order. Our goal is 6,000 box tops. If the entire elementary helps us reach this goal, we will have a “Crazy Hat” day next FRIDAY .


Thursday, November 3rd, we have our 1st-3rd grade MUSIC PERFORMANCE. We sent home orange flyers yesterday. A few things to remember:


What to wear: Khakis and a Burgundy short-sleeve uniform shirt (gym school approved shoes)
Arrival Time: NO later than 5:30 p.m.
Drop off: In child's classroom
*Parents: after drop off, head to middle school gym
Time of Performance: 6 p.m.

**Don't forget that report cards (1st-4th grade) will be e-mailed next Friday, November 4th.

Next week, in order to honor our Veterans, we will be having an all-school writing activity. If you have a veteran in your family, please let us know. We would love to write letters and let that person know how much they are appreciated! 

Our first graders went to the Walden Pumpkin Farm on Thursday. They learned about how pumpkins grow on the farm and were able to pick a pumpkin to take home. They interacted with several farm animals and learned interesting facts about them. They found their way through both a corn maze and a hay maze. Students pumped water from an old-fashioned pump and saw an enormous prize- winning pumpkin that weighed over 1,000 pounds!  Lastly, students enjoyed a hay ride and lunch in the cabin. (See more pictures take a look under "EAGLE NEWS" tab) You will also find some pumpkin carving pictures too!

The Pre-Kindergarten classes visited the Honeysuckle Hill Farm Pumpkin Patch last Friday.  The students learned how bees pollinate flowers in order for the pumpkins to grow, milked a pretend cow, and visited with the farm animals.  They went on a hayride and chose their own perfect pumpkins from the pumpkin patch. There are more pictures under the "EAGLE NEWS" tab!

**Mrs. Speck asks that 4^th graders bring in a picture of themselves for their PPT presentations.   This can be a picture by themselves, with their pet, in a ball uniform, when they were a baby, or any other picture .

Upcoming Events to put on your calendar...

The school book fair is Nov. 28-Dec. 2.  We will be offering an online fair, with free shipping to the school, beginning  Nov. 16-Dec. 6.  There is a link to the online fair from the website page.

http://bookfairs.scholastic.com/homepage/ehcs   

Our annual food drive is December 5-9. You will be receiving more information on this opportunity very soon. The collection benefits New Heights Christian Community Service.

NEXT WEEK's blog will include pictures of the 3rd grade field trip to Edwin Warner Park, the Kindergarten field trip to pumpkin patch, the Chick-Fil-A pep rally, and so much more!!

More Dates: 

Music Performance (1st-3rd grade) = November 3
Report Cards = November 4th
"Donuts with the Principal" = November 11th

Fall Festival = November 12

The Nutcracker = December 9

Piano Recital = December 12

Last week’s “Dinner Discussion” winners:

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SUBJECT IN SCHOOL?

#1 Answer: Math (by several votes!)

Check out this week’s questions for discussion

We are back...

Hope you all had a wonderful fall break. Everyone seems to be getting back in the routine, their minds are eager and alert! I have been watching kindergartners rolling with laughter over a good book, first graders enjoying centers, third graders defeating the “monster math” creature, and fourth graders learning about the French and the Dutch! There is lots of studying going on, and I’m enjoying seeing all of our students participating and learning!

Our third graders will be leading our chapel service next week (October 27^th)! We can't wait to hear what the Lord is putting on their hearts to share with us. If you want to know who is speaking in chapel, be sure to click on the "Chapel Speaker" tab each week! 

You will see the reminder below about Spirit Night next Thursday, but I wanted to let you all know that the students can wear jeans and an Ezell t-shirt to school that day in honor of this event. That way, when you and your family head to Chick-Fil-A to eat, you will be in school spirit!

The school book fair is Nov. 28-Dec. 2.  We will be offering an online fair, with free shipping to the school, beginning  Nov. 16-Dec. 6.  There is a link to the online fair from the website page.

http://bookfairs.scholastic.com/homepage/ehcs   

The annual food drive in which the Elementary participates is December 5-9. You will be receiving more information on this opportunity very soon. The collections will benefit New Heights Christian Community Service.

Some REMINDERS FROM LAST WEEK’s BLOG…

I know many of you had headed out with big plans for fall break, so just in case you didn't get the chance to read the blog, here are some important highlights from last week’s post.

I would like to remind you all that school does start promptly at 7:45 a.m. Students are tardy if they are not in class when the bell rings. Our teachers get started first thing, as to not to waste a minute of instructional time, so please be understanding and considerate of all their hard work and have your child at school on time. We understand that unavoidable circumstances sometimes occur, resulting in late arrivals, but it is important that tardies are as infrequent as possible. Students can easily get behind and be embarrassed if they are continually late. Thank you so much for helping us on this matter! Your child’s education is very important to us!

Another item to discuss is our dress code. Most of the time, everyone is following the handbook guidelines. We just want to continue to have uniformity among the student body and the whole school. As a school, we will be addressing these violations with a phone call, and a form will be sent home when this happens. Please be aware of the basic colors that students are allowed to wear and use the handbook as your guide. Help us be unified as a school, and thank you again for supporting us in this matter. 

**BOX TOPS** WE HAVE 1 WEEK till we turn in our first box tops order. Our goal is 6,000 box tops. If the entire elementary helps us reach this goal, then we will have a “Crazy Hat” day the following week. We are going to have a huge thermometer on the front window that will measure our ongoing progress till the February turn-in date. We will update the thermometer once a month in chapel, so that we can see our progress. We will still reward the top two classes in February, but for now, our focus is to collect as many box tops as we can by Oct. 28^th. So cut, clip, and bring them in!! If you have over fifty box tops please bundle them in groups of fifty, but if you don’t have that many, then PLEASE send in what you have! Thank you for helping our school!

Don’t Forget … 

SPIRIT NIGHT at Chick-Fil-A!! On October 27^th from 5-8 p.m. we will be eating at Chick-Fil-A in Smyrna! The PTO is putting this night together to earn money for our school. All you have to do is show up with a flyer in hand.  We will be handing those out shortly here at school. So let’s get ready to “Eat Some Chickin” on October 27^th! The class with the highest percentage participation will receive a prize! 

Upcoming Dates:

Spirit Night @ Chick-Fil-A = October 27

3rd Grade Leading Chapel = October 27

Music Performance (1st-3rd grade) = November 3

Fall Festival = November 12

The Nutcracker = December 9

Piano Recital = December 12

Last week’s “Dinner Discussion” winners:

IF YOU COULD HAVE A WILD ANIMAL AS A PET, WHAT ANIMAL WOULD YOU CHOOSE?

#1 Answer: Monkey

Check out this week’s questions for discussion

Fall Break but...

Hello Parents,

Fall Break starts tomorrow, Friday the 14^th, and lasts through Monday the 17^th. Everyone enjoy your break and your family time together. I look forward to seeing you all back here on Tuesday. Before we head off, there are several items and reminders that I need to cover.

I would like to remind you all that school does start promptly at 7:45 a.m. Students are tardy if they are not in class when the bell rings. Our teachers get started first thing as to not to waste a minute of instructional time so please be understanding and considerate of all their hard work and have your child at school on time. We understand that unavoidable circumstances sometimes occur, resulting in late arrivals but it is important that tardies are as infrequent as possible. Students can easily get behind and be embarrassed if they are continually late. Thank you so much for helping us on this matter! Your child’s education is very important to us!

Another item to discuss is our dress code. Most of the time, everyone is following the handbook guidelines. We just want to continue to have uniformity among the student body and the whole school. As a school we will be addressing these violations with a phone call and a form will be sent home when this happens. Please be aware of the basic colors that students are allowed to wear and use the handbook as your guide. Help us be unified as a school, and thank you again for supporting us in this matter. 

**BOX TOPS** WE HAVE 2 WEEKS till we turn in our first box tops order. Our goal is 6,000 box tops. If the entire elementary helps us reach this goal then we will have a “Crazy Hat” day the following week. We are going to have a huge thermometer on the front window that will measure our ongoing progress till the February turn-in date. We will update the thermometer once a month in chapel, so that we can see our progress. We will still reward the top two classes in February, but for now our focus is to collect as many box tops by Oct. 28^th. So cut, clip, and bring them in!! If you have over fifty box tops please bundle them in groups of fifty, but if you don’t have that many then PLEASE send in what you have! Thank you for helping our school!

Chapel this week was led by Ross Garrison. He attends Crieve Hall Church of Christ. Ross spoke to the children on God's greatest gift. God sacrificing/giving us his only Son is the greatest gift we can ever receive. We all appreciated hearing that message this morning. In two weeks, our third graders will be leading our entire chapel service! We can't wait to hear what the Lord is putting on their hearts to share with us. If you want to know who is speaking in chapel be sure to click on the "Chapel Speaker" tab each week! 


Monday the pre-kindergartens had a visit from Mr. Ballington, a fireman with the Franklin Fire Department.  He taught us all about fire safety and 911.  He reminded us to come up with a fire safety plan with our family and told us how important it is to decide on a family meeting place outside of our houses.  He dressed in full gear so that the kids could see exactly what firefighters look like. Thank you firefighter Rodney Ballington!

On Wednesday we had Officer Mike Harrell come and visit the Pre-K! We would like to thank Officer Mike Harrell, Ella Grace’s dad, for coming to speak to us about being a police officer. He taught the children about safety, stranger danger, 911 and all about the different duties of a police officer.  The children were able to hold a pair of handcuffs (I was even handcuffed, which the children thought was hilarious), sit in the police car, hear the sirens and see the lights. They all had a turn to speak over the car’s PA system.  Be sure and ask what they had to say on it (SEE "EAGLE NEWS" tab for pictures)!

In fourth grade, we love to make learning come alive!  The 4th grade studied the plant and animal cells this week.  We discussed the different parts of the cell and their jobs within the cell.  We talked about how the plant cell has a cell wall and chloroplasts to make it different than the animal cell.  On Friday, we decided to build a cell using food and household items.  The students were broken into groups of three or four and we all BUILT THE CELL!  We used a plastic container for the cell wall, a Ziploc bag for the cell membrane, lemon Jello for the cytoplasm, and other foods for the various parts of the cell.  The students loved sticking the chloroplasts (green grapes), nucleus (gumball), mitochondria (hot tamales), and endoplasmic reticulum (sour straws) down into the cytoplasm (Jello), which we then sprinkled with ribosomes (sprinkles). We were so proud of our cells!  The hardest part was not eating the cell (ha ha)! Pictures of the activity can be seen under the “Eagle News” tab.

Also our students are showing much improved behavior in the cafeteria! They are on their way to earning a dress up day at the end of the six weeks. Ask your children about their behavior in the cafeteria!

Some Important Reminders:

Don’t Forget … 

SPIRIT NIGHT at Chick-Fil-A!! On October 27^th from 5-8 p.m. we will be eating at Chick-Fil-A in Smyrna! The PTO is putting this night together to earn money for our school. All you have to do is show up with a flyer in hand.  We will be handing those out shortly here at school. So let’s get ready to “Eat Some Chickin” on October 27^th! The class with the highest percentage participation will receive a prize! 

**Don't forget that this Halloween, which is on a Monday, our students will be allowed to wear a Halloween-themed shirt. NO COSTUMES are allowed, but students may wear a holiday shirt with jeans on this particular Monday. 

**We are participating in the Music City Kids Marathon this year. This one-mile fun run (1/2mile for Kindergarten) will take place on Friday, April 27, 2012. You can register your child at the following link: http://ingkidsrock.competitor.com/event-info/nashville/

Upcoming Dates:

Fall Break = October 14-17th

Spirit Night @ Chick-Fil-A = October 27th

3rd Grade Leading Chapel = October 27th

Music Performance (1st-3rd grade) = November 3rd

Fall Festival = November 12th

The Nutcracker = December 9th

Piano Recital = December 12th

Last week’s “Dinner Discussion” winners:

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR?

#1 Answer: Chocolate

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE KIND OF GIRL SCOUT COOKIES?

#1 Answer: Thin Mint Cookies

Check out this week’s questions for discussion.

OCTOBER...

Hello Parents,

It has been another wonderful week here at school. I love seeing you all up here for different reasons every day. We have volunteers helping in all sorts of area, like assisting in class preparation work or chaperoning field trips.

This morning we were blessed to have Mr. Will Tidwell speak to us on the Prophet Elijah. He said that Elijah was a great man who had done many wonderful things “like a superhero.” Elijah could not have done those things without God. He went on to say that we are not perfect and neither was Elijah even though he could do great things. We all have the ability to do great things like the “superhero” Prophet Elijah but not without God’s help.

There are several items on the agenda to discuss and go over this week.

Reminders:

Fall Festival money is due tomorrow, October 7^th. We are encouraging all students to bring it in by Friday and if 85% of the students participate, they will get to wear jeans and an Ezell T-shirt an extra day next week. Be waiting to hear if we make our goal!!

Hoodies can be worn to and from school as well as outdoor school activities such as P.E. However, it is a school-wide policy that hoodies cannot be worn in the actual classroom. The student handbook states that students can wear grey or black fleece jackets in the classroom.  I hope this clears up some questions about the winter dress code.

Another reminder we need to cover is morning drop off. Parents please remember that if you are driving through the lanes in the upper parking lot, you are to drop off ONLY-no parking and getting out of your car. If you need to get out of your vehicle for any reason please park in the lower parking area and walk your child up. Also, please keep your car out of the fire land at all times. Lastly, younger students must be escorted by a parent to the building if you park in the lower parking area. These rules are for your children’s safety, so please help us in these areas. We want everyone to enter the school safely, with smiling faces! Thank you!!

**A new event this year is SPIRIT NIGHT at Chick-Fil-A!! On October 27^th from 5-8 p.m. we will be eating at Chick-Fil-A in Smyrna to help raise funds for our school! The PTO is putting this night together. All you have to do is show up with a flyer in hand,  which we will be handing out shortly at school. So let’s get ready to “Eat Some Chickin” on October 27^th!**

Last Friday, students who made the Principal’s List and Honor Roll had a wonderful time eating donuts and celebrating their awesome grades.  Please check out the “Eagle News” tab to see pictures of our time together! I look forward to more students being able to participate in “Donuts with the Principal” as our grades continue to improve! Keep working hard, students. 

Also, last Friday, second grade had a “super” day on our field trip to the zoo!  We explored habitats and saw many animals from all parts of the world.  A favorite was the Caribbean Flamingos!  We loved their bright colors and their honking and screeching sounds.  They were so much fun to watch! After seeing the animals, we had lunch at the picnic pavilion. Next, we visited the Jungle Gym playground which is the largest community-built playground in the United States!  Definitely, a favorite of our was the 35 – foot – tall tree house structure, complete with super slides, swings, a giant snake tunnel, a bat cave, and hippo and crocodile figures to crawl on. It was a great place to play! We loved having our parents and grandparents go with us to help us have a great day! (Look under “WORK/FRIENDS” tab for pictures)

A few more items to think about:

We are participating in the Music City Kids Marathon this year. This one-mile fun run (1/2mile for Kindergarten) will take place on Friday, April 27, 2012. You can register your child at the following link: http://ingkidsrock.competitor.com/event-info/nashville/


This Halloween, which is on a Monday, our students will be allowed to wear a Halloween-themed shirt. NO COSTUMES are allowed, students may wear a holiday shirt with jeans on this particular Monday.

Upcoming Dates:

Friday, October 7th=Parker Uniform Sale in Auxiliary Gym

Chuckie Cheese(1^st Fundraiser) = October 11^th

Cherrydale Fundraiser Ends = October 11^th

Make-Up Picture = October 12^th

Fall Break = October 14-17^th

Music Performance (1^st-3^rd grade) = November 3rd

Fall Festival = November 12^th

The Nutcracker = December 9^th

Last week’s “Dinner Discussion” winners:
Which of the following is your favorite thing to eat?
#1 Answer: Pizza
What sport do you like to play or watch?
#1 Answer: Basketball (by 1 vote)
Check out this week’s questions for discussion.