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.