Stony Creek Monday
Messenger
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Published by the Stony Creek PTO
MONDAY
February 25, 2008 Issue 8
Message From the Principal
Stony Creek Science Night is this Thursday, February 28, from 6:30-8:30 PM at Stony Creek. We hope that all of our families will join us for this fun-filled, interactive, science exploration event. The focus for Science Night this year is on the environment, but there will be over two dozen stations for students to explore all aspects of science from astronomy to chemistry. You will have the opportunity to learn about animals from the Elmwood Park Zoo, explore the Merck planetarium, work on a bluebird house, see our own fifth grade enrichment students’ robots in action, and make ice cream. There are some tried and true activities from two years ago along with fifteen new activities to investigate. We hope you will join us for some or all of the Science Night activities. Also, remember, because this is an evening event you may park on the playground. We do ask that you avoid parking in “no parking’ spaces and handicapped spots unless you have a need. In advance, I would like to thank our science night committee chairs, Deb Graves, Jeff Wood, Kathy Elliott, and Katie Kelly, along with Kathy Autieri, volunteer coordinator for your efforts in planning, organizing and overseeing science night for the enjoyment of our school community.
The Stony Creek Nature Trail restoration project has been a topic of discussion over the past year. For those of you who don’t know, the trail begins at the woods that are directly behind the Stony Creek playground. If you follow the trail far enough you will end up at the Stony Creek! At the start of this school year, Leslie-Anne Streeter surveyed the trail and put together an action plan. The end goal of the project is for our teachers to be able to use the trail as an outdoor classroom. So far this year Leslie Anne has obtained over $2,000 in grant money from The Odd fellows and The Wissahickon Education Opportunity Foundation to use as part of the restoration process. Leslie-Anne has also recruited volunteer help and obtained township support of this project. A few classes have been out in recent weeks during the warm weather spells to use the trail as an observational starting point for writing poetry. To restore the trail and add features like a small bridge that will make the trail usable year round will take a year or two. Stony Creek teachers have already generated a list of trail class activities that match our curriculum. It is so valuable to have this interactive learning environment on-site! Thank you Leslie-Anne for identifying this project as a need and for continuing to work on the restoration of the trail
See you at Science Night,
Dr. Joan Evans
Principal
jevans@wsd.k12.pa.us
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Executive Board President – Diane Chaiken Vice President – Alice Mokrynski Legislative – Amy Bleefeld Secretary – Judy Chasin Treasurer – Patty Hong Publicity – Jennifer Foreman (jennifer.foreman@comcast.net) Membership – Kathy DeLuca Ways & Means (Co-Chairs) – Beth Geller Carla Kotik We’re on
the Web! See us
at:
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Message from the PTO
President At the last PTO meeting with WSD superintendent Dr. Stan Durtan in attendance, some parents expressed concerns. In response to these concerns, Dr. Durtan initiated contact with the PTO Executive Board and communication is ongoing. District Administration has plans to continue to gather information and follow-up. One issue raised involved specific curriculum questions related to spelling, handwriting and math computation. In follow-up to these concerns, Dr. Durtan provided us with a handout that begins to answer some of the questions raised. A copy of this handout is included in this issue of the Monday Messenger. In addition, Dr. Evans helped to facilitate a meeting at Stony Creek with Linda Secouler, Director of Curriculum & Instruction; Stefani Hite, Elementary Curriculum Supervisor and Concetta Lupo, Literacy Supervisor. The meeting will take place on Monday, March 10th at 9:00am in the back of the library. The purpose of this meeting is to clarify questions related to the curriculum. On another note, please join us for the final workshop in our parenting series. “Coping with Anger: Mine and My Child’s” will take place on Thursday, March 6th at 9:00am in the back of the library. We’ve had two terrific workshops so far and the third promises to be as interesting and informative. Lastly, due to the timing of spring break, the next Monday Messenger is scheduled to come out on March 31st. So you don’t miss anything, please be sure to check the Messenger calendar for the many events that will be taking place over the next month. There are several fundraisers such as Chick-fil-A, Burger King, Modell’s and Kids n’ Clay as well as Science Night, Parents’ Night Out and Family Fun Night. Thanks and enjoy your spring break. Diane Chaiken PTO President |
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February
March
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PTO
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Stony
Creek Spring Carnival Save the date! Sunday, May 18, 2008 from 1:00 – 4:00 PM,
Games, prizes, rides, food, silent auction, fun for the whole family. Volunteers are still needed to help plan
the event and staff the event on May 18th. Contact Amy Bleefeld at ableefeld@comcast.net for more
information. |
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Stony Creek Year Book - Last Chance to Order Don't miss out on this year’s edition of the Stony Creek yearbook. $22 due by 2/28. If you would like a receipt please include your email address on the order form. Send to Colleen Bianchini C/O Nick 4k. |
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Pretzel
Sale The next pretzel sale will be
Wednesday, March 5th. Pretzels will be sold at lunch time
for 50 cents each. Yum, Yum!!!
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INVENTORS
WANTED! Camp Invention at Wissahickon Middle School needs your help in preparing for a 3-year voyage to Mars. You’ll design and build a spaceship, Mars rover, and everything you need for the trip. You’ll also get to use real tools to take things apart, like old VCRs and phones, and see what’s inside! Then, you’ll help save a polluted city by rebuilding it using eco-friendly techniques. You’ll find lots more fun things to do at Camp Invention. Camp will be held on July 28-August 1 from 9:00 am to 3:30 pm, and will be presented by local teachers for girls and boys entering grades 1-6. This national, non-profit science enrichment program is offered by Wissahickon School District in collaboration with the National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation® and the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Register by March 31st and save $20! Save $5 by registering online! For more information, call 800-968-4332 or go to www.campinvention.org. |
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Morning Arrival Procedures for
Parents/Guardians Who Drop Off at School To ensure the safety of all students during morning drop-off, please follow the guidelines listed below:
Please do not:
Parents May:
Approximately thirty-five (35) families drop-off children each day. The drop-off line can get very long. The best advice is to allow plenty of time (particularly on cold weather days) for dropping children off. If you arrive by 8:20 AM you will be on-time. Thank you for your cooperation. |
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Spring
Picture Day Save the date! March 28th is Spring Picture Day at Stony Creek. More information will be coming home. Don’t forget to SMILE! |
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Spring
Musical Stony Creek Spring Musical is almost here!! The 4th and 5th grade choir is in rehearsal now! We need parent help for pre-production in: scenery, costumes, props, gift to kids. It’s great a time and you do not have to have a child in the production! Please contact Janice Singer singerjr@comcast.net. We need you!! |
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Curriculum
Meeting Dr. Evans helped to facilitate a meeting at Stony Creek
with Linda Secouler, Director of Curriculum & Instruction; Stefani Hite,
Elementary Curriculum Supervisor and Concetta Lupo, Literacy Supervisor. The meeting will take place on Monday,
March 10th at 9:00am in the back of the library. The purpose of this meeting is to clarify
questions related to the curriculum. |
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WISSAHICKON SCHOOL DISTRICT 2008-2009 KINDERGARTEN
REGISTRATION OPEN HOUSE
An Open House will be held on Wednesday March 5, 2008 at each of the elementary schools beginning at 9:30 a.m. Registration packets will be distributed at this time. Each school will provide details regarding return of registration packets. Kindergarten registration packets can be picked up from your designated elementary school from Wednesday, March 5th through Friday, May 2nd. Contact Toni Reed, District Registrar with any questions at 215-619-8000 x 3009 or email treed@wsd.k12.pa.us. |
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The Stony Creek Advisory Committee (SCAC) was formed as an additional link for home and school. The goal of the committee is to foster positive communication between home and school. The agenda will focus on discussions, questions and concerns related to Stony Creek. Our committee members, meeting schedule and meeting structure are listed below. We invite all Stony Creek families to submit questions to our committee. We will to include a monthly write-up of our SCAC meeting notes in the Monday Messenger. |
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SCAC Meeting Structure ·
Past Business (10
Minutes) ·
New Business (30
Minutes) ·
Open Forum (15
Minutes) ·
Wrap-Up (5 Minutes) |
SCAC Meeting Schedule
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Dr. Joan Evans jevans@wsd.k2.pa.us |
Patricia Reardon preardon@wsd.k12.pa.us |
Joann Groark groark@wsd.k12.pa.us |
Janice Walsh jwalsh@wsd.k12.pa.u |
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Melissa Harbold |
Kathy Autieri katherine_autieri@hotmail.com |
Barbara
Diebold Kirbycarrigan@aol.com |
amokrynski@msn.com |
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Stony Creek Elementary School… A community where
we care to learn and learn to care! |
Each semester we will
collect box tops at Stony Creek and the class with the most will receive an
extra gym class.
HELPFUL COLLECTION HINTS:
· Please
send box tops in to school with your child.
Put them in a sealed baggie with the total number and classroom
teacher’s name marked on the bag.
· Parents
may bring box tops to school at any time and drop them in the large pink
collection box in the school lobby. Please mark the total number and list
the classroom teacher’s name on the bag.
· Box
tops can be found on some unexpected items!
DON’T
MISS THE FINAL PARENTING WORKSHOP
THURSDAY,
MARCH 6TH AT 9:00AM
Topic: COPING WITH ANGER: MINE AND MY CHLD’S
LED BY
PARENTING RESOURCE & EDUCATION NETWORK (PREN) TRAINERS MARTY WOLNER AND KYM
RAMSEY
LOCATION: THE BACK OF THE LIBRARY
REFRESHMENTS
WILL BE SERVED
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO READ MORE ABOUT THE TOPICS BEFORE HAND, THE
TRAINERS HAVE RECOMMENDED THE FOLLOWING BOOKS:
KIDS ARE WORTH IT by BARBARA COLOROSO
GROWING UP AGAIN by JEAN ILLSLEY CLARKE
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IMPORTANT NOTICE: We would like to have an idea of the number of participants. If you are planning on attending the February 13th workshop (or are thinking about it), please email diane.chaiken@comcast.net to let her know or return this form to Diane Chaiken c/o Ben in 4-B.
I plan on attending the first workshop on February 13th at 7:00pm.
Parent Name: ______________________________________________________________________________
Child Name and Class: _______________________________________________________________________
On Monday, April 14th,
and Tuesday, April 15th, the PTO will host their semi-annual Bagel
Buddies Breakfast. This is a program
that allows our children to invite “someone special” to join them for bagels,
coffee and/or juice before the start of the school day.
The students are divided
into two groups according to the alphabet:
Monday - Students with last
names beginning A - M
Tuesday - Students with last
names beginning N - Z
Time: 7:45 a.m. to 8:20 a.m.
Stony Creek All-Purpose Room
If your child is committed to “before
school” activities, please feel free to join us on either day.
We hope to see you there!
Questions???
Contact April Guarini at (610) 275-3349 or iluvjimandnick@aol.com
