The Annehurst Voice Our Mission: To Prepare Students For Tomorrow December 2010

The month of December brings warm feelings to my heart . . .the warmth of friends during the holiday season, the warmth of a fire in the fireplace, the warmth of hot chocolate on a cold morning and the warmth of our school community. Our students and staff are very caring, whether it is the staff adopting a family for the holidays, our school col- lecting over $300 for the Foundation for Children with Cancer, 7 of our students and staff donating their hair to Locks of Love or how our stu- dents interact with each other on a daily basis. I am proud to be a part of this amazing group of people. As your family enters into the holiday season, I encourage you to reflect on those important things in your life – your family, your friends and your faith.

Congratulations Grade level top sellers, PTA fall fund raiser

The following students were the top sellers in their grade levels and were able to do something spe- cial with Mr. Baum: Kindergarten Allison Kincaid read a story with Mr. Baum First Grade August Weise had lunch with Mr. Baum Second Grade Anna Fagan played a game of Blokus with Mr. Baum Third Grade Luke Spiller was Mr. Baum’s cane carrier for a day Fourth Grade Ryan Collins had a snack of Chex Mix with Mr. Baum Fifth Grade Andrew Boszor had a free throw shooting contest with Mr. Baum

We thank everyone for their participation in the fall fund raiser.

Teach the young people how to think, not what to think. - Sidney Sugarman Great Educator Mentor Award Presented by Roush Honda and Westerville Parent Council

The Great Educator Mentor Award (in its eighth year) is given to recognize an individual who makes a difference in the lives of the students of each school in the Westerville School District and/or the school dis- trict as a whole. A nominee may include: • Community Member • Volunteer • Parent • District and Building Faculty & Staff Students are NOT eligible to receive the GEM Award. If you know of someone who has made a difference in the lives of students from February 2010 – Feb- ruary 2011, please consider filling out the GEM Award Nomination Form. It is an honor to receive this award as it is an honor to be nominated. Nominations can be made by members of the school, parents, students and/or the public. The individual being nominated must meet the following selection criteria: • Makes a positive impact on the lives of students from February 2010 – February 2011 • Contributes to Westerville City Schools from February 2010 - February 2011 • Goes above and beyond the call of duty from February 2010 - February 2011 • Promotes the welfare of students in home, school and community from February 2010 - February 2011 A district nominee must meet all of these criteria AND have an impact at more than one building or area of the school district. Example: Jane Doe is community volunteer at an Elementary and a High School. Due to time constraints, we will need to receive all nominations in English. In May, a reception will be held in honor of all building and district GEM winners. Immediately fol- lowing the reception, the GEM Award winners will be recognized at the Board of Education Meeting where they will receive a beautiful glass etched trophy, certificate and their original nomination. Nomination forms for the GEM Award will be sent home soon or it can be downloaded at www.westervillepta.org. There are many, many GEMs in your building. Take a moment to look around and take another moment to let them know you are grateful for all they do by writing a nomination. The deadline for nominations is Thursday, February 17, 2011.

Thank you! Howard Baum, GEM Chair

Page 2 Annehurst PTA General Meeting - Minutes—October 12, 2010

I. Call Meeting to Order – 7:03 pm II. Approval of Minutes – approved III. Committee Reports a. Fall Fundraiser: About $3160 in profits to date. b. COSI on Wheels was fabulous! Students had a great time! Thanks to volunteers! c. Bake Sale on Election Day. Donated items are sold for donations to PTA. d. Market Day: School receives 10% of sales. Pie sale this month – if we sell 100 pies, we will re- ceive 30% on the pies! e. Marcos Pizza (& subs & salads) fundraiser: Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 18th & 19th. f. Talked about new restaurants for possible fundraiser: looking into Drelyse on Tamarack. IV. Principal’s Report g. State Report Card: We were 1 of 6 elementary schools to earn top rating of “Excellent with Dis- tinction” h. Blood Drive held in school on Oct. 20th. i. Family Activity Night: Oct. 21st. Dress up as a word; come for some word games! j. Parent – Teacher Conference days coming up. Make sure you have an appointment set up. V. President’s Report k. Skate Zone 71 – Skating party on Monday, November 1st (no school Tues). School receives 50% of the cost of admission! l. Parking lot safety ideas: blocking driveway from front to back during drop-off and pick-up. m. Volunteer hours/computer: Sign in and out. Track time spent volunteering from home and email it to Julie Welch: luvx3girls@ n. Reflections chairperson – Sarah Strauss o. GEM/Scholarship – We need someone to chair this committee VI. Treasurer Report p. Reviewed budget q. About $50 earned during Old Bag of Nails fundraiser night. VII. Motion to Adjourn: 1st: Michelle Daugherty, 2nd: Jody Christy; meeting adjourned

Respectfully submitted, Karen Spiller, Secretary

Page 3 Yearbook Art Contest Winners

The yearbook committee thanks everyone who participated in the art contest this year. The entries for the following student artists will be printed inside the 2010-2011 Annehurst All-Star yearbook on the pages where their grade is pictured. Yearbook orders will be taken in the spring and delivered during the Back To School Days in August. • Kindergarten: Camryn Lowis • First Grade: Samuella Acheampong • Second Grade: Emma Tombaugh • Third Grade: Joshua Harris • Fourth Grade: Chloe Leonard • Fifth Grade: Abigail Moniak The yearbook cover will be the artwork of Greg Hassenpflug (fifth grade) and the back cover will be the artwork of Keyton Ricardo (third grade).

School Closings

In the event the weather is very bad and the schools will need to close, please listen to one of the following stations for the school-closing list. Please do not call the school office to confirm the closing. If we are closed, no one will be in the office to answer the phone. Please listen to the follow- ing stations: FM radio: WLVQ (96.3), WSNY (94.7), WNCI (97.7), WCOL (92.3) AM radio: WTVN (610), WBNS (1460), WOSU (820), WMNI (920) TV stations: WOCC, WCMH, WSYX, WBNS, Ohio News Network The TV and radio stations request that you NOT call them directly as this floods their phone lines and they cannot carry on business. We appreciate the assistance that these stations provide for the school community when we have to get information to our families quickly. If school is cancelled after children arrive, we will begin dismissing at approximately 1:45 PM. We will dismiss children in the same manner that we use each day unless you have indicated otherwise on the emergency card. If you change those plans, please call the office. Planning ahead for such emergencies is important so make sure your child is aware of these arrange- ments.

Page 4 School Delays

During the winter months, we may experience weather conditions that dictate that we delay the start of the school day. In this event, our school day will begin later than normal – either 1 hour or 2 hours depending on the length of the delay. Our school lunch schedule will be altered, as well. Please be alert and plan accordingly. Our lunch periods will be delayed by the amount of the school start delay. You may want your child to eat a bigger breakfast so that he/she can “make it until the later lunch time, or you may want to send a snack to school.

Rehearsal & Concert schedule for 5th grade Orchestra

May 16th ... Rehearsal - 5th grade orchestra 7:00 - 8:00 PM - WSHS music wing May 24th ... 5th, 6th, 7/8 Grade Orchestra Concert – WSHS, 7:30 p.m. Blendon MS, Annehurst, Whittier, Pointview, Cherrington, Longfellow, Hanby

PowerSchool Single Sign-In to Parent Portal

Effective November, parents were given access to student information with a single-sign-on to the PowerSchool Parent Portal. Parents/guardians will have their own individual account, with user name and password. They can create their account using the appropriate access credentials. Once the account is created, they can manage their ac- count information, link any and all students for whom they have parental and legal rights to, and set email and notifications preferences for each stu- dent linked to the account. If they forget their ac- count login information, they can retrieve it by us- ing auto-recovery. A Parent Guide to "Single- Sign-On" is available for downloading on the dis- trict PowerSchool web page (www.wcsoh.org).

Page 5 Yahoo Group

Communicating and providing information to our families is important to us. To help facilitate this we would like to provide electronic “news releases”, reminders of upcoming events, emergency notifica- tions and/or basic information about our school.

If you would like to receive email messages from our office please go to http://groups.yahoo.com/Annehurst to join our Yahoo Group (Group name: Annehurst). Signing up takes about 4-5 minutes and is pretty simple to do.

We will only use this address list to: • Notify you in the event of an emergency • Remind you of meetings, such as PTA or programs • Inform you about special events, such as the Family Activities Nights, music programs, blood drive, etc. • Tell you about upcoming events, such as dates for testing • Share news of the good things happening in our school

If you were receiving emails from Mr. Baum in the past, you will need to “sign up” again through the Yahoo Group. This will be easier to maintain since Mr. Baum will not have to type all the emails into his school address book each year.

Your addresses WILL NOT BE shared with anyone outside our school office.

Table Talk

When you are around the dinner table or in the car, you might try this conversa- tion starter with your child.

What is the scariest thing that ever happened to you? What is the happiest thing that ever happened to you?

Page 6 The 2011-2012 School Year

The 2011-2012 school year in Westerville City Schools will begin earlier than previous school years and will end prior to Memorial Day weekend. The first day of school for students will be August 17, 2011 and the last day will be May 24, 2012. Please make note of these changes in your family calendar.

Calendar 2010-2011

Date Activity Time

December Word of the month: Caring 1 Hats On Day 1 Market Day pick up 5:00-6:00 PM 3 Interim Reports sent home 7 PTA Exec. Meeting 6:00 PM 8 Music program, grades 1, 2 7:00 PM 9 Music program, grade 3 7:00 PM 10 Principal’s Round Table Meeting 2:30 PM 13 School Board Work Session, WSHS media center 6:00 PM 15 Deadline for articles for January newsletter 17 Winter parties 2:30 PM 20-31 No School – winter break 27 School Board Meeting, Blendon MS 6:00 PM January Word of the month: Attitude 10 tentative School Board Work Session, WSHS media center 6:00 PM 11 PTA Exec. Meeting 6:00 PM 11 PTA Meeting 7:00 PM 12 tentative Gr. 4-5 Spelling Bee (interested students) 2:00 PM 12 Market Day pick up 5:00-6:00 PM 13 End of second grading period 14 No School – Teacher Professional Day 17-Mar. 11 OTELA assessment

Page 7 17 No School – Martin Luther King, Jr. Day 19 Deadline for articles for February newsletter 19 Family Activities Night 6:30-8:00 PM 21 Principal’s Round Table Meeting 2:30 PM 21 Achievement Records sent home 24 tentative School Board Meeting, 6:00 PM 27 D.A.R.E. Graduation 7:00 PM February Word of the month: Honesty 8 PTA Exec. Meeting 6:00 PM 8 PTA Meeting 7:00 PM 9 Market Day Pick-up 5:00-6:00 PM 10 Early Release Day for students 2:30 PM 11 Interim reports sent home 14 tentative School Board Work Session, WSHS media center 6:00 PM 16 Principal’s Round Table Meeting 2:30 PM 16 Family Activities Night 6:30-8:00 PM 16 Deadline for articles for March newsletter 21 NO SCHOOL – President’s Day 25 PTA fund raiser (Yankee Candle) kickoff 2:30 PM 28 tentative School Board Meeting, 6:00 PM March Word of the month: Perseverance 2-12 Terra Nova/Inview testing, grades 2, 3, 4 3 Read Around Annehurst 2:30-3:30 PM 4 End of 2nd specials rotation 4 tentative Father/Daughter Dance 7:00 PM 8 PTA Exec. Meeting 6:00 PM 8 PTA Meeting 7:00 PM

Annehurst Elementary School

Attendance 797-7010 797-7000 FAX 797-7001 Visit us on the web: www.wcsoh.org School Activities Line 797-7011 PTA Voicemail 797-8993 Howard R. Baum Shannon Whitmer Michelle Daugherty Principal Secretary PTA President