The Annehurst Voice Our Mission: To Prepare Students For Tomorrow December 2011

Dear Parents,

With the voters’ rejection of the school levy in November and without the additional dollars that it would have raised, our school board faces the difficult task of reducing expenditures in order to balance the budget for the 2012-2013 school year. A total of $23 million must be taken out of our budget. To that end, Westerville Schools has begun this process – with some reductions and adjustments beginning immediately, some in January with the beginning of the second semester and more at the beginning of the next school year. These reductions will have an impact on the educational programming that Westerville offers to our students throughout the school system.

Information and other resources regarding the budget reduction process are available through a new section on the district web site. I encourage you to visit www.wcsoh.org and click on the “Budget Reductions Information and Feedback” link in order to keep up to date with the changes that our district will go through. Please feel free to use the “Virtual Suggestion Box” to share your ideas. The district is committed to inform you by keeping the communication flowing throughout. At Annehurst we will remain steadfast in keeping your children first and foremost in our efforts to provide the best education possible.

Dress for Cold Weather

This is to remind our families that we will have outside recess unless it is raining or the tem- perature is below 20 degrees (including wind chill). Please send your child to school prepared to be outside. We also encourage you to put your child’s name on his/her gloves, hats, coats, boots, etc. Children are not permitted to enter the school building in the morning prior to the bell ringing at 8:50 A. M. If your child walks or rides in a car please time the arrival at school so that he/she does not have to stand outside in the cold weather.

Love is the river of life in the world. Henry ward Beecher Annehurst All-Star Five 1. Respect others and their property, showing good manners, attitudes and choices. 2. Walk quietly in the hallways 3. Keep hands, feet and body to yourself. 4. Listen to and follow the directions of adults. 5. Do your best by having a positive attitude and being ready to learn all the time.

DID YOU KNOW…that the State of Ohio now offers districts an on-line option for making up ca- lamity days in excess of the 5 permitted in Ohio Revised Code? In August, the Westerville Board of Education passed a resolution in support of using this option for up to 3 days of calamity closures (calamity days 6, 7, and 8). The resolution, which gained the approval of the Ohio Department of Edu- cation, states that the on-line lessons will be developed by and graded by our teachers in the same man- ner as all classroom lessons. Students without Internet access will be provided an opportunity to com- plete the lessons when schools reopen. We are excited about utilizing this make-up mechanism as it will assist us as we explore the potential of on-line learning that is currently available to students, teachers, and parents. Additionally, this option will allow families and staff to maintain their planned events should make-up days be necessary. Stay tuned for additional updates as we head into winter!

Intra-District Open Enrollment Application Deadlines are Moved Up

The deadline for submitting an Intra-District Open Enrollment application in the Westerville City School District is earlier than in past years. The deadline for Intra-District Open Enrollment applications for middle and high schools is March 15, 2012. For elementary schools, the cut off date is May 1, 2012. The program is coordinated through the Department of Administrative Services for families who are enrolled in the Westerville City School District. Parents or guardians wishing to have their children attend a different school from their home school of attendance must complete and submit an Intra-District Open Enrollment application. Application forms are available at each school building, at the Westerville City Schools Enrollment Center (300 Polaris Parkway, Suite 3200), at the Early Learn- ing Center (936 Eastwind Drive, Suite 200), or at www.wcsoh.org, where general guidelines can be found. Applications are accepted beginning on the first day of school for the next school year. Parents or guardians will be notified of the decision in writing.

Words to live by . . . Determination Anyone who doesn’t make mistakes isn’t trying hard enough. - Wess Roberts

Page 2 Ohio Achievement Assessments

Please mark your calendars for the Ohio Achievement Assessments for 3rd, 4th and 5th grade stu- dents. We ask that families plan their appointments and trips – doctor, dentist, vacation, etc. – around these dates. Taking these tests is an important part of the state’s assessment and students need to be pre- sent for them. We appreciate your assistance.

Tests will be given: April 24 – April 27

Elementary Schools Leadership Summit

Nearly 270 student representatives (grades 3-5) from all Westerville elementary schools were in- vited to attend the 6th Annual Elementary Leadership Summit for the purpose of further developing their leadership skills. Attendees will apply what they learned at the Summit by developing and implementing a community service endeavor at our school. All students were invited to submit a written essay based on an identified prompt. All essays were judged by members of the Otterbein College Student Education Association. The fall Summit was held on Friday, November 18th. Due to the generous support of the local businesses, there is no expense for participants to attend. We congratulate Annehurst’s participants:

Sam Swisher Isaac Thompson-Corn Abu Bah Emma Tombaugh Emma Nicodemus Tamia Griggs Megan Shoemaker Martha Admassu Kyra Welch Adam Kaiser La’Kylah Dixon Delanie Daugherty Anna Fagan Abdikani Guled Taylor Fletcher Ahmed Mohamed Valerie Thabethe Jacob Wallace

Operation Gratitude (Candy Give Back)

The students of Annehurst Elementary participated in a Halloween Candy Give Back program run by Operation Gratitude and sponsored by Edgewood Manor of Westerville. The students were asked to voluntarily donate some of their Halloween candy to help fill care packages for our military troops. In the 2 days following Halloween, the students of Annehurst donated 134 pounds of candy for this wonderful cause. Operation Gratitude is a nonprofit organization that ships care packages to our troops.

Page 3 Plan to attend the January PTA meeting on January 10th to see first hand what a wonderful resource this web site can be for you and your children!

Pa Fun Staff Jobs Try to match up the job with the correct staff member. We haven’t always done what we are doing now… Mrs. Iannarino Summer camp counselor Miss Hittner Making cookies at Fuddruckers Mrs. Ebright Receptionist at Social Security Office Ms. Helvey Stripping and refinishing furniture Mrs. Hall Candy packer in a candy factory Miss Shepherd Archaeologist Mr. King Selling shoes at Woolworth Mrs. Miller Putting flyers on cars for a jewelry store Ms. Johnsen Paper grader for a teacher when in college Mrs. Schlagbaum Worked in a box manufacturing plant Ms. Stewart Putting together cookie gift baskets at Cheryl & Co. Mrs. Whitehead Delivering papers Mrs. Klemek Making convertible car roofs Mr. Baum Teaching in Lithuania and Poland Mr. Schneider Worked at the Westside Grill and Bait Shop Ms. Fleisher Lifeguard Ms. Chapman Teller at Scioto Downs Racetrack Mrs. Layne Telemarketer Mrs. Ensell Forklift driver Mrs. Van Huffel Breadstick person at Fazoli’s Mrs. Whitmer Stucco mud mixer Mrs. Amadio Salad bar attendant at Rax Mrs. Pierron Lighting sales associate at JCPenny Mrs. Shirey Free The Children – working for people all over the world Mrs. Peterfy Splitting open lobster tails Mrs. Siefker Micro filmer Mrs. Louden Archery instructor Mrs. Alexander Clown Hats On Day

We thank everyone who donated money to wear a hat to raise funds for the Foundation for Children with Cancer. We raised $159.00. Our student body watched as 6 parents and students donated at least 8 inches of hair to Locks of Love, an organization that makes wigs for people who have lost their hair due to medical conditions. Below are the winners of our hat contest that day. • Most Creative – Allison Canas Most Unusual – Mauve Stacey • Fanciest – Edrina Jones Most Athletic – Gwen Stacey • Most Colorful – Will Pyle Page 5 Fun Staff Jobs

Below each staff member is paired up with his/her job from an earlier time.

Mrs. Iannarino Candy packer in a candy factory Miss Hittner Free The Children – working for people all over the world Mrs. Ebright Lighting sales associate at JCPenny Ms. Helvey Delivering papers Mrs. Hall Summer camp counselor Miss Shepherd Putting together cookie gift baskets at Cheryl & Co. Mr. King Worked in a box manufacturing plant Mrs. Miller Putting flyers on cars for a jewelry store Ms. Johnsen Making cookies at Fuddruckers Mrs. Schlagbaum Lifeguard Ms. Stewart Receptionist at Social Security Office Mrs. Whitehead Telemarketer Mrs. Klemek Archery instructor Mr. Baum Archaeologist Mr. Schneider Stucco mud mixer Ms. Fleisher Teaching in Lithuania and Poland Ms. Chapman Making convertible car roofs Mrs. Layne Clown Mrs. Ensell Splitting open lobster tails Mrs. Van Huffel Micro filmer Mrs. Whitmer Stripping and refinishing furniture Mrs. Amadio Breadstick person at Fazoli’s Mrs. Pierron Forklift driver Mrs. Shirey Paper grader for a teacher when in college Mrs. Peterfy Selling shoes at Woolworth Mrs. Siefker Salad bar attendant at Rax Mrs. Louden Teller at Scioto Downs Racetrack Mrs. Alexander Worked at the Westside Grill and Bait Shop

Caring and Sharing

Our students have again come through to help out those who may not be as fortunate as many of us. During the Caring and Sharing food drive, we collected 240 jars of peanut butter and jelly. The food was donated to Caring and Sharing and will be given to families who need a little help putting food on the ta- ble.

Page 6 Library Link – Don’t Throw Away That Empty Printer Connecting students, teachers Cartridge! and neighborhoods Bring it to school! Did you know you can have Westerville Public Our school has launched a fund-raising Library materials delivered to you at school? Library project, Empties4Cash, with the help of a small Link provides weekday delivery of Westerville Public recycling company. Empty inkjet cartridges Library materials to you at school. Here are the details: can be recycled and remanufactured. Our Who Students, faculty and staff can receive school will receive cash for each qualifying materials cartridge brought in. This will directly benefit What Delivery and pick up of Westerville our technology program. Public Library books, magazines, vid- You can help! Any cartridge with a eos, DVDs, CDs, CD-ROMs or audio print head can be recycled, regardless of brand books or type. Do you have an HP, Lexmark, Xerox, When Weekdays during school hours Compaq, Samsung, Kodak, Canon or Apple Where To Annehurst or any other school in printer? Bring in your empty cartridges (placed Westerville in the original box that you would have thrown How Use your Westerville Library card away to keep it safe from spills and damages, or a Ziploc bag) to the recycle bin near the red To order materials, reserve them at http://catalog.westervillelibrary.org and select mat. (Note: Epson cartridges cannot be recy- Annehurst as the pick up location or call the cled – they don’t have a print head.) Outreach Services (882-7277) for details.

Paper Recycling

Our school participates in a paper recycling program with ABITIBI Consolidated. Our students take their paper to the recycling bin instead of the trash dumpster each week. We invite our school community, whether or not a household has children in our school, to bring their newspapers, magazines, shopping catalogs, mail and even their office paper to our school for recycling and place it in the green and yellow dumpster near the back of our parking lot. We appreciate your help.

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 notifications 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 (I hope we never have to do this) • 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 Your addresses WILL NOT BE shared with anyone outside our school office.

Page 7 Annehurst Elementary School Calendar 2011-2012 Current calendar information can always be found on our school web page http://www.westerville.k12.oh.us/school_home.aspx?schoolID=2

Date Activity Time

December Word of the month: Caring 13 PTA Exec. Meeting 6:00 PM 13 Grades 1 and 2 Music program 7:00 PM 14 Principal’s Round Table Meeting 2:30 PM 14 Grade 3 Music program 7:00 PM 14 Deadline for articles for January newsletter 19 School Board Meeting, Walnut Springs MS 6:00 PM 21 Winter parties 2:30 PM 21 End of second grading period 22-Jan. 2 No School – winter break January Word of the month: Attitude TBA PTA Family Dinner Out: McDonalds 3 No School – Teacher Professional Day 9 tentative School Board Work Session, WSHS media center 6:00 PM 10 Achievement Records sent home 10 PTA Exec. Meeting 6:00 PM 10 PTA Meeting 7:00 PM 11 Market Day pick up 5:00-6:00 PM 12 DARE Graduation 7:00 PM 16-Mar. 9 OTELA assessment 16 No School – Martin Luther King, Jr. Day 19 Early Release Day for students 2:30 PM 20 Gr. 4-5 Spelling Bee (interested students) 2:00 PM 20 Deadline for articles for February newsletter 23 tentative School Board Meeting, 6:00 PM 24 Family Activities Night – Math Night 6:30-8:00 PM 25 Principal’s Round Table Meeting 2:30 PM

Page 8 February Word of the month: Honesty TBA PTA Family Dinner Out 4 PTA Mother/Son event – Otterbein Basketball game 7:30 PM 7 PTA Exec. Meeting 6:00 PM 7 PTA Meeting 7:00 PM 8 Market Day Pick-up 5:00-6:00 PM 10 Interim reports sent home 13 tentative School Board Work Session, WSHS media center 6:00 PM 16 Family Activities Night – Fifth Grade Energy Fair 7:00 PM 16 Deadline for articles for March newsletter 20 No School – President’s Day 21 Red Cross Blood Drive 1:30-7:30 PM 22 Principal’s Round Table Meeting 2:30 PM 22 End of 2nd specials rotation 23 Early Release Day for students 2:30 PM 27 tentative School Board Meeting, 6:00 PM March Word of the month: Perseverance TBA PTA Family Dinner Out Terra Nova/Inview testing, grades 2, 3, 4 1 Read Around Annehurst 2:30-3:30 PM 3 Father/Daughter Dance 7:00 PM 6 PTA Exec. Meeting 6:00 PM 6 PTA Meeting 7:00 PM Ident-a-Kid 7 Market Day Pick-up 5:00-6:00 PM 9 End of 3rd grading period 11 Daylight Savings Time: move clocks ahead 1 hour 12-16 Book Fair Week 12 tentative School Board Work Session, WSHS media center 6:00 PM 14 Art Show 6:30-8:00 PM 15 Kindergarten 101, held at Annehurst Elem. 7:00 PM 16 Achievement Records sent home 16 Deadline for articles for April newsletter 21 Principal’s Round Table Meeting 2:30 PM 21 Spring pictures

Page 9 26 tentative School Board Meeting, 6:00 PM 26-30 No School - Spring Break April Word of the month: Trustworthy 6 Holiday – No School 9 tentative School Board Work Session, WSHS media center 6:00 PM 10 PTA Exec. Meeting 6:00 PM 10 PTA Meeting 7:00 PM 11 Market Day Pick-up 5:00-6:00 PM 13 Yearbook candid/group photos 14 Pancake Breakfast 9:00 – 12:00 18 Principal’s Round Table Meeting 2:30 PM

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. Closing information will also be posted on the Westerville City Schools website: www.wcsoh.org 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 other- wise on the emergency card. If you change those plans, please call the office. Planning ahead for such emergencies is important and make sure your child is aware of these arrangements.

Annehurst Elementary School

Attendance 797-7010 797-7000 FAX 797-7001 http://www.westerville.k12.oh.us/school_home.aspx?schoolID=2

Howard R. Baum Shannon Whitmer Michelle Daugherty Principal Secretary PTA President