Kennedy Elementary School Family Connection February 2010

Dates for Your Calendar Tuesday, February 9 PTA Meeting, 6:30 p.m. LMC Thursday, February 18 5th Grade Celebration Planning, 6:30 p.m., LMC Tuesday, February 23 Culver’s Night for Kennedy, 5:00-9:00 p.m. Friday, February 26 No School - SWEIO Monday, March 1 Kindergarten Registration for 2010-11 1:00 – 6:00 p.m., Main Office Friday, March 5 PTA Family Fun Night Tuesday, March 9 PTA Meeting, 6:30 p.m. LMC Monday, March 15 Staff Development, Release @ 11:30 a.m. Friday, March 26 End of 3rd Quarter; Release @ 11:30 a.m. March 29 – April 5 Spring Break – No School Tuesday, April 6 School Resumes

From the Principal Welcome to the 2009-10 half way mark. What an important time it is for each of us to reflect upon what has been accomplished so far, as well as our hopes and dreams yet unfulfilled.

As you review your child(ren)’s report card, please be sure to talk with your kids about how they are perceiving the school year so far, and help them to identify personal goals for the balance of the school year. The goals might be in certain areas of learning or relationship building with peers or in general school work habits and behavior. I also hope your talk might include goals about what each of us might do (action) to make Kennedy Elementary School an even more inclusive and welcoming place for everyone.

Nancy Caldwell Principal

Report Cards Second quarter report cards were sent home with students on Friday, January 29. The contents of the report cards will give you a strong indication of your child’s strengths and needed areas for growth. If you have any questions concerning your child’s progress, please contact his/her teacher. The path to success is a team effort, and the Kennedy staff values your input

Kennedy Cares Week → February 8-12, 2010 We have tagged the week of February 8-12 this year as our "Kennedy Cares" week. In recent years, as part of Kennedy Cares, several classrooms have chosen to approach it from a service learning perspective, working with various local charities and nursing homes to make donations or visit our elderly neighbors. Other classrooms have focused their time on helping students acknowledge in various ways/activities, the strengths and gifts each person brings to our school. I anticipate this year, many similarly engaging and meaningful opportunities for our students.

As part of our school-wide effort during Kennedy Cares, we will also be raising funds to donate through Pennies for Patients. Our Service Committee for Student Council will be taking a leadership role with this. We hope to have your support. Here is some information:

Pennies for Patients: The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s mission is to raise funds to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and to improve the quality of life of patients and their families. Since 1993, millions of dollars have been raised in pennies and other spare change by more than 10 million pre-school, elementary, middle and high school students throughout the country. The funds, collected during February 8-19 will benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s mission.

We are excited about our focused efforts on creating more authentic ways to show we care and further develop student friendships during this week. If you have ideas, please be in communication with our child's teachers to share. Our hope each year is to further expand our outreach efforts during Kennedy Cares to develop the civic and social responsibilities our school's namesake, John F. Kennedy, called upon us to do.

Kennedy Spelling Bee Incredulous may describe the emotion any one of the 21 Kennedy Spelling Bee participants may have felt as they carefully spelled their word, but it was Malaika Maka who spelled i-n-c-r-e-d-u-l-o-u-s correctly to become Kennedy’s 2010 Spelling Bee champion. The alternate for Kennedy’s competing speller is 4th grader, Katie Wise, but it is Malaika Maka who will go on to compete at the Wisconsin State Journal All-City Spelling Bee event which will be held on Saturday, February 27, 2010 beginning at 9:00 a.m. The bee will be held at Edgewood College's Anderson Auditorium (on Edgewood's campus, located inside Predolin Hall).

The Spelling Bee was held on Wednesday January 20, 2010 and participants included: Maddie Fedorowicz, Tyler Duncan, Avery Kuhlow, Kevin Dunn, Adam Parizo, Paige Peterson, Pierce Nienhaus, Tyree Hill, Meghan O'Connell, Jared Christy, Alex Middleton, Sam Jaramillo, and Jacob Bruce, Skyler Imhoff, Tracy Ray, Suzy Vanderbloem, Evan Loken, Jake Gilchrist-Kienitz, and Maddie Loeffler. A special thanks to Ms. Caldwell for serving as the pronouncer, Ms. Nicka and Mrs. Palmiter for assisting as judges, 4/5 homeroom teachers, parents, and Mr. Spoerl for taking care of the equipment set-up. Congratulations to everyone who participated and helped make Kennedy’s Spelling Bee a success!

2010-11 Kindergarten Registration Kennedy School will hold Kindergarten Registration for children entering Kindergarten in the fall of 2010 as follows:

Monday, March 1st at Kennedy School Office, 1:00 to 6:00 p.m.

Please note: Children do not have to accompany parents to registration.

A child must be five years of age on or before September 1, 2009, to attend kindergarten. A birth certificate and proof of residency are requirements for kindergarten registration. The school does not need to keep these documents but must verify them with the registration form. Please note: Proof of residency can be a utility bill, phone bill, lease, or mortgage. Screening of new kindergarten students will take place in late March and April. You will be able to sign up for a screening date at the registration. The purpose of the screening is to evaluate the readiness skills of all students; screening does not indicate whether or not your child can attend kindergarten, but rather how to best serve your child’s needs.

Parents who have serious questions about their child’s readiness may discuss their concerns with Bridget Cremin (Social Worker), Sarah Carlson (School Psychologist), or Nancy Caldwell (Principal).

Also, if you are unable to register your child on March 1, please come in between 7:30 and 3:30 p.m. any day during the rest of the week or call the School (204-3420) to make arrangements. Please spread the word to your friend and neighbors who may have a Kindergarten student next year.

Desperately Seeking . . . PTA Leadership! The 2010-2011 PTA Board has numerous openings. Several of our longtime serving members have decided to step down to allow other parents the opportunity to help out with our PTA leadership next year. Fortunately many of them will be able help out and guide new members in these leadership roles.

Current openings include our School and Community Vice Presidents, Fundraising Vice President, President and Secretary. Listed below is information about each position.

School and Community: It would be ideal if four parents would volunteer for this position. We would like two parents to form a committee to plan Family Fun Night and the Silent Auction for 2011. We would like two additional parents to team up and form a committee to plan the fall and spring community events (family picnic and ice cream social/fun run). It takes a lot of volunteers to make these events successful! Without new leadership we will not be able to continue these events next year. Please consider helping out!

President: The PTA president works with the principal, assistant principal and interested parents to plan the agenda for each PTA meeting. There are usually seven PTA meetings held throughout the school year which are run by the president.

Secretary: The secretary takes notes at the PTA meetings and sends them via email to interested parents.

Fundraising: Ideally it would be good to have three or four parents working on the PTA fundraisers. The fundraisers could be run cooperatively or divided up among the vice presidents. We generally have two larger fundraisers each school year, as well as two to four smaller fundraisers. At this time we do not have enough volunteers to keep up our fundraising efforts for the 2010-2011 school year. It is imperative that more parents volunteer for these positions. Without fundraisers the PTA will not have enough funds to support our school effectively. The PTA provides funds for field trips, school assemblies, family events at school, as well as providing important curriculum support for our teachers. Please consider helping out!

If you have any questions about these positions, please contact Kris Simon at 221-0843, [email protected] or Anne Jungwirth at 226-8854, [email protected]. We will be discussing these openings at the next PTA meeting on Tuesday, February 9th. Please join us if you would like to hear more! Thank you for supporting our school and our students. Kennedy Family Fun Night → Friday, March 5 th from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Save the Date! Join us for games, pizza, cake walk, book fair, basket raffle and silent auction. We are in need of silent auction items and many volunteers in order to make this night a success! If you have an item/service that you are able to donate or are interested in volunteering, please contact Renee Abel-Collinge at 223-9459 or [email protected]. PTA Fundraising Updates My Menu will continue to donate 10% of each purchase designated to Kennedy Elementary on the first Thursday of each month. Upcoming dates: February 4th, March 4th, April 1st, and May 6th.

Our Cookie Dough Sale is here. The order forms will be sent home on Friday, February 5th and are due with payments by Friday, February 12th. This sale was very popular last year and we make a 40% profit! We have decided to sell a healthier recipe which is made with fresh ingredients and contains no preservatives. Please help make this a successful fundraiser! We need volunteers for sorting cookie dough too. Please let us know if you can help out.

Culver’s Kennedy PTA Night! This is a new addition to our fundraising efforts this year. Mark your calendars for Tuesday, February 23rd and visit our local Culver’s on Cottage Grove Road between 5 and 9 p.m. Culver’s will donate 10% of the net sales during that time!

America’s Best Gift Cards will be sold once again this year. We will be selling the gift cards toward the end of March. Please watch for additional information and order forms coming home in a few weeks.

Thank you for supporting our school! If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Anne Jungwirth at 226-8854 or Verla Barnes at 242-1552. Or email us at [email protected].

Belay Training Opportunity for Parents We are looking for parents that may be interested in getting belay training in order to help out the 4/5 classes when they go on the high ropes course behind Kennedy in May. This is a great way to bond with some of the students at Kennedy and see them in action as they do some high climbing. Carla Hacker, Nancy Seymour and other MMSD staff will be teaching the training. The class is free and you can sign up through the district web-site http://www.madison.k12.wi.us under Professional Development and look under Winter/Spring Course offering. The title of the course is stress/challenge belay training. You can also email Carla Hacker [email protected] or call her to sign up (cell 608-516-2207 or office 608-204-6895.)

The classes are on the following dates:

Monday, March 1st 3:30 - 6:00 at Hamilton Middle School Gym Wed., March 3rd 3:30 - 6:00 at Hamilton Middle School Gym (You must attend both of the above classes) or Saturday, April 10th 9:00 - 3:00 at Kennedy ropes course behind the school

Thank you for considering this opportunity. If you have any questions, please contact me at 204-3477.

Nancy Seymour, Physical Education Teacher

Kennedy Website Garrett Hagenbucher, Kennedy parent and MMSD Computer Technician, has added a new feature to the Kennedy website. The 'KENNEDY KORNER' is coming soon! We will be sharing fun pictures of events at school and from our families here at Kennedy. If you would like to participate by submitting a picture of an event, an outdoor scene, or a picture taken on a trip that you and your family have taken, please submit it to: [email protected]. We will then select a picture to post, with your caption, for several weeks. It’s yearbook time!!

Get your pictures in the yearbook! The Yearbook Committee invites teachers, students and parents to submit photos for the yearbook. If you've got great photos of Kennedy school and community events we'd like to see them. Our photographers can't be everywhere. Help us get as many photos as possible to create a terrific book everyone will want to have.

Like in years past, each homeroom will have their own page with class pictures on top and group pictures below. We would love for anyone who took pictures to send the best our way.

Here is how you can submit photos online: • Go to: https://images.jostens.com/login • If it does not automatically log you into the site, enter username: 400029112 and password: cougars • Browse to select the photo(s) you wish to upload. • Enter information about the photo & teacher name - and provide contact information in case the staff needs additional information. • Click "Save Details".

It's that easy! Submit your photos today! The last day to submit photos is 3/1/2010 – sooner is better. Contact Lisa Curley with questions – 244-4332. The Yearbook Staff will review all photos and determine final yearbook content. We cannot guarantee that all submissions can be used in the book.

Look for Yearbook Order Forms soon! The books are $10 each and will be delivered in early June.

Student Supervision Before/After School → Mid Year Reminder Just a reminder of Kennedy supervision times and locations:  Before school duty o 8:00 – 8:30 a.m. Breakfast in the lower level o 8:15-8:30 a.m. Outside days: Playground/front of building. Inside days: Interior hallways/classrooms.  After school duty o 1:45 – 2:00 p.m. (Mondays) Front of building. o 3:17 – 3:30 p.m. (Tuesday-Friday) Front of building. Please do not drop off your child before these times in the morning and please make arrangements for your child to be picked up on time. Thank you!

YMCA Camp Fair – Sunday, February 28 Come join us for an afternoon of fun at our annual YMCA Camp Fair on Sunday, February 28th from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. at each of our YMCA branches. Summer camp registration materials will be available and staff will be on hand to answer any questions that you may have about camps. Also, if you sign up for any of our summer camps on this day you will be entered to win a FREE WEEK of summer camp! So stop on in and join us as we sing camp songs, do camp activities and get all of your questions about all of our YMCA summer camps answered.

Summer School Enrichment 2010 Think summer in January! The Madison Metropolitan School District will offer Summer School Enrichment courses in 2010. Course offerings and registration information will be contained in the Madison School and Community Recreation (MSCR) Program Guide that will be attached to the Wisconsin State Journal in March (watch for the information regarding Summer Enrichment in the BACK of the program guide). If you do not subscribe to the Journal, you can receive the program guide in hard copy by calling MSCR at (608) 204-3000 or visiting the website at www.mscr.org. Please see additional information below.  Enrichment courses are offered to students in grades 1-8 in the fall of 2010.  All registrations for Summer School Enrichment are handled and completed by MSCR.  The registration deadline is May 10, 2010. No late registrations or changes will be accepted after this date.  Find the MSCR Program Guide at www.mscr.org. To register, click on: “Registration Info & Policies” and “2010 Summer Program Guide.”  Summer Enrichment courses will be held at five sites in 2010. The sites are: Allis Elementary, Schenk/Whitehorse Middle School, Hamilton Middle School, Huegel Elementary, and Thoreau Elementary.  Most classes are held for three weeks (June 21-July 9 or July 12-July 30). Please see MSCR Program Guide for details. Questions: Call Barbie Klawikowski at (608) 663-5245.

Long Range Planning Committee Update Since November, 2009 there have been several meetings held to discuss and generate recommendations for possible ways to address the over enrollment at Kennedy as well as Allis/Nuestro Mundo in particular. Participants in the meetings have included a representative group of parents, teachers/principals from each of the LaFollette attendance area elementary schools, along with district office personnel including Sue Abplanalp, Assistant Superintendent for Elementary Schools.

The process has been comprehensive, considering various possibilities to address the issues of concern. Many possible scenarios have been generated with three being proposed to the Board of Education (BOE). The BOE will review these proposals and provide the committee feedback at their February 1st meeting. Subsequent to this meeting, there will be several committee meetings for the purpose to respond to the BOE feedback. Additionally there will be public forums on Tuesday, February 9th and Wednesday, February 17 -Time and location TBD. The BOE is scheduled to take action on recommended plans at their March 8, 2010 meeting.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Sue Abplanalp at 633-1639 or Nancy Caldwell at 204-3428

Annual Multicultural Dinner – March 3rd On Wednesday, March 3rd at 6:15 pm, the Schools of Hope AmeriCorps Project will be holding the 5th Annual Multicultural Dinner fundraiser at Schenk Elementary School at 230 Schenk St, Madison, WI. This event will include dinner with an array of food from local Madison ethnic restaurants, a silent auction, and lively entertainment. All proceeds from the fundraiser will be used to support the Schools of Hope Project and their efforts to increase literacy in our community. Please join us! $5 per adult, $2 per child, or $10 per family.

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