April Newsletter

Requests
Art City Elementary does not accept teacher requests from parents for the upcoming year. Instead, Mrs. Nielsen works closely with teachers when preparing class lists to ensure the best experience for each child and to keep classes balanced. However, if you have legitimate concerns, Mrs. Nielsen encourages you to put them in writing and schedule an appointment to discuss the best fit for your child before May 11, 2012. Mrs. Nielsen will not make any class changes for the next year after that date.

Are You Moving?
If your student will not be attending Art City next year, please let the office know. We can facilitate the transfer of student records if we know the student is not returning. Thanks!

Testing
The state year-end testing window opens on April 16th and closes on May 18th. Please avoid planning things such as appointments, vacations, or anything that would take the student away from school during those dates. Thank you for your help in this matter.

Talent Shows
The annual talent shows will be held on May 14th at 1:00 p.m. and May 16th at 9:00 a.m. More information will be sent home the first part of May. Start preparing!

Arriving Early At School
Students should not arrive at school earlier than 8:15 a.m. (15 min. before school begins). Teachers need this morning time to prepare for the day and adults are not supervising until 8:15. On rare occasions when a child must come before 8:15, they will be asked to wait quietly in the main lobby. The school building will be locked after 3:45 pm each afternoon.


Visitors in the School
Due to recent events in the news, we would like to remind parents about the Nebo District Policy regarding visitors in our school. All visitors entering the building are required to check in at the front office, for safety and security reasons. Visitors must check with the school office to be on school property for any reason.

Homework Make-up
When your student is ill or misses school for any reason, and you would like to request homework, please call or email the teacher. This should be done in the morning, giving the teacher the rest of the day to pull together needed items, and then arrangements can be made for end of day pickup.

Volunteers
We want to extend a big thank you to all of you wonderful volunteers who take time out of your days to make a difference at our school.

Healthy Lifestyles Campaign
The Healthy Lifestyle Campaign for April is to “Eat Breakfast Every School Day.”
We are challenging all of our students to eat a healthy breakfast for 20 school days during April. Breakfast helps children pay attention, perform problem-solving tasks, and improves memory. With end-of-year testing in April, please help your students do their very best by having them eat a good breakfast every day!

Literacy Program
Thank you to the volunteers that have helped with our Literacy Program at Art City Elementary. We have had 5-10 volunteers (mostly retired senior citizens) on a weekly basis come in and read with students who were reading below level at the beginning of the year. Thank you Lori Borget in helping us get this organized at the school.



School Treats
Many parents are concerned with students having too many sweets at school. Utah State Department of Health regulations (R392-100-2 food care) prohibit the serving of homemade treats to children at school. The regulation states: Food shall be obtained from sources that comply with all laws relating to food and food labeling. Home-prepared foods are prohibited. If treats are brought to school for activities such as birthday treats, class parties, special rewards, etc., they should be commercially prepared items preferably individually wrapped in cellophane paper, a box, etc.
It is certainly not required or expected that you send treats to school. However, if you choose to do so, we would greatly appreciate your following these guidelines so that we will be in compliance with Utah State Dept. of Health regulations.
Thanks to:
Kim Droubay and volunteers for serving dinner to our teachers in March for SEPs.
Deanna Lindsey, Kim Droubay, Jen Follette, Julie Wilson and book fair committee for their work to make the Book Fair a big success.
We would to thank Kellie Chatfield for her involvement with the PTA Membership. Art City Elementary received an award from the state because of our PTA Membership. Kellie was instrumental in leading a great PTA Membership drive.

Teacher Appreciation
Teacher Appreciation is April 23rd–27th. The Teacher Appreciation Committee have some fun things planned for the week. More information will be coming home.

Bike Rodeo April 23rd 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM
Thank you Juliet Eames! She submitted a grant for hosting a bike rodeo at Art City Elementary and we were awarded this grant. The school received 65 helmets that will be given out during our bike rodeo on April 23rd. If you would like to volunteer for this PTA sponsored program, please email us at artcitypta@gmail.com. We need 6 parents to help at different stations.

Box Tops
Box Tops really do add up. Do you know that we have collected $2,400 for this school year? This money helps our school; please continue to send in your Box Tops. Thank you Traci Clark for organizing and submitting Art City Elementary school’s box tops!

Calendar
(all dates are subject to change)

Apr 3 PTA Meeting 10:00 a.m.
6th Grade to Clark Planetarium
Apr 4 2nd Grade to Harward Farms
Apr 5 5th Grade Program 1:00 p.m. for school 7:00 p.m. for parents
Apr 9-13 Spring Break
Apr 16 School Resumes
Apr 19 6th Grade Hershey Track Meet
Apr 23 Bike Rodeo 5:00-6:00 p.m.
Apr 23-27 Teacher Appreciation Week
Apr 25 3rd Grade Program 9:15 a.m. for school 7:00 p.m. for parents
Apr 26 5th Grade Hershey Track
Apr 27 Maturation Programs 5th Grade: 12:30-1:30 p.m. 6th Grade: 1:45-2:45 p.m.

May 1 PTA Meeting 10:00 a.m.
4th Grade Hershey Track
May 8 3rd Grade Hershey Track
May 9 School Play Performance 9:00 a.m. for lower grades
May 10 School Play Performance 12:30 p.m. for upper grades 7:00 p.m. Evening Performance
May 11 School Play Performance 7:00 p.m.
May 14 Talent Show A 12:45 p.m.
May 16 Talent Show B 8:45 a.m.
May 17 6th Grade Program
May 18 Last Day of Kindergarten
5th Grade field trip to Orem Rec Center
Spring Carnival
May 21 Yearbook Distribution
May 22 3rd Grade Read-A-Thon
May 23 Field Day
May 24 Awards Assembly
May 25 Last Day of School Dismiss at Noon