Book Fair!

Every reader is a star to be celebrated! Help us celebrate your star during our Scholastic Bookfair going on now through Oct. 26. Come cheer for all of our Art City families in a special event Tuesday, October 23 from 5:00 to 6:30pm. The week long party will also include a special late night of shopping on Thursday, October 25. Mark your calendars and lets celebrate our star readers at Art City Elementary! See you soon.

Hours: Mon-Wed. 8:20am - 3:00pm

Thur.  8:20am - 8:00pm

Fri. 8:20am - noon

Family event: Tues., October 23 5:00pm - 6:30pm

October Newsletter

For those who want an electronic version!

Here's the link:
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B0GDx1RZn7RFbnRuZGNzWmE2M1k

October PTA Meeting Notes

Art City Elementary

PTA Meeting

Tuesday, October 2, 2012, at 10:00 am

Attending: Sarah Ferrin, Katherine O’Donnell, Stacie Mason, Arryn Patten, Jeni Neel, Lori Nielsen, Laurie Edwards

The minutes of the September board meeting were reviewed.

Welcome to Stacie Mason, new PTA Treasurer

Volunteer hours recorded for September

Stacie Mason reviewed the Treasurer’s Report

Reflections: Commissioners need help on Wed., Oct. 3 at 8:00 am to process entries

Red Ribbon Week: October 8-10

• Day 1: Pajama Day (“Live Your Dreams”)
• Day 2: Wear favorite team shirts (“Keep Your Head in the Game”)
• Day 3: Wear RED for Red Ribbon Week
• Assembly on the 10th

Halloween Parade: Laurie Edwards

• Laurie is having knee surgery this month; needs help with carnival
• Sarah will contact list of volunteers 
• Parade will start at 1:15 pm due to Early Out

Walk-a-thon

• Awards assembly October 19
• Limo ride on October 24
• Money comes in starting Oct. 8; help need to count money Oct. 8, 9, 10, 15, 16

Book Fair

• October 22-26; M until 3 pm; Tue until 6:30 pm; W until 2:00 pm; Th until 8 pm; Fri until 3 pm
• Money is counted and deposited at the end of each day
• Stacie will get cash to have on hand at the beginning of each day

Principal’s Minute: Lori Nielsen

• Thanks for all you do!

President’s Items: Sarah Ferrin

• Michael Vey assembly October 16 for grades 4-6 to promote literacy
• Spirit competitions on Friday
• Eagle mascot stuffed animal will rotate among winning classes
• PTA to sponsor a naming contest for stuffed eagle
• Photo booth at carnival (Jeni Neel)
• $350 flat fee
• since tickets go through Custom Events, cash would be better for booth
• Jeni will get more info & specifics and follow up
• Asthma and Seizure training for teachers and students
• School nurse is willing to do seizure training for teachers (at faculty mtng)
• County will train students with asthma
• Kindness Campaign
• Kellie suggested (via Sarah) that we launch a kindness campaign; each week students can write about a situation where they showed kindness
• Lori can choose one story each week to read on the announcements
• Sarah suggested purchasing a copy of the book “Can I Play, Too?” by Mo Willems for each class & presenting the story to the students
• Discussion about kicking off the kindness campaign: using the above book?; balloons in lobby?; balloon release?; eagle poster where kids add feathers for each act of kindness? (but same purpose as bucket fillers)

Thank you notes: Katherine O’Donnell will write thank-you notes to commissioners of Emergency Prep., Reflections, Room Mothers, and School Pictures

Meeting adjourned at 11:10 am.

The next PTA meeting will be MONDAY, November 5, at 10:00 am.

Our Transitional Kindergarten Team

left to right: Sarah Ferrin, PTA President; Doreen Barker, TK teacher; 

Karen Burton, TK teacher; Lori Nielsen, principal

Being awarded the PTA Service Award

Karen Burton grew up in Virginia, just outside of Washington, D.C. She has four sons ages 24 down to 14. Her oldest son is married, and she says, "Now I enjoy having a daughter!"

Karen has taught for 6 years. One of her favorite things about teaching is celebrating every small accomplishment. 

She loves working out, blogging, traveling, singing, and mobile photography. 

About her own elementary years, Karen says, "I remember being completely mesmerized by my teachers when I was young. My kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Park was my hero when she would discipline Keith Brown for peeling and eating his crayons."

Doreen Barker grew up in Lehi, Utah. She has 1 awesome husband, 6 great children (4 married) and 10 adorable grandchildren.

Doreen has been teaching for 12 years. She loves teaching because she knows she is helping to build the future of the children she teaches.

She loves gardening, sewing, cooking, crafts, camping, history, traveling, and her grandchildren.

When asked about a favorite memory of her elementary years, she said "I loved the Halloween party that they would have at the school every year. I also loved learning the times tables."

Jennifer Poulsen grew up in Mapleton, Utah. She is married to Brad Poulsen and she has a son who is 14 and a daughter who is 11.

Jennifer has been teaching for five years in the Nebo school district. One of her favorite things about working with children is that simple things make their day.

She loves having late nights with her mom and sisters.

Here is a fun memory of Jennifer's elementary years: "I went to Mapleton Elementary. I could do a cherry drop from the bars on the play ground and knew I was hot stuff!"

Thank You so much to our transitional Kindergarten teachers!

And congratulations on receiving the PTA Service Award this September!

We are grateful for all you do to help our children.

Green Ribbon Week

September 24-28 will be Art City's Green Ribbon Week. Green Ribbon Week focuses on preventing pedestrian and automobile injuries. Children are at greater risk for pedestrian related injuries due to their small size and inability to judge distances and vehicle speeds.

Please have your child use the green ribbon that was sent home to tie on their bag or backpack as a reminder that green means "go" safely while traveling on the streets.

The upcoming events for the week are as follows:

Monday: Poster Contest
Bring your poster Monday morning! Posters should focus on safe practices for walking, biking, or riding scooters to school. Any medium can be used such as crayons, colored pencils, paint or collage.

Tuesday: "Step It Up"
Wear mismatched shoes and socks today! Also sign the pledge posters on the outside of the school pledging safe practices while walking to and from school.

Wednesday: "It's Really COOL to Walk to School"
Show your support of Green Ribbon Week by walking to school today!

Thursday: "It's Not CRAZY to be Safe"
Crazy hair day!

Friday: "Green Day"
Wear green today! A drawing will be held for prizes today in an assembly.

Walk More In Four 2012 calendars are due no later than Friday! Let's get these back and see if our school qualifies for a cash prize!

Soaring, soaring high...the Art City Eagles!

Attention All Art City Eagles!

Remember to wear your school shirts, or the school colors—blue and gold—on Friday, September 21st for our first school spirit day. The class with the highest percentage of students wearing school colors will win a prize on Monday!

Emergency Kits

Parents, 

This is just a reminder that Friday, Sep. 21, is the final due date for each child to have their Classroom Emergency Kit turned in. Remember that our purpose is to make sure that each child has items they need, in the event that an emergency should arise and the children would be directed to stay at school. We have original forms in the office if it has been misplaced. Thanks so much for your support in helping our school be prepared!

September PTA Meeting Notes

Art City Elementary PTA Meeting

Tuesday, September 4, 2012, at 10:00 am


Attending: Sarah Ferrin, Katherine OʼDonnell, Arryn Patten, Kellie Chatfield, Lori Nielsen, Jeni Neel, Amber Park, Erica Madon, Annette Sorensen, Susanna Brunson, Kristine Walton
The minutes of the June board meeting were reviewed and accepted.

Emergency Kits: Susanna Brunson
•note home 9/7; kits due 9/21
•school can purchase water
•blankets and flashlights are in each classroom 
•possibility of purchasing LED lanterns for each class?

Reflections: Annette Sorenson
•Entries due Wed., October 3; forms in office
•Decision was made not to do after-school workshop
•help needed Oct. 3 at 8:30 am to process entries (Sarah, maybe Arryn)

Health and Safety: Erica Madon
•Erica will go to Summit on Sept. 13, hoping for ideas
•Green Ribbon Week Sept. 24-28
•Discussion of ideas for Green Ribbon Week: walk to school day; pajama day; Green day
•Flyers for “Walk More in Four 2012” went home Friday

Walk-a-Thon: Amber Park
•Sept. 28 kick-off assembly; envelopes home with students
•Oct. 5 Walk-a-thon; grades 1-3 in morning, grades 4-6 in afternoon
•Donations will be due Tuesday, Oct. 16
•Awards assembly Oct. 19
•Ideas for improving event include meeting with teachers prior to walk-a-thon 
•Discussion on rewards. Kids loved limo ride the most. Maybe one grand prize instead of two. Grand prize-bounce house rental? Prize for winning class? Sumo wrestling last year was a hit. What activities are teachers comfortable participating in? (Kissing/chasing a pig; pie-eating contest)
•Discussion on how to spend money from fundraiser. Ipads for teachers? School set of ipads? A new bike rack? LED lanterns? Electronic message board? No decisions were made, but lots of good ideas discussed.

Carnival: Jeni Neel
•Discussion about possible dates for carnival in May. Decided to try for May 10th; use May 17th as a backup
•Art City gets 10% of proceeds + dunk tank for field day
•Trying to keep cost and options same as last year Art City Elementary

•Arryn suggested selling pizza by the slice; Dominos didnʼt want to last year; maybe find a new vendor?

RadKIDS
•Looking for parent to train and help with radKIDS; hoping for a commitment of several years (good luck!)
•Sarah suggested sending an email soliciting parental help and then seeing if anyone is willing to be trained

Membership: Kellie Chatfield
•Membership numbers are on track; enrollment at Art City is slightly down 
•Discussion about restructuring Back to School night. Lori suggested adding “Back to School Night” activities (general meeting and parent visits to classroom) to the Open House the day before school starts. Many more parents are at the open house than the scheduled Back to School Night.
•Discussion on encouraging parents to attend the general meeting--sandwich it between other activities? Offer incentives for attending?

Publicity: Kristine Walton
•Blog and Facebook will be used to promote our theme, “Catch the Spirit” 
•Ideas for publicity: highlight teachers each month? Book recommendations? Everyone agreed with both suggestions.
•Lori reminded us that if we post pictures of students, only use first name

Presidentʼs Items: Sarah Ferrin
•Council PTA Meeting at Art City on Wednesday, Sept. 19, at 9:30 am
•We need a reverence (Katherine was nominated in her absence) 
•Sarahʼs ward Webelos pack will do flag ceremony
•Service presentation on Transitional Kindergarten team. Lori will gather information for the presentation. Ronda will contact husbands and family of recipients. Lori suggested having TK students sing a song at the meeting.
•Refreshments for about 30--juice and muffins and fruit. Kellie will help
Sarah with this. •We still need a treasurer.
•T-shirt orders are going in this week. Kellie will check with teachers and get back to Sarah.
•Spirit Day awards for Spirit Fridays (for wearing school shirts or school colors). The class with the most spirit wins an award the following Monday. No decision on what to use for the award. Kellie suggested inviting students to submit a paragraph on “How I Catch the Spirit of Art City.” Could be combined with a school writing assignment.

Meeting adjourned at 11:20 am.
Next meeting will be Tuesday, October 2, at 10:00 am. 

September Newsletter

Here's a link to the Art City Newsletter for the month!

Art CIty Newsletter, September 2012

Walk More in Four 2012

Art City School is participating in the Utah Department of Transportation's walk to school program during the month of September. A yellow calendar was sent home for your child to mark every time he or she walks, bikes or scooters to school this month. Extra calendars are available in the office. The goal is to walk to school at least three days a week. The participating school with the highest percentage of students completing the program wins $500. Every student that meets the goal will be entered to win prizes awarded by the Department of Transportation. These prizes include bikes, scooters and helmets. If your child is unable to walk to school, you can still participate by practicing safe walking or biking habits each day in your neighborhood. Calendars must be turned in by Sept 28th to qualify.

School Community Council

Parents, If you or anyone you know is interested in running for Art City School Community Council please send an email to Lori Nielsen at lori.nielsen@nebo.edu. The position is a two year position where you meet monthly with other parents, teachers and administrative representatives to discuss school issues. We will be sending a ballot home with the students next week so voting can take place. Thanks for your continuing support. Lori Nielsen Principal

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