Deweys Diary

Draper Elementary PTA Newsletter

September 2013
Principals Message We have had a TERRIFIC start to the school year! Our first few weeks of school and our Curriculum Night were huge successes. Thank you, teachers and parents, for your time and efforts in behalf of Draper Elementary. Parents, there are a few things you can do to help ensure the achievement of your students as we begin the school year: First, we would like to see your children reading for pleasure each day. To get long-term results in reading it needs to be practiced daily over time. Students are more apt to engage in recreational reading when they choose the book, so we will be encouraging our students to self-select books from the library and classroom for at-home reading. Next, I encourage you to become a member of our PTA (Parent Teacher Association). Our PTA is how our Draper teachers and parents work together to make our school excellent. PTA membership and participation helps to make many of our programs at Draper possible. There is room for everyone to participate. We all have a vested interest in this lively and capable generation. One of the most important things your child can do to achieve academic success is also one of the most basic: going to school every day. Please make every effort to have your children at school on time, all day, and every day. While we know that illnesses may occasionally keep students from attending, it is important that students be at school for the entire school day when they are feeling well. In fact, research has shown that your childs attendance may be one of the biggest factors influencing his/her academic success. Lastly, take time to hear about your students day. A routine at my familys dinner table is Worst and Best. My children tell me the worst things about their day, and then the best. We take time to focus on the positive events of the day, and to help our children move beyond the challenges of their day through problem solving and encouragement. We have published our Draper Elementary Handbook on our website at http://draper.canyonsdistrict.org/ under School Info. Please review the Student/Parent Handbook we have strived to answer many of your questions there. We have included guidelines and requirements specific to Draper Elementary, which are in accordance with Canyons School Districts policies and guidelines. THANK YOU for supporting your children and our school. Drapers staff, PTA, and I are looking forward to a great and exciting school year. Go team! Mrs. Piper Riddle, Principal September 2 3 Labor Day Recess No School PTA Kick-off Assembly for Reflections and Dragon Dash 3 PTA box-tops contest starts 6 PTA Room Parent orientation, 2 p.m. 10 PTA meeting in PTA room, 9 a.m. 10 Parent dual-immersion meeting, 6 p.m. 11 School Picture Day 12 Dads & Donuts, 8 a.m. 17-19 PTA Fitness Testing during PE 18 PTA Art Through the Ages training in Kiva, 9:30 a.m. 18 PTA Mix It Up Lunch 24 Hearing Screenings (K, 2nd, 4th) 24-26 PTA Art Through the Ages Dark Ages 26 School Spirit Night fundraiser at Chick-fil-A

Vol. 9 No. 1

October 1-3 PTA Art through the Ages Dark Ages 4 Dragon Dash packets due 7 No School - Data/Professional Development Day for teachers 8 PTA meeting in PTA room, 9 a.m. 8-10 PTA Fitness Testing during PE 10 Dads & Donuts, 8 a.m. 11 Dragon Dash (Fun Run), 9 a.m. 14 Vision Screenings (K, 1st, 3rd, 5th) 15 Reflections entries due 16 Picture Retakes 17-18 Fall Recess No School 21-25 PTA Red Ribbon Week 31 School Halloween Parade 31 Halloween Class Parties

Reflections Deadline is Oct. 15

The theme for PTAs 201314 Reflections art program is Believe, Dream, Inspire. Students can submit entries in the following categories: Visual Art, Music, Dance, Film, and 3-D Art, and Photography. For more information visit the Utah PTA website at www.utahpta.org/re flections. Entries are due Oct. 15. Laura Branch is coordinating the program this year. She needs judges and volunteers to help with the program. If you are interested please email her at lbsbranch@yahoo.com.

An Invitation to Join the PTA Come join TEAM Draper and support the programs in our school by joining Draper Elementarys PTA. Membership is $6 and forms are in in the front hallway. Turn it into the main office with your check to Draper PTA. Contact Becky Alder with questions 801-944-4044 or Becky.alder@academy.cc. Don't forget to go online and activate your PTA membership. Then you will receive coupons and deals from companies involved with PTA. Spirit Wear Now on Sale Spirit wear is now available. Adult Tshirts $6, ladies fit T-shirts $7, youth T-shirts $6, girls fit T-shirts $7, sweatshirts $14, and hoodies $18. Those joining the PTA will receive a discount. Order forms are in the front hallway and can be turned in to the office anytime between now and October. We will order on a regular basis. Show your school spirit by wear your Spirit Wear every Friday and at our upcoming Dragon Dash. Contact Becky Alder with questions 801944-4044 or Becky.alder@academy.cc. Dragon Fitness Challenge Testing Begins This Month We will be doing Dragon Fitness Challenge testing Sept. 17-19 and Oct 8-10. Please have your students wear their athletic clothing and athletic shoes. In September we will be doing the outdoor runs and the sit and reach, and in October will do indoor testing: sit-ups, push-ups and shuttle run. We need volunteers to help with the testing. If you can help, please email Konda Quinton, kondaq@hotmail.com. Meet New Friends at Mix It Up Lunch Our first Mix It Up lunch is Sept. 18. During Mix It Up lunches we ask students to move out of their comfort zones and connect with someone new during lunch. Studies have shown that interactions across group lines can help reduce prejudice. When students interact with those who are different from them, biases and misperceptions can fall away. We are looking for parent volunteers who are willing to help. Please contact Aimee Mouille at purpleaimee@gmail.com. Lace Up Your Shoes for Our Dragon Dash on Oct. 11 For those new to Draper Elementary, our schools annual fundraiser is a fun run. This year we have renamed it the Dragon Dash and it will be held Oct. 11 at 9 a.m. Parents are invited to join their students for the event. The funds raised will pay for PTA programs and various school programs. Information/donation packets will be sent around Sept. 20 and should be returned from Sept. 23-Oct. 4. Students who turn them in will be in a daily prize drawing so the earlier they are turned in, the more chances they will have to win! A large raffle will be held following the Dragon Dash for all who participated. Our goal is to raise $35 per student, if we meet this goal we plan to buy an iPad lab to be used

Hearing, Vision Screening Volunteers

We will be conducting hearing screenings Sept. 24 and need 6 volunteers from 911:30 a.m. and two volunteers from 1-2 p.m. to help with the afternoon kindergarten. On Oct. 14 we will do vision screenings and need 8-10 volunteers to help with the screening for the same time. If you can help, email Carol Wheeler at cashleighs@yahoo.com.

Dads & Donuts is Sept. 12

Our first Dads & Donuts of the year is Thursday, Sept. 12, from 8-8:30 a.m. in the Gym. Students can brings their dads or any other adult to read with them. The PTA provides donuts and milk.

Meet Our New Principal

Draper Elementarys new principal this year is Mrs. Piper Riddle. Prior to her appointment she was a curriculum and instruction specialist at the district office, serving as a specialist for literacy, mathematics, and dual immersion. A former elementary teacher, she has taught fourth and fifth grade. She has also been a private tutor, education consultant and instructional coach. Mrs. Riddle holds bachelors and masters degrees in elementary education and is in the process of completing her Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction. She and her family live in Heber City.

Spirit Day is Every Friday

This year we have designated every Friday as Spirit Day. All our Dragons are invited to wear school colors (blue, yellow, gray and white) or a Dragon Elementary T-shirt or sweatshirt.

Parents of dual-immersion students are invited to attend a meeting Sept. 10 from 6-6:45 p.m. Principal Riddle will review the state's curriculum path, the state/district K-9 articulation for dual immersion courses, and language proficiency level expectations. We welcome our new Chinese teachers this year: YinYao You, Second Grade Yahui (Flora) Shi, Third Grade Xiaomin (Mindy) Kang, Fourth Grade Chi Kao, Fifth Grade We are happy to have Fengyin (Alice) Lee back for her third year teaching First Grade.

Dual Immersion Parent Meeting

for Reading Street, Envision Math and testing, which will benefit all students at Draper Elementary this year! We understand not every family can donate every year, so please turn your packet in with the child's name and a signature to be entered into the drawing regardless of amount donated. Also, the packets will contain volunteer sign ups. If you dont want to run with your students, we invite you to volunteer that morning. We need many parents to help the Dragon Dash run smoothly!

Our PTA (Parent Teacher Association) and school theme for this year is T.E.A.M. Draper (Together Everyone Achieves More)! We parents, teachers and students at Draper Elementary can be a great team to help our students reach their full potential! As you get into your new routine, please consider volunteering three or more hours this school year to help out the New Faces at Draper Elementary team! (PTA Three for Me). Our We have some new faces at school this Draper Elementary PTA fundraiser year and want to welcome them to Draper for the year starts this month, Elementary. New teachers are: Suzi Alm, watch for a packet that will come Kindergarten, Tawna Perkins and Randi home with your child. Thank you Vanderwerff, First Grade; and Amy for making the Draper Elementary T.E.A.M. the best team Beckert and Tricia Fenton, Fourth Grade. around! This is going to be a great year! Together Everyone We also welcome Katie Musser as our new Achieves More! lunch manager, Jennifer Chubak as our music aide and orchestra teacher, Jenny Kerri Brown, 2013-14 PTA President Lythgoe as our PE aide, Cynthia Eck as draperelementarypta@gmail.com our computer aide.

PTA Presidents Message

School Spirit Night is Sept. 26

Draper Elementarys Spirit Night is Sept. 25 from 5-7 p.m. at Chick-fil-A at Southtowne in Sandy. A portion of all sales during that two-hour time period will be donated to our school.

Easy Ways to Help Our School

There are several ways you can help fund our school such as clipping box tops, collecting labels for education from Campbells products dropping your Fresh Market receipts in the designated box located in the front hallway, and sending old printer cartridges to school. Our box top contest among the classes begins Sept. 3 and continues through November. The class collecting the most box tops will receive a reward from the PTA. Lunch Schedule 11:35-12:15 . . . . 11:45-12:25 . . . . 11:55-12:35 . . . . 12:05-12:45 . . . . 12:15-12:55 . . . .

Stay Informed Through Social Media In an effort to keep parents informed about what is going on at Draper Elementary, we have several sources available. Our school website is: draper.canyonsdistrict.org Like Draper Elementary on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter. Visit our PTA Blog, Deweys Diary at draperelementary.blogspot.com The school will also communicate with parents via email. If you have photographs youd like the PTA to post on Facebook or the blog relating to school activities, field trips, etc., please email them to Melinda Colton at melindacolton@comcast.net.

Art Thru the Ages

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Second . . Third . Fourth . . Fifth . . First

Grade Grade Grade Grade Grade

The PTAs Art Through the Ages program embodies the idea that children learn best when they do; students interact with and become invested in history and art. Each art project is grounded by the subjects and materials of the time. Art Through the Ages not only educates about art, artists, and art concepts, but where and why the art existed. This year we will discover 4 periods of time: Dark Ages or Age of Faith, Medieval Age, Renaissance Age and Baroque and Rococo Ages. During September, the students will first learn about the Dark Ages. During the art project they will create a color scheme and design and make their own mosaic icon using beads, stones and tiles. We are always looking for volunteers to help with this program. If you have just two hours you can help bring this experience to your child's class. All the training, materials and encouragement are provided for you. Please contact Angela Hanks at angelahanks@hotmail.com to volunteer!