Tuscany Times

168th Lighthouse School in the Nation, Building Leaders

Tuscany Heights Elementary

Tuscany Heights is the 168th Lighthouse School in the Nation as recognized by Stephen Covey. Through student leadership, we grow leaders that encompass a growth mindset and establish lifelong skills that will support our students as they grow into adults. Our mission is a living action statement that we use to guide Team Tuscany, as we do great things for all.


"We, THE Tigers, will be inspired to LEAD, HONOR, and EXCEL today!"

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"Orange" you glad to be a TIGER?

Bailey's Bulletin

Parents,



October is packed full of learning! We kick off our Anti-Bullying Week and Red Ribbon, Say No to Drugs, Campaign this coming week. We do our due diligence to get the kids involved as we teach healthy choices and kindness. See the Tuscany Happenings for a detailed list of fun dress ups days this week to make it excited for the students. We look forward to taking a stand against bullies and to making healthy choices.


Join us on Twitter, Tuscany Heights Elementary's Facebook, and NOW- INSTAGRAM. We are telling our Tiger Story to all. We are posting classroom activities and sharing all the happenings here with our community. With the STEAM Initiative, you can see fun, interactive activities your kids are involved in throughout the day, week, and/or month. Links are at the top of the page. Join our social media and see your child LEAD!


Happy fall to all!


Proud Principal,

Tara Bailey

Tuscany Happenings

Red Ribbon Week & Olmos Elementary Food Drive (see flyers attached)- Monday, October 22nd- Friday, October 26th

Monday- Wear Red

Tuesday- Camo Day

Wednesday- Neon Day

Thursday-Crazy Sock Day

Friday-School Spirit Day

Reflections Contest- "Heroes Around Me"- Tuesday, October 23rd

PTA Winter Spirit Orders- October 26th

October & November Benchmarks: CLOSED CAMPUS Until 10:45a.m.

3rd Grade Reading Benchmark- Monday, October 29

3rd Grade Math Benchmark- Tuesday, October 30

4th Grade Reading Benchmark- Friday, November 2

4th Grade Math Benchmark- Thursday, November 1

4th Grade Writing Benchmark- Monday, November 5

5th Grade Reading Benchmark- Monday, October 29

5th Grade Math Benchmark-Tuesday, October 30

5th Grade Science Benchmark-Monday, November 5

Daylight Savings- November 4th

TURKEY TALES, Come GOBBLE up a good book with us!- PreK Story Time, More Info to Come

Run for the Heights Boosterthon- November 6th- 16th

Tiger Track & Field- November 7th, Heroes Stadium

Veterans Day Celebration- November 9th @ 7:15am

Thanksgiving Holiday- November 19th-23rd- NO SCHOOL

Coach Kaufman and Coach Fonger Message

Our THE Coaches are working with Victory Martial Arts to reinforce the importance of physical well being all while teaching discipline and respect for self and others. Victory Martial Arts will be on campus this coming week. See a message from Victory below:


“Victory prides itself on giving back to the community, and we have found this is one of the most fun and beneficial ways to educate youth on life skills like discipline and respect. We also focus on confidence and how to handle bullying or strangers. How this has worked for us at other elementary and middle schools is that we would have an instructor from our studio come in and lead your PE classes throughout the day. The instructor would have the kids do some fun, basic cardio exercises, like jumping jacks or high knees, while having them learn some fun quotes about discipline and respect. From there, they would do a little stretching, reviewing confidence. After that, the instructor would teach them how to use a strong confident voice to say STOP to strangers or bullies. They teach some fun, safe and basic martial arts drills that are freestanding and safe, never on another student, and have the kids do some fun relay races and other physical drills with the techniques that they learned. Other PE teachers have found that the talk is a great way to reinforce good behavior and positive attitudes towards other students and teachers.”

Anti-Bullying Month

Bullying isn't cool! We want to share with you the messages we are sharing all across the campus to our students. Thank you to Mrs. Staples and Ms. Sensat for teaching, reinforcing, and counseling our tigers to be "Upstanders". That's cool!

Guidance Lessons from our Counselors: Be an Upstander

Mrs. Staples and Ms. Sensat have been making the rounds through the various grade levels conducting guidance lessons that support being an UPSTANDER and how to handle situations with a bully or deal with "bully like" behaviors. Mrs. Staples has visited with 3rd and 4th grade students. The first lesson was on strategies to help students by practicing calm down breathing and using the peace path. The second lesson was on the different types of bullying and how to prevent bullying using the STOP, WALK, and TALK strategy. Upcoming lessons this week and next will have our 3rd and 4th graders signing the UpStander pledges. The pledges will be displayed in each classroom. In Kinder, Mrs. Staples has used her guidance lessons to talk about personal space and ways to control our anger. Ms. Sensat has been working with our 1st and 2nd grade classes. They started off with lessons around "filling someone's bucket" and "Charlie the Caterpillar", lessons that helps the students focus on being nice to one another- not mean. They have discussed the difference between "mean" and "bully" types of behavior. 5th grade will receive guidance lessons from Ms. Sensat this month and in the coming months. She will be working with them on becoming UPSTANDERS too.


We have plans to build a PEACE PATH on the playground.

THE Class Happenings, photo credit: Tiger Paparazzi

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Reaching New Heights, Tuscany Heights PTA

Red Ribbon Week

Red Ribbon Week is October 22 – 26…Life Is Your Journey, Travel Drug Free! Our daily themes are: Monday – Wear Red, Tuesday – Camouflage Day, Wednesday – Neon Day, Thursday – Crazy Sock Day, Friday – School Spirit Day. We will also be collecting donations of food items for our Partner in PTA school Olmos Elementary during Red Ribbon Week. We are looking for individual size bags/packs of cheese crackers, pretzels, and animal crackers, granola bars, applesauce cups or pouches, fruit cups, pop top meals (soups, ravioli, etc.) and small 8 ounce water bottles.

PTA Reflections Art Contest

The deadline for the PTA Reflections Art Contest is Tuesday 10/23! This year’s theme is “Heroes Around Me.” Students of all ages/grade levels can submit an original work of art inspired by “Heroes Around Me” in the category of visual arts, literature, musical composition, photography, dance choreography or film production.

Honorary Texas PTA Life Membership Award

An Honorary Texas Life Membership is the highest honor bestowed upon an individual by the Texas PTA for outstanding contributions to the well-being of children and youth. If you know someone who has gone the “extra mile” for our children, then please consider nominating this individual for this very special award. Please complete a nomination form (link to form included in eblast) and return it to the Tuscany Heights PTA in a sealed envelope labeled “Life Membership, ” all nominations due 10/26.

5th Grade Musical Program…”The Grumps of Ring A Ding Town”

For any parents who would like to be creative and help out with our 5th grade musical program, Mrs. Rivera will hold a parent volunteer meeting on October 22nd at 8:30am in the PTA room (room 206) to talk about stage decorations, props and more! Please join us, the more the merrier!

5th Grade Parents

Calling all 5th grade parents and families!! We need YOU to volunteer for our 5th Grade Activities Committee! If you would like to help please email Beth DeStefano at Beth.destefano@gmail.com or Angie Songster at thesongster5@gmail.com for more information.

Run For The Heights with Boosterthon – Nov 6-16

Run For The Heights with Boosterthon is right around the corner! Our schoolwide fundraiser with Boosterthon will take place November 6 -16th this year. Our Boosterthon Kickoff Dance Party will be held on November 6th at 6:00pm, please mark this on your calendars. We will have a DJ to lead the dance party, lots of fun items to give away in our student raffle, yummy treats, and our THE sponsors will be there to show their support and tell you all about their businesses. We hope to see you all there as we get excited about our fundraiser and fun run with Boosterthon!

Veteran’s Day Celebration

Our Veteran’s Day celebration will be held on Friday November 9th. Please plan to join us for breakfast and a celebration of all our Tuscany Heights Military Families. An RSVP flyer will be coming home soon.

T.H.E. PTA ONLINE STORE IS STILL OPEN!

You can still go online and order your THE Spirit Gear, donate to Greenbacks and join PTA. Go to www.TuscanyHeightsPTA.org and click on the WELCOME BACK AND SPIRIT STORE section! Some quantities are limited, but we still have plenty of spirit shirts, shorts and ladies shirts so place your order today. Our Greenbacks goal for this year is $5,000 and we are currently over half way there. If we meet our goal the students get to send Mrs. Bailey and Mrs. Leon through a student constructed car wash! Our donation levels are:

$200 and up-Tiger, $150-Platinum, $100-Gold, $50-Silver, $25-Bronze

Lost and Found!

Be Proactive for the 2018-19 school year! Please label your child's belongings (lunch boxes, water bottles, sweaters and backpacks). That way if they happen to end up in the LOST and FOUND, we can return them to their owner.

Calling all Student Volunteers!

Does your student volunteer at Tuscany Heights through patrols, broadcasting, library lifesavers or any other leadership position? Does your student do community service through scouts or your church? Does your student volunteer at any organizations such as a food bank or animal shelter? If you answered "yes" to any of those questions, we want to know so we can acknowledge your child! If you already have an account at the Presidential Volunteer Service Award (PVSA) website then don't forget to log your child's hours. If you are new to logging hours, please create a PVSA account for your Tiger so you can start logging. Full instructions can be found on the Tuscany Heights PTA website: http://www.tuscanyheightspta.org/presidential-volunteer-service-award.html Check the weekly eBlasts for information on community service activities offered at Tuscany Heights during the school year. Please contact Kelly Cardenas at communityservice@tuscanyheightspta.org with any questions.

Plug in with PTA and Back the Future!

THE PTA Website www.tuscanyheightspta.org

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North East Educational Foundation.

YOU can make a difference with the North East Educational Foundation!

We invite you to become a 2018-2019 Friend of the Foundation. Friends help us provide funding for projects and programs that directly benefit our students and support educational excellence at NEISD! Please join our 14th Annual Friends of the Foundation Drive! As a NEEF Friend, you will have an opportunity to see some of the projects funded at our end of the year Thank You Reception. Innovative projects include:

  • Community gardens that support all areas of education
  • Robotics clubs
  • Special education programs, as well as sensory rooms
  • 3-D printers
  • Flexible classroom seating
  • And many other innovative ideas our teachers are using to enhance hands-on learning for our students!

With your 100% tax-deductible donation of $50 per person/$100 per couple, you will be a friend of the Foundation for 2018-2019!

ONLINE: weblink.donorperfect.com/Friends

BY MAIL: send your check along with contact information to:

North East Educational Foundation

8961 Tesoro Drive, Suite 609

San Antonio, TX 78217

Thank you for your generous support of the North East Educational Foundation and thank you for making a difference!

If you have any questions, call 210-407-0117 or email foundation@neisd.net.

The North East Educational Foundation is a 501(c)(3), making your contribution tax deductible to the extent permitted by law.

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