PES Principal Message
December 14, 2023
Top: Spelling Bee 3rd place Vivaan K. (right), 2nd place Liam B. (left), 1st place Sri C. (center)
Bottom: Noetic top 10% finishers Teddy L. and Liam B. (back row), James G., Andy P., Kate V., Callie M. and Sophia W. (front row).
Puster Families,
We have had many opportunities to celebrate the learning and accomplishments of our students this week! Yesterday, we held our annual 4th grade Puster Spelling Bee. Our students showed such courage and amazing sportsmanship as they encouraged each other and congratulated each other. It was a Puster Proud moment for sure!
Today, we held our quarterly Puster Pride assembly and had much to recognize and celebrate! Among many awards, we were able to recognize our 3rd and 4th grade students who recently participated in the Noetic math competition. There are over 11,000 students who participate in this event worldwide.
After many busy days of dressing up and celebrating and crafting and learning about all things holidays, our students and staff are looking forward to just spending a day together enjoying each others' friendship and company before the break. We expect many visitors for our end of day parties from 1:45-2:45 tomorrow. We do ask that you avoid parking in the fire/bus lanes and you exit the building by 3:00 p.m. or plan to stay until after 3:45 p.m. to ensure a smooth dismissal for our students.
It has been an absolutely amazing first semester. It went by in a blink! We look forward to seeing all of our students back on campus on January 4th to kick off an even better semester 2!
Have a wonderful holiday season!
Puster Proud,
Holly
Upcoming Dates
School Start Time is 7:50 A.M. Students are expected to be in their seats for the 7:50 bell. Students arriving after 7:50 will be directed to the front office for a tardy slip before going to class.
School End Time is 3:25 P.M.
December
12/18-1/3 - Student Holiday
January
4 - Welcome Back!
4 - Begin Q3
Thank you to the Schroff Family for the bagel breakfast provided this week!
Thank you to the MANY parents who donated items for our staff "Daily Dose of Holiday Cheer" give aways! SO FUN! Please reach out if you'd like to know who received your donation.
Thank you Puster PTO for providing a hot chocolate bar complete with a raffle and a chance to WIN for our staff this week. So festive and fun!
Congratulations!
Grace Tobolka: Special Education Teacher
Grace has a true heart for her students. She is self-reflective and always seeking to learn and grow in her role. She is diligent with finding solutions to best support all stakeholders. She has built trusting relationships with her staff and coworkers. She truly has the heart of a teacher!
Linda Morelli: Special Education Clerk
Linda has really taken on her new role and run with it. She is very organized and has done a phenomenal job keeping up with three campuses. There are always ongoing lists for her and she has been doing amazing. Linda continues to have a love and care for all students which makes her great for this position becasue she knows how important her role is in their success.
Attendance
Lunch Visitors
Parents are welcome to visit their child(ren) for lunch any day. We ask that you eat with your child only (no friends) at either a back table in the cafeteria or outside in the courtyard/picnic area. Please follow the check in procedures below when joining us for lunch.
Grace Silva: 2nd Grade Teacher
[My daughter] is having such a fantastic year in Mrs. Silva's class. She loves going to school everyday and is growing so much! I wanted to write you a quick email to let you know Mrs. Silva went above and beyond this weekend and came to [her] Nutcracker show in Dallas. It was the highlight of [her] performances and meant so much to her. She is an awesome person and teacher!!
Miss B's Buzz
community through volunteering and donating. Serving others together not only allows quality family time, but also instills in children the spirit of generosity. Please see below for local organizations welcoming your help this season.
Allen Food Pantry
Allen Community Outreach
St. Jude Catholic Parish Allen Food Pantry
North Texas Food Bank
After School Activities
Spring Semester Sign up Begins Now-
Sign up for an exciting time playing board games or learning Yo yo tricks. These two camps provide opportunities for your child to participate in enrichment activities on his or her campus before and after school. Our goal is that these enrichment opportunities will allow our Lovejoy Leopards to develop creativity and critical thinking skills through activities related to their personal interests.
Visit our websites to enroll!
Notes from Mrs. Schirf
Puster Parents,
There has been an increased amount of student tardiness in the last few weeks. Most if not all of the tardy students are being dropped off by car right at 7:49-7:51. Instruction begins promptly at 7:50 each day. We don't like to see students come in late, as it really impacts the way their day begins when they are still unpacking and the class is moving on. We encourage you to take advantage of the shorter drop off lines earlier in the arrival window of 7:30-7:50.
If you do happen to find yourself running late and a staff member is not outside to open the car door for your child, you will need to park in the front of the building and walk your child into the front office so we can safely account for them. For safety reasons, please don't have your child walk themselves into the building after 7:50.
Notes from the Library
960 titles have circulated so far this week/month!
What are we learning:
Kindergarten, first and second grade are learning about the Caldecott Award, and will be noticing 8 new books that could be in the running for this year's award. We will be doing a K-2 PES mock Caldecott vote, and then seeing the medal and honor winners when they are announced after January 23rd. Will we analyze and guess the winners? We shall see!
Goals:
1. To gain an awareness of the Caldecott medal and qualities
of a good picture book
2. To practice reading for deep meaning and the subtleties
of literature
3. To clearly express opinions and ideas with peers
4. To listen to and evaluate the ideas of others
5. To integrate cross curricular skills such as math
6. To build excitement about authors and new literature
Does your student want 24 hour access to books? Want access to Ebooks and audio books? Check out Sora by Overdrive. Students can login using their Classlink account.
Makerspace
In Makerspace we are practicing discussing and highlighting our future ready skills of creativity.
Why Creativity Challenges?
Some studies suggest a decline in creative thinking with age. This is a huge problem since creativity and problem solving are essential skills for STEM careers. Scientists, computer programmers, engineers, and mathematicians all need to be able to think creatively and brainstorm solutions quickly in order to solve problems.
What are Creativity Challenges?
The goal of creativity challenges is to help students think in different ways. The ability to generate unique thoughts and ideas is known as divergent thinking. When students are thinking outside the box it results in creative solutions. In a creativity challenge, students are presented with a problem that they have to solve using their creativity. Typically these challenges are short lasting anywhere from 3-10 minutes. By implementing these challenges students are able to exercise their creative muscles.
We also get to use our other future ready skills of critical thinking, communication and collaboration during this time.
Morning Announcements: 4th graders wanted to be on the PES morning announcements broadcast!
We will meet on Friday mornings at 7:30 to record our video segments for the next week ***If your student has choir on Friday mornings, Mrs. Grall will send them at the end of choir****
We will have anchors introducing our week, reciting pledges, our lunch menu, birthdays and more.
Don't want to be on camera but still interested? There are a few opportunities to just work behind the scenes as well, adjusting and updating slides, images
If your 4th grader is interested in participating next semester, please fill out this Announcements form
form with them by December 7th at 4:00pm. I will email you and your child with their dates to record the next week
Looking ahead
Spring book fair 2.26-3.1
Read Across America Week: March 4-7
Notes from Officer Emory
Good Afternoon Puster Families,
This is your School Marshal, Steven Emory.
This month I would like to share with you some safety tips for gun safety.
Many of you have friearms at home. I just wanted to share some safety tips.
5 firearm rules:
Always Keep Firearm Pointed in a Safe direction
Treat All Guns as Though They are Loaded
Keep Your Finger Off the Trigger until You are Ready to Shoot
Always Be Sure of Your Target and What’s Beyond It
Never handle a firearm under the influence of drugs or alcohol
Keep your guns in a safe or out of the reach of children.
Keep your ammo in a different location than your guns.
Kids die from accidental shootings every year. Most can be prevented by teaching kids gun safety and taking the mystery out of firearms. Even if you don't have a firearm at home I bet one of your kid's friends parents have firearms in their home.
Reference Links:
Thank you for helping us to make Puster a safe environment for our students and staff. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out.
Have a great rest of your week,
Steven Emory,
PES School Marshal
Nurse Jenn's Note
Appointment Alert! Please make an appointment in advance with the nurse if you need to meet with her. She can be reached best by her email. Thank you!
Sick Policy Reminder:
Puster Parents, please keep your student home if they have had a fever, vomited, or had diarrhea within 24 hrs of coming to school so that we can keep our Puster Family safe and healthy.
Thank you!
Fine Arts News
Recently, we announced the 9th season of the Lovejoy ISD Children’s Choir. "LCC" is designed to serve the needs of our district’s 4th, 5th and 6th grade students who are committed to a musically exceptional experience. All 4th grade Puster students are encouraged to audition for our district honor choir!
The link to register is finally here! We are preparing for auditions in class and during choir. Please read all of the details on this incredible experience HERE, Auditions will take place December 11 after school here at Puster.
Don't forget to register HERE for your child to audition! We look forward to continuing this Lovejoy tradition in a new and unique way!
PTO News
PES Stock the Lounge
District News
MCCU DEBIT CARD DESIGN CONTEST
Lovejoy ISD recently entered into a partnership with My Community Credit Union. This partnership is intended to enhance student opportunities in the areas of financial literacy and provide hands-on learning experiences for future careers related to finance. An MCCU branch is scheduled to open at Lovejoy High School in the fall of 2024.
On Friday, October 27th, MCCU kicked off their Debit Card Design Contest. The contest is open to all Lovejoy ISD students. Three debit card design winners will be selected representing grades K-5, 6-8, and 9-12. The winners will have their designs on our Lovejoy Leopard MCCU Debit Cards and will receive a $100 gift card!
Content Rules:
Must be an original image/design/artwork.
Participants may submit up to 2 designs.
Parent consent is required.
Submissions are due to marketing@mccu.coop by midnight on January 26.
Winners will be announced on March 1.
Final Card Size: 2-1/8 by 3-3/8
Scan the QR Code for Official Rules and additional details, or visit mccu.coop/lovejoy.
Helpful Resources
Puster Elementary - The Place We Want to Be!
#PusterProud
Location: Robert L. Puster Elementary School, Stoddard Road, Fairview, TX, USA
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PusterElementary