Shining Star News
Dec 7-11
Hoit's Highlights
One Star Family,
It’s hard to believe we are winding down second quarter and are in full-swing of the hustle and bustle of the holiday season! We hope you enjoy this time with your student and loved ones as these times and memories pass by all too quickly! Word has it our One Star Family “Elf on the Shelf” is reporting so far all of our Shining Stars are Shining Bright! So, please talk to your student about safe, responsible, and respectful behavior going into our final weeks before the break and how these acts keep them on Santa’s nice list! Speaking of nice list, a big thank you to a few of our Caring for Kids partners, Lenexa Baptist and Central Church of the Nazarene for supporting over 50 One Star Family members and providing them gifts and food for the holiday season celebrations. We are so blessed to have kind and caring partners who go above and beyond to give back to their community.
Santa Arrived Early
Santa arrived early in the Hoit household with #Team512 surprising me with a full-time assistant principal! I am so excited and proud to announce that we don’t just have any full-time assistant principal, we get to keep Mr. Barnett full-time following winter break. I truly appreciate the district support in providing me and our One Star Family the support we need to help us “Rise & Shine” and live out our vision fully in the weeks, months, and years to come. 3 Claps!
Re-Imagining Possibilities
Some of you may have heard the Kansas School Board of Education has launched a new vision for Kansas education called, Kansas Can! As we talk about “re-imagining” the Star we have a lot of great resources at the state and district level with SMSD’s newly developed Strategic Plan to guide us in our re-imagining efforts.
If you wish to learn more about these two topics that will guide us in our efforts at the Star please click below:
Family Engagement Night
You don’t want to miss our 2nd Quarter Family Engagement Night, iGive & Game! This event is scheduled for Thursday, December 10th 6:00-7:30 at Rising Star. Please RSVP as soon as possible so we have plenty of pizza for all to enjoy. I want to give a “shout out” to my School Improvement Team for their great work in developing the ideas for this night and their organization and execution of the plan to make it happen. You are ROCK STARS! We hope families can make it to this event and we look forward to enjoying some holiday fun with you!
Testing
We will be completing the Winter Reading and Math MAP and DIBELS Assessments the week of December 7th-14th. Please encourage your student to give their best effort, take their time, and review their work so that the data we review give us the best indication of how each student is progressing. Teachers and specialists will review progress when we return from the winter break and make adjustments to interventions and classroom instruction based on those data points. Thank you for making sure your student is at school on time and well rested to help us achieve the best results.
December 18th
There is no school for Pre-K students on Friday, December 18th. For students in grades K-6 this is an early release day, releasing at 12:30. Thank you for making arrangements for your child. Please note this is a schedule change from the calendar published in August.
I look forward to seeing you at the Lenexa Tree Lighting tonight at 6:00! Please introduce yourself and your student to me and my family. It may take a few introductions with such a big One Star Family but I do enjoy meeting family members and appreciate helpful reminders!
As Always, Today is a Great Day to Shine Bright!
Three Claps,
Mrs. Hoit
Rising Ahead:
Check out Star Social Media for timely pictures & school news (see links at bottom of Smore)
Wednesday, December 9th (Mathletics, 4:00-5:00, Rising Star)
Tuesday, January 5th (Students Return from Winter Break)
Thursday, January 7th (Skate Party at Skate City, 6:00-8:00)
Family Engagement Night - Gaming and Giving
Thursday, Dec 10, 2015, 06:00 PM
Rising Star Elementary School, Candlelight Lane, Lenexa, KS, United States
RSVPs are enabled for this event.
!!Music!! (IMPORTANT)
We will NOT have choir rehearsal from December 4th to December 18th. Great work this semester. Enjoy the break and prepare for next semester, it is going to be great!
Great job 5th & 6th grade choir with performing 4 times this week!
-Mr. Barnes (Music)
World's Finest Chocolate Bar Sale
We have moved the deadline date to qualify for prizes to MONDAY, December 7th. Please turn in owed money by then so your child can qualify for prizes. The GameKart is scheduled to come on the afternoon of December 15th. The kids who have sold at least 2 boxes of chocolates (and paid their total amount owed) will get to play in the GameKart. Thank you for your support of our school!
Staff Appreciation
PTA is trying something new for the holidays! We will be throwing the staff a Staff Appreciation Ugly Sweater Party!
When: Friday, Dec 18 (half day)
Send appetizers/treats the morning of December 18, no later than 11am if possible, please, so the staff can enjoy after all the kids leave. Please click on the link below to pick an appetizer or dessert to bring!
(This is replacing the holiday cookie exchange that we have done in the past).
From the art room:
News from Artsonia. Grades 4-6 have Artsonia accounts for our online portfolio site.
Wake up to a work of art every morning. Coffee mugs can be purchased with your child’s artwork on it for grades 4-6 who have Artsonia accounts. These would make a great gift for someone special. Orders for the holidays must be made by December 14. Proceeds from sales go to our very own Rising Star art room to purchase supplies. We have had a wonderful response to purchases from Artsonia for items including t-shirts, magnets, and notebooks. A big thanks to those who have already made purchases.
4th Grade Science
The 4th graders are learning all about animal adaptations! We are learning that animals need to adapt to their environment in order to survive. We have been looking at some night-crawler worms and discovering what adaptations they have or that they have used in order to survive. We look and label the parts of their body and watch them interact with different environments. It has been a wiggly, but fun time!
Pre-K News! There will be NO SCHOOL FOR PRE-K students on Dec. 18th!
Extreme Science Assembly
Extreme! In this highly acclaimed show, Hagerman lead the students on a wild journey through different fields of science. This show was funny and educational!
SCRIP STOP AND SHOP
Gift cards will be for sale by the PTA in the Rising Star lobby
3:00pm until 4:00pm Tuesday, December 8th
AND
3:00pm until 4:00pm Friday, December 11
**Pick up last minute SCRIP cards for groceries, meals, shopping, teacher gifts, holiday gifts, etc.
**Place your orders NOW to receive before breakPapa John's District Pizza Night
Rising Star night is Wednesday, December 9th. If you would like to order anytime during the week, please use code SMSD26 and Rising Star will get the credit.
Did you know?!
Rising Star earns money with gift card purchases.
Scrip gift cards are the same gift cards you can purchase from the retailer. With over 300 of the country’s biggest brands, including grocery and department stores, gas stations, restaurants, hotels and home improvement stores, Rising Star's Scrip Program has something to appeal to every family.
We order Gift Cards at a discount, and you pay face value for their gift cards. That difference is an instant rebate for our school, and your families don’t have to purchase anything they don’t need. You can but directly from our Scrip Coordinator Carolyn or go online:
HOW TO SCRIP
1. Go to www.shopwithscrip.com and click “create an account”
2. Complete the Family Registration
3. Enter Rising Star’s Enrollment Code: 4ALCABFA17561
Questions?
Contact:
Carolyn Raper-Hortua
913-526-9088
Star Dads
Star Dads is a school based father involvement program that works to support education and safety. It includes Dads of Great Students which are fathers, grandfathers, step-fathers, uncles, and other father figures who volunteer at the child’s school each year.
Our goal at Rising Star is to provide an opportunity for Dads to volunteer to help support the team at Rising Star and learn more about what happens during their child’s day at school. Your day typically gets started before school by helping assist the 6th grade safety patrol with drop off. Once school starts, Dads get the opportunity to work with their child in the classroom. They attend specials like gym, art, music or even the library and then finish off the morning by having lunch with their student. After lunch, Dads can even go out on the playground during recess to help monitor it.
Research has shown that children whose fathers are highly involved in school activities perform at a much higher academic level than those whose fathers are not involved. Students benefit from seeing fathers involved at the school because it reinforces their father’s value of education.
We look forward to seeing you at Rising Star this year.
Are You a Member of the PTA?
Join PTA for just $7 per person or $12 for couples in the same household! And don't worry, by joining you are not committing to meetings and volunteering all the time. You are free to choose what you attend and volunteer for!
What does your $7 do? $3.50 goes tot he State PTA. The rest is used to help our kids! Last year our budget called for $8,000 for school field trips! We put on Family Fun nights and 2 class parties per year! And those are just a small amount of the awesome things our PTA does! So please join and help us continue to be able to fund these awesome items!
Forms are available in the office or email Ellen Sandelin ellenmarie2013@gmail.com
or Jen Hight jhight503@gmail.com.