Principal's Newsletter
February 5th, 2016
WOWs
WOW to our counselors! I have some special friends who would never be able to feel the success that they do without the emotional support they receive. THANK YOU! ~Eleanna Liscombe
WOW to our awesome administrators for making us feel so appreciated during National School Counseling Week! –LaTonya, Sherry, Linda, Jenee, and Greg
WOW to our first and fourth grade teachers for being on top getting The Child Find permission forms returned from their students.--LaTonya Foster
WOW to Mrs. Arnold for working with and building very positive relationships with some really challenging students. Her perseverance is amazing!--LaTonya Foster
WOW to Mrs. Liscombe for stepping in when needing and adopting a student for a day. She was a lifesaver!--LaTonya Foster
WOW to the reading teachers for putting together an awesome reading packet for our One Book, One School.--Daisy Skelly
WOW to Greg Vest for coordinating the food and more for our OBOS family event.-_Daisy Skelly
WOW to the Parent Involvement Team for getting excited about One Book One School.--Daisy Skelly
WOW to Carol Tooley and Kelly Harris for persevering during ACCESS testing.--Daisy Skelly
WOW to Natalie, Joni andKatie for such a great Counselors' Week!
I feel so lucky to work with each of you! Thanks for everything! --Linda Murphy
A WOW goes out to Breanna Butler for being a great sub in PE the past couple months! (her last day is February 11th). The students will miss her in gym J. Todd Swope
Brianna Butler is so amazing in gym class! In the time that she has been here she has learned almost all of the student's names and she even participates with them during activities. --Julie Myers
Our Nurse Deb is the best ever, she can have an office full of kids and she still has a smile on her face with an awesome attitude. I know the students really like her.--Julie Myers
Thank you Susan Adams and Eleanna Liscombe for all your hard work with the 2:1 program. I know it is a lot of extra work. Thank you for taking it on!--Alicia Baehler
We want to give a HUGE “WOW” to EVERYONE who helped to make the Special Olympics a great success last week. It was great to see the students and staff come together and raise over $2000.00. We have a few people that need a special thanks because we really couldn’t have pulled this off without you so, thank you to Dr. DeWeese for letting the kids tape you to the wall, thank you to Joni for being willing to kiss the pig, thank you to Karen for coming to STUCO to kick off Special Olympics, working with your team to create a video for our Monday Meeting, helping the kids with the announcements at the end of each day, and being taped to the wall. We would also like to thank Candy for making our “Money-o-meter”, Drew for the music and MC of the event, Tony for being Harvey the Hawk, Nancy for taking photos for the yearbook, and Ruth and Tessa for helping count all of the money and distribute tickets every day. We would also like to thank all the teachers who promoted the event and kept up with the collection and tickets each day. Thank you also to anyone who helped tape our three individuals to the wall, people were willing to jump in and help and that was so awesome. Also, thank you to the 4th and 5th grade teams for helping with our classes while we got ready for the assembly. It was wonderful to see everyone so happy and come together for such a great cause. So again THANK YOU to everyone!!!!....Cheri and Kody
Thanks so much to Tessa and Deb for helping Kindergarten registration go so smoothly again.--RuthZerface
WOW to Kristen Schrameyer for using her preschool experience to help me brainstorm activities for a student of mine.--Karen Brockland
WOW to Mrs. Barth for always including our student in her classroom as well as all the Kindergarten fun.--Karen Brockland
A big WOW to Angie Regan for helping us in PE get a projector cord hook-up so our classes could continue to dance. She made two trips to portables while it rained! WOW! Todd Swope
WOW to Kindergarten students and their teachers for embracing technology lessons on the Chromebooks! Our littlest students are doing an amazing job logging in to, navigating and using the Chromebooks for learning.--Tina Williams
WOW to Shanna Bradley for helping me with laptops, finding cords, speakers, and everything else this week. --Angie Regan
WOW to the paraprofessional's in Room 51 for all the hard work they do each day. They are always flexible and helping each other especially when there are substitutes, no fills for substitutes or my meetings run long. I always can count on the students needs being met. Thank you for always going above and beyond. Your hard work is noticed and appreciated! -Jamie McCoy
WOW to all the teachers who helped get the Special Olympic fundraiser going Brockland, McCoy, Hosea, & Beer! And of course Stuco!! Great Assembly & school spirit.--Linda Carr
WOW to the sped department for helping prepare Max for dressing out for Middle School. I was wondering what he was doing at a locker and wearing shorts when it was freezing outside and noticed he grabbed his clothes out of a locker. It was amazing to see the prep work that went into planning for his success in middle school. Way to go!--Kristen Schrameyer
I would like to send a WOW out to everyone for such a fabulous counselors' week! I am so grateful to work with such awesome and appreciative peeps! Love, Linda
February 12th
Where Is Your Principal?
Tuesday, February 9th- Assistant Principal Building Interviews, PTO Meeting, Parent/Principal Coffee Talk
Wednesday, February 10th- ROED Meeting, Referral Meetings, SPED PLC, New Teacher Breakfast Club
Thursday, February 11th- Parent/Principal Coffee Talk
Friday, February 12th- Building PD and Administrator PD
Tuesday, February 16th- PLC Meetings
Wednesday, February 17th- Assistant Principal Superintendent Level Interviews
Thursday, February 18th- Behavior Steering Team Meeting
Friday, February 19th- CIA Meeting
One Book, One School, One Community
Volunteers are needed to help with our One Book, One School, One Community Kick Off Family Event. We are serving a pancake dinner and have a lot of activities planned for this event. Please consider helping out. Kids and parents love to see their teacher at these events and being present helps us build positive relationships with families.
You can use the following link to sign up to help out or let one of the PIT members know you can help.
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e084dafa92e5-harvest
We need volunteers to help with Set Up (4:30-5:30 PM); Meal Prep (4:30-7:00 PM); Servers, Table Clearers (5:30-7:30); Activities (5:30-6:30 & 6:30-7:30); Guest Readers (6 rooms, 4 shifts each room); Greeters (5:30-7:30); Clean Up (7:30-8 PM). The event is 5:30-7:30 PM. If you want to work the entire event, then just sign up for both shifts in your area. I would encourage you to carpool, because parking will be limited.
End of the Day Transportation Changes
Special Olympics
Below is an email I received this week from Joe Shaw, the Assistant Principal at John Weldon. Joe is also the Director of Special Olympics.
Natalie and the Rest of the Harvest Ridge Staff,
Thank you so much for your beyond generous donation to the Special Olympics program in Francis Howell. To say that the money will have an impact would be an understatement. I usually ask each building to hold one small fundraiser a year and try to set a goal of even $100 per building to total $2000 as a district. Your fundraiser by yourself raised $2000, which is almost the same amount of money that the entire district raised last year.
This money will help to provide uniforms for the athletes, equipment, and scholarship money for those families that don’t have the funds for athletes to participate.
I am extremely thankful for your efforts and couldn’t be more proud of your group.
Thank you!
Joe Shaw
Below is a message I received from Dr. Sloan in response to Mr. Shaw's email.
Great work, Harvest Ridge! As Joe said—the effort of those who participated will make a difference in the lives of many. THANK YOU!
Climate Conversations with Support Staff
Congratulations
A Message from April Burton
It is always such a treat when I get to visit Harvest Ridge. Your building is made up of some of the most polite and well behaved students. What a great bunch of 5th graders! The enthusiasm that they show while participating in coding activities is infectious. It is amazing to watch these kiddos problem solve in order to reach their goal. And, their willingness to learn from each other is so fantastic to see.