Forest Lake Newsletter
March 2019
“Our students win, when we work as one!”
- Dr. Paul Nehrig - Principal
- Mr. David Sanford - Assistant Principal
Dear Panthers,
How time flies – the 3rd grading period is coming to a close and Spring Break is just around the corner. When we return on March 25th, we’ll only have one quarter left – let’s all commit to making the most of each remaining day! Thank you to our students, teachers, support staff and families for working together to fulfill our mission of creating that learning environment where all students can achieve academic success. I want to wish everyone a happy, safe, and restful Spring Break. Take time to relax, have fun with family and friends, and prepare yourselves for an outstanding 4th grading period.
Be Kind, Work Hard, Have Fun
I often tell our students that if they just remember to do 3 things, they will be successful: Be Kind, Work Hard, and Have Fun. The first and most important is to Be Kind. Kindness helps us all to face difficulties, work together to find solutions, and be productive because we feel safe, supported, and happy in our surroundings. The final stretch to the end of the year can be stressful and challenging, and we won’t always agree with everyone around us. If we remember to be kind, it will make dealing with those situations so much easier. We want to model for our children that we can disagree without being disagreeable, and we can respectfully seek solutions together. Working hard is so important, because nothing great is achieved without effort. Our students have so much potential, and we can show them that with hard work they can and will be successful! Finally, we should find ways to have fun each day. Balancing work and play is key to physical and mental health and wellness. Research shows that productivity is improved by having a little bit of fun every day. So as we head into the final quarter, let’s all remember to Be Kind, Work Hard, and Have Fun!
Safety reminders
Now is a good time to remind everyone about important safety tips. Keeping our students safe is a top priority. Over the past year, we have phased in several enhancements to our safety plans including security fencing with single-point access, the addition of Mr. Mike our School Guardian to our staff, moving all visitor parking to the front lot to ensure check-in at the front office prior to entering campus, and other strategies. Thank you to everyone for working with us to maintain a safe and secure campus. Another way everyone can help is to download the “FortifyFL” app to their phone. FortifyFL is a free app for school staff, families and the community to anonymously report potentially suspicious or dangerous activity to keep our schools safe.
Please remember that everyone who drives onto our campus must observe the posted speed limits, stay off cell phones or other electronic devices, and load or unload students from the curb side of the vehicle only. After the time change scheduled for Sunday, March 10th (‘Spring Forward’ 1 hour), it will be darker in the morning when students are waiting at the bus stop or when they walk or bike to school. Please watch for pedestrians and help remind our students to observe traffic rules, travel in groups, and wear reflective or light-colored clothing. Safety is everyone’s responsibility. Thank you!
We need your input!
The annual Climate Survey is now open and will run through May 1st. This anonymous, web-based survey is a separate survey from the 5Essentials that we just completed and provides us with additional information as we develop our school improvement plans. Even if you completed the 5Essentials Survey, we ask that you take the Climate Survey as well. This year’s Climate Survey has been updated with new questions and is shorter than the 5Essentials Survey. Assistance is available if you need access to a computer – just contact us at the main office. You can access the survey through the following link:
Parent survey: https://eprovesurveys.advanc-ed.org/surveys/#/action/79394/6324
Thank you for your input!
Let’s all do our best on the test
When we return from Spring Break, students will be taking very important assessments. As we head into testing season, our teachers are focused on helping students achieve at their highest levels. Please help our 3rd – 5th grade students be ready for the FSA by ensuring they attend every day, complete all assignments, read daily, maintain regular bedtimes and wake-up times, and eat a healthy diet. Encourage your student with positive messages that they will do a great job on the tests if they do their best.
Thank you and have a great Spring Break!
Sincerely,
Dr. Nehrig
The mission of our Forest Lake Elementary community is to provide
a learning environment where all students can achieve academic success.
School Advisory Council
Deltona Super Star Student
Box Tops 4 Education
from each package.3)Send the Box Tops to school in a
baggie or on a collection sheet. 4)Earn 10¢ per Box Top for our school.
PTO NEWS
Spring break is almost here, Panthers! We hope you will join us at our 50’s style “Spring Fling” dance on Thursday, March 14 beginning at 5:30pm. Food trucks, root beer floats & tons of fun make for a great kickoff to spring break. Wear your favorite 50’s style clothes (school appropriate, of course) and make sure you’ve got your dancing shoes on!
Spring is also a great time to clean out the kids’ closets & toy boxes! PTO will be participating in the Florida Family Consignment Spring Sale in April, and will be collecting donations March 25 - April 5th. A flyer with more details & a bookmark will be sent home with students this week. We appreciate your support!
Kona Ice dates for March are:
3rd-5th grade: Thursday 3/14
VPK-2nd grade: Thursday 3/28
Have a great March, Panthers!
email: Panthers1PTO@gmail.com
Instagram: @ForestLakePTO
Twitter @ForestLakePTO
Facebook: Forest Lake Elementary PTO
Grade Level News
KINDERGARTEN
Our Kindergarteners are growing by leaps and bounds. Keep reading those SIPPS stories that are being sent home. The more practice they have, the better readers they will become. We have been learning about Animals, eating green eggs and ham, learning about Presidents Washington and Lincoln and all in the past month!!! We are looking forward to spring break and a field trip to the zoo on April 26th. More information about the zoo trip will be sent home after the break. Remember to be a chaperone on a field trip, you MUST be a cleared volunteer. Keep reading and practicing those sight words even during the break
FIRST GRADE
March is a busy month for first grade. Your child is more than half way through first grade and that much closer to becoming a second grader! We still have a lot of work to do to ensure that your child is ready. Please continue to read daily and work diligently on mastering sight words as well as math facts. If your child already knows their sight words, challenge them to learn how to spell them. Reading daily with your child is extremely important and contributes greatly to improved fluency. Fluency is defined as the ability to read with speed, accuracy, and proper expression. Improved fluency, in turn, contributes greatly to improved comprehension. Homework is due on Fridays. Please check for corrections, and neatness before your child turns it in.
THIRD GRADE
We are so excited for everything coming up in the next 9 weeks. Between now and spring break we are going to be covering the following subjects:
Reading: LAFS.3.RI.1.3 Describe the relationship between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text, using language that pertains to time, sequence, and cause/effect.
Social Studies: SS.3.G.4.1: Explain how the environment influences settlement patterns in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean.
Math: Solve real-world and mathematical area problems by multiplying length by width. Use appropriate labels to represent answers to area problems (e.g., 4 square meters).
Science: Identify the characteristics of flowering plants, non-flowering with seeds and non-flowing with spores and explain the functions of each .
Writing: Writing to inform: students will learn to find and mark text evidence that supports the ideas they want to write about. They will also learn to make inferences about details in the text.
Mark your calendar for May 14th, that is when we are going to our field trip to Sea World. The cost is going to be $45, permission slips will go home SOON. Thursday , March 14th is the end of our 3rd grading period. FSA dates have been released. April 3rd and 4th are the dates for Reading and May 6th and 7th are the dates for math.
As always thank you for everything you do!
FOURTH GRADE
Thank you to all the students that turned in a Social Studies Fair Project. The following students were selected to participate in the school Social Studies Fair
Individual exhibits:
Anderson Kuczynski from Mrs. Kinkopf's class- The tragedy and triumph of 9/11/01
Ruby Spegnardo from Mrs. Cleek's class - The tragedy and triumph of Amelia Earhart
Ayden Vineis from Mrs. Pegler's class - The Castillo de San Marcos Fort
Madilyne Headrick from Mrs. Moen's class - The Tragedy and Triumph of the Florida Citrus Freeze of 1894-1895
Individual Musical Performance
Arwen McClung from Ms. Brady's class - The tragedy and Triumph of Hurricane Andrew
All of these students attended the Volusia County Social Studies Fair. A big congratulations goes to Ruby Spignardo for winning a Superior Blue Ribbon at the county fair for her project. We are proud of her and all the students that participated.
FIFTH GRADE
Hello from 5th grade! We are happy to report that our World’s Finest Chocolate Fundraiser was a MAJOR success!! We are so thankful for all the hard work you and our students put in. This fundraiser is going to help us with our end of the year activities. We love to celebrate our students as they go into the next chapter of their schooling. Be on the lookout for information about these activities and field trip! As we edge closer to FSA Writing on April 2nd, please help us prepare the students by staying positive and keeping them motivated. 5th grade is currently practicing for FSA Writing on Wednesdays by providing chances for a mock FSA type environment. We are easing them into being able to read, plan, and respond to a prompt in under 2 hours successfully! We know that all students can and will achieve. Please help us remind them to pace themselves, take their time, and to do their best.
SPECIAL AREA NEWS
PE
Congratulations to the students who participated in the Kids Heart Challenge. Our winners are listed below.
Endurance station - 1st grade Ohana Ramasar :29, 2nd grade Janell Bravo 2:43, 3rd grade Nikki Lin 1:56, 4th grade Alex Nunes 3:24, 5th grade Layla Thomas 4:02
Long rope station - 1st grade Kevin Quinones 20, 2nd grade Hazleigh Zillman 58, 3rd grade Aaron Rivera 156, 4th grade Elena Hoglen 91, 5th grade Gladys Malagon 205
Speed station - 1st grade Kevin Quinones 67, 2nd grade Andrew Lora 82, 3rd grade Hannah Lee 120, 4th grade Aneesa Ramasar 124, 5th grade Spencer Monroe 126
Trick station - 1st grade Adhara Perez, 2nd grade Elias Cabrera, 3rd grade Adrian Massey, 4th grade Katy Aldaba, 5th grade Garrick Spencer and Lily Sonne
After Spring Break we will be starting our bicycle safety unit for grades 2-5. Students need to bring in their own helmet. Students are allowed to bring in their own bicycles, park them out back next to the PE court on the day they have Coach Boyle. I will have bicycles and helmets for those who need to borrow them. Grades K-1 will be learning about pedestrian safety and will not be riding bicycles.
ART
We have been very busy wrapping up lessons and starting new ones.
Pre-k is creating a fun art piece based off Eric Carle’s Mr. Seahorse. Kindergarten finalized their Paul Klee Kitty Katz and are ready to take on a new lesson! 1st grade is finishing Monet’s Bridge, 2nd grade has just started weaving, creating a loom out of a paper plate. So cool!! 3rd grade finished their cave art drawings and are just starting “The Tree of Life”, by Gustav Klimt……. hint hint, we will be using gold paint. 4th grade just wrapped up their warm and cool zentangle trees and will be working on their own “Game Board”, I am loving their use of imagination on this one. 5th grade just finished their zentangle still life fruit bowls and will be starting 2-D Greek vases. I am very excited to see how these turn out! I am very excited about our young artists here at Forest Lake. March is Youth Art Month, and I am happy to announce one of our 3rd graders Kire Mendez was selected to represent our school at the Gateway of the Arts in Debary. She created a beautiful landscape inspired by the artist, Robin Mead. Be sure to congratulate her if you see her around campus.
Mrs. Larriviere
STEM
Great news! We will be bringing back STEM Day. This year, STEM Day will be held on Friday, May 17th and will include not only daytime activities for students but also a family event in the evening.
Last year students were visited by the bomb squad, pilots from Embry-Riddle University, a forensic investigator, a crane and operator from Bryson crane, firefighters and a brush truck from the Florida Forest Service, and students from Pine Ridge and Atlantic High Schools. For more information, to participate, or to volunteer, please contact STEM teacher Amy Dorton at aedorton@volusia.k12.fl.us or PTO President Amanda Clark at panthers1pto@gmail.com. We look forward to seeing you there!
MEDIA CENTER NEWS
We would like to congratulate the following students for reading all of the 15 titles:
Gwyn Uehlein, Alivia Bebout, Dulze Aldaba, Safaa Aouni, Avianna Brizuela, Jenna Flores, Charlotte Frias Martinez, and Sophie Kendall! These students have not only earned an invite to the voting party, they have also earned lunch from Olive Garden. Third, fourth, and fifth grade students still have time to join them in the fun! Spring break is a great time to catch up on reading the SSYRA titles, so get reading!
Parent Liaison
Dear Parents:
Please feel free to stop in the Parent Resource Center in the front
office. We have information on Volusia County resources and activities.
I currently have a variety of clothes, games and learning resources for
all student grades. I look forward to meeting you and working with
you.
Forest Lake Elementary is here to help.
Hablo espanol
Jamie Hagan, Parent Liaison
COMMUNITY NEWS
Volunteers and Business Partners
If you need to a volunteer form, please click here for the online application in English or here for Spanish. Schools will no longer have paper applications on site. If you or somebody you know needs to fill out a new online application but do not have access to a computer, there will be a computer available in our Parent Resource room.
Once applicants have been approved or denied, they will receive an email. Applicants may also check in with our front office to check on their status.
School Information
Website: http://myvolusiaschools.org/school/ForestLake
Location: 1600 Doyle Road, Deltona, FL, United States
Phone: 386-575-4166
Newsletter
Please look for our monthly school newsletter on the first Monday of every month. If you know of a parent that did not receive an email for this newsletter and they would like to receive one, please have them send their email address to Mrs. Wagenhauser at vdwagenh@volusia.k12.fl.us . You may also access the newsletter on our school website at http://myvolusiaschools.org/school/ForestLake .