Commanders log September 2015

President’s two cents!!

Hello McNair Families! Boy did these first 6 weeks just fly by.

Here we are, already in October, which means parent teacher

conferences, cooler weather and Halloween. But, it also means

some great family events are coming to McNair Elementary as

well.

I don’t know what your outside of school life is like, but if it’s

anything like mine, it’s jam packed. Between the art club,

orchestra, math tutoring, teaching my sons to drive as well as all

the everyday necessities we need to complete, there is not a lot

of down time or family time. And you can forget that “proverbial”

weekend. I’m not sure what that is. We are always on the go,

racing to get somewhere or complete a chore or homework that

needs to be completed. That, however, was before I even threw

the President of the PTA into the mix.

I guess my real question is balance….how do you really balance

all the aspects of your life. I have at least 10 balls in the air at

once that I am constantly juggling, hoping one will not fall. How

do you stay up to date on your child’s day? We try having Friday

night dinners together every week. The rest of the week’s dinners

may be hit or miss, but Friday night, you are at that table ready to

give a recap of your week. Is it enough??? I don’t know, but right

now, it’s what I have to give.

Of course, perhaps your first question is then, “Why? Why go

through all this hassle of being in the PTA if it’s just a burden?”

My answer… why not? If not me, then who? This is a way for me

to give back…back to the school, back to the community. I am

able to use my talents or skills, if you will, for a great cause with

immediate results. Yes, it’s hard, exhausting and stressful to put

on these events for our school and our community, but the

rewards are intoxicating. A sweet smile, a ‘thank you’ from the

students, my daughter exclaiming, “yah, my mom did that.” What

more can you ask for?

I realize this newsletter article sort of went off the rails a little

bit, but the main point is a great bunch of parents got together

to bring us an awesome family event on Friday, October 9th.

Yes, that's right...it's Fall Festival. Go! Enjoy the fruit of our

exhausting and stressful labor. Share dinner with your kids and

then ask those all important questions…”what one amazing

thing happened to you in school this week?”

Sincerely,

Judy Weiner

PTA President

Check us out on Facebook!

McNair Elementary PTA

UPCOMING EVENTS Oct/Nov

Oct. 5th-9th

Early Release@ 12:50 Parent teacher

conferences

Oct 9th Fall Festival 5:00-8:30

Oct. 12th No School

Oct. 15th PTA board Meeting @

6:00pm

Oct. 16th Spirit assemblies

3-5 @ 8:15 AM K-2 @ 9:00 AM

Oct. 26th-30th

Red Ribbon Week Look for dress up

days to come soon!

Nov. 2nd-6th

Fall Book Fair

Nov. 9th-20th

Sock it to Hunger Food Drive

Howdy Commander Parents and Families!

Thank you for your partnership and support. It has been a wonderful start to the new school year, and we can hardly believe the first grading period is already “in the books!” We have many goals, but a central focus involves providing parents and students with multiple ways to access information, assistance, and guidance. Our Mission Mantras: #iCAN@McNair & Caring in Technicolor Class DoJo and Seesaw are taking the McNair campus by storm! This is the pilot year for both programs, and we expect a majority of classrooms will integrate the programs by mid-year. Thank you to our brave and bold educators for taking a “leap of faith” and embracing a new way to support student growth and development! The NEW McNair Campus Facebook page is growing in views, likes and followers EVERYDAY! Please, take a moment and “like” our page, and add it to your list of TOP Facebook (FB) sites to visit. The McNair FB site will not replace the McNair PTA Facebook page, which was designed for parents and families who have been given access to this protected/ closed group. The McNair Campus FB site will be open so all parents and community members may access the site for announcements, highlights, and celebrations. Let’s MAKE IT a GREAT Year! Dr. Debbie Cano

Visit www.pt-avenue.com and use organization code:

COMMANDERS! There you can purchase your PTA

membership, yearbooks, spirit wear, and more!!! All items will

be delivered to your child’s classroom.

Welcome Our New Assistant Principal

Jason Cheslock, M.Ed.

Jason Cheslock comes to us from Eagle Mountain - Saginaw ISD

where he has been an assistant principal. Jason has experience as a

special education, science, and math teacher. In addition, he served

as a district curriculum writer and facilitator.

Further, Jason coached football, tennis and track. He is an honor

graduate of UT, and holds a superintendent’s certification.

Jason is married to his lovely wife, Misty, and is the proud father of

sons Griffin, who is 9, and Dawson, who is 4.

Jason is thrilled to join the McNair and Denton ISD family!

McNair Elementary Fall Festival Friday, October 9th from 5-8:30

Come join us for a night of games, food and awesome rides. We will

have something for everyone to enjoy. There will be lots of inflatables, a

rock wall, mechanical bull, train, pony rides, and petting zoo. Don't forget

the many carnival games, including old favorites like the cake walk, as well

as some new ones brought to us by our awesome sponsors, TMA, i9,

Advocare, Smile Magic Dentist and Orthodontist and Thirty-one. So come

one and all to this wonderful community event. Hope to see you there. We want to thank our many sponsors for their donations to our

auction:

Texas Rangers Dallas Cowboys Dallas Mavericks

Dallas Stars Frisco Roughriders Texas A & M

TCU Texas Tech Interskate Roller Rink

Main Event Geppetto's Theatre Frontiers of Flight Museum

Medieval Times Dallas Zoo Trinity Forest Adventure Park

Sea World Kimbell Art Museum Fort Worth Museum of Science

Texas Motor Speedway Fort Worth Zoo Smoothie King

Twisted Bodies TMA Honda/Toyota of Denton

Chuy's El Fenix Rosa's Cafe

Frank Buck Zoo Hank Haney Golf Natural Bridge Caverns

Sharkarosa Community Coffee Grapevine Convention Center

Jumpstreet Otterbox FC Dallas

Silver Dollar City i9 Sports Sci-Tech Discovery Center

Billy Bob's Texas The Egg & I Heard Natural Science Museum

Market Street Costco Cookies by Design

Villa Grande McAllister's Deli The Ranch Arrangements

Southwest Hair Amazing Jake's Denton Gymnastics Academy

Chipotle Dallas Arboretum Disneyland

Chick-fil-a A Style Limousine Winkids and Avon!!!

Counselor’s Corner

Respect Yourself!

Our character quality for the 2nd 6 weeks will be respect. We are learning about respect,

and what it means to have respect for yourself as well as for others. Respect is showing others

that they are valued for who they are, for their character, instead of what they look like or what

they have. It means treating others the way you want to be treated. Parents can help foster respect

by setting a good example in how they talk about or treat others. Encouraging your children to use

words to solve problems or use polite manners are other ways to promote respect.

October is National Bully Prevention Month!

We will be celebrating with our "Take a Stand against Bullying" Day on Thursday October

15th by wearing PINK. Pink day originated when some high school boys organized a protest to

wear pink in sympathy for a 9th grade boy who was being bullied for wearing a pink shirt. They

took a stand against bullying by distributing pink T-shirts to other boys in their school.

October 23rd – 31st we will be celebrating Red Ribbon Week.

The purpose of Red Ribbon Week is to get students involved in drug prevention awareness. We

want our students to show respect for themselves by making a commitment now to stay drug-free

for the future. Please be sure that students bring tennis shoes for P.E. each day.

I hope the students will enjoy participating in the following theme days:

We are “Paws”itively Drug-Free! Bring a Stuffed Animal F10/23/15

Follow your dreams; don’t do drugs! Wear Pajamas M10/26/15

Color Me Drug-Free! Wear Team Color *See below T10/27/15

I “mustache” you not to do drugs! Wear a Mustache W10/28/15

Superpowers: be a drug free hero! Dress like a Superhero Th10/29/15

Orange you glad we’re drug-free! Wear Orange F10/30/15

*On the morning of Tuesday Oct. 27th we will be taking a school-wide rainbow photo right after

morning announcements.

K wears purple.

1st wears blue

2nd wears green

3rd wears

4th wears orange

5th wears red

Teachers and staff will wear white to represent the clouds at the edges.

Brick Pathway Fundraiser

Please help McNair make a beautiful and memorable pathway for our Environment Learning Area (E.L.A.) by honoring your child, family or teacher with a brick paver. Examples might be: In Honor of Abby Ty Teeter 2008-2009 or The Hill Family loves McNair. We use the engraved bricks to border the pathways around the garden. You can purchase the brick for $45. We pay ACME brick $15 and $30 is used to pay for the garden. Simply fill out the form below and enclose a check to DPSF (Denton Public School Foundation) or make a payment on-line with a credit card on the McNair Website under ELA or this link: http://www.give2schools.org/cat.asp?id=285FFF1F80F24156B531F1A7F746DAC9 For any questions, contact Sheree Sardina 940-369-3600

Customer Name: _______________________________________ Phone: ______________________________ Email: _________________________________________

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McNair’s Environmental Learning Area (ELA) is needing volunteers

to help pull weeds. Can you give a little time during your day to

help out? Please contact Mrs. Sardina ssardina@dentonisd.org

GREETINGS FROM MCNAIR PE!

PE CORNER

BOX TOPS are coming in every day! Ask your kiddos about all of the new, fun stuff they’ve seen in PE, Art and Music! Box Tops has a new bulletin board as you exit the cafeteria into the hallway. Check it out!

And Remember- TENNIS SHOES EVERY DAY MCNAIR COMMANDERS!!

PE TEACHERS

Check It Out in the Library

Students in grades K - 2 have been learning how to be good digital citizens. Students are taught

how to be responsible when going online and using devices like computers, ipads, and

smartphones. Some of the key topics for being a good digital citizen are:

● Digital Footprint - Anything you put on the internet lasts forever -- It cannot be erased.

● Information - What is personal information and should not be shared on the internet?

● Give Credit - Give credit to the creator for any pictures, videos, songs, or information you

borrow from the internet.

● Integrity - Do the right thing when noone is watching on your device.

● Think before you post - Is it true? Is it helpful? Is it inspiring? Is it necessary? Is it kind?

● Act Responsibly - Be responsible with your device. Follow the DentonISD AUP

http://www.dentonisd.org/domain/5683

● Learn to stay on task - Stay focused while on devices.

Ask your students about what they have learned. Common Sense media also has some good

parent information for keeping their children and teens safe while using devices. Here is a link

to some parent information

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/default/files/uploads/connecting_families/tip_sheets_

all.pdf .

Students can check out ebooks from the library. We have over 1400 different ebook titles that

include picture books, chapter books, and information books. To check out an ebook students

need to know their ID number as well as the year they were born. Here is a link to more

information about ebooks http://www.dentonisd.org/Page/43743 .

Mark your calendars -- Book Fair is coming up November 2 - 6. It will be set up in the

library for students and parents to come and shop. Lots of great titles will be available for

students to browse.

BJ's Restaurant here in Denton (3250 S Interstate 35E) is hosting our next restaurant fundraiser on Tuesday, October 27th from 11 am to 9 pm. Mention McNair Elementary when you order and McNair will receive 15% of your receipt. The Holey Donuts restaurant fundraiser will be Saturday, November 14th from 6 am until Noon. They are located on Teasley, in the new shopping strip across from our Kroger. They are next door to Smoothie King. Mention McNair when you check out and we will receive 15% of your receipt.

McNair Yearbook Announcements

This year, the yearbook cover will be created by a student at McNair. Here are the

requirements for the cover art:

1. Must be drawn vertically on an 8 ½” X 11” piece of paper

2. Must be drawn and colored in MARKER

3. Name and teacher must be written ON THE BACK of the drawing

4. Drawing must represent McNair Commanders. Be creative!

5. Turn in your entry to your child’s teacher by October 23rd.

6. Winner will be announced Mid October.

Don’t forget to take LOTS of pictures of all McNair events this year. Once you have some collected, please burn them to a

CD and label it with the grade level, event, and teacher name if necessary and send it to your child’s teacher. You may also email

pictures to us!

If you have any questions about the yearbook, please contact Jessie Peterson at

Mcnairyearbook1@gmail.com

If you have any questions please contact

Karina Aguirre or Stephanie Oliver at 940-369-3600.

McNair Yearbook Announcements

There is still time to order a McNair Elementary Yearbook! Cost of the yearbook is $25 until November 1, 2015.

You can send cash or check with this order form or you can order online at www.pt-avenue.com to reserve your

child’s copy of the yearbook!

Parent Name: ________________________ Number of Yearbooks ordering: ___

Child Name: ________________________ Grade/Teacher: __________________________

Child Name: ________________________ Grade/Teacher: __________________________

I would like to order a Parent Dedication Ad:

____1/8 page ($40) _____ ¼ page ($60) _____ ½ page ($80) _____ full page ($100)

Parent email address: _________________________

State law requires that anyone who has direct

contact with students, including volunteers,

undergo a criminal background check.

All volunteers are required to reapply each year. Please visit DentonISD.org and search for

Volunteer Application to complete the

background check.

WHY VOLUNTEER? Your hours benefit the students,

teachers and staff. YOU MAKE A DIFFERENCE and

every minute counts. Annual volunteer hours factor in funding, the district’s bond rating, district

recognition, and exemplary state ranking.

Thank you for volunteering your time!

https://www.applitrack.com/denton/onlinea

pp/_application.aspx?starting=true

All submissions

must be turned

in no later than

October 30,

2015!!

All those who submit

Must be current PTA members

MCNAIR ELEMENTARY BOOK FAIR

The book fair is coming to McNair Elementary. Books are great sources of wonder and joy as they can transport us on grand adventures. So please, come and join us at the

book fair. We will be open starting Monday, November 2nd and continue until Friday, November 6th. We will also open during lunch so that you are able to join your child for a meal and then visit us. Our family event is scheduled for Thursday evening, November 5th. There will even be chances to win a

basket of books in our raffle. So come on out to the book fair. We look forward to seeing you. If you have any questions or wish to volunteer for this awesome event, please contact Judy Weiner at judyweiner1@yahoo.com.

McNair PTA’s Annual “SOCK IT TO HUNGER” Food Drive Attention Commander Families!! Please join our efforts to help our less fortunate Denton neighbors. All donations will stay here in Denton benefiting local food pantries. We kick off our food drive on Monday, November 9th. It will run through Thursday, November 19th. We will celebrate our drive by wearing cool, goofy or outrageous socks to school on November 19th! Please use the provided grocery bag to bring back your donations. You may drop them off anytime between 7:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. in the front foyer at McNair. Remember, together we have the ability to “SOCK IT TO HUNGER!” Items most needed include: Canned Meats, Canned Fruits, Canned Veggies, Beans, Peanut Butter, Boxed Meals, Rice, Pudding Cups, Pasta and Cereal. (Please remember to only donate items you would eat and be sure to check the expiration dates.) If you have any questions, please contact Jenifer Bauer via e-mail at jeniferd1963@gmail.com. Thank you!

If you would like to advertise your business in

our directory we are happy to have you!

Please include your business card and $10

payment to promote your local business!

Advertise

Now!!

$10

Students Name:___________________________________

Students Teacher:_________________________________

Quantity Ordered:_________________________________

Attach your business card here and

Return to the school by

10/30/15

It's time for the McNair "Tower of Power"! Beginning October 19th until

October 23th have your child bring in newspaper, magazines, flattened cardboard and school/sports

papers—flyers, etc to be dropped off in the AM. We will be measuring the piles of recycling to see which

grade has the tallest pile. So, let's get to recycling, McNair Commanders!

Terracycle: We are still collecting used cell phones, inkjet and toner cartridges and paired shoes to recycle.

If you have any of these items, please drop off in the blue bins in the front of the school.

Have questions or want to help the Go Green committee? Contact Cynthia Starnes, our Go Green Chair at

McNairGoGreen@yahoo.com

Tower of Power!!! Which Grade can get the most??

DENTON ISD PTA DAY AT NORTH TEXAS FOOTBALL

Welcome to North Texas! Enjoy a family-friendly experience at Apogee Stadium on October 10 at 4 p.m. when North Texas football hosts Portland State. Support your PTA by purchasing discounted tickets to North Texas football. Two dollars from each ticket purchased will be donated to support your PTA. Visit http://www.MeanGreenSports.com/promotions to access the Denton ISD PTA-day link. Thirty-one schools are participating, so make sure to use your school’s link. Use your school’s promo code to secure tickets and support your PTA. Promo codes are listed below. Mean Green vs. Portland State Saturday, October 10, 4 p.m. Apogee Stadium Compete against other Denton ISD PTAs. Encourage family and friends to join, as the school that sells the most tickets wins on-field in-game recognition, a Mean Green student-athlete visit to your campus, and a pep rally by North Texas spirit groups at your school. All tickets purchased online will be available on game day and may be picked up at the Gate 2 ticket office on the west side of Apogee Stadium with a photo ID. WELCOME TO NORTH TEXAS! DIRECTIONS & PARKING: Apogee Stadium is located at the corner of I-35 and Bonnie Brae in Denton. The parking lots immediately surrounding Apogee Stadium are reserved for donors to the Mean Green Club, whose donations help offset the cost of athletic scholarships. Game-day parking is located at Fouts Field off the I-35 north service road and North Texas Blvd. The parking lots surrounding Fouts Field are designated Orange Lots, and parking is $10, cash only. Free parking is available on campus on the northeast side of North Texas Blvd. Please review the Apogee Stadium Game Day Parking webpage for directions, traffic flow, and access to the Orange Lot and other on-campus parking. From the Orange Lot, it is a brief five to 10 minute walk across the pedestrian bridge spanning I-35 to the spacious grounds of Apogee Stadium. The landing of the pedestrian bridge will place you near Gate 3; if you need to redeem your tickets, continue walking to the right or west side of Apogee, where you will find Gate 2. Gates open 90 minutes prior to kickoff. For additional information regarding your North Texas football game-day experience, including tickets,

directions, parking, tailgating, merchandise, concessions, ADA assistance, and much more, visit

Northtexasgameday.com

PROMO CODES: PTAMcNair