pta pipeline 2009-09

29040 County Line Rd. Wesley Chapel, FL 33543 Phone: (813) 794-1900

Sick Line: (813) 794-1911

A Busy Fall for the PTA

Sand

Pine Elementary PTA

2009-2010www.sandpinepta.org

District School Board of Pasco County7227 Land O’ Lakes BoulevardLand O’ Lakes, Florida 34638

Heather Fiorentino, SuperintendentAllen Altman District 1Joanne Hurley District 2Cathi Martin District 3Kathryn Starkey District 4Frank Parker District 5

PTAPipelineSand Pine Elementary

Volume 12 • Issue 2 • September-October 2009

It takes lots of volunteers to make the Fall Festival a success. If you can

help, please contact Peggy D’Alessandro

at [email protected]!

It is hard to believe that the first month of school is already behind us! We hope everyone has gotten off to a great start this school year.

It has been a very busy and suc-cessful first few weeks for the PTA. Thanks to our members who have signed up to chair one of our PTA committees. We couldn’t do it with-out you. We still have a few open-ings and invite you to join us!

Our Fall General Assembly Meeting/BINGO was held in August and the 2009-2010 bud-get was approved by the General Assembly. Thanks to our BINGO chairperson, Christine Simonelli for making this a great night for our Sand Pine families.

Our Fall Catalog Fundraiser will kick off with a magician as-sembly on October 2nd and run through October 15th. We hope you will consider using the catalog to “wrap it up early” for the holi-days, while supporting our school. In response to many requests we have received from our busy Sand Pine families, we will be adding the option to “opt out” of the catalog sale, while still supporting the Fall Fundraiser by making a direct dona-tion. Your support will go a long way toward continuing to allow us to provide educational programs and fun family events!

We are excited to be hosting our first “Movie Night Under The Stars” on Fri, Oct 2. Admission and popcorn are free! So grab a blanket, maybe some bug spray, and join us on the basketball court as we watch Monsters vs Aliens. Keep your fingers crossed for great weather!

In an effort to recycle those old Halloween costumes and save our

Sand Pine families a few dollars, we will be hosting a PTA Costume Shop. Send in any gently used Halloween costumes that you have to donate on Oct. 5th-6th. We will spruce them up and the PTA Costume Shop will be open on Oct 15th from 3-7 pm, where costumes will be available for $1-$5.

Our Reflections program is now underway. This year’s theme is “Beauty is…” Please encourage your child to join students through-out the country in creating works of art. The submission deadline is Oct. 23rd. Submission forms can be found on the PTA website or in the school’s Media Center.

Dads – Come and have lunch with your child and meet some of their classmates during the Dad’s lunch on October 8th and 9th! This is a special day for the kids. We hope those who can attend, will. We real-ize not all fathers are available to be there. Many families decide to send another family member while oth-ers write a special note to their child, that they may open at lunch, letting them know they are being thought of throughout the day. This year we have also added the option of Donuts with Dad on Oct. 9th before school.

Red Ribbon Week is October 26-30. Our Health and Safety chairperson, Kem Baker, along with the guidance department, has a fun week planned. To continue to deliver the important message of living a healthy, drug-free lifestyle, on Nov 23rd the PTA will be bring-ing a professional BMX stunt show to our school. This educational and entertaining program is sure to engage and capture the students’ imaginations, while educating them in the process.

PTA has purchased an educational computer pro-gram called Brain Pop, which is available for use both in school, and at home. Log-in information will be given out by the teachers.

Last, but certainly not least, our Fall Festival will be held on Friday, October 23rd. This is by far one of the most fun events PTA makes available to the students and their families. There will be games, prizes, hay-rides, food, and the always popular dunk tank. We have some of your favorite teach-ers and one very special assistant principal who have volunteered to be in the dunk tank… so there will be plenty of fun for everyone! We hope you will join us! If you are available to volunteer for a 90 min-ute shift, please email [email protected]

Whew! And that is just the first two months of school! Be sure to stay up to date and visit us often at www.sandpinepta.org.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me at [email protected] with ideas, questions and suggestions. I look forward to meeting with you at our events. I hope everyone has a fun and safe Halloween!

—Peggy D’Alessandro, PTA President

The Pipeline is published six times a year and can be downloaded from our website online at www.sandpinepta.org

Principal Ginny Yanson

Assist Principal Todd Cluff

PTA President Peggy D’Alessandro

Editor/Designer Dawn Khalil

Next Newsletter deadline:

Friday, November 6h

2009-2010 PTA Board Members

President Peggy D’Alessandro

Treasurer Kim Clarke

Secretary Darlene Basi

1st VP Christine Simonelli

Vol Coordinator

Website Dawn Khalil

Website-Spanish Carlos Vera

Newsletter Dawn Khalil

Philanthropy Lisa Weinstein

Membership Mary Burstiner

Public Relations Nicole Auman

Reflections Mari Blank

Historian

Photography

Lost-n-found Deb Rottum

Dad’s Club Valerie Ryan-Lanza

Sports Totes Darlene Basi

Legislative Mari Blank

2nd VP Jenn Metz

Hospitality Colleen Moore

Fundraising Jenn Metz

Community Donations Chrissy Hymiak

Spring Event Delicia Morris-Gordon

Spirit/T-Shirts Jenn Metz

Team Party Tiffany Ragsdale

Health & Safety Kem Baker

Bingo Christine Simonelli

Programs

Recognitions Val Ryan-Lanza

Sponsorships Darlene Basi

Staff App Catherine McLain

School Vol. Co Ms. Westbrook

Principala note from the

Dear Parents,

Welcome to the 2009-10 school year at Sand Pine Elementary School. We had a great summer which included hosting our annual Kindergarten Camp for our new Kindergarten students. We enjoyed meeting them and ac-climating them to their new school.

The beginning of the year is off to a great start. Surprisingly, it has been one of the smoothest beginnings we have had. Much of that success goes to you for being patient and following school procedures.

I want to thank our PTA for providing a “Welcome Back” breakfast for our faculty and staff. The breakfast was delicious and we had a chance to be introduced to the members of the PTA board as well as preview some of their plans for the school year.

We received some exciting news over the summer. Our Media Center and Media Specialist, Belinda Pope, received the Florida Power Library Award from the Florida Association for Media in Education as one of 26 schools in the state to meet its highest standards. Our media center is now a model site for other schools to visit and gather new ideas for improving or developing their me-dia programs. Mrs. Pope was honored and Sand Pine’s Media Center was recognized for receiving this award at the School Board Meeting held on August 11.

We are barely into the school year and already many activities have taken place. Mr. Cluff and I enjoyed Bingo Night with our families on Friday night the first week of school. I enjoyed meeting many of you at the serving window at Brusters passing out those delectable treats. Thank you for sup-porting this community outing. We had a huge turnout and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and the ice cream!

Many of you were able to attend our Open Houses and visited the Book Fair. I must say it is always heartwarming to learn about the many gifts you provide us as a school through volunteering, serving on our School Advisory Committee, working with the PTA, etc.

However, it was brought to my attention that many of you purchased books for our teach-ers’ classroom libraries. I know that financially times are difficult for many of us, and yet some of you chose to do that rather than purchase for your families. I truly am touched by such generosity!

I have a couple of reminders for you. First of all, if you are interested in saving some time in the afternoon picking up children in the car rider line. Please consider the carpooling option we are offering. If you are transporting three or more students you qualify to use the bus loop for pickup in the afternoon. Since the bus loop is for buses, all carpool pickups must occur after the bus loop is clear which is approximately 2:55 p.m. If this sounds like a good option for you, call the school for more information at 813-794-1900.

Some important dates to place on your calendar are: Friday, October 23, will be our PTA sponsored Fall Festival and on Friday, October 30, will be our annual Halloween Parade. More details on both of these events will be sent at a later date.

The Sand Pine Elementary School Faculty and Staff believe that learning is the shared responsibility of the school, the student, the home, and the community. With this in mind, I hope you will be encouraged to take an ac-tive part in the educational program at our school. I look forward to working with you and your child this year.

Sincerely, Ginny L. Yanson, Principal

Frank Parker, Chairman of the Pasco County School Board (Left) Todd Cluff (Assistant Principal at SPES) Belinda Pope (Media Specialist) Wendy Spriggs (Director of Instructional Media and Technology), and Heather Fiorentino Superintendent of Pasco County Schools

September-October 2009 PTA Pipeline | 3

&TechnologyMedia

—Mrs. Pope, Media Specialist Mrs. Lattke, Technology Specialist, and

Mrs. Chitty, Media/Technology Assistant

Hip Hip Hooray for your support of our Destination Book Fair. Our Media, Reading, and Technology programs rely heavily on the cash and book profit earned through our book fairs. We went over our goal of $10,000 in total sales! Our total sales were $11,296 and our cash & book profit equals $2640. The following volunteers were great in helping make it successful: Mrs. Payne, Mrs. Glassman, Mrs. Campbell, Mrs. Lufkin, Mrs. Besterfield, Mrs. Lovelace, Mrs. Sunna, Mrs. Blank, Mrs. Pascullo, and Allison Kaiser (WRHS), Yareliz Fontanez (WRHS), Meghan Ryan (JLMS).

Our Media Volunteers ROCK! We love our vol-unteers who help with media center book circulation, reshelving, and assist students in using the MIND for book lookup or re-search. Mrs. Glassman, Mrs. Besterfield, Mrs. Sunna, Ms. Moore, and Mrs. Lufkin have been invaluable as we began our school year! If you would like to assist with our upcoming media center inventory (October 12-15), please call 794-1920.

All 2nd through 5th grade classes have now had media orientations and have checked out books. Please encourage and assist your children with reading and returning books on time (2 week check-out period). As books get more expensive and book budgets shrink, we appreciate your en-couragement with book care policies also. The K-1st graders will be having their ori-entations after our book fair. Students may check out two books at a time.

Mind resources • http://mind.pasco.k12.fl.us

Students are encouraged to use this site (paid for by Pasco County school district) for research, or to look up books in our me-dia center. This online resource requires a User ID and password (not required at any Pasco County school). Since these cannot be posted online, please request the MIND password page from the media center or from your teacher.

their website at http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/index.html. As we approach the survey window, we will provide you with more information about how you can participate!

Our first Box Tops for Education collection for this school year is coming! From October 14-16, we will be collecting the summer collec-tion sheets and the new Webkinz collection sheets in front of the school. The class that returns the most collection sheets this time will win a computer lab party. Thanks to Ganz for donating the Webkinz that stu-dents can win. There will be one collection box, and one student collection sheet will be chosen from Primary, Transitional, and Intermediate. Additional collection sheets are available at http://sandpine.pasco.k12.fl.us/publications/webkinz_collec-tion_sheet_09.pdf. Clipping those BoxTops really makes a difference; each completed form with 25 BoxTops earns $2.50 for SPES! Thanks to our students and families for your support!

Don’t forget to recycle your juice pouches. For each juice pouch, SPES earns 2 cents to support the technology program. Mrs. Carter’s Pouch Brigade created some help-ful instructional videos about the collec-tion process and frequently asked ques-tions; you can find these videos at http://sandpine.pasco.k12.fl.us/users/hwiggins/weblog/85232/Juice_Pouch_Information.html. Save the pouch, save the world, and earn money for Sand Pine!!!

Thanks to the Sand Pine PTA, our students will be using 20 Netbooks in their class-rooms this year. A Netbook is like a mini laptop that is very durable and inexpensive. These great tools allow students to access the Internet and educational software right from their desks! Stay tuned for more up-dates throughout the year about how these high-tech resources are helping students learn in the classroom. Additionally, the LCD projectors purchased last year by PTA have been deployed in the classroom and have already been used to support the use of SMART Boards for lessons, to show vid-eos from Discovery Education streaming, to present digital slideshows, and to interact with online educational websites. Classes have also been signing up to come to the computer lab for their beginning of the year orientation. In these sessions, students learn key computer vocabulary, recall the rules of school technology use, and partici-pate in activities to prepare them for their computer use in the upcoming year.

One of our key focuses in the Media/Technology plan this year is to provide instruction for students on being good cybercitizens. Elements of this goal are also incorporated into our school’s improve-ment plan. A cybercitizen is a member of our growing digital world. As students use technology more, we want to ensure that we offer them guidance on using technol-ogy appropriately, safely, and effectively. Later in the year, we will be offering les-sons through our district’s online learning system to help students learn about this important topic.

From October 12 - December 18, schools within our district will be participating in the “Speak Up 2009” survey. This survey given to teachers, students, and parents will help to assess our school’s use of educational technology and our students’ understand-ing of science, math, and 21st century skills. For more information on this survey, visit

4 | September-0ctober 2009 PTA Pipeline

Guidance Corner

www.goodsearch.com

Do you search the Internet? Why not search for a good cause? You can use www.goodsearch.com and raise money for Sand Pine while you surf online! Here’s how it works: Go to www.goodsearch.com and in the “enter your charity here…” box under the search box, type in “Sand Pine” and click the “Verify” but-ton. Now, just search away like a normal search engine, and each search will produce one penny for SPES! The setting should stick each time you go to GoodSearch on that same computer, but just to be sure that SPES gets credit for the searches, make sure that is always says Sand Pine Elementary School under “Who do you GoodSearch for?”

Box Tops

Earn Cash for our School with Box

Tops for Education!

1. Clip Box Tops.2. Send Box Tops to School.3. Our School Earns Cash!!

Return the form found on www.sandpinepta.org with your boxtops glued to it between October 14-16th for your chance to win a Webkinz!

Simple ways YOU can support Sand Pine Elementary

Hi Sand Pine Parents!

Market Day

Don’t forget Market Day! If you haven’t tried it before you should, as everything bought helps us earn money for our school.

Orders Due

Pick Up Date (2:30-4:30)

Oct 2 Oct 15

Oct 30 Nov 12

Dec 1 Dec 12

Go to www.marketday.com to order online

“Beauty is”Each year, PTA’s Reflections Program challenges students to create art that relates to a specific theme. This year, our theme is “Beauty is …” Create a response to this year’s theme in any or all of 6 different artistic categories (Photography, Visual Arts, Literature, Musical Composition, Dance Choreography and Film/Video Production) for a chance to advance to the Pasco County level or beyond!

All entry forms and general rules will be available beginning September 25th in the Media Center, but HURRY… the deadline for submissions is October 23rd. All par-ticipants will visit the PTA Treasure Box in the Media Center and will be invited to at-tend a special awards and display party at our General Assembly Meeting November 20th. Remember, a parent or guardian must sign the official entry form in order to participate.

For more information or to download the official rules and entry forms, you can also visit our PTA’s website at www.sandpinepta.org, or contact the Reflections Chair, Mari Blank, at [email protected].

We have a lot of things happening with our Developmental Guidance Program this year!

I’m back as Sand Pine’s Guidance Counselor for my eighth year and am so happy to be a part of this great community. Joining me this first semester is intern Ms. Lorynn Young, who will be graduating in December with a Masters in Education in Counseling from USF. I’m so glad she is with our Student Services team to com-plete her advanced degree.

Every child in our school benefits from Pasco’s Guidance philosophy, which reaches each of our students through classroom lessons, in addition to other services. These lessons help kids learn skills with the aim to help them grow academically, socially, and emotionally. We cover a variety of topics such as Safety, Conflict Resolution, School Success Skills, Friendship Skills, and Character Education and are in each of our classrooms at least eight times per school year.

In addition to classroom Guidance, we will be offering small group counseling for those students who would benefit from an extra boost in support in dealing with

Anger, Friendship Skills, School Success Skills, Anxiety, and Family Changes.

Pasco County is also participating in a state-wide Anti Bullying initiative that be-gins this school year, and at Sand Pine we are implementing thorough procedures for dealing with any incidents of bullying on our campus. While we have very few bullying issues at our school, our hope is to implement even clearer and more consis-tent procedures across our campus so that 100% of our students feel safe at school.

There is also individual or family counsel-ing is available short term here at Sand Pine through our Guidance department. I am also always available to help with all kinds of parenting questions, so please don’t hesitate to ask. My son is in 10th, and my daughter is in 6th grade, so I under-stand the challenges of parenthood and the importance of a parent’s role in his or her child’s education.

Please let me know if you have any ques-tions, or you need a confidential shoulder to lean on.

Take Care, Linda Matthews, M.Ed., 794-1917


Campbell’s Labels For Education™ Program

This program awards schools free educational merchandise!

Attention Parents: Campbell’s Soup now requires the UPC code off of the packages. They will no longer accept the front labels off the products. Please continue to help out our school by sending in your UPC codes! Visit www. labelsforeducation.com for a complete list of eligible products.

Blue Moon Dry Cleaners

Blue Moon Dry Cleaners will donate 10% of the

total cost of your dry cleaning orders to our PTA. Blue Moon is a dry cleaning service that picks up and delivers directly to your home. Contact them at 813-615-1415 to set up your account today and tell them Sand Pine sent you!

PTA Sports Totes

Your PTA has donated sports totes. These totes include sports balls, jump ropes and side-walk chalk. The PTA would like to ask all families to help replenish these packs throughout the year. Donations of any new or gently used sports equipment would be greatly appreciated! These items can be turned in to the front office, or sent in with your child.

Spirit Day

Don’t forget to show your Sand Pine Spirit by wearing your Sand Pine Elementary T-shirt on Fridays and you could win a treat in the caf-eteria (up to 75 cents) from the PTA!

Order your shirts. Send the form (download from the PTA website) with your check (pay-able to SPES PTA) to school.

I’d like to welcome all of our new and return-ing families to SPES! I’m looking forward to a great year of working with you and your children.

Be a Reading Role Model for your Child!

Many parents will ask me what they can do at home to help their child become a better reader. One of the most important things you can do is to be a reading role model. Here are some easy things you can do to help motivate your child and help them build an intrinsic love for reading!

Read for leisure: Show your child that read-ing isn’t work! Cuddle up with a good book and you’ll model how reading can be just the thing to make your day.

Read together: Open up conversations about books you read together; pause to read an interesting fact or wonder what an unfamiliar word means. Knowing that the reading experi-ence is not something they have to do alone will often motivate reluctant readers.

Buy or check-out books together: Whenever you’re going to the bookstore or

public library, let your child come along. Even if you aren’t looking for anything in particular, practice the art of book browsing and admiring. Make an event out of it and your child will learn to be excited about the sight of books.

HAPPY READING!

TreasuresWe are moving into our second year of us-

ing the core reading program, Treasures by Macmillan McGraw-Hill! It’s so exciting to walk into the classrooms and see that the students are so familiar with the routines during their reading block. I just wanted to remind parents that the Macmillan McGraw-Hill website has some won-derful resources available to parents! Check them out! We have a link on our school website (http://sandpine.pasco.k12.fl.us) under the section, “For Parents.”

Parent Buddy Reading Program

Mrs. Blank and I are very excited to be mov-ing into our 3rd year with the SPES Parent Buddy Reading Program! More information to come…

Literacy CoachFrom Our

Angie Westbrook“As parents, the most important thing we can do is read to our children early and often. Reading is the path to success in school and life. When children learn to love books, they learn to love learning.”

—Laura BushStudent Council is Gearing Up!

Student Council is com-prised of 2 representatives from each of the Intermediate (Gators and Turtles) classes. Elections will be held soon to choose this year’s President (must be a 5th grader), Vice Pres., Secretary, and Treasurer. You can see many campaign posters already up, and the candidates are preparing their speeches! Good luck to all!

Our first intermediate social is planned for Friday, October 30, and the Student Council has lots of exciting things planned for this year.

Parents, please remember there is NO PARKING allowed on the grassy areas along County Line Road. This is costly to the community as it damages the sprinkler system.


The ‘09-‘10 Books Read at least three of the following titles

and youʼll get to VOTE for your favorite in

the statewide election!

The Puzzling World of Winston Breen by Eric Berlin

The Middle of Somewhere

by J. B. Cheaney

The Lemonade War

by Jacqueline Davies

The Fabled Fourth Graders of

Aesop Elementary School

by Candace Fleming

Brendan Buckleyʼs Universe and

Everything In It by Sundee T. Frazier

Igraine the Brave

by Cornelia Funke

Found

by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Defiance

by Valerie Hobbs

Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat by Lynne Jonell

Me and the Pumpkin Queen

by Marlane Kennedy

The Year of the Dog

by Grace Lin

Highway Cats by Janet Taylor Lisle

Punished

by David Lubar

Night of the Howling Dogs

by Graham Salisbury

A Crooked Kind of Perfect

by Linda Urban

SPES CRANE READERS-Grades 3-5

Sunshine State Young Reader Awards

The Rewards Read this yearʼs titles, pass the Accelerated Reader

quizzes and youʼll receive the following recognition

for your SSYRA reading accomplishments:

1st book:

Sunshine State Bookmark to track your progress!

3rd book:

Hot, Hot, Hot Pencil and your Sun placed on the

SPES Sunshine State wall in the Media Center.

7th book: Porcupine Pal and LUNCH BUNCH in the Butterfly

Garden.

11th book:

Reading Buddy Bookmark and BINGO Ice Cream

Party

15th book: WOW! You have earned a fabulous end of year

party with your reading crane friends and special

guest appearance on the SPES News Show!

You also get a “secret reader” flashlight and a

Tijuana Flats meal coupon.

The Celebrations

Read SEVEN of this yearʼs SSYRA titles and pass

the AR quizzes by December 11th and bring your

Lunch to the Butterfly Garden (we will provide some

goodies & fun)!

Read ELEVEN of this yearʼs SSYRA titles and

pass the AR quizzes by February 9th, and come to

an Ice Cream BINGO party!

Read ALL FIFTEEN of this yearʼs SSYRA titles,

pass the AR quizzes by May 8th, and CELEBRATE

with a “surprise party”!


Our School Year CalendarSeptember 2009 October 2009 November 2009

9/7 No School 9/8 Fall Pictures9/9 Brusters Night9/14-18 Book Fair9/14 Open house—Angelfish,

Manatees, Tree Frogs9/17 Open house—Dolphins, Panthers,

Loggerhead Turtles, Gators9/22 Progress Reports9/24 Domino’s Night

10/2 PTA Magician Assembly/ Free Movie Night; Monsters Vs Aliens

10/2-15 PTA catalog fundraiser10/7 Walk to School Day10/8-9 Dads’ Club Lunch/Donuts with Dad10/13 Tijuana Flats Night10/15 Market Day pick-up

PTA Costume Shop10/16 Planning Day/No School10/23 Fall Festival / Report cards10/26-30 Red Ribbon Week10/28 Domino’s Night10/30 Halloween parade

Intermediate Social

11/11 Veteran’s Day no school11/12 Market Day pick-up11/13 Ident-a-kid11/18 Great American Teach In11/19 Domino’s Night11/16-20 PTA Food Drive11/20 PTA General Assembly/Reflections

Celebration11/23 BMX stunt show 11/24 Progress Reports11/25-27 Thanksgiving Holiday

December 2009 January 2010 February 201012/10 Market Day pick-up12/14-18 PTA Holiday Shop (during school

hours)12/14-16 Winter Program at Wiregrass High

School for Primary 12/17 Domino’s Night12/22 Candy Cane Run12/23-31 Winter Break

1/1-11 Winter Break1/12 Tijuana Flats Night1/15 Report Cards1/18 Dr. MLK Holiday No School1/28 Community Night (SAC)

2/5 PTA family event (TBD)2/9-11 FCAT Writes (4th Grade)2/15 President’s Day No School2/18 Market Day pick-up2/23 Progress Reports2/25 Domino’s Night

March 2010 April 2010 May 20103/4 Spring Pictures3/9-10 FCAT/SAT-10 Quiet Campus3/11-17 FCAT Quiet Campus3/17 Brusters Night3/18 Market Day Pick-up 3/22 Walk-A-Thon “Go Take a Hike”

kick off assembly3/24-26 Book Fair3/25 Domino’s Night3/26 Field Day

4/1 Hat Parade/ PTA Walk-a-thon4/2 Planning Day / No School4/5-9 Spring Break4/13 Tijuana Flats Night4/16 Report Cards

& Relay For Life at Wiregrass High4/22 Market Day pick-up4/23 PTA General Assembly/Bingo Night

5/3-7 Teacher Appreciation Week5/6 School Play5/10 Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast5/11 Progress Reports5/21 PTA Spaghetti Dinner5/27 Domino’s Night5/31 Memorial Day — No School

June 20106/9 Student’s last day -

5th grade clap out


Fri, Oct 30 Halloween ParadeEvery year, Sand Pine students get to show off their

Halloween best. Come see what the administration will be dressed as this year as they lead the school Halloween parade around the bus loop for friends and family to see!

Fri, Oct 30, Intermediate SocialThe Student Council is planning a social for 4th and

5th graders on Friday, October 30th. This evening will be manned by teachers, and is an opportunity for parents of 4th and 5th grade students to have a night out with-out the kids!

Fri, Oct. 2 Movie Night!Bring a blanket to watch Monsters vs. Aliens under the stars (on our basketball court) at 7 pm (movie starts at 7:30) for this family fun event (no drop-offs). They’ll be free admission and popcorn for all! Bring a gently used costume to donate for a chance at a prize!

Th-Fri, Oct. 8-9 Dads’ ClubAll dads, uncles, grandfathers or significant male

role models are invited to come to school for the an-nual Dad’s Club Lunch. This is a great way to meet your child’s classmates and enjoy a lunch with your child! In an effort to make this manageable, each class has a suggested day, however, dads are wel-come to attend either day (lunch schedules can be found online at www.sandpinepta.org). Adult school lunch meals and drinks will be available to purchase for $3.35. Cash only please.

Fri, Oct. 9 Donuts with Dad For those Dads who cannot make it for lunch, we’re having an

early morning “Donuts with Dad” celebration from 8-8:30 am in the cafeteria.

Costume SwapRecycle those old Halloween costumes by donating them to the PTA Costume Shop!

Please send in any gently used Halloween costumes on Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 5th and 6th. PTA will be hosting a Costume Shop on Thursday October 15th from 3-7 pm in the cafeteria where Sand Pine Families can buy gently used Costumes for between $1-$5!

October 26-30 is Red Ribbon Week

This is an ideal way for kids and communities to unite and take a visible stand against drugs. Show your commit-ment to a drug-free lifestyle through the symbol of the Red Ribbon. Watch for more detailed information about Sand Pine’s red ribbon activities.

October 2nd 7:00 pm

(7:30 pm movie start time)

Join us for our first PTA Movie Night Under the Stars!

Bring your family and a blanket and be ready for an evening of fun under the stars (on the basketball court weather permitting). Dress appropriately and don’t forget your bug-spray!

Admission and popcorn are FREE! Soda will be available for $.50, or bring your own.

Bring a gently used Halloween costume to donate to the PTA Costume Shop and you will be entered into a drawing to win a Monsters-vs-Aliens prize pack!

Note: This is not a drop off event. All children must be accompanied by an adult.

A special thanks to Theatre Doctor for providing the equipment for this event!

Movie NightUnder the Stars

What’s Coming Your Way

For information on these activities & events visit

www.sandpinepta.org


EPI is giving away Magical Mickey Passes! Our PTA fall fundraiser will kick off

October 2 and run through the 15th. Your EPI catalog will be sent home with your child. Far away friends and relatives can also help out by ordering online and their purchases will be shipped directly to them.

Every student who sells at least one product will have his or her name put in a drawing. Two lucky win-ners will be rewarded with a family 4-pack of Walt Disney World’s Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party passes.

So start your holiday shopping early and conveniently through your EPI Catalog! Get your orders in by October 15 for delivery the first week of December and good luck to all!

Sand Pine PTA Friday

October 23rd6-8:30 PM

Yummy food like hot dogs, nachos, apple cider and carmel apples.Games like the Scarecrow Hop, Candy Corn Toss, Pilgrim Duck Pond, Apple Bob and Ghost Kisses.Fun Prizes including candy, toys, posters, and more.Activities and Entertainment like face painting, tatoos, caracters, hay rides, a dunk tank.…and so much more!

Enter our Pumpkin Decorating Contest:Be creative! Use paint, yarn, hats—anything you want. Real or craft punpkins will be ac-cepted! A great prize will be awarded for CROWD FAVORITE. Ribbons will also be awarded for many categories.

Volunteers are still neededWe can’t do it without volunteers, and we need your help! Please contact Peggy D’Alessandro at [email protected].


Energy BusAt the end of last school year, as

a member of our Lead Literacy Team, I was given a book by

Ms. Westbrook, our Literacy Coach. It was called The Energy Bus by author Jon Gordon. She gave us all “tickets” and invited us all to be “passengers” on the Lead Literacy Bus next year, and she asked us to read the book over the summer. Well, never to pass up an invitation, I accepted and read the book.

To be honest, the book was a very easy read. I like having some reading times like that! The book was written as a parable that told of a man who needed to rethink his approach and attitude in life. Things were not going well, and he was in a downward spiral. However, his car broke down he start-ed taking the city bus to work, and it was on that bus (yes, you guessed it, it was called the Energy Bus) he learned about the energy that comes from approaching life’s challenges with an optimistic mindset.

The things the author addressed were validated by my own life’s experiences. They rang true with the things I saw each day in the lives of adults I work

with. And, as a parent, it reinforced what I am trying to help my daughters understand as they become healthy adults. Although the author addresses many “rules” in the book, the mes-sage that kept resounding with me was—Positive energy, fueled through optimism, purpose, and hope, leads to true accomplishment.

MOST successes in life are fueled by a belief that we have the ability to rise above current circumstances and positively impact our future. Here at school I’ve seen students who had become disheartened and couldn’t seem to think past the immediate mo-ment. Although this is developmen-tally understandable, after all, they are just little ones, I see that part of my job each day is to help inspire them to take ownership of their future choices. They need to see hope for things get-ting better.

The same is true for us adults. We often need to be reminded that we have a lot of control. We have a choice each day to choose how we’ll see our lives. We get to choose our attitude. If you think about it, that is a very powerful thing.

It’s an exciting NEW year. I’m onboard a bus full of students, adults, and loads of energy! I invite you to jump on and travel with us as we see a positive year full of exciting potential. Help inspire your child to see the success that is within reach, and highlight the good things that can easily be overshad-owed by negative things. Fuel their lives with positive energy.

We’ll be waiting for them each day with the same optimism… All aboard!

—Todd Cluff, Assistant Principal

The

Sand Pine energy BuS TickeT

Who’s on your bus?

you’re the driver of your bus. 1. desire, vision and focus move your bus in the right 2. direction. Fuel your ride with positive energy. 3. invite people on your bus and share your vision for 4. the road ahead. don’t waste your energy on those who don’t get 5. on your bus.

Post a sign that says “no energy Vampires 6. allowed” on your bus. enthusiasm attracts more passengers and 7. energizes them during the ride. Love your passengers. 8. drive with purpose. 9. Have fun and enjoy the ride.10.

Ten rules for the ride of your life


October 10th

– 18th

2009 Barnes & Noble The Shops at Wiregrass

•Hispanic Heritage Bi-Lingual Storytime – Sat. Oct. 10th

11am

•Educator Appreciation Reception – Tues. Oct. 13th

6-8pm

• Pick up your copy of Diary of a Wimpy Kid #4: Dog Days Diary of a Wimpy Kid Party – Friday Oct. 16

th 7pm

• Don’t miss Pasco Counties First Family Reading Round-Up

Thursday Oct. 15th

6-8pm with special guest storytellers, Reading Strategies, Games, and Activities.

Receive recommendations on books for all Elementary Grade Levels, presentations on

Sunshine State Young Readers, and Florida Reading Association!!!

Oct. 10th

– 18th

2009

Barnes & Noble

The Shops at Wiregrass

28152 Paseo Drive, Suite 100

Wesley Chapel, FL 33543

813-907-7739

Bookfair I.D. # 10032639

A percentage of your Barnes & Noble purchases will benefit

Sand Pine Elementary when you present Bookfair ID # 10032639

What is a Partner?

A partner jointly plans ob-jectives and makes an annual, ongoing commitment to our school, a classroom, a team, or department. Partnerships can include donations of money, manpower (time), or materi-als and services (i.e., Student recognition, attendance incen-tives, participation in the Great American Teach-In, buddy read-ers, etc.).

Where do partners come from?

Local businesses, profession-al groups, civic groups or other community organizations.

Who are some of our partners?

Tijuana Flats School Advisory Council Representative, provides Star Student and reading incentive

coupons year round, provided a Mexican fiesta luncheon for the entire faculty/staff on registra-tion day and is donating 20% of all proceeds on our Sand Pine Tijuana Nights (first one is October 13, 2009 from 5-8pm)

Cosi at Wiregrass Mall provides a monthly gift certifi-cate for our faculty/staff peer recognition, donates 20% of proceeds from our Sand Pine Cosi Nights (first one will on February 2, 2010)

Starbuck’s (1800 Bruce B. Downs) provides donations for our Teacher of the Year and School Related Person of the Year. They also host a holiday gift collection drive for some of families at SPES who need help during the holidays.

Horace Mann Teacher’s Insurance Company provides monthly incentives for our fac-ulty/staff recognitions.

Domino’s Pizza (10052 Cross Creek Blvd.) provides all of the pizza for our month-ly Star Student Pizza Parties. They also provide 20% return from SPES family purchases on our Pizza Nights. Don’t forget to turn in your Domino’s pizza flyer so we get credit for your purchase and so your classroom gets credit. The classroom with the most orders, wins a pizza party. Flyers come home with your child.

Barnes & Noble Booksellers at Wiregrass Mall is donating a

percentage of purchases made during the week of Oct. 10-17th by Sand Pine families using voucher #10032639. Purchases may also be made online and at any B&N store with this voucher. They may also be donating some student reading incen-tives. They provide reading mo-tivation parties and activities for our entire area.

What are we looking for?

Partners for increased tech-nology needs. We would love to have some partners who would match some of our fundraising efforts or match some of our technology capital outlay funds for technology upgrades and replacements.

For further information about business partnerships, call Belinda Pope at 794-1920.

Upcoming pizza nights:

September 24

October 28

Sand Pine Business Partners Help to Refuel Our Energy Bus


3 4Thank YouSand Pine PTA Business Partners

The Sand Pine PTA would like to thank the businesses listed on these pages for their generous support. When you visit these businesses, please thank them for their support.

member name

if joining as family—spouse’s name

address

email address

Would you like to receive notices by email? c yes c no

Please check:

c Mother c Father

c Grandparent

c Community/Business Partner

c Faculty/Staff

c Teacher

student name

pod/teacher

student name

pod/teacher

student name

pod/teacher

Dues are $5 for one adult, $8 for family (2 adults). $25 for Business memberships

Send this form with check (payable to SPES PTA) or cash to school with your child, or via mail to:

Sand Pine Elementary PTA29040 County Line RoadWesley Chapel, FL 33543

Questions? Contact Mary Burstiner at [email protected].

Have you joined the PTA yet?We’re off to a great start with 441 parents joining our PTA. If you haven’t become a member yet, please consider how valuable your $5-8 annual membership means to our PTA. There are no obligations, you can be as involved as your schedule allows.

When PTA gets involved, all children benefit! #

If you’d like to become a PTA Superstar and

see your business listed here and on our website,

contacting Darlene Basi at superstars@

sandpinepta.org.

PTA Platinum Superstars

Silver SuperstarsMcllwain Family Dentistry 3


thank youTo all our Parent and Teacher Volunteers…Thank you for giving the school a wonderful start full of Sand Pine spirit by helping out with your time and enthusiasm starting even before school opened with Registration day. Our Bingo night brought out lots of families and again, our volunteers came through. We could not have such events without the support of our volunteers!

Halloween Safety Tips

Never trick-or-treat alone. "

Plan your route with your "family.

Stay in neighborhoods you "know.

Don’t play near lit jack-o’- "lanterns.

Visit only those houses with "lights on.

Accept treats in the doorway "only—do not go into the house.

Be sure to say thank you for the "treats

Have your parents check your "candy before eating it.

Always walk—not run. "

Stay on the sidewalks and cross "streets at the corner.

Carry a flashlight or wear reflec- "tive clothing or tape.

If wearing a mask, make sure "the eyeholes allow you to see well.

Be safe and have fun! "

Bingo night was a success! Thank you to our sponsors, MOSI, Wesley Chapel Martial Arts Academy, and Dinosaur World.

The Book Fair was crowded during our open houses. The School Advisory Committee was voted on as well.

September 21st was an orientation for new school volunteers. Thanks to all who attended!

Mrs. Yanson served ice cream like a pro at Bruster’s Night September 9th. Thanks go to Bruster’s for donating a portion of the proceeds that night.

A special thanks to Doctor’s Walk-In Clinic for supplying every student with hand sanitizer for their desks!

pta pipeline 2009-09

Documents

busy sand pine families

busy fall

fall fundraiser

fall catalog fundraiser

fall festival

pta website

pta committees

pta costume shop