TrailBlazer - Forest Trail Elementary School

TrailBlazer
http://fte.eanesisd.net
Principally Speaking...
January 26, 2012
☺ Jan.17-27th, FTE Annual
Food and Diaper Drive
☺ Jan. 26th– FTE Science
Fair/Open House/Art Show
(5:30-7pm)
☺ Jan. 26th– FTE Chick-fil-A
Spirit Night (3-10pm)
☺ Jan. 28th– FTE’s Boots and
Bandanas Auction and Party
(6:30-11:30-Bob Bullock
State History Museum)
☺ Jan. 30th– 100th Day of
School!
☺ Jan. 31st– 5th to 6th Grade
Transition Parent Meeting(67:30pm WRMS Cafeteria)
☺ Jan. 31st– 5th to 6th grade
Transition Special Education
Program Parent Meeting(5:30-6pm WRMS Library)
☺ Feb. 1st-3rd, Parent Play
Days, FTE Gym
☺ Feb. 2nd– Froyoyo Spirit
Day
☺ Feb.3rd– Booster Club Mtg.
8:45am (library)
☺ Feb.7th– Class pictures and
Choir pictures taken
☺ Feb. 10th- 5th Grade Valentines Day parties,
1:55pm-2:30pm
☺ Feb.10th– 4th & 5th grade
Family Square Dance,
5:30pm-9:00pm(FTE
Café/Gym)
☺ Feb.10th– Deadline for 6th
grade on-line elective course
selection
This past week I’ve had the opportunity to observe two “happenings” at Forest Trail which on
the surface may appear to just be “feel good fun” for kids but have significant dividends for our
students’ academic and social development. The canned food and diaper drive as well as our
garden harvesting parties were fun events for our students yet provided meaningful opportunities
for application of both academic and life skills.
The gardening harvest parties were a culmination of the fall growing season where children had
the opportunity to plant, tend, harvest, and consume various vegetables, many of which might
have been totally avoided at home unless forcibly fed to your child. By participating in the
growing of the produce, the children are generally eager to taste the results of their efforts and
less prone to the gagging reflex parents often experience in attempting to introduce varied vegetables. Through the garden experience, the children have not only learned about the life cycle of
the plants, but also have gained an appreciation for what it takes to get produce to stores for our
convenient consumption. Through discussions and modeling by our staff and the tremendous
garden volunteers, the importance of proper nutrition and proper stewardship of our earth are
concepts which become internalized. Mathematical concepts of measurement, estimation, and
geometry are emphasized and descriptive and creative writing opportunities abound. I’ve included an example of creative writing from one of our fourth grade students entitled “My Plant”.
My Plant
When I look at my colorful, beautiful Swiss-chard plant, memories of the FTE garden spill into
my head, like Niagara Falls! I got my plant at the FTE garden. That day, there were 2 stations:
one to pick our plant seeds, and one to pull weeds out of the flower beds. When I was at the seed
station, I got my Swiss-chard seeds, and I put them into my little cup. The soil was already watered, so we just brought them into our classrooms. Then, a few days later, my plant sprouted!!
Excitement flooded my mind like the oceans’ worth of water filling the ocean! That was the only
thing that I thought about that day. I learned from Ms. Kristin Paull that it makes a great stir-fry
when you cook it in Canola oil, and over a high flame. When I brought it home, I showed it to
my grandma, and my mom, and they were impressed (my grandma rather dazzled, on account of
her love for plants). It is still sitting on my porch, seamlessly watching the sun rise, and set. So,
that is why my plant is special to me!!!
Arjun Zutshi
Mrs. Lauderdale’s 4th Grade Class
In the foyer of the school, students, staff, and parents have established an active collection station for donations of food and diapers for the Capitol Area Food Bank. The students while patiently waiting in line are seeing their significant adults actually demonstrate an act of philanthropy. They are observing their fourth and fifth grade peers as they work to record, chart, and
pack the donations. In the classrooms, while students are learning about the importance of philanthropy in a civilized society, they also are given opportunities to apply reading, writing, and
mathematical skills to a real life problem. Relevant application of academic skills is a key element for long term acquisition of these very important concepts.
Congratulations to parents and staff that have made these extraordinary learning opportunities
available for our students. While the results of these kinds of efforts are not likely to be reflected on a state standardized test, the depth and complexity of the learning involved far exceeds what can be measured by multiple choice questions.
Page
2
Trailblazer
Booster Club Corner– January 26, 2012
ONLY 2 MORE DAYS UNTIL THE FTE PARTY
OF THE YEAR – THE BOOTS & BANDANAS
AUCTION & BASH!!!!
FTE Auction and Bash…. we have some fantastic items for you, and you need to
be ready to out-bid your friends and snag the great stuff!! From culinary delights, to fantastic kids’ packages, to
deals to help you stay healthy and fit, to, of course, our great Live Auction Line-up! We have Forest Trail favorites, and we have some “first-time-at-FTE” items for you to raise your paddle for. And of course, there is the 100
for $100 raffle …..talk about fantastic odds!! You can win the item of your choice from the list of 100 for $100 live
auction items…. And you don’t even have to be there to win!!!
For the second year in a row, we will have the Super Bowl Squares Raffle at the auction, with fantastic quarter
prizes, and a grand prize of a once-in-a-lifetime Chicago’ Classic Wrigley Fields Rooftop Seats & Dining Experience for two, with a three nights stay at the Fairmont or Swissotel!!! For each ticket you purchase, you will get
to draw a number between 1 & 100, and your name will go into the square with that number. You will then be given a
copy of the completely filled out squares, and instructions to follow the Super Bowl game on February 5th, to see if
you win!!
Get all the details, and your tickets, online at www.fteauction.com, or at the Booster Club Home Page at http://
booster-club.fte.eanesisd.net, and click on the “online Payment” button. You can also purchase teacher tickets, or
make a cash donation towards the teacher tickets fund online. Buy your tickets now and support your child’s school!!!
Shuttle Buses Available: We will have shuttle buses running from Forest Trail Elementary to the Bob Bullock Museum for the auction event. Shuttles will leave FTE at 5:45 pm sharp for the VIP-Hour ticket holders, and 6:45
pm sharp for the general admission ticket holders. Return shuttles will leave the museum at 10:30 pm, 11:00
pm & 11:45 pm. Please indicate whether you will ride the shuttle on your ticket form or during your online ticket
purchase.
A BIG Thank-You to all our sponsors and donors for all your support!! Please see the sponsor and donor listings in the
front lobby and on www.fteauction.com, and be sure to thank these generous donors when you see them. Our business
donors are our special partners, so please support their businesses to show your appreciation of their support of your
child’s school.
Next Booster Club Meeting:
Thank you for a fabulous turnout at the January Booster Club Meeting!! Mr. Waggoner’s presentation was extremely
informative, and we really appreciate the time that he spent talking to our 4th and 5th grade parents.
Our next meeting is scheduled for February 3rd, at 8:45 am, in the FTE Library. Our special guest is Forest
Trail parent Fabianna Laby. She will be talking about how families can manage and deal with stress, and how our children can learn the very useful skill of managing stress in their very active and full lives. Fabi would love to answer
your questions, and in order to help her round up the appropriate resources for you, she would love to get your questions ahead of time. Please e-mail her at fabispyd@sbcglobal.net with your questions, so that her information is most
directly helpful to you, and we look forward to seeing you at the meeting on February 3rd!!
Page
3
Trailblazer
Page
4
Trailblazer
Page
5
Trailblazer
Page
6
Trailblazer
Boots and Bandanas Auction Donors..
Page
7
Trailblazer
Boots and Bandanas Auction Donors Continued..
Page
8
Trailblazer
More Auction Donors..
Westlake High School Athletic Departments –
Volleyball, Baseball, Softball, Girls Basketball,
Boys Soccer, Football
Vanishing Texas River Cruise
Vintage Villas Hotel
Doug & Kelley Vender
Westlake High School Hyline
Voila Desserts
Westlake Pet Services
W Austin
Westlake Picayune
Matt & Michelle Walker
Westlake Tae Kwon Do
Steve & Lori Wescoat
Westlake Youth Soccer
West Austin Athletic Club
Westlake YPW
Westbank Dry Cleaning
Wild Bird Trunk Shows
Westbank Flower Market
Angela Woodbridge
Westgate Lanes
YMCA of the Rockies
Westlake Animal Clinic & Hospital
zpizza
Westlake Faces
Anjali & Pamposh Zutshi
Parent Play Days..
Parent Play Day
Parent Play Days are back! They will be held on February 1st, 2nd and 3rd.
A play day is when you have a special invitation to come to your child’s
physical education class and play with him /her. During the last round of
Play Days we had over 390 parents join in the fun. Mark your calendars
and come play with us!
A Day
B Day
C Day
2/1
2/2
2/3
9:05-9:55
Mueller
Johnson/Barnard
Gable/Hurst
10:00-10:50
Harvey
Guerra/Krause
Herrera
Linder/Ormand
Purdy/Tenney
11:25-12:15
12:45-1:35
Ricker
Brandenburg/Brookshire
Couvillion/Tomasik
1:40-2:30
Spraberry
Bailey/Ellis
Lauderdale/Lofgren
Matus/Buchanan
Hernandez/Johnson
2:30-3:20
th
5 Fifth
Check with your child to see if they are in a split class (5th Fifth). They may have PE on a
different day than their homeroom.
Page
9
Trailblazer
FTE Food and Diaper Drive..
Forest Trail’s Annual Food and Diaper Drive
Dates:
Location:
Drop Off Time:
Jan 17-27
Outside the Art Rooms
8:00 – 8:25
We will record the number of items each grade level brings in and chart
those numbers. A chart for each grade level will be posted outside of the Art Rooms.
Students who contribute 5 food items,$5,or a pack of diapers will receive an autographed photo of Forest.
We will have six different poses. For each group of five items,$5 or pack of diapers they can get a new
pose. Be the first in your room to collect all six!
On Feb 10th the fourth and fifth grade families will be invited to attend a family square dance. The
fourth grade dance will be from 5:30-7 and fifth will be 7:30-9:00. We are requesting a pack of
diapers per family for this event.
Box Tops for Education..
Don’t delay…turn in your Box Tops by February 10th for our February assembly so
we can maximize our 2011-12 earnings …Box Tops has a March 1st deadline for this
school year’s earnings check and although we will keep collecting and counting until
May, now is the time to turn in any Box Tops you have been collecting!
70 BONUS BOX TOPS promotion from HEB!!! When you buy any 10
participating Box Tops products in one trip between 1/18/12 and
1/31/12 you will receive a Bonus Box Top coupon at checkout! That’s
$7!! And that can really add up!!!! Don’t miss this limited opportunity!
The Jan/Feb collection sheet came home last week in the Thursday
folders or you can print one from the Booster Club Website in the Forms section.
Alternative to the collection sheet: If your child is not into pasting each box top to the collection
sheet, you can cut off the Name/Grade section and for this month (Jan/Feb) for every 10 Box Tops
in a baggie, you can staple the Name/Grade Section or a similar size piece of paper to a baggie to
be entered for the drawing. ie: place 30 Box Tops in a baggie = staple 3 Name/Grade sections for the
prize drawing or you can print additional copies from the FTE website under Booster Club (Forms).
Remember to ask friends & family to collect Box Tops & register for electronic Box Tops if shopping
on line! It all adds up & it’s “FREE MONEY” for our great school!
Page
10
Trailblazer
FTE Garden News..
FTE First Annual Harvest Parties Complete!
We did it!!! We have harvested the whole FTE Garden, and we have now celebrated with every grade.
Last week we harvest second grade, and they were able to celebrate with a feast cooked by Kate
Hunicke-Smith, Stephanie Rousseau, Corrie Henderson and more. The kids enjoyed beef and cabbage
stew, green salad, greens with bacon, corn with bacon, fresh sliced radishes, pasta with arugula pesto and
wilted bok choi! The kids were amazed with all they grew!
First grade was next up to harvest! With a lovely haul of produce, the first grade enjoyed veggie soup
with gluten free noodles, green salad with radishes, and kale chips thanks to Rose Fisher and Sandra Blair!
Kids were asking for recipes, and could not get over the sweet and mild taste of the lovely watermelon
radishes! You know you are doing something right when kids eat radish slices like they were chips!
Lastly, Kinder harvested! They harvested a little here and there as well as in the beds they planted to
pick the rest of the goodies. Kristin Paull was able to use the lovely goodies to make a veggie soup, green
salad and kale chips. The dubious Kinder kids have now become official kale chip converts!
Thank you so much for the amazing experience of pulling together the harvest and cooking for the parties. We could not have done it without the help of Lisa Embree, our FTE staff and our many parents who
came out to help serve the kids. We had beautiful weather to enjoy beautiful and healthy foods we grew
ourselves. We will be posting pictures online as well as recipes!
We will see you back in the garden next month- please give a hug and a thank you to our wonderful garden
parents should you see them out and about. We could not do this without them!
4th and 5th Grade Family Square Dance Night
4th and 5th grade Family Square Dance Night to benefit Capital Area Food Bank
Our students are learning to do square and line dances during their PE
classes. We thought it would be a great idea to invite their families to come and
dance with them! Don’t worry if you don’t know how to square dance. It is easy and
fun to learn.
Wayne Weston will be our caller on Friday, Feb. 10th. Fourth grade families will
dance from 5:30-7 and fifth grade families will have the floor from 7:30 to 9. It promises to be a wonderful, fun-filled evening.
Suggested family admission: 1 pack of diapers
Page
11
Trailblazer
Page
12
Trailblazer
Please check the Lost and
Found Area. Items left in
that area will be given to
charity on the last school
day of the month.
Re-Circulate your Items!
Cleaning out your closets? Trying to reorganize your house? As you clear out items that are still in
good shape but that you no longer want, think of us! We are organizing a group that will sort through
your donations and see that they find their way to a new home.
You may drop off your items to the gym Monday-Friday between 7:30-8:30. Jane Lewis will organize a
group of students to help sort the donations and decide where they can be sent. Some of the groups
that will benefit from your contributions are The Austin State Hospital, In-Kind Inc, and Safe Place
and area AISD or PISD low income schools.
The items that we can use are: Backpacks, small totes, reusable grocery bags, gently used tennis shoes
(for all sizes, children and adult), books (adult and children) blankets, sheets and clothing. We will also
find a home for partial packs of diapers.
This is an on-going project and will continue until the end of the school year. Thank you for your
support!
Mother/Daughter Campout… Save the Date!!!!
The Forest Trail Mother Daughter Camp-out is BACK! Mark your
calendars for APRIL 27th and 28th!
More information to come.......
You won't want to miss the FUN!
Page
13
Trailblazer
Announcements...
Page
14
Trailblazer
http://znbd.net/client/eef/2012/
Free Preview of Chinese Language and Crafts Course On Thursday, February 02, Futura Language will be previewing their Chinese course to all students at Forest Trail right after school from 3:30 ‐ 4:00 pm. This dynamic introduction to the Chinese language will also highlight the culture and crafts. Ni Hao Chinese 1 is an Enrichment course offered on your campus beginning Feb 7‐
May 1. Using books, games, songs and crafts, this 10 session course will focus on building basic conversation skills and beginning, age appropriate vocabulary. Your child will learn how to introduce him/herself in Chinese, speak briefly about his or her family and count. This class will also include an introduction to the Chinese culture and its wonderful crafts. Enroll at http://eanes.augusoft.net Page
15
Trailblazer
*******Western Hills Girls Softball has extended regular registration*******
We are a non-profit, community based recreational softball league for girls. Participation in our league is open to
children in the Eanes Independent School District and West Austin neighborhoods, as well as area private
schools. Our mission is to provide a fun and safe environment for girls ages 5 to 14 to learn the basic skills and
rules of the game. We encourage skill development, healthy competition, fair play, and good sportsmanship, and
believe that every child is a valued member of the team. Regular registration has been extended through Sunday,
January 29, 2012. Late registration will begin on Monday, January 30, 2012 and will conclude on Sunday, February 5, 2012. For additional information and to register online, please visit our NEW website www.whgsoftball.org
See you on the field!
Don't miss out on your chance to score a goooooooaaaaaaallllll!
Westlake Youth Soccer Association registration deadline is
January 31st.
Page
16
Trailblazer