Wekiva Whispers

Wekiva Elementary School 1450 East Wekiva Trail Longwood, Florida 32779 Phone: 746-3150 Fax: 746-3163 May 2012 Principal: Marjorie Adamczyk Assistant Principal: Michelle Baker Principals Message It is hard to believe that we are at the end of the school year! As you know, FCAT is over and we anxiously await the scores, however it is not just about the test; it is about the skills. Teachers are still working through May on reviewing skills to assure concept attainment and prepare students for the next grade level. Every day, teachers are doing an outstanding job of teaching our students how to learn effectively by strengthening skills, fostering a sense of curiosity, and modeling how to be lifelong learners. But to be wellrounded, we also need to teach the students to be active citizens in their communities. Every year Disney looks for students who are active citizens in school and out of school doing community service. Students are required to share in an essay how they are involved with their community. This years Wekiva Disney Dreamer and Doer is Claire Wisth! She is involved with her school, church, and in her community. Other Recognition of Outstanding Service at Wekiva: Adult Dividend of the Year Lisa Romine Senior Dividend of the Year Bertram Glick Youth Dividend of the Year Christina Palmer On behalf of our students and staff, I want to thank all of you who have given generously to the Wekiva Elementary School community through monetary donations to assist our efforts to enhance technology or time through a range of dividend or volunteer requests. We are most grateful for your support. We will all miss our fifth graders as they prepare for middle school. Until next time or next school year, Teacher Appreciation Week the nominated teacher. Each county where Pollo Tropical serves will have a winner 15 teachers in all! Ways to Support Wekiva Keep sending in those Campbell's Soup labels! Our school recently turned in our points for a Karaoke machine, a guitar and a parachute kit for use in music and PE classes. PTA News Thank you to everyone this year for your organization and communication regarding the concern over school closing. Please continue to stay informed by visiting our website at www.WekivaElementaryPTA.com The website is updated to keep you informed of the School Board decisions, budget concerns, and dates. On May 15, 7:00 p.m. there will be a quick PTA General Election and Reflections Awards before the play. Nominees for the general board will be announced and voted on. They are: President Lisa Romine Member VP- Tracy Smith Legislative VP Todd Kozak Ways & Means Sherri Duarte Corresponding Secretary Dena McKnight Recording Secretary Amy Tobyansen Reflections Kerri Love A Honor Roll Rebecca Viola Student Directory Lori Hartley Legislative Support Ebru Ural Cell Phones, Facebook, iPads Oh, my! Parents you are the owners of these devices so they should be regularly monitored. There have been repeated concerns at school that many of our students are not sharing appropriate comments on them. Cyber bullying is not something you should take lightly. If it is brought to administrations attention, it will be handled according to the District Code of Conduct.

May 7 May 11
? Moving? If you are moving over the summer and will NOT be attending Wekiva for the 2012 School Year; please return the moving form to the office by Friday May 11th. Summer Office Information *The Wekiva Front Office will be closed every Friday beginning June 7th through August 3rd. *Summer Office hours are 7:30 AM 4:00 PM. Front Office will be closed for lunch from 11:30 to 12:30 PM. * Kindergarten Information Night is Thursday August 9th 6:00 PM Parents Only Please due to space limitations. *Open House for ALL Grades, Friday August 10th 10:00 AM 12 Noon. * First day of school is on Monday, August 13th Thank You Fifth Grade Greeters! We had 58 students who will be our new Koala Kindergarteners come with their parents for the tours on Thursday and Friday. While they waited for everyone to get here, some of our fifth grade greeters shared all of the fun things we do at Wekiva. Thank you to Lexi Kreimeier, Cassidy Ceppos, Ryan Fischer, Cade Cecere, Cara Crawford, Mya Erwin, Pelia Blando, and Caroline Haas. Nominate a Teacher! Parents in Florida and Georgia can nominate any teacher in any county where Pollo Tropical company-owned restaurants serve simply by logging onto Pollo Reward$ at www.PolloTropical.com/MyTeacher. Enrollment in Pollo Reward$ is required to nominate a teacher. Nominations must include the teachers full name, school name, school address, school phone number and the subject and grade taught by Seminole County Public Schools www.scps.k12.fl.us or www.wekivaelementary.com

Ms. Adamczyk

Wekiva Whispers
Wekiva Elementary School 1450 East Wekiva Trail Longwood, Florida 32779 Phone: 746-3150 Fax: 746-3163 May 2012 Principal: Marjorie Adamczyk Assistant Principal: Michelle Baker Scientifically Speaking From Mrs. Lindsey During the past ten years, our fourth graders have joined in a global project called, Tomatosphere. This Canadian space project allows students to actively participate in a study about the germination rates of tomato seeds. Classes receive two packages of seeds that contain a control group and an experimental group. Students learn how to conduct a scientific experiment and compare the germination rates of the seeds. The students plant the seeds, observe the results, and record their data. Results are then analyzed and submitted online back to the Tomatosphere project to help Canadian scientists understand some of the issues related to long-term space travel. This year, the students were treated to a visit by Mr. Robert Morrow, the Tomatospheres project manager. The students delighted in his presentation about how the Tomatosphere project originated and other interesting facts about astronauts. Mr. Morrow decided to visit Wekiva during his Florida vacation because of our continuous participation in the project. He was an excellent speaker and the students enjoyed learning about the possibilities of future space exploration. Mr. Morrow shared that in 2014 the treatment group would include seeds that are presently aboard the International Space Station! If you would like more information about the Tomatosphere project, please visit: www.tomatosphere.org First Grade Musical By Mrs. MacFarlane First Graders will be "dreaming" about America's history on Tuesday, May 22nd at 9:00 a.m. in their musical "Dreaming the American Life: Free Like Me". Music teacher, Mrs. Kranz will be directing the first graders through this informative and fun musical, created by Mrs. Kranz herself. The show will be in the cafeteria. Second Grade Makes Huge Splash! By Ms. Kelly Second grade would like to thank all the 2nd grade parents as well as Sue Kranz, Amber Demorse and Lynn Haas for all their support for our Tide Pool Condos Program. It was a huge success and the students really enjoyed performing for all of their guests. End of the Year Parties Must be an APPROVED DIVIDEND to volunteer. 2. Parents must sign in. 3. No younger siblings. 4. Please do not park on car ramp or bus loop. 5. Thanks for helping! 1. Media and Technology News Summer Recycling Program Just a reminder that we recycle all year long. Items we collect include: empty inkjet, laser, fax and copier cartridges, laptops only (no desktop computers), iPods, cell phones, PDAs, scientific calculators, video game consoles & games, digital cameras, movie DVDs and GPS devices. Be sure to include power cords with any devices you donate. You may drop those items off in the front office. Help us REUSE, REDUCE & RECYCLE! Any questions, call front office at 407-746-3150. Florida Reading Association (FRA) Reading Program After the teachers in grades K-2 read each of the 8 books on this years list to their classes, the students voted for their favorite one. The book that received the most votes also won for the entire state of Florida: Christian, Seminole County Public Schools www.scps.k12.fl.us or www.wekivaelementary.com the Hugging Lion by Justin Richardson & Peter Parnell. The runners up were Wonder Horse and I Always, Always Get My Way. Sunshine State Reading Program The votes have been counted at Wekiva and throughout the state of Florida and the winning book for 2011-2012 is Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper! We had over 150 students from grades 3-5 casting their votes in the media center on real electronic voting booths supplied by the Seminole County League of Women Voters. Students had to have read at least 3 of the Sunshine State Books to vote. Our Sun-sational Sunshine State Book Sundae Party is scheduled for Friday, May 18. We have about 60 students who have read at least 8 of the books and have earned an invitation to the party. Our top reader was Tory Moltzan who read ALL 29 books including those on the Gr. 6-8 list! WOW! Ben Evelev was close behind having read 20 of the books. The other top readers were Jackson Gunnels (19), Porter Huyck (19), Brennan Wayne (17), Ryan McCauley (16), Rebecca Flanagan (15), Joshua Roberts (15), Jack Kurtz (15) and Carter Adams (15). Besides having an amazing choice of toppings for their ice cream sundaes, the students will receive some special awards, gifts and prizes. There will be a Sunshine State Book Trivia Contest where teams will compete against each other to test their knowledge of the wonderful books theyve read. The new 2012-2013 Sunshine State Book List will be going home at the end of the year with every student going into grades 3-5. Technology Updates We will be adding 3 more Mimio Interactive Whiteboards in classrooms this month. Over the summer, because of your generous donations to our

Wekiva Whispers
Wekiva Elementary School 1450 East Wekiva Trail Longwood, Florida 32779 Phone: 746-3150 Fax: 746-3163 May 2012 Principal: Marjorie Adamczyk Assistant Principal: Michelle Baker Trek for Tech fundraiser, we will install 4 more of them in other classrooms. How exciting! We couldn't have done it without your help. Thank you for continuing to support the technology program at Wekiva! Wekiva Tech Night at Brusters This tasty event is scheduled for Thursday, May 10 from 6-8 pm at Brusters Real Ice Cream on SR434. Teachers and staff will be there to greet you and serve delicious ice cream treats for the whole family. Hope to see you there! Pop Tabs Update Student Council would like to thank everyone who brought in Pop Tabs for the Ronald McDonald House. The Pop Tabs were taken to be weighed and the total weight of the collection was 148 pounds! Student Council will continue to collect Pop Tabs this year for next years weigh in. 5/6 5/7 5/9 5/9 5/10 5/10 5/11 5/15 5/16 5/17 5/18 Important Dates Mud Walk 5K Teacher Appreciation Week 8:00 am 4th gr parent chaperone meeting. Alumni Koalas Graduating High School Senior Event 3:15 pm 4th gr. parent chaperone meeting. Bruster's Ice Cream Family Night 6 8 PM 8:45 PreK Mom Breakfast Robin Hood and his Merry Band of Persons Play 7PM 4th Gr St. Augustine Field Trip 7:30 am 6:00 pm Koala MusicKidz Disney/Epcot Trip Lets Read Seminole Logs Go Home. 1:30 Sunshine State Reading Party 8:00 a.m. or 3:15 p.m. - 5th Parent Chaperone meeting 9:00 First Grade Music Program Kindergarten End of Year Party 11:30 SRI Lunch Selected students based on reading gains. Fifth Grade on Field Trip Third Gr. Survivor Party First Gr End of Year Party Fourth Grade End of the Year Party EARLY RELEASE 1:00 NO SCHOOL MEMORIAL DAY 9:00 Fifth Grade Awards Day Second Gr End of Year Party. EARLY RELEASE 1:00 Fifth Grade End of Year Party REPORT CARDS GO HOME EARLY RELEASE 1:00 Walk 5K Run & Walk on Sunday, May 6, 2012 at 7:30 a.m. at the Winter Springs Town Center. Registration the day of the race will be $35 for all participants. Children age 17 and under may register for $15 up to the day of the event. Registration will open at 6:30 a.m. at the Winter Springs Town Center, located at 1160 E State Road 434 in Winter Springs. Registration forms and checks, made out to Foundation for SCPS/Env Ctr 5K. Race fees are tax deductible. The Environmental Studies Center is a Seminole County Public Schools Facility in Soldiers Creek Park, part of Spring Hammock Nature Preserve. The building is open during school hours for programs scheduled with Seminole County first and fifth graders in public, private and home schools. The Environmental Center is open to the public some afternoons and on Friends Saturday Open House Events. All ages are welcome to participate in the 5K, but no pets, strollers, rollerblades or bicycles are allowed on course. For more information visit: www.environmentalstudiescenter.org or call 407-792-6521.

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5/28 5/29

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HAVE A WONDERFUL, SAFE SUMMER!

SCPS & United Healthcare Join Forces to Host 5K to Benefit Environmental Studies Center
Sunday, May 6 Winter Springs Town Center 7:30am Start Time

5/22

Seminole County Public Schools (SCPS) and United Healthcare have joined forces to host Save the Mud Seminole County Public Schools www.scps.k12.fl.us or www.wekivaelementary.com

Wekiva Whispers
Wekiva Elementary School 1450 East Wekiva Trail Longwood, Florida 32779 Phone: 746-3150 Fax: 746-3163 May 2012 Principal: Marjorie Adamczyk Assistant Principal: Michelle Baker

SEMINOLE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS

STUDENT CALENDAR 2012-2013 Date of Board Adoption: September 27, 2011
Definition of Descriptions: Schools Closed = Teachers and students not in attendance; Educational Support Center open for business Schools Closed for Students Students not in attendance; Teachers are working & Educational Support Center is open for business School System Closed Teachers, students, and employees at Educational Support Center not in attendance

August 7-10 August 13 September 3 September 17 September 26 October 18 October 19 October 22 November 21 November 22-23 December 19-21 December 21 December 24- Jan 1 January 2-4 January 7 January 8 January 9 January 21 February 18 March 21 March 22 March 25-29 April 1 May 24, 28-29 May 27 May 29 May 30-31

Teacher Workdays First Day of Student Attendance Start of 1st Quarter/1st Semester School System Closed Schools Closed Schools Closed End of 1st Quarter Schools Closed for Students / Teacher Workday, Student Make-up Day #3, If Needed Start of 2nd Quarter Schools Closed School System Closed Early Dismissal for Students (Last three days of first semester) End of 2nd Quarter School System Closed Schools Closed Schools Closed for Students / Teacher Workday, Student Make-up Day #2, If Needed Schools Closed for Students / Teacher Workday, Student Make-up Day #1, If Needed Classes Resume, Start of Third Quarter/2nd Semester School System Closed School System Closed End of 3rd Quarter Schools Closed for Students / Teacher Workday, Student Make-up Day #4, If Needed Schools Closed Classes Resume - Start of 4th Quarter Early Dismissal for Students (Last three days of second semester) School System Closed Last Day of Student Attendance End of 4th Quarter Teacher Workdays

Seminole County Public Schools www.scps.k12.fl.us or www.wekivaelementary.com