May, 2013 Villa Cresta Newsletter

Message from the principal, Leslie Dunn Next week we will be celebrating Teacher Appreciation Week. It is my privilege to work with a staff of caring and hardworking teachers. They go the extra mile every day to provide an out-standing educational program for all students. Hats off to our terrific teachers! We were very excited to have STARLAB, a mobile planetarium visit Villa Cresta from April 19-20. All classes were able to spend time in STARLAB with lessons geared for children's’ age lev-els and skills taught at the specific grade. As many of you already know, Villa Cresta’s arrival procedures have changed slightly. Students no long wait outside from 8:30-8:45 am. They are asked to enter the building after 8:30 when our staff is on duty and sit in the hallways until the bell rings. “The safety of all students and staff in Baltimore County Public Schools is of utmost impor-tance to all of us. Our school is utilizing a system for checking in all visitors beginning in the school year 2013-2014. The system is called V-soft by RaptorWare or Raptor. When you visit our school for the first time, you will be asked to present a government-issued photo ID, or a driver’s license to a staff member in the school office. The ID will be scanned and the following information will be collected: your photo, your name, and your date of birth. This information will be utilized to check you in, create an ID badge, and compare your informa-tion against sexual offender databases throughout the country. If your name appears on any of the lists or you refuse to allow the school to scan your ID, you will not be allowed access to the school. The only alternative will be to allow the staff to see your ID, verify your first name, last name, and date of birth to be entered into the system manually. However, this method does not store the information, and you must to this each time you visit the school. If you have your ID scanned, you will be asked to show your ID only on future visits, and your name will be selected from an existing list of previous visitors. You will also be asked to check out with the office staff upon leaving the school so that we know you are no longer in the building. You will be required to check into the system even if you are only coming to school to pick up your child. The information collected will not be shared outside of the school and is kept on a secure server. Your assistance in keeping our students and schools safe is appreciated.”

VOLUNTEERS needed for Kindergarten Registration: May 21st & 22nd

The PTA is in need of volunteers to help give tours of the school to new incoming families

during Kindergarten Registration. Volunteers are needed between the hours of 9:30 am—3:00 pm. You do not need to stay the entire day. An hour or two either day would be very

helpful. Please email your availability to Kristie Polanka at: calliejean1@aol.com. SIGN UP FORM IS ATTACHED

Thank you!

LAST DAY OF SCHOOL—JUNE 14, 2013 (FULL DAY)

Calendar of Events MAY, 2013

1 Grade 5 Panoramic Picture (grade 5 only) - 9:30 am Faculty picture at 8:15 Grade 2 Camp Puh’tok Field Trip 2 Grade 2 Camp Puh’tok Field Trip 3 Spring Fling 6—10 Teacher Appreciation Week 7 & 8 PreSchool and PreK Registration (PM only 12:30 to 3:00 both days) 8 PTA Meeting—6:30 in Library 9 Very Special Arts Festival (Ms. DeLuca’s class only) 10 Assembly—Hooked on Books 11 Villa Cresta Clean Up from 9-noon 13 NO SCHOOL FOR PreK/Kindergarten—Conference Day 14 & 15 PreSchool/PreK Registration (PM only 12:30 to 3:00 both days) 16 Counselor/Nurse/Psychologist Day Celebration Tiny Tots Graduation (8:30 to 12:00) Bank Day in cafeteria (9:00) 20 VOLUNTEER BREAKFAST—7:30-9:00 am in Library 21 & 22 Kindergarten Registration 21 Band Concert—6:30 pm 23 Grade 1 field trip to Walters’ Art Gallery 24 Grade 1 field trip to Walters’ Art Gallery 27 Schools Closed—Memorial Day 29, 30, 31 Grade 5 Camp Wo Me To Field Trip

Kindergarten Registration 2013-2014 School Year

Villa Cresta Elementary Kindergarten Registration will be held

on Tuesday, May 21st and Wednesday, May 22nd.

Children who will be five years of age by September 1, 2013 must attend kindergarten or an accepted alternative program. Call the office at (410) 887-5275 to pre-register your child. A registration packet will be mailed to you in in April. Parents of kinder-garten age children who will not be attending Villa Cresta in the fall, but live within the school’s boundaries, need to notify the office so that appropriate forms can be com-pleted.

Prekindergarten/Pre-School 3’s 2013-2014 School Year

Villa Cresta Elementary PreK and Pre-School 3’s Program Registration will be held on May 7, 8, 14 and 15, 2013 in the PM only. Call the school office to make an appoint-

ment to pre-register your child.

Message from the PTA President, Jamie Vilcarino Dear Parents/Guardians, Spring Fling is coming up on Friday, May 3rd from 4-8pm. If you haven’t volun-teered it’s not too late! Sign up with your room parent today! A huge THANK YOU to the volunteers; room parents, teachers, staff, administration, and the Villa Cresta Board of Directors, for all of your help scheduling, decorating, and run-ning the booths. Also, thank you to all of you who donated to the Silent Auction and Book Rack. Kindergarten Registration will take place on May 20th and 21st. If you can help out by giving tours to new families, please fill in the volunteer form and return it to school with your child. Let’s all take pride in our community by lending a helping hand at Spring Clean Up on Saturday, May 11th from 9-noon. It’s a great way to show some school spirit and honor the earth at the same time! Don’t forget that Teacher Appreciation Week is from May 6th-May 10th. Let’s celebrate all the wonderful educators we have at Villa Cresta Elementary School! We are fortunate to have such dedicated and devoted teachers. Breakfast will be provided by the PTA Mon-day May 6th, if you would like to bring a special dish please contact me for further details and information. Show your School Spirit on May 3rd by wearing your RED and WHITE. Vote for your fa-vorite School Spirit Day at Spring Fling. A box will be available to cast your vote at the prize table. The next PTA Board meeting is on Wednesday, May 8th at 6:30. We invite you to join us in the library. Once again special thanks go out to the coordinators of Spring Fling including Bea Wells, Bonnie Fox, Kristie Polanka, Jackie Romoser, Angie Thuman, and Elena Lomicky. THANK You to Elena Lomicky for spearheading our Spring Clean up, Kristie Polanka and Bonnie Fox for facilitating the Scholarship Committee and Asli Smith, and Rob Minch for all of your hard work creating our Memory Book. As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please email Jamie Vilcarino at jmrlm@yahoo.com 

PARENT SURVEY The parent survey was sent home this week. Please take the time to answer the questions on the scrantron and send back with your student by Friday, May 10, 2013. Thank you so much, Climate Committee

Villa Cresta Celebrates Earth Week 2013

It was an exciting week at Villa Cresta with many students and teachers taking part in the daily activities to help save our EARTH.

Monday – We celebrated Earth Day by wearing blue and doing a school yard clean up during recess. Tuesday – We looked “clean” and wore our white.  Students who were able walked to school! The theme for the day was ways to reduce energy use. REDUCE! Wednesday – We looked bright in our yellow attire. Students and teachers enjoyed a trash free lunch by packing items in reusable containers. REUSE! Thursday – We saw many sporting their green. Green Team Members wore their new T-shirts for the first time. The theme for the day was recycling. We continued to recycle batteries, paper, alu-minum cans, writing tools, and glue sticks. RECYCLE! Friday – Students showed respect for the Earth by wearing brown and remembered the importance of soil to all the organisms on Earth. We collected Change for the Chesapeake to donate to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation to help save our very own bay. The total was $237.75. Everyone at Villa Cresta was kept on track by viewing our bulletin board out-side the cafeteria that was changed daily! Our Earth Week showcase in the lobby will still be up for a bit. Check it out! We will also have a booth at Spring Fling, this Friday, May 3rd. We’ll have 2 games and many crafts made from reused materials. Come and buy our recycled crafts. See you there.

BAND CONCERT NEWS from Bill Georg—Instrumental Music Teacher In a few weeks, the Villa Cresta Band & Orchestra will present their Spring Concert. The program will feature chamber ensembles, literature for string orchestra and full band, and percussion ensemble. The concert is scheduled for Tuesday, May 21st in the Villa Cresta Gymnasium, and will begin at 6:30 pm. Students are asked to report to school no later than 6:00 pm. Students may arrive early, but not before 5:45 pm, as Mr. George will not be ready until that time. Participating students are reminded that concert dress is nice attire. Please invite your family and friends to this exciting event and help us fill up the gymnasium with audience members!

Thank you, Bill Georg

Message from the Cafeteria Manager I will be sending home the cafeteria balance letters home with your student this month. The balance due needs to be paid off before the last day of school and all ac-count balances are carried over to the next school year.

Thank you for taking care of this matter, Cafeteria Manager

Choral & Recorder Festival You can watch the 2013 Elementary Choral & Recorder Festival on Channel 73—Comcast Cable/Channel 34—Verizon FIOS on May 27th on June 9, 2013 on the fol-lowing days and times; Monday—Friday at 3:00 am, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday at 7:30 pm.

Thank you, Angela Cigarski, Vocal Music Teacher

Reading Room News As the bulletin board in the school lobby shows, MANY students have participated in this year’s Ben Carson Reading Room Program. The deadline for turning in Reading room forms is Friday, May 10th. Students who complete Level 10 will be invidted to a pizza party the afternoon of May 23rd. Hope to see you there! Spring Clean-Up Day at Villa Cresta Elementary Show your school pride, and join us at Villa Cresta’s Annual Spring Clean-up Day on Saturday, May 11th from 9:00 am to noon. We will be working in the school gar-dens and cleaning up litter around the school grounds. Please bring a water bottle and gardening tools and gloves, if you have them. Participation counts toward ser-vice hours required for high school students. Please email any questions to elomicky@bcps.org. THANK YOU!

Remember over the summer to: Please continue to save those box tops, Campbell’s labels, ink cartridges, batteries, and coke lids. Thank you !

Third Graders Gavin Thorpe, Evan Joshua, Wil-liam Snyder, and John Lewis won the Safe Racer Competition here at Villa Cresta. Their car was made from a plastic water bottle and was equipped with a comfortable seat. Eggbert, a raw egg, wore a helmet made from an egg carton as he travelled down the ramp. Eggbert survived the crash test and travelled 26 feet, 3 inches. Congratulations to the Fire Breathers for their excellent teamwork and car design. They will be at-tending the STEM Fair on May 17th to compete against other 3rd grade teams.

SAFE RACER NEWS FROM

GRADE 3

SPRING FLING FRIDAY

MAY 3, 2013 4:00 TO 8:00 PM

COME AND HAVE LOTS OF FUN !

Great news from Sally March, Art Teacher The Baltimore County Public Schools will be having their annual All-County Art Exhibition at the Baltimore Museum of Art from May 8-12. Villa Cresta Elemen-tary will have two artworks on display, a Cityscape by Steven McCall (Grade 4) and a Hybrid Animal Sculpture by Gavin Bigelow (Grade 3). There will be an opening celebration on Sunday, May 12 from 1-4 pm open to everyone. Hope you will be able to get over to the BMA to see all the excellent artworks created by the talented students of our county.

For the past several weeks in April our fifth grade have been working on a Chesapeake Watershed in-spired mural with Mary-land State Arts Council art-ist, David Cunningham. The mural is now complete and will be hung on the f ront exter ior wal l (gymnasium wall) of our

school in the next month. When the installation is completed a dedication ceremony will be held with our school community invited to celebrate this amazing accom-plishment of our tremendous fifth grade artists. Congratulations Fifth Grade for a job well done!!!! Student Government News Many thanks to our awesome students who bought spirit chains last week to support “Families in Crisis” at our school. We raised $571.46 to support this great cause to help out the families in our community. The red & white spirit chains were hung all around the school hallways to be displayed for everyone to enjoy.