PTA Pipeline 2009-11

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

Sick Line: (813) 794-1911

Happy Holidays!

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 3 • November-December 2009

I would like to begin by offering a deep and heartfelt “Thank you!” to all of the wonderful volunteers who came to help set up, work and clean up after our Fall Festival. I would es-pecially like to thank our PTA board members for the countless number of hours and effort that went in to planning this event and making it a fun one for all! Personally, this is one of my family’s favorite school events. I sincerely hope your family had a wonderful time too.

Thanks also to everyone who participated in the Fall Catalog Sale and congratulations to each of the students who won a special prize!

Our first PTA Movie Night Under The Stars received rave reviews. Thanks to the Duncan family, Theater Doctor and Christine Simonelli for making this possible!

We were thrilled to see so many families participate in the Dad’s Club luncheon or breakfast! Kudos, to Valerie Lanza, for planning this. Based on your input, we are consid-ering doing something similar for Moms. Contact me if you’d like to help with the planning.

Our first Halloween Costume Shop went so well that we are already ac-cepting donations for next year! If you have a costume that you know your child will not be wearing again next year, this may be the perfect time to donate it to next year’s costume shop! Please send them in with your child or drop them by the front of-fice. Thanks to Deb Rottum for run-ning our Costume Shop this year.

Red Ribbon Week is always a fun and meaningful celebration and this year was no exception! Thank you to Kem Baker for working with the Guidance department, as all students pledged to live a drug-free lifestyle.

Our Reflections program was a complete success, with 62 entries! Thanks to Mari Blank for her dedica-tion to this program Please join us

for our Reflections Celebration and General Assembly meeting, Nov 20th at 6:30 pm, at which time we will recognize these stu-dents’ accomplishments.

Every Thanksgiving season, as I walk around the school, it warms my heart to see the many ways that the students share why they are thankful. With that in mind, our upcoming Food Drive, Nov 16-20th, is a great way for us to “give back.” Allowing our children to take part in the food drive helps us, as parents, instill some important values in our children. Namely generosity, responsibility and the pride that comes along with helping others. This year we can help several Sand Pine families and other local area families have a nice Thanksgiving.

On Nov 23rd PTA will be bringing a professional BMX Stunt show to school which is sure capture the students’ imaginations while con-tinuing to deliver the important message of living a fun, healthy, drug-free lifestyle.

The PTA Holiday Shop will be held during school hours Dec 14-18th. Students who would like to par-ticipate will have time to visit the Holiday Shop and secretly shop for gifts for their parents, grandparents, siblings and other loved ones. This is sure to be a very exciting event for many of our children! More informa-tion will be coming home soon. If you would like to volunteer to help with the Holiday Shop please email Kim Clarke.

Save the date! We’ve added 2 fun events to the calendar. We will be hosting a Family Sweetheart Dance on Feb 5th. On the evening of March 5th, MOSI will be bringing 3 high pow-ered telescopes to our school so that students may view several different objects in outer space. We also have several other fun and educational activities planned for this evening.

PTA is contin-uously looking for opportuni-ties to support technology. I am happy to report that we have purchased four new laptop comput-ers which will be available for use by the many students who attend the PLACE program. We are also explor-ing the possibility of an after school computer club. Stay tuned for more information!

When stopping by the school, be sure to check out the new welcome mats which we recently placed in the front office and media center.

Four commercial grade picnic tables with umbrellas have been or-dered. I am looking forward to see-ing the teachers and students have the opportunity to bring a lesson outside, while enjoying some fresh air and beautiful Florida sunshine!

Several new weather-resistant message centers have been mount-ed around our school. These are designed to communicate impor-tant messages while keeping our campus looking neat and clean.

Along with some very valuable programs, these are just a few things that we have recently ac-complished and there are many other goals under consideration. If you have a suggestion or a great idea, we would love to hear from you! Feel free to email me anytime. For those who would like to be a part of the decision making process, there is still much to do this year and we always welcome new board members!

Until our next issue, I wish all of you a safe and happy Holiday season filled with great food, good times and wonderful family moments.

—Peggy D’Alessandro, PTA President

We wish everyone happy holidays!

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, January 22nd

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 Nicole LaRocca

Photography Katalin Rutherford

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,

It was great to see so many of you at our annual Halloween Parade! What a surprise this year’s parade had in store for me. I have always loved Halloween and seeing the stu-dents dressed up in their costumes. However, this year was a bit extraordinary. The faculty and staff kept a BIG secret from me. Little did I know, that they decided to dress up like me because of my impending retirement! They really know how to keep a secret!

I came dressed like a “little girl”. I did so because we, as an office staff, had decided to be little children. Mr. Cluff was supposed to be a school bus driver and the golf cart was supposed to be a school bus. For those of you who viewed the parade, undoubtedly, you noticed that the golf cart was decorated like “Yanson’s Limo”. Mr. Cluff was the limo driver in his blonde wig. He looked somewhat like a British rock star! He sported a sash which read, “Yanson’s Replacement”.

I was the only staff member dressed like a little girl. Everyone else was dressed like me wearing blonde wigs, high heels, suits, ID badges with my name and picture etc. Ms. Miller even carried a coffee cup with lipstick prints much like the one I have toted about the school. I have always heard that imita-tion is the highest form of flattery. Anyway, Halloween renamed “Ginnyween” for that day was great fun!!!

Our Fall Festival was a huge success and kudos are in order for our PTA for such an outstanding job. I hope you and your family were able to attend.

I am proud to announce that our Lead Literacy Team and our Lead Literacy Coach, Angie Westbrook, will be honored by the School Board on the evening of November 17, 2009, for being Lead Literacy Team and Coach of the Year not only for Pasco County but for Florida Region 4. Congratulations!

Sand Pine Elementary will, also, be rec-ognized as a Five Star School at the same board meeting on November 17th. The Five Star School Award is given by the State

Department of Education to schools dem-onstrating outstanding community involve-ment. This includes having an outstanding school volunteer program, business partner-ships, and other community involvement en-deavors. This will be 10th year in a row that we have received this award!

Please note that November 25-27 are holi-days to celebrate Thanksgiving. Our Winter Program will be presented at the Wesley Chapel Performing Arts Center on December 14 and December 16. This year our primary students will be performing. More informa-tion regarding the performances will be sent out at a later date. Our annual Candy Cane Run will be held on December 22nd. The Physical Education Teachers may be calling on some of you to assist with the run. Remember, Winter Break begins on December 23, 2009, and ends on January 8, 2010. Students return January 11, 2010.

We welcomed our new parent School Advisory Committee members at our first meeting for the new school year on Friday morning November 6, 2009. They are Mr. Kevin Corcoran, Mrs. Lisa Kuss, and Ms. Jeanne Lufkin. We appreciate their willing-ness to serve and look forward to working with them.

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. I hope you will be encouraged to take an active part in the educational program at our school.

Sincerely, Ginny L. Yanson, Principal

Mrs. Yanson and Mr. Cluff on Halloween

November-December 2009 PTA Pipeline | 3

&TechnologyMedia

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

Mrs. Chitty, Media/Technology Assistant

Classes have completed their computer lab orientations and have been busy in the com-puter lab and on classroom mobile labs with some super technology projects! Mrs. Carter’s class created a class video as a pub-lic service announcement for the news to be safe on the playground, Mrs. Bidgood’s class worked in groups to make brochures about their research on Antarctica, Mrs. Cozier’s class combined pictures and research into a ComicLife project on different countries and cultures, Mrs. Mandell’s class made Keynote presentations about animals, climate, ter-rain, and interesting facts in Antarctica, Mrs. Sheridan’s and Mrs. Steer’s class researched archaeology and merged words and pictures together in ComicLife to share what they learned, Mrs. Romero’s class create pictures using an online drawing tool about what they like to do best, Mrs. Dilworth’s class used Kidspiration to create graphic organiz-ers to help learn important vocabulary, Mrs. Welt and Medina’s class used Pages to cre-ate persuasive travel brochures, and Mrs. Whaley’s, Mrs. Lambert’s and Mrs. Labok’s classes also showed their skills with Pages by creating a poster about a region’s climate, landform, and industry. Many classes have already been taking advantage of BrainPop as well! From videos on handwashing to states of matter, students have been learn-ing some great information online. Other classes have created digital backpack ac-counts using World Book Web (My Research accounts) to be able to save images, articles, and websites while using World Book Web.

From October 19 - 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’ understanding of science, math, and 21st century skills. Please log on, and take the short 30-question parent survey at http://speakup4schools.org/speakup2009/. Click on Parents, choose Florida, and type Sand

We are so excited about our students who have already read all 15 of this year’s list of Sunshine State books. Their favorite book podcast is on the Media Center blog (sandpine.pasco.k12.fl.us, click on teacher and team websites, media center). For a list of the Sunshine State books and activities, go to: myssyra.org

Book Battle Information: Third through fifth graders who are interested in trying out for Sand Pine’s book battle team should be reading all 15 books. We will have an in-formational meeting in December and will pass out sample questions for study over the holiday break. The actual book battle will be held at Dr. John Long Middle School towards the end of the year. Book Battle information will be updated on the Media Center blog on Sand Pine’s website. Sandpine.pasco.k12.fl.us, click Teacher and Team websites and then Media Center.

Don’t forget our Pasco County School online resources—Mind.pasco.k12.fl.us. Stop by the Media Center or ask your child or the teacher for the password page for home use.

Market Day news: Thanks to all who sup-ported our Market Day Cookie Dough fund-raiser. We raised a little over $1,000 for the Media, Reading, and Technology programs.

Have you tried the Market Day frozen foods? There is a reasonably priced selec-tion of restaurant quality foods. Order forms go home monthly or may be placed online at www.marketday.com. The Media, Reading, and Technology team receives 10% of all sales. Our next order deadline is Monday, Dec. 30th. Pick-up will be 2:30-4:00 pm on December 10th (Media Center). We welcome orders from our community members also!

Pine. Click Find School, and then select Sand Pine from the list to start the survey. Your feedback is greatly appreciated!

After our first Box Tops for Education col-lection, we earned over $1000 for Sand Pine. Wow!! The Webkinz winners were Annika Neilson for Primary, Brooklynn Mahan for Transitional, and Danny Khalil for Intermediate. Mrs. Carter’s class collected the most Box Tops to win the computer lab party, with Mrs. Jordan’s class coming in second, and Mrs. DeAngelis’ class com-ing in third. From December 9-11, we will be collecting the next collection sheets in front of the school to vote for the favorite Florida college football team. The class that returns the most collection sheets this time will earn a computer lab party. One student will be chosen from collection box to win a T-shirt from that team. Additional collec-tion sheets are available at http://sandpine.pasco.k12.fl.us/publications/fl_team_col-lection_sheet.pdf. Clipping those BoxTops really makes a difference; each completed form with 10 BoxTops earns $1 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!!!

Our Sunshine State program is going great! The students are enjoying reading this year’s list of books and earning the motivational incentives that we offer! We had our first “Lunch Bunch in the Butterfly Garden” and had 26 students in attendance. Our next one will be in January for students who read 7 of this year’s SS books.

4 | November-December 2009 PTA Pipeline

Reading Round-Up

The Pasco County Reading Council hosted a read-in on October 15th at the Barnes and Noble at the Shoppes of Wiregrass. This was the 1st Annual Family Reading Round-Up. We are so fortunate to have Barnes and Noble right around the corner and so willing to help our community with literacy! Many schools participated in this event. Readers

came from both sides of the county. Mrs. Pope, Mrs. Romero, and Mrs. Staney vol-unteered as readers from Sand Pine. It was very exciting for the students to see their teachers reading at the event. There were table talks on the Florida Reading Association selected books, how to help your child choose a book on their reading level, and reading strategies that parents can use at home. There was also a special guest! Olivia from the book Olivia was out to make a special appearance as well as Fancy Nancy. Sand Pine earned $187.63 at this event that will be used to purchase books for our students. We look forward to a continued partnership with Barnes and Noble!

Parent Buddy Reading Workshop

Mrs. Blank and I hosted a workshop for parents that will be participating in our Parent Buddy Reading Program. The workshop was held on November 10th in the Media

Center. At the workshop we provided our parent buddy readers with some reading strategies and suggestions, we reviewed expectations of the program and we also assigned each volunteer to their student buddy! We truly appreciate all the sup-port we get from our Volunteers! It’s not too late to sign up to be a Buddy Reader! If you are interested, please contact us.

Literacy CoachFrom Our

Angie Westbrook

“The greatest danger for most of us is not that our goal is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it. ”

—Michelangelo

Thank you Christopher Arant for sending in about 200 cartridges over the past few months to recycle!

Please send your gently used costumes to be used for next year’s Halloween Costume Swap!

Thank you to all the teachers that donated their time for time with teacher.

Thanks also to Marshall Arts Advantage, MOSI, Learning Express, and First Watch for donating drawing prizes.

Congratulations to Sophia Rodriguez, the guess again game winner of pizza party for her class

Please don’t park on the grass on County Line Road in front of the school!


“Beauty is…”YOU ARE INVITED

Please join us as we celebrate your creativity at our PTA General Assembly Meeting and Reflections Award Party.

Reflections entries will be on display for viewing on Friday, November 20th at 6:30 p.m. in the school cafeteria.

Ribbons and certificates will be awarded for all entries. Cake and punch reception to follow Awards ceremony.

1st, 2nd and 3rd Place entries in each division and category will advance to Pasco County level for judging.

Please contact Mari Blank at [email protected] with additional questions. No RSVP necessary.

We hope to see you there!

Cybercitizenship As our use of computers, cell phones, MP3

players, gaming systems, and other digital devices grows, it becomes increasingly important that we teach our students how to be good cybercitizens. A cybercitizen is a member of our growing digital world, and we want to ensure that we offer the newest citizens of that digital world guidance on using technology ethically, appropriately, safely, and effectively.

There are many elements of cybercitizenship, including avoiding cyberbullying, responsibly and safely using Web 2.0 technologies such as, social networking, video sharing, and online gaming sites, navigating through dangers such as spyware, spam, and scams, understanding copyright, and utilizing cell phones and other technologies appropriately.

Cyberbullying occurs when someone is tor-mented, harassed, embarrassed, or targeted online or while using interactive or mobile tech-nologies. Sending mean or threatening emails or texts, creating websites to rate peers or make fun or others, posing as another person by breaking into their email or web account, or digitally dis-tributing embarrassing information about others are all examples of cyberbullying. If your child has been bullied online, be sure to save a copy of the evidence of the bullying, report the bully to your Internet service provider, tell the bully to stop and block the bully from communicating further with your child in digital environments, seek ad-vice from your child’s school if the bully attends the same school, contact law enforcement if the

bullying involves threats of violence, hate, or intimidation, and contact the school counselor if your student needs help dealing with the emo-tional side of being cyberbullied. To avoid cyber-bullying, be sure to talk to your child often about what they are doing online, visit the websites and other digital places that your child visits online, keep your home computer in a public area of the house, set up accounts with your children and know their password information, review buddy lists regularly so you know who your child is interacting with online, and reassure your child that he or she will not get in trouble if they are a victim of cyberbullying to encourage him or her to be open and honest with you.

To help your child learn more about cyberbul-lying, you might consider watching this cartoon video together on BrainPop (http://www.brain-pop.com/technology/computersandinternet/cyberbullying/) and discussing it as a family. You can even take the provided quiz together to see what you’ve learned! You can get the password to access BrainPop from your child’s teacher. Another great approach is to put together a cy-bersafety contract with your child, like this one (http://sandpine.pasco.k12.fl.us/publications/netsafetyplan.pdf), to help open discussions about Internet safety.

For more information on cyberbullying, visit the district’s digital brochure at http://studentservices.pasco.k12.fl.us/pages/bullying/cyberbullying_brochure.pdf.

—Michelle Lattke, Instructional Technology Specialist

Has your child lost a jacket already??

We have a rack in the office for all items lost on school

grounds. We have a volunteer that maintains the rack. Items will stay on the rack for 2 weeks, then all items will be donated to a local charity. **Please put your child’s name or student # on all jackets and lunchboxes so we can easily re-turn it to your child. If your child has lost an item since school has started, have them check the rack in the office this week.

Sand Pine Business Partners NewsThanks for supporting our first Tijuana Flats Night in October. We raised about

$130 and enjoyed eating with other SPES families and friends. Mark your calendars now to attend our next Tijuana Flats Night on January 12th. Hope to see you there!

Domino’s Nights are a huge success! Our first Domino’s pizza night raised $211 and Mrs. Jones’ class won the class pizza party! Please mark your calendars for our Domino’s nights on Nov. 19th and Dec. 17th. Remember to turn in your pizza night flyer so your child’s classroom and our school gets credit!

We appreciate our partners, Cosi Café and Horace Mann Insurance for donating monthly gift cards for faculty/staff recognitions.

Please thank and support our awesome business partners! For further informa-tion about business partnerships, call Belinda Pope at 794-1920.


Student Council NewsStudent Council is comprised of 2 representatives from each of the Intermediate

(Gators and Turtles) classes. Elections were held in September and congratulations go to our 2009-2010 Student Council Officers:

President Jaime Valenta Vice President Danny Khalil Secretary Kristi Bimonti Treasurer Ethan Williams

Although our Fall Social was postponed due to the hectic schedule this fall, the council has chosen a wonderful project to support this year.

This year’s Student Council ProjectThe members of the Student Council have

decided to do a service act that will have far reaching effects in a community a long way from here. They will be working to collect supplies to send to the children in an orphanage in Cambodia.

I learned about the Chres Village School and Orphanage, located in the Siem Reap Province of Cambodia, from a dear friend of mine who went to teach the children English as a member of a volunteer group called Globe Aware. You can find information on this group at http://www.glo-beaware.org/ as well as the orphanage at http://www.cambodianorphanage.org.uk/index.htm

I have heard many heartbreaking and heartwarming stories from the people who visited the orphanage and taught the children. There are many things that they don’t have, even such basics as paper to write on. My friend was amazed to see that as each time a child was given an article of clothing or a small toy he or she would quickly turn and share it with friends.

The Student Council will be collecting supplies that will be taken to the orphan-age by a group of volunteers who will be going there this spring. We have been in touch with one of the contacts in Cambodia, and he has told us that they will be thankful for anything they receive. So, we would like to collect school supplies as well as clothing in good shape for children as young as 5 and as old as 17.

The Student Council members will be writing pen pal letters to the children in the orphanage as well as sending drawings and pictures to them. We hope to establish correspondence with them and help them to practice English at the same

time. Please talk to your friends, fam-ily, and neighbors about this project as they might have something they would like to donate. All donations should be brought to Mrs. Mulligan’s room. If you have any questions please email Mrs. Mulligan at [email protected] .

Thank you in advance for your support.

Student Council Teacher Representatives,Judi Mulligan, and Melody Welt

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

Our first Movie Night was a success!

October 2nd was our first Movie Night Under the Stars. The free popcorn and Monsters vs. Aliens movie brought out many more families than was expected! A great time was had by all.


I originally wrote this article almost two years ago after the PTA Spring Festival…I felt it was worth repeating in light of the events at our Fall Festival last month. Enjoy!

I have always been amazed at what must go on inside the minds of our students. On the outside they are so carefree and friendly, full of laughter, innocence and joy. Sure, each has his or her times of frustration, anger, and sadness, but typically kindness, generosity, and thoughtfulness shine through their hearts. I have been constantly reminded of this as I walk through the classrooms, lunchroom, and pass them on the sidewalks. I frequently receive friendly smiles, waves, and greetings from glowing faces.

Ah…the innocence of childhood.

So, what would possess our children to turn from their innocence and be full of hostility and malice? Appar-ently, it is the site of a dunking booth holding an adult they once seemed to revere and respect!

As I took my seat inside the tank excited to enjoy some time with the chil-dren on this warm fall evening, I looked at the line and my heart skipped a beat. The growing mob was very different than the children I had pictured in my mind when I signed up for this fundraising activity. I found my stomach starting to knot as my mind took in the scene.

The first difference I noticed in the children was their eyes. Those once in-nocent and bright eyes had turned into squinting, malevolent eyes. In fact, I am certain some of them radiated an evil red glow. Confusion overwhelmed me. These small faces looked like the innocent children I have seen on our campus, but tonight they were different. Very, very different.

Another noticeable change stood out. Their sweet, child-like smiles had been replaced with grins. Not the fun, playful grin I had seen at times, but rather an obsessed, “I’m-going-to-get-you-or-spend-all-my-tickets-trying!” grin. Again, my heart stopped beating.

In that moment, my smile had also changed. I could feel my face go pale with confusion as I suddenly felt trapped. The bars surrounding the enclosure became my prison cell, and the crowd of executioners awaited to find joy in the watery demise each of their throws might possibly bring. I quickly moved from confusion to fear as I began begging for mercy from the children. Each student cheerfully paid their ticket to the workers and gripped the softballs as an archer grips his arrows.

As the evening drew on, I tried bargaining, threatening, and pleading for them to go enjoy another part of the fair and let me sit in peace…but they stayed. In fact, the line simply grew longer as the balls were incessantly thrown. But, the little ones were the worst! As I thanked them for their wonderfully inaccurate throws, they simply removed the challenge of the booth and rushed to manually push the plunger to ensure my drop into the water. Over and over I crashed into the chilly water only to rise to the evil cheers of the mob.

That night is over. I still walk through our classrooms, lunchroom, and sidewalks. I still receive friendly smiles, waves, and greetings. But I realize that a part of me has changed. The appearance of innocence is still there…but something is different. I now know there is more that lurks under those chil-dren’s smiles…and it’s that knowledge that now keeps me up at night.

Lessons from a Dunk TankBy Mr. Cluff


Box Tops— www.boxtops4education.com

Earn Cash for our School

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

Tyson Project A+ www.tyson.com/projectaplus/Tyson’s program is simple…

1. Clip and save Tyson Project A+ labels.2. Turn in the labels at your school.3. Your school redeems them for cash.Each label is worth 24¢.

Campbell’s Labels For Education™ Program— www.labelsforeducation.com

This program awards schools free educational merchandise! Attention Parents: Remember to include the UPC code off of the packages. They will no longer accept the front labels off products. Please continue to help out our school by sending in your UPC codes! For a complete list of eligible products, visit www.labelsforeducation.com.

Recycling Program

What do Ink Cartridges, Cell Phones, Batteries and Paper have in common? Recycling these items at Sand Pine benefits our school! Don’t clutter our landfills with spent ink cartridges, cell phones, and batteries (AAA, AA, C, D & 9-volt), bring them to Sand Pine. Drop off your newspapers or other paper waste in the dumpster in the Sand Pine parking lot. Together we can keep our environment healthy while earning much needed cash for our school!

Market Day— order online at www.marketday.com

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

PTA Sports Totes

Your PTA has donated sports totes for every pod. These totes include sports balls, jump ropes and sidewalk 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 appreci-ated! These items can be turned in to the front office, or sent in with your child for their pod.

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 cafeteria (up to 75 cents) from the PTA! Order your shirts. Send the form (down-load from the PTA website) with your check (payable to SPES PTA) to school.

www.goodsearch.com

Do you search the Internet? Why not raise money for Sand Pine while you surf online! Just go to www.goodsearch.com, enter “Sand Pine” for your charity, and search like a normal. Each search will produce one penny for SPES! 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?”

Orders Due

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

Nov. 30 Dec 12

Return your Favorite FL College Team Box Top form from December 9-11th. A winner will be drawn from each team’s box for a shirt from that FL team!

Ident-A-KidIdent-A-Kid is coming to Sand Pine November 13! The Ident-A-Kid card is a card that contains a child’s photograph, fingerprint and description. Parents keep the card with them at all times and, in an emergency, can provide law enforcement with it for immediate response.

The Great American Teach-InWednesday, November 18th come participate in Sand Pine’s Great American Teach-In. It is a nationwide program giving community mem-bers, parents and friends an opportunity to share careers, hobbies and life experiences with Sand Pine students. Those interested in participat-ing, please contact your child’s teacher, or Linda Matthews at [email protected].

ABC Family Food DriveThe Sand Pine PTA annual food drive November 16-20 will benefit our school’s ABC (Assist Believe Care) families and local food banks. Please send in non-perishable food items with your children (no glass containers, please.) The main collection point will be in front of the school in the mornings and in the Media Center during the day. Suggested items include: boxed mashed potatoes, dry gravy mix, stuffing, cranberry sauce, canned sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie mix, canned veggies/fruits, pasta, cereal. With your help we can give everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.

Reflections Celebration/PTA General Assembly MeetingOur November 20th PTA General Assembly Meeting will include a Refection’s celebration with a ribbon and cake party to proudly display our students’ entries into this year’s Reflections Program. The theme is “Beauty is.” Be sure to come and show your support!

BMX Stunt ShowOn November 23rd, the PTA is excited to bring professional BMX Stunt show to Sand Pine. This show is sure to get your adrennalin moving at the same time as teaching about a healthy lifestyle

Holiday PerformanceThis year’s holiday performance will be on Wednesday, December 10 at 7 p.m. at the Center for the Performing Arts at Wesley Chapel High school. The primary student chorus will be performing. Don’t miss this festive occasion!

Holiday ShopThis year students will be able to secretly shop for family and friends during school hours at our Holiday Shop December 14-18!

Coming you way…


For information on these activities & events visit

www.sandpinepta.org

Our School Year CalendarNovember 2009 December 2009 January 2010

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

12/10 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

1/1-8 Winter Break1/12 Tijuana Flats Night1/15 Report Cards1/18 Dr. MLK Holiday No School1/28 Community Night (SAC)

February 2010 March 2010 April 20102/5 Family Sweetheart Dance2/9-11 FCAT Writes (4th Grade)2/15 President’s Day No School2/18 Market Day pick-up2/23 Progress Reports2/25 Domino’s Night

3/4 Spring Pictures3/5 MOSI Night3/9-10 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-up

May 2010 June 20105/3-7 Teacher Appreciation Week5/7 PTA General Assembly/Bingo Night5/6 School Play5/10 Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast5/11 Progress Reports5/21 PTA Spaghetti Dinner5/27 Domino’s Night5/31 Memorial Day — No School

6/9 Student’s last day - 5th grade clap out

Enjoy your Holidays!Thanksgiving Break is November 25-27. Winter Break is from December 23 to January 8th. Classes resume Monday, January 11th. We wish you all a happy holiday!


Scenes from the 3rd Annual

PTA Fall FestivalThis year’s Fall Festival held October 23rd did not disappoint the many families who participated. Each year the PTA seems to outdo the year before.Many thanks go out to all our volunteers, teachers, adminis-tration, and custodial staff that made this year’s festival such a success. The PTA could not do this without your support. And a special thanks goes to Peggy D’Alessandro, whose energy to make this event happen is second to none.


A Halloween to Remember!

A favorite event ever year, the costumes in this year’s Halloween Parade were superb. The creativ-ity of Sand Pine students always amazes the scores of parents who line up around the bus loop. Many thanks go to Ms. Yanson for keeping this Sand Pine tradition alive and well!


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


Our Magician assembly on October 2nd had everyone at the edge of their seats!

Red Ribbon Week was the last week of October and reminds students to “Say No to Drugs!”

Thanks to all who donated costumes for our Costume Shop! This gave several families an inexpensive way to enjoy Halloween. We are collecting costumes for next year now!

Sand Pine Business Partners News

Thanks for supporting our first Tijuana Flats Night in October. We raised about $130 and enjoyed eating with other SPES families and friends. Mark your calendars now to attend our next Tijuana Flats Night on January 12th. Hope to see you there!

Domino’s Nights are a huge success! Our first Domino’s pizza night raised $211 and Mrs. Jones’ class won the class pizza party! Please mark your calendars for our Domino’s nights on Nov. 19th and Dec. 17th. Remember to turn in your pizza night flyer so your child’s classroom and our school gets credit!

We appreciate our partners, Cosi Café and Horace Mann Insurance for donat-ing monthly gift cards for faculty/staff recognitions.

Please thank and support our awesome business partners!

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

PTA Pipeline 2009-11

Documents

Transcript of PTA Pipeline 2009-11