Hello Summerside Families!

It's hard to believe the month of October is almost behind us and we are heading into

November next week. I look back at where we have come as a Summerside community

since August, and I am extremely proud of the work we have accomplished together.

We lifted off our school year, and our classrooms are hitting on all cylinders. The

teaching and learning taking place during the school day is impressive. I couldn't be

more encouraged with what I observe daily in our classrooms. A sincere thank you to

our staff, students, and volunteers who work in concert daily to ensure our students re-

ceive a top notch academic day.

In addition, thanks to our PTO for providing a nice blend of after school events that al-

low our families to gather. We have provided the following opportunities for families

and students: Open House, Transportation Sessions, PTO Open Forums, Monthly Skat-

ing Parties, Monthly Family Nights at local eateries, an Evening Educational Session

about the Third Grade Guarantee, a Father/Daughter Dance, a Hat Day Celebration, and

the Stuff the Bus Collection for our local food Pantries. Sometimes we need to slow

down and look back and enjoy our accomplishments. Hats off to everyone who worked

together as a team. I thank you!!

The month of November will hold many more opportunities for families and our stu-

dents. In November we will have the following events: a three day overnight camp

experience for our 5th grade students, parent/teacher conferences, a book fair, after

school honor roll pizza parties, a PTO open forum meeting, a family night at Marco's

Pizza and a skating party. Also, three new after school clubs will start up at Summerside

including a Chess Club, a Go Green Club, and a School of Rock Club. Details for these

events will be contained in the Weekly Updates and on the website at

www.westcler.org. With everything we have taking place, it is critical that we do not

lose our primary mission of student learning during the school day. We have very im-

portant work in the areas of Reading, Writing, Math, Social Studies, and Science in our

classrooms during the school day which require our focus and energy. That is why we

will continue to grow our after school opportunities for kids and families at Summer-

side.

This week I stopped in to observe the teaching and learning taking place in Mrs. Kun-

kel’s 5th grade class and was very impressed. The students were working on a higher

level thinking skill of inferring (or drawing inferences) from text they were reading in

the classroom with Mrs. Kunkel. People infer naturally in the world around them. Mrs.

Kunkel’s goal was to teach students to recognize when they do this, determine how to

infer, and how to apply this strategy to improve comprehension when reading difficult

text. Great job Mrs. Kunkel and our 5th grade students!!!

I want to sincerely thank everyone who rolls up their sleeves and works in concert as a

Summerside family to make a difference for ALL of our students. Together we can

make a difference and the sky is the limit. The Summerside staff and I are here to serve

you. Feel free to contact me on my direct cell line at 373-5735 if I can be of assistance. Have a nice weekend with your family!! Life is good! —Bob Winterberger

Important Dates

11/4/14 No School

11/4/14 Conference

Night

11/5/14-

11/7/14

5th Grade

Camp

11/6/14 Conference

Night(Kdg.-4)

11/6/14 Book Fair

(4-8 p.m.)

11/10/14 Conference

Night(Kdg.-5)

11/13/14 Skating Party

(6:30-8:30 p.m.)

11/19/14 Picture Retakes

& 5th Grade

Group

11/20/14 Market Day

Pickup (5 p.m.)

11/20/14 PTO Meeting

(6:30 p.m.)

11/20/14 Marco’s Pizza

Night

11/21/14 Interims Re-

leased

11/26/14-

11/28/14

No School

Office: 513-947-7900

Attendance: 513-947-7904

November, 2014

Summerside Elementary

www.westcler.org Summerside Elementary

Summerisde Elementary will be implementing the Pizza Hut Book It program. This reading pro-

gram will run from Oct. 1st -March 31st. The goal of this program is to increase student involve-

ment and engagement in reading at home. Students will receive a monthly reading log from their

classroom teacher, which they will use to track their time spent reading at home. At the end of the

month, students who meet their reading goal will receive a Pizza Hut coupon.

Book It!

Reading Corner

Did you know that when parents read with their children, this allows the feeling of love between parent

and child to become associated with the activity of reading. This love later transfers to a child’s appreci-

ation for books and reading. Here at Summerside, we believe that parents are their child’s best teacher.

www.westcler.org Summerside Elementary

Our first book fair will be held on Thursday, November 6th from 4-8 p.m. in the school confer-

ence room. Feel free to stop in with your child and check out the selection of books from Jo-

sephBeth Booksellers. Information and flyers for the book fair were sent home on Wednesday

with all students. If you need more information please visit our website or call the school office

at 947-7901.

*5th grade students can order books ahead of time (due to camp) by using the order form on the

back of the pamphlet that was sent home on Wednesday. Please clearly label your order with

your child’s name and teacher. All pre-orders will be distributed to the 5th graders when they

return from camp.

Market Day is a unique and valuable monthly food fundraiser we rely on to help support im-

portant programs and purchase educational items that are not covered through traditional funding

sources.

There are so many reasons to be excited about having Market Day at our school:

You are feeding your family while enhancing your child’s education by helping us earn up to

20% on groceries that are purchased through Market Day.

Each month, you can order your favorites or try new items from a selection of over 150 high

quality and nutritious items at affordable prices.

Market Day stands behind every purchase, with a 100% satisfaction guarantee on everything

you buy.

It’s easy to participate – simply order online at marketday.com, or send the order forms to school

with your child, and pick up in the gym.

If you can’t make this pick-up date or time, you can still support our school by finding an alter-

nate pick-up location that works for you. Visit the Pick-Up Locator on marketday.com for loca-

tions that are close to work, home or on your errand route.

Thank you for your continued support of our Market Day monthly fundraiser. Let’s keep the mo-

mentum going and reach our goal together!

Book Fair

www.westcler.org Summerside Elementary

Progress Book allows parents and students online access to grades, interims and report

cards. Usernames and passwords we sent home with your child the first week of September.

Visit our website at www.westcler.org and use the link on the left-hand side to access the

parent user guide and/or login to view your child's progress. Please call Karen Fields at 947-

7901 with any questions.

Progress Book

EZ Pay

EzPay allows parents to pay the annual $50 school fee and deposit money onto their child's

lunch account. To use EzPay, click the link on the left-hand side of the page.

After creating an account, you may simply log in to check your child's balances and send

your payments to the school directly. In order to display your child's balance information,

you must know your child’s student ID. which you can obtain by calling Karen Fields in the

school office at 947-7901.

*Ezpay has a $3 per transaction fee.

Sign Up For Electronic News And Information

Parents can now receive information through email/text messaging for news and events for

Summerside, the district and/or any West Clermont schools of your choosing.

To sign up, visit the West Clermont website home page at www.westcler.org.

Click on E-commumication Registration on the left-hand side. Enter your name, email,

cell phone number and select the school(s) that you would like to receive electronic news

from.

www.westcler.org Summerside Elementary

New Mobile APP

West Clermont has developed a free mobile app

for your convenience. You can get the app on

your mobile device by scanning the QR code or

by going to the proper app store for your device.

Once in the app store type in WCLS in the search

bar. The app will appear for you to install on your

device.

Keeping Our Schools Safe And Our Parents Informed

The West Clermont School District’s safety committee made up of district administrators, ALiCE

(Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evacuate) trainers, and local law enforcement representa-

tives from Union Township, and the Clermont County Sheriff's Office, are holding a “What's AL-

iCE," presentation for parents, on Wednesday, November 19, 6:30 PM in the Township Hall, UT

Civic Center, 4350 Aicholtz Rd.

“Schools are some of the safest places for our children because most schools practice evacuation

drills for fires and protective measures for tornadoes,” said West Clermont School District Superin-

tendent Keith Kline. “However, just like practicing monthly fire drills, it’s important to know how to

respond in the very unlikely event of an armed intruder,” he added. “Schools are required to have

practice drills throughout the school year,“ Kline stated. Students will be introduced to ALiCE prior

to the drills.

“We are in the process of updating our Emergency Operations Plan. The updated plan will put us in

alignment with the Ohio Attorney Generals recommended plan that was developed in partnership

with 38 stakeholders and leading school safety experts." WCSD Director of Operations Ed Dyer

commented.

ALiCE is supported by more than 700 law enforcement agencies around the country and complies

with the new standard of care recently developed by the Federal Department of Education, the Fed-

eral Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the Federal Emer-

gency Management Agency (FEMA).

www.westcler.org Summerside Elementary

Procedures and Processes

Phone Calls and Emails for Summerside Teachers - Summerside Parents, commu-

nication is a key to our success in providing your children the education they deserve. In

order to expedite communication with you and our Teaching Staff the best time during the

day for our teachers to return your phone calls and your emails directed to them is at

4:00p.m. each day. Our Teachers also have a window on most days from 8:30-8:50a.m.

but often are in meetings in the morning. The daily schedule is built so the teachers are

teaching students or with students from 9:05-3:45p.m. daily with a 1/2 lunch in the middle

of the day. As a result, it is not possible for teachers to check emails and make phone calls

during the instructional day. If they did they would not be teaching the students. If you

need to contact a Teacher (by Phone or Email) during the instructional day and it is an

emergency please call our School Office at 947-7901 and our Office Team can serve you

promptly. We are here to serve you and the process above will streamline important com-

munication during the school day while allowing our Teachers to focus on the important

work of educating our children.

Lost and Found-At Summerside we have a process for making sure lost and found

items get back to their owner. Any items (coats, hats, gloves, lunchboxes, books, etc.) that

are found are taken each day to the Cafeteria. All students at Summerside know that dur-

ing noon lunch before they head out to recess that this is the location they can go to and

find misplaced items. Our Cafeteria Supervisors make sure all items brought to the Cafe-

teria are returned to their owner in the Cafeteria during noon lunch. The last week of each

month the Cafeteria Supervisors notify all students to check the lost and found each day.

On the last day of the month the lost and found items are bagged up, kept for one week

and if not claimed sent to Goodwill. Lost and found items such as glasses, purses, wallets,

and money are held in the Office where they can be claimed.

Food Brought Into School (Birthday Treats) - All Students at Summerside Elemen-

tary eat the lunch provided by the Cafeteria or Pack their lunch. On special occasions

when students have birthdays and bring in birthday treats those treats need to be dropped

off in the Office first. It is our hope and expectation that treats be store bought, clear-

ly listing all ingredients. Our School Clinic Aide (Mrs. Robinson) checks to see what

classroom the birthday treats are for, and checks to see if any students in that class

have food allergies. At that point the treats are taken to the Cafeteria and

the Cafeteria Supervisors make sure the students received their birthday treats in the Cafe-

teria with their lunch. Students with a food allergy are provided at treat by the

school Clinic Aid that is safe for their medical condition.

www.westcler.org Summerside Elementary

Procedures and Processes (cont.)

www.westcler.org Summerside Elementary

Hats and Toys - Hats are not permitted at any time for students to wear in the building.

Once kids enter our building the no hat rule sets the tone that we are here for schoolwork and

that hats are not to be worn in the building as a matter of respect. Toys are not permitted in

the building. Students have been told this directly and it's not fuzzy. Toys are a distraction to

learning. Students just need to bring their backpacks, books and school materials, and that

is it. We are here to learn and toys are a distraction. Playground equipment (balls, etc) will

be provided by the school.

Lunch Guests - Parents/Guardians/and Grandparents are encouraged and welcome to eat

lunch with their children in the Summerside Cafeteria during their child's lunch period. Two

special tables have been set up for our noon lunch period guests. Our Guests will need to

check in at the School Office, Our Office Staff will have you sign in and provide you a secu-

rity badge and will direct you to the Cafeteria from the Office once you have checked in.

Late Lunches-Any late lunch that is brought into the Office after 9:05 A.M. will be tak-

en to the Cafeteria. The Office will not call down to the classroom to let a student know it

has been brought in or to have a student come to the Office to pick it up. Students will go to

the Cafeteria to check for their lunch when their class comes up for its noon lunch. If lunch

was not brought in they will have to charge a lunch for that day. No student will be allowed

to call home for their lunch or for money to buy their lunch.

Lost Media Center Books - If a student loses a media center book the parent needs to

notify Mrs. Fields in the office regarding who your child is and what book was lost. Mrs.

Fields will update the parent on the process for paying a fee for the lost book to be replaced

in the library. Once the parent pays for the lost book, the teacher will be notified that the stu-

dent may begin checking out books again.

School Fees

Please remember to pay your school fees for the 2014-2015 school year as soon as possible. Checks

should be made payable to Summerside Elementary. You may send payment with your child to his/her

classroom teacher or make payments in the school office. School fees are $50.00

Volunteer Reminder

West Clermont School District requires all those interested in volunteering at school undergo a back-

ground check. This involves a visit to The Board of Education to be fingerprinted. Hours for finger-

printing are 8:00-11:00 a.m. and 1:00-4:00 p.m. Monday thru Friday.

Attendance Line

If your child is going to be absent from or late to school, please call the attendance line at 513-947-

7904. You may also request homework, as well.

Summerside Elementary

4639 Vermona Dr.

Cincinnati, OH 45245

Office: 513-947-7900

Attendance: 513-947-7904

Fax: 513-528-3520

Principal : Mr. Bob Winterberger

November, 2014

Lunch Money

When sending lunch money in to school,

Please remember to put it in a sealed envelope

or plastic bag clearly labeled with your child’s

name and homeroom teacher.