THE GOPHER GAZETTE

Rock Crusher Elementary School

814 South Rock Crusher Road Homosassa, Florida 34448

Phone: 352-795-2010 Fax: 352-249-2143

Rock Crusher Web site: rockcrusherelementary.com

Principal: Rene’ Johnson

Assistant Principal: Sean Furniss

Principal’s News

Dear Parents, As we move through the year, our staff members have continued their focus on Carol Dweck’s book “Growth Mindset”. We are moving into chapter 3, The Truth About Ability and Accomplishment. There are many myths about ability and achievement. This chapter is about the real ingredients of achievement and what makes some people achieve less and some more. Many people think achievement comes effortlessly to talented people, but that is not typical. The fixed mindset limits achievement, fills people’s minds with interfering thoughts, and turns other people into judges instead of allies. The same is often true of praise and positive/negative labels. When people are praised for their ability, they may be afraid of damaging that perception if they struggle and stop challenging themselves. Conversely, when people are praised for their hard work, they often embrace future challenges. Overall, a growth mindset encourages people to develop their minds fully by embracing challenges and avoiding limiting thoughts which might hold them back. Our next big event will be the annual “Thanksgiving Feast”. We invite you to join us on Thursday, November 17th, for a Thanksgiving Feast during your child’s lunchtime. This is a special day for us here at Rock Crusher as we love spending time with our families. Look for further information soon, and we look forward to seeing you there. Our next Student Advisory Enhancement Council Meeting will be on November 1st from 4:30 -5:30 in the media center. Everyone is welcome. Thanksgiving is one of the most cherished times of the year. It is when we gather together with family and friends to celebrate the wealth of our harvest in this great nation. We at Rock Crusher Elementary feel truly blessed to have such magnificent parent involvement. Your support and commitment to our school is part of what makes Rock Crusher so special. Our students continually perform well academically, demonstrate outstanding citizenship, and make us proud to be an educator. Take time this Thanksgiving to reflect on your personal blessings and appreciate our most important assets, our children! Our entire Rock Crusher staff wishes you a Happy Thanksgiving! Sincerely, Rene’ Johnson

DATES TO REMEMBER 1 SAEC meeting (4:30) 7 Picture re-takes 11 Veterans Day/ No School 17 Thanksgiving Lunch 18 Volunteer Training 19-27 Thanksgiving Holiday

November 2016

Cafeteria News

On Thursday, November 17th we are inviting all parents to join their child(ren) for a Thanksgiving meal that will be served during your child’s regular lunch time. The menu will include: Turkey & Gravy, Super Salad or PB&J Uncrustable, Green beans, Baby Carrots, Mashed Potatoes, Sweet Potatoe Souffle, Dinner Roll, Apple Crisp and Beverage. The price is $3.25 per adult and also $3.25 per child (who is not a student at RCE). More information will be sent home with your child soon. Thank you, Linda Bibeau/ Cafeteria Manager

PTO News

Fall Fest: A BIG THANK you to all who helped make our Fall Fest a Huge Success!

Otis Spunkmeyer Cookie Dough Fundraiser: Once again we had a wonderful response for our cookie sales. Delivery date will be announced soon. Thank you!

Santa in Wonderland: Tuesday, December 6th, 5:00 - 7:00 pm in the cafeteria. More information forthcoming. Santa will be visiting our school from 5:00-6:30pm

Counselor's Corner When your child is absent, please remember to send a note with your child the next day explaining the absence. The Citrus County “Student Code of conduct” requires that you do this. You have two days to get the note in. If your child went to the doctor, please send a note from the doctor or clinic office. We will accept these notes any time. These absences do not go against your child’s attendance record. Some of you may have already received an automated phone call informing you that your child was absent from school. This is a program the county has implemented to help keep your child safe.

Please remember 3 tardies equals one absence. When your child is even 10 minutes late for school, they are starting their day off on the wrong foot and missing important instruction that the other children in the class are receiving. You are teaching your child a valuable lesson when you make school a priority; making sure they show up on time with a good night’s sleep so they are rested and ready to learn. Beth Noland/ Guidance

School Improvement Plan and Parent Involvement Plan

Our School Improvement Plan and Parent Involvement Plan

are both available on our school website. They are also

available in our School Office. Please take the time to read

these documents. If you have any questions, please contact

the school.

Chaperone Forms We are thrilled that you want to be a part of your child’s educational experience by accompanying them on a class trip. Every year a new chaperone form must be completed and approved in order for your name to be added to the class chaperone list. We must have an original application for every person who wants to chaperone; copies of an application are not acceptable. Generally, teachers give out chaperone forms well in advance of an upcoming field trip in order to allow time for processing. If you would like to complete an application ahead of time, forms are available in the front office.

Please return the completed form and a copy of your driver’s license to your child’s teacher so they are aware you have completed a form. Any questions regarding chaperone applications at Rock Crusher Elementary should be referred to Jennifer Thomson at 795-2010.

Volunteer’s at RCE

Rock Crusher is having an awesome year with seasoned veterans returning and new people getting involved. The volunteers and mentors contribution of their time and talent makes a huge difference to the teachers and children at Rock Crusher Elementary.

If you are interested in volunteering at RCE, you must attend a Volunteer Orientation class. The next Volunteer Orientation class will be Friday, November 18th from 9:00-10:00 a.m. at the District Service Center in Inverness. To register for the class, please call Helen Pannelli at 726-1931 Ext. 2233 to reserve a space.

If you want to find out more about becoming a volunteer or mentor, please contact Pam Burns at 795-2010 or burnsp@citrus.k12.fl.us.

Holiday Yummies!!

The Voices of the Rock Chorus will be

selling Java Joe’s Coffee and fudge

from November 4th – November

18th. Delivery will be December 12th,

just in time for the holidays. Would

make great stocking stuffers!

Tech Lab

We are continuing to collect “BIG G” box tops and recycle your printer cartridges. Our first submission of Box Tops totaled 9,074 Box Tops earning us $907.40! Thank you for your support. Please keep sending your Box Tops to school. The next time we submit Box Tops will be in March 2017. Let’s see if we can beat the Nov. total!!!! Thank you, Mrs. Laga

Happy Fall from Title 1

Mark your calendars for Science Night here at RCE! It will be on Thursday, December 1 from 5:00-7:30 p.m. Classroom and individual science experiments will be displayed.

Families can participate in hands-on science experiments! There will be science displays from the community. It will be a fun-filled family night you will not want to miss! Pizza will be served starting at 5:00! More information to come.

And the winners are . . .

Annabelle Potter Zachary Foden Anastasia Gonzalez

The highest sellers for the Otis Spunkmeyer

Fundraiser.

Zachary Foden

Kindergarten News

Thank you for supporting your child’s education as well as

Rock Crusher teachers, by attending our conference. We

enjoyed sharing our kindergarten curriculum and discussing

your child’s progress. If you have not yet met with us,

please call 795-2010 from 8:15-9 a.m. to schedule.

Mark your calendar! You’re invited to a Thanksgiving

activity and lunch: On Thursday, November 17th we

will be having a short Thanksgiving activity in our

classrooms that begins at 10:30. Watch for a future note

in your child’s folder for more information. Afterwards, all

parents are invited to stay for our annual school-wide

Thanksgiving lunch in the cafeteria. Adult lunch is $3.25.

We’d love to see you all there!

Upward Bound

The Upward Bound Award Program is sponsored by the Rotary Club of Citrus County. It is given to selected 4th and 5th graders three times a year. This program acknowledges students who have made a noted improvement in their grades and attitude towards reaching their potential. The following students were selected and a breakfast was held in their honor.

4th Grade Students Awarded

Left to Right: Chloe Dutko, Brieze Briguglio, Zoey Dunham, Izaya Mitchell

5th Grade Students Awarded

Left to Right: KC Bennett, Javonte DeVaughn, David Bailey, Leah Dodson

The SUCCESS Club!

Congratulations to all of our students who were chosen by

their teacher to be in “The SUCCESS Club.” Each month we

have a monthly theme and for October it was “Optimism.”

Students that earned this reward received a certificate,

were able to eat lunch on stage with Mrs. Johnson and

Mr. Furniss, and they received a special treat.

For the month of November teachers will be looking for

“Respect”. Thank you

Thank you, Brendan Bonomo/ Assistant Principal

Random act of kindness

During our week vacation find

one small gesture of kindness you

and your child can show to

someone in need.

Art Department Selected students from RCE will have some art work displayed at the Inverness Art Show on Saturday, November 5th and Sunday, November 6th. Please stop by and see what beautiful work our students have done! Thea Osborne/ Art Teacher

Picture Retakes

Picture retake day is Monday, November 7th. If your child missed having their picture taken on the original picture day (October 4) or is new to RCE as of October 5th, please be sure to have their picture taken on this day. We need their picture for our yearbook!

If you were dissatisfied with your child’s picture for any reason, please have them bring their “picture packet” back to school and we will be happy to have their picture taken again on this day. If you have any questions, please call Miss Cindy at 795-2010 Ext: 4608.

What: Holiday Chorus Concert

When: Tuesday, December 13 @ 6:00PM

Where: RCE Cafeteria

Plot: This year, we are performing an original musical written specifically

for RCE by Mr. Manning and Brandon Lang (Friend of Mr. Manning). The

musical takes place during the World War II era and is a story about the

struggles of being away at the war during the holiday season.

Admission is FREE, however, we will be accepting donations towards local

and national Veteran’s Charities such as Honor Flight and The Gary Sinise

Foundation.

5th Grade Fundraiser

5th grade is selling Butter Braids

to help off-set the cost of their

Busch Gardens Trip.

Orders must be in by Nov. 1.

Delivery date: Nov. 30

This school year the interim progress reports (midterms) for students in grades 1-5 will be available for parents to view on Skyward. If you have an email account set up through Skyward Family Access, then you will receive notification of the interim progress report electronically. If you prefer to receive a paper copy of this report, then you will need to notify your child’s teacher so he or she can provide one for you.

TROPICANA SPEECH

RCE’s annual 4-5th grade Tropicana

Speech Contest will be held on Friday,

December 16th at 9:45 in the

cafeteria.

The first and second place winners will

advance to the county competition

which will be held on

Thurs. January 19, 2017.

“The Citrus County School District would like to

remind you of the option to receive text messages

from the district, in the event of an emergency. In

order for parents/guardians to receive emergency

related text messages from the school district, the

parent/guardian must have their cell phone number

on their student’s Emergency Contact Form on file

at the child’s school. This feature is available for

the first three cell phone numbers listed on the

student’s Emergency Contact Form. Text Messages

will only be sent for Emergency notifications. If

you currently have your cell phone number on your

child’s Emergency Contact Form at your student’s

school, and you have not opted in already, you can

take advantage of this opportunity by texting ‘YES’

to 67587.”

“Santa in Wonderland”

Rock Crusher Elementary

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

5:00pm-7:00pm Please join us for a Free Night of fun-filled Christmas activities and crafts. The PTO is providing free hot chocolate and cookies for everyone to enjoy! Santa will be visiting with us from 5:00 to 6:30. We will not be taking pictures for you this year, so if you want your picture taken with Santa, be sure to bring your own camera! More information is forthcoming (we will need to know how many people are attending), so be on the look-out for this information. Please be sure to mark your calendars now so you won’t miss this magical, wonderful night with Santa!

November 2016

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2 3 4 5

SAEC Meeting

4:30 in media

center

6 7 8 9 10 11 12

School picture

retakes

Veterans Day

Student/Teacher

Holiday

13 14 15 16 17 18 19

Thanksgiving

Dinner at RCE

Volunteer/Mentor Orientation 9:00-10:00 at DSC in Inverness

20 21 22 23 24 25 26

Thanksgiving

Holiday

Thanksgiving

Holiday

Thanksgiving

Holiday

Thanksgiving

Holiday

27 28 29 30 Dec. 1

Science Night

5-7pm