Grassy Lake Elementary Newsletter

AUGUST 2015 ISSUE 5

A Message from Principal Cole Parents of our Grassy Lake Stars, Welcome Back! Our school year is well on its way to being one of our best. First of all, I am excited to let you know that our administrative team has remained. Natalie Shaffer and Julie Williams will joining me again this year. Mrs. Shaffer will continue to be the administrator for 4th and5th grade. With Mrs. Williams being the administrator for 2nd and3rd. Of course I will be the administrator for Kindergarten and1st.

As we continue this educational journey, academic excellence will remain our focus. With all the changes in the world of education, nothing has change regarding our expectations.

Our goal is to meet each student where they are and help them reach their greatest potential.

As always, I am thankful to you for entrusting us with your child/children’s education.

GLES is full of professionals who take great pride in the responsibility set before them.

Each staff member is a vital part of our team and so are you. Without everyone, we would have never accomplish all that we have since 2007. Our students will play a key role in shaping the future and it is our responsibility to give them the tools to help them make a positive impact.

Our motto is, “If You Dream It, and Believe It, You Will Achieve It”. We want our students to know there are no limits to what they can accomplish. With all of us working together we can continue to make Grassy Lake “The Place Where Dreams Come Alive”.

Doreathe Moore Cole

“If you dream i t, and be l i e v e i t, you will achieve it.”

Grassy Lake Elementary 1100 Fosgate Road Minneola, FL 34715 Main Office: (352) 242-0313 Fax: (352) 242-1504 ELC: (352) 242-0395 Doreathe Cole Principal Julie Williams Assistant Principal Natalie Shaffer Assistant Principal

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Who’s Who at GLES

Guidance Counselors: Jennifer Ardizone (K-2), Gail Adams (3-5)

Congratulations Grassy Lake Elementary!

ESE Specialist: Demaris Teron

We’re pleased to announce that GLES received two prestigious awards for the 2014-2015 school year!

Guidance Secretary: Melissa Morales

Golden School Award:

Literacy Coach: Rebecca Foster CRT: Karen Carmody School Secretary: Pam Thacker Front Office: Debbie Caldwell and Rosemary Espinal Bookkeeper: Debbie White

This award recognizes schools which have an exemplary program that promotes parent and community involvement in education.

STEM School:

This distinction was given based on our outstanding achievements in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.

Thank you to everyone (students, faculty, staff, parents, and community members) for helping our school to shine bright!

Data Clerk: Millye Rodriguez School Nurse: D’Lynn Garay ELC: Linda Gomez and Diane Brabon

Contact Us:

Telephone: (352)242-0313 Fax: (352)242-1504 ELC: (352)242-0395 1100 Fosgate Road Minneola, FL 34715

Car Rider Line The car rider drop-off/pick-up line is located at the Grassy Lake Rd. entrance. Students may be dropped off no earlier than 7:50am. We encourage parents not to wait until right before class starting time, as this may result in increased congestion in the car line.

After school, car rider pick-up begins at 3:15pm. Please ensure that your car tag is hanging from your rearview mirror every day, and in large, bold print it displays the student’s name and grade level. If your vehicle does not have a hang tag displayed, you will be asked to provide a driver’s license and we will do a transportation verification check with the front office. Car tags will be available at Open House on August 21st and also in the front office. At the beginning of the year if often takes slightly longer than usual to complete our afternoon car rider line as we are getting the students accustomed to the procedures again. We ask for your patience for the first few weeks as we work to shorten your wait time.

Please note: Before and after school, parents may not drop off students in the parking lot or bus loading area for safety reasons.

First Day Procedures Upon being dropped off in the morning, students will report directly to the cafeteria where they will be supervised until it is time to go to class. GLES staff will ensure students arrive at their classroom in a safe and timely manner. We ask that parents not walk students to class so as to familiarize students with the regular daily procedures and limit the traffic in hallways for safety reasons. We will have many GLES faculty, staff, and star patrol on duty in the hallways to assist all students. We want all our STARS to have a safe and happy first day back to school!

For advertising information contact us at info@academypublishing.com or 800-644-3541.

“If yo u dream i t, and be l i e v e i t, you will achieve it.”

Reminders Early Check Out

Students may be checked out from the main office no later than 2:45pm on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, and by 1:45pm on Wednesdays. This ensures that our regular dismissal procedures can occur in a safe and orderly manner. We know that sometimes you have to check out your child early from school, especially since some doctors and dentists don’t have appointment times in the later afternoon hours. We ask that you please be careful of too many early checkouts as this can lead to additional absences for your child and missed instructional time.

Attendance

Attendance is so very important and every day that child is out of school they miss valuable instructional time, so we like to see our Stars here every day. But we do know that sometimes emergencies come up or children get sick. If your child misses school because they are ill, please make sure to turn in a sick note on the day the child returns to school.

Pre-Arranged Absences

We know it’s sometimes difficult to plan family vacations because the parents’ workplaces don’t offer vacation time at the same time that the students have it. So if you need a prearranged absence during the school year, we need 5 days advanced notice and the prearranged absence can only be for 5 days. It will count as excused as long as the student provides some sort of educational product such as an essay on the history of where they went. Any additional days will be counted as unexcused unless accompanied by documentation, such as a doctor’s note. Again, in order for the absence to count as pre-arranged, we respectfully ask that you follow the proper advanced notice procedure.

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Transportation Changes

If you need to call the school to inform us of a transportation change for your child, please call by 2:00pm on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, and by 1:00pm on Wednesdays. This provides us enough time to ensure that both your child and child’s teacher receives the message prior to dismissal and can plan accordingly. We also ask that you keep us up-to-date on any changes to your contact information so we’re able to get a hold of you if we need to, especially in case of an emergency.

ELC

In order not to affect dismissal of those students who ride the school bus or are picked up in the car rider line, we ask that all ELC parents pick up their child no earlier than 3:45pm each day (and 2:45pm on Wednesdays).

Personal Checks

When writing a personal check to the school, we ask that you write your child’s name in the memo line as well as what the check is for. That way we’ll know for sure who the check belongs to, especially if it falls out of a backpack. We appreciate your help!

Volunteer Process

We welcome and appreciate all of our volunteers! The application to become a volunteer is now an online process. Please visit the Lake County Schools district website if you’d like to be a volunteer at GLES, and it will walk you through the process. It does usually take 4-6 weeks for approval, so if you know you’d like to volunteer for a field trip or an upcoming event, please apply early.

Open House

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You’re invited to come meet your teacher on August 21st! In the cafeteria we will have class lists, car rider tags, PTO information, bus routes/transportation questions, GLES t-shirts for sale, etc. Teachers will be available in their classrooms to meet their students! Grade level times are specified below. If you have children in multiple grade levels, we ask that you bring each child at their correct time to ensure their teachers will be available to meet them. Unfortunately we will not be able to give out teacher assignments prior to this time, as we are still enrolling and making adjustments to our class lists.

We hope to see you on the 21st!

Kindergarten – 2nd Grade: 10am – 11am 3rd Grade – 5th Grade: 1pm – 2pm

Curriculum Nights Teachers will provide information on Curriculum Nights once the school year has started.

These events are a great way to keep informed on grade level expectations. Stay tuned for more information from your child’s teacher!

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Business Spotlight We’re so appreciative to ALL of our businesses who help support our GLES STARS! We’d like to continually highlight those businesses so that our GLES community can continue to shop, dine, etc., and have a portion of the proceeds assist GLES in the process, and thank these business for their continued support.

Academy Publishing, Inc.

They produce our beautiful newsletter for FREE as long as they receive enough advertisers to offset costs. If you have a business or know of a business that would benefit from advertising to our Clermont/Minneola/GLES community, please have them contact Academy Publishing at info@ academypublishing.com or 800-644-3541.

Stephanie Walter Promotions

2015 – 2016 District Calendar

She’s our special T-Shirt Lady! By purchasing our GLES t-shirts, a portion of the proceeds atomically stay with GLES.

August 24 ��������������������� First Day of Classes September 7 ����������������� Labor Day/Student Holiday

Headquarter Honda

October 22 ������������������� End of 1st Grading Period October 23 ������������������� Non-Student Day (Teacher Work Day) October 26 ������������������� Non-Student Day (Teacher Work Day) November 11 ���������������� Veterans’ Day/Student Holiday November 23-27 ���������� Thanksgiving Holiday (Mon/Tues Storm Make-Up Days) Dec. 21 – Jan. 1 ������������ Winter Holiday

Target

REDcard holders may designate 1% of their purchases to the school of their choice. Please see a store cashier for more information.

Walmart

January 4 ���������������������� Classes Resume January 18 �������������������� Martin Luther King, Student Holiday

Refer a friend to Headquarter Honda and for each referral who purchases a vehicle, GLES will receive funds. To participate please visit www.headquarterhonda.sendmeafriend.com.

Jr.

Birthday/

January 22 �������������������� End of 2nd Grading Period January 25 �������������������� Non-Student Day (Teacher Work Day) February 15 ������������������ Presidents’ Day/Student Holiday March 21-25 ����������������� Spring Break April 7 ��������������������������� End of 3rd Grading Period April 8 �������������������������� Non-Student Day (Teacher Work Day) May 30 �������������������������� Memorial Day/Student Holiday June 9 ��������������������������� End of 4th Grading Period/Last Day of School

New Addresses/Phone Numbers (place under reminders section) Parents, please provide proof of residency if you have moved to a new location. It is imperative that our records are accurate when mailing information to you. Change of addresses or phone numbers should be brought into the front office.

Walmart employees can claim volunteer hours and the school of their choosing gets the funds.

Box Tops for Education

By collecting and returning box tops found on many of the items already in your pantry, you can help GLES earn $.10 per box top. It may not seem like a lot, but they add up quickly! You can view a list of participating brands at www.boxtops4education.com. * * Tabs from any kind of soda/juice can may also be turned in to help GLES earn funds.

Thank you again to all the businesses that help GLES throughout the year! Stay tuned for more businesses to be highlighted in our next newsletter!

“If yo u dream i t, and be l i e v e i t, you will achieve it.”

Thank You, Sea World!

At the end of last school year, Sea World donated 85 desktop computers, 85 monitors, and 30 laptops to Grassy Lake Elementary!

We are beyond appreciative for this incredibly generous donation to our school. These computers are about to be reimaged to meet our district’s specifications and then will be used throughout campus to assist our teachers and students with their educational needs.

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We’d like to offer a very special thank you to Kelly Rogers and our entire Grassy Lake PTO for organizing these efforts and making this dream a reality.

Again, we’d like to offer a BIG, HEARTFELT thank you to Sea World.

The positive impact of this donation will truly be felt across the school!

Literacy Corner We hope all of our STARS and their families are having a wonderful summer so far! We also hope that some of your summer fun has included lots of interesting reading! Having students keep up with their reading skills over the summer will also help them be more successful during the school year.

If your child hasn’t had an opportunity to read much over the summer, it’s never too late to start! We look forward to hearing about our students’ reading accomplishments when they return in August!

PTO News We hope everyone is enjoying their summer!

Please join us at our first PTO Board Meeting of the school year on August 4th at 6:00pm at Panera on SR 50 in Clermont. During this meeting we’ll discuss the upcoming school year, Fall Festival, and the Welcome Back Breakfast. We will also be voting for the open Board and Committee Chair positions. Hope to see you there!

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Grassy Lake Elementary School School Uniform Dress Code 2015-2016 Grassy Lake Elementary submitted and received approval for a waiver of school board policy in reference to Dress Code. This approval includes an opt-out procedure for religious reasons only. Therefore, Grassy Lake adheres to a strict dress code for our faculty and students. Dress affects student attitude and the learning environment of others and we expect GLES students to dress for success. The established dress code encourages a feeling of belonging and team spirit as well as pride in good grooming and appearance. Additionally, it ensures the safety and well-being of all students and promotes a positive learning environment.

Acceptable uniform clothing includes the following: Tops: •

Knit polo style, collared and un-collared shirts, t-shirts or turtlenecks in solid colors

•

Official Grassy Lake T-shirts and sweatshirts, A+ shirts, DARE shirts

Please note that tucked in shirttails are preferred.

Bottoms: •

Shorts, pants, skirts, skorts, jumpers and culottes in one solid color - white, navy, black or khaki (no sweats, knit, velour, or denim material/fabric). Jeans may be worn on Fridays as we celebrate “Spirit Day”. Belts are preferred but optional.

Dresses: •

Solid colors in white, navy, black and khaki

Footwear: •

Tennis shoes or shoes with an enclosed heel are preferred. Sandals must have a heel strap.

Cold Weather Outerwear: •

Warmth and health of the students is most important; therefore, when temperatures fall below 50 degrees, jeans are acceptable.

Grassy Lake T-Shirts FOR SALE! Many of our students choose to wear a GLES t-shirt as part of their daily uniform. These shirts come in a wide variety of colors and child/adult sizes, and are available for purchase in the front office. One shirt is $7.00 or you can get four shirts for $25.00. Shirts will also be for sale at Open House on August 21st!

“If yo u dream i t, and be l i e v e i t, you will achieve it.”

Medication

Prescription Medication

1. All prescription medications with current date must be presented in the original container to the principal/designee.

Parent/Guardian shall bring medication to school and sign a Prescription Medication Consent Form (MIS 61D001).

2. Directions/Instructions on using the prescription shall be provided by the physician or pharmacist.

3. The prescription medication shall be delivered to the office with the following information provided: A. Name and purpose of medication.

B. Time medication is to be administered must coincide with doctor’s order on the prescription.

C. Approximate duration of medication.

D. Reactions that might occur from the medication.

E. Administration of Prescription Medication Consent Form (MIS 61D001) must be completed and signed by parent/guardian.

F. Medication must be counted by the parents/guardians and person receiving the medication and documented on the Medication Administration Form.

G. All medication must be in the original container with a current date not to exceed 90 days and the label shall not be modified in any manner.

H. The first dose of medication shall not be administered at school due to the possibility of allergic reaction.

I. No more than a four (4) week supply should be delivered to the school at one time.

J. All medication must be secured with lock and key.

K. A student that needs to carry an inhaler must have a doctor’s statement and parent/ guardian written consent, on the Prescription Consent Form.

Inhalers that are carried by the student must have a prescription label with the student’s name on the inhaler itself.

4. Parents must notify the School Health Coordinator at the student’s school about special health concerns or medication needs before field trips and other off-campus events including athletics. This notification should be at least one week in advance for most medication or health concerns; however, the notification should be at least three weeks in advance for injectable medications or blood sugar monitoring.

Non-Prescription Medication

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1. All non-prescription medication shall be delivered by parent/guardian.

Non-prescription medication may be administered for 72 hours (three consecutive days) only with parental written consent on the Lake County Schools Non-Prescription Form (MIS 61D003). After the 72 hour (three consecutive days) time frame a standing order must be secured from the child’s physician. The non-prescription medication shall be delivered to the office with the following information provided: A. Name and purpose of medication.

B. Time and condition under which the medication is to be given.

C. Specific instructions on the administration of the medication.

D. Non-prescription medications are to be received in a new unopened container with 30 or less pills or no more than a one-month supply.

E. The consent form (MIS 61D003) must be completed and signed by parent/guardian.

F. The first dose of any medication shall not be administered during school hours due to the possibility of allergic reaction.

G. All medication must be in original container and stored under lock and key.

2. The School Board of Lake County, Florida, may not administer the following non-prescription medications: cold remedies; aspirin; throat sprays; herbs; vitamins; cough drops; cough syrup; ear, eye and nose medication; medicated lip balm.

3. Parents must notify the School Health Coordinator at the student’s school about special health concerns or medication needs before field trips and other off-campus events including athletics. This notification should be at least one week in advance for most medication or health concerns; however, the notification should be at least three weeks in advance for injectable medications or blood sugar monitoring.

For advertising information contact us at info@academypublishing.com or 800-644-3541.

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For advertising information contact us at info@academypublishing.com or 800-644-3541.