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H.D. Thoreau Elementary Home of the Fantastic Frogs! |
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Frog News weekly newsletter
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Frog News
H.D. Thoreau Elementary
School
8224 NE 138th Kirkland, WA 98034 425-823-4350 FAX: 425-814-4986
Steve Roetcisoender, Principal Email: sroetcisoender@lwsd.org |
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May 13, 2005 May 16-20 Spirit Week at Thoreau 20 Carnival 6:00pm-9:00pm 24-26 6th grade Outdoor Ed 26
DEADLINE for
returning Student Placement Forms 27 No School-Professional Teacher Day 30 No School-Memorial Day PRINCIPAL’S PERSPECTIVE Contract Agreement Reached As
you may have already heard, the LWSD and the LWEA reached an agreement on a
new contract for the next three years. Soon you will receive a letter in the
mail explaining the new contract and calendar changes. I am very excited
about the calendar, as it creates long periods of uninterrupted learning
blocks for students. For those that would like to see the calendar before you
get your letter, I understand it is posted on the district web site. The following was released to the press on Tuesday of this week. The Lake Washington School Board during a special meeting Monday, May
9th unanimously approved a new three-year teachers’ contract. The contract had been approved by members
of the Lake Washington Education Association on May 6th by a 93%
‘yes’ vote of the more than 800 educators voting. Emphasizing that attracting and retaining a quality staff is important
to student achievement the contract has drawn praise from both district
administrators and teachers. “This is
a great contract,” said Superintendent Don Saul. “It will support the most effective kind of teacher work and
the best results for students.” LWEA
President Kevin Teeley said, “I am really excited that the district and the
association were able to work collaboratively to reach such a terrific
contract agreement well before school ends and assure a smooth start to the
school year.” The contract makes the district’s teachers’ salaries significantly
more competitive and supports its ability to attract and retain quality
staff. Although the level of state
and local funding for Lake Washington is less than neighboring districts, the
salary enhancements were made possible due to the district’s sound fiscal
management and positive working relationship with its teachers’ association. The contract, in effect from this fall through the
2007-08 school year supports the district’s core values, reflected in its
mission statement, “that each student will graduate prepared to lead a rewarding,
responsible life as a contributing member of our community and greater
society.”
The school calendar was established as part of the contract
negotiations and took into consideration the results of a parent survey
conducted in April. The major changes are the start date of August 31, 2005
and ending day of June 16, 2006. Instructional
time continuity was improved by eliminating the half-day releases spread
throughout the year and reducing the number of full-day releases. The new
calendar provides for students to be released one and one-half hours early
every Wednesday to allow teachers time to work collaboratively to enhance
classroom instruction. This schedule provides more weekly and monthly contiguous
instructional time benefiting both students and teachers. This early release
schedule is similar to that being done by neighboring districts. 2005-2006 STUDENT PLACEMENT FORMS Student Placement Forms
for parents giving input for their child’s next year classroom assignment are
now available in Thoreau’s office. The process we use at Thoreau starts in
May and will finish in late August when lists are posted just before school
begins again. All forms need to be
completed and returned to the office no later than May 26. No late forms will be accepted. BATTLE
OF THE BOOKS 2005 The Book Worm Bunch did an outstanding job
representing Thoreau in the Lake Washington School District on-line battle,
Tuesday, May 10. They were just one
game away from the Championship round!
We are sure proud of: Tatiana A, Christine S, Maggie K, and Katie W. It was amazing how much they could
remember from 15 books! We are also proud and want to thank the 4 other
teams that competed here at Thoreau this year: The Rippin’
Readers:
Devin L, Cody C, Payam K, and Kieran M The Reading
Chickens:
Tom Z, Brianna S, Mike A and Paul T The Book
Eaters:
Max B, Cameron R, and Matthew K The Reading
Frog Rockets: Kyle K, Brick K, Ashland B, and Tansey L . You ALL did a great job
and made the Battle of the Books 2005 fun and exciting! Thank you for participating. SPIRIT WEEK Spirit Week
starts next Monday, May 16! Show your spirit by participating in the
following fun days at Thoreau! Monday: Dress All in One
Color Day Tuesday: Hat
Day Wednesday: Favorite
Sport/Team Wear Thursday: Hawaiian
Day Friday: Crazy Hair Day LAKE
WASHINGTON SCHOOL DISTRICT 2005
ELEMENTARY SUMMER SCHOOL INFORMATION Elementary
Summer School 2005 will be located at Lakeview Elementary School, beginning
July 18 and ending August 12, Monday through Friday. The cost of summer school is $155.00 per
session, up to two sessions per day, 8:30 AM to 10:00 AM and 10:00 AM to
11:30 AM. Catalogs and registration
forms are available at your student’s home school as well as on-line through
the Lake Washington School District home page www.lwsd.org.
Click on School and District Information, then Summer School. Registration begins May 16. For more information call the Summer
School office 425-828-3291 or email kmatson@lwsd.org. |
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Check out our
website for the latest information! FANTASTIC
RACING FOR BOX TOPS! Our Box Top "racing" is over for the year. It was a
great race! Mrs. Amundsen/Lindstrom’s won for the K-2 grades and Mrs.
Guthrie’s class won for the 3-6 grades. They will receive a pizza or ice
cream party. Here were the final standings: K-2nd grade Mrs.
Amundsen/Lindstrom.....979 Mrs.
Sinclair..........................516 Mrs.
Mach............................495 Mrs. Van
Cleave ..................368 Mrs.
Platzke..........................295 Mrs.
Sickles..........................293 Mrs. Ruby
PM......................153 Mrs. Ruby
AM.....................106 3-6th
grade Mrs.
Guthrie.........................710 Mr.
Elsworth........................673 Mrs.
Holman........................599 Mrs.
Vunak..........................546 Mrs.
Hartford.......................428 Mr.
Snider............................269 Mr.
Turnbull.........................219 Mr.
Turner...........................185 Thank you for taking time to clip box tops! It is worth it!
Every box top is worth a dime! This year (including last summer) we collected
about 14,000 box tops!!!! That equals cash back to our school of 1400.00.
Please continue to ask friends and relatives... and get the box tops to our
school! Please keep collecting to turn in next fall for our summer
contest. CHESS INSTRUCTOR NEEDED We are looking
for an experienced chess player to teach our more advanced chess club
students for next year. We would like to have two classes, one for beginners
and one for experienced chess players. We have a "beginners"
teacher but need a more experienced teacher for the additional class.
Both clubs will be a maximum of 20 students and meet on Mondays after school
from 3:15 until 4:30 every week for about 6 months. Chess Mates pays $30 per
class for your services. Plus, the kids love chess and it is a lot of fun! If
you know someone that may be interested please call Regina Bock
at #814-6292 or Polly Blanchard at #820-8909 for more information. WANTED The recess teachers are in need of a ball pump to inflate the
balls at recess as needed.... if you have one or would purchase one for them
as a gift that would be much appreciated!! WAMOOLA PROGRAM Thank you for your support with the Washington Mutual school
program. We just received a check for $411.00 from this program!! This money
will be used for the Art Beautification Committee projects. If you,
family, or friends have a Washington Mutual Checking account you can REGISTER your Washington Mutual bankcard and designate Thoreau as your school. They will donate $0.05 for every time you
swipe! Go to www.wamoolafor-schools.com or call
1.866.wamoola. KUDOS Thank you to Helen Garcia, Kim Jones, and Brenda Nunn for
starting one of the Art Beautification Committee (ABC Committee) projects.
The committee’s first project involves the kindergarten students and the
hallway leading out of their classrooms. The students got to put their handprint
on the wall with paint. When finished it will be a growing garden of flowers. We have
sold 42 tiles so far! It is sooo cool to see the paper tiles go up
across from the gym. The children are going to love seeing their names on
these tiles for years to come! The "early bird special" of
$45.00 for a 6x6 tile ends June 1st. After that it will be $50.00.
Please share this with grandparents, employers, and other connections you may
have that might be interested. This is a 70% profit for us, and creates
a lasting memory! Questions, contact Valerie Quinn at 425 398-7239 or Polly
Blanchard 425 820-8909. ASSEMBLY Thanks to
parents supporting our PTA fundraisers, we budget about $2500.00 each
year to bring enrichment assemblies to all students at Thoreau. We have had
Pioneer Farms, Museum of Flight, and the Early Music Guild so far this year.
Our last series of assemblies is with the Pacific Science Center. They will
be coming to our school Wednesday, May 11, and Thursday, May 12. The primary
grades have individual classroom storybook science and the intermediate
grades get to check out the Starlab Planetarium shows in the gym. Thank you to all the families supporting our additional
playground adventure! We have about $1,945.00 in our playground fund so
far. We will allocate the Carnival profits into this account also.
We have applied for the $15,000.00 King County grant and will know in
November the results. We can do it if we all work together! Any comments,
please contact Valerie Quinn at 425 398-7239 or Polly Blanchard at 425
820-8909. WANTED**WANTED**WANTED**WANTED Cakes are needed for the cakewalk at the Carnival. Cakes can be
brought as early as Wednesday, May 18, to the main Thoreau’s office. You may
also bring them the night of the carnival to the gym. The cakes may be made
or store bought. Check the stores for “buy one get one free” specials. Mark your calendars for Friday, May
20, 6:00pm-9:00pm! Come one, come all to a family night of fun at Thoreau’s
third annual spring carnival! There will be lots of games to play and chances
to win tickets for the prize room. Dunk Mr. Roetcisoender and Mr. Turnbull in
the dunk tank! Run through the 42-foot obstacle course and slide down the
29-foot “Wave of Fire” slide! Bring your hungry tummy – eat a combo meal for
about $3.25 a person. Pizza, hotdogs, chips, drinks, popcorn, and churros
will be for sale. Check out the students’ art on display. Have your picture
taken. Please contact Stacy McJunkin, 425 823-5642 or email stacymcj@comcast.net.
Cakes are
needed! Come join the fun! |
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