Wekiva Whispers

Wekiva Elementary School 1450 East Wekiva Trail Longwood, Florida 32779 Phone: 746-3150 Fax: 746-3163 March 2012 Principal: Marjorie Adamczyk Assistant Principal: Michelle Baker Principals Message What a fantastic bunch of scientists we have here at Wekiva. This year was the largest Science Expo ever attended with over 240 projects. Students shared their project with our guests. There were projects from Earth Science, Life Science and Physical Science, ranging from hovercrafts and electromagnets to testing which bubble gum lasts the longest. Participation in school projects keeps students interested in school. Parents, thank you for helping them stay organized with their time and materials. If you could not participate this year, there is always next year! Although we might have to use more than just our Multi-Purpose room. J Trek for Tech on February 24, could not have happened without all of our parent support! Thank you to the many volunteers who donated the water or time. Trek for Tech pledges will help Wekiva purchase updated technology. February was Volunteer Month! We do not get a chance to say it enough, but THANK YOU to all of our volunteers. Every teacher is touched by your support to help our school. I must end this message with my sincere gratitude to the community of Wekiva and the countless hours put in by our PTA parents. While we won round one, the fight really is not over. The suspension of schools is only for next year; we will always be on that list. Our voice was heard by our legislature through our emails and our letters. Unfortunately, it is a band-aid to what is about to come if public education is not given more consideration. On top of funding issues, the legislature is raising the standards to make a school grade of an A nearly impossible; stay informed. Until next time, Ms. Adamczyk Wekiva Talent at the Seminole County Music Festival From Ms. Kranz On Saturday, February 18, eight Wekiva students participated in the Seminole County Elementary All County Music Festival along with students from 27 elementary schools. Students have the opportunity to rehearse for four evenings during two weeks, then rehearse and present a concert of very challenging music that they received more than a month before the concert. This requires substantial discipline and commitment to make the concert a success, which it was. The students from Wekiva participating in the chorus were Alex Bishop, Bailey Carter, Lexis Kreimeier, Alexa Popiel, Barbara Svec, and Morgan Tyler. Cara Crawford performed with the recorder group, including a challenge section from The Theme from Star Wars, and Steven Manso played with the Orff ensemble, memorizing music within the two last weeks of rehearsal. All of the children did a fabulous job, and I am so proud of them. Their parents are to be congratulated, as well, for all of the transportation to and from Carillon Elementary and Hagerty High School on the other side of the county. Congratulations for a job very well done! Project Create From Ms. Leidner Our fourth grade Gifted Resource class attended Project Create at the Amway Center. Members are Carter Adams, Jared Anderson, Evan Chang, Luke Chase, Ben Evelev, Ryleigh Hanners-Graber, Ethan Huyck, Porter Huyck, Carter Lynch, Blade Karlsen, Tory Moltzan, Josh Roberts, Conrad Sampson, and Quentin Voccia. Project Create is an engineering expo sponsored by the Central Florida Society of Engineers. The purpose of Seminole County Public Schools www.scps.k12.fl.us or www.wekivaelementary.com the expo is to encourage young people to solve real problems with futuristic solutions. The students had a choice of three real world problems: trapped coal miners, new energy sources, and replacing damaged body parts. Students also participated in bridge building and paper airplane competitions. Winner for Bridge Construction Josh Roberts 5th place Winner for Paper Airplane Ethan Huyck 1st place Porter Huyck 2nd place Blade Karlsen 3rd place tie with Carter Adams 3rd Chick-fil-A Essay Contest From Dr. Baker Isabelle Denham in Ms. Pfortners class was the winner of the essay contest. Thank you to all of the boys and girls who turned in an essay. Chick-fil-A at Hunt Club will host their 7th Annual Family Fun Day on Saturday, March 24. What a great way to spend part of your Spring Break! The time of the event will be 10:00 a.m. 2:00 p.m. Clowns, Moonwalk, Police Department (Officer McGruff), Chick-fil-A cow, Lifestyle Family Fitness, giveaways and more! PTA News Wekiva's PTA Family Dinner & Art Show Tuesday, March 13th 5:00 8:00 p.m.

Aloha! Wekiva's PTA has been planning the most gnarly Family Dinner Night! This radical event will surely be one heck of a wave to catch! Put on your shorts, shades and

Wekiva Whispers
Wekiva Elementary School 1450 East Wekiva Trail Longwood, Florida 32779 Phone: 746-3150 Fax: 746-3163 March 2012 Principal: Marjorie Adamczyk Assistant Principal: Michelle Baker flip-flops and head on down to the Koala Sand Bar, where Wekiva's Kapuna (Respected One or teachers) will be serving you dinner! Victorio's will cater a spaghetti dinner and there will be snow cones, cotton candy and the most wicked of beach games. DJ Air Jordan will be spinning the tunes down at the Lanai (Beach Pavilion). Surf's up! Don't miss the wave on Tuesday, March 13th. Tickets go on sale soon! $6/per ticket includes your meal. Aloha! Wekiva Elementary Art Show Tuesday, March 13th 5 to 8 SAME NIGHT! Ms. DeLillo and our Wekiva students have been working hard getting ready for our Annual Wekiva Art Show. This exciting evening includes a piece of art work from each student in Wekiva! Please come out and let your children show you their wonderful works of art. We hope you can come out and "Support The Arts" at Wekiva. From PTA President In an attempt to better communicate with our PTA members, Wekiva parents, and our community; your Wekiva PTA felt committed to developing our own web site. We pledge to continually update our page with the most up-to-date, relevant information. In the very near future this website will transition to the WekivaElementaryPTA.com website. In these extremely difficult economic times our School Board is faced with many difficult decisions. We are faced with an enormous budget short fall for the 2012-2013 school-year. The option to suspend operations at two elementary schools has been removed from consideration for the 2012/2013 school year budget! This is great news for Wekiva Elementary and the Wekiva Community. However, we are not out the woods yet. Unless our District comes up with a way to balance the budget with longterm budget solutions we will be back here next year trying to save our school again! Your Wekiva PTA is dedicated to assisting our School District in finding long-term budget solutions so that no schools will close in the future. We will need the combined efforts of the Wekiva PTA, the Wekiva Community and our local Business Partners to ensure our school never has to be considered for closure again. The Wekiva PTA would like to thank our Wekiva Community, our Wekiva Home Owners Association, and our Business Partners for their support during our Save Wekiva Elementary campaign. We wouldn't have been as effective without your support. We look forward to working alongside all of you in the future! Please know that we will continue working closely with our Seminole County Council of PTAs and the other seven school PTAs so that we can send a unified message to our School Board Members that we dont want to see any Seminole County Public School close in order to balance the budget; not now and not in the future! Please stay tuned and check back often as we will be updating our website as information becomes available. Please dont hesitate to contact me with questions you have or rumors you may have heard. In your service, Jill Mahramus 2011-2012 PTA President If you would like to Get Involved and Take Action contact a PTA member or share online.

Seminole County Sheriff Office Carls Safe Crossing Campaign Crossing Guard Corner Did You Know Children think if they see a moving vehicle, it obviously sees them. As we all know, this gives them a false sense of security. When the crossing guards are present, they will make sure to secure the intersection prior to allowing the students to advance. Advise your child, when they walk up to a School Crossing Guard, that there is a white safety line for them to stay behind. The School Crossing Guard verbally tells them when it is safe to cross. If you are with your student, please lead by example and wait for the guard to tell you to advance. Let your child know that it is very important to wait until all traffic has stopped and stays stopped before they cross the street. This is a simple safety skill that we all need to teach all our kids. Stay Safe out there! Koala Run Congratulations to the Top 15 places for Forest City and Wicklow/Bentley Races. Forest City Boys 6 and under Mitchell McLain - 4th Girls 6 and under Kiley Strott - 1st 7 year old boys Connor Woods - 1st Dylan Sanabria - 6th

Seminole County Public Schools www.scps.k12.fl.us or www.wekivaelementary.com

Wekiva Whispers
Wekiva Elementary School 1450 East Wekiva Trail Longwood, Florida 32779 Phone: 746-3150 Fax: 746-3163 March 2012 Principal: Marjorie Adamczyk Assistant Principal: Michelle Baker 7 year old girls Hope Shenk - 8th 10 year old boys Clay Ulmer - 1st Jonathan DePaolo - 5th 11 year old boys Steven Manso - 6th James Sellers - 7th Wicklow/ Bentley Boys 6 and under Mitchell McLain - 12th 7 year old boys Dylan Sanabria - 1st Drew Tarlton - 9th 7 year old girls Lindsey Follese - 14th 8 year old boys Julio Vera - 13th 9 year old boys Andrew Pikalow - 1st Carson Crenshaw - 8th Colton Williams - 12th 10 year old boys Clay Ulmer - 1st Jonathan DePaolo - 5th Coach Prose and Coach Gray are proud of all of our Koala Runners. ******* FIELD DAY-MARCH 15 From Coach Prose and Coach Gray Volunteers needed. Theme this year is Dr. Seuss Field Day! Grade 2 & 3 8:55 10:15 Grade 4 & 5 10:25 11:45 Grade K & 1 12:45 2:05 Dont forget your 3 Ss = Sunscreen, Sneakers, and Shorts!!! J Calling All Seniors From Third Grade Checker Day Friday, March 30, 2012 9:00 a.m. 10:15 a.m. Third grade is planning a very special event for the senior family members or friends of the students. We have been reading stories that include the game of Checkers and the concept of friendship and working together. As a follow-up activity, third grade will once again hold our annual Checker Day. All students are asked to bring a board game of checkers, a bag of CHEX mix, and a senior family member(s) or friend(s). SORRY, NO PARENTS! The board game should be brought to school as soon as possible so your child can begin to practice for the checker challenge that will take place in each class. The Chex Mix should be brought in by Thursday, March 15, 2012. Invited guests are asked to join us in the cafeteria for donuts and coffee at 8:30 a.m. on Friday, March 30, 2012. Guests will join students in the universal and ageless game of checkers until 10:15 a.m. Students and guests alike are asked to wear CHECKERED clothing or to dress in RED and BLACK in the spirit of the event. Snacks will be served to all guests. This day is to recognize our special seniors and to make new friends. The children may invite one or more guests; however guests must be of senior age, 50 years old and above. This yearly event has been a very special one that the children, seniors, and teachers thoroughly enjoy. Important Dates Report Cards Go Home 5:00 SAC 6:15 PTA 3/8 Book Fair Opens Papa Johns Night 3/9 Teague Middle School Visits Wekiva ECO Club Meets 3/12 Book Fair 6:00 Girl Scouts Meeting 3/13 Book Fair 5:00 8:00 PTA Family Dinner Night and Art Festival Hawaiian Theme Book Fair is open too!! 3/15 Book Fair- Last Day FIELD DAY!! PLEASE WEAR SNEAKERS TO SCHOOL! School Related Employee of the Year Mrs. Bria is honored this evening. 3/16 NO SCHOOL 3/19-23 NO SCHOOL SPRING BREAK 3/26 School Resumes 3/27 7:45 Second Grade A Honor Roll Celebration 3/28 7:45 Third Grade A Honor Roll Celebration 3/29 7:45 Fourth Grade A Honor Roll Celebration 3/29 Teacher of the Year, Katie Kavaliaukas, is honored this evening. 3/30 7:45 Fifth Grade A Honor Roll Celebration 9:00 Checker Day Begins ECO CLUB 4/2 7:30 4:00 Kindergarten registration Begins Fifth Grade (Hull, Perdomo, and Soltren) Field Trip to Environmental Center 4/3 7:30 6:00 Kindergarten registration Begins 3/7

Seminole County Public Schools www.scps.k12.fl.us or www.wekivaelementary.com

Wekiva Whispers
Wekiva Elementary School 1450 East Wekiva Trail Longwood, Florida 32779 Phone: 746-3150 Fax: 746-3163 March 2012 Principal: Marjorie Adamczyk Assistant Principal: Michelle Baker

Day 3 Wednesday, April 18

Fifth Grade (Hull, Perdomo, and Soltren) Field Trip to Environmental Center PreK Field Trip to Browns Gymnasium 5:00 SAC 6:15 PTA Menchies Spirit Night NO SCHOOL Fifth Grade (Powers, Loften, and Harrington) Field Trip to Environmental Center Fifth Grade (Powers, Loften, and Harrington) Field Trip to Environmental Center

4/4

Grades 3, 4, 5

Math Session 1

70 minutes

4/5 4/6 4/9 4/10

Day 4 Thursday, April 19 Grades 3, 4, 5 Math 70 Session 2 minutes

Day 5 Friday, April 20 All Grades Make-up Testing

Spring 2012 FCAT 2.0 Reading/ Mathematics/ Science Daily Test Administration Schedule
FCAT 2.0 PAPER-BASED TEST ADMINISTRATIONS Day 1 Monday, April 16 Grades 3, Reading 4, 5 Session 1 70 minutes

Day 6 Monday, April 23 Grades 3 5 Make-up Testing

Day 7 Tuesday, April 24 Grade 5 Science 80 Session 1 minutes

Day 8 Wednesday, April 25 Grade 5 Science 80 Session 2 minutes

Days 9 and 10 Thursday, April 26 and Friday, April 27 Grades 4 5 Make-up Testing

Day 2 Tuesday, April 17 Grades 3, 4, 5 Reading Session 2 70 minutes

Seminole County Public Schools www.scps.k12.fl.us or www.wekivaelementary.com

During this window: *Make-ups take place every day. *Students must be on time or they will be held in the office and will not complete the test with their classmates. *Students need to rest the night before. *Students need breakfast! *Parents should not worry. When you do, they do. *Parents should encourage them to do their best. *Parents should reward them if they did their best! J During the FCAT window of testing, volunteers are not allowed on campus. This includes our Lake Brantley Peer Counselors. The reason we have everyone take a break from volunteering is because all the rooms on campus are utilized for testing students. It is required by the state that anyone who walks through a room must write why they were present, what time they were present and sign their name. The administration of this test is taken very seriously and we do not want to jeopardize any of the efforts through disruption. You are all welcome back on Monday, April 30.