MARCH NEWSLETTER Ashley PTA Newsletter UPCOMING PTA EVENTS MARCH 20 Teacher Breakfast by Hospitality MARCH 23 Healthy Lifestyles Event 6-7pm Ashley Elementary PTA Website: http://ashleyelementarypta.org Like us on Facebook: ashleyelementarypta Follow us on Twitter: ashleyelempta Instagram: http://instagram.com/ashleyelempta/# APRIL 4 Ashley s 10 year Anniversary Celebration APRIL 6-10 Book Fair, Kinder Round-Up and Box Tops/Labels Drive APRIL 7 PRINCIPAL S MESSAGE Dear Ashley Families, Although the old saying goes, March, in like a lion, out like a lamb, February certainly roared out like a lion, didn t it? Oh, my! I know that so many of us are looking forward to nicer weather, and especially for the sun to return regularly to our Texas sky! Please take the time to add the following events to your busy March calendars. Please note that STAAR testing is quickly approaching for 3 rd -5 th grade students. To help our testing days run as smoothly as possible, we ask that you please not schedule any appointments for your child on their testing date. Furthermore, students will be testing in various locations throughout the building. To maintain testing security we ask that no visitors or volunteers come on testing dates in grades Kinder through Fifth. Please note the upcoming STAAR testing dates. We know all of the students have been working hard this year, and our teachers will have them well prepared to be successful on these exams. Monday, March 30- STAAR 4 th grade Writing-day 1 Tuesday, March 31- STAAR 5 th grade Reading AND STAAR 4 th grade Writing-day 2 Monday, April 20-STAAR 5 th grade Math Tuesday, April 21- STAAR 3 rd and 4 th grade Math Wednesday, April 22-STAAR 3 rd and 4 th grade Reading AND STAAR 5 th grade Science Kindergarten Music Program and PTA General Meeting APRIL 10 5 th Grade High Touch/High Tech Program, Friday Live and Snack Shack at the Park APRIL 15 Drum Café Programs 8:15am and 9:15am APRIL 17 Kindergarten High Touch/High Tech Program MAY 1 Friday Live MAY 4-8 Teacher Appreciation Week MAY 5 2 nd Grade High Touch/High Tech Program Page 1 of 6
Dates for Busy March Calendars: March 16 through 27-Food Drive benefiting Frisco Family Services Food Pantry Saturday, March 21-Choir, Dynamic Drummers & Rockin Ropers perform during Texas Legends game Sunday, March 22- Choir, Dynamic Drummers & Rockin Ropers perform at Stonebriar Mall 2:00 PM Monday, March 23-Family Fitness Night 6:00 Wednesday, March 25-Spring Picture Day March 28 & 29-Frisco Arts in the Square Monday, March 30-4 th Grade STAAR Writing test-day 1 Tuesday, March 31-5 th Grade STAAR Reading test and 4 th Grade STAAR Writing test-day 2 Thank you for taking the time to read through this important communication. Have a great week! Respectfully, Laurie Weeks, Principal PRESIDENT S MESSAGE Can you believe it s already March?!!? This school year is flying by and before you know it we will all be celebrating another great year at Ashley. Speaking of celebrating, we are very much looking forward to the 10 th Anniversary Celebration of Ashley Elementary. We hope you can all join us on Saturday, April 4 th from 4-7:00 for a fun family celebration that will include games, food, cake and Eddie Coker as our special guest and performer! Tickets, for food, will go on sale soon so please check our website and Thursday folders for information about that! As for the rest of the year we have plenty of fun things on the calendar for our students! High Touch/High Tech, Drum Café, Field Day, Magician and Family Fitness Night just to name a few. At our last General Board Meeting we voted on and approved the remaining budget lines for the rest of the year and we are so excited about the items we will be purchasing for our school. Our teachers MAY 8 UPCOMING PTA EVENTS Family Night at Independence HS JUNE 2 5 th Grade End Of Year Party JUNE 4 Magician Program and 5 th Grade Graduation JUNE 5 End of Year Celebrations of Learning + Class Parties PTA MEMBERSHIP A HUGE thank you to our Ashley community, we have reached our goal of over 500 PTA members. You all play such an important role at Ashley and we are so thankful for your support of our PTA. We are excited to announce we are honoring Mrs. Dilworth and Mrs. Lazar with the Texas PTA Life Membership Awards this spring. These wonderful teachers have both taught at Ashley all 10 years and have been loyal and staunch allies to our Ashley PTA. Don t forget to take advantage of the discounts with your Texas PTA membership card. Use this link to see where you can save: http://www.txpta.org/mypta/member-benefits/ As always, please feel free to contact me at: membership@ashleyelementarypta.org Tyne Berlanga Page 2 of 6
will be getting new classroom library sets so that every classroom has the same books available, we will also be purchasing some new recess equipment, art supplies, music curriculum, a new podium and some other items including classroom supplies. We are really excited about where our money is going this year and know that it will all benefit students for years to come. Just a friendly reminder: STAAR testing will occur March 30-31 st and April 20-22 nd. Please remember there will be NO VISITORS allowed at school on those days. We are planning on doing a few small things around the school to ease the minds of our students and keep the atmosphere light for these testing days. I look forward to seeing you at Family Fitness Night on the 23 rd and the 10 th Celebration on April 4 th! Sincerely, Lori Bettencourt WATCH DOGS Dads (and grandpas and uncles): There are still available slots to be a WatchDOG this year. Go to the link on the Ashely Website and register for a day! There will be an end of the year Dad/Student ice cream social May 21st. More details will follow! SAGE Diverse Abilities Days are May 4 and 5. More Information will follow as well as opportunities for parent volunteers! Save the Date 10 th Anniversary Celebration Saturday, April 4 th 1st and 4th grade got to experience their High Touch/High Tech programs in February and the rest of the grades will do theirs in March and April. 1st graders experienced life under the sea with some fun experiments in "Sea Ya Later". This program is always a big hit for our students and we love how it brings learning to life as they get to be a part of the action. Big thanks to our VP of Programs, Melissa Stafford, for setting all of these fun grade level programs up. 4-7pm Bring your family & join us in celebrating TEN YEARS of Ashley Elementary!! IN-N-OUT Burger will provide burgers, chips and a drink For $5 and EDDIE COKER will entertain us!!! More details to come very soon! ASHLEY PTA Page 3 of 6
Community Partners Remember to register your Kroger shopper s card at krogercommunityrewards.com. Earn cash for Ashley every time you shop! Last year we raised over $4,000 through this program. With more families participating, we can blow that number away! Let s go for it! Just follow these steps: 1. Visit KrogerCommunityRewards.com 2. Locate your state and click Enroll Now. 3. Sign in to your online account, or create an account. 4. Find and select your organization, and click Save. It s time! Please submit Box Tops and Labels for Education during the week of 4/6-4/10. The class with the most Box Tops and Labels collected will be recognized at Friday Live, and they ll earn a fun surprise! Here s what you ll need to do: -Check expiration dates on Box Tops and throw away any expired ones. -Put non-expired Box Tops and Labels for Education together in one zip top bag. Please do not write anything on the bag we ll reuse it! COME GET FIT! AT ASHLEY ELEMENTARY FAMILY FITNESS NIGHT MONDAY, MARCH 23 6:00-7:30PM Come try a fun Zumba class, check out some Rugby, learn some Taekwondo & Self Defense moves, work out with some great trainers and make your own healthy snack to eat and get tips from a registered dietician. So grab your sneakers and your family and get ready to have a little fun while getting healthy! Don t miss out on all the fun and a chance to win some AWESOME prizes in our Healthy Lifestyles Drawings. Prizes include a Texas Legends gift basket, a Frisco Rough Riders Baseball basket, a LifeTime Fitness basket, a month of unlimited classes and a free uniform from Lacy s Taekwondo, My Fit Foods gift cards, free yoga class passes, Heard Museum passes, a bike helmet, jump ropes, and more! -Send the bag to your child s teacher no later than Friday, 4/10. Page 4 of 6
Our wonderful hospitality crew spoiled our teachers in February with a "Souper" lunch. With over 14 crock pots full of soup our teachers were able to fill their bellies with yummy food. Thanks to Lisa Tomlinson for organizing the luncheon and keeping our teachers happy! On February 20th we tried something new and hosted an Around the World experience for every student to attend during their CAMP time. Students traveled around to 7 different countries including India, Australia, Mexico, France, Sweden, China and Venezuela. Our students learned how to say Hello and Goodbye in the countries native language as well as other important facts such as population, how far away it is from Frisco, TX and what kind of foods are popular there. Our hope was that each student would take away some new understanding of other countries and cultures and we feel like this day was a successful way to do that. Many thanks go out to our amazing parents that dressed the part and decorated their tables so well and to our CAMP teachers for keeping us on task and organizing the chaos! ASHLEY PTA NOMINATING COMMITTEE Now is the time to volunteer your time and talents to the PTA. If you are interested in serving on the PTA Board or Special Committee Chair during the 2015-2016 school year please contact Anna Fitts at annafitts@gmail.com by March 20. Page 5 of 6
PTA Board Roster 2014-2015 Position Name Email Principal Laurie Weeks principal@ashleyelementarypta.org Assistant Principal Sherry Klingenberg ap@ashleyelementarypta.org President Lori Bettencourt president@ashleyelementarypta.org 1st VP Ways & Means Jennifer Betz waysandmeans@ashleyelementarypta.org 2nd VP Programs Melissa Stafford programs@ashleyelementarypta.org 3rd VP Membership Tyne Berlanga membership@ashleyelementarypta.org Treasurer Colleen Dachowicz treasurer@ashleyelementarypta.org Secretary/ Laura Hairston secretary@ashleyelementarypta.org Communications Parliamentarian Bobbi Ann Burch parliamentarian@ashleyelementarypta.org Historian Mandy historian@ashleyelementarypta.org Worthington Council Delegate Heaven Lesher councildelegate@ashleyelementarypta.org Room Parent Holly Blackstar roomparent@ashleyelementarypta.org Coordinator Book Fair Amy McCaulley bookfair@ashleyelementarypta.org Spirit Store Angela Maroney spiritstore@ashleyelementarypta.org Community Partners Ashlea Waters ashleawaters@gmail.com Watch DOGS Ryan Hairston watchdogs@ashleyelementarypta.org Healthy Lifestyles Jennifer Tenbrink healthy@ashleyelementarypta.org SAGE Delegate Jennifer Kent SAGE@ashleyelementarypta.org Volunteer Coordinator Christina Draper volunteer@ashleyelementarypta.org Hospitality Lisa Tomlinson hospitality@ashleyelementarypta.org Newsletter Anna Fitts newsletter@ashleyelementarypta.org Social Media Amy Dougherty socialmedia@ashleyelementarypta.org Special Committees Traffic/Safety Felicia fmestemacher@tx.rr.com Mestemacher RoughRiders Night Marilyn Peebles Teacher Appreciation Melissa Weyer melissa.weyer@yahoo.com Directory Karin Badeau karin@badeau.com Thursday Folders Veronica Schmich schmich_frisco@sbcglobal.net Bulletin Board Ronna Terpstra ronnatx@gmail.com Concessions Melissa Vitek melissavitek@gmail.com Page 6 of 6