whispers april 2012

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Wekiva WhispersWekiva Elementary School

1450 East Wekiva Trail

Longwood, Florida 32779

Phone: 746-3150 Fax: 746-3163APRIL 2012

Principal: Marjorie Adamczyk Assistant Principal: Michelle Baker

Seminole County Public Schoolswww.scps.k12.fl.us orwww.wekivaelementary.com

Principals Message

Dr. Seuss Day was held on the same

day as Read Across America; very

fitting because everyone likes the

imaginative author! Primary studentshad fun eating green eggs and ham!

The theme was carried over to our

Field Day too.Our annual Trek for Tech fundraiser

was a great success! Your pledges and

donations are very much appreciated.

The money raised will be going

toward the purchase of technology. Asyou know, technology continues to

change and your donations help us to

keep up with those changes.The Family Dinner and Art Show,

sponsored by the PTA, was another

successful parent and communityinvolvement activity. Not only did our

students have a great time, but Alumni

Koalas were in the crowd too. Thank

you to the many volunteers and PTA

members that helped to make it

successful. Teachers too! From the

set-up to the clean up, we hadawesome volunteers. The Art Showwas so colorful. The glass doors

surrounding the building have a

beautiful glow during the morning

hours as color shadows are casted ontoto the floors in the hallways. Mrs.

Cook also appreciated the help and

sales at our Book Fair.

The month ended with our annual,

Checker Day. I had no idea how

much fun it would be until I saw it.

We had well over 50 grandparents or

seniors here to play. While ChexMixwas consumed, black and red dressed

students strategized to beat their

opponents. Way to go 3rd graders,

however; the seniors did win theHuman Checker Game. Ask a third

grader for more details!

FCAT is upon us. I asked a student

about it; So, FCAT bring it on or

need more time? The student replied,

Bring it on! We are ready!

Until next time,

Ms. Adamczyk

P T A News

We would like to thank all of the

parents and teachers who helped to

make the Family Dinner and Art Showa very successful, fun evening. Special

thanks to the coordinator, Mrs. Tamm,

for her organization of it. We want to

remind all parents to join us at the

PTA General Meeting on May 15, at

7:00. This meeting will be very brief.There will be a ReflectionsRecognition as well! The School Play,

"Robin Hood and his Band of Merry

Persons!" will follow it. Hope

everyone cane join us.

Congratulations to our

A Honor Students

Second Grade Ryan Antalek, Renna

Duarte, Connor Fosnow, Jack Klinger,

Autumn Rahilly, Nathan Coady,

Anthony Geluso, Caylie Camp, Jolie

Hartley, Jade Petruzziello, Paige

Pulliam, Kyle Schehr, Connor Taft,

Grace Bernardo, Colin Fair, LilyMcLain, Tessa Rogers, Alex Rottach,

Sydney Compton, Lauren Kraus, Sara

Ottaway, Madelyn Romine, SydnieSmith, Skylar Blake, Anna Frabizio,

Kai Higgins, Nicholas Vakhordjian.Third Grade Laura Fischer, Emily

Mehigan, Alexandra Miller,

Alexander Nguyen, Tucker Smith,

Caleb Strott, Emily Pitzer, Emma

Morgan, Sam Barrett, Andy Gonzalez,

Jackson Gunnels, Larabelle Tretter,Isabella Bilow, Rebecca Flanagan,

Alex Proctor, Wayne Yeadon, LiaBoling, Kylie DeMorse, Brandon

Gear, Claudeja Pierre, Hannah Bishop,Nathan Claudio.

Fourth Grade Carter Adams,

Mackenzie Baker, Carson Crenshaw,

Carrlee Crocker, Alexandra George,

Porter Huyck, Amy Lauire, Devin

Lennon, Samarys Morales Melendez,

Steele Norton, Joshua Roberts, Sam

Romine, Serra Sowers, Samantha

Tenny, Elizabeth Walls, Grace Burke,

Jack Kurtz, Carter Lynch, Tory

Moltzan, Joelle Wittig, Magen Geluso

Ben Evelev, Colton Williams, EvanChang, Luke Chase, Ethan Huyck,

Molly Kucharski, Alexa Riddell, Sean

Weathers

Fifth Grade Cassidy Ceppos, Ryan

Fischer, Joshua Gear, Caden Reeves,

Nolan Sanders, Lexi Kreimeier,

Steven Manso, Kaitlyn Northrup,

Madison Parker, Pelia Blando, CaraCrawford, Maya Erwin, Arthur Liu,

Emma Murphy, Brennan Wayne.

Mrs. Smith Hannah Bishop, NathanClaudio

*PARENTS *

In the past School Time Planners hadprovided the SPB free of cost. In ligh

of budget constraints next year we are

required to pay for our planners. To

defray costs businesses can advertise

in the planner. If your business is

interested in helping defer planner

costs by advertising in the planner;please contact Assistant Principal, Dr.

Michelle Baker at 407-746-3101.

Grade Level News

Kindergarten

Kindergarten students are lookingforward to a field trip to Pinocchios

Theater! Our kindergarteners love to

learn! Some of the skills being

mastered at this time include: retelling

stories and events in sequence,

recognizing and using letters, sounds

and sight words, life cycles,

measurement, as well as adding andsubtracting using number lines and

manipulatives. We are looking

forward to sharing our kindergarten

memories and portfolios with ourparents at the end of the year!

First Grade

First grade is "wild" about animals!

Our Science learning objectivesfocused on the differences between


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Phone: 746-3150 Fax: 746-3163APRIL 2012



animal groups and what every living

thing needs. This has prepared them

for our upcoming field trip to the

Central Florida Zoo. Mrs. Yovaish,

Gallagher, and Ms. Malespin classeswill visit on Thursday, April 19th.

Mrs. MacFarlane, Colwell, and Meza

classes will attend on Friday the 20th.Parents, please continue to read and

practice math facts daily.

We are on the fast track to the end of

the school year!!

Second GradeSecond Grade is looking forward to

their upcoming Ocean play on May

1st. Second graders will be learningabout animals and their habitats. An in

depth look at the ocean habitat and its

creatures is always a fun andeducational experience for the second

grade students. Please mark your

calendar for May 1st and come and

join the second grade students as we

learn about the ocean and the

incredible habitat it provides.

Third GradeIn third grade, we have been

preparing for the reading and

mathematics portion of the FCAT 2.0.

We have been using the Math and

Reading FCAT practice books,focusing on reading comprehension,

taking FCAT practice tests, and

covering the Next Generation

Sunshine State Standards.

Third grades annual Checker Day,

held on March 30th was a huge

success! We had a total of 61 seniors

attend this fantastic event. The thirdgraders displayed their knowledge of

the game and played strategically

against their senior citizen guests! In

the end, the seniors won the humanChecker game!! Everyone had a great

time.

Fourth Grade

Fourth Grade has been very busy

planning their upcoming field trip to

St. Augustine, which is scheduled for

May 16. There will be two mandatory

chaperone meetings for the parents

who volunteered to go on this trip.

The dates are May 9 at 8:00 am or

May 10 at 3:15 pm. Chaperones canattend either meeting. Thank you to all

the parents who are planning to join us

on this endeavor! Additionally, wewould like to thank our Pod Mom,

Mrs. Lisa Romine and all the room

parents who are working on the plans

for our End of the Year Party! It will

be held on May 25. More informationwill be coming home in the near

future. The fourth grade team feels it

has been a great year! The studentshave worked hard each day and are

ready for FCAT! We cant wait to

show what we know!

Fifth Grade

"The more that you read, the more

things you will know. The more that

you learn, the more places you'll go." -

- from "I Can Read With My Eyes

Shut!" Dr. Seuss had it right and our

fifth grade teachers are going placeswith literature. We have beenworking on a non-fiction unit for

several months. Our students are

strengthening their skills in identifying

text features and reading to organizeand disseminate information. As we

near FCAT, we are including several

fiction selections, including Wringer,

Tiger Rising, and Maniac Magee. Ask

your child to identify narrative

elements from their own personal

selections. It is always a good idea to

read the same book your child iscurrently perusing to allow for great

dialogue and modeling opportunities.

The focus on non-fiction literature has

really helped to open the eyes of ourstudents in Social Studies. They are

learning they are not limited to the

textbook to learn about topics in class.

Currently, all classes are concluding a

study of Westward Expansion and

getting ready to delve into the issues

plaguing our country in the 1800s and

leading to Civil War. In what shape is

the world? That is not a political

question, but a geometrical question.

Our math students are at it againanswering a plethora of questions

about geometry. Through the use of

shape blocks, geoboards, andpolyhedrons, we are discovering math

is art and art is math! Can you answer

these questions? What is an

octogenarian? How many events in a

decathlon? A dodecagon has howmany sides? What federal building is

five sided?

Our current science unit centers onthe systems of the human body. We

are just beginning to learn how the

systems work together, what organsmake up the various systems, and how

what we eat affects us. Food for

thought--- just why does a cow need 4

stomachs?

Lexile Levels From Mary

DeBonville Reading Teacher

What is a Lexile Measure?www.lexile.com

A Lexile measure is a valuable

piece of information about either an

individual's reading ability or the

difficulty of a text, like a book ormagazine article. The Lexile measure

is shown as a number with an "L" after

it 880L is 880 Lexile.

A student gets his or herLexile

reader measure from a reading test or

program. For example, if a student

receives an 880L on her end-of-grade

reading test, she is an 880 Lexilereader. Higher Lexile measures

represent a higher level of reading

ability. A Lexile reader measure can

range from below 200L for beginningreaders to above 1700L for advanced

readers. Readers who score at or

below 0L receive a BR for Beginning

Reader. A book, article or piece of

text gets a Lexile text measure when

it's analyzed by MetaMetrics. For


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Phone: 746-3150 Fax: 746-3163APRIL 2012



example, the first "Harry Potter" book

measures 880L, so it's called an 880

Lexile book. A Lexile text measure is

based on two strong predictors of how

difficult a text is to comprehend: wordfrequency and sentence length. Many

other factors affect the relationship

between a reader and a book,including its content, the age and

interests of the reader, and the design

of the actual book. The Lexile text

measure is a good starting point in the

book-selection process, with theseother factors then being considered.

Lexile text measures are rounded to

the nearest 10L. Text measures at orbelow 0L are reported as BR for

Beginning Reader. The idea behind

The Lexile Framework for Reading issimple: if we know how well a student

can read and how hard a specific book

is to comprehend, we can predict how

well that student will likely understand

the book.

The information above may help you

understand how we know how andwhy students should select books forreading. Below is the website for

finding books at your childs level.

http://www.lexile.com/using-

lexile/lexile-at-home/READ, READ, READ!

A+ Labels

Remember to continue to collect

Tyson Chicken product A+ labels.Our school earns 24 cents per label.

Our school also collects Coke rewards

points located on the outside

packaging of most Coca-colaproducts. Enter the code yourself by

logging in at mycokerewards.com,

then select donate to a school or send

in the codes after the summer vacation

and we will enter them. Our school

can buy some much needed supplies

with these points. In addition, our

school collects Campbells Souplabels and Boxtops for education.

Please help Wekiva by sending in

these labels!

SUPER SCIENTISTS!

The final round for Super Scientist is

coming soon! The dates are April 26-May 3, 2012. Please contact Mrs.

Gabrovic if you are interested in

volunteering. (407) 746-1151

Koala Run

Congratulations to the

Top 15 Runners

at the Hamilton Cross Country Meet!6 and Under Boys

Mitchell McLain - 7

Josh Caban - 157 Year Old Boys

Drew Tarlton - 138 Year Old Boys

Julio Vera - 12

9 Year Old Boys

Andrew Pikalo - 1

10 Year Old Boys

Jonathan DePaolo - 2

James Sellers - 9

Colton Williams - 1111 Year Old BoysSteven Manso - 9

The Physical Education Department

started Spring Fitness Screening on

March 26th. The program we use at

Wekiva Elementary is called

FitnessGram, it is also supported by

The Seminole County School District.

The fitness tests include ModifiedPull-up, Curl-up (modified sit-up),

PACER Test (endurance), and Back-

Saver Sit and Reach (flexibility). The

Third, Fourth and Fifth Grade studentsare recording their scores from the

Fall and the Spring. Kindergarten,

First and Second Graders are learning

and practicing the proper techniques

for the exercises. Please look for your

child's scores to be coming home in

their backpack in the near future

SPRING RECYCLING CONTESTOur 2nd annual Recycling Contest

will be held from April 9-May 4 in

honor of Earth Day. The class that

earns the most points on their Race toRecycle tally sheets will earn $50

from Cartridges for Kids. Items we

recycle include: empty inkjet, laser,fax and copier cartridges, laptops only

(no desktop computers), iPods, cell

phones, PDAs, scientific calculators,

video game consoles & games,digitalcameras, movie DVDs, GPS devicesand e-Readers. Be sure to include

power cords with any devices you

donate. Please send those items toyour childs class so they can addthem to their class tally sheets. Help

us REDUCE, REUSE & RECYCLE!Any questions, call Mrs. Cook at 407-

746-3151.

Seminole County Sheriff

Office

Carls Safe CrossingCampaign

Did You Know

It is the LAW for A bicycle rider

or passenger who is under 16 years of

age must wear a bicycle helmet that is

properly fitted and is fastened securely

upon the passengers head by a strap,

and that meets the standards of

American National Standards

Institute. (F.S.S 316.2065).

Our Community Safety Traffic Team

is putting on a campaign that will begiving warnings to students to make

sure they are wearing this basic piece

of safety equipment. A citation can be

given out if they are not compliant.We would not allow our students to

play baseball, softball or football

without a helmet. It is equally

important to wear one when they are

riding their bikes.


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Phone: 746-3150 Fax: 746-3163APRIL 2012



SCPS & United Healthcare JoinForces to Host 5K to Benefit

Environmental Studies Center

Sunday, May 6Winter Springs Town Center

7:30am Start TimeSeminole County Public Schools

(SCPS) and United Healthcare have

joined forces to host Save the Mud

Walk 5K Run & Walk on Sunday,

May 6, 2012 at 7:30 a.m. at the Winter

Springs Town Center.The goal of this event is to help

further promote healthy lifestyles of

SCPS employees and the community

at-large, as well as, to raise funds for

the Seminole County Environmental

Studies Center.Pre-registration entry fees for adults

are $25 through April 28th, then $30

from April 29th through May 5th.

Registration the day of the race will be

$35 for all participants. Children age17 and under may register for $15 up

to the day of the event.

Registration will open at 6:30 a.m. atthe Winter Springs Town Center,

located at 1160 E State Road 434 in

Winter Springs, Florida. Registrationforms and checks, made out to

Foundation for SCPS/Env Ctr 5K.

Race fees are tax deductible.

The Environmental Studies Center is a

Seminole County Public SchoolsFacility in Soldiers Creek Park, part of

Spring Hammock Nature Preserve.

The building is open during school

hours for programs scheduled with

Seminole County first and fifth

graders in public, private and homeschools. The Environmental Center is

open to the public some afternoons

and on Friends Saturday Open HouseEvents.

All ages are welcome to participate in

the 5K, but no pets, strollers,

rollerblades or bicycles are allowed on

course.For more information visit:

www.environmentalstudiescenter.org

or call 407-792-6521.Direct link to online registration

https://raceregistration.racetimesports.

com/Register/?event=11048

Important Dates

4/6 NO SCHOOL

4/9 Fifth Grade (Powers, Loften,

and Harrington) Field Trip to

Environmental Center

4/10 Fifth Grade (Powers, Loften,and Harrington) Field Trip toEnvironmental Center

4/12 Voting for Sunshine State

Books Grade 3, 4, and 5.4/16 - 4/27 NO DIVIDENDS

4/16 FCAT Gr 3-5 READING

4/17 FCAT Gr 3-5 READING

4/18 FCAT Gr 3-5 MATH

Kindergarten Puppet Theater

Field Trip

4/19 FCAT Gr 3-5 MATH

First Grade Zoo Field Trip

4/20 FCAT Make Up DayFirst Grade Zoo Field Trip

4/23 FCAT Make Up Day

4/24 FCAT Gr. 5 and Make Up

4/25 FCAT Gr. 5 and Make Up4/26 FCAT Make Up

Kindergarten Tours

4/27 Kindergarten Tours

Last day for UCF Interns

4/30 Safer, Smarter, Kids Parent

Preview 8:45a.m.

5/1 Gr 4 Maturation Parent

Preview 1:45p.m.

5/2 5:00 SAC 6:15 PTA

5/4 Third Grade Field Trip to

Orlando Science Center

DuringthisFCATwindow:

*Make-upstakeplaceeveryday.

*Studentsmustbeontimeorthey

willbeheldintheofficeandwill

notcompletethetestwiththeir

classmates.*Studentsneedtorestthenight

before.

*Studentsneedbreakfast!

*Parentsshouldnotworry.When

youdo,theydo.

*Parentsshouldencouragethem

todotheirbest.

*Parentsshouldrewardthemif

theydidtheirbest!J

DuringtheFCATwindowof

testingvolunteersarenot

allowedoncampus. Thisincludes

ourLakeBrantleyPeerCounselors.

Thereasonwehaveeveryonetake

abreakfromvolunteeringis

becauseallroomsoncampusare

utilizedfortestingstudents.Itis

requiredbythestatethatanyone

whowalksthrougharoommust

writewhytheywerepresent,

whattimetheywerepresentand

signtheirname.Theadministrationofthistestistaken

veryseriouslyandwedonotwant

tojeopardizeanyoftheefforts

throughdisruption.

Youareallwelcomebackon

Monday,April30.

whispers april 2012

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