Tiger Newsflash-1-7-18

Weekly Message	Good morning! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday break with your family and friends! Ashley, my wife, and I had a wonderful time seeing and visiting with our family in different parts of the great Buckeye State.  There is no doubt that we are looking forward to getting back to a normal routine and schedule at Columbia Elementary.  My hopes are that Mother Nature will allow us to do that soon.  Nevertheless, I cannot tell you how great it was to see your children on Wednesday.  On this day, I spent time in the hallways and at lunch catching up on all of their stories from their break.  Nothing can beat their smiles and enjoyment!  Below I have included some brief updates for the week and important dates that you for your attention.  As we prepare for the closing of the First Semester of our school year, let make the second half of the year even better!!! Tiger Up! Matt
Masterpieces in The Making
New Updates	Third Grade Fall ELA State Tests Results Before we left for Winter Break, our Third Grade State English Language Arts Tests were released by The Ohio Department of Education.  For this end of the year test, our school scored the highest it has in three years.  We also scored a higher percentage rate of proficiency (i.e. passing) then the state's average. This is a great accomplishment.  While these initial accomplishments are great, we still have a lot of work to do.  It is required by the State of Ohio that all Third Graders pass the Third Grade English Language Arts Test. With your collaboration and our instructional efforts, I am certain that we are going to produce tremendous student results.  All students will be taking this same test again on April 19th and 20th.  Mrs. Humphrey and Mrs. Scott will be sending child specific information home with our students this week  Be sure to have conversations with these ladies about how to improve your child's skills and knowledge in English Language Arts and other subject areas. Save the Date-1/25/18-Community Spaghetti Dinner and Hidden In Plain Sight Coming to Columbia Elementary at 5:30pm-7:30pm  The Knox Substance Abuse Action Team and Columbia PTO are joining together on January 25th to bring the presentation to you that will forever change your perspective and help keep your children safe.  The Hidden in Plain Sight Presentation will focus on substance abuse, eating disorders, internet/technology risky games/challenges, and much more with the use of an interactive exhibit. As we know that all of these risks affect our community, this presentation is highly recommended.  We will also be providing a FREE Spaghetti Dinner at 5:30pm for our parents. As we realize that sometimes it is hard to attend special events in the evening due to child care. We will be providing supervision, a meal, and a movie for children during this adult presentation.  This presentation and movie will conclude at 7:30pm If you are interested, please RSVP before January 19th to Mrs. Darcy Miller at 740-393-5975 or e-mail me directly at mdill@mvcsd.us.  PTO Meeting-This Tuesday: We hope to see you at our PTO Meeting on Tuesday at 7pm. We will be meeting in our library for about an hour.  I am looking forward to seeing you. Upcoming State Testing Dates: As the NFL is heading towards their Super Bowl, I want to share with you the dates of our Super Bowl at Columbia Elementary. During this time our students have the opportunity to show the entire State of Ohio that they are truly The Best and The Brightest.  These tests are important to your child as they give us information that will impact instructional decisions for your child for the upcoming school year. Please make a note of the following Super Bowl Dates: Day 1 Day 2 3rd Grade English Language Arts 4/19 4/20 4th Grade English Language Arts 4/12 4/13 5th Grade English Language Arts 4/17 4/18 3rd Grade Math 5/1 5/2 4th Grade Math 4/26 4/27 5th Grade Math 4/24 4/25 5th Grade Science 4/30-AM 4/30-PM
Upcoming Events	Week of 1/8-Lunch with Mentors 1-9-Gifted Seminar-Grades 3-5 1-9-PTO Meeting-7pm-Library 1-11-End of Quarter 1-11-Student of The Month Pizza Party 1-12-No School 1-15-MLK Jr Day-No School 1-19-Goal Reward Parties-(K-2=2-2:45) (Grades 3-5=2:45-3:30) 1-19-Report Cards Go Home 1-22-Yearbook Sales Begin (End Friday 2-2-18) 1-25-Hidden in Plain Sight and Spaghetti Dinner-5:30-7:30pm (Be sure to RSVP) 1-26-KDG-2nd Grade Awards Assembly-9:15-10am 1-26-Grades 3-5 Awards Assembly-10-10:45am 1-26-PTO Reward Movie for Fundraiser-2ish-3:30pm 1-31-Tiger Up-1:30-3:30pm (Topic: Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs). Parents are welcome from 1:30-2:15 for our Presentation. Plan Ahead: April and May State Testing Dates (CLICK HERE)
Previous & Important Updates	Kroger Cares Sign Up Today Be sure to sign up for our Columbia Elementary PTO Kroger Cares Program.  This is a way for our PTO to automatically raise funds for Columbia Elementary Students without costing you anymore money.  Be sure to reenroll each year in the program if you already have an existing account.  This Program will not COST YOU ANY MONEY:) CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP or RE-ENROLL Amazon Smiles-Sign Up Today The Amazon Smiles Program will cost you NO ADDITIONAL MONEY as you make your purchases on SMILE.AMAZON.COM.  However, it will help support our Columbia Elementary PTO in supporting the students at Columbia Elementary. Stay Connected: At Columbia Elementary, we pride ourselves on communicating with you. We like to keep you up to date with things that are happening in our school and in our classrooms.  Including face to face communication with your child’s classroom teacher, here are a few more ways to stay connected: 1) Class Dojo-KDG, 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Grades are using Class Dojo in their classrooms to communicate with parents about activities and classroom behavior.  Please speak with your child’s classroom teacher to learn more.  If you do not have a classroom code to connect, be sure to ask your child’s teacher for it in order to connect.  You are able to download the Class Dojo App to your phone by going to THIS WEBSITE . 2) Twitter:   New to Twitter..No worries! Check out THIS SHORT TUTORIAL VIDEO. Follow your child's classroom with one of the following handles: KDG-@Columbiakinders 1st-@Souhrada_Suarez 2nd-@2ndColumbia 3rd-@3rdHumphrey and @mrs_scott3rd 4th-@mv_columbia_4th 5th-@mv_columbia_5th Columbia Elementary-@Columbia_Tiger My Handle-@drmjdill 3) Facebook: Be sure to like us on facebook HERE or at mvcolumbia. 4)Columbia Elementary Website: On our website you will find important information, useful links, our Columbia News Crew's Morning Announcements, and more.  Be sure to CHECK IT OUT HERE. MV LIVE: Did you miss the HS Game and you still want it watch it? Are you unable to leave your home on a Friday night and you really want to watch MVHS in action? Now you can have it all! Check out our live and archived MV LIVE STREAM by CLICKING HERE or go to our www.mvcsd.us *We are currently exploring other ways to use this same technology.  BOX TOPS For Education: Collection All Year Long  The PTO will be collecting Box Tops for Education for our school again this year.   This is easy, free money to help support Columbia Elementary in getting supplies for our classrooms or fun treats/events for our students!  They will be hosting a competition amongst the school to see which class can collect the most box tops!  (This will be done four times this year).  Please feel free to bring in the box tops at anytime throughout the school year, and they will be applied towards your child’s classroom collection.  Each quarter, the classroom that brings in the most box tops will earn a reward.  This quarter, the willing classroom will have a PIZZA PARTY Directions: Buy products at the store that contain the box top label Cut them out following the dotted lines on all 4 sides of the label - the box top company is very strict on this! Make sure the box top date has not expired! Glue or tape them to the box top sheet, if you need more sheets, you may copy the sheet or use a separate sheet of paper to tape them or have the school send more home DONT FORGET TO ADD YOUR CHILD’S TEACHER TO YOUR BOX TOP SHEET SO YOUR STUDENT GETS CREDIT FOR THE BOX TOPS THEY TURNED IN.  THEY WILL GO TOWARD A EARNING A CLASS PIZZA PARTY! Due Date:  Friday, October 20, 2017 Thanks in advance for supporting our students! Paying Forward to The Ronald McDonald House: The Ronald McDonald House pays their entire electric bill each month through the donation of pop tabs. Feel free to continue to donate your pop tabs to our school, and we will continue to donate them directly to them to provide electric for the families that have loved ones receiving treatment at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.