3-12-17
Good evening!
I hope all is well with you, your children, and your family! We had a great week this past week with your children at Columbia Elementary. We spent the week focused on having a solid ending to the Third Nine Weeks. We continue to be impressed by the work that your children are producing in our classrooms. While there is always room for improvement in improving the quality of each child's classwork, tests, quizzes, and homework, we maintain that it is critical to continue an open channel of communication between the classroom teacher/s and parents/guardians.
Please do not hesitate to reach your child's teacher at any point to check on the progress of your child. Do not forget that you have the ability to have access to your child's grades 24/7 online through Progress Book. If you do not have access yet to Progress Book and would like it, please contact Mrs. Darcy Miller in our Main Office. Please know that your child's Grade Card will be coming home this Friday. It is hard to believe, but we only have nine more weeks left in this school year. Let's finish this school year off strong together!
Please enjoy your weekly updates below (this Weekly Blog will serve until the weekend of 3-26-17) :
Tiger Up-Career Exploration-3/8
This past Wednesday, our students rotated through seven different careers over the course of two hours. During each of these sessions, the presenter described what they do on a daily basis, made a connection to how what they do in their job applies to what our students are learning at school, and allowed our students to ask them questions. Words alone cannot describe the level of appreciation that we have follow all of the individuals that helped make our first ever Tiger Up Career Exploration successful. Please be sure to extend your gratitude to the following individuals for making this day a success for our students:
Name
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Title
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Mr Chip McConville
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Knox County Prosecutor
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Dr. Nimeth
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Family Practitioner and Owner of American Health Network
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Mr. Eric Diehl
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Ariel Corporation Engineer
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Mr. Martin Mussard
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OSU Agriculture Dept and Farmer
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Officer Daniel Ruth
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Westerville Police Department
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Mr. Trent Kaufman
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Retired Upper Arlington FF/EMS
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Dr. Amanda Montgomery
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Amazing Eyes, Optometrist
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Local Businesses and Parents working Towards Excellence for Our Students:
All of these individuals went to great efforts to make sure that our students had an awesome and worthwhile experience! These efforts did not go unnoticed and were a "home run" for our students.
THANK YOU!!!
Teacher In-Service-3/10
On Friday, we spent the morning working together on improving our reading comprehension, reading fluency, writing/typing composition, and best practices of instruction for our students. This time was well spent in better aligning our instruction and improve the rigor and quality of what we expect out of our students. I was very impressed by the level of detail and effort that came out of these discussions from all parties. It was time well spent! This type of conversations and focus are important to keep and improve the high quality of instruction that we give to our students. As you know and you expect, it is our duty to your children to keep an ongoing continuous improvement effort for the level of instruction that we provide.
STATE TESTING COMING SOON (GRADES 3-5)-STARTING March 28th:
Starting the week of March 27th our students will be entering their biggest academic moment of this school year, their Super Bowl! It is vital that they are prepared, rested, and ready to compete on a state level. While we know we have "the BEST and the BRIGHTEST" students, we need them to show the rest of the state that they truly are the very best and the very brightest.
For Columbia Elementary, our State Testing Schedule will be as follows (students will not be permitted in the testing area if they are tardy to school):
| English Language Arts | Math | Science | Social Studies | |
| 3rd Grade | 3/28-3/29 | 4/27-4/28 | NA | NA |
| 4th Grade | 3/23-3/24 | 4/25-4/26 | NA | 5/1 (Both Sessions) |
| 5th Grade | 3/21-3/22 | 5/3-5/4 | 5/2 (Both Sessions) | NA |
*Note 3rd Graders Are Required a Promotional Score on the ELA Test (or State Approved Exam) to be promoted to 4th Grade
As a result of their hard work in this Super Bowl, I will continue to promise them a great reward at the beginning of next school year. At their request, the would like me to bring a game truck back during one afternoon next fall. This event will include this year's Third to Fifth Graders. My promise to our students is that if a student passes (Proficient or Above) ALL PARTS of his/her required grade level State Tests, they will get to play in the game truck next Fall.
Becoming a Columbia Tiger Night-3/27 @6:30pm
Do you have a friend or family member that is wondering what it is like to be a Columbia Tiger? If so, be sure to encourage them to attend the all new "Becoming a Columbia Tiger Night" on March 27th from 6:30 to 7:30pm at Columbia Elementary. This gathering is to address the needs of any student in Kindergarten to Fifth Grades. There will be a range of different perspectives discussed with tons of information. We want the world to know that it is awesome being a Columbia Tiger!
Please CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION.
*THERE WILL BE DOOR PRIZES RAFFLED OFF.
FYI-BIG ANNOUNCEMENT COMING ON MARCH 27th;)
-Stay Tuned-This big announcement will take place during our Third Nine Weeks Awards Assemblies.
Ariel Foundation-Columbia Elementary 5K and 1 mile Fun Run/Walk-May 19th:
Please CLICK HERE to Register Early for our Annual 5K/ Fun Run/Walk on May 19th at Ariel Foundation Park. Columbia Elementary PTO is continuing to focus on raising money for updating our playground equipment for our students and community. Columbia Elementary PTO's portion of funds raised by this event will go towards these playground renovation efforts.
Please CLICK HERE if you are interested in sponsoring this event.
General Needs/Information/ Important Dates Below:
Our PTO can earn money when you shop at Kroger without you paying more:
Kroger has a program called Kroger Community Rewards. By registering your Kroger card through their website, you can select charitable organizations to receive a percentage of your total amount spent! Columbia Elementary PTO is a charitable organization and registering your card adds nothing, zero, zilch to your bill!
Because this is a simple and easy way for the PTO to raise funds, without folks having to spend extra money, we want to raise awareness of Kroger Community Rewards.
Not registered? Here are some instructions- go to www.kroger.com. Register or sign-in. Click on the Community tab and select Kroger Community Rewards. Search for our PTO under Columbia PTO, Inc. (82097). Make sure you select the Columbia PTO in Mount Vernon, OH.
Have your children bring in their Kroger receipts showing you support Columbia PTO (it shows up at the bottom of the receipt) and marked with their name next to the PTOs name. Receipts will be entered in a drawing for a dessert treat at lunch. Receipts will be due by the first Friday of each month. Please join us in this Kroger Community Rewards promotion! Bring in those receipts!
Columbia Champions Webpage:
We are in the process of developing a Columbia Champions Webpage linked to our school website. Our desire is to highlight the accomplishments of our current/alumni Columbia Elementary Students in and outside of school. Our most recent highlights have been our Students of the Month. Be sure to CLICK HERE to see this new addition.
If you have a great picture and story of a success of your current/alumni Columbia Elementary Student, we want to hear it. Alumni Columbia Elementary Students' success stories could include both the professional and collegiate levels. Please submit this story to Mrs. Darcy Miller at:dmiller@mvcsd.us or in person in our main office.
Student Headphones Needed:
Please make sure your child has TWO PAIRS of headphones for classroom use. We are finding ourselves falling short of ensuring all students have headphones for school use. These headphones are important for when students are working on individualized projects and/or tasks on a computer.
Columbia Cares-Tabs Needed
You may remember a project we started last year called “Columbia Elementary Cares.” This project was inspired by two of our own Columbia Elementary Tigers, who simply wanted to help other kids. Last year, we collected donations and made care packages for cancer patients at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. This project is such an amazing experience for our students to participate in as they get the opportunity to “pay it forward” to others in need. Our desire is to continue with this project every school year.
This year, we’d like to keep “paying it forward” to others. Instead of asking for donations of money or other items, we’re asking you to save pop tabs. The Ronald McDonald house in Columbus, Ohio collects pop tabs. Each year, they recycle the tabs and get to keep the money. You may not think a pop tab adds up to much, but they depend on these tabs. We have the potential of collecting enough tabs to make a lot of money to help support these families during their challenging times!
You may be wondering, what is the Ronald McDonald House? It is affiliated with Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Any family who has a child staying at the hospital, lives far away, and needs a place to stay can register with the Ronald McDonald house. They provide a free stay, some meals, and a bit of stability during challenging times. The House is able to provide these things through donations and volunteers. That’s why they need our help!
To help out the Ronald McDonald House and all of the families who stay there, Columbia Elementary is going to collect as many pop tabs as we possibly can! Thanks to the new convenient way of life, there are tabs on more than just pop cans. You can also collect the tabs from soup cans, vegetable cans, pet food cans, etc. Any aluminum can tab will work. Please ask your friends, neighbors, and family members to join us in collecting these tabs.
As an incentive, we are going to make this a friendly competition. The class who brings in the most tabs will win a root beer float party! As you bring in your tabs, mark how many tabs you brought in. This will make it easier to count the tabs later. We would like to get a count of the total number of tabs we give to the Ronald McDonald House.
You may start sending in your tabs immediately. Or you may continue to collect them until you have a larger amount. We will be collecting tabs until May 12th. This should give us plenty of time to collect as many tabs as possible!
Thank you in advance for your help in making this a truly amazing experience and touching the lives of families who certainly could use a little encouragement in their lives right now!
Do you have an old Smart Phone or know someone that has an old Smart Phone that they would be able donate to our school?
I am currently looking for Old Smart Phones that people would be willing to donate to our school for permanent use. These phone would be completely reset to factory settings for classroom instruction. If you have any connections to old Smart Phones that are just in storage somewhere that you or other folks do not want, please let me know and bring them in to our office. My end goal is to bring virtual reality to our students to all them to see the world and even inside of the human body for instructional purposes.
Important Upcoming Dates:
3/13-Start of 4th Nine Weeks
3/17-Grade Cards Go Home with All Students
3/22-Third Grade Yes Concert-10am
3/22-State of Ohio Delayed Tornado Drill-3:15pm
3/24-Dance Party (if applicable):K-2=1:15-2:15 ; Grades 3-5 2:30-3:30
3/24-3rd Grade Dental Screening-2:45pm
3/27-Awards Assemblies: K-2=9:15-10; Grades 3-5=10-10:45am
3/27-Becoming a Columbia Tiger Night-6:30-7:30pm
3/28-Important 5k Meeting at 6pm in the library
3/22-4/3/17-PTO Flower Sale
4/4-McTeacher Night (Newark RD)-5-7pm-20% of ALL SALES GO TO PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENT FOR US:)
4/7-Donuts with Parents-8:30am
4/26/17-PTO Flower Delivery
5/5-2nd Grade Field Trip
5/8-5/10-5th Grade Camp
5/9-4th Grade AG Day
5/18-Field Day (AM) and Water Day (PM)
5/19-Columbia Senior Lunch and Clap Out-11ish? TBA
5/22-KDG Registration at Columbia Elementary
Thank you for allowing us to serve your children!
Matt
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