THE PIRATE January News, 2017

Julie Pierce, Principal Wanda Logan, Assistant Principal Averette Hale, Itinerant Assistant Principal

F A I R H O P E E L E M E N T A R Y

January 4 - February 11 - Yearbook Sales $30, see articleJanuary 4 - Students Return to School

January 4 - Everyone, Out of Uniform for Meeting Goal at Spirit Night at Chick- fil-AJanuary 6 - Report Cards Go Home

January 9 - Out of Uniform Perfect Attendance, No Check Outs or TardiesJanuary 10 - Parent Educational Program on Literacy 8:30 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., see articleJanuary 11 - Volunteers Sit With Students at Lunch so Teachers Can Have a Break! Thank you!January 16 - No School, Martin Luther King HolidayJanuary 19 - Library Book Fundraiser Chocolate Bar Sales, see articleJanuary 19 - PTC Provides Snacks for TeachersJanuary 19 - Spirit Night at Chick-fil-A 4:30-7:00, see articleJanuary 23 - Everyone, Out of Uniform for Meeting Goal at Spirit Night at Chick- fil-A on January 19, see article January 27 - Fruzer Day, $1.00

Important Dates

Preserve memories of your child’s 2016-2017 school year by buying a F a i r h o p e E l e m e n t a r y S c h o o l Yearbook for $30. The last day to order will be February 11, 2017.

Literacy instruction is changing at Fairhope Elementary School, and parents have requested information about the use of guided reading. Above, Mrs. Duell is teaching a small group guided reading lesson using the $110,000 donated to FES from The City of Fairhope for guided reading books, classroom libraries, professional development, and two web-based book libraries called Book Flix and Core Clicks. Book Flix is a tool that can be used at home. So to provide families more information, Heather Hapworth and Caroline Hollowell will provide a literacy session for parents on January 10, 2017. This session will be offered twice to meet your schedules - 8:30 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. in the library. Heather and Caroline will provide a brief overview of Guided Reading and Balanced Literacy as well as ideas for supporting literacy at home. 

Highlights include:• Suggestions for promoting the love of reading and writing• Recommended leveled book series• Ideas for magnetic letter word solving • FES digital resources for literacy

No reservations are necessary! We look forward to seeing you!

Literacy Session for Parents January 10 at 8:30 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.

Buy Your Yearbooks

REMINDER: It is unlawful to pass buses that are loading whether they are on the

street or in the school parking lot. Thank you for helping us to keep our students safe.

The Red Ribbon Project for the 2016-2017 school year, coordinated by Jack Phelps, the Red Ribbon Leader, raised over $800! True to his promise FES celebrated with a school wide Hat Day for meeting the goal of $750. All monies collected were donated to the

American Lung Association.  

Christmas Sing-a-Long/Community Appreciation

The Fairhope Elementary Annual Christmas Sing-a-Long and Community Appreciation Day Program was a huge success! The Fairhope Chorus performed. The student body sang carols. Even the administrators, including our Superintendent, Eddie Tyler, got a good laugh learning how to accompany Jolly Old St. Nick on the drum. Fairhope's police officers, fire fighters, municipal public works employees, and paramedics were honored with Christmas songs,letters and a basket full of goodies to take back to their coworkers. Thank you to the parents for your snack contributions and Amy Smith and Susan Sims for organizing the event!

No Smoking, Lungs in Use

More School activities

School Advisory CommitteeYamini AminDawn FordDanielle GardnerAdele Hapworth Pel HenryJennifer McDowellNicole MoatsChristian PreusCatherine St. PierreChris St. PierreSarah ToulsonLisa TrotterGinger Turner

School Improvement Lead TeamGini CoodyAmy DowdenElizabeth HammockToni KemperBrooke PreusMollie RobinsonJenn Vestal

Parent Teacher Corporation, PTC

President, Lee TapscottSecretary, Lisa TrotterTreasurer, Jaime RuxFES VP, Joanna BusbyFES VP, Jennifer LeathersFundraising, Courtney KlotzSchool Kits, Emily HendersonMembership, Nicole WillPirate Dash, Jenny BlakeneyPirate Dash, Holly JohnsonPublic Relations, Christa WeinbergSpirit Night, Anne Dorman

Parent Reps

New Staff Members!

Join me in welcoming three new members to the FES family!

• Barbara Collinsworth - Long-term substitute for PE while Mrs. Adams is completing an internship in guidance counseling

• Terra Goodbody - 2nd Grade teacher replacing Mrs. Sims who recently retired

• Holli Lartigue - Long-term substitute as a pre-kindergarten paraprofessional for Jamie Smith

State Report Card Fairhope Elem

Baldwin County

State

Overall Indicator Score

79 66 59

Reading Points 64 61 56

Math Points 93 70 63

Local Indicator Points-Decrease Discipline Referrals During 2015-2016 School Year

100 85 NA

Aspire test scores are divided into four levels. Scores III and IV are considered proficient. The points in the table are based on the following weights:

Points awarded for Level IV-1.25 Points awarded for Level III-1.0 Points awarded for Level II-0.5 Points awarded for Level 1-0.0

3rd Grade Aspire Test

May, 2016 Proficiency Points

State funding for libraries has been cut severely since the recession of 2008-2009. Below is a review of the monies sent to Fairhope Elementary School from Montgomery.

The cost of a nonfiction book for a library is $25. Primary children read many books per week. With 1,100 children reading many books per week you can see that Mrs. Sealy has been asked to spin gold from straw.

Over the summer, Mrs. Sealy and I discussed various fundraising options. Three bookfairs raise a total of $10,000, are labor intensive, and close the library to children for the length of the fundraiser. Boxtops and recycling ink cartridges and cell phones raises $2,500 per year.

After investigating options, Mrs. Sealy and I have chosen to work with a great company, World’s Finest Chocolate. From January 18 to February 3, students who return a permission form will be allowed to receive one box (30 - $2 bars) of chocolate to sell. Donations of $60 will also be acceptable, and through the year, your box will be sold in the front office to visitors. We also have a captive audience of teachers who hunt desperately for chocolate on some days! The box of chocolate will include Almond Bars, Crisp Bars, boxes of Whole Almonds, Caramel Whirls, and Mint Meltaways.

As a school wide reward for meeting a $10,000 goal, World’s Finest Chocolate will host a BMX Bike Show. Everyone will get to attend! Other incentives are listed below.

*Sell 1 box of 60 bars, or donate $60, to receive a rocket balloon*Sell 2 cases or donate $120 for an up front seat at the show and VIP “Light

Up Glasses”*Sell 3 cases to receive a chance to spin the Money Wheel after the show*Top Sales Winner wins $200*Runner Up Sales Winner wins $100*3rd Runner Up Sales Winner wins $50*Return the Chocolate Contract on January 19 to receive your case of World’s

Finest Chocolate Bars*More information will be coming home in a flyer in mid-January

All fundraising receipts will purchase library books!

PTC Spirit Night will be at Chick-fil-A from 4:30-7:00 on January 19. If we raise $250, we will have an out of uniform day for everyone on January 23rd!

Hot App

Baldwin Alabama Public SchoolsThis app has everything you need in one place: News, Notifications, MySchoolBucks, Calendar, Facebook Links, Menus, and more! Choose to follow Fairhope Elementary and any other Baldwin County school.

www.fairhopeelementary.com The school website has Alabama Continuous Improvement Plan for Fairhope Elementary School, The Pirate newsletters, 2016-2017 Student Handbook, calendar, news, email addresses for faculty members, and more.

www.bcbe.org The Baldwin County website contains parent resources like a Parent Portal link to your child’s grades 24 hours a day 7 days a week, school menus, and online “Pay School Fees” to pay for yearbook and other events.

Websites

Fundraiser for Our FES Library

2007-2008 $200/teacher 2012-2013 $0/teacher

2008-2009 $175/teacher 2013-2014 $0/teacher

2009-2010 $0/teacher 2014-2015 $0/teacher

2010-2011 $0/teacher 2015-2016 $21.26/teacher

2011-2012 $0/teacher 2016-2017 $21.26/teacher

Spirit Night!

School Dismissal Manager is the online system for making changes in transportation before 2:00 each day. Simply log in to www.schooldismissalmanager.com. If you have any questions, please call the front office at 251-928-8400.

Transportation Changes

Too Sick for School?

Sometimes it’s hard to know when to keep a child home. Use the following checklist to assist you in making the decision: •Any temperature over 100.5 degrees with symptoms should stay home.

•Students should be fever or vomiting free for 24 hours before returning to school unless otherwise cleared by a physician

•MRSA skin infections

During Computer Science Education Week December 5-9, 2016, Fairhope Elementary School participated in the Hour of Code, a global movement reaching tens of millions of students in 180+ countries. The Hour of Code is a one-hour introduction to computer science, designed to demystify “code," to show that anybody can learn the basics, and to broaden participation in the field of computer science. 

The week kicked off with an interview from a local computer science professional, Mr. Matthew Turney on WFES Live. Students learned about computer science as a career and what professional coders and programmers do. All week, classes did at least one hour of code through the www.code.org website and learned about computer science in their classrooms.

Students and teachers said the Hour of Code was educational and fun! Fairhope Elementary School hopes to continue including coding as part of a comprehensive STEAM (science, technology, engineering,arts, and mathematics) program. Next semester, students will begin to use robots! The Pelican’s Nest will host classes to include FEEF-funded lessons that will teach students to use robots for cleaning up trash in the ocean.

Some well-known career options in computer science are Software Developer, Software Engineer, Cyber Security Analyst, and Computer Scientist. More young professionals will be needed in these areas in the future. Nationally, 71% of all new jobs in STEM areas are in computing areas; however, only 8% of STEM graduates are in computer science. According to the Department of Labor, the average salary of Computer Research Scientists is Alabama is more than $109,000 per year! Alabama’s IT companies have been estimated to generate more than $1 billion in revenue annually.