Calendar of Events

May 2002

• 2 Hershey's Track and Field Meet at NES
  

     SAC 4:00

• 3 Hershey's Track and Field Meet at NES
  

     Spirit Day

• 5 Cinco de Mayo
• 6 Teacher Appreciation Week
  

     Child Nutrition Employee Appreciation Week
     First grade reading testing begins
     Kindergarten testing begins

• 12 Mother's Day
• 13 Final week of Media Center
  

       Second grade math testing all week

• 15 Teacher requests begin
• 16 Sixth grade "sneak preview" at Yearling Middle 5:30-7:00
• 17 Final day to receive A.R. points
  

       Kindergarten Celebration 9:00
       Hershey's Track and Field Meet at OHS

• 20 Media Center closed for summer
• 21 Mrs. Cotton's class goes on a field trip
• 22 STARS graduation at Osceola Middle 9:00
• 23 Fairy Tale Showdown 9:00
• 24 Final A.R. Store
• 27 Memorial Day - No School
• 28 First and second grade A.R. reward trip to the movies
  

       Third grade A.R. reward trip to the pool 1:10-2:30

• 29 Fourth and Fifth grade A.R. reward trip to the pool 1:00-2:30
  
• 31 Awards Day
  

       8:30 — 5th grade
       9:00 — 4th grade
       9:30 — 3rd grade
  

News

REPORT CARDS

Kindergarten report cards will go home with the students on the last day of school (Friday, May 31st). Report cards for students in grades 1-5 will be issued Monday, June 10th. In the past, we have asked that students either supply a self-addressed stamped envelope to receive the report cards by mail, or come to the school and pick them up. This year, North Elementary will provide envelopes and stamps to mail all report cards to students in grades 1-5. Please, make sure that the school has your correct mailing address. Report cards returned will need to be picked up. Report cards have not been sent home using mailing addresses on file because of the large number of returned envelopes in previous years.

TROPICANA SPEECH CONTEST

Fourth and fifth grade students were involved in the Tropicana Speech Contest last month. The top two winners from each class participated in the school speech contest. Congratulations to the following contest winners in fourth and fifth grades:

Fourth grade
First place: Megan Clements
Second place: Cheyenne Fallman
Third place: Valerie McKee
Honor. Men. Katie Walker

Fifth grade
First place: Brandi Stone
Second place: Joy Burnham
Third place: Robyn Futch
Honor. Men. Laquan Ridley

TEACHER REQUESTS

North Elementary School has a reputation of being one of the top schools in the area. Our students consistently score well above the district, state, and national average on standardized testing. Parents have shown their support of this reputation by bringing their children to our school from areas zoned for other schools. Approximately 170 of our 800 students are actually zoned for different schools. Parents choose North because of the quality of education that their children receive from the teachers and staff. We feel we have an excellent staff. Some parents choose to place their child(ren) with a specific teacher. Many times the decision is based merely on hearsay. Other times, a decision is based on classroom visitations or previous experience.

If you wish to request a teacher for your child, you may do so by contacting Mrs. Sharpe at 462-5100 after 8 a.m. Teacher requests will remain open May 15 - May 22. When requesting, please make sure to have a second and third choice in mind. It is possible that some teachers may change grade levels or take a different position elsewhere. The school will accept up to 10 requests per teacher. Keep in mind, grades 1-5 group students during their two-hour language arts time. This may mean that a student in one teacher's class will actually spend at least half of his/her academic day in a different teacher's classroom.

SWIMMING

All five Okeechobee elementary schools rotate schedules for swimming. Each year, one elementary school is removed from the swimming rotation due to time constraints. This was North Elementary's year to sit out of swimming. Because of our close proximity to the pool, we have been able to offer swimming instruction to our students during times the other schools are not able to use the pool. We are currently sending some kindergarten and first grade students and all second graders to the pool. During May, the rest of the kindergarten and first grade students along with fourth graders will go to the pool. We regret we were unable to fit fifth grade into the schedule. We felt it best to "drown proof" the younger students. All students will also have the opportunity to swim on one of the last two days of school.