Home of the Stallions

Stonewall Elementary School

Home of the Stallions

February 2004

PTA has several exciting events planned for the next month. In order for each of these activities to be carried out successfully, we need the help of ALL parents. Much is still needed for Winterfest in the form of time, talent, and donations. If you haven’t heard from your homeroom contact parent, help them out and call them with what you are able to contribute. If you are interested in serving on or chairing a committee for Winterfest, please contact Angie Hertweck. Many of the committees are still awaiting chairs.

As parents of 4^th graders know, science fair is also quickly approaching. Letters have gone home asking for volunteers in several areas as well. Your PTA contact people for this occasion are Jennifer Henderson and Amy Caudill.

Our next PTA meeting will be February 24^th at 6:30 p.m. in the school library. Please be sure to attend. The more input we receive from parents the better we can address the needs of our students.

Thanks again for all the parent support at Stonewall. I believe this is truly the difference between a good school and an excellent school. Year-to-date, our volunteers have logged over 2,241 hours. Keep up the good work, and remember to sign in those volunteer hours when you are helping out at school or from your home.

Welcome back to school. I hope that everyone had a happy holiday break. It is a new year and the Stonewall STLP is going to be doing many new and exciting things. We would still like to remind you about the backpack tags. We are having a special sale!!! Now you can get THREE Stonewall tags for a BUCK!! Also, you can still get your tags personalized (for one dollar). Written by: Taylor Linville

Just clip, save, and send them to school in a re-sealable plastic bag. It all goes to benefit the students of Stonewall.

I am pleased to announce that Stonewall Elementary is now enrolled in the Meijer Rewards program. The Meijer Community Rewards program was developed to meet their guests’ growing desire to support schools and churches in ways that don’t stretch their budget…or their time. Now, whenever you shop at Meijer, you can earn rewards for Stonewall. Through the use of the new Meijer Guest Card, which you can scan at the register, these contributions cost you nothing, and the more you shop, the more you earn. And you don’t have to pre-purchase gift cards. You just have the cashier scan your guest card and pay for your purchases with cash, check, or charge. Stonewall will receive credit for almost all Meijer purchases, including groceries, toys, home fashions and jewelry – over 150,000 eligible products!

You can sign up on-line at www.meijer.com or at your local store. It’s easy and painless! The identification number for our school is 841446. And don’t forget to tell your friends and neighbors! They can also designate Stonewall as their school of choice for their personal rewards card.

February 11th from 5 p.m.–9 p.m. is once again Cici’s pizza night. Come and join in the fun. Make sure you mention that you are from Stonewall and part of the proceeds from our sales that night will go towards the PTA.

Our annual blood drive will be held on February 12^th in the school library. The blood drive is also a part of a competition with other elementary schools in Fayette County. Parents, friends, and relatives are all invited to donate blood in the name of Stonewall Elementary. Donations may also be made throughout the month of February at the Central Kentucky Blood Center on Waller Avenue. Donors just need to mention that they are donating for Stonewall and the Fayette County blood drive competition.

The PTA is sponsoring a Used Book Drive that will begin immediately and continue for the remainder of the school year. A drop box has already been placed in the main lobby of the building. The purpose of this ongoing program is to help supplement the libraries at Stonewall Elementary and our sister school Harrison Elementary. We will also accept used pre-school books that will be donated to the Early Start Program at Rosa Parks Elementary. As always, AR books continue to remain a high need priority for our students.

Coming Up – be on the look out for news about the next Stonewall skating party at Champs!

The Stonewall PTA will publish our annual literature and artwork book, “Paper, Pencils and Beyond” in the spring. This has proven to be a great success in the past.

We encourage all students to submit their creative writing pieces, poems, short stories, and artwork. Please submit entries on paper no larger than 8 ½ x 11. Students may submit more than one entry. The child’s name, grade, age, and teacher’s name should be included. Entries can be dropped off in the designated box in the front office.

We look forward to seeing all the creative work our students have produced this year!

Stonewall will be having it’s first registration dates for Kindergarten for the upcoming 2004-2005 school year. Registration dates are scheduled for February 4^th, 5^th,and 6^th in the school lobby from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. All children who will be 5 years old by October 1, 2004 are eligible to register. Parents need to bring the following documents with them when registering: a birth certificate, social security number (immunizations and physical reports can be turned in later).

Please share this information with friends, neighbors, co-workers, and church members – these registration dates are the same for all Fayette County Public Schools. For families in the Stonewall district, questions may be directed to Claudette Albrecht at 381-3079.

Nine Stonewall chess team members attended the Winter Scholastic Chess Tournament held on January 17^th. The primary team came in first place with Ajay and Nikhi Lingireddy, Meghan Waters, Andrew Moore, Nathan Gillespie and Leia Wedlund. The secondary team came in 4^th place with Benjamin Brown, Connor Cesario, Jacob Shaub, and Mason Doran. Mason came in first in the unrated section, and Meghan; Benjamin; Ajay; Jacob; and Leia also earned individual trophies. Congratulations to them all. We hope to see more Stonewall players attending future tournaments.

It’s almost that time of year again. Winterfest 2004 is just around the corner. We have many new and exciting things going on. All of our homeroom Winterfest contact parents are busy getting donations for our theme baskets and cake walk.

This year for Winterfest, parents are only being asked to make donations for your homerooms theme basket and cake walk entries. Everything else will be taken care of by the PTA. However, we always need volunteers and we are asking parents again this year to donate one hour of their time to work in the game booth that has been assigned to your classroom. The games are the heart of our carnival and the kids love them. So when your homeroom parent contacts you, please step up and help. Winterfest is only successful through the generous efforts of our parents. If your homeroom parent has not contacted you yet, please let me know and I will get you in contact with them.

We are also still in need of parents to help with the “behind the scenes” work. We need help in the following areas: organizing games, selling/serving food, tickets, publicity, and community service. If you are interested in helping in any of these areas, please contact me as soon as possible and we will help get you started.

There will also be another significant change this year. Instead of purchasing yards of game tickets, we will be selling wristbands instead. The bands will cost $5.00 and will allow the children to play an unlimited number of games. We will also be selling meal tickets for and additional $1.50. We hope this will help to make Winterfest fun and affordable for everyone. We will also be offering sponsor tables to small businesses. Quantity is limited, so be sure to read more about it in the pages that follow!

We hope to see everyone there! And don’t forget to call if you can help out in any way.

***** Mark your calendars !!! There will be a Winterfest Planning Meeting on Tuesday, February 10^th at 6:30 p.m. in the school library. *****

I want to take a moment to thank you for your sponsorship of this year’s Stonewall Memory Book. The Memory Book Committee is beginning to layout the book and we are looking forward to seeing it all come together.

I certainly hope that you have ordered your copy, if not we will have several opportunities for you in the near future.

I would like to take a moment and offer you and EXCLUSIVE. I am not only the Chair of the Memory Book, I’m also fortunate to be the Chair of another committee – sponsor tables for Winterfest. Why is that useful for you? Because this year, the PTA Winterfest Committee is offering people like you an opportunity to set up a table during the Winterfest Carnival, at a discounted price. You can sell your products/services and/or take orders. For those who have paid for sponsor space in the Memory Book, you can reserve your table today for $20. That is $5.00 off the price of non-sponsors. Tables are assigned on a first-come, first-served basis, and will not be available for long and we are giving you the first opportunity.

I would love to see each and every one of you at Winterfest. If you are not familiar with Winterfest, you definitely need to come out, even if you do not take a table. Winterfest at Stonewall is the premier event of the school year. We have a traditional cake walk, game booths, popcorn, a silent auction and small business, just like yours, with products and services to offer. This is a great opportunity for small businesses to reach a large number of people at a very reasonable cost.

I have attached a copy of the contract. If you are interested, please complete the form and send it along with payment as soon as possible. All proceeds from the tables will go into the Stonewall PTA budget which funds special events throughout the school year. Please make your checks payable to the Stonewall PTA.

If you have any questions, please call me at 219-2351 or you can email me at cas@werbac.com. Thanks again for your continued support of Stonewall Elementary.

Remember in the case of inclement weather, you can check the FCPS website or Cable Channel 13 for the latest school closings!

Are you fed up with the decisions our legislators are making in the name of “quality education” or are you fully satisfied with the status quo? Well, now is the time to make your voice heard! In this newsletter you will find the email addresses of all the members of the Education Committees in both the House of Representatives and the Senate of the Kentucky General Assembly. No matter what your opinion, please take a few moments to let these people know how important it is to keep funding public education. Everyone’s future depends on the quality education that our children will receive. The federal and state governments continue to tell our educators how to do their jobs, but they refuse to properly fund these mandated programs. If we don’t speak for our children, then who will? Remember…they work for us!