Our campus has been chosen to conduct a mandatory STAAR Writing Field Test with our 4th graders on Monday morning. The test consists of 1 writing prompt and 12 editing/revising questions. Most students will finish within 90 minutes, though students can have up to 4 hours to complete if needed. We will not receive any results from this administration as it is strictly data collection for the state to use on future STAAR assessments. Students will follow their normal lunch/specials schedule for the day. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Today is the first day to register for our annual campout. Registration will be open until March 1. This year promises to be even better than last year. The 2018 campout event had over 75% of our families participate. For more information and to register visit
www.pustercampout.com
.
Tomorrow, February 8, is our Daddy/Daughter Dance. I can’t wait to see all of the glam (from the daughters)! Have a great weekend.
Pride in Puster
Kevin
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FEBRUARY 14 - EARLY RELEASE @ 12:00
FEBRUARY 15 - HOLIDAY
FEBRUARY 18 - BAD WEATHER DAY/SCHOOL CLOSED
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February 8 – Daddy/Daughter Dance
February 11 – Chess and Choir
February 12 – Spanish and Engineering K-1
February 13 – 3
rd
Grade Living Museum
February 13 – Engineering 2-4
February 14 – Puster Pride Assembly @ 8:15 am
February 14 – Author Visit
February 14 – Early Release and Valentines Parties
February 15 – Holiday
February 18 - Bad Weather Day
/School Closed
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Denim & Diamonds Online Auction
Now – Tuesday, February 12
The Denim & Diamonds online auction opened on Tuesday, February 5 and will close on Tuesday, February 12 at 10:00 PM. Up for bid are classroom parties, sports camps, prom tickets and other Lovejoy experiences donated by Lovejoy staff. Additionally, auction donations normally reserved for the Denim & Diamonds event are available in the online auction.
Click here
to bid now!
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An Important Message from the School Nurse
Cold and flu season is in FULL swing! Please remember to follow these guidelines set by the Texas Administrative Code:
- Cold and flu symptoms: PLEASE keep your student home until they are symptom free!
- Temperature of 100.0 degrees or more: Student must be fever free for 24 hours, without medication, before returning to school.
- Vomiting or Diarrhea: student must be symptom free form 24 hours, without medication, before returning to school.
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Engineering for Kids - Spring Enrollment
Go to these links for enrollment:
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New Security Procedures
Driver's License must be presented and scanned with every visit and student sign out, no exceptions.
Absences
If your child is going to be absent please e-mail Kendra Card at:
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Yearbook Sales!
Order your yearbook today! The cost is $25 through Feb. 10. Starting Feb. 11 the price will increase to $30. Yearbooks sales end April 3. Go to this link to order your yearbook:
https://www.jostens.com/apps/store/customer/1792372/Robert-L-Puster-Elementary-School/
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Puster Campout 2019
PUSTER CAMPOUT REGISTRATION
February 7 - March 1. The campout is April 26-27th. Packages start at $150 for one child and one parent. It is $25 per additional children. There are additional packages that include early entry and priority parking. Registration costs include camping, food and all of the activities. Look for your registration packet in last week’s Thursday folders. Register online at
pustercampout.com
. Please join us for a fun-filled evening under the stars. This is great way to continue building our Puster Community.
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Watch D.O.G.S. 2.0 "Another Year, Another 100"
Take a day or ½ day to be a hero for your child. Get your picture on the Puster Watch D.O.G.S. wall with your child.
Signup below for your day. Let’s see how fast we can fill this up.
What is WATCH D.O.G.S. and how do you participate?
Watch D.O.G.S. is a program that helps bring dads and other male role models into our school. Dad's spend a day with their child at school and get to interact alongside the teachers, help with carpool, monitor hallways, help out in the classroom, help with specials...the possibilities are endless.
Have you completed the districts background check?
Lovejoy ISD Volunteer process for the 2018-2019 school year is not yet open. Should be soon.
Each Watch D.O.G. dad is encouraged to wear a Watch D.O.G.S. T-shirt on the day he is volunteering at the school. Your child/children may also want a "My Hero" shirt to wear that day too. Below is the link to purchase your t-shirts. Watch D.O.G. t-shirts are not required but it's encouraged.
Here is the link to purchase your t-shirts:
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Six Flags Read to Succeed, Grades K-4
Teachers have distributed information about the Six Flags Read to Succeed program through Seesaw and classroom newsletters. The deadline for logging six hours of reading is February 22. Please complete the official log and return to school (library or classroom) by the deadline. Six Flags tickets will be issued in May.
Looking for some Writing Mentors for our GT Students...
Mrs. McDonald and Mrs. Smithwick have dreamed up a scheme to connect our young writers with mentors through the use of Google Hangouts or Skype. Would you be willing to connect with kids periodically, listen to their writing, and offer feedback? Are you a writer? Could you share helpful hints about the writing process? If you have the interest and the schedule flexibility to connect with our students through technology on a regular basis, please contact Mrs. Smithwick. We are in the earliest planning stages and would love to have as many mentors as possible for our budding writers!
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Parents,
We have officially kicked off the second Box Tops contest for the year. I need your help by sending in your box tops to school.
We will have each grade level competing to bring in the most box tops. The winning grade will have a special treat celebration during recess! The class that brings in the most box tops in this collection will get the honor of holding on to the Box Top Champions trophy. Will Mrs. Smith get to hold on to the trophy or will she lose it to someone else????
Please send your box tops to class with your child or you can place them in the main collection bin outside of the cafeteria. Please remember to put your child’s name and teacher’s name on the bag, envelope or collection sheet. You will be getting a collection sheet in your Thursday folder and extras are outside of the cafeteria.
The deadline for students to bring in box tops to school is
Friday February 22
nd
.
Our fall collection raised over $600 for the school!! Thank you so very much for your help with this program. Please email me with any questions or comments. Thank you all so very much for all that you do!
Sincerely,
Beth Gable
Your Box Top coordinator
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Join PTA!
Go to this link: https://my.cheddarup.com/c/puster-pta-membership-only
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Save the Date – March 2
STEM Festival and Open House for Prospective Families
Save the date! Lovejoy ISD will host the second annual STEM festival on March 2 at Lovejoy High School. The event will be held from 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM. We hope you will join us for an exciting day filled with fascinating speakers, hands-on experiments, Makerspace, student exhibits, robotics lab, cool contests with prizes, food trucks, and much more.
An Open House for prospective families will be held during the STEM festival. We hope you will invite your friends and family members who are interested in Lovejoy to join us for this event.
Look for more details in the next edition of Email Express.
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STEM Festival T-Shirt Design Contest
Calling all students! Submit your entry for the design of the STEM Festival 2019 t-shirt.
Click here
for details
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Lovejoy STEM Festival CANgineering Competition
March 2
Lovejoy is pleased to announce the first ever CANgineering Competition at the Lovejoy STEM Festival on March 2. Form a team and get creative. Your team will compete to build a structure made entirely of canned and non-perishable foods. The best in show will win a prize.
Click
here
for detailed information regarding the CANgineering Competition. Gather your family and friends and join us for this exciting competition!
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A Message from the Superintendent
2019-2020 and 2020-2021 School Calendars
It is time for us to prepare school calendars for the next two school years: 2019-2020 and 2020-2021. The administration will take the recommended calendars to our Board of Trustees for approval on February 20. As our practice has been, we are reaching out to you for input in order to create calendars yielding the greatest satisfaction among all Lovejoy ISD stakeholders. You will find a link to the survey below.
As your superintendent, I will work to preserve a calendar that is in the best interest of both teaching/learning and a calendar that facilitates student attendance, which generates state funding. Please find some considerations, which will influence our decision-making:
- For instructional reasons, all school weeks must have a minimum of three attendance days with four days as the preference.
- Holidays such as Christmas must allow enough travel time for families so that we do not see a decreased attendance rate on the last school day prior to a holiday e.g. Friday before Christmas break.
- The start of the school year must allow sufficient days for teacher professional development and teacher workdays to ensure we are ready for school to begin.
- Student holidays will be aligned to traditional holidays such as Columbus Day when practical.
- Single student holidays must be strategically placed to allow appropriate teacher planning to support the instructional calendar e.g. a student holiday on the Monday after Thanksgiving would not be a good time for teacher planning as the semester is almost over.
You may
click here
to access a printable version of the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 drafts. In general, these calendars are based on the current 2018-2019 calendar. You may
click here
to access the current calendar.
You may
click here
to complete the calendar survey. The survey will close at 5:00 PM on Friday, February 8. Should you have any questions regarding the survey please contact
Stacey Dillon
, Assistant to the Superintendent, at 469.742.8003.
As always, please feel free to contact me with questions or concerns.
With Respect,
Ted Moore
Superintendent
Lovejoy ISD
972.415.8129 (mobile)
469.742.8011 (office)
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Lovejoy Student Hosts Toy Drive
Lovejoy High School Freshman, Katie Berman, requests your assistance with a toy drive she is organizing to benefit Ready Fighter One. Following you will find information from Katie:
“My plan is to host a toy drive from February 4 – 15. We are collecting items to donate to hospitals that treat children's cancer. Ready Fighter One was my friend MJ's last wish. MJ was diagnosed with Ewing's Sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer, and passed away on the 11th. We are collecting:
Video Games
Playstations
Xboxes
DVDs
Toys
Board Games
Boxes for donations will be located at all campuses. MJ’s school would not allow us to host the drive. I thought the next best thing would be to host it at Lovejoy. My team and I would handle all the details all we need is your support and time.”
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Hop Into Spring Chess Tournament
March 30
This annual Lovejoy Tournament continues to be a hit around the metroplex. Come join your fellow chess players on March 30 at Sloan Creek for a wonderful day of chess play. This five round tournament awards the top three players in each section a trophy and fourth place receives a chocolate bunny. Gather up a team from your school and compete together. Registration is going on now. Please visit North Texas Chess Academy's
website to register.
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Gifted and Talented Referral Window Open
February 1 – March 8
The referral window for students in grades 1-11 for gifted and talented services is open February 1 - March 8. Referral forms are located online in the PowerSchool Parent Portal.
Testing is scheduled for Saturday, March 30 and April 6. Appointments will be sent via email after the referral window closes March 8.
Please note: Kindergarten students will not be tested during the spring window.
Gifted and Talented Information Sessions
February 20 and 25
Looking for More Information about G/T Services? Brief information sessions will review the gifted and talented referral process and services offered in Lovejoy.
Lovejoy ISD Administration Building
Board Room
February 20 at 9:00 AM
February 25 at 9:00 AM or 6:30 PM
(Session Information Repeats)
For questions regarding referrals, please contact
Kari Lockhart (469.742.8015) or
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Lovejoy Gifted Association Announces Rocket Build and Launch Events
3...2...1... Lift-off!
Celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first people to land on the moon with the Lovejoy Gifted Association's Rocket Fest. The Lovejoy Gifted Association is partnering with the Dallas Area Rocket Society (DARS) for their annual LGA Rocket Fest. This event is suitable for students in grades 3 thru 6. Participants may choose between a basic and an advanced rocket model.
There will be a Rocket Build Party in the Sloan Creek Cafeteria
on Wednesday, March 6th from 6:30pm to 8:00pm where a volunteer from DARS will talk the junior rocket scientists through building the basic rocket step-by-step. Participants purchasing the advanced rocket may pick up their build package that same evening and are welcome to start building at SCIS or build at home.
The rocket launch will be held
on Sunday March 24 in the front parking lot of Lovejoy High School
at 12:00 noon, where volunteers from DARS will provide the launch equipment and make sure the launch process happens in a safe and orderly fashion.
You may reserve a spot and purchase your rocket kit from the Lovejoy Gifted Association Store at
https://my.cheddarup.com/c/rocket-fest-2019 no later than
Feb 17th, 2019. Each rocket package comes with rocket engines for two launches. Please note that junior rocket scientists must be accompanied by an adult at both events. The Lovejoy Gifted Association is a non-profit organization that supports the G/T programs across all schools in Lovejoy ISD. The LGA Rocket Project is a fundraiser and proceeds will flow back into Lovejoy ISD. If you have questions, contact Jay van Rijn at
jeroen.van.rijn@gmail.com.
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Your copy should address 3 key questions: Who am I writing for? (Audience) Why should they care? (Benefit) What do I want them to do here? (Call-to-Action)
Create a great offer by adding words like "free" "personalized" "complimentary" or "customized." A sense of urgency often helps readers take an action, so think about inserting phrases like "for a limited time only" or "only 7 remaining!"
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Lovejoy Offers Group Counseling
Lovejoy is offering group counseling for students for a variety of areas. The groups will meet weekly, during school hours, and will be facilitated by Lovejoy’s Social Worker, Noelle Gove, LCSW. The overall goal of the counseling groups is to address student’s social/emotional needs that may be impacting their experience and success at school. Groups are being offered, based on need, to every campus in the district, grades K-12.
If you are interested in your student participating in a group, please
click here
to complete the interest form. Noelle Gove will be in contact with parents regarding further details of the group and to obtain consent for student participation. This form is not a consent for counseling, but rather a survey of interest.
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BrightBytes Newsletter Info
Lovejoy ISD is partnering with BrightBytes, an educational research organization, to learn more about our students’ school and home technology use and the impact it has on instruction. We are reaching out to ask you to take part in the Technology & Learning questionnaire. This is a semi-annual initiative, and your participation is essential in helping us form a more complete picture of the role technology plays in your students’ learning.
Please know that all of your responses will remain anonymous to protect your privacy.
Puster Parents, go to this link:
http://www.bbyt.es/BR3XP
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New! SafeSchools App Now Available
SafeSchools has launched their new mobile application for anonymous reporting. You may
click here
for the SafeSchools Alert Mobile Application Download Instructions
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On behalf of Lovejoy ISD we would like to thank
Jones Solar and Roofing
for participating in the Lovejoy ISD
Circle of Partners
. We thank
Jones Solar and Roofing
for their support of Lovejoy ISD and the important value they place on the education of our children.
Chadd Jones of
Jones Solar and Roofing
is pledging 10% of their profits on roofing and solar work completed in the Lovejoy ISD. Jones Solar and Roofing provides free inspections of your residential or commercial roof and property. They also offer free estimates on Solar/ Battery and Energy Efficiency upgrades to your home or business. Their website is:
https://jonessolar.com/
or you may reach them by phone at 214.412.7444 for residential or commercial properties. Members of his family have been supporters of the Lovejoy ISD since 1979. Chadd and Liesl Thompson Jones are the proud parents of Puster Elementary 1st grader Maxwell.
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Tutoring 101
Lovejoy ISD is pleased to welcome Tutoring 101 to the
Circle of Partners
. Tutoring 101 and Lovejoy ISD have formed a revenue generating/sharing partnership to bring their services to Lovejoy families. Please see below for several offerings.
Private tutoring is available for students in grades K-12 in all subjects. Tutoring 101 recommends once a week tutoring for an hour to increase grades and learn subject matter more deeply. A once a week appointment usually results in an increase of one letter grade or more. Turn those C's into B's.
What is your SAT/ACT score? Want a better one? What do you need it to be?
Invest in a PSAT/SAT/ACT Prep program not just a class. Tutoring 101 helps high scorers get top scores, average students raise their scores and poor test takers achieve the scores colleges want. Tutoring 101 students have earned admissions and scholarships, and have saved thousands of tuition dollars every year.
- Specialize in working with individual students and their specific needs
- Day-of-test strategies
- One-on-one/small groups
- PSAT/SAT Classes: Tues or Thurs or Saturdays
- ACT Prep Classes: Mon/Wed or Sat
- One on One and Online Prep also available
- School District Employee Discount
Learn about Tutoring 101’s all-inclusive PSAT/SAT/ACT programs:
- 11th-12th Grade SAT/ACT
- 10th-12th PSAT/SAT/ACT
- 9th-12th Grade PSAT/NMSQT/SAT/ACT
- Duke Tip (7th Grade)
Classes are conveniently located at Lovejoy High School. Call 972.359.0222 or email
Robyn@Tutoring101.com
for additional information.
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Lovejoy Senior Hosts Volleyball Camp
February 19
Lovejoy High Senior
Madison Waters is hosting a volleyball camp for her Senior Project:
“Hello everyone. My name is Madison Waters and I am a senior at Lovejoy High School. This year for my senior project, I will be raising money for the American Cancer Society through donations and by hosting a volleyball camp for boys and girls from 1st grade to 6th grade. The camp will be held at Willow Springs Middle School on Tuesday, February 19 from 5:30-8:00 PM. The cost is $15 per child.
All proceeds from the camp and donations will be given to the American Cancer Society. This foundation funds and conducts research and spreads information with the mission to free the world of cancer. The money they receive goes towards research and support for patients.
Next year I will be attending the University of Cincinnati where I will play volleyball and earn a degree in business.
To register for the camp, please contact me at
madisonbwaters@yahoo.com
. You can also contact me at 214-799-3402 if you have any further questions.
If you would like to make a donation, please venmo me @madisonwaters
There will also be envelopes located at the front office of each Lovejoy School in which you can place your donations. Both cash and check are accepted and very appreciated.”
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