It was great to see all of the kids back on campus this week. One of the many beautiful things about being on an elementary campus is hearing all of the stories from the students after Christmas break.
On Sunday evening, I had the opportunity to attend the annual LISD Advanced Academics Banquet. This banquet recognizes students at LHS and LHS graduates who are college freshmen for their successes in Advanced Placement (AP) classes at the high school. The majority of the students began their educational career in LISD at the KG level. The level of talent and success that was present astounded me. That success started at the elementary level and reminded me of how hard our teachers, students, and parents work to ensure a high level of education. At Puster, we have a commitment to you. No matter how good we were yesterday. We are striving to do better tomorrow. I can’t wait to see what 2019 brings.
Pride in Puster
Kevin
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January 14 – Choir
January 15 – Spelling Bee
January 18 – Choir sings at LHS Basketball game
January 21 – Student Holiday
January 23 – 3
rd
Grade Field Trip
January 24 – PTA Meeting @ 6:00 pm
January 25 – Bluebonnet Pancake Breakfast/Voting @ 7:30 am
January 25 – Reading with the Leopards
January 25 – 4
th
Grade to SCIS
January 28 – Chess and Choir
January 30 – Starbooks Café 7:30 am
January 31 – Pre-K Chili with Dad
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Foundation for Lovejoy Schools
Denim and Diamonds - Saturday, February 2
The Party - We Need Your Help
We need your help to make this year’s Denim and Diamonds the best yet. How can you help?
Sponsor
– the goal is to raise $100,000 in sponsorships. There are many levels available.
Click here
for options and/or contact The Party Chairperson,
Kelli Litchenburg
for additional information.
Donate
– trips, parties, and fun items are needed for the silent and live auctions.
Click here
for the donation form. Please note – the donation deadline has been extended.
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January 21 - Student Holiday
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Engineering for Kids - Spring Enrollment
Go to these links for enrollment:
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After School Spanish for Spring 2019
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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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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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Book Clubs
It's time for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders to sign up to participate in book clubs! We are announcing daily on the Puster News Show that the Google Form is open on the Puster Library website, and we always support kiddos with signing up in the library. This link is provided for your reference, but because we are working hard at developing student autonomy, we prefer that students complete the forms themselves. Mrs. Smithwick gets many visits from students who say "My mom forgot to sign me up!" to which she always responds, "Your mom does not need one more thing to do. This was your responsibility." :)
https://pes.lovejoyisd.net/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=383485&type=d&pREC_ID=1027868
Second grade meets on Tuesdays at lunch time. Third grade will meet on Fridays at lunch time. Fourth grade will meet on Thursdays. Kids love to bring their lunches on book club days so that they can come in and get started right away!
The books for this round include young characters who work to overcome challenges. We do need your help with supplying a book for your student. As of today, there are paperbacks available through Amazon Prime. Here are the selections for this round:
2nd Grade-- Disaster Strikes: Earthquake Shock by Marlane Kennedy
3rd Grade-- How to Steal a Dog by Barbara O'Connor
4th Grade-- Ghost by Jason Reynolds
Email Alison Smithwick with any questions or concerns.
Hour of Code
Next week, Puster students will be participating in the Hour of Code. During their scheduled computer lab times, students will explore coding on the
hourofcode.com
website. Additionally, Mrs. Smithwick and Mrs. Peabody will pull small groups into the Collaboratory to practice coding robots for a few minutes. It is our hope that these brief activities will pique interest in computer science and raise students' awareness of this thriving field. For more information about the Hour of Code movement, click
HERE.
Leopard Leaders
The application for the spring semester is now open on the library website. Students who would like to continue being involved will need to sign up again. We'd also like to encourage students who have not yet given it a try! Leopard Leaders are 4th grade students who use one recess time a week to help others in our school. Jobs include working with younger students, recycling, helping in the library, and supporting students in specials classes. The Google Form is available on the library website and can also be found
HERE.
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Lifetime Membership Nomination
We are now accepting nomination letters for the PTA Life Membership Award. This award's recipient(s) go above and beyond to make Puster special for all students. This can be a Puster teacher, staff member and/or a parent volunteer. The recipients will be lifetime honorees which entitles them to a reduced annual membership fee as well as being honored at the Lovejoy Council PTA Banquet on March 4, 2019. Please email your letter(s) of recommendation to our membership chair Leslie Tucker by Tuesday, January 15, 2019 to
leslie_tucker@richards.com
or return the
nomination form
to the front office. She can be reached at 214.704.1394 if you have any questions.
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Save Your Boxtops
Welcome back to school! Don't forget to save those box tops when you are back to school shopping. There is a new box top collection container in the school lobby that you can drop your box tops in. You can bring them with you to meet the teacher or when school starts again, just remember to put your teachers name on the bag or envelope so your class will get the credit for them for the fall contest. You can turn in all of your box tops in this container. You do not need to take them to your classroom any more (just don't forget to write your class on it). In November we get to see which grade brings in the most box tops and which class gets the box top trophy for bringing in the most!! Thank you for always keeping an eye out for box tops to earn money for our school.
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Join PTA!
Go to this link: https://my.cheddarup.com/c/puster-pta-membership-only
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New! Toy Drive Benefiting the Children of Little Leopards
The Lovejoy High School Work-Based Learning program is accepting new to gently used toys for children birth – 5 years of age. Examples of items needed are as follows:
Play Food
Outside Toys
Musical Toys
Books
Legos
K’nex
Kinetic Sand
Sports Balls
Dolls
Dollhouses
Shopkins
Toys may be delivered to any Lovejoy campus or the Administration building until February 15. To request a donation pick-up, or for additional information, please contact
sancy_fuller@lovejoyisd.net
.
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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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Lovejoy Gifted Association
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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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Kindergarten Gifted and Talented Referrals
Parent Information Sessions
December 12
Parent Information Sessions regarding Gifted and Talented (G/T) referrals will be held as follows:
December 12 at 9:00 AM and 6:00 PM
All sessions will be held in the Lovejoy Administration Building Board Room, located at 259 Country Club Road. Please join us for an information session to learn more about the G/T kindergarten referral and assessment process.
The referral form will open in PowerSchool on December 3. Referrals are due by January 11. Testing for referred students will be held on Saturday, February 2 and Saturday, February 16.
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Lovejoy Lacrosse – Boys’ and Girls’ Teams Registration Now Open
Registration is now open for the boys’ and girls’ 2019 Spring season of Lovejoy Lacrosse. Join the most exciting, fastest-growing sport in the country.
Register now for Boys and Girls: Grades Kindergarten through High School
Hurry, as rosters are filling quickly!
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Lovejoy Lacrosse Free Try-It Clinics
January 9, 12 and 19
Lovejoy Lacrosse will host lacrosse try-it clinics on three upcoming days at Willow Springs Middle School:
Girls only – Wednesday, January 9, 7:00 - 8:30 PM
Girls and Boys – Saturday, January 12, 10:00 - 11:30 AM
Boys only – Saturday, January 19, 12:00 -1:30 PM
The try-it clinics are free and are open to all grade levels - kindergarten through high school. Kids are welcome to attend one or both of the clinics. No registration is required. Just come on out to the field ready to have fun. Lacrosse equipment will be available to borrow.
No lacrosse experience is necessary. There will be drills for players of all skill and experience levels. The clinics will be a fun, no pressure environment where girls and boys can try lacrosse and parents can learn about the Lovejoy Lacrosse program.
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