The Holiday Season

The holiday is season is among us and I hope you all take the opportunity to enjoy the activities with your family. This Friday we have our Christmas programs. Our chorus will perform and the various grade levels will also sing a song that they have been working on in music class. The performance for grades 3-5 will begin around 8:15 and the performance for Kindergarten - 2nd grade will begin around 9:15. There are also numerous classroom and grade level activities going on throughout the week. Please contact your child's teacher for specific dates and times and join us for our Christmas activities.

Season's Readings

We had a great evening with our Season's Readings program last night. This is a family event that is sponsored by our School Improvement Council. Students and their family members got to participate in craft making, visit with Santa and his helpers as Santa read in the library, and sing Christmas carols. Our 5th grade also sponsored a hot dog meal as part of their fundraiser for their overnight trip to Atlanta. The event was well-attended and we had a number of positive comments about the activities.
Christmas is a special time of year and I hope you will enjoy the time with your family and friends. Show your kids the true meaning of the season and it will be a memory they will treasure forever!

December Events

December is a very busy month for everyone. I want to share some of the major events that the school has scheduled during this month.

• December 1st - School Art Show from 6 - 8 pm. Parents and family members can buy framed artwork created by the students.
• December 8th - Season's Readings from 6:00 - 7:30 pm - This is our family activity for the Christmas season. We will have Santa reading, make crafts, enjoy refreshments and sing Christmas carols.
• December 8th - 12th - PTST Santa Shop will be open. Each grade level will have a specific day and time in which they can shop. The money raised goes to our White Christmas fund.
• December 19th - School Christmas program - third through fifth grade will attend at 8:15 and kindergarten through second grade will attend at 9:15.
• There will also be numerous other class and grade level activities during the month.
• Christmas holidays for students and staff will be December 20th - January 4th. School resumes on January 5, 2009.
• Friday, December 19th is a full day for students and staff.

I hope you will plan to join us for some of the many activities we have going on during the month of December!

Children's Book Week

This week our school celebrated Children's Book Week. We had a number of different activities that our students and staff participated in during the week. Each class created a favorite book character using a pumpkin and these were displayed in the media center. Students and teachers also created a Book-O board (like Bingo only you use book titles) and names were called out on the news until three classes got Book-O. Mrs. Waller, our media specialist, also did book reviews each morning on the news and grade levels had different activities during the week as well.
One of my favorite things to do here at school is to read to the classes. During Children's Book Week, we place an extra emphasis on doing this. I been to numerous classes this week to read book, most of which relate to Thanksgiving. I love seeing the kids get excited about someone reading to them! I encourage you to spend time reading to, and with, your child. It is one of the most satisfying things you can do and it is also a great help to them as they learn to read.

American Education Week

This week is American Education Week and I hope you will take the opportunity to thank someone for the part they played in your education. This year the theme for AEW is "Great Public Schools; A Basic Right and Our Responsibility." I feel very blessed to be in a school and school district where the employees take this responsibility to heart and the people work hard every day to ensure that our students receive a quality education.

I want to thank everyone who attended our PTST meeting and Thanksgiving meal last night (11-17-08). We had a great meal and some wonderful entertainment from some of our 3rd and 5th grade students. A special thanks to the members of the PTST board for their work in preparing for meal and meeting. We have a great group of dedicated board members who continue to work for our school and students. I also want to thank our faculty and staff members who helped with serving the meal and the clean-up afterwards. As always, they step up to the plate when something needs to be done and help make sure it happens!

Bittersweet Emotions

It is with mixed emotions that I announce that our Assistant Principal for Instruction, Mrs. Shanon Lusk, will be leaving us to take over as the new Principal at Tamassee-Salem Elementary School. I am very excited for Mrs. Lusk and I know she will do an excellent job in her new position. I am also sad that she will be leaving us after 15 plus years at Walhalla Elementary School. Shanon has been an outstanding teacher, administrator and friend during her time here and she will be greatly missed. Her dedication to our students and staff has played a tremendous role in our school's success. Shanon is a professional in every sense of the word and I feel blessed to have worked with her for the past seven years. The students, staff and families of Tamassee-Salem Elementary School should be very excited to add Mrs. Shanon Lusk to their team!
I also want to say a thank you to the retiring Principal at TSES, Mrs. Myra Dillard. I have had the pleasure of working with Myra for the past seven years and she has been a tremendous help and blessing to me both professionally and personally. Myra has worked diligently for her school and is leaving Shanon a great opportunity to continue to build upon the school's successes.
I am very proud to have the chance to know and work with these two outstanding ladies. You would be hard pressed to find two more passionate people about the students and doing what is best for every student.
I hope the students, staff and families of TSES will celebrate the past successes with Myra Dillard and be excited about the future successes with Shanon Lusk. The quote below reminds me of Myra and Shanon because they are both more concerned with what they can do to make the team better than individual accolades.
Best wished to both Myra and Shanon as they embark on these new journeys in their lives!

"The most important measure of how good a game I played was how much better I'd made my teammates play." ~Bill Russell

Walhalla Elementary Election results

The 5th grade culminated their study of the election by participating in a mock election on Monday. Our school results mirrored the state results with McCain/Palin defeating Obama/Biden. Our 5th grade teachers did a great job of teaching the students about the election process. Students learned about the views of the candidates, the history of the electoral college, and how the registration process works. Students even registered and voted based on their "precinct."
On Wednesday, teachers and students discussed the results of the history making election from the night before. These were excellent teachable moments and our teachers and students did a great job!

November School Events

November is a busy month for our school. I wanted to update everyone with the major events of the month.

• November 3rd will be our Chick-fil-a spirit night. This is the school competition and the school with the most purchases will have their fundraiser check doubled! We will also vote on teacher of the quarter at spirit night.
• November 4th is a school holiday for Election Day. I hope everyone who is eligible to vote will do so.
• November 10th is the day of our ESOL Food and Family Night. We begin at 6:30 and ask that those that attend bring a pot luck food item.
• November 17th is our PTST Thanksgiving meal. Plates are $7 each and order forms were sent home in Wednesday folders on October 29th. Contact the school if you need a form.
• November 25th is our regular November Chick-fil-a spirit night.
• November 26th - 28th are Thanksgiving holidays for students and staff.

We hope to see you at these school functions. Your continued support is vital to our success!

Community Support

I want to share some great news with everyone. Because of tremendous support from our Parent, Teacher, Student Team (PTST), our School Improvement Council, and Itron, I am delighted to announce that our school will soon have interactive SmartBoards in every academic classroom! We are in the process of adding 16 new boards to classrooms throughout the school. Our PTST has purchased 5, Itron purchased 7 for our school to use, and the school has purchased the other 4. All together, we are talking about a commitment of over $25,000 to improve the instructional technology at our school! We are extremely appreciative to our PTST, SIC, and Itron for their support. We are very fortunate to be in a community that values public education and is willing to show their support for our school.

I am also happy to announce that another local company, Timken, continues to support Walhalla Elementary School. Timken has been our business partner for several years and this year we are excited to announced that we have received a $1300 grant from the Timken Corporation. This grant will be used to purchase instructional technology for the classroom.

We are very excited to have support from the local industry such as Itron and Timken and the support of our PTST and SIC. It takes everyone working together to ensure that our students have the best possible chance for success!

A Parent's Right to Know

Listed below is the information regarding teacher certification required by Title II of No Child Left Behind. Please feel free to contact the school if you have any questions or need clarification.


A Parent’s Right to Know … Teacher Certification Information is Available to Parents
A parent, under Title II of the No Child Left Behind Act, has the right to know certain information about his/her child’s teacher.
The law specifically requires that parents know …
* whether a teacher has met state qualification and licensing criteria for the grade levels and subject areas in which the teacher provides instruction;
* whether a teacher is teaching under emergency or other provisional status through which state qualification or licensing criteria have been waived; and
* the baccalaureate degree major of a teacher and any other graduate certification or degree held by the teacher, and the field of discipline of the certification or degree.
The information is readily available by doing an Educator Qualification Search <http://www.scteachers.org/titleii/certinq.cfm> (a clickable link).
If you have trouble with the link above, please go to http://www.scteachers.org/titleii/certinq.cfm to do the search.

A Great Start!

Our school year is off to a great start! Other than a few transportation issues, everyone seems to have gotten into the flow of things quiet quickly. We spent a good bit of time the first week reviewing and modeling our school-wide expectations. This is part of our Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS) program. Our school-wide expectations are Self-control, Thinkers, Achieving, Respect and Responsibility. We use the first letter of each expectation to form our theme of Everyone is a STAR.
Our teachers have also spent time building class community and getting to know their students. All of these things will help us better serve our students throughout the year.
I encourage you to visit our school if you have the opportunity. I know you will be impressed by the great things that are taking place at Walhalla Elementary School!

School Starts!

Welcome to the 2008-2009 school year! The teachers have been hard at work this week as we prepare for the return of our students on Monday, August 18. I am very excited about the new year. Our staff has had a great first week as we prepare for the opening of school. I feel very fortunate to work with such a fine group of professionals!
See you soon!

The New School Year

It is hard to believe but the summer is almost over and the new school year is just around the corner. The building is almost ready and the teachers are starting to come by and get things ready. The teachers will be mailing postcards to their students at the end of this week. Our Back to School night is Thursday, August 14th from 5:00 - 6:30. This is an opportunity for students to meet their teacher(s) and see their new classrooms. The first day of school for all students is August 18th. Please note that we have slightly adjusted our starting and ending times for the school year. The late bell will now ring at 7:55 am (students are tardy if they are not in their room by this time) and we will dismiss bus and daycare riders at 2:45 and car riders at 2:50. Kindergarten car riders will still be dismissed at 2:30 in the Kindergarten circle.
If you were not able to pick up the backpack donated by the Crosby foundation, we will have them at the school. You can pick it up before school starts by stopping by the school. We are very thankful to the Crosby's for their continued support of our school and our school district!
Enjoy the remainder of your summer and I will see you soon!

The Learning continues

Things are busily moving along at Walhalla Elementary School. Our custodial staff has done a tremendous job cleaning the building and waxing the floors. The place looks great!
This past Monday, we started our three week summer academy for students from Walhalla Elementary, James M. Brown, Keowee Elementary and Tamassee-Salem Elementary. Other than a few traffic issues the first day, things have gone very well.
I am continuing to learn as well. As I write this, I am attending the Curriculum Mapping Conference in Park City, UT. This is a wonderful conference and a beautiful part of the country! Hopefully the ideas I get here will help us as we continue to build upon the curriculum maps we are currently using and the ones we need to complete.
Continue to enjoy your summer and I look forward to the beginning of the new year!

End of the Year

As we come to the end of the school year, I want to thank everyone for their help in making this another successful year at Walhalla Elementary School. It takes everyone working together to give our students the best possible education. I feel very fortunate to work at place where the students, staff, and families understand the value of a quality education and do their part to ensure our students' success.
I want to remind everyone that summer reading is very important for our students. We want to continue to build upon the gains each student has made over the school year. I encourage you to take the time to make sure your child continues to read on a regular basis over the summer. I also want to encourage our parents to read to their children, no matter what their age.
Have a safe and happy summer!

PACT Testing Begins

This morning marked the start of PACT testing for our students in 3rd, 4th and 5th grades. The students will test for 3 days this week and 2 or 3 days next week depending upon your grade level.
Our teachers, students and families have worked hard to ensure we are ready for PACT. Now is the time for our students to "Show what they know." Mrs. Lusk and I met individually with each 3rd, 4th and 5th grade student over the past week to review MAP and PACT data and to look at students' projected PACT scores. Based on this data, the students then set their personal goals for PACT. Students also received test taking tips and reminders during these meetings. Our hope is that this will encourage students to do their best.
This is a stressful time of the year around schools in SC. Everything you do for the entire year will be evaluated based on our PACT results. Legislation in the Senate which could change PACT has stalled because of political maneuvering. I urge you to contact your local state senator and let him/her know that you support public education and the changes to the Education Accountability Act that the House recently passed. We need state testing that gives us diagnostic information we can use to improve instruction. We get done of that from PACT.

Heading into the home stretch!

As we head into the final 7 weeks of school, I have a number of things I want to share with everyone. Our book fair runs through the 24th of this month. This is the Half-price book fair so it is an excellent opportunity to stock up on summer reading for the family! Our Relay for Life team will participate in the Walhalla area relay event this Friday, April 25th beginning at 7:00 pm at the Walhalla High School football stadium. We invite all of our students and their families to join us. Our team and school have done an excellent job of raising money for the American Cancer Society again this year. From what I understand, we have met our goal and that means I will become an ice cream sundae on field day! I am sure everyone is looking forward to that but me!
On the academic side, our students and staff continue to work hard. Third, fourth and fifth grade students and teachers are busy preparing for the PACT tests while kindergarten, first and second grade students and teachers continue to work to ensure everyone is well prepared for the next grade level. I continue to feel blessed to work with such a dedicated group of students, families and staff. One example of this is that we were recently recognized by the Education Oversight Committee for Closing the Achievement Gap for our free and reduced lunch students. Only about 12% of the elementary and middle schools in the state received this award.
Teacher Appreciation Week is May 5-9 and I hope you will take the time to say thanks to a teacher who has made a difference in your life and/or your child's life.
If you haven't visited with us lately, please stop by and see all of the wonderful things that are taking place at our school.

Spring Happens

Spring is a busy time of the year for our school. We have Spring Break coming up the week of April 7-11. I hope you and your family enjoy a restful and fun Spring Break! When we return to school we will have 4 weeks before PACT testing begins for grades 3-5. Please do all you can to ensure you child is at school and on time each day. We want to do all we can to ensure our students are well prepared for the PACT.

Our half-price book fair will be the week of April 21-24. We will also have a PTST meeting on April 21st at which we will announce our PTST board members for the 2008-2009 school year, our Chorus will perform and we will have Family Write Night activities. The meeting begins at 6:30 and we hope you are able to join us. The Book Fair will be open for extended hours the night of the PTST meeting.

We continue to raise money for our Relay for Life team. We are selling t-shirts that we will also use as our field day t-shirts. These can be purchased for $10. We are also selling footprints for $1. Our goal is to have footprints throughout the hallways of the school. Students are also getting sponsors for our mini-walk that will be part of our field day activities. Our participation allows our students and staff to participate in a community service activity that will benefit the American Cancer Society. If you are interested in serving on our team or helping in any way, please contact the school.

Relay for Life Kick-off

This afternoon we held our Relay for Life kick-off. We met with all of the kids to explain what Relay for Life is and why it is important for us to participate. Our theme this year is Barefoot Landing. Our RFL team has several fundraising events planned. They are currently taking $1 donations to purchase a "foot" to place around the school. Our goal is to have the foot prints around the school. The team is also encouraging the students to take pledges for our mini-relay that will be a part of our field day in May. RFL t-shirts are also for sale for $10 each. Other fundraising activities include RFL lunches for the staff on Fridays, Denim Days on certain Fridays and the selling of luminaries.
I hope you and your child will take advantage of some of these opportunities to participate with our RFL team. Parents are welcome to join by contacting the school. Lets help support this great cause as we work to wipe out cancer!

Another Great Week of Learning!

What a great week of learning at Walhalla Elementary School! While we are learning every week, this week was particularly special. We had storyteller Tim Lowery here on Thursday and Friday to share with our students and our staff and he was wonderful. The students were hanging on every word as he told his stories. He also did a performance on Thursday evening for our families and we had about 150 attend.
Our 4th grade classes did a great job with their "wax museum" of historical figures. Each student wrote a bio of a significant figure from our nation's past and the dressed in character to create our museum. It was great to listen to the students as they shared their historical figure's information. What a great way to combine numerous 4th grade SC curriculum standards! Thanks to all of the parents and guests who visited our museum on Thursday and Friday.
These are just some of the many great things that are taking place at our school. I am very proud of the efforts of our students, staff and families as we continue to work to make Walhalla Elementary School a place "Where Everyone is a Star!"

Storyteller Tim Lowery to visit

We are all excited about the upcoming visit from storytell Tim Lowery. Mr. Lowery will be with us on Thursday and Friday of this week. Our students and staff have been preparing for his visit and look forward to listening to him and learning from him. Some of the sessions our students and staff will participate in include: storytelling for beginners; Francis Marion and the American Revolution; American West; Folktales; and how to be a storywriter. Mr. Lowery will also do an evening of storytelling for our students and their families on Thursday night, February 21st from 6:30 - 7:30.
A special thanks goes to our SIC for paying for Mr. Lowery's visit. We are using the money raised by our Family Fun Run to cover the cost.
We hope you are able to attend the session on Thursday night and see what great things Tim Lowery has to share with our students.

PTST Meeting and Math and Science Night

On Monday, February 11th from 6:30 - 7:45 we will host our annual Math and Science Night. We will begin with a PSTS meeting at 6:30 and start our Math and Science Night at 6:45. This is an excellent opportunity for our families to learn more about our Everyday Math series and some of the games and activities that are used to reinforce the math skills. Parents can also view class, group and individual science fair projects. Our teachers and students worked extremely hard on these projects and we are very proud of their efforts!
Please try to join on the 11th.

Back at it again!

As we head into the second part of the school year I want to continue to encourage everyone to stay involved with their child's education. Our second through fifth grade students are currently participating in Measuring Academic Progress (MAP) testing. Our teachers will use this information to more individualize each students' instruction. If your child is participating in MAP testing please encourage him/her to do their best. If you have questions or concerns about your child's work or progress, please contact his/her teacher to discuss your concerns. Our staff is dedicated to doing everything possible to help your child succeed.
Thanks again for what each of you does for our school and have a great new year!