NFP PTANFall/Winter 2013

From the Minor League to the Majors:Welcome to the Common Core

by Syreeta Smith

Th e NC Department of Public Instruction has scheduled the public release of all EOG and accountability data on November 7. However, individual student reports with a parent letter are scheduled for distribution in late November/early December.

Th ere are fi ve important points to remember when exploring 2012-2013 EOG results.

1. Students are now required to meet a higher standard. 2. As standards become more rigorous, so do the assessments. 3. Whenever standards are raised, test results will drop. Th is is typical and expected.4. Our students continue to progress academically.5. Scores will be used as a starting point to measure progress going forward, and to guide our eff orts to improve classroom instruction.

Realizing that the shift to the Common Core is a team eff ort, NFP will hold an interactive parent session titled “From the Minor League to the Majors: Welcome to the Common Core. What does the data really mean? How can I foster level 4 thinking in my child”? Th e fi rst part of the session will guide parents through an analysis of the 2012-2013 EOG results and share NFP’s response. Th e last part of the session will give parents an understanding of what level 4 means in a Standards Based Grading system and suggests strategies for growing level 4 thinkers. Th e tentative date for the session is Th ursday, November 21. Th e session will repeat twice to accommodate families’ schedules. Th e fi rst will begin at 8:00 am and the second at 5:30 pm. Th e information will be identical. A fl yer will be distributed soon.

2

The highly anticipated North Forest Pines book fair is fi nally here!The highly anticipated North Forest Pines Book Fair is fi nally here! Last year’s Book Fair sales reached nearly $20,000 with $6,000 allocated to the NFP library. Funds were used to purchase much needed Ipads and 200 new books including Diary of a Wimpy Kid 3rd Wheel and books from the Dork Diaries and I Survived series. Being able to have at least fi ve copies of the most requested books allows more children to access these popular titles.

Students aren’t the only ones who profi t from the money raised at Book Fairs. Teachers benefi tted from new curriculum materials for the Wake County Curriculum Management Application (C-MAPP). In C-MAPP, WCPSS lists recommended titles that teachers can use to support lesson objectives. Our media center has a special C-MAPP section where teachers can fi nd recommended titles for their lessons easily. Thankfully, we have the majority of the hundreds of C-MAPP titles, but we will purchase more titles on the list as funds are available. Ms. Anderson feels especially grateful for the additions to this section: “This is my most important job,” she said, “supporting teachers and making sure they have the materials they need to teach and help their students succeed.”

This year, Ms. Anderson and the PTA have a new goal of $21,000 in sales. She wishes to add more materials to the C-MAPP section and get additional Ipads for the Media Center. She is also hoping to purchase more Ebooks for the Nooks and fulfi ll subscriptions for expiring magazines such as Sports Illustrated for Kids, Discovery Girl, National Geographic for Kids, and American Girl Magazine. There are other literary needs such as adding to the graphic novel genre, to the sports genre which lacks books on football, and to juvenile fi ction which is missing several books in popular series.

Aside from contributing needed materials to our Media Center, what makes Book Fair Week so memorable is watching the North Forest Pines community of parents, staff, and teachers come together to reinforce the importance of books in our lives and to encourage literacy. With so many other distractions competing for our children’s attention, the Oasis Book Fair is a welcome respite.

NFP Book Fair runs November 4-14th in the media center with the following special events. Muffi ns for Moms: Thurs, Nov 7 , 7:15 am - 7:45 am Donuts for Dads: Tracks 3 & 4: Wed, Nov 13, 7:15 am - 7:45 am Family Night: Thurs, Nov 14 Grandparents’ day at the Book Fair all day.

The Book Fair will be open from 7:15am-8pm.

Volunteers are still needed. Please follow link to sign up: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0D4BA4A723A57-20131

New in 2013 Online Ordering!This year the NFP Oasis Book Fair will be both on campus and online! Now family members and friends who are out of town can both shop and support our school. Simply log on to the NFP website and fi nd the online book fair link on the home page.

Wish List: The online store will host a few different titles than the school fair giving friends and family an opportunity to make unique purchases. Students can easily create a wish list for the on-line fair. There are no passwords; the creator of the wish list can send an email through the on-line fair inviting potential purchasers to view their list and purchase a book(s) for them.

Online Order Shipments: The online orders are not shipped until 1-3 days after the end date of the on-line fair. It will then take 2-3 business days for them to arrive at the school. Books will be delivered to students in their classrooms.

Please contact Catherine Metzger at catherinemetzger@mac.com or 919-247-4234 with any Book Fair questions!

3

A New Home for this Holiday: Mrs. Brower Joins NPF by newsletter staff

Looking around Vice Principal Brower’s offi ce, one can tell she isn’t fully settled in: her children’s framed artwork isn’t hung, walls aren’t painted the welcoming color she is searching for, but that is what happens when a person hits the ground running. “Before I started, I asked Ms. Smith for a yearbook so I could learn everyone’s names. I really wanted to be able to greet them personally,” she admitted. Th is extra eff ort might explain her seamless transition into the North Forest Pines family. A passionate cook, Mrs. Brower understands chemistry and its role not only in the kitchen but in education. Mrs. Brower likens successful schools to successful baking, “If you get that one ingredient wrong, you have a fl op. Like baking, it takes a perfect combination: parents, teachers, kids, and staff working together to help students succeed.” Mrs. Brower perfected her cooking skills on her grandparents’ tobacco farm in Kittrel. Too young to work in the fi elds, she became her grandmother’s apprentice. “My grandmother cooked all things very well. She always had fat back and biscuits on the stove,” she mused. Despite her talent as a cook, Mrs. Brower knew she wanted to be a teacher and pursued her career choice with great forethought. Her 16 year career in education began in Special Education. As she pursued further studies she took opportunities that would provide her a breadth of knowledge, such as teaching 3rd grade to understand what teachers and students must go through for the EOGS. Aft er earning her Master’s at NC State, she accepted a position as Assistant Principal in Vance County. Th is year, she and her husband, also an Assistant Principal in Wake County, decided to enroll their children at North Forest Pines. When a position came available, she took a chance and applied. “Now I can more easily be a career mom and a mom,” she said. Having her own children at North Forest Pines, Caroline in Kindergarten and Andrew in 3rd grade, she empathizes with parents regarding disciplinary matters. “Each of these students is someone’s baby. I ask myself, ‘How do I want my child handled in this situation?’”, she said, further explaining her philosophy with “all moments are teachable moments”. When asked about the children’s books carefully displayed on her window ledge, she said, “Th ey come in here angry, frustrated, and that is not the place to begin talking. I fi nd if I hand them a book, a puzzle, or ask them to draw a bit, they calm down. Th en we can start dealing with the situation”. Her ability to understand the value of these transitional moments is only one of the ingredients Mrs. Brower brings to North Forest Pines. Her positivity, fl exibility, and compassion combine to create an administrator’s recipe worth duplicating.

Mrs. Brower’s Yummy Pecan Pie 1 cup Karo Light Syrup 1 cup sugar 3 eggs 2 Tbsp melted butter 1 tsp vanilla 1 ½ cup of fi nely chopped pecans 2 unbaked frozen pie crust

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix Karo Syrup, sugar, eggs, melted butter, and vanilla until combined. Foldin pecans. Pour even amounts into each pie crust. Bake for approximately 60 minutes or until center is fi rm.

Cool and enjoy!

If you and your family try this recipe, send us a picture! NFPPTAnewsletter@gmail.com

4

The Lunch LineHey Falcons!

Just a short note wishing everyone a wonderful few days off in celebration of the Th anksgiving Holiday! It is my wish for you to be able to enjoy good food, great friends, and awesome family

while giving thanks for the good things in all our lives.I’ve included a Non-traditional EASY recipe that you can make with your family if you like. It would be great on the dessert table, served aft er dinner or even before dinner as a sweet pre-meal treat. Since I come from an Italian family, we always include traditional Italian dish-es along with our scrumptious turkey. Th is recipe is de-rived from a famous Italian dessert called Cannolis (“Ca no’ lees”). Th e best part of Cannoli is the fi lling! Instead of stuffi ng the fi lling inside the baked Cannoli shell, it is used here as a yummy dip for graham crackers, apples, anything! Hope you like it!!And as they say in Italy...Ciao!! (“Chow”) Italians use this word to say “hello” and “goodbye”. Have a great Holiday.Love to all, Miss Deb...Your Cafe’ Manager.

Cannoli Dip2 cups ricotta cheese

8 oz cream cheese1 ½ cups confectioner’s sugar

1 tsp vanilla1 cup mini chocolate chips

Mix together.Now that’s easy!

57 Days left until the Winter Holidays. Do your Winter Holiday shopping the easy way and EARN BOX TOPS

for our school. Just click on the link:http://www.boxtops4education.com/marketplace/browsestores.Purchase your items on line and at checkout designate our school.

No additional charge to you! Hundreds of stores you are already using participate. In just seconds, you can help make a difference!

5

Ryan Bass and Jacie Livengood

Ava Weeks

Reagan Bullock Ben Panebianco and Kyle Pressley

NFP Art Gallery by Newsletter Staff

On October 18, the State Employees Credit Union became a North Forest Pines art gallery showcasing the talents of Ms. Buchanon’s art students.

The lobby was full of parents, grandparents, and children admiring the variety of artwork.

Artists beamed with pride as they spotted their masterpieces on display. •

NFP Media Minutes by Mrs. Anderson

Over the last fi ve weeks in K-2 media classes, students have played an interactive game called “Mailman” in which they practiced putting away picture books, chapter books, number books, and biographies in our media center. Next, during our Internet Safety unit, students will discuss how to protect themselves and their personal information from online predators, how to create strong passwords, and how to identify and address cyberbullying. After Thanksgiving, students will work in groups to research a topic using print and online resources.

The NFP Media Center welcomes donations of Clorox wipes, Kleenex, Legos, and jigsaw puzzles during the school year.

Are you cleaning out your closets? Has your child outgrown certain book titles or

series? The media center gratefully accepts donations of new and gently-used children’s books, including (but not limited to) Junie B. Jones, Magic Treehouse, Captain Underpants, Goosebumps, Dr. Seuss, Percy Jackson, and Harry Potter.

The NFP Media Center needs volunteers! We serve hundreds of students each day who are searching for

information and great books to read. As a result, the media center is a very busy place! We need

volunteers to shelve books, repair books, and clean around the media center. Please sign up here to volunteer in the media center.

For more information, please contact:

Ms. Anderson at randerson2@wcpss.net

or (919)570-2209. •

6

Need a Holiday Gift but don’t want to fi ght the crowds?November is NFP Spirit Month at Bean Therapy!

Order on-line any time during the month of November and Bean Therapy will donate 10% of all sales to the NFP PTA. Just check the “NFP PTA Supporter” option during check-out. Take advantage of $3.00 fl at rate shipping or free shipping with orders of $30.00 or more!

Enjoy some great coffee and tea and support your PTA at the same time!

Bean Therapy is a local, family-owned, small-batch coffee roaster specializing in fresh-roasted single-origin and fl avored coffees, exotic teas, and specialty candies. It offers more than 145 varieties of coffee, including single-origins, organics, fl avored coffees, and decafs; 100 teas, including loose leaf and bagged/boxed; and a dozen or so specialty candies such as dark chocolate-

covered espresso beans and coffee and cream almonds.

The company “opened its doors” in December 2012, with retail operations located both in The Cotton Company and on-line. From its warehouse in the South Forest Industrial Park, the husband-wife-and-daughter (NFP 4th grader) team sources, stores, roasts, fl avors, packages and ships delicious fresh-roasted coffee across the U.S., and for our local customers here in Wake Forest.

The roasting is done using two early-1900s A.J. Deer Co. roasters. These “fi nicky” cast iron machines have no bells or whistles ... but with patience, timing, and just a little luck, they produce some exceptional coffee.

http://beantherapy.com/

RE-LINKBe entered to win $200 inHarris Teeter gift cards!Drawings held weekly!

click here for more details

It’s easy... harristeeter.com

your VIC card

Dads, shop with your kids at the Oasis Book Fairthen stop by the cafeteria for coffee and a donut!Tracks 3 and 4: Wednesday, November 13, 7:15 am - 7:45 am

sponsored by

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Moms, join us at the Oasis Book Fair for a special morning of shopping then travel

to the cafeteria for tea and muffins.Thursday, November 7, 7:15 am - 7:45 am

sponsored by and NFP PTA

8

Cultural Arts at NFP by Shelly Cefalu

The cultural arts program at North Forest Pines works with artists in our community to enhance arts education in our school. During the 2013-14 school year, each student will get to work with an artist thanks to funding provided by the NFP PTA along with grants from the United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County. Third through fi fth graders will each receive fi ve contact hours with an artist.

Michael Beadle returned to NFP this year to work with our third and fourth grade students. Mr. Beadle worked for 15 years as a journalist, but after writing and publishing more than 1500 newspaper articles, he was ready to move on

to poetry. Since 1998 he has been performing poetry professionally across North Carolina. This year Mr. Beadle shared his passion for poetry through entertaining and challenging lessons that integrated with NC’s new Common Core standards. Tracks 3 and 4 worked with Mr. Beadle September 9-13. Third and fourth graders in tracks 1 and 2 will work with Mr. Beadle January 6-10.

In a STEM residency, an artist incorporates standards from NC’s Common Core to strengthen the children’s knowledge of

Science, Technology, Engineering, or Math. This year Arianna Ross has custom designed a residency for our fi fth graders that focuses on the concepts of the laws of motion through the use of drama, movement, and non-fi ction writing. Mrs. Ross comes to us from Maryland where she is a graduate from her state’s Arts Council’s Teaching Artist Institute. Her residency programs have been accepted by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, DC, for presentation in the Kennedy Center’s DC Community Partnership Initiative for Schools. Mrs. Ross and her team of collaborators at Story Tapestries have performed and taught workshops across the United States, Canada, and Brazil. Tracks 2 and 4 participated in Mrs. Ross’ residency October 21-25 and tracks 1 and 3 will complete their residency February 17-21.

Through these residences, students were exposed to curriculum-based arts in education. We hope these students will all enjoy their time with the professional artists and will leave with a new perspective and appreciation of the arts.Kindergarten through second grade students will each get to participate in a drum circle in January. More information to come!

9

Our Falcons “SOAR” -by PBIS

SOAR is more than just another acronym for students at North Forest Pines; it’s a way of everyday routines. Students are explicitly taught the meaning of each letter in the word SOAR

S= Show self-control O= Operate safely A= Act responsibly R= Respect ourselves and others.

PBIS (Positive Behavior Intervention Support) is in full swing and working effectively. Students have less offi ce referrals for the fi rst quarter of 2013-2014 school year compared to 2012-2013. This is a huge statement that is worth celebrating. What does this actually mean? This means students are learning appropriate ways to handle tough situations. It means that more students are remaining in class for instruction. It means that our overall climate is positive, producing students with a toolbox of resources. NFP has embraced PBIS as a part of the school’s culture.

Celebrating student successes for demonstrating SOAR expectations is vital to the process. At NFP, students earn Falcon Tickets when they SOAR and can accumulate these tickets to purchase cool items at the Falcon Store or save them for PBIS special events. Recently, PBIS hosted a wonderful Talent Show involving both students and staff. More celebrations have been planned for the upcoming quarters.

Remember that 2013 Falcon Tickets will expire in December. The SOAR Store is always accepting donations: gently used books, educational items, school supplies, and those popular Rainbow Loom bracelets.

Box Top Bounty by Cindy Coats

We had great results our fi rst month of the Label Contest!We had 7,678 points turned in for Box Tops and Labels for Education!!!

So I know you are all excited to hear who the contest winners are for October ….(drum roll)…

1st place is Ms. Murphy’s kindergarten class. (winner of one extra recess!)2nd place is Ms. Sadler’s 2nd/3rd grade class.(winner of a special treat!)

3rd place is Ms. Hylkema 1st grade class. (winner of falcon tickets!)

But our success doesn’t end there. So far our school has booked 40,792 Labels for Education points redeemable for necessary arts, athletics, and academic equipment through the LFE catalog. Looks like Ms. Smith will have some shopping to do!We appreciate the NFP community’s dedication to this program. This outside in-come will have a tremendous impact on our school this year. We want to build on

our momentum and encourage everyone to participate in The Monthly Label Chal-lenge which will run through the fourth quarter. Please continue to save those labels

and send them in with your children so their class can win something special.

PTA VP RepsVP Track 1 ....................Melissa Riley ....................melriley1@mac.comVP Track 2 ....................Jeris Livengood ................dessdel@yahoo.comVP Track 3 ....................Connie Wolff .....................cfdwolff@gmail.comVP Track 4 ....................Debra Farrell ............... dfarrell248@gmail.com

PTA BoardPresident ......................Kris Jasany ........................ kjasany@msn.comSecretary ......................Kim Keith .............kim.keith@ymcatriangle.orgTreasurer ......................Jenn King-Barker ........... virginia.king-barker@ duke.eduAsst. Treasurer .............Jennifer Rudolph ............... jrudolph3@live.comPrincipal .......................Syreeta Smith ................ ssmith11@wcpss.netAsst. Principal ...............n/a .............................................................. n/aTeacher Rep (k-2) .........Tomarah Lipscomb .........tlipscomb@wcpss.netTeacher Rep (3-5) .........Pamela Reaume ..............preaume@wcpss.netSpecialist Rep ..............Danielle Rawls ................... drawls@wcpss.net

PTA Committee ChairsBeautifi cation ..........Allyson Lee ........................aleedesign@nc.rr.comBook Fair .................Catherine Metzger .. catherinemetzger@mac.comCultural arts .............Shelly Cefalu ........joeyandshelly30@hotmail.comFalcon Fest ..............Mary Beth Murphy ..........maremurphy@msn.comFamily Nights ...........Tanya Roberson ............... troberson@accolo.comFundraising .............Kim Keith ................. kim.keith@ymcatriangle.orgHospitality ...............Kimberly Hutchinson ...........kimberlyphutchinson @gmail.comMembership ............Michelle Ohrel .................... msohrel@yahoo.com Newsletter ...............Jeris Livengood ...................dessdel@yahoo.com Carrie Bailey .................baileycarriea@gmail.comRetail Rebates .........Cindy Coats .....................................cindylouhoo2 @mindspring.comSpirit Wear ...............Melanie Spainhour ..... mmspainhour@gmail.com Jessica Hoke .................jess_hoke@hotmail.comStudent Directory ....Connie Wolff ........................ cfdwolff@gmail.comYearbook .................Christie Helm ................helm.christie@gmail.com Nakisha Harper ................... lamoorh@yahoo.com

10

NFP Techies by Mrs. Rawls, Technology Specialist

The lower grades (K, 1, and 2) currently have media special each week. They will have a weekly technology special starting in January.

The fi rst half of the school year is off to a great start. The upper grades (3, 4, and 5) have technology special this semester. Third graders are polishing their publishing skills as they use Microsoft Publisher to create brochures on soil and the planets. Including pictures on their brochures will allow students to practice the proper way to cite sources used and avoid breaking copyright.

Fourth and fi fth graders will create group multimedia Voicethread projects. Fourth graders’ projects will correlate with social studies material as they research offi cial North Carolina symbols such as the offi cial bird, the offi cial fl ower, etc. Fifth graders’ projects will center on technology topics such as cyberbullying, protecting personal information, etc. The students will research necessary information, create a picture on their topic, and then audio record information learned.

Students are creating their own content highlighting their technology skills at North Forest Pines Elementary!