Huntersville Elementary School

Monthly Newsletter ~ Volume 18, Issue 8

April 2015

TAKE A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE AT THE HES FUN WALK—FRIDAY, APRIL 24th

Mark your calendars ~ the annual HES

Fun Walk will be here before you know

it! Pledge form packets and detailed

prize information were sent home in

Thursday folders last week. Students

will collect donations and then enjoy a

"fun walk" at school with their class-

mates to the music of DJ Lamb.

Get ready for lots of school spirit, exercise and prizes! Top

earners can choose from several great prizes, such as Carow-

inds tickets, a bowling party for 10, Defy Gravity Tickets and

more. Class pizza parties will be awarded to the class per

grade that walks the most laps. We will also have a poster con-

test for each class. The winners will get to have a class hat

day. Parents are encouraged to come and walk with their child

or just cheer them on, alongside Buddy. The rain date will be

Monday, April 27th.

We need lots of volunteers for this event! It's not difficult

work -- we simply need folks to mark laps walked by the stu-

dents and to help distribute refreshments. If you would like

to volunteer for this event, please visit

the sign-up genius link

at www.SignUpGenius.com/

go/5080849ADA92FA57-hesfun

Volunteers will be entered into a drawing

to win an awesome prize!

If you have any questions, please contact

Ashley Smuckler at ashali-

na12178@yahoo.com or Allyson

Blasucci at allyblas@gmail.com.

Beginner's Night Kindergarten Roundup will be on Thursday,

April 23rd at 6:00 pm in the school cafeteria. It is a great

night for children entering Kindergarten for the 2015-2016

school year to come and visit HES. The kids get to visit the

Kindergarten classrooms, meet our wonderful teachers, make

an art project, have a snack and dance. Parents will enjoy an

entertaining evening seeing an overview of what Kindergarten

is all about at HES! Families are in for a real treat!

We are now registering children who will be eligible to attend

Kindergarten for the 2015-2016 school term. If you have a

child who is eligible, please call the school office at 980-343-

3835 or come by for a registration form.

To participate in Beginner’s Night, please contact Marsha

Davis in the office prior to April

23rd, so materials can be made.

We are requesting your help! If you

have a neighbor with an eligible child

(who may not have access to this

information) please encourage him/

her to call the school.

BEGINNER’S NIGHT FOR 2015-2016 KINDERGARTENERS

Principal ~ Mr. Jeffrey Ruppenthal

Assistant Principal ~ Mrs. Stephanie Ennis

PTA President ~ Denise Cusick ~ denisecusick@yahoo.com

Bulldog News Editor ~ Courtney Fossett ~ cpfossett@gmail.com

End of Grade Testing dates have been set and proctors will be needed during this vital testing period. Test-

ing dates will be May 21st,27th, 28th and 29th. You will need to be available from 8am-12pm each day. Multiple

days are preferred for scheduling purposes, but any day that you can help will be much appreciated. If you

are available and would like to volunteer, please contact Mrs. Ennis at stephanie.ennis@cms.k12.nc.us with your

name, dates available, contact information and what grade your child(ren) is in.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS — PROCTORS WILL BE NEEDED – MAY 21st, 27th, 28th, 29th

The annual HES Mother/Son event will be held on Friday, April 17, 2015 at 6pm at the Davidson College

baseball game. We are expecting a great evening of baseball watching! The event is free and vouchers will

be provided to all mothers and sons to be used at the concession stand. Flyers and RSVP forms will be in

Thursday folders. Please be sure to send your RSVPs back to your son’s teacher by April 2nd or email Cheryl

Wade at Cherylwade74@yahoo.com in order to register.

Page 2

MOTHER/SON EVENT— DAVIDSON COLLEGE BASEBALL GAME

ART BY ME

Art By Me packets went home Thursday, March 19th. Parents should review the custom

postcards and purchase gifts from this art. There are two ways to order. You can use

quick and easy online ordering at www.artbyme.com/shop where you will enter your stu-

dent’s unique Artwork ID online and order from there. Orders can also be placed by

returning the order form with cash or check made out to HES PTA to your homeroom teacher. All orders were due by March

27th, but we will accept late orders. So if you haven’t ordered yet, please do so as soon as possible. The completed orders are

due back by the end of April and will be delivered to your child’s classroom. Questions? Stacy Agar christiansen-

stacy@hotmail.com or Tina Hipp tthipp15@hotmail.com

CALLING ALL NATURE LOVERS!

Did you know that HES is in the proc-

ess of building a nature trail on school

property? It started two years ago

with a vision to utilize the CMS land

and provide teachers and the commu-

nity a place to get outdoors. We are

working to construct a 1-mile loop in

and around the back of our school. The trail will be used for

outdoor classrooms during school hours and can be used by the

public for walking, biking, running and exploring during off

school hours.

We are committed to completing the trail this school year and

will be out there from 9am-12pm every Saturday to make it

happen. Early Spring is the best time to clear and build trails,

so grab your jackets and gloves and lend a hand! Edward

Autry, from the Tarheel Trail Blazers, is leading this project

and he can be found on the baseball field every Saturday at

9:00 am with all the necessary tools. Can you help us complete

this project? If so, please sign up here

www.SignUpGenius.com/go/20F0C4EAEAF2EAAFA7-

hesnature

If you are curious and want to see how the project is going,

feel free to tour it with your child's class after the Fun Walk

on April 24th! When each grade level completes the Fun Walk,

they will walk down to tour the trail. It's a great chance to

check out our progress. For questions or comments, please e-

mail Mariah Holland at mariah.holland@hotmail.com

Please register for the 2015 Run Too Overcome Race that will be held on Saturday, May 9th 2015 in Davidson. The goal of Run

Too Overcome is to raise money for schools to provide services and support to help enrich the school experience of all excep-

tional children. Run TOO Overcome is a supporter of PTO-Too which is designed to help meet the needs of all exceptional chil-

dren and the teachers that serve them. PTO-Too offers parent support and advocacy, exceptional children’s fundraising and

teacher equipment/materials requests, coordinated testing

support, tutoring, and staff development opportunities within

the school community.

The race The 10K start time is 4:00 pm, the 5K start time is

4:10 pm, and the kids fun run start time 4:45 pm. Registration

is only accepted online at www.run2overcome.com. Please join

us for this exceptionally fun time.

RUN TOO OVERCOME RACE—REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN!

Page 3

Thanks to those of you who have worked at the Welcome Desk or signed up to do so! We need more smil-

ing faces to greet the HES visitors! Each shift only lasts 1 1/2 hours. Training is provided! Please visit

the link www.SignUpGenius.com/go/10C0D4AA5AA22AA8-hesmarchapril1/3846363 to see the schedule

and sign up to help out. If you have questions please contact Kristen Kosicki at khhayes@hotmail.com

THE WELCOME DESK IS WAITING FOR YOU

JOIN US IN SENDING THANKS TO...

Erica Catherman and Lara Cagle for putting together a spec-

tacular Teacher Appreciation Week for our HES Staff.

All the volunteers who helped make Teacher Appreciation

Week a HUGE success by donating their time and/or yummy

treats.

Ballas Chiropractic for sponsoring Teacher Appreciation Week

and providing neck massages for our staff.

Stacy Agar and Tina Hipp for organizing Art By Me.

Debbie Wood for all the hard work and preparation that went

into planning our annual Buddy’s Dinner.

Debra Cassidy, Mrs. Seidman and Mrs. Peters for organizing

our first Annual Multi Cultural Fair.

Roberta Bishop, Elisa Considine, Jennifer Graham, Tina Hipp

and Cheryl Wade for serving on the PTA Nominating Committee

and working hard to fill our PTA

Board for next year.

Angela Williams for keeping the

school marquee up to date with

the latest current events.

Nicole Landry for her efforts

with contacting local business

partners for small donations.

Shannon Armstrong for collecting and counting all those Box

Tops.

All Bulldog Families that participated in our Domino’s Pizza

Night.

Allyson Blasucci and Ashley Smuckler for their dedication in

planning our annual Fun Walk.

The Spring Book Fair was a HUGE success due to the wonder-

ful support from many of you! Thank you for taking the time to

shop at the Book Fair and allowing your children to shop.

THANK YOU to all of our volunteers who helped us in so many

ways – bringing in food to the teacher preview, setting up/

taking down the book fair and most importantly, helping the

children fill out their wish lists and shopping. We really could

not have done it without your help!

Thanks to everyone who donated to the “All for Books” pro-

gram. We raised over $150! The funds we raised allowed us to

purchase at least one book for every classroom. Also, Scholas-

tic will donate over 150 books in our school’s name to National

Center for Family Literacy and

Distressed Situations, Inc.

Our last Book Fair for the

school year will be BOGO (Buy

One Get One Free) on April

29th-May 1st. Be sure to take

this opportunity to stock up for

summer reading!

Abby Rode gregoryabby@bellsouth.net

Amie Hutchison amie.hutchison@me.com

Book Fair Co Chairs

BOOK FAIR WRAP UP

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

3/29 3/30

PTA Board Meeting

6:30pm

3/31

Last Day 3rd Qtr.

Hat Day

4/1

Newsletter Distributed

Mr. Ruppenthal’s Staff

Meeting

4/2 4/3

No School-Teacher

Workday

4/4

4/5

4/6 4/7

4/8

4/9

4/10

4/11

4/12 4/13

Group School Tour

11am

4/14

Domino’s Pizza

Restaurant Night

4/15

PTA Nomination Forms Due

4/16

4/17

Mother/Son Event 6pm

4/18

4/19 4/20

Newsletter Articles

Due

4/21 4/22

Administrative

Professional’s Day

Nature Trail Ribbon

Cutting

Special Olympics Parade

4/23

Kindergarten

Beginners Night 6pm

Report Cards Sent

Home

4/24

Fun Walk Fundraiser

8:00-11:30am

Goodwill Pep Rally

4/25

4/26

4/27

Fun Walk Rain Date

4/28

Set up BOGO Book

Fair

4/29

Student Recognition

Assembly Grades 3-5 at

7:45am

4/30

Hat Day

Group School Tour

8am

5/1

Breakdown Book Fair

Newsletter Distributed

Principal’s Day

1st Grade Writer’s Cafe

5/2

Page 4

No School - Spring Break

BOGO Book Fair Goodwill Drive

Galway Hooker Restaurant Nights

Kabuto Restaurant Nights

PTA NOMINATING COMMITTEE UPDATE

Name Phone # Email Address

Elisa Considine 913-972-8857 elisacons@earthlink.net

Jennifer Graham 704-651-0741 jengraham40@gmail.com

Cheryl Wade 704-502-4292 cherylwade74@yahoo.com

Roberta Bishop 704-996-2249 alexnroberta@roadrunner.com

Tina Hipp 704-287-7349 tthipp15@hotmail.com

The PTA Nominating Committee is now accepting nominations

to fill PTA Board and Committee Chair positions for the 2015-

16 school year. We ask that you each think of your individual

talents and how you can pitch in to keep our PTA strong. Help

us continue to offer so many wonderful events for HES stu-

dents, families and staff. Please consider becoming a more

involved member of our hard working PTA! There are positions

available for individuals who work full time or part time and for

those who may have younger children at home. If you are more

comfortable working with someone that you know, then feel

free to sign up as co-chairs.

You can find the nomination form at this

link. Forms can also be found on the PTA

website and at the Welcome Desk. You

may fill out a nomination form for your-

self or you can nominate someone else

for any position. All nominations are due

by April 15, 2015. If you have any ques-

tions or would like further information

regarding any PTA position, please con-

tact one of the Nominating Committee

members.

E2D

MAKING IT HAPPEN FUNDRAISER UPDATE

As the PTA begins to focus thoughts and planning towards the

upcoming 2015-2016 school year, it is always a good thing to stop

and reflect on the achievements of the current year. The HES

PTA has been successful in providing the funding for our many

events such as the Buddy’s Breakfast, Fall Festival, the Father

Daughter Dance, Student Recognition Assemblies, Buddy’s Din-

ner and Multicultural Fair. Not to mention looking forward to the

upcoming Mother/Son Day out and Picnic and Popsicles. Along

with these programs the PTA has been fortunate to continue to

help build a school literacy lab as well as to provide 19 document

cameras for in class use. There is so much

to be proud of at HES and your support is

an integral part in making these amazing

programs happen. Thank you!

Despite a snow day delay and rescheduling,

Buddy’s Dinner was another awesome event

at HES. Families had a great time enjoying

dinner, shopping the book fair and travel-

ling the world at our first ever Multicul-

tural Fair. Thank you to Tina Hipp, Denise

Cusick and Elisa Considine for jumping in to

help and manage dinner. Thank you to all

the fantastic student volunteers from the Bailey Honor Society,

Hopewell Key Club and Hough Key Club. Special thanks to Jin

Jin Chinese Restaurant, Domino’s Pizza and Harris Teeter for

their donations towards our desserts. Due to the change in the

date of the dinner there were some unexpected leftovers that

were donated to Angels and Sparrows Soup Kitchen, courtesy of

our delivery drivers, Mrs. Ennis and Reid Wood. We were so

glad we were able to help out our friends in the community.

BUDDY DINNER WRAP UP

Page 5

E2D is a fantastic non-profit group that

is working to eliminate the digital divide

for all students in school. Their mission

is to provide all CMS students with computers in their homes

and help find affordable Internet connection solutions for fami-

lies without access. Almost 30 of our school families benefitted

from this group’s cause when they qualified and received laptops

on Feb. 28th. To support this group, please help us raise money

for them on Lemonade for Laptops Day, May 16th, by hosting a

lemonade stand someplace in our community. This can be any-

thing from a neighborhood street corner to a booth at a local

store. For more information, please visit www.E-2-D.org. If you

would like to host a lemonade stand and help raise money to sup-

port this effort, please contact Denise Cusick at

denisecusick@yahoo.com.

Huntersville Elementary's first Multicultural Fair was held on

Thursday, February 26th in the school's art atrium. Students

and their families set off on a world tour that included fourteen

countries: France, Norway, China, India, Romania, Ecuador, Mex-

ico, Uruguay, Peru, Serbia, Sweden, Canada, Zimbabwe and Saudi

Arabia. With passports in hands to get stamped along the way,

students beheld each country's beauty through the colorful pho-

tograph collages, clothing, and pottery on display. Visitors filled

the atrium as they made their way sampling food such as fresh

guacamole and homemade tortilla chips in Mexico, roasted

shredded pork or "Pernil" in Ecuador, spicy

Chai tea in India and several dessert items

in Serbia and Norway. Each of the families

who participated was eager to answer ques-

tions and share interesting facts, but the

students were the most proud to represent

their countries and to share their unique

cultures and customs with visitors.

Topping off the evening were riveting

performances by fifth grader Oscar

Perez Castillon singing a classic Mexican

song followed by classic and modern Indian dances performed by

the Nandi and Bhanderi families, who were introduced by second

grader Arpreet Nandi. While the event was clearly a success,

judging by the number of participants and visitors, the organiz-

ers - Nalda Seidman, the school's ESL

teacher, Joan Peters, first grade teacher,

and parent volunteer Debra Cassidy promised

to make next year's Multicultural Fair bigger

and better as the fair is sure to become one

more of Huntersville Elementary's staple

events!

MULTICULTURAL FAIR WRAP UP

Page 6

Pub l ished by The Huntersvi l le El ementary School PTA

200 Gilead Road, Huntersvi l le, NC 28078, 980 -343-3835

HES website ~ http ://schools .cms.k12 .nc .us/huntersvi l leES/Pages/Default .aspx

HES PTA website ~ www .hespta -onl ine .org

HES PTA on Facebook: https://www.facebook .com/#!/pages/Huntersvi l le -Elementary/

NC PTA ~ http ://www.ncpta .org/ & Nat ional PTA ~ http ://www.pta .org/

Back by popular demand. The fourth annual HES Goodwill Drive will take place April 27th and 28th. Get ready to

do some spring cleaning and support this wonderful organization. Clothing, household items, furniture and

electronics will be accepted. Our 3rd graders will be managing the drive to tie into their Service Learning Unit,

but we want the whole school to donate and support this great program. Stay tuned for more details coming

later this month!

GOODWILL DRIVE — APRIL 27th and 28th

BUDDY FIELD DAY CELEBRATION IS COMING — Monday, May 18th Mark your calendars —Buddy Field Day will be here before we know it. Hopefully the warm weather will finally

arrive and give us a great day outside for some field day fun. Volunteers will surely be needed to make this a

successful day for our kids. Please contact Heather Wunder at mwunderboy@gmail.com or Lisa Schuette at

lisaknk@gmail.com to volunteer or with any questions. The rain date is Tuesday, May 19th.

This month you will receive a supply pack order form for the

2015-16 school year in your child’s Thursday folder . Supply

packs are a prepackaged case complete with school supplies

for the upcoming school year. The purchase of supply packs is

not a fundraiser for the school. It is a convenient service,

making it super easy for parents to buy school supplies without

the hassle of shopping over the summer. If you wish to par-

ticipate, return the order form with payment and your child’s

supply pack box will be delivered to their

homeroom teachers classroom by Meet-the-

Teacher night this August. It doesn’t get more

simple than that! Save yourself the time and

aggravation of running around town fulfilling

the list on your own! If you have questions or

misplace your form, please email supply pack

coordinator Amy Gais @ amygais@hotmail.com

SUPPLY PACKS

Teacher Appreciation Week was great and the staff all thoroughly enjoyed it! Thanks to all who helped out

by cooking, bringing in food, setting up and volunteering their time for the week.

Thanks also to Ballas Chiropractic for hosting a day of massages for the teachers!

TEACHER APPRECIATION WRAP UP

The next Student Recognition Assembly for Grades 3-5 is Wednesday, April 29th at 7:45am in the gym. This

assembly will honor students for 3rd Quarter Honor Roll, reading recognition, and Buddy’s Best Awards.

SAVE THE DATE

Please support our advertisers - For advertising info: cpfossett@gmail.com

Tropical Fish and Aquariums Maintenance Plans offered

THANK YOU!