PRINCIPAL’S CORNER
Dear Families,
Welcome back! We hope you had a wonderful summer with your
children. V. E. Johnson is off to a great start! We were very excited to see all of the
parents who made it out to Meet-the-Teacher Night. The students are ready to learn and our
outstanding staff has been working diligently to prepare for the year.
We want you to
become involved as much as possible in the Johnson community, as it is the
strong partnership between home and school that provides for a successful
education for our children. If you’d
like to volunteer in any way from home or at school, please let your child’s
teacher know. There are several
opportunities to become a part of your school whether it be through PTO, SIAC, volunteering
in the classrooms, helping your child or teacher with things at home, or
helping with school functions. Please
review our upcoming dates for events and activities that you can participate in
as well.
I look forward to
working with you and your children this year! J
Respectfully,
Mrs. Yslas
SAFETY
FIRST!
We want to
keep all of our students safe. Please
remember to pull forward in the pick-up lane and
remain in
your car. Students will be called to the
car once you pull forward and stop.
Also, it is against the law for cars to pick up, drop-off, or park in
front of the office where school busses are.
You may park on the street or in designated parking spots, but please
stay out of the fire lane and bus drop off area.
Also,
please remember to use the crosswalks to be good models for our Jayhawks instead of crossing in the middle of the street. We
thank you for your support!
CAMPUS VISITORS
PLEASE remember to sign in at the front office and obtain a visitor’s
badge before entering campus. Your
child’s safety is our priority and
we want to know who is visiting at all times. Thanks for helping us keep our campus safe.
ECA DONATIONS
Parents and
non-parents who are Arizona taxpayers are
eligible for a dollar-for-dollar ARIZONA Tax Credit on
their income tax return. V.E. Johnson Elementary
School will gratefully accept donations. The donation limit for married couples filing
jointly has been raised to $400 from $300. The limit for those filing their
taxes as single or head of household remains at $200. The Mesa Public School
District Office will issue receipts for you to prepare your tax return. Donations must be postmarked by December 31, 2007 in order for you
to be eligible for the tax credit this calendar year. Donations can be used
for many
extracurricular activities including student field trips, after school clubs,
band/orchestra, tutoring, etc. Forms can
be picked up in the office or sent home with your
child. You can
also go online at http://www.mpsaz.org/main2/pay.html
to pay by credit card or download a form.
Thanks for all your
donations!
HELP
NEEDED
Do you know
of anyone who would like to assist us at Johnson a few hours a week and get
paid for it? We still need playground/cafeteria assistants. Hours are either 9:45 am–12:45 pm or 10:45
am–12:45 pm Monday-Friday. Please call 472-6777 if you
are interested and would like information on how to apply and become a Johnson
Jayhawk!
EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
Mesa Public Schools
wants to keep communication open between home and school. In the event of an
emergency during the school day, there are two new tools to provide you with
information about lockdowns, utility problems or stranger danger incidents.
Visit the district Web Site at www.mpsaz.org
and click the “Alert” button or dial the Parent Information Phone Line for a
recorded message at (480)472-1175.
FROM THE CAFETERIA
Welcome Back! The staff in the Johnson Cafeteria would like
to extend an invitation to all students to come and try school breakfast and
lunch. As always we invite parents and
siblings to join their student for breakfast and lunch. Visitor price for breakfast is $1.25 and
lunch is $3.00. Hope to see you soon!
Breakfast is served
from 7:20
a.m. until 7:50 a.m. Monday through Friday. If your family
qualifies for free or reduced meal benefits, your student’s breakfast is FREE!
Paid student
breakfast is $.75 a day or $3.75 a week.
Lunch is a great
value. We are offering a variety of meal
choices your children will love.
Lunch is priced at
$1.60 /day or $8.00/week. Students who
qualify for reduced lunches will pay $.40/day or $2.00/week. See the cafeteria manager for a meal
application.
REMEMBER TO PREPAY YOUR
BREAKFASTS AND LUNCHES ON A WEEKLY OR MONTHLY BASIS SO YOUR
STUDENT DOES NOT HAVE TO BRING MONEY EACH DAY.
We look forward to
contributing to your child’s educational process by providing nutritious, well
balanced meals. Remember- We
think food because they can’t think without it.
PARENT LEADER RESOURCES
You were elected to
the PTO or Booster club, now what? You
are not alone! Come network with other
parent leaders and learn about resources available.
The Mesa Parent
Advocates for Quality Schools, known as MPAQS, is an advisory group to Dr.
Debra Duvall, Superintendent. During
each of the four meetings in 2007-08, the group receives information about
school and district issues, and has an opportunity to learn new ideas by sharing
with parents in other schools.
The first meeting
will be 7-9
p.m. on Sept. 18 in
the Board Room, 549
N. Stapley Dr. Dr. Gerrick Monroe, Assistant Superintendent
for Business Services, will discuss the Extracurricular Activities State Tax
Credit Program, and review guidelines for parent group fundraising and money
handling.
Additional meetings
are planned on Oct. 30, Integrating Technology in the K-12 classroom; Jan. 15,
As-A-Principal Panel; and April 1, Unraveling the Mystery of School Finance. Meetings are open to the community.
PTO NEWS
BOX TOPS….
Box Tops is on a
treasure hunt to find your completed collection sheets! Make sure to fill in the raffle ticket at the
bottom, this will be your official entry for the drawing at the box tops party
in October. New collection sheets went
out in your P.T.O. packets. Extra copies are in the office and we are still
taking ones from previous collections (they all count!). Go to www.boxtops4education.com and see how
well our school is rated in Arizona!
RECYCLE…
Please send in your
used ink cartridges/toners and old cell phones.
P.T.O. recycles! They can be sent
in with your Box Tops, to your teachers, or to the front office. Thank you for
doing your part! This is a great program
and it is really helping our school!
GROCERY SHOPPING…
Don’t forget to
link your shopper cards to Johnson to earn money for our school! Even if you have done this in the past, you
need to renew every year! The stores
that participate are: Bashas, Fry’s, and
Safeway. Please refer to the PTO packet
you received for details and instructions or call Alison Gladish at
480-832-8760. Thank you!!
ART MASTERPIECE…
This program is a
wonderful program that teaches our children about different artists and their
paintings. We are always in need of
willing and enthusiastic Art Masterpiece Guides for Johnson School. If
you volunteer for this program, you would be required to come into your child’s
classroom once every two weeks (8 presentations in all), during the second
semester and teach the children about different artists and their paintings. The presentations are 15-20 minutes and all
the materials are provided for you.
There ARE mandatory training sessions provided
by the District in October that each Guide much attend. If you feel this is something you might be
interested in, please call the office and leave a message for me. It’s an imperative and fun program. Thank you, Lisa Thompson.
PTO NEWS CONTINUED
TROPICAL SMOOTHIE…
Our first Tropical
smoothie fundraiser of the year was a huge success. Thanks to our wonderful Johnson students and
staff, we earned $291.74 for our PTO!
Our next Tropical Smoothie day will be a family night on Tuesday, Sept.
18, so mark your calendars now! Please
plan on taking your family to the Tropical Smoothie Café any time between 3:00 and 9:00 p.m. They
will then give 20% of their profits during that time back to our school’s PTO
and the classroom with the most people present during that time will win
smoothies for their classroom! Watch for
flyers to come home. We appreciate all
your support!
WORDS FROM OUR SCHOOL COUNSELOR
My name is Becky
Fisher and I am the school counselor for Johnson Elementary for the 2007/2008
school year.
My job as a school
counselor is to provide services to the students, parents and staff which include individual counseling, group counseling
(ex: support groups for divorce, grief, self-esteem, anger management), crisis
counseling, classroom guidance lesson on basis life skills (ex: using good
manners, following directions, how to get along with others, etc.) and
participating in several school-wide committees.
The mandated
lessons that I am required to teach are as follows:
Kindergarten-
Recognizing Different Points of View
1st
grade- Recognizing the Feelings of Others
2nd
grade- Engaging in Constructive Conversation
3rd
grade- Predicting Consequences
4th
grade- Calming Your Own Anger
5th
grade- Recognizing Bias & Respecting Diversity
6th
grade- Resolving Conflicts and Career Development
If you have any
questions or concerns I can be reached at (480) 472-6812 on Tuesdays, Fridays,
and every other Thursday. If I am not available, just leave a message on my
voice mail.
STUDENT WELLNESS
Governing Board Policy JL, Adopted June
27, 2006
The
Governing Board, in consultation with the Director of Food and Nutrition,
school administrators and the public, adopted the new student wellness policy
to follow the new state law regarding student health. This policy prohibits the sale of items and
celebrations that involve food not meeting the State Nutrition Standards and
regulations issued by the US Dept. of Agriculture during the school day.
Please
help Johnson support this law and policy by reviewing the Healthy Celebrations
Ideas and Alternatives to Food Rewards flyers that were sent home last week. Flyers are also available in the front
office.
HEALTHY FOOD
CHOICES
Animal
Crackers
Angel
food cake, plain or topped with fruit
Baked
chips & Salsa
Beef
jerky
Dried
fruit
Fig
bars
Fresh,
frozen, or canned fruits/vegetables
Apple
Baby
carrots
Fresh
fruit topped with low-fat yogurt dip
Fruit
smoothies – made with 100% fruit juice, skim milk, and fresh fruit (berries,
bananas, and pineapple)
100%
fruit or vegetable juice
Ham,
cheese, or turkey sandwiches or wraps with low-fat condiments
Low-fat
breakfast or granola bars
Low-fat
milk or dairy alternative (rice & soy milk)
Nuts
(soy nuts, cashews, walnuts, almonds)
Pretzels
or rice cakes
Reduced-fat
popcorn
Seeds
(pumpkin, sunflower)
Trail
mix (made with whole grain, low sugar cereals mixed with dried fruit, pretzels,
etc.)
Vegetables
with low-fat yogurt dip
Whole
grain crackers with low-fat cheese
Whole
wheat English muffin or bagel with fresh fruit or peanut butter on top
Whole
wheat Pita with hummus or bean dip
Quesadillas
or bean burrito with salsa
