Fostoria City Schools

Fostoria Intermediate
1202 H.L. Ford Drive Phone: 419-436-4125 Fax: 419-436-4169

October Newsletter Volume 1, Issue 2

From the Desk of Mrs. Matz

Tuesday, October 8, will be a very important day for our Third Grade students. This is the day that the Ohio Third Grade Reading Achievement Test will be administered to them for the first time. Each child is allowed up to two and one half hours for this test. Your child has been well prepared for this so he/she knows what to expect, but this will most likely be a source of some nervousness for many students. We are hoping the following suggestions will help your child feel prepared and ready to do his/her very best. For those families with students in grades 4-6, the tips below are also very helpful for teacher-made/classroombased tests as well! Tips to Help Prepare Your Child for the OAAs To help children prepare adequately for tests (whether teacher-made or standardized), you can do several things to provide support and create a positive test-taking experience. The Night Before: Help your child get to bed on time. Research shows that being well-rested helps students do better. Help children resolve immediate arguments before going to bed. Keep your routine as normal as possible. Upsetting natural routines may make children feel insecure. Mention the test to show youre interested, but dont dwell on it. Plan ahead to avoid conflicts on the morning of the test. The Morning of the Test: Get up early to avoid rushing. Be sure to have your child at school on time. Have your child eat a good breakfast but not a heavy one. High protein is an excellent choice! We will be providing a free, hot breakfast to ALL third grade students on October 8. Be positive about the test. Acknowledge that tests can be hard and that theyre designed so that no one will know all of the answers. Explain that doing your best is what counts. The important thing is to make your child comfortable and confident about the test. After the Test: Talk to your child about his or her feelings about the test, making sure you acknowledge the effort such a task requires. Discuss what was easy and what was hard; discuss what your child learned from the test. Discuss what changes your child would make if he or she were to retake the test. Explain that performance on a test is not a condition for you to love your child. Please Remember: Make sure that your child is in school during the testing sessions. Students should be in their classrooms before 9:00am. Do not plan any doctor or dental appointments on test dates. If an appointment is necessary, please make the appointment for the afternoon. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me!

Inside this issue

Principals Message..................... 1 Safe Schools Update ................... 2 Art Fundraiser ............................. 2 Characters of the Month............. 3 Student Council........................... 3 Guidance News ........................... 4 Donuts for Dads .......................... 4 Literacy News.............................. 5 Job Corps .................................... 5 PTO News ................................... 6

Dates to Remember
October 1Waiver DayNO SCHOOL for students October 21 Hour Delay October 4Family Movie Night October 7PTO 5:30 p.m. October 83RD GRADE READING OAA October 91 Hour Delay October 15Donuts for Dads 7:45-8:45 a.m. October 161 Hour Delay October 18 End of 1st grading period October 21BOE Meeting October 22Parent -Teacher Conferences 4:307:30 p.m. October 24Parent-Teacher Conferences 4:307:30 p.m. October 28Trick or Treat Bingo

Safe Schools Update

As we continue to make adjustments to our policies in order to make this a safe environment for our children, I wanted to take the opportunity to remind everyone of some important safety items. First, make sure that you drop off and/or pick up your children on the south side of the building. This has been going well, but we need to be sure that everyone remembers, as it does cause an unsafe environment if cars are pulling in between buses. Thank you for your cooperation! Secondly, we cannot change the way a student is leaving school unless we have a note or a phone call from the parent/guardian. If you are going to call, please do so before 2:30pm. If you wait until the end of the day, your students teacher may not get the message in time. This is all for the safety of the student as many times a student may be confused and tell us something that is not correct. We appreciate you calling in by 2:30pm! As the school year continues we will be focusing on respectful behavior between students. Please talk to your son/daughter about doing their part to make our school atmosphere as pleasant as possible. Remind them to speak kindly to fellow students, keep their hands to themselves, and include people in their activities who have been left out. If everyone does their part it will make for a much more enjoyable place of learning! Thanks, Rick R. Renz Assistant Principal

Youre never too old, too wacky, too wild, to pick up a book and read to a child - Dr. Seuss

Smencil Sales
We will be selling Smencils in the cafeteria before school from 8:30-8:55 from October 21 through October 31. A smencil is a pencil with a scent. We will have various scents along with some Halloween Smencils. The cost is $1.00 each.

Art Fundraiser
ATTENTION PARENTS!! I am very excited about an opportunity for our school!!! All FIES art classes will be participating in a fundraiser to raise money for the FIES art department. It is called MyCards. MyCards are greeting cards that have been designed by your child during art class. You will then have the opportunity to buy boxes of the greeting cards, just in time for the holidays! All completed cards will be printed and back to our school by Thanksgiving, which will give you plenty of time to mail out your Christmas, Kwanza or Hanukkah Cards. If you do not celebrate a specific holiday, no problem, your child will have the opportunity to create another type of MyCard such as a Thank You or Get Well card. Each box of 10 greeting cards will cost the buyer $14.95 with $3.00 of each box going back to our school, Fostoria Intermediate. The fundraiser can raise money for our art department to enable us to make larger purchases, along with matte and frame student art work to be hung around the building. We will begin the project in art, at the end of September and send projects home during the middle of October to enable the students selling time. Check out the website for more information and examples from other schools: www.mountaincolor.com.mycards.htm Questions regarding the fundraiser please contact: Kristina Harris [email protected] 419-436-4125 EXT. 3418 Or check the FIES Art Webpage for updates: www.wix.com/kharri7/fostoriaintermediateart

School Store
A new school store will open during school lunches beginning Wednesday, October 2. Various school supplies will be available ranging in price from 25 to $1.00. Additional information is available on page 5.

Student Council
Congratulations to the following students who have been selected to serve on Student Council this school year: 5th Grade Ryann Young Logan Weidner Aleecia Cardwell Nikia Ferguson Amber Owen Dominic Jackson Alysia Yonikus Braden Finsel Amari Williams Jaymison Rumschlag Yovana Gonzalez Dominique Settles Dakota Crick 6th Grade Imani Velazquez KeShawn Carter-Stokes Caden Lance Amanda Rusk Blake Mahan Charlene King Hipolito Flores Eric Palmer Kamren Vitt Elisia Ledesma Casey Snyder Michael Augsburger

Characters of the Month

Congratulations to the following students who were recognized for the character trait: Responsibility Miss Binkley Kayden Hutchins Mrs. Kuebeck Makaylee Kidwell Mrs. Noel Bella Mendoza Mrs. Reino Noah Augsburger Mrs. Ross Alyson Sheridan Mrs. Schermer Zane Wells Mrs. Schreiner Mary Collins Mrs. Armstrong Willow Jordan Miss Bartz Serenity Sims-Durst Mrs. Linhart Jared Durst Mrs. Sharkey Kharisma Guajardo Mrs. Terres Simone Walker Mrs. Wise Gage Brown Mrs. Click Kaitlyn Armstrong Mrs. Costello Trey Scott Mrs. Hossler Grace Brose Mrs. Hushour Allyson Keckler Miss Jennison Braden Finsel Mrs. Lewis Jacob Lingar Mrs. Riedlinger Darin Baccam Mr. Kramer Alexis Anderson Mrs. Miller Aaron Johnson Mrs. Riley Alexis Weaver Mr. Smith Cameron Delong Mrs. Stone Raven Patrick Mrs. Ward Cassandra Hinojosa

FROM MRS. SANFORD

Donuts for Dads
Donuts for Dads will be held in the Intermediate School cafeteria/auxiliary gym on Tuesday, October 15 at 7:45 a.m. Students and their fathers, step-fathers, grandfathers, or male role model are invited for coffee, juice, and donuts. Reservation forms will be sent home in the near future. Please be sure to RSVP so we have enough food for all. In September I visited 4th, 5th, and 6th grade classrooms, and I talked with students about being responsible for their own choices and actions as well as how to be responsible as students. Many students also shared with me how they show responsibility at home, including doing homework, doing chores, and/or taking care of the family pet. In October I will be talking with students about respect. We will be focusing on respect related to self, others, authority, and property. We will identify respectful and disrespectful behaviors, and I will ask that students choose ways that they are willing to be more respectful on a regular basis. If your son/daughter expressed an interest in participating in a small group, he/she may have brought home a permission slip. Small group topics were chosen based on student interest, and the following small groups will begin next week: Friendship/Social Skills (4th grade), Grief and Loss (5th grade), and Anger Management (6th grade). As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me by phone at 419-436-4125 ext. 3226 or by email at [email protected]. This October take some time to enjoy cool nights, colorful scenery, apple cider, and pumpkin pie! Bethany Zambori-Sanford, Guidance Counselor

FROM MRS. DUNN AND GINGER

Score with Being

Children learn Responsibility by being given age appropriate responsibilities, carrying them out successfully, and living with the consequences when they neglect them. When children see these consequences at an early age, they realize that even though they do not always want to do the particular chore, or to act a particular way, they begin to see the positive of doing the right thing. This internalizing will not take place at a magic age all of the sudden, but it is a gradual learning. It is crucial that children are given small but important tasks at home and school. As I go into the classrooms for guidance lessons each month, it is my goal to support this gradual learning process for each of the character words that we focus on. For September our focus was on the character word Responsibility. One of the benefits of working with the third grade class is the advantage of having them for two years, which allows me to continuously build on these characteristics and watch them grow into mature and responsible students. The title of our lesson was Score with Being Responsible. The lesson relates scoring in the game of basketball to scoring high in life with being responsible. The students were very knowledgeable of what it means to be responsible and could easily develop a list of responsibilities in each area of their lives. The key factor we discussed was taking the next step and carrying out those responsibilities successfully to see the benefits. Please contact me if you have any questions about the lessons we are doing each month or the counseling program in general. Thank you for your help and support,

Our school collects BoxTops for Education, Campbells Labels for Education and aluminum pull tabs. Remember to send them to school with your child to turn in to their teacher.

From the Literacy Specialist

With the end of first quarter quickly approaching, teachers are starting to better understand our new Wonders language arts program. It had definitely been an adjustment as the program is geared towards the new common core standards and is extremely fast paced. During the course of a week students are instructed in grade level reading skills and strategies, grammar, vocabulary, phonics, spelling, and writing. Each week the students also practice listening comprehension, as well as, reading a long and short passage based on a particular topic. In addition to the above, students have small group time where teachers can reinforce skills and strategies taught throughout the week. While the Wonders program integrates many areas of language arts instruction; one area it doesnt allow time for is for our students to read books of their choice that are also at their level. This is as important as any standards the teachers cover each week. Please find time for your child to read EVERY DAY for a minimum of 15 minutes. This can be independent reading, reading with a sibling, or an adult reading to or with your child. If done every day, over the course of the school year, this would equal 63 hours of reading. If you continue this practice during the summer and vacations it would be the same as reading 91 hours. I cannot emphasize enough how very important this is. There is no easier task to improve your childs reading, than to have them read daily. Happy Reading! Dawn Skornicka Literacy Coach

NEW JOB CORPS AND SCHOOL STORE

Congratulations to the new members of the FIES job corps! These students meet once a week during their lunch period. These students are responsible for taking photos of classrooms, organizing the recycling center and cleaning the animal cages. The retail assistants will be opening a school store on Wednesdays during lunch. The Grand Opening will happen next Wednesday, October 2. Congrats again to these students.

Publicity Assistant Michelle Snyder Dakota Crick Grace Brose KeShawn Carter-Stokes Elijah Malcosky Imani Velazquez Eric Palmer Veterinary Assistant Erin Saunders Dominic Jackson Aubrienna Kleinmark Mya Weimerskirch Devin Mauricio Michelle Gao

Hospitality Assistant Mallorie Dill Michael Mendoza Kaitlyn Armstrong Isabella Garcia Kirstie Russell Veronica Sander Retail Assistant Kaybriauna Kleinmark Madison Cannon Dakota Minard Laticia Birchfield Xzavion Jones Raven Patrick

Environmental Assistant Hunter Martin Branden Finsel Hannah Faeth Chloe August Richard Droulliard

PTO NEWS
Fostoria City Schools Fostoria City Schools has a district website. Please visit: www.fostoriaschools.org for photos, calendar, and event information. Like us on Facebook! The Fostoria Intermediate School now has a Facebook page! Get the most recent reminders, photos and classroom updates. Hi everyone, its a new school year and we have a lot of good things to tell you. First of all we have decided to combine the PTO from Longfellow, Riley and FIES into one organization. We feel this will not only make us larger and more effective, but also help those parents with students in multiple schools, so they wont have to split their time or deal with several fundraisers. Next, let me introduce myself, my name is Caryl Stone and I am the new president of your PTO. My daughter Willow and I moved here last year, but we are no strangers to Fostoria. For the past 10 years Ive been working for a local company and would travel here nearly every month with Willow. I am also familiar with working with the PTO as Willow is my 7th child I have raised, which has had me working within the school system since the early 80s . The rest of your officers are made up of seasoned Fostoria PTO veterans: Mindy Lance: Vice President, Addi McElroy: Secretary, Bonnie Counts: Treasurer (FIES) and Jason Lewis: Treasurer (Riley & Longfellow). We are all committed to making sure this years PTO is very effective and powerful, supporting all of our schools in a very positive, fun and creative way. Here are some of the activities we have lined up: Candle Sale Halloween Trick or Treat & Bakery Bingo Spirit Wear Sale Santa Shop McDonald's Sticker Sale Parent and child play and learn events Heres how you can help! Through the efforts of the PTO and all of its great teachers and parents we are able to fund things like field trips, smart boards for their class rooms, new learning software, playground equipment and much more. Of course wed love you to attend the meetings; the next is October 7 th at 5:30. Dont have day care? Bring your kids well provide supervision, snacks and help with their homework. Well even have snacks for the adults. Next meeting is salad night. Dont have time for meetings? Just sign up to help with an event, every month theres something going on that would only involve a few hours of your time. Have a little bit more time to spare, then help chair an event! Wed love to hear from you! Facebook.com/RileyLongfellowP Email: [email protected] Sincerely, Caryl [email protected]