Thanks so much for the special efforts of our volunteers. April 15-21 was Public School Volunteer Week. We certainly appreciate all of our community volunteers for giving of their time and talent for our students. May 6-12 is Teacher Appreciation Week. Please try to take time to let your child’s teacher know that you appreciate all they do. A quick e-mail, note, text, or card really does make a lot of difference. These teachers work diligently for the students. They often put in lots of extra time for their classrooms and preparations for student activities. A few words of appreciation go long way and always brighten a day. I also want to encourage everyone to give the Summer School Academy some thought. We have extra packets in the office. There are lots of great things being offered this summer during June, and the PRICE IS RIGHT!!

Enjoy a safe and restful summer,— Mrs. Holthaus

April's Student of the Month for Jefferson Elementary is Abigail Bilbrey!! Abby will be turing eight years old at the end of this month. She lives with her mom, her stepdad Mark, and siblings: Atea, Curtis, Kayla and Tony.  Her favorite thing to do at home is to play with Atea. At school, she is proud of her reading ability as she has worked hard all year to improve in her reading. She is a math fact whiz too! She likes to play on Coolmathgames.com on the computers at school. Abby also is very responsible and goal oriented. She works hard to achieve her AR goal and truly cares about the quality of her work. Abby will do very well in third grade next year!!

Kaylee Dugger, McKenzee Eaton, Presley Johnson, Kendall Revard, Evan Summers, Jordan Albright, Taylor Buchholz, Levin Rothwell, Sami Seuser, Tina Yoakum, Kalee Clark, Emma Albert, Jaiden Graham, Shelby Karst, Alexandra McCoy, Noah Vail, Shanycia Murray, Brooklyn Smith, Adrianna Campos and Olivia Yager earned the right to be Jefferson’s ‘Student-of-the-Month’ Candidates. Way to be responsible!

It’s time once again for Jefferson Super Kids Day. May 22nd from 12:30-2:30 our Jefferson students will be running, jumping, kicking, bouncing, throwing, and most likely sweating as well. Our play day has been successful in the past because of the large number of volunteers that help during this time. There are different options you can choose as well. We would greatly appreciate your assistance. —Kent Kunkel, Jefferson Physical Education Instructor

During the month of April the Kindergarten students had lots of fun exploring their classroom instruments. We categorized them by how we play them. We learned that some of them we scrape, some we hit and some we shake. We also learned that they each have their own special sound. It was really fun to play these instruments with our songs and to help tell stories.
In First Grade Music we also studied our classroom instruments. We got to sort them into groups according to the sounds they make. Ring, rattle, tap, scrape, and thump were the categories we used. We even discovered some of the instruments could make more than one kind of sound. It was lots of fun choosing instruments to accompany “My Farm” with all the animal sounds.

Second Grade Students have been exploring Form in music class. We used our listening skills to discover which sections were the same and which ones were different, then we labeled them. We enjoyed adding instruments to the different sections. Sometimes it got a little tricky to not play at the wrong time. We had to really use our ears and our brains not to be tricked.

Don’t forget to check out my school web page for those kid friendly musical websites: http://ehsmedia.eldoradoschools.org/groups/susanappleman/.
—Mrs. Appleman

Our next meeting will be Monday, May 7th at Lincoln at 6:30pm.  Free babysitting will be provided.  Play day will be on the agenda along with any other end of the year info.  Thank you so much for supporting the PTO this year.  We look forward to next year and have a great summer!!

You are cordially invited to attend the end of the year Awards Assembly on Tuesday, May 22nd at 8:30 in the gym. This is a special day for our students as we recognize many academic achievements as well as citizenship and behavior.  

Our annual hot dog barbeque will begin at 11:25. Please remember to sign up to volunteer for Play Day and enjoy a free hot dog lunch! Super Kids Play Day will begin at 12:30.

The El Dorado Chamber of Commerce has long recognized the great contributions teachers make in the lives of our youth and in the fostering of future leaders in our communities, state and nation. Most successful people would say they have been profoundly influenced by the care, dedication, wisdom and enthusiasm of one or more teachers in their lives. It is for this reason that the El Dorado Chamber of Commerce annually recognizes teachers who exemplify the highest standards of the teaching profession.

School Bell Award forms are available in the school office. Nominations are due to the Chamber of Commerce by May 21, 2012.

PLEASE PURCHASE A DILLON’S GIFT CARD AT JEFFERSON FOR $5.  

RELOAD YOUR CARD WITH ADDITIONAL VALUE WHEN YOU SHOP AT DILLON’S.

EACH TIME OUR PTO REACHES $5000 OR MORE IN RELOADS WE WILL EARN $250 FOR PTO. WHAT A DEAL!

THE MORE YOU YOU RELOAD YOUR CARD THE MORE OUR PTO EARNS.

•Remember to send your box tops to Jefferson. Our last check was for over $200 for our PTO. That is wonderful! Thanks to Mrs. Campos for doing the bookwork.

•Smencils are for sale during breakfast for only $1.  This money will go toward field day expenses.