Lost and Found

ATTENTION SYMMES PARENTS:

Please have your children check the  LOST AND FOUND area in the cafeteria during lunch.  ALL clothing left behind will be donated to Good Will on Friday, December 18th.

Thank you for your help!!

4th Grade Girls!!!

Don't forget to sign up your fourth-grade girl for girls on the run. Deadline is December 16th at midnight!

This is not a program solely focused on running...

Meeting twice a week in small teams of 8-15 girls, we teach life skills through dynamic, conversation-based lessons and running games. The 24-lesson curriculum is taught by certified Girls on the Run coaches and includes three parts: understanding ourselves, valuing relationships and teamwork and understanding how we connect with and shape the world at large. At each season's conclusion, the girls and their running buddies, complete a 5k running event. Completing a 5k gives the girls a tangible sense of achievement as well as a framework for setting and achieving life goals.

Fill out your registration online at www.gotrcincinnati.org

Are you a Doer or a Donator?

We are getting excited for Symmes Carnivalympics on Friday, February 26th, 2016 from 5:30 - 9:00 pm.  We need YOUR help!  Maybe you are a DOER or maybe you are a DONATOR - either way, we could use your support!  Check out some of the things we need help with and see how you can contribute!

Are you a Doer?
Here are some things we need help with:

• Sew and clean prizes (every Thursday afternoon in January)
• Help assemble baskets
• Decorate for the Carnival (last week of February)
• Bake a cake for cakewalk
• Volunteer on night of Canival
• Volunteer time to help with class wide art project

Are you a Donator?

Here are some things you can donate:

• Donate money or good from home or business to Bid 'N Buy and basket raffle items to be placed in the grade-specific baskets (details to follow)
• Donate unused gift cards or business services to be used for Bid 'N Buy
• Donate prizes or new or gently used books for the prize room
• Bring your checkbook on the night of carnival

Save the Date!!

Mark your calendars for the BIGGEST and BEST PTO Event of the school year!!  

Symmes Carnivalympixs 2016!

Friday, February 26th

5:30 - 9:00 pm

Carnival is coming!  Carnivalympics will take place at Symmes Elementary from 5:30 - 9:00 pm.  

Please plan to bring your family and friends to share in this exciting event!  All are welcome!

Carnival is one of the most fun filled nights of the year for Symmes' students.  There will be lots of games, great food and wonderful prizes!

Carnival is also the largest fundraiser organized by our PTO.  Parents will have the opportunity to support our school through the Bid n' Buy Auction, Great Gatherings Auction, Teacher  Auction and purchase of game tickets.  More information will follow after the first of the year. 

Please take time to "like" the Symmes Elementary School Facebook page where important information about this event will be shared.

https://www.facebook.com/www.symmeselementary.org

Still need some great gifts for your favorite Aviator(s)????

Still shopping for the holidays?  Stop by the AVES Hangar at Sycamore High School to pick up some spiritwear and novelties.  These make great stocking stuffers, teacher gifts and/or a special treat for yourself.  The AVES Hangar is located in the Commons of the high school.  For more information about the AVES Hangar like us on Facebook - (www.facebook.com/SycamoreHighSchoolBookstore) and follow us on Twitter ( https://twitter.com/shsbookstore).  Questions?  Email us at sycamorebookstore@gmail.com.

The store is open the following times through Friday 12/18:

SCHOOL HOURS:
Thursday 12/10 – Tuesday 12/15
6:50am-7:20am
11:30am-12:40pm

Wednesday 12/16 – Friday 12/18
6:50am-7:20am ONLY

SPECIAL HOLIDAY HOURS:
Thursday 12/10:  6pm-8pm
Tuesday 12/15:  6pm-8pm
Thursday 12/17: 11:00am – 1:00pm

Parent Reading Tips

Parents,
As most of you are aware, Senate Bill (SB) 316 was passed into law by the Ohio Legislature.  The law contains a provision commonly referred to as the "Third Grade Reading Guarantee."  It requires public school districts across Ohio to assess students in grades K - 3 to determine those students who are "not on track" for reading success.  Each school is then charged to develop comprehensive Reading Improvement Plans to improve reading skills and comprehension for those students.  If students do not improve in reading to achieve "on track status by passing the Ohio Third Grade Assessment in Reading in third grade, the district is mandated to retain the student.  Click on the link below for some parent tips!

Parent Tips...

Parent Reading Tips

Amazon ordering to benefit Symmes PTO

Dear Friends of Symmes,

If you shop Amazon this holiday season, please consider routing your purchases through smile.amazon.com .  Be certain to chose Symmes Elementary PTO as the organization you’d like to support.  We will receive .5% of eligible purchases to benefit our school.

http://smile.amazon.com/gp/charity/homepage.html?orig=%2Fgp%2Fholidaytoylist%3Fie%3DUTF8%26pldnSite%3D1&ein=31-1340714

4th Grade Girls on the Run Program at Symmes

Symmes Elementary will again be sponsoring a Girls on the Run program!  The program will be held on Monday and Wednesday, right after school, beginning February 8, 2016 and end with the 5K race on May 7, 2016 at Paul Brown Stadium.  If you have a 4th grade girl, the information packet went home with them on Friday. Registration starts on Monday, December 7th.  If you have any questions, please contact Anna Hartz, contact parent for the team at aphartz@gmail.com.  For more information about the GOTR program, please visit their website at www.gotrcincinnati.org

November BoxTop Winner!

The November Box Top Challenge winning class is Mrs. Jones class!  They will enjoy a dance party as their reward for submitting 394 labels.  The next “challenge” will occur during the month of January!

4th Grade Winter Concert

We are excited to announce our 4th Grade Winter Concert! Mrs. Bethune and our 4th grade students have been working hard to prepare an excellent musical presentation for all of you.  The students perform the program twice and the dates are as follows:

Wednesday, DECEMBER 9th @ 2:30pm (This is a dress rehearsal, but you are welcome to come. The 4th grade will perform for the whole school.)

Wednesday, DECEMBER 9TH @ 7PM (Students report to classroom @ 6:45)

We hope your family can come and enjoy this fabulous concert!

Happy Thanksgiving

The Symmes Elementary staff wishes all of our families a wonderful Thanksgiving!  We are so thankful for all
of you!

Reporting Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying Incidences

Reporting Harassment, Intimidation, and Bullying Incidences

In an ongoing effort to provide a safe learning environment, Sycamore is requesting parents, students, and staff to inform administration (or whoever) of any perceived incidences of harassment, intimidation, or bullying.

Per the Sycamore Board of Education policy JFCF, harassment, intimidation, and bullying are defined as any provoked and intentional written, verbal, electronic or physical act that a student has exhibited toward another particular student more than once and the behavior both:

1. causes mental or physical harm to the other student; and
2. is sufficiently severe, persistent, or pervasive that it creates an intimidating, threatening, or abusive educational environment for the other student.

To view the complete policy, visit www.sycamoreschools.org, under the Board of Education tab, scroll down to “Policies”, search for policy “JFCF”.

Sycamore will do everything possible to address any complaints of harassment, intimidation, and bullying.  We encourage students, staff, parents, and community members to report this type of behavior to the district if help is needed to solve a problem.

To report an incident of harassment, intimidation, and bullying,

1. Go to the website, www.sycamoreschools.org
2. Under the tab “Forms”, scroll down until you see the Harassment, Intimidation, and Bullying Incident Reporting Form for the individual schools.
3. Fill the form on-line and submit it electronically.
4. Hard copies of this form are available in each of the schools.

Complete the hard copy of the report form and turn it into the building principal.

The building principal or designee will promptly investigate all reported incidences.

It is difficult to investigate reported incidences that are anonymously submitted.  However, every effort will be made to maintain the confidentiality of the reporter.  Deliberate false reporting of harassment, intimidation, and bullying is prohibited.

Cook's Night Off!

Print off this flyer and take it with you to Jet's!!  Out PTO will get 30% of the profit!

Sycamore GEAR

Sycamore GEAR

Coffee and Conversation

 
Join us as our District Media Specialists share about the great resources available in our school Media Centers across the District. 

We are also having a book exchange,  If you have children or teen books to exchange, please bring them along.

The event will be held at the UC Wing at Blue Ash Elementary School on Friday, Nov. 20 at 9:30 a.m.

Sponsored by Gifted Education, Advocacy and Resources

www.facebook.com/SycamoreGEAR              www.SycamoreGEAR.org

Montgomery Woman's Club Creative Writing Contest

It's time again for the Montgomery Woman's Club Creative Writing Contest! Every year Symmes Elementary has winners in the contest!  We hope to see many entries again this year.  The guidelines for the contest are as follows:

Short Stories:  Limited to 2000 words

Poetry:  Minimum 8 lines
              Maximum 50 lines

We will collect the entries in the office and deliver them to Montgomery Woman's Club.

Headings must be on the upper right corner of the front page and have the following:

Name, Address, Phone Number, School, Grade & Teacher

The deadline for entry is December 18, 2015 by 2:00 p.m.

This year parents must sign a waiver.  If your child enters the contest, please ask your child's teacher for the waiver.  

COSI comes to Symmes!

A special thanks to Megan Boni and all the volunteer helpers, moms, dads, grandparents and all the Sycamore High School students, who came to Symmes Elementary on Tuesday to help with COSI.



                                                     The children learned about ecology.

Eagles use their talons to survive.

Students like to explore!

Each class had time to explore each station.

Our volunteers were trained to explain the ecology concepts to the kids.

NOVEMBER PTO MEETING

Don't forget to attend our next PTO meeting, this Thursday, November 12, 2015!  We will have a special guest speaker, Michael Miller, Direction of Transportation!  If you have any questions or concerns about our school buses, please come to hear Mr. Miller.  As always, babysitting is provided. The meeting starts at 9:30 in our Multi-Purpose Room.

BOX TOPS FOR EDUCATION

November Box Tops Collection

CHALLENGE

                                          

The class with the most box top label submissions will win a DANCE  Party during recess!

                                                                       

Send in all Box Tops labels to your classroom teacher by November  30^th in order to be eligible.

Congratulations to Mrs. Wuebbolt’s room for winning the September/October challenge.  Her class enjoyed a frozen sweet treat for bringing in the most Box Tops during our first challenge.

                                                                         

COOKIE DOUGH DISTRIBUTION

Cough Dough distribution day is only a week away!  Won’t you please consider volunteering an hour of your time?

When:  Friday, November 13th between 1:30-6:30pm.

Where:  Symmes Cafeteria

Your kids are welcome to join you.  : )

We could really use your help, especially from 3:30pm-6:30pm.  If you’ve already signed up —> THANK YOU SO MUCH!  Your support to Symmes PTO is very much appreciated.

Sign up for a spot on SignUpGenius:  http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0b44aaad2baa8-cookie1

Questions?  Contact Jackie at jakey_07@yahoo.com or call (513) 288.3636

ANNOUNCEMENT OF CogAT TESTING

All 2nd graders will take the Cognitive Ability Test (CogAT) the week of December 7, 2015, during the school day. For those students in the other grades, you may request that your child participate in this round of testing. This is in accordance with HB 282, which requires that school districts provide two opportunities for testing to identify students as gifted. PLEASE NOTE THAT SCORES ON KINDERGARTEN and FIRST GRADE TESTS WILL NOT BE TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION FOR PULL-OUT GIFTED SERVICES.

Parents of 2nd graders do NOT need to request testing since it is an automatic process. However, if your child is not in 2nd grade and you would like to have your child participate in the December administration of the CogAT, use the below link to request testing. In order to decrease disruption to your child's instruction, this testing opportunity will take place on Saturday, December 5, at Maple Dale Elementary from 9:00 until 11:30.  Please note that it is the parents' responsibility to provide transportation to and from Maple Dale.

Click here to request CogAT Testing for December 2015

SYCAMORE JUNIOR HIGH PERFORMANCE SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK LIVE! JR.

SCHOOLHOUSE ROCKLIVE! Jr. A pop culture phenomenon comes to the musical stage! The Emmy Award-winning 1970s Saturday morning cartoon series that taught history, grammar, math, science and politics through clever, tuneful songs is not only making a small-screen comeback, instructing a whole new generation with tunes like "Conjunction Junction" and "Just a Bill", it’s lighting up stages everywhere, including our own SYCAMORE JUNIOR HIGH!  When:  Thursday and Friday, November 12 & 13 @  7:00 pm  (approx 60 min run time) Where:  Sycamore Junior High School Auditorium, 5757 Cooper Rd.;  513-686-1760 Tickets:  $10 each.  Purchase at lunch at SJH Nov 10-13 or at the door the nights of the performances beginning at 6pm.  General Admission.   Doors open at 6:30 pm.

Symmes gets a Tower Garden!

This month, Symmes Elementary students welcomed the Tower Garden into their school.  It may not look like your traditional garden… because it ISN’T a traditional garden!  Developed by Tim Blank, a former Chief Horticulterist with Disney’s “The Land” exhibit at Epcot, the Tower Garden is an aeroponic (meaning “air” and “water”) system.  You won’t find any weeds in the Tower Garden because there isn’t any dirt.  And those bright lights you see surrounding the Tower Garden are special bulbs that act like the sun’s rays, providing nourishment to the plants that will grow inside the school all winter long.  Right now, Mrs. Paterson and the Wellness Committee are working with students to grow tomatoes, lettuce, kale, chive, cilantro, green and red peppers, and basil.

Students will get the chance to grow (and taste) plants like lettuce, kale, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, celery, and herbs.  In addition, students will learn about plants, their growth cycles, their root systems, and so much more!  The critters in Mrs. Paterson’s room are already enjoying some fresh kale in their diets.  While we all get used to how to best grow our plants on the Tower Garden, let’s all remember to use gentle hands as we check out what’s growing.

The Tower Garden is located right outside the 3rd grade hallway, so stop by to see it the next time you visit Symmes Elementary.

Thanks to the Symmes PTO for their generous support of the Tower Garden at Symmes!

PICTURE RETAKE DAY IS NOVEMBER 18TH

Didn't love your child's pictures?  Simply return your original package on Nov. 18 and your child will have another picture taken.  
If you were absent or are new to our school and did not get your picture taken, you can order online at mylifetouch.com and enter our Picture Day ID: JC815449Q1  or email your child's teacher for an order form and we will send one home for you.

  

  

PTO Volunteers

PTO Volunteers

Thanks to everyone that helped with Dads and Donuts, Family Assistance, Symmes Steppers and all the other great October events.  We need more signups for Wellness Warriors and Cookie Dough distribution in November.  There are also many other opportunities on the sign up genius.  Check it out!

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080c4fa9aa22a13-20152016

Fall Fun!

Halloween Fun!

Thanks to all our parents for your patience as we waited to make the decision weather to have our parade inside or outside!  As it turned out, the sun cooperated for MOST of the parade and we were able to parade around our walking track!

Thank You to the Montgomery, Blue Ash, Symmes Rotary Club

The local Rotary Club so graciously donates dictionaries to our 3rd graders every year!  Our students were so excited to receive their own dictionaries!  Here they are with their dictionaries!

Cookies are coming!

Please put this date on your calendar to pick up your order on…

Friday, November 13th

2:30-6:30pm

In the Cafeteria

If you sold cookie dough/pizza/pastries you MUST pick up at this time and plan to deliver as soon as possible.  Product must remain frozen!

If you have any questions please contact Jackie, jakey_07@yahoo.com or call (513) 288-3636.

Thank you for supporting Symmes PTO.