OUR PRINCIPALA WORD FROM by Karen McGuire

The PONY EXPRESSMarch 2014VISIT THE N.E.A.S. WEBSITE at http://www.jessamine.kyschools.us

N ICHOLASV ILLE ELEMENTARY ACCELERATED SCHOOL“Nessie” drawing byAnnabelle Crockett

Mar. 1 District Governor’s Cup at Brookside Mar. 3-7 Read Across America weekMar. 6 NES night at Yogli Mogli, 3:00-8:00 PM Second grade performance:

The Big Chill, 7:00 PMMar. 7 The Big Chill, 1:00 PM Teacher of the Year forms dueMar. 11 SBDM Meeting, 3:00, libraryMar. 19 End of the third nine weeks grading periodMar. 20 First grade performance: One Big Happy Family, 1:00, 7:00 PMMar. 21 School will be in session as a make up dayMar. 24-28 Spring Book FairMar. 24 PTO meeting, 5:00, libraryMar. 25 Fiesta! Family Fun Literacy Night,

5:30-7:00 PMMar. 27 Jump Rope for HeartMar. 31-Apr. 4 Spring Break

Dear Parents,Happy Almost Spring! We will all be so glad to put the freezing

temperatures and snow behind us and move on to sunny, warm days. We managed to cram quite a bit of learning and fun into February in spite of numerous snow days. We had a lot of fun dressing up as pirates for Count Me In Week, 100 year olds for the 100th day of school, and as what we want to be when we grow up for Career Day. We enjoyed the treat of Kona Ice and generated over $300 for our family that fell victim to the apartment fire. We were finally able to begin our morning NES news program now that our closed-circuit system has been restored. All students are now able to watch the morning announcements on their classroom SMART boards, courtesy of our fourth grade news team! Several of our fourth and fifth grade students participated in the 4-H demonstration contest, and the category champions will move on to the district competition in March. The month will end with rewarding our Rocket Math high achievers with some extra fun time in the gym.

March will be the month for Read Across America week, our first and second grade musical performances, the spring Book Fair, our Family Fun Literacy Night: Fiesta!, Jump Rope for Heart, and parent nominations for our School-Based Decision Making (SBDM) Council. Fifth grade parents, please know that you are eligible to run for Council at the middle school level. You can pick up nomination forms at either middle school if you would like to run or nominate someone. Speaking of nominations, don’t forget to nominate a favorite NES teacher for Teacher of the Year! Ballots can be found on the Jessamine County and NES webpages. They must be submitted to me by March 7. We have such wonderful teachers who deserve to be recognized for their outstanding work with our children.

Spring break is right around the corner as March ends and April begins. We are all looking forward to relief from the illness and icy weather of the past two months. Last week’s warmer temps gave us hope that spring will be here soon!

SBDM/PTO Parent Elections It is time to elect parent representatives for our School-Based

Decision Making Council. All parents are eligible to run for one of these positions. These representatives will take office on July 1, 2014. If you are interested in serving on Council, you will need to complete a nomination form. These forms will be available in the office for the nominee to complete. In order to run you must:

*Be a parent, stepparent, or legal guardian of a student who will be enrolled during the 2014-2015 school year at Nicholasville Elementary.

*Not have a relative who is an employee of NES or Central Office or a Board of Education member (relative shall mean father, mother, brother, sister, husband, wife, son, daughter, aunt, uncle, son-in-law, or daughter-in-law).

*Not be employed by NES or Central Office or be a Board Member.

*Have at least a high school diploma or a GED.*Be willing to serve and attend monthly meetings.Additionally, there are 3-6 hours of training that you must take

in order to serve. If you would like to run for Council, please stop by the NES

office to pick up a nomination form and return it to the office by 3:00 on April 11. We will be accepting nominations for PTO officers as well. Our PTO will be holding Council and PTO elections from 7:30 a.m.-4:00 p.m. the week of April 21-25. Parents will also be able to vote until 7:00 on Thursday evening, April 24. Please come by sometime that week to cast your vote. Our district goal is to increase significantly the number of parents who vote in Council elections.

February is behind us, what little of it we did get to spend together due to inclement weather. Hopefully, March will come in like a lamb and leave like a ….well, a lamb would be nice! During February we had our “Count Me In” attendance challenge. It was interrupted by weather a few times, but we did get through it. We haven’t heard how we compared to the other schools quite yet, but we surely did have fun! Mrs. Millsap’s, Mrs. Ironmonger’s, Mrs. Placido’s, Mrs. Casto’s, and Mrs. Kearns’ classes proved to be the top in their grade levels for the entire week. They were surprised with a classroom treasure box that included lots of goodies, including UK Women’s Hoops basketball tickets for March 2nd. Congrats to those classes!

Please remember to return excuses in a timely manner. Excuses that are beyond the 5 days from when a student returns to school are reported as unexcused. Any time you have a question regarding what is deemed as an excusable absence, please refer to our district’s Code of Conduct. Teachers have been asked to send home reminders with students who have not turned in excuses for recent absences in an effort to lower our number of unexcused absences from school.

Beginning this month, we will be rewarding classes that can pull a 97% attendance percentage in a two week time period with a popcorn “party” at the end of each two week period. We are hoping to “pop” to the top during the last months of school!

The Pony Report:

MATH PROBLEMOF THE MONTH

February Winners are: 1st grade: Cloey Joseph—Mrs. Braun’s class2nd/3rd grades: Adrian French—Mrs. Ironmonger’s class4th/5th grades: Kamden Harrison—Mrs. Casto’s class

March Problems:• 1stGrade:Holly had 6 M & M’s. Matt had 4 peppermints.

Sam had 2 suckers. How many pieces of candy did the kids have in all? Show your work.

4-H Demonstration Winners

Congratulations to our 4-H Demonstration ribbon winners! Our champion blue ribbon winners who will be advancing to the county competition are Reese Bolton in Crafts and Photo, Ashlyn McHolan in General, and Emily Lynch in Home Environment. Also winning a blue ribbon were Josh Vitai and Alyssa Hughes. Red ribbon winners include Kendall Lowe, Gabby Cooper, Haley Cannon, and Isabella Smith, and Jacob Pietosi, Lilly Glass, and Heather Delaney won white ribbons. We are so proud of these students!!!

PTO News Our World’s Finest Chocolate spring fundraiser kicks off on

Thursday, February 27 and will run until Friday, March 14th. All items being sold from the spring catalog are $6 each. Every student who sells at least one item will have his/her name included in a drawing for a 5 pound bar of World’s Finest Chocolate. All students who sell 25 items will attend an ice cream sundae/dance party with Mrs. McGuire, Mrs. Crum, Mrs. Hager and Mrs. Spann! Our next NES School Spirit Night at Yogli Mogli will be Thursday, March 6. Our next PTO meeting will be Monday, March 24th at 5:00 pm in the library.

Counselor’s Corner Our school days in February may have been limited, but our

events on the days we were in session were not! Mid-February, we celebrated Count Me In Week, our annual attendance competition between schools. We finished off the week with a visit from Kona Ice, a fundraising group that sells flavored snow cones. The proceeds from that visit went to a monetary donation for one of our families affected by an apartment fire.

In the last week of February, the students celebrated Career Day, which included a career fair and dress up in “future career” attire. For the Guidance department, Career Day was an excellent kick-off for our career-themed Guidance lessons beginning in March. Also in March, students in 1st-4th grades will continue learning about emotion management, while 5th graders will move into problem solving strategies.Jump Rope for Heart

March is the month for Jump Rope for Heart! Permission packets will be sent home with students in this Thursday’s (February 27) envelopes. Participating students will be enjoying the Fun Jump

on Thursday, March 27, during their specials time. We are so proud of our students for participating in this fundraiser for the American Heart Association. Our school was recognized last year for reaching the $100,000 milestone in fundraising. What a huge accomplishment! Let’s all work toward reaching the next goal of $150,000!

Teacher of the Year Thank you so much to those of you who have nominated one of

our wonderful NES teachers for our Teacher of the Year honor! You still have until March 7 to submit your nomination form. A link to the form can be found on the district and NES websites. You may submit your nomination form to Mrs.McGuire electronically (karen.mcguire@jessamine.kyschools.us), or a hard copy may be turned in to the NES office.

Jessamine County Summer Camp at NES!

Join us for unlimited fun and creativity as Jessamine County premiers its Summer Camp! Camp will be located at Nicholasville Elementary with hours from 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM. Camp begins on Monday, June 9th and ends on Friday, August 1st. Breakfast and lunch will be provided. The enrollment fee is $100, and the weekly charge is $115. You only pay for the weeks you use. Registration will be on Saturday, March 22nd at Nicholasville Elementary from 8:00 AM until 12:00 noon. Your spot will be secured when you pay your $100 registration fee. For questions contact Michelle Beard by email at michelle.beard@jessamine.kyschools.us.

Helping Hands: News from Our FRC

Helping Hands has a new Family Resource Coordinator! My name is Ashley Jenkins, and I am excited to get to know our families here at NES. My goal is to provide a supportive environment for both children and parents and eliminate the barriers that keep our students from reaching their academic potential. We have an “open door” policy at Helping Hands so feel free to stop in or call with any questions about all we do. I look forward to working with each of you!

Please join us for our Fiesta Reading Night on March 25th from 5:30-7pm. We will be learning new ways to encourage your child to read, making crafts, and drawing for prizes. Dinner will be provided! Please remember to mark the date on your calendar and watch for a flyer providing more information. Come out for a night of fun with your family!

• 2nd&3rdGrades:What number is 200 more than 342? Show your work.

• 4thand5thGrades:Megan multiplied two numbers. The product was 35. One of the factors was 5. What was the other factor? Show how you know.

All answers must be turned in to the office by Friday, March 14. Don’t forget to include your full name and your teacher’s name!

Parent Surveys The window for the district’s parent surveys opened on February

24 and will close on February 28. Our goal is to hear from every single one of our school families. Your opinion is valuable to us, and we take your feedback very seriously. We are totally committed to making NES the very best school it can be. Please take a few minutes to fill out your survey—either online (link on our school and district websites) or the paper copy that came home with your child on Monday.

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Imagine a world without literature, music, theatre, dance or photography. Art enriches our lives, adding meaning, depth and joy. As children, most of us paint, draw and sing with abandon, but as we grow older, many of us become more self-conscious and inhibited, thinking that we lack skill or knowledge. As educators, our goal is to continue to foster the natural curiosity and creative expression that children are born with---and we can do this through encouraging their continued participation in the arts, whether through visual art, music, dance or theatre.

The month of March has been designated to highlight the arts in our schools and this month we will embark on a celebration of the creative endeavors taking place in our district, showcasing our tremendous student artists and those who teach them. Study after study has shown that the arts make a difference in education, not just in drawing or drama, but in math, language arts and other core subjects. Children also reap long-term benefits from participation in the arts, building lifelong skills and habits that provide a lifetime of rewards.

How do our students benefit from art education?Art helps students succeed in school. Art education

teaches creative problem-solving and critical thinking skills and offers multiple pathways to understanding for different learners. Art also increases cultural awareness for students, forming connections and engagement between teachers, students, and the connected community that surrounds them. Studies have shown that participation in art education even increases school attendance!

The arts prepare students for success in work. Art education develops creativity, one of the top five skills employers prize for the 21st Century. Participation in artistic endeavors also builds collaboration and communication skills as students learn to share their intentions, receive and offer constructive criticism, and listen actively to others’ ideas. The arts have been shown to increase students’ capacity for leadership; those who participate in the arts strengthen decision-making, strategy building, planning and reflection skills.

The arts prepare students for success in life. Research shows that participation in the arts develops students’ capacity to persist in the face of a challenge. Arts

programs also foster a sense of community among participants that supports their personal, artistic, civic and social development. Equally necessary to prepare students for life in an increasingly global and culturally diverse world, arts experiences promote pro-social behaviors and social tolerance. Few experiences other than art

allow for individual self-expression, and at the same time, celebrate multiple perspectives.

At Jessamine Schools, we believe that the arts are a central component of a complete education and I would like to take this opportunity to recognize and celebrate all of our outstanding arts and humanities teachers. Our teachers work diligently every day to cultivate an appreciation for and love of the arts in our students, providing benefits that will last a lifetime. Please join us as we show appreciation for these devoted professionals and celebrate the many amazing talents of our students. For in the words of William Morris, “…I do not want art for a few; any more than education for a few; or freedom for a few…”

Got Art?by Kathy T. Fields

“It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.”

~Pablo Picasso