Rushwood PTA Newsletter

1. Rushwood PTA Newsletter: Issue Six, February 2014 Rushwood PTANewsletter • Contacts • President: • Renee Piper • 216-577-5644 • drjtpiper@aol.com • First Vice President • Kim Brown • 330-908-3125 • kimbar34@yahoo.com • Second Vice President • Dr. Jacqui O’Connor • 330-467-0581 • Jacqueline.Oconnor • @nordoniaschools.org • Third Vice President • Allison Graceffo • 216-225-8193 • Amgraceffo@yahoo.com • Treasurer: • Andrea Stamp • 216-316-9875 • astamp75@me.com • Recording Secretary • Cathy Pendleton • 216-215-2041 • cathypendleton26@yahoo President’s Message Dear Rushwood Families Our PTA has been so busy planning a fun filled month full of events for this month of February. This week was our annual Scholastic Book Fair and Breakfast with Families. PTA was proud to be able to issue each student a $5 gift certificate to purchase a book at the book fair.. All proceeds from the book fair go directly to the school in the form of the gift certificates to the students and teachers to purchase books and to award our school library with a grant to purchase more books and materials. And our annual Breakfast with Families was also underway this past week, with our students enjoying breakfast with their family members, again , complements of PTA. We are able to bring these wonderful programs to our school thanks to your support and generosity you show to our PTA. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our wonderful volunteers who helped with both of these events. We can’t do what we do without your time and effort you give – thank you! And finally, our Rushwood Family Fun Night at Fun and Stuffis Thursday, February 13 – – 6pm-9pm! (No School Friday , Feb. 14th!) Fun and Stuff will be closed to the public and will only be open to Rushwood family and friends. More information for this event can be found in this newsletter. Finally, thank you to all our wonderful volunteers who are a constant help to our school, especially for these wonderful events! You are all so appreciated! Sincerely, Renee Piper, PTA President

2. Rushwood PTA Newsletter: Issue Six, February 2014 Important Dates and Events PTA Sponsored Events February! Rushwood Scholastic Book Fair – Monday, Feb. 3rd - Friday , Feb. 7th. Breakfast with Family – 7:45-8:40am - Tuesday, Feb. 4th, Wednesday Feb. 5th & Thursday, Feb. 6th –. Book Fair Family Shopping Night – Thursday, Feb. 6th 6:00-8:00 – Rushwood Library Rushwood Family Fun Night – Fun and Stuff – Thursday, Feb. 13 – 6:00-9:00pm. Market Day Pick up- Feb. 20th 5:00-6:00 PTA Meetings Our February PTA Meeting will be Wednesday, Feb. 12that 3:45pm in the Rushwood Library. We will be discussing our slate of officers for the next school year, so please consider stepping up to fill a few of our vacant board slots and committee chair opening positions. Minutes from the last PTA meeting are available on our PTA website and the agenda for this month’s meeting will be published soon, we hope to see you there!

3. Rushwood PTA Newsletter: Issue Six, February 2014 Important Dates and Events School Dates and Events This City Reads! – Wednesday, Feb 12th – School Day No School – Friday, February 14th No School – Monday, February , 17 – President’s Day Announcements! Rushwood’s Helping Hands and Educator of the Year Awards! Rushwood PTA is pleased to announce that Lisa Kellermann is our 2013-2014 Helping Hands Award Recipient! Lisa has been a very dedicated PTA member and volunteer for over 5 years and is the proud parent to 4th grader Katelynn and 3rd grader Emily. Lisa can be found ALWAYS volunteering at Rushwood, and coordinates our VAST volunteering program. What ever the event is at our school – you can find Mrs. Kellermann always there with a friendly helping hand! She can be found helping our students at every PTA event and in her children’s classroom. Lisa is a true gem and we are very lucky to have her! And the Outstanding Educator of the Year Award goes to our dedicated third grade teacher Mrs. Brenda Basch! This is Mrs. Basch’s 5th year teaching at Rushwood. She is also a proud graduate of Nordonia ! She says her favorite thing about teaching is of course the kids! “I love their excitement when they learn and the perspective that they have that makes me looks at things I sometimes forget. “ She also loves hearing the successes of former students. Her students never stop being her students. She was also inspired to be a great teacher when she was in third grade. That teacher made a lasting impact on her. Mrs Basch says, “ To know that what I do every day could have that effect on a student is an amazing feeling!” Congratulations to you both – Rushwood is blessed to have you !

4. Rushwood PTA Newsletter: Issue seven, March 2014 Announcements and Recap Millionaire Minutes • Rushwood’s Students are meeting the challenge to : • Reach a Million! • We have almost raced past the One Million Mark and are about halfway to our goal of reading 2 million minutes this school year! • Congratulations, Rushwood Readers! • Don’t forget that listening to audio books count as reading minutes. Listening to others read improves reading fluency, increases vocabulary, and boosts listening and comprehension skills. Audio books often feature sound effects, music, and multiple narrators, and can be found at the library. The time you spend listening counts toward your monthly Millionaire Minutes total! • Feb. 12th is “This city Reads” . Rushwood will be participating by having every student read a book in the morning during this time. Be sure to log those minutes on your calendars! Fun and Stuff Night! Our Rushwood Family Fun Night will be held on Thursday night, Feb. 13th. We had over 250 students and families attend this fun filled event last year! With no school the Next day – Rushwood is able to take over Fun and Stuff and have the place All to our selves. All indoor activities are open, and it will be so wonderful seeing Our Rushwood Families enjoying a great time together. Thank you so much to Christi Rusk for organizing this Spectacular event! Forms were sent home last month to pre –purchase your wristbands at a price of only $10 each! Wristbands will be distributed when you check in at the door at Fun and Stuff. Admission Will also be available at the door for $15 each. This is NOT a drop off Event – so please plan on spending time with your family at Fun and Stuff! Wristbands only need to be purchased if you plan on participating in the activities. The snack bar will be opened for your dining pleasure as well!

5. Rushwood PTA Newsletter: Issue Six, February 2014 Fundraising Fundraising News A message from Gabriel Gerry: Dear Rushwood Families and Staff, I have recently finished the construction of 24 benches for the new outdoor learning center as my service project to earn my Eagle Scout . I could not have done it without the help of the Rushwood Family. I had to raise $3600 and the students helped raise almost half of the funds! I did much better than expected actually, and because of that, I was able to give back to the school. Every cent donated was used to attain my goal. The community will benefit from the benches made for a very long time and will see them take part in the education of the community’s youth. I am forever grateful for all the help I’ve received! Thank you, Gabriel Gerry Box Tops for Education Keep sending in those Box Tops , Campbell’s and Tyson Labels! We have already earned over $1000 this school year! And congratulations to Mrs. Soukup’s kindergarten class – again! They earned the second quarter pizza party for most turned in. Great job to all our students! Also – all new playground equipment was purchased through Labels for Education ! And, don’t forget to link your shopper’s rewards cards with our local Heinen’s and Giant Eagle grocery store chains! Rushwood receives a percentage from your purchases! • PTA Website • You can always access this Newsletter , PTA Meeting Minutes , or any of our forms or flyers for any event by visiting our Rushwood PTA Website. You can access our Website by visiting the Rushwood Page from Nordoniaschools.org and selecting our Rushwood PTA link located on the left hand side of the page. You can always contact Rushwood PTA by emailing us at RW.PTA@Nordoniaschools.org. Committee Chairs – please remember to send your flyers to our Website Coordinator Connie Perney at cjperney@windstream.net. Thank you!

6. Rushwood PTA Newsletter: Issue Six, February 2014 Fundraising Market Day Our February Market Day order deadline is Saturday, February 15th at 11:00pm. Pick up for this Thursday, February 20th from 5:00-6:00 in Rushwood’s Cafeteria. This month receive Five Free Cheese Garlic Toast with a $40 purchase and Free Cheese Ravioli with a $90 online purchase! I highly recommend both! And keep your cookie jar full with Market Day’s famous cookie dough. The more you buy – the more you save! Buy 2 – save $1 /Buy 3 – save $3/ and buy 4+ - save $5! All cookie dough is delicious and convenient – no scooping required! I also highly recommend their frozen sseafood and fish items ! Give them a try this Lenten season ! They come individually wrapped for easy use! Rushwood Community • Emergency Assistance Center Cereal Drive • Rushwood and the Emergency Assistance Center (EAC) in Northfield partnered together for our very first annual cereal drive. The students and staff at Rushwood were asked to bring in boxes of dry cereal with the promise of a pajama day after 250 boxes were collected. I am proud to say that in the time frame of a week and a half , our students brought in 256 boxes of cereal! With an overwhelming 61 total boxes collected, Cluster D brought in the most boxes and are the winners of a pizza party that will be generously donated by Spennato’s! Cereal is the most needed item at the Emergency Assistance Center, and the 256 boxes were both • greatly needed and appreciated. • That is why Rushwood Rocks! Thank you all for your participation!