Thalia Parent Newsletter

We have many fun activities planned this month! Our students worked hard during the month of February on research of their chosen famous African American and we will have an opportunity for them to show their work at our Young Author's Night on March 9th from 6-7pm. Also that evening, while you are visiting, our bookfair will be open for families to explore and shop for some great books! We are celebrating the start of March with our Read Across America week - many great activities are planned for students to join in on the fun (of reading of course). The PE demonstration and our third annual March Madness where 5th grade takes on the staff are sure to be a success.

A special thank you to our School Planning Council for a productive meeting. We greatly appreciate the feedback from our families. I look forward to our final meeting in April.

We are excited about the continued engaging, innovative teaching and learning taking place everyday. Thank you again for supporting all of our teachers, staff, and students here at Thalia!

Dr. Wilkerson

2 - Social Worker's Appreciation Week

2 - My Many Colors Monday (wear as many color as possible) for Read Across America Week

3 - Staff work day/voting day - No School for students

4 - Progress Reports Issued to select students

4 - Wacky Wednesday (wear wacky clothing and hair) for Read Across America Week

5 - Bookfair begins

5 - Thing One & Thing Two Thursday (wear red & blue like Thing One & Thing Two) for Read Across America Week

6 - Fire Safety Assembly K-3

6 - Fox in Socks Friday (wear silly socks) for Read Across America Week

8 - Daylight Saving Time - set clocks forward 1 hour

9 - Bookfair family night 3:30-6:30pm

9 - Young Author/Black History Month Presentation Night 6-7pm

11 - Super Science Solutions Assembly grades 3-5

13 - Book Character Day and parade

13 - Popcorn ordered goes home

17 - SCA meeting after school

18 - 1st grade gifted testing

19 - First day of Spring

19 - Talent Show rehearsal @ PAHS 5:30-8pm

19 - Mustache sales begin

19 - Beach Bag Food Drive

20 - Disney Spirit Day

20 - 4th grade IPT testing

20 - Talent Show @PAHS 6:30 - 8:00pm

20 - Dad take over day

24 - Spring & Class Pictures

25 - Innovation Day

27 - Super Citizen 9am

26 - March Madness @PAHS 6:00-7:00pm

26 - Popcorn sales begin

27 - Mustache Spirit Day

27 - End of 3rd grading period

30 - Beginning of 4th grading period

31 - Boosterthon Kick off Pep Rally

Our 2019-2020 yearbook sales have begun! You can pay online at ybpay.lifetouch.com and use our yearbook code 10755320 to order online and guarantee your early bird pricing! The early bird special is $19 for the book and this price will increase to $21 on April 1, 2020. If you prefer to pay with cash or check, please send the exact amount with your student in an envelope with their name and homeroom teacher. Order your yearbook today and take advantage of our early bird pricing!!

We will once again be supporting our school division's Beach Bags program, which provides meals and healthy snacks to disadvantaged students. We would LOVE your help! Please consider sending in a donation of items such as individual cereal boxes or oatmeal packets, macaroni and cheese boxes or some other shelf-stable main course item, fruit cups, 100% juice boxes, or individually wrapped snack items. These donations go directly to VBCPS students in need. See the below flyer and send in any items to school with your child to go into our collections bin. Thank you in advance for your support!

February was an exciting Month. The bundt cake fundraiser helped to raise funds to help replenish much needed class supplies. Thank you to everyone who supported the PTA with this event. Wow, was the Science Expo exciting. There were so many great inventions. Thank you to Ms. Coughlin and Mrs. Daugherty for helping us with adding the exciting stations to plant flowers. Thank you to Mrs. Piccoli for donating the paint for the rocks. The 5th grade committee would like to thank everyone who came out to support us at Marco's Pizza night.

March is going to be full of opportunities to have fun and support our School. We have the Talent Show, Reading Change Wars, and our Boosterthon Pep Rally. Boosterthon is a great opportunity to help our school raise funds across the board for every grade level. Thank you for your continued support.

Thank you,

Amber Arnspiger

Thalia PTA President

thaliaptapresident@gmail.com

Thalia is excited to announce its partnership with Branded Arts and Princess Anne High School! Branded Arts is an organization that commissions local and international artists to paint murals at local properties, developments, youth centers, and schools. Their goal is to inspire with art, to give people a creative outlet, and to always display positive imagery. The week after Spring Break, Branded Arts and PAHS will be collaborating with us here at Thalia to create artwork for PAHS, Thalia, and our community. PAHS already has over 150 student volunteers signed up and Mrs. Piccoli will be working with them to get our students involved as much as possible. If your student has not signed up, please remind them that the Branded Arts information is in Schoology. If you would like to volunteer to help, please contact your PTSA President, Kim Henson at Kimhenson@me.com or our Thalia PTA President, Amber Arnspiger at thaliaptapresident@gmail.com.

Check out this video for an example project that Branded Arts did at the Maya Angelou Community High School in California. We are so excited about this partnership opportunity!

We have seen a few students come to school with recording watches. Please make sure your child leaves them at home, as it is against school board policy for students to record other students without the permission of the teacher/administration.

Also, if they must bring a cell phone to school, we ask that they are powered off during the school day and and left in their backpacks so they are not disrupting the learning environment. Students are permitted to have cellphones for emergency purposes only before and after school. While at school and on the bus, cellphones should be kept in your child's backpack. Please remind your child they should not use their cellphones to play games or share/take pictures while on the bus (to or from) or during school. Thank you!

Papa Johns Pizza - Whenever you are ordering pizza for your family, if you put THALIAES as the promo code, Thalia will get a portion of the sales.

Soda can tabs - We are still collecting can tabs in our classrooms for a school-wide math lesson. Please send them in if you have any.

Boxtops - We will still collect these but please consider transitioning to the online submission or send in your receipts and we will do the work for you.

Coke caps - Do you drink Coke products? Please send in any of your bottle tops with the code in the lid or the ends of a carton of soda where the code is located and our school can earn money.

Amazon - Do you shop on Amazon? Many sales happen every day. Please consider logging on through Amazon Smile and supporting Thalia Elementary PTA as the supported charity.

Kroger and Harris Teeter - These grocery stores give back to our school when you identify us as your preferred school.

THANK YOU for supporting Thalia Elementary and the many programs we offer students using these funding sources.

Our clinic is in need of pants of all sizes. We have gone through the supply of pants this winter. If you have any gently used pants your child can no longer wear, please consider donating them. Thank you.

5th grade committee is seeking donations of chips, candy, water, and soda for concession sales for the Talent Show and March Madness. The money collected from these sales will go towards our end of the year 5th grade activities such as our Field House Day and Moving On Ceremony. Any donations would be greatly appreciated by March 16th. Thank you so much in advance.

5th Grade Committee

We are so thankful to have these businesses support our school this year. If you don't already, consider supporting these businesses who so graciously support us:

Charcoal Chicken

Thalia Lynn Baptist Church

Krispy Kreme

Bonefish Grill

R & R Tires

New Life Church

Jarrod Arnder - Farm Bureau Insurance

Wild Birds Unlimited

Cheesecake Factory

Skinny Dip

The Cosmopolitan Apartments

Sams Club

Marco's Pizza

Village Inn

Velocity

Laser Quest

Home Depot

Il Giardino Ristaorante

Ask your child about the great things we have going on in our school for Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS). We have just met our second goal to have a school-wide drawing party to music in the halls. Hopefully, many of you have seen our "Positive Message from the Principal" emails and/or a blue or yellow ticket that your child has earned come home. We also have started giving a new prize for the students who are drawn on morning announcements - a bracelet to wear proudly to let them know they have made their Principal proud. Keep up the great work, Eagles!

VBCPS wants to hear from you. Tell everyone about the great teachers and staff members from Thalia who have made a difference in your life or in the life of your child and how they have helped support great dreams. Email your story at GreatTeachers@vbschools.com so our teachers can be recognized for all the great work they are doing!

Email: crystal.wilkerson@vbschools.com
Website: http://www.thaliaes.vbschools.com
Location: 421 Thalia Road, Virginia Beach, VA, United States
Phone: 757-648-3880
Twitter: @crystal_wilky