P elican National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence. A Five Star School A Little Red Schoolhouse Award Winner

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1 Dear Parents, P elican National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence I hope your summer has been filled with special family moments! It is amazing that the school year is right around the corner. We welcome many new families to our Pelican Family this year and are excited to see all our returning families! The Sweetwater Elementary Staff has been working hard to plan a very exciting school year. You will receive a Sweetwater Elementary School Parent Handbook, and it is full of information you and your child/children need to know to ensure a successful year. Please go over the policies and procedures with your child/children the first week of school. It is important that we follow the rules to ensure a safe and caring environment. Included in this Pelican Press are the August and September school calendars. Please post these in a convenient spot so you will be in the know. In addition to the school calendar, our school newsletter, The Pelican Press, is also found on our school website. Please check our website frequently for any updates. Another form of communication will again be the Connect Ed messages from me every Sunday evening at 5:15. If you are busy at 5:15 with your family, just let it go to message and then listen at a more convenient time. On behalf of the entire staff, I would like to thank you in advance for a great year!!! Sincerely, Tamara Hopkins Tamara Hopkins, Principal SWEETWATER A Five Star School A Little Red Schoolhouse Award Winner P ress August, International Reading Association Exemplary Reading Award Volume 21, Issue 1 Florida School Recognition Program Award Winner school phone # school fax # Do your Personal Best! Sweetwater Mission Statement We, the caring community of learners at Sweetwater Elementary, strive toward a lifetime of achieving our personal best, guided by a positive attitude in a nurturing environment. Volusia County Schools Mission Statement "Through the individual commitment of all, our students will graduate with the knowledge, skills, and values necessary to be successful contributors to our democratic society."

2 Pelican Press We have eight new teachers on staff this year. I would like to introduce our new teachers to our Pelican family. In Kindergarten, we have Hannah Cravens, a graduate of the University of Florida in Elementary Education with her masters in Special Education. Mrs. Cravens worked in the EBD classroom last school year here at Sweetwater Elementary and previously taught Kindergarten at Parkade Elementary in Columbia, Missouri. In Second Grade, we have Eve Shrader and Jamie Turner. Mrs. Shrader is a graduate of Lynchburg College with her masters in Elementary Education from Randolph College. She was Teacher of the Month at her previous school, Heritage Elementary School in Virginia. She was also one of the teachers nominated for teacher of the year in Mrs. Turner is a graduate of Daytona Beach Community College with her masters in Educational Technology from University of Central Florida. She is currently obtaining her Doctoral degree specializing in reading with a minor in Exceptional Student Education at Nova Southeastern University. She has taught two years at Deltona Lakes Elementary School. In Fourth Grade, we have Jacqueline Gogel, a graduate of University of North Florida with a B.A. in Education. She has been teaching for 12 years at Spirit Elementary School, where she was nominated for teacher of the year the past five years. She will be helping to create our yearbook this year due to her extensive experience of creating Spirit s yearbook. In Fifth Grade, we have Jody Bair-Collingsworth, a graduate of Millersville University. She is currently obtaining her masters in Educational Leadership from Regent University. She comes from Virginia Beach, where she taught eight years in third, fourth and fifth grade. In our ESE department, as Support Facilitation, we have Lisa Kiesel, a graduate of University of Central Florida with her masters in Exceptional Student Education Varying Exceptionalities. She has spent the past seven years teaching at Moss Park Elementary in general education and ESE classrooms. In our Media center, we have Carol Ryves as our Media Specialist and Alia Spoerle as our Media Clerk. Ms. Ryves is a graduate of St. Leo University with her Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education. She has certifications in Early Childhood and Media Specialist. Ms. Ryves spent the past nine years as Academic Coach and Media Specialist at Westside Elementary in Volusia County. Ms. Spoerle attended St. Johns River State College. Most of her experience is in VPK where she was a lead teacher for nine years. She has spent the past two years working at a Middle School, where she was a part of the AVID (Advanced Via Individual Determination) program, Grade Recovery program and also coached girls basketball and volleyball. We are proud to have these outstanding professionals joining the exceptional group of teachers who call Sweetwater home!

3 Pelican Press SAFETY FIRST Parents, volunteers and other visitors are required to sign in at the office in Building 1 Sign in at the office! and get a name badge to wear before proceeding to classrooms or other areas of our campus. Before leaving, please return to the front office to hand in your name tag and sign out. If you need to drop off something that your child has forgotten, please drop it off at the office in Building 1. We will make sure your child gets the item in a timely manner. All students can and will learn more than they presently know. Sweetwater Elementary will be child centered. All students will feel successful. Sweetwater Elementary will be an A+ school. Individuality is valued. Personal Best is encouraged. Each child is important and valued. Everybody deserves respect. Students will be encouraged to be life long learners. Students will learn to respect differences in individuals. Teachers serve as facilitators and ensure learning for all. Students should want to learn and enjoy learning. The teaching of social skills will be a part of the school day. Communication will be ongoing between parents and teachers. We thank you for helping us preserve our precious class time without unnecessary interruptions and for helping us keep our campus safe! Informed Students are Happy Students! Please make sure your child knows how they are getting home from school every day, before they arrive at school in the morning. This will keep our phone lines open during the day and reduce interruptions to the classroom. Thank you for your cooperation!

4 Pelican Press Student Drop-Off and Pick-Up The safety of your child is of primary concern to us. Please follow these simple traffic guidelines: Students may not be dropped off before 7:30 a.m. and must be picked up at 2:05 p.m. on regular school days and 1:05 p.m. on the 32 early-release Wednesdays and one early release Tuesday. Adult supervision is from 7:30 a.m. 2:15 p.m. (1:15 p.m. on early-release days). Parents must use the south parking lot only! The east parking lot is reserved for school buses, day care vans, and our faculty and staff. Parents should pull all of the way forward to the end of the covered walkway BEFORE allowing their child to exit or enter their vehicle. Please do not allow your child to exit your vehicle anywhere in the driveway where they will have to cross in front of traffic. Students must remain seated on the benches in the pick-up area until their vehicle has moved up the line to the covered walkway. A teacher is on duty to assist your child in exiting and entering your vehicle at the covered walkway beginning at 7:30 a.m. Please do not double-park in the driveway. Students not picked up by 2:15 p.m. (1:15 on the 32 Wednesdays and 1 Tuesday) must wait in the office. No U-turns on Victoria Gardens Blvd. or in our entranceways. Eight is too Late! School begins promptly at 7:55 a.m. every day! Your child must be AT their classroom door when the bell rings. Otherwise, they will be marked tardy. Excessive tardiness will result in a referral to our school Social Worker in order to provide assistance to you in getting your child to school on time. Please consider the large number of students that are dropped off every morning at Sweetwater, especially in the first few weeks of school. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated when you leave home early enough to avoid the traffic and so that you don t have to wait in line in our driveway. We have supervision on campus beginning at 7:30 a.m., so please come early!

5 Welcome back to another promising year of learning, team building and discovering the fine talents that lie within each of you. I am very excited to be a part of your PTA, as President for the school year. I hope to continue to build a working relationship between parents and teachers. I would also like to increase family participation within our Sweetwater community. Our PTA is very active and is always looking for ways to bring enjoyable activities to you and your children. The PTA can only do this with the wonderful assistance of our volunteers and generous community sponsors. I would like to encourage you to become involved with the Sweetwater PTA and in your child's classroom. Our PTA can never have enough helping hands. We will also have our first fundraiser starting shortly. We ask that you feel free to support a fundraiser of your choice. You will have plenty of opportunity for involvement. Communication is the key for any great working relationship, so please feel free to contact me at any time if you would like to voice your comments or concerns. My address is listed below. Your board members and volunteers have been diligently working over the summer preparing for our first big event of the year. The Sweetwater PTA Fall Carnival will be held on October 25, This event continues to grow each year, and we hope to see you and your family at the event. Our first general PTA meeting is tentatively scheduled for September 24, I look forward getting to know each of you and hearing your ideas along the way. Sincerely yours, Jack Kopnicky President of Sweetwater PTA swes.pta@gmail.com

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8 August 2014 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Meet the Teacher 8:00-9:30 a.m School Starts 7:55 a.m Early Release Early Release

9 September 2014 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 No School 2 3 Early Release Labor Day Early Release 11 Boy Scout Round-up 5 to 7 PM No School Early Release 18 Individual Pictures Taken Teacher Professional Development Day Open House 5 to 7 PM Early Release PTA General Meeting Picture Retakes 30

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