Friday, October 13th, 2023

Friday, October 13th, 2023

Dear Families,

Summer has turned to Fall and our Wildcats are still hard at work as we have passed the halfway point of Trimester 1. One of my favorite parts of my day is presenting students with their birthday book coupon. Our library has a book vending machine that has been donated courtesy of our amazing PTO. Visiting classrooms and seeing the smiles on our students' faces when they receive their coupon is priceless! Summer birthdays receive their coupon on their half birthday. 

Please see the upcoming dates in October for upcoming Halloween and PTO event information. 

Have a great weekend,

Mike Senatore

NEW *Upcoming Dates in October*

  • Tuesday, October 17 ~ Fire Drill (see below)
  • Wednesday, October 18 ~ Bullying Awareness Day (wear orange to school)
  • Tuesday, October 24 ~ Early Release
  • Friday, October 27 ~ PTO hosts Wildcat Willy’s Chocolate Factory!
  • Tuesday, October 31 ~ Halloween Parade and Parties

NEW *Family Reading Adventure Night*

ADVENTURE AWAITS YOU AT IVY HALL! 

Join us and mark your calendars for Thursday, November 16th, 6:30-7:30 p.m.

Get cozy, wear pajamas, bring your favorite bedtime stuffie, and join us in an adventurous reading night at Ivy Hall. 

Attend and you will have a chance at winning a free book!

Every student that attends, will earn a raffle ticket towards a free book from our famous Ivy Hall Book Vending Machine. 

What is a FAMILY READING ADVENTURE NIGHT?

The night will feature guest readers and activities to follow. Does your child like building, art, creating, reading under the stars, or self-directed drawing? On November 16th, you can choose your reading adventure. There will be four different read alouds and activities, but you can only choose 2! Which adventure and path interests you most? Each week we will preview a session option. Let's take a look at just one of the many adventures that awaits you this year.

A guest reader will read Someone Builds A Dream by Lisa Wheeler. 

This picture book is an exploration of the types of work that go into building our world. From the making of a bridge, to a wind farm, or even an amusement park. An architect may dream up the plans for a house, but someone has to actually work the saws and pound the nails. This book is a thank-you to the skilled women and men who work tirelessly to see our dreams brought to life. 

After this reading, you and your child can think like engineers, and build your own creation. What might you create, a house out of Keva Planks, a giant fort using Straws and Connectors, or maybe the largest skyscraper with Magnatiles? We have so many neat building materials to show off at Ivy Hall!

STAY TUNED - Next week's Principal's Message will feature a new adventure! 

NEW THIS YEAR! BOOK SWAP

We will be hosting a book swap. If you're like me and have read the same bedtime story for the 30th time, or have a tower of books because your shelves are full, it might be time to mix up your child's book selection by donating to the book swap station. A book swap is an easy way to freshen your library collection at home without spending extra money. It's easy, bring some books that you would like to swap to our Reading Adventure Night, and spend some time swapping them out with other books! Any books that aren't chosen at the end of the night will be donated to Bernie's Book Bank. 

PRE-REGISTER for the event - WHY SHOULD I PRE-REGISTER?

Any family that pre-registers, will receive a special cookie treat. What happens if you give a mouse a cookie, he will want a glass of milk. We won't have milk, but magic milk straws. With these straws, milk can transform to strawberry, or even chocolate!  Take some time to pre-register using this link.

CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOU THERE! - Mrs. Heimer

NEW *Fire Drill Next Week*

On Tuesday, October 17th, Ivy Hall will be conducting a Fire Drill. Students will be evacuating the building during the drill. If the weather does not cooperate, we will reschedule the drill and communicate the rescheduled drill date.

NEW *4th/5th Grade Creative Writing Club*

Calling all 4th and 5th graders! That's Write, it's the Creative Writing Club! Our club will focus on the creative writing process and will explore different writing prompts. We will also be sharing our writing with each other and doing some peer editing. If you are interested in learning more about the club and having your child participate, please fill out this permission slip.

NEW *5th Grade Opportunity to run with Twin Groves Cross Country*

Parents, On Thursday, October 19, 3:45 - 4:45 PM the Twin Groves Cross country team and Mr. Nagle will be sponsoring a run with the state-qualifying cross country team. 5th grade students should come to school and meet by the band room door, (Door 12), at 3:45 PM. 5th grade students will stretch, run, and learn about cross country at the middle school level. Students from the Twin Groves Cross Country team will be here to run with the 5th grade students. We welcome all 5th grade students to be a part of his fun activity. 

5th grade students will be done promptly at 4:45 PM and ready for pick up. If it should rain we will still meet. There will be no transportation provided, please ensure that you provide your child transportation to and from school. If you are interested in having your child attend, please fill out this permission form.

If you have any questions, please contact Mr. Nagle.

REPEAT *Halloween Costumes* 

Our Halloween festivities will be here before we know it.  We look forward to students dressing in their Halloween costumes for our Halloween Parade and classroom parties on Tuesday, Oct. 31st.  Please help us with the following costume guidelines. Students will change into their costumes after their lunch period at school. Please ensure that your child can get the costume on with no or minimal help.  

Costumes must be appropriate for school.  If costumes are not school-appropriate the student will be asked to remove their costume.

  • Please no masks, blood, super scary stuff, general ickiness, or weapons
  • Please no cigars or cigarette items
  • Please no bare tummies
  • Please keep hair coloring and make-up simple