LUCKY 2013 IS OFF TO A GREAT START!

My day started with a little girl who's dad was late picking her up from AM Kinder. When he got here, he apologized sincerely to the little girl. Her answer back to him was so precious..."It's ok dad, I had fun waiting for you!" Ahhh, if only all of us could be that positive and perservere unseen circumstances! I love my job because I get reminded on a daily basis how simple life can be if I remember to not sweat the small stuff!

I also wanted to share that our very own Peyton Claus, a 5th grader, will  be singing the National Anthem and playing her guitar for the Wolf Pack Mens Basketball game on Feb. 9th at 3pm.  Go Peyton!

Lastly, I am so proud of Mrs. Culp's 5th grade class for their performance at the State of the State Address by Governor Sandoval. The Governor was so impressed when he visited them, that he invited them to the Address. It was such an honor and an event I am sure the students will never forget!  

GOVERNOR VISIT AND A NEW CALENDAR FOR SSES!

I am very excited to announce that Mrs. Culp's 5th grade class won the statewide "Home Means Nevada" singing contest! These kiddos do a great job of singing our state song and a shout out to Mrs. McKinnon for getting them ready for the contest! The prize for winning the contest is a visit from Governor Sandoval. He brought the students his Governor's Coin and a Nevada State Flag! Mrs. Culp's students asked him such awesome questions. I was very proud of them. Of course I had to throw in my two cents to the Governor. I challenged him to a game of one on one and if I won, he had to put more money into education. He said he didn't play basketball anymore but he promises that education is on the forefront of his mind. Overall, I was very excited to show off our class and our school! I am sure he was impressed! Well, I am at least!

We also got some exciting news about changing calendars next year. I am happy to announce that we will be joining the rest of the district on the new balanced calendar. Please see the district website for the new calendar. Here is my thoughts on all of this. Rezoning is a band-aid. The best answer is to build a new school out here in Spanish Springs. Well, there is no money for that so then we have to take the next best thing. I was hoping the rezoning would help get our numbers down but they really did not. I don't like the idea of having to move families around but I also think staying multi-track is not best for families and it certainly is not best for collaboration and culture for our school. So, I support this new movement, but with the hope that some day soon, the district will be able to afford a new school out here. With that being said, it is important for all of us to really push our legislators to give more money for education...more money for our children. The new maps will be on the district website soon. Please stop by or call if you have any questions.

Rocktober!

We are rocking in October here at SSES! I have been enjoying some great music concerts by our fabulous Mrs. McKinnon! Thank you for putting the time in for our students! The students and the parents are so enjoying them. I especially liked our bullying or anti bullying concert. It fit nicely in with our focus on respect this month!

We also did our part for raising money for Breast Cance Awareness. We compete each year against different schools to see who will raise the most money. We raised over $380 this year! We wore pink and donated money for the cause!

I am excited to show off a couple of our students this month. Kaili Hill won the Miss Vaquero Day Contest! Congratulations Kaili! You looked beautiful!

I also want to show off one of our students dance moves! Go Jacob!


Life is good here at our little Oasis in the Desert! Thanks to all of our students, faculty and families that make this an Otteriffic Place to be!

An Otteriffic Place to Be!

As the rest of the city begins their new school year, we have already finished two months worth of work! And boy have we been working effectively! We were awarded a Bronze Medal from the WCSD for Remarkable Performance and Improvement on our CRT test scores! I am so proud of our students, teachers, and families for working so hard to do well on those tests!

We are in the middle of tie dying and raising money for the 6th graders to go to Point Bonita. I am just so imppressed by the work that our volunteer parents do. I especially appreciate how much work Reba, a fabulous parent volunteer, does every year for our tie dying fund raiser. Thank you, Reba!

I have already enjoyed two Principal Luncheons! It is so fun to spend time and reward great students! Here are a few pictures from the day!

Really? This is what I have to put up with every day?? I so love my job!

I encourage you to visit our school on a regular basis and see what great things are going on!

Lastly, I wanted to share some new art work by our students! Check this out!

Cool Geckos!

I encourage all viewers of this blog to add their great story to our blog! I want the world to know what a great school we have. What a great community we have. What awesome students we have! Join in the fun!

A New Year at SSES...2012-2013 Bring it!

We are off and running with our new year of school, and I have so much to share. My favorite comment of the week came from a 1st grade boy. He was delivering the attendance to the office and I told him that he would get to see his teacher tonight at Back to School Night. For you see, his teacher is on Maternity Leave right now. He seemed to confused and then said, "Oh good, then she will start teaching us tomorrow?" I had to tell him that no, she was not starting tomorrow but coming out to meet the parents tonight. He of course wanted to know why she couldn't start tomorrow. I frowned and told him that she has a new baby and needs to stay home with her baby for a little bit. In true child-like innocence, he replied, "Why can't the baby's dad do that!" I loved it! The office staff erupted in laughter. I love this job!

I am excited for Back to School Night tonight. We always have such a great turn-out, which is a testament to our fabulous families and wonderful staff. I look forward to seeing familiar faces and excited to meet our new families. See you soon.

Lastly, I just want to share with all of you the exciting entrepreneurs we have at SSES. I am having many students wanting to sell items to help raise money for field trips or families in need. I try to make sure that I use it as a teachable moment. They have to type up proposals and figure out profits and all kinds of details. It keeps to be somewhat of a pain, but anything to help our children be involved in real life experiences.

Thanks for your time and I encourage comments as long as they are positive. Keep the Peace!

Jog-a-thon, Otterfest, and Rezoning!

Let's start with some serious business. The Spanish Springs Valley is rezoning and we are right in the middle of the mess! It is important for all of us to voice our opinion in the matter. The next committee/public meeting with be at Sepulveda at 6PM on June 5th. Let your voice be heard so that a good decision is made on what is best for our children and community!

Ok, now for celebrating! We raised over $8,200.00 for our PE teacher with the Jog-a-thon! That is great! Thanks to all of you that donated your time and your money. And, the students were awesome running around the track like they were track stars! Speaking of track stars, our very own Dr. Truax, a marathon runner, ran 30 laps trying to inspire our young athletes! Once again, thanks to the families and the community for your support in this event.

Speaking of a good time, the Otterfest is coming June 14th from 3:30-6:30. I am so excited about our huge end of the year community event! Please come out and join our celebration and if you are interested in volunteering your time or products or money, please contact the office at 425-7710. Thank you for joining us for a end of the year celebration!

Lastly, I want tell you about what a great day I had on Thursday. I had a 6th grade student Principal for the Day. He earned the reward by collecting 250 Otter Shells. I so enjoyed our time discussing my job and what he would do if he was the principal. He is such a bright, mature 6th grader. I love my job! I get to hang out with the coolest kids! Here is what he had to say about the day:

Hello Joe Donovan here I’m going to tell you what it’s like to be principal for a day here, at first it seem s really strange and I was not sure what to expect once I got here and started to do things I got in to the flow of things I first went and collected otter shells from the kindergarteners through second grade for the drawing then I went to the class rooms handing out otter shells to the students that were working quietly and productively. After that I copied some papers for Mrs. Walters and then helped pass out flyers in the lunchroom for a basketball camp. After that we got lunch: pizza. After lunch I got to go out- side with my friends witch was nice to get out of the office but overall the experience is great and helps you get a feel for what the office is like every day at school. 

And there we have it for another day in paradise...the oasis in the desert...SSES!

SSES Jogathon Success and The Addison Award

I just loved watching all of our students running their laps to help raise money for our PE teacher! Exercise is so important for our students to learn early on. It was also great to see all of my teachers taking part in the activities, including our marathon runner, our fabulous AP. Dr. Truax ran 30 laps! I also want to thank our dedicated PTO Board for making this happen and all the parent volunteers that showed up to help pass out drinks and snacks and cheer on our students!

I also want to thank our Partner in Education, Sierra Concrete and Design, for helping us with our 11th Annual Addison Awards! The Addison Award goes to a deserving 6th grade student that has shown over the many years here at SSES a great example of someone who follows our Otter Be's day in and day out. The honor is to represent Mrs. Charles daughter, Addison, that blessed us for only 6 days, but in those 6 days showed promise and courage, just like our 6th graders moving on in the world, making a difference in their future, our future.