Author: Marsh Family (Dell)

The Shooting STAR

Sarasota Academy of the Arts

October 31 2016

2016 - 2017, Volume 4, Issue11

Principal’s Corner:
Happy Halloween!
Last Friday the elementary students celebrated Halloween with a costume parade, songs, and holiday treats. It was great to see parents there for the festivities. Then the middle schoolers were on campus in costume for the Halloween Dance on Friday
evening. They collected three boxes of canned goods for the Mayors' Feed the Hungry Campaign as part of their entrance fee. What a pleasure it is to have well-behaved students at SAA! Thank you to all of the kindergarten through 8th grade parents who provided goodies throughout the day. Another busy week is starting with picture retakes for the yearbook on Wednesday and the Fall Book Fair on Thursday. PTO will meet Wednesday evening in the middle school building. See the calendar for more information. Matt and I will be away Wednesday through Friday at the annual conference for Florida charter schools. Also, this week the middle school math students will be taking their first math benchmark tests. These tests are done on the computer to assess the progress the students are making towards proficiency. They do not count as a grade but give in-depth information to the teachers about the level of mastery and allow the teacher to determine what needs to be retaught or reinforced. It's important that the students do their best so the results give an accurate picture. The science benchmarks for fifth through eighth grades will follow in the next two weeks. You should see report cards available on line in Gradebook this week. Parents who have not accessed the portal will receive paper copies as soon as we have them from the district. As we start the second quarter, I would like to share our attendance statistics with you. The district now has a program that tracks absences - excused and unexcused - because we know how important it is that students be in school to be successful. Thirty percent of our middle schoolers have satisfactory attendance so far this year; 54% have chronic absences and 16% are considered at risk. Chronic absences include those students missing more than 10% of the school days since the first day of school. At the elementary level, 74% have satisfactory attendance with only 10% (11 students) having chronic absences. These statistics actually are in line with what is happening throughout the United States. We recognize that there will be absences that need to be excused and have a policy in place regarding make-up work for students. Many of our teachers have subject notes and assignments on line through Google Classroom to assist students who have missed class. Students have one day for every day they miss to make up work. If it is a long-term project that has been assigned, that project is due the day the student returns. Please encourage your child to keep up with assignments when absent and to make up the work in a timely manner upon return. We have a teacher after school every day to assist students and Mr. Koci stays every Tuesday to offer math assistance to the sixth graders. Reminder: Middle school students need to have their polo shirts for the Veterans' Day Parade on Nov. 11. All students will walk in the parade and Advanced Chorus will sing for the closing ceremony. Shirts are available at Children's World on Bee Ridge. We do not have them at school. Have a wonderful week! We hope to see you on campus at the events this week. Cecilia Blankenship Principal

Upcoming Dates:
Be sure to check the SAA Calendar on the school website frequently as that has the most current information!
Monday - 10/31/16 - 4:15pm Boys Basketball Practice Tuesday - 11/1/16 - 5:00pm SAA Boys Basketball @ Imagine School of North Manatee Wednesday - 11/2/16 - Picture Retake Day - 4:15pm Basketball Practice - 6:00pm - PTO Meeting Thursday - 11/3/16 8:00am - 6:00pm Book Fair - 4:15pm Basketball Practice Friday - 11/4/16 - Spirit Day (Wear your SAA school shirt) Saturday - 11/5/16 - 12:45pm - 3:45pm Inspire Sarasota - Advanced Chorus Monday - 11/7/16 - 4:15pm Basketball Practice Tuesday - 11/8/16 - 5:00pm SAA Boys Basketball @ Imagine School of North Manatee Thursday - 11/10/16 - 4:15pm Boys Basketball Practice Friday - 11/1116 - Spirit Day (Wear your SAA school shirt) - 9:00am Veteran's Day Parade Mayors Feed the Hungry Food Drive November 7 - 18. 2016

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2016 - 2017
Volume 4, Issue 11
October 31, 2016

Elections were held this week for Student Council and we would like to wish a warm Congratulations to the new officers! President - Abigail Leftwich Vice Presidents - Sage Scrimale & Ethan Taveras Secretary - Bianca Thomas Treasurer - Johnny Riccio Jr Treasurer(s) - Ada Jordan & Nicholas Martinez Jr Secretary - Skylar Chojnacki Grade Level Representatives: 3rd - Aniyah Chapman 6th - Gabriel Long 4th - Olivia Solano 7th - Sydney Chojnacki 5th - Roy Thompson 8th - Jillian Salvitti

Sarasota Academy of the Arts

THE Shooting Star

PTO MEETING - 11/2/16

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2016 - 2017
Volume 4, Issue 11
October 31, 2016

PTO: Our next PTO meeting will be held on Tuesday, November 2nd at 6:00pm in the middle school building. We will discuss long term goals and the vision for the school. We will have our 2016-2017 School improvement plan presented by Mrs. Blankenship and will also have a round table discussion about other ways we would like to see the school improve. We will also be discussing required volunteer hours and opportunities that will be available to our families to help meet those requirements.

SHOW PICTURES

BOOK FAIR - 11/3/16

Did you take any photos lat the Fall performances at Glenridge? If so, we need your photos for the yearbook. The deadline to submit photos for those performances is November 1st. We would LOVE to showcase our students in the yearbook from this performance so please send them in ASAP! Go to community.pictavo.com/ · Click on the link UPLOAD PHOTOS, then Create an Account · Our School ID is: 62344

The Book Fair will be held Thursday, November 3rd! Can you lend a few hours to volunteer? We will need help setting up on Wednesday, November 2nd from 4:00pm - 6:00pm and all day on Wednesday from 8:00am - 6:00pm. We will also need some help taking it all down at the end of the book fair. Signing up to help is easy . . .just click on the Sign Up link
http://signup.com/go/Cqaoue and select a time slot that works for you. Thank you in advance!

DER DUTCHMAN PIES

Sarasota Academy of the Arts

THE Shooting Star

Voucher Sale! Get your fresh baked pies! Pie sales will be going October 25 – December 9. Orders will be placed November 11thfor Thanksgiving and December 9th for the holidays. Flyers came home last week. Return to the front office. Vouchers are now good for 1 year!!!!!

Picture Retakes

Picture Retakes are November 2nd. If you need order forms, please stop into the office and see Kathy and be sure and send back original packets.

Box Tops

TEACHER WISH LISTS

Clipping Box Tops is an easy way for you to help our school earn cash. Our Fall Box Tops Collection runs through November 1st. Monies collected will be distributed between the Art, Computer/Media, and PE departments.

Did you know that many of our teachers have wish lists posted on our website? If you'd like to know what they would love to have, check it out! It's a great alternative to mugs and apples :-)