New Year

Hello Students, Staff, and Community,

I hope that you have had a Merry Christmas and are looking forward to a Happy new Year. I cannot believe that half of the school year is over. As I am sitting at my mom's house the day after Christmas, I cannot help but think of how successful this first semester has gone and how I am looking foreward to an even more successful second half of the year.
Enjoy the remainder of your break. I look forward to seeing you on January 3.

Dr. Witherspoon

Fall Festival

Hello Community and Staff,

We are quickly approaching my FAVORITE Holiday, Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving because it is the time of year when my entire family gets together at my mom's house and have the most wonderful dinner and fellowship. I really am looking forward to this time with my family.
Before Thanksgiving, we have a few things happening at Hall Fletcher that I want to tell you about. Tomorrow, November 18, 2010, we have our Holiday dinner in the cafeteria. Many parents will join us and I hope that you will join us too. Saturday we will have our Fall Festival from 12 until 4. I am looking forward to this because we usually have a Spring Fling and this is our first time in YEARS having a Fall Festival. Please come out and support our PTO. They have done a great job putting this together. If you see any of them, thank them (Bonita Gilchrist, Joyce Brown, Robert Hoke, Rebecca Harmon and our president, Cara Wilson)!
One more thing that we are so proud of is that Michelle Corral chairperson of our Green Team wrote a grant to purchase items that will help us save energy. SHE WAS REWARDED THE GRANT. Thanks to Mrs. Corral for her hard work. Thanks to the Asheville City Schools Foundation for awarding us this grant.
Please come join us at the Fall Festival and visit our school anytime. Also, respond to this post and tell us what you love about Thanksgiving.

Another Great Week

Hello Hall Fletcher Family and Community members,

My have we got a good week in store for you!!! This week we have our monthly PTO meeting. PTO meets the 4th Tuesday of each month at 6:00. Please tell everyone to come meet with our PTO. We want more and more parents to be apart of this organization.
Thursday of this week, we have a basketball game. Guess who will be playing......STAFF against PARENTS! Please come out and support our school. Tickets are $3.00. Children under 3 will be admitted free!
Finally,I want to commend our staff and students on the work that was put into math night last week. We had our first Math Curriculum Night last Thursday, October, 21. We look forward to our future Math Nights. A special thanks to Mrs. Ruafika Cobb for organizing this event.
Have a great week!!!!!

Great Week

Hello Staff and Community,

I cannot believe that it is already October 15!!!! This is our 42nd day of school. I also cannot believe this weather! I had to turn the heat on at my house for a few minutes this morning.

We are off to a good start. There are many exciting things going on at Hall Fletcher. WE have some new additions to our staff this year. Ms. Shaw is new to us in 4th grade, Mrs. McCarthy is new in first grade and Mr. Kyle is another new first grade teacher. We also have two SORT OF NEW teachers. Mr. Hamilton is our "new" music teacher. He was a teacher assistant here and now serves as part time teacher, part time teacher-assistant. Mrs. Jones is our new Spanish teacher and she also serves part-time as a teacher assistant. We also have Mrs. Rowe who is a new library assistant and Ms. Garrison who is a new 3rd grade assistant. In addition we have several new tutors with us this year. The year is looking GREAT!!!!!!

PTO is having a few things going on right now that I want to share. There is a donut card sale in progress that will help raise funds for our fall festival. You can buy a card for $10.00 and get 12 dozen donuts! Contact your child's teacher about this. Also, we have a staff/parent basketball game coming up on October 28th. This is going to be such fun. Make sure you attend.

Finally, We recently had training here with all staff on bullying. Tonight on 20/20, there is a 2 hour special on this topic. Have a great weekend, post a comment!

Can you believe it is almost over

Hello Staff and Community,

Can you believe that it is June 2? We have had a long year filled with SNOW DAYS! There are only a few days left. This week we have some exciting things happening. Today is field day for grades K-2. Tomorrow is field day for grades 3-5. Friday is SPRING FLING from 5:30 until 8:00. What an exciting week?!!!

Next week is equally exciting with Awards Day on June 9. Grades K-2 have their program from 9 until 11 and grades 3-5 have their program from 12 until 2.

Finally, the last day of school for students is June 11. Students will be dismissed early. We will let you know the exact time soon.

Please post any questions of comments to my blog. I am so happy that I have 13 followers now! I'd love to see some comments posted.

Have a great week!

What a day, what a week, what a life!!!

Hello Staff, Students, and Communtity,

EOG testing is underway!!!!! It is going very well here at Hall Fletcher. Students are serious and very focused. Thanks to parents who have made sure students are getting here. We have not had any students in grades 3-5 absent for two days. How great is that?!!!!!! Thank you to everyone who has helped students get to this point. I know that our hard work will pay off!!! Have a great week.

Important news from last week:

Leslie Klein (Art teacher) got married Saturday!!!! Congratulations!!!
We were awarded the Fresh Fruit and Vegetables grant for next year!!!
We were awarded 1000.00 for having the seasonal flu vaccine given at our school earlier this year!!!!!!!

Hello STaff and Community,

We are off to a great start this week. Yesterday, we were happy to have State Superintendent, June Atkinson in our school. She discussed state budget cuts and the impact of these cuts on public education. In addition to the State Superintendent, we also were pleased to have our superintendent and many local superintendents, principals, board members, elected officials, parents, news media, teachers and students. You can click on the links below to see pictures and video from this event. Thanks you all who made it a success!!!! It is dangerous to list names but I MUSt mention a few people:

Thanks Renoo Sams for working with student council and for getting refreshments
Thanks Debra Campbell for going out and getting the bottled water and cokes at the last minute
Thanks to Joneice Jackson for making the banners
Thanks to Beverly McBrayer for providing the plants for the lobby (at the last minute)
Thanks to student council for their participation in the event
Thanks to Kathy Ornato and Debra Campbell for helping me paint my benches out front
Thanks to Kyley Ferris for representing Hall Fletcher and teachers accross the state with your WONDERFUL (3 minute) speech!!!!!! Kyley, you were GREAT!
Thanks to Superintendent Johnson for choosing our school
Thanks to Charlie Glazener for helping me get things together
Thanks to Hugh Falls for his part in preparing the building
Thanks to Tera Irby and Heather MIracle for attending
If you know of someone that I forgot, respond to the blog and post their contribution. I dont want anyone to be left out!!!!!!!
THanks to anyone else who made this a success!!! I am proud to work with you!!!
Have a great week.


http://www.wlos.com/shared/newsroom/top_stories/videos/wlos_vid_2257.shtml

http://www.citizen-times.com/section/VideoNetwork?bctid=84399587001#/Local%20News/Your%20child%27s%20education%20at%20risk/51731091001/51730385001/84399587001

JEANS and Early Literacy Night....

Hello Staff,

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!!!! Don't you just LOVE what the PTO did with the lounge. Also, hasn't the breakfast been GREAT this week?!!!!!

I totally forgot to tell you that one of the things that I am doing for you this week is................YOU MAY WEAR JEANS FOR THE REST OF THE WEEK!!!!!

Also, remember that we have Early Literacy Night this Thursday from 5:30 until 7. Parents of kindergarten and first grade students, bring your children out for a night of fun and book giveaways!!!!! We have a great dinner as well as MANY free books for the kids and they will learn to make banana boats!!!!! Please be there!!!!

May is here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hola personal y comunitario,
¿Puedes creer que éste es nuestro último mes completo de este año escolar? Nos estamos preparando para EOG y cierre de este año escolar, así como la planificación para el año 2010-2011. Esta semana (del lunes) vamos a tener nuestra segunda Noche Latina de este año escolar en nuestro Media Center. Por favor, únase a nosotros para la información, la alimentación y la gran confraternidad. Tengan una buena semana y por favor enviar una respuesta que me permita saber si hay alguna forma que yo pueda ayudar a tener una transición sin problemas al final del año.


Translation:

Hello Staff and Community,
Can you believe that this is our last full month of this school year? We are preparing for EOG's and closing this school year as well as planning for the 2010-2011 year. This week (Monday) we will have our second Latino Night of this school year in our Media Center. Please join us for information, food and great fellowship. Have a great week and please post a response to let me know if there is any way that I can help you have a smooth transition into the end of the year.

Fresh Fruit and Vegetables Grant

Hello Staff,

We have been the recipients of the FF&V grant for the past 6 years. I recently wrote the grant so that we could receive it again for next year. I hope to hear of the decision soon. As you know, this program has been VERY good for our school. It has allowed us to educate our students on eating healthy snacks as well as introduce many of them to new fruit and vegetables that they would have not know of otherwise. It is extremely important that if we are awarded this grant again that we make sure that EVERY student in our school is given an opportunity to receive the healthy snack each day. This is not an option. If your class goes to lunch early and you do not think that they need a snack in the morning, you will have to make arrangements with Debra in the cafeteria to prepare snacks for your class in advance and you can offer them to the students later in the day. This particularly pertains to 5th and 4th grade because they eat so early in the day. Please do not get the snacks early and let them sit in your rooms unrefrigerated until the afternoon. This is not a safe practice.

Thank you for your willingness to participate in this program. It has truly been great for our students. Please send a blog with any comments or questions that you have.
Have a great day!!!!!

What great weather we are having!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello Hall Fletcher Staff and Community,

I cannot believe that I have not written to you since March 29th!!! So much has happened since then. We have had spring break, we have had many days of great weather and we are really enjoying school!!!!!!!

I am at a women's conference at Lake Junaluska this weekend. TALK ABOUT REFRESHING!!!! I REALLY NEEDED THIS!!!!!

There are not many days of school left. Everyone is getting a little anxious. I am asking that we all support each other and really work hard to make these last 40 (or less) days the best EVER.

Please write me if you have an suggestions as to how I can make these last days great for you. Have a great week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One week until Spring Break!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello Staff, Parents and Community,

WELCOME BACK 4TH GRADERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I cannot believe that I did not write my reflections for this past week. Maybe it is because the week did not end until Saturday at 4:00. I think it would be so sad if we had to go to school 6 days per week all of the time. We would all be tired most of the time...well, I am still tired most of the time.

This week is an exciting one for us. We have our wonderful board members and administrative team visiting today for lunch. They will also learn a lot about the 230 joints in our body from the 3rd grade students in Ms. Shelva Burt's class.

In addition to that we have a staff meeting this week (Tuesday). One great thing that I know our 5th graders are excited about is their trip to Washington, DC which is planned for this Wednesday-Saturday.

Finally, although we work this Friday, we still have all of next week off. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Have a great week....

Another week down...looking forward to the next one!!

Hello Staff, Parents and Community,

What a week we have had!!! I am going to tell you some of the positive things that happened:

1. We had our first meeting of the Uniform Task Force at central office this week. It was very productive. I am looking forward to serving on this committee and I thank Ms. Carlson, Mr. Ackermann and Ms. Harmon for their willingness to serve.
2. Thanks to Laurie McDanel and Susan Milliones for coming to Hall Fletcher to help us further analyze our Aimsweb data and start planning for next year. In addition, thanks to Paul Perotta, Lisa Gibson, Angie Trantham and Cindi Sryjanta for working with us in that session.
3. We really enjoyed having Mrs. Ruafika Cobb visit us Thursday. You are welcome any time!
4. Thanks to the entire staff for providing feedback to me about the staff meeting. IT WAS TRULY A GREAT PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITY!!! The comments that I have received about the meeting/PD are great. Everyone wants us to handle all of our future meetings that way. I will think of something fun for the next one also. I just thank you so much for your participation and your input!!!!!
5. The students who ate lunch with me had a super time and so did I. Thanks to you all!!!

Now, looking to next week....

1. Remember to go to the State Health Benefits website to insure that you stay on the 80/20 plan if that is your wish. See me for help! Spread information to ALL of your colleagues!
2. Remember that the SEA SYSTEM is our FRIEND!!!!!!!! Come to me for any questions that you have.
3. Report cards are due April 1.
4. Media Tech Night is Monday night beginning at 5:30

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND. IT IS SUCH A PLEASURE FOR ME TO WORK WITH YOU ALL.

Reflections from last week...looking to next week...

Hello Staff,

I hope that you all set your clocks up. It will be really dark in the morning!!!!! I wanted to highlight a few great things from last week.....

Wait a minute...didnt' I do that already? Did I already tell Stacy Montana Hipps and the 4th and 5th grade students how GREAT their program was? Did I say that I LOVED the show, the dancing, the costumes, the rapping, and the smoothe transitions. The behavior was also superb!!! Thank you all!

Have I already said that I am proud ot the hard work that Mrs. Reese is doing with Academic Academy? I am also proud of her for her work with the buses. I love the new bus PAWS.

Did I thank our parent Joyce Brown for reminding me to get the Ronald McDonald grant that Sarah Rubin (super community member) wrote for our playground? THANKS guys!!!


This week we have a few things to look forward to:

SPMT meeting Tuesday
Staff Meeting Wednesday
Uniform Dress Task force meeting (select staff members)-Tuesday night
FACES (?) Thursday
Oh and don't forget our weekly grade level meetings where we will discuss student data!!!!

Have a wonderful week!!!!!!!!

Hello Staff,

I would like to solicit your opinion on something. We were not able to have our monthly meeting Tuesday, March 2, 2010 because of bad weather. I have many exciting things to share with you in a very FUN way. I would like to have the make up meeting Wednesday, March 17, 2010 from 2:50 until 3:50. The agenda topics are as follows:
Safety presentation, technology presentations from the Florida Technology Conference and the North Carolina Technology conference, and the SEA SYSTEM.
I will surprise you with the innovative way that I will present this information to you. I will tell you, however, that you have NEVER had as exciting a PD as you are in store for next Wednesday. Please respond to this blog with any obstacles to your participation in this professional development opportunity. I will use your input to make a decision by tomorrow at noon. Thank you!!!

Hello Staff,

I am excited about a few things and not so excited about one thing. I am not so excited that no one has commented on my blog site. Now let me tell you what I am excited about:

• The collaborative planning sessions are going GREAT


• The websites are looking marvelous


• We have made it in school two full days this week


• Plans for Media Tech Night are going well


• Every MTAC member showed up for the meeting today


• We have 4th and 5th grade musical performance Thursday night
  
• I am at my house watching American Idol
  

Now, tell me 3 things that you are excited about. I need to make sure this blog site works and you can reply to me..........THANKS....

Reflections last week....looking forward to this week...

Hello Faculty, Staff, Parents and Community,

We got off to a great start last week. Although Monday we saw a little snow, we still had a full day of school! Tuesday, however, we were only in school for about 2 hours! Wednesday was a snow day, Thursday a delayed start and Friday a full day. Well, at least we did not have school Saturday!!!!

I attended the NCTIES (NC Technology) conference in Raleigh last Wednesday through Friday along with four teachers (Rebecca Smith, Shelva Burt, Meg Sanford and Beverley McBrayer). It was the best conference that I have attended in years. I learned so may neat things that I cannot wait to share with staff and parents. One of the interesting things that I learned was that having this blog will allow me to communicate with you and not worrry about my email shutting down because the box is full (smile).

Things to look forward to this week are:
Collaborative planning sessions this week (see email for times)
Literacy coaches meeting-Monday
Playground meeting-Monday
MTAC meeting-Tuesday
SST- Thursday