The Twain Times

Mark Twain Elementary School

November 11, 2014

Thank You To Our

2014-2015

Corporate Sponsors

Gold Level

Silver Level

Texas Citizens Bank logo

Village_plumbing_logo

Community Partners Level

gc3_logo_houston

The Lice Place

TheLicePlace.com

Candelaris

Candelaris.com

Dear Mark Twain Families,

On this Veteran's Day, I'm grateful for our military veterans and their families and the sacrifices they've made for our country.

We will move forward with the Pony up for the Playground initiative shortly. The looming Magnet Program cut is not official, and will be appealed if it comes to fruition. We will continue to raise funds for the playground, albeit with a longer time frame for completion. Please attend the next PTO meeting at 8:00 am on Wednesday, November 12 in the cafeteria to learn more about this and other initiatives.

Thank you to Sarah Callahan Baker and Rachel Ezell for coordinating volunteers to assist Ms. Wade and Ms. Patin who toured future Mark Twain families through our school.

Thank you to Amy Allen for coordinating the food drive to benefit Kids' Meals Houston. Kids helping kids is a great way to celebrate the season. Thank you to Kevin Noland and his team for wrangling over 130 tents full of screaming kids for the Dad's Camp Out. Everyone had a great time!

On behalf of the PTO, I would like to extend our appreciation to our Corporate Sponsors and Friends & Family campaign donors who gave nearly $80,000 to support our IB program, technology in the classrooms, the Outdoor Garden and Track projects, library books and much more. Your commitment makes our school a wonderful place for our children to learn and grow.

The Book Fair begins Monday, November 17. This fantastic event puts a bookstore at the finger tips of all students and teaches our children so much about the importance of reading to their future success. Please help us make this event special by volunteering for a shift during the week and especially during Family Fun Night on Thursday, November 20. See the article below for details.

Have a great week and enjoy reading with your children!

Tony Houck

Mark Twain PTO President

tvhouck@msn.com

The Parent Enrichment Committee presents

All are Welcome for
a Book Discussion

CrazyBusy: Overstretched, Overbooked, and about to Snap! Strategies for Handling Your Fast-Paced Life by Edward Hallowell

Friday, November 14 at 8:15 am in the cafeteria

Join us to talk about strategies and best practices to manage our busy lives. Don't worry if you've not read the book - we have plenty to discuss and share.

Mark Twain Book Fair

"Paws for Reading"

November 17-21 in the cafeteria

Fair hours:

Monday Nov. 17 - Thursday Nov 20 from 7:30 am - 4:00 pm

Friday Nov 21 from 7:30 am - 12:00 pm

Save the Date:

Wednesday Nov 19 at 8:30 am - Story Book Parade

Thursday Nov 20 from 5:00 - 7:00 pm - Family Fun Night

We need lots of volunteers to help with the Book Fair and Family Fun Night. Please sign up here.

Pershing's Spaghetti Supper

Thursday, November 13

6:00 - 8:00 pm

Learn more about Pershing Middle School's magnet program including Gymnastics, Dance, Choir, Jazz Band, Orchestra, Guitar, Drama, and Music Production. Pershing parents, students, teachers, and staff will be in attendance.

Admission is free. Purchase $10 dinner tickets online at pershingpto.org. For more information, please contact Allison Diano at adiano@sbcglobal.net or Ilse Rassin at ilserassin@gmail.com.

Twain Triathlon Planning Committee

Mark Twain will team up with the YMCA to produce a bigger and better Triathlon in 2015. We look forward to working with YMCA staff to train our Twain Tigers, build endurance, and promote swim stroke development through swim lessons. This work will culminate in a Fun Run through the YMCA on April 25, 2015 and Twain Triathlon on May 3, 2015.

If you are interested in being an integral member of the Triathlon Planning Committee, we need to hear from you! Please email magosta69@gmail.com for information.

Earth Day Art Contest

3rd - 12th grade students

All contest entries postmarked
January 31, 2015 will be accepted to:

Art Contest - Air Alliance Houston
3914 Leeland Street
Houston, TX 77003

In the months leading up to Earth Day, Air Alliance Houston celebrates planet Earth with our Earth Day Art Contest. The Contest encourages students to show what they see when they think of clean air, water, and land. Winning artwork presents a vision of how we can honor, celebrate, and protect our environment.

For complete contest details, please download a brochure here.

Fall Food Drive for Kids' Meals Houston

A HUGE thank you to the 4th grade students and their teachers for helping coordinate the Fall Food Drive. Thanks to the Mark Twain Community for all your generous donations. These donations, along with others, will help over 600 Houston kids and their families prepare their very own Thanksgiving meal.

Kids' Meals Houston is a non-profit organization that delivers meals to preschool children under the age of five who live in poverty. These meals are delivered to their door every weekday, year round. It is the nations only meals-on-wheels service for children.

How do you react when your child comes to you, upset about something that's gone wrong between park playmates, classmates, teammates? Is your immediate reaction to take your child's side and assume they are telling you the whole story - or do you tell them you are interested in their side of the story as well as the other person's?

We've learned the hard way that the "+360" is an important +Parenting skill. When we get the whole story, we not only teach our children the value of the whole truth - we can also help them to realistically reframe negative situations into positive learning opportunities which can in turn help them to build emotional durability, confidence and a sense of peace and happiness over time.

Download the NEW +School Community Guide in English and Spanish and in downloadable PDF form.

Congratulations to the Twain UIL Team!

The team competed at Wheatley High School on November 1 and won the 2nd place overall sweepstakes award.

Please congratulate our award winners:

Creative Writing: Finalist - Dylan Schegel, 3rd Claire King, 1st Sarah Nitsun

Oral Reading English - 6th Caitlyn Davies, 4th Olivia Dennis, 2nd Presley Houck, 1st Payne Houck

Social Studies - 3rd Zoe Moss, 2nd JD Fuller, 1st Natalie King

Spelling 3/4 - 2nd Austin Lan

Spelling 5 - 3rd Julia Cotlar, 2nd Maddie Schegel, 1st Jack Rota

Art - tied for 1st Caitlyn Davies and Zoe Moss

Maps, Charts and Graphs - 1st Jack Rota

Ready Writing 3/4 - 5th Austin Lan, 1st Kate Rota

Ready Writing 5 - 4th Maddie Schegel, 3rd Natalie King, 1st JD Fuller

Storytelling English - 4th Dylan Schegel, 2nd Payne Houck

Dictionary Skills - 1st Zoe Moss

Impromptu Speaking - 6th Leo Solitare-Renaldo, 5th Morgan Peden, 4th JD Fuller

Impromptu Speaking Spanish k-2 - 2nd Lucas Sanchez

Impromptu Speaking Spanish 3-5 - 4th Anna Marie Sanchez, 3rd Austin Lan

Music Memory 3/4-2nd Grant Smith

Solo Acting k-2 - 1st Payne Houck

Solo Acting 3-5 - 4th Noah Barcot

Storytelling Spanish - 2nd Anna Marie Sanchez

Listening - tied 2nd Leo Solitare-Renaldo and Jack Rota, 1st Julia Cotlar

Number Sense - 4th Camilo Riascos

Team Awards - Listening, Social Studies, and Spelling

Please join us for the next tournament on December 6 at Waltrip High School. Please see Mrs. Dennis or Mrs. Rota for any study guides.

For more information about Mark Twain Elementary, visit marktwainpto.org or houstonisd.org/Twaines. To receive the Twain Times e-newsletter, please sign-up here. For submission guidelines, visit marktwainpto.org/communications.