The Titan Times: Week 21

Titan Families,

As we reflect on the accomplishments of this fall semester, Ms. Olmstead and I want to express our sincere gratitude for your unwavering support and partnership. Your dedication to our school community is truly inspiring. Together, we've witnessed our Titan community thrive, make significant strides, and celebrate numerous successes.

Your efforts in service and resources is truly impactful. Our students have demonstrated incredible dedication and perseverance, and our staff has worked tirelessly to provide enriching learning experiences. We're proud of the progress we've made, and we're excited about the continued growth and development of our students.

As we approach the winter break, we encourage you to take time to relax, recharge, and reflect on the past semester, and enjoy quality time with your loved ones. May this holiday season be filled with joy, peace, love, and gratitude for us all.

If Ms. Olmstead and I don't get the opportunity to see you before break, we wish you and your family a safe, healthy, and happy winter break! We look forward to ending this last week of 2024 at River Place ES strong and welcoming our Titans back to school, refreshed and ready to embark on a new year of learning and growth on Tuesday, January 7, 2025.

Take care and lead well,

Dr. Amy Sharp, RPE Principal

Ms. Lacy Olmstead, RPE Assistant Principal

• 19th: "Glo Daze" in Specials!
• Students will participate in "Glo Daze" on Tuesday and Thursday the week before Winter Break. All students will have the opportunity to visit each specials teacher through a rotation to play glow in the dark games and activities and make glowing arts and crafts. If they want to join in the fun even more, they can wear glow-friendly clothing on these days. It's a perfect ending to the fall semester!
• 20th: Early Release at 11: 30 AM and End of 2nd Nine Weeks Grading Period
• 23rd- January 6th: Winter Break for Students (Staff return on January 6, 2025)

January: Board Appreciation Month

• 6th: Staff Returns to Campus
• 7th: Students Return to Campus
• 9th: Elementary Night CRMS vs. FPMS Basketball Game at 5:30 PM (see flyer below)

Consider becoming a:

• Volunteer: https://apps.raptortech.com/Apply/MTc6ZW4tVVM=#
• Substitute: https://www.applitrack.com/leander/onlineapp/jobpostings/view.asp?internaltransferform.Url&category=&category=11+-+Substitute

Ms. Zoë Ashton from Four Points Middle School's Falcon Theatre department is looking to get more involvement from our feeder pattern's elementary schools with our middle school theatre program! To do so, she's reaching out to get some elementary students casted in the Four Points spring musical: Shrek JR! Auditions will be at the end of January and performances will be April 10th, 11th, and 12th.

Check out the links below:

Here is a video with more information.

Here is some information about auditions!

Here is the audition form for elementary students and their parents/guardians!

It was a thrilling Spelling Bee last week!

Congrats to our top spellers:

• Winner: Avi C. in Ms. Stringer's class
• Runner up: Satya R. in Ms. Olson's class

Many thanks to our PTA Spelling Bee Chair, Anna Hobson, co host and PTA President, Beth Revere, our pronouncer, Lisa Koren, and special thanks to our judges Julia Dzubinski, Kelsey Emerson, and Lauren Wade!

We are so excited to combine two excellent programs into one great focus for our Titans. We are using Leander ISD's Ethical Principles (Culture of Caring) and Leander ISD’s Graduate Profile to make our Titan Community leadership and learning focus come to life.

What are we doing as a campus community?

Each month, we will have a new focus and will introduce Titan Excellence during our Titan Time Assembly. Then at the end of each month our teachers will choose two students from their homeroom that have exemplified these qualities through learning and leading. We will celebrate these students at our end of the month, Titan Time Assembly.

Why the change?

We want to effectively integrate important values into our school culture and provide students with regular opportunities to be celebrated for their achievements. This approach should encourage positive behavior and a strong sense of community among our Titans. Our hope is that the monthly focus and the recognition at the end of each month will help keep students engaged and motivated throughout the year.

How can you help?

We encourage you to support this effort by talking about these things at home with your Titan(s), too.

With the news of Ms. Eubanks and her family relocating at Winter Break, we are actively hiring a librarian to start in the spring semester. Info here: https://bit.ly/3W7c71S

In the meantime, we are enjoying every day we have with Ms. Eubanks to end 2024. If we do not have a suitable replacement, we will work with district offices to secure a sub and continue our systems in the library. If you have any questions, please reach out to Dr. Amy Sharp at amy.sharp@leanderisd.org Thank you!

Join PTA TODAY because increasing our membership, even by one, makes it possible to:

• Get funds to teachers to supplement classroom needs.
• Connect with teachers, parents, and administration to voice needs for our school and our Titans.
• Fund library technology, guest speakers, playground equipment.
• Help plan community activities such as Fall Fest, Apex Fun Run, Book Fair, Mentoring
• programs, Field Day, Career Day & STEAM Night.
• Support Teacher and Staff Appreciation.

Myths Debunked!

• PTA does NOT require mandatory meetings or volunteer hours.
• PTA is NOT just for stay-at-home parents or for those who want to take on a large leadership role.

PTA is-

• for ANYONE who wants to be a bit more connected to teachers, principals and the Titan community. In sum, there is no wrong or right way to be in PTA!
• something that takes 5 minutes to join and if you join now your $10 membership will enter you in a monthly raffle for gift cards, free water bottles, and MORE!
• easy to join! ----------> https://riverplacepta.membershiptoolkit.com

While we deeply appreciate your effort in ensuring your Titan's SDM is updated throughout the school year to include exceptions, we kindly ask that you contact the office via email to get a bus pass written for any Titan that doesn't typically ride the bus to ensure that your Titan is able to safely board the bus with no issue when their SDM exception is Bus Rider. Best practice would be to register your Titan for the bus using this link if these exceptions are planned for an occurrence of at least once a week. For your Titans who do typically ride the bus, please ensure that you have registered your Titan for the bus using this link. Moving forward, students will not be allowed to ride the bus in any capacity unless they've been registered or have contacted the office for a bus pass. If you have any questions, please contact the front office. Thank you!

Families interested in being a part of the Free/Reduced lunch Program need to reapply each year. Please use this link to apply for the 24-25 school year if you haven't already done so. Also, if you are needing assistance with food for your student(s) for the weekend, you may use this google form to sign up for the Backpack Program. Your Titan(s) would receive a bag of food/snacks that they can put in their backpacks to take home each Friday. Please reach out to our school counselor if you have any questions.

Administration was informed that families cannot put a limit on a student's account through My School Bucks as thought. Families will need to fill out this form to detail the snack limit and return it to the cafeteria manager, valorie.rameriez@leanderisd.org at your earliest convenience. Please let us know if you need this in print form, and we will work with you to provide it.

Here are our Titan Community Communication Tools-

• River Place Elementary School Website
• Twitter Account
• PTA Facebook Page
• Remind App for River Place Insiders

Email: ContactTeacher@leanderisd.org
Website: https://riverplace.leanderisd.org/
Location: 6500 Sitio Del Rio Blvd, Austin, TX 78730, USA
Phone: 512-570-6911
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RiverPlaceElementaryPTA/
X (formally known as Twitter): @RiverPlaceTitan

Instagram: @riverplace_elem