Principal's Newsletter

Hello Spicewood Families,

We have had a great week at Spicewood! The majority of our middle of the year assessments are now complete and we will soon be sharing data with parents. We are excited by the growth we have seen and determined to focus on the areas where we need further support.

This week we crowned our Teacher of the Year and Support Person of the Year. The special thing about this honor is that the winners were nominated and voted on by their peers. Keep reading to find out the winners!

Lastly, just a note, please refrain from parking in the circle drive at Hope. They have many visitors that are handicapped or elderly that need to utilize that drive. We are appreciative to have a partnership with Hope and do not want to inconvenience them in any way!

Have a great weekend!

Sincerely,

Melanie Solis

Principal

Spicewood Elementary

Upcoming Important Dates

Feb. 4th-13th Apex Fundraiser

Feb. 11th- Spring Photos (Individual and Class)

Feb. 13th- Apex Obstacle Course Event (sign up further down in the newsletter)

Feb. 14th- Valentine's Parties

Feb. 17th- No School Students/Staff

Feb. 25th- Spirit Night at Cabo Bob's 5:00-9:00

March 7th- Spirit Night at Playland Skate Center (more info to come)

March 12th- PTA General Mtg. 6:30pm In-Person

March 14th- STEAM Day

March 17-21- Spring Break- No School

March 29th- Spicewood Auction & Gala

It is truly fitting that during Spicewood Elementary’s 50th anniversary, we celebrate Mrs. Jenny Bell as our Teacher of the Year! For 24 years, Mrs. Bell has been a dedicated educator at Spicewood, shaping the lives of countless students with her passion and commitment. As a 4th-grade teacher and campus leader, she is a cornerstone of our community—trusted by parents, loved by students, and a strong advocate for the IB model. We are grateful for her unwavering dedication and the lasting impact she has made at Spicewood!

We are proud to recognize our incredible lead custodian, Yely, as our Support Person of the Year! Yely does so much more than keep our school clean—she builds meaningful relationships with students, ensures every teacher has what they need, and brings warmth and positivity to our campus every day. She is truly the glue that holds Spicewood together, and we are so grateful for her dedication and care!

Special thank you to our amazing group of parents that provided lunch for the staff at Spicewood today. It was a wonderful way to celebrate Lunar New Year!

We had an amazing visit from our IB evaluator this week. It was wonderful to hear the affirmations of the wonderful work our staff is doing to create an amazing environment for our students. As part of the process, the evaluator talked to many of our students and was so impressed by how articulate they are and how passionately they spoke about our campus. So proud to be a Panther! 😍

Our vision as an IB school is to cultivate a caring community that makes a meaningful impact locally and globally. Thank you for being a part of this vision!

🔖 Spicewood's IB Webpage

Spicewood Families, the Art Department is currently collecting clean plastic bottle caps and buttons for an upcoming art project. A drop off box will be located near the front office and these items can be placed in the container at any point in time. Please be sure to clean your plastic bottle caps before donating them. We thank you so much for your help in this effort!

Mrs. Castelain and Mrs. Jones

Congratulations to the FLL 4th grade team, Intergalactic Sharks, for winning the 2nd place Champions award and 1st place Team Spirit award in Comfort, TX in January. If you see the Sharks in the SWES hallways (Kai C., Om D., Miles F., Lincoln G., Beckett H., and Ronav M.) ask about how they are working to control ocean pollution with their innovative robot design! They will move on to compete at the regional FLL competition in San Antonio next week.

We are so proud of their hard work and dedication to learning new things and exploring their passion for STEM!

Spicewood's AstroBots advanced to the FLL Central Texas Area Tournament! The team won 1st place in the Robot Games, and came in 2nd Overall Champions at the local tournament hosted at Harmony Science Academy - Cedar Park on Saturday 2/1.

We are so proud of this team! Pictured below: Aarush, Andrew, Sofia, Vikram, and Vivan and their amazing coaches, along with honorary member Chinni 😀

APEX FUNDRAISING: OBSTACLE COURSE EVENT

Please sign up for Apex Fundraising: Obstacle Course Event!
Here's how it works in 3 easy steps:
1. Click this link to go to our invitation page on SignUp: https://signup.com/go/uDpfScu
2. Enter your email address: (You will NOT need to register an account on SignUp)
3. Sign up! Choose your spots - SignUp will send you an automated confirmation and reminders. Easy!
Note: SignUp does not share your email address with anyone. If you prefer not to use your email address, please contact Pryscila Guttoski to sign you up manually.

This week kicked off one of our newest FUNdraising events, APEX! In addition to learning about building character and leadership skills, our students will be fundraising to fresh the school's 50 year old gym.

Our gym and multi-sport court are essential spaces that all our students use daily—for PE, recess, and special events. To ensure they remain safe, functional, and inviting, we are launching a fundraiser to invest in much-needed updates and improvements!

Your support will help us refresh these areas, enhancing their usability and appeal for our entire school community.

When considering this fundraiser, it was important to us as a campus that we continued to focus on the team aspect mindset. There are no individual prizes and all students in each class will participate in all class and school-wide prizes.

Thank you for your continued support!

In preparation for STEAM Day, our committee has created a website of information and to gather volunteers. It takes help in all different ways to facilitate this fun day of learning for our students. We would love to have your help on this day!

Please click on this link to visit the website for more information.

It’s that time of year - we are gearing up to transition our PTA Board.

The elected positions that make up the PTA Board are:

President

President- Elect

VP of Communications

VP of Programs

VP of Service and Outreach

VP of Clubs

VP of Fundraising

VP of DEI - Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

VP of Membership

Treasurer

Secretary

We would love all those interested in serving on the 25-26 PTA Board to please email spicewoodnominatingcommittee@gmail.com.

We are excited to announce that our current President-Elect, Pryscila Barvik Guttoski, will step into the role of PTA President for the 2025-2026 school year. We are also fortunate to have two dedicated board members, Kai Oeffner (our current Treasurer) and An-ni Chang (our current VP of Service & Outreach), who have graciously volunteered to continue in their roles for the upcoming term.

As we look ahead, we will be saying goodbye to the majority of our 2024-2025 board members, as they have completed their two-year term limits. We are incredibly grateful for their service and look forward to welcoming new faces to the team!

If you have any question regarding the time commitment and responsibilities of certain seats, please also reach out directly to our board members (email addresses are posted on the PTA website).

We need volunteers for our upcoming Panther Patrol volunteer dates. Spend the day at Spicewood! Our school needs your help!

Please visit the link to volunteer for our upcoming dates:

March 5th

April 2nd

May 7th