Titan Times: Week 36

Titan Families,

Tomorrow, is the first day of May 2024. We are officially in the long stretch to summer, and there are a lot of opportunities for you to celebrate your Titan(s) progress this year. Please be sure to look at our many events ahead detailed in this newsletter.

Celebrations from the Week:

• We'd like to spotlight Nigel, Kaiden, John, and Simon (honorary scout 😉 ) with Cub Scout Pack 201. These awesome Cub Scout Pack 201 scouts have been the real MVPs behind our flag ceremonies. Cold or hot, they show up early and stay late to make sure River Place Elementary's flags were up and down every single day. We owe them a big shoutout for volunteering and being such flag-waving rockstars!
  
• The LEEF Star Banquet was last week. This is a banquet where students across the district have the opportunity to celebrate an educator at their respective campus. For River Place Elementary, Ms. Freeze was honored at it! Please join me in celebrating her service. Special thanks to 5th grader, Eli B., for his nomination and celebration of her service to our campus. See the pictures below!
• Mr. Herbort finished participating and learning in the Leander ISD Aspiring Administrator Academy cohort last week. Please help me in celebrating this milestone in his career. It's been a joy to see him strive in this aspect of our profession this year.

Important Announcements:

• Student led conferences are here! Check out the info below!
• Book Fair is THIS week! Please be sure your Titan has an eWallet set up. If you have any questions, please reach out to your classroom teacher or our librarian, Ms. Eubanks.
• Field Day is May 3rd. This year, our PTA fully funded all of our Titans to get a grade level t-shirt to wear on field trips, Titan Tuesdays, and on field day. Families, be sure to find that shirt you've been given. Kinder families, your child will get them the morning of Field Day. If you have misplaced the shirt, no worries at all! Just plan to wear a Titan shirt or the color of your grade level that day! Kindergarten is orange, 1st grade light blue, 2nd grade green, 3rd grade red, 4th grade maroon, and 5th grade royal blue. If you have any questions about that t-shirt, please reach out to your Titan(s)'s classroom teacher.

Additional Information:

• Next week it's our teacher and nurse appreciation era! See the info below!
• 2nd grade is conducting a service project that will end on May 1st. That's right! They are learning about being a part of a community and that as a community member, they are to advocate and act towards things to help one another and solve problems together. They thought a good project to work on with our student leadership team (SLT) would be to recycle socks. They created a plan to learn what it's like to take on a project like this with their teachers, and you and SLT are a vital part of it. They want to be able to share their results with us, so check out their service project below and know they are counting on you to help them with their effort!
• REMINDER: Punctuality is key to success both inside and outside the classroom- EVEN IN THE MONTH OF MAY. That being said, school starts at 7:30 AM. That means learning starts at 7:30 AM. Let's strive to be punctual. Throughout the year, students should arrive each day by 7:30 AM, ready to engage in learning opportunities created by their classroom teacher(s). Together, we can do this!

As we continue the remainder of the school year together, let's stay the course on our commitment to excellence and PRIDE. By working together, we can ensure that every day at River Place Elementary is an amazing, flourishing campus community!

Thank you for all you do to support our Titan Community! Let's make it a great week!

Take care and lead well,

Dr. Amy Sharp

Proud RPE Principal

April:

• Book Fair is the Week of April 29- May 3rd (Volunteers Needed- See Below)

• 30th: 5th Grade instrument tryouts

May:

• 1st: Last day for 2nd grade recycle sock drive
• 3rd: Field Day-Wear your grade level Titan Shirts!
• 6th- 10th: Teacher & Nurse Appreciation Week
• Check out their favs below! PTA has some fun stuff planned for our staff, too, thanks to your generous donations!
• 8th: Public School Instructional Aide (IA) Appreciation Day
• 9th: Kindergarten Field Trip
• 10th: Kinder Student Led Conferences- See Teacher Email
• 12th- 17th: Speech Language Pathologist Appreciation Week:
• Check out Ms. Megan's favs below and help us celebrate her on campus!
• 14th & 15th: 2nd & 4th Grade Student Led Conferences- See Teacher Email
• 14th: Kindergarten Buddy Day at 8:30 AM (For 24-25 new enrollment families)
• 15th: PTA General PTA meeting at 8 AM in the Cafeteria (last one for the year)
• 16th: 5th Grade Student Led Conferences- See Teacher Email
• 16th & 17th: 1st Grade Student Led Conferences- See Teacher Email
• 17th: 3rd Grade Student Led Conferences- See Teacher Email
• 20th or 21st: Talent Hour in specials (See info below)!
• 21st: 1st Grade EOY Party at 8 AM- See teacher info
• 22nd:
• Senior Walks start at 8 AM
• Kinder EOY Party at 11:40 AM- See teacher info
• 2nd Grade EOY Party at 12:45 PM- See teacher info
• 23rd:
• 5th Grade Crossing Over Ceremony from 8-9:30 AM
• 4th Grade EOY Party at 12:30 PM- See teacher info
• 3rd Grade EOY Party at 1:30 PM- See teacher info
• 24th:
• Last day of school- Early Release for Students at 11:30 AM
• 5th Grade EOY Party at Sun Tree Park- See teacher info

Check out the theme for the day, and join us in celebrating our staff! PTA and the administration team will also celebrate staff throughout the week. This is an opportunity for you and your child to do something in addition to those efforts if you wish to do so. Thanks in advance for supporting us in celebrating and appreciating our staff.

Hope to see you there!

Hello Families!!

Can you believe the end of the year is already here!? As the River Place Elementary specials team, it has been rewarding to see our Titans grow this year in many avenues through the arts, athletics, teamwork, reading, and music to name a few. As you may have heard, our team is planning on wrapping the year up with a few fun grade level wide activities. One activity is a grade level student Talent Hour! This opportunity will be shown by grade level, during their dedicated Specials rotation time. We believe this will give them a fun way to wrap up a fantastic year, and we wanted to share with you the timeline and details shared with your child/children.

To be clear, the grade level Talent Hour is not a formal “show” or “performance”. It is intended to be an informal, fun way to showcase some talent that may not have been seen this year. The stage is not decorated and the audience is seated on the floor in an assembly style format. Therefore, the main audience for Talent Hour is the grade level student body, and only families of students participating are encouraged to come if they’d like to do so.

Here is the timeline for the Talent Hour:

April 8: Sign-Ups start in the hallway by the MPR/Performing Arts Room

April 19: Sign-Ups are closed

May 6-10: Auditions occur

**May 20 or 21: Talent Show! (date dependent on weather)

Ideas:

-Singing

-Dancing

-Instrument playing (a piano is available for students on campus)

-Magic tricks

-Joke telling/comedy routine

-Gymnastics (tumbling)

-Skits (mini plays)

-Juggling

-Cheer

Please note that all students are NOT required to audition, but all students will have the opportunity to watch their grade level’s Talent Hour! All auditioning students or student groups will be approved by someone on the Specials team through an audition to one of us. If you are supporting your child with these preparations, please keep in mind that the Talent Hour will be on the MPR stage and space is limited. If you have any questions at all, please feel free to contact one of us.

We look forward to hearing and seeing all of the talent our RPE students have even further through our talent hour!

Sincerely,

The Specials Team

Many families take time out of their day to let our office and administration team know how much they value our Titan Staff. We share with our staff in our staff newsletter and at staff meetings moments of "shine" from you, and we encourage you to consider filling out this form whenever you believe our district should celebrate a staff member publicly, too. If you have any questions, please let Dr. Sharp know.

We also, very much, encourage you to consider filling out this form whenever you believe our district should celebrate a student in our Titan Community publicly, too. If you have any questions, please let Dr. Sharp know.

WATCH D.O.G.S. is a national program focusing on the prevention of violence in our children’s schools by using the positive influence of fathers and father-figures to be a positive role model for all students. The change this year is that you don't need to volunteer for an entire day; we will have hourly opportunities available should you prefer that. Anything to keep your involvement on campus!

While on campus, WATCH D.O.G.S may-

• work in small groups with kids,

• support staff out at recess,

• support lunch room clean up and etiquette eat lunch,

• monitor the school entrances and hallways,

• assist with arrival and dismissal,

• mentor students, and much more!

How to get Involved-

1. Read through the expectations and sample schedule

2. Register as a Leander ISD Volunteer

3. Fill out the RPE Watch Dogs Registration Form

4. After confirming volunteer status, our assistant principal, Lacy Olmstead, will reach out with more information and schedule.

Spring is in the air and LEEF is excited to partner with Kendra Scott for an exciting day raising funds to support our Leander ISD teacher grants. Looking for the perfect Mother's Day gift or something fun to add to your own collection? Kendra Scott is sure to have it! During the in-person event, be sure to let checkout know you are there for LEEF and we will receive 20% of the purchase to help support our teaching grants!

Do you have a student interested in art who wants to expand their artistic abilities? Look no further! Cordovan Art School is now accepting enrollment for their summer art camps. Students will use mixed media, chalk, pencil, pastels, watercolors, and more during their deep dive into various creative art themes. When enrolling your creative student, use Promo Code: LEEF24 and $25 from each enrollment will be donated to the Leander Educational Excellence Foundation! Enroll today at: https://bit.ly/LEEFCordovanArt

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: 512-570-6900
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RiverPlaceElementaryPTA/
Twitter: @RiverPlaceTitan