PTA

December 2014

Lemon Road Elementary

7230 Idylwood Road, Fal ls Church, Virginia 22043 ● 703-714-6400

From the Principal’s Desk … DON’T

FORGET!

Dec. 19

2 hour early

release

Dec.22—Jan. 2

NO SCHOOL!

Enjoy your

winter break!

Happy Holidays from me, Sean, and the

teachers and staff at Lemon Road! As this is

a time for appreciation and gift giving, we

want to thank you for sending us your most

precious gifts each and every day. Your chil-

dren are why we exist and we are grateful to

have the opportunity to meet them at the

classroom door and welcome them into a

world of inquiry and investigation. We are

also thankful for the gift of service you as

parents provide us. Your support, volun-

teerism, and partnership are keys to our success.

I also want to give a shout out to our TEACHERS. They are the

greatest gifts of all. They come to school every day with a positive

attitude, a collaborative spirit, and a zest to do what is right for

children. Our teachers go above and beyond, spending many hours

working at home or before and after school. They do all of this with

less than sufficient salaries and increasing demands. They are he-

roes and are very deserving of the Winter Break that is upon us.

We have lots of great “happenings” in this last week of December,

including our Variety Show and Holiday Parties on December 19. I

am looking forward to seeing you then! If I do not get a chance to

see you… Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a prosperous

New Year to all!

Andy

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Elementary PTA

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Lost and Found!

When you're in school for the variety

show and class parties on Friday, don't

forget to check the collection of goodies at

the Lost & Found. Your child definitely

has at least one item in there you didn't

even know was missing!

Newsletter

Submissions

Do you have an

article, ad or

school related

photo to put in next

month’s newsletter?

If so, e-mail

Nicole Myers at:

LRPTAnews

@gmail.com

PAGE 2 LEMON ROAD ELEMENTARY DECEMBER 2014

Happy Holidays to all Lemon Road Lions and their

families! I wish you all peace and joy for the winter

break and for the new year!

One of my teenagers recently told me he doesn’t see

why the whole holiday season is such a big deal. Of

course that was really nothing more than another

grouchy teenage gripe, but it did make me realize that

the season is even better as an adult than it was as a

kid, when it was really only about the gifts. In spite of

the chaos and gift-buying panic I find myself in for at

least 3 weeks, I look forward to the extra time with friends, and the sincere gestures of affec-

tion and appreciation we share with friends, coworkers, family – and of course the teachers

and staff of Lemon Road!

I’m not much of a gift-giver, so let me offer a sincere expression of gratitude for you all! I feel

sincerely blessed to be a part of the warm, generous community that is Lemon Road. My

family benefits from all the teachers, staff and families here, and I am glad to be able to give

back whatever I can. Thank you all for your support and your generosity.

Our Lions Share service program is a great example of our generous community. You can

read about some of our work in this newsletter. It includes the coat drive, food recovery, do-

nations of Fun Fair tickets, Angel Tree giving, among other things. How exciting to be a part

of a community that does so much to help others, that gives back so much to the community,

and with such enthusiasm. I hope you see in your kids’ faces what I see when they talk about

bringing food to the food bank, or wanting to help other kids stay warm. That’s not some-

thing every kid learns or every school teaches! We’re in a special place here at Lemon Road.

I look forward to continuing that work in 2015! See you all then.

Mary Clare Murray, President, Lemon Road PTA

From The PTA President

Variety Show and Winter Parties!

The Lemon Road Variety Show will be held this Friday, December 19, at

8:25am. Class parties will follow! Check with your classroom parent if

you're not already signed up to help .

After School Classes The winter session of Afterschool Enrichment Activities

starts in January and registration is open until Friday,

December 19! Go to the PTA website

at lemonroadpta.org to download the form, or pick one up

at the front office.

PAGE 3 LEMON ROAD ELEMENTARY DECEMBER 2014

The Angel Tree

You are invited to sup-

port our neediest chil-

dren this Christmas

through our Angel Tree

program. This year we

are partnering with the

Falls Church McLean

Children’s Center to

make a difference in

the lives of even more

children.

Here’s how it works:

☼ Select an angel or two of your choice

☼ Purchase one, two or all of the items on

their wish list

☼ Attach the “angel” to the package(s) –

wrapped or unwrapped, your choice

☼ Bring/send the item(s) to school on or

before December 18th (to room 108)

☼ Smile and enjoy the satisfaction of

making someone’s Christmas brighter!

Cheers!

The Claus family

Lions Share

One branch of our PTA Service Committee (along with the Discovery Gardens and Afterschool

Enrichment) is Lions Share. This is a program that includes a number of different service op-

portunities for students and their families. Some of our recent activities include:

collecting donations of Fun Fair tickets for students in need -- our generous families donat-

ed hundreds!

scholarships for families interested in taking Afterschool Enrichment Activities who need

financial support -- look on your registration form for instructions on how to donate!

our food recovery program, which collects about 75 pounds of food every week, most of

which goes to our own families!

a coat drive (going on now!), in partnership with Freedom Hill Elementary to provide win-

ter coats, hats, scarves, and gloves to some of our students.

and the Angel Tree (also going on now!), where families can "adopt" a child, whose tag

hangs on the Angel Tree in the teacher lounge, and provide holiday gifts for that child.

We are so proud of our Lemon Road Lions for helping their classmates and families in their

communities through this and other service opportunities!

We Need Coats!

Our winter coat drive ends this Friday, Decem-

ber 19th! Lemon Road Lions need your help in

collecting winter coats, gloves, scarves and

hats for needy families in our community. (We

will swap our donated coats with Freedom Hill

Elementary, so that children don’t see a class-

mate wearing a donation.)

Needed: New or used (please wash) child-

sized coats, gloves, scarves, and hats.

Donations can be sent into school with your

child or dropped off to the front office at Lemon

Road Elementary School until December 19,

2014.

If your child needs a

coat, please contact

Katia or Pamela, Parent

Liaisons, at (703) 714-

6407. Please provide

your child’s size and we

will drop off the coat

with the classroom

teacher.

PAGE 4 LEMON ROAD ELEMENTARY DECEMBER 2014

Discovery Gardens

In (almost) any weather, Lemon Road students continue to go

outside to experience the outdoors through play, investigation,

gardening and environmental stewardship. Last month, the

2nd grade class harvested milkweed seeds and planted them

to provide additional butterfly habitats. The 6th graders har-

vested last year's colonial garden and the 4th graders harvest-

ed last year's Salsa garden while also planting onion and gar-

lic. Parts of their harvest were used in an after-school cooking

class as an example of garden-

to-table cooking.

In addition, the kindergartners broke ground on their experimental gar-

den and placed pavers to delineate the space where the garden will be in

the spring. Also, we had our inaugural Garden Club meeting which was

a great success! Garden Club will continue in the spring.

Finally, the trout have arrived at Lemon Road! The students are asking

great questions about the trout and enjoy seeing them when they go to

the library every week, while the trout team is learning all about trout

care and life cycle.

Our garden work day on December 6 was a success and almost every-

thing on our check list was accomplished before the rain moved in. A

huge thanks to the families who gave their time and energy to keep our

school looking great even though the weather wasn't the best...

Jonathan and dad Ben Hansen

Rebecca and mom Belinda Thompson

Russell and dad Jeff Hartge

Carolyn and brother Mark Yoder

Lucas with dad David and mom Bridget Jones

Dylan and mom Kristin Brace

James and Elisabeth Murray with their brothers Joe, Paul and Jude, sister Grace, and mom Mary

Clare Murray

Chris Peterson

Marsha Franco

Dawn Jacobs

This is the work that was done: Additional wood

beams and 2 terraces were added to Jacobs' Hill to

help prevent erosion; Weeding, trimming, and rak-

ing were done in the Sharing Garden and Eric's

Garden, as well as the front corners of the school

with most things going to the compost pile on the

side of the school. You may notice that many tree

braces have been removed— The trees were planted

a year ago and that is the recommended period.

Also of note are the rose bushes in the front— don't

worry, they are still there and will grow back in the spring. Lots of other little things were done as

well and we were very happy with the outcome. Look for us again in the spring!

PAGE 5 LEMON ROAD ELEMENTARY DECEMBER 2014

Fundraising at Lemon Road

Art to Remember is Here!

If you haven't already seen your student's Art to Remember items, be on the

lookout before school is out for Winter Break! Items were shipped to school last

week and will go home with students this week.

Shopping at Amazon?

Don't forget to shop Amazon through Lemon Road! If you go through our

link, we receive a percentage of your purchases! Check out the link on

our website at lemonroadpta.org.

Thanks for coming to Restaurant Night

And thanks to everyone as well who participated in our first Restaurant night, in November

at Jason’s Deli, which raised about $125.We hope to see more of you at other events in 2015!

Piano Lessons! Lessons taught by an experienced

elementary music teacher.

Accepting beginner and intermedi-

ate students.

Contact Mrs. Finley, 571-294-6899.

“Mrs. Finley is a wonderful music teacher;

not only is my daughter learning to play the

piano but she is developing a genuine love

and appreciation of music overall. She shares

her love of music in an infectious and inspir-

ing way.” - S. Gruenfelder

Need help with your homework?

The Lemon Road parent liaisons have formed a partnership with Marshall High School vol-

unteers called The Homework Club. Students at Marshall are offering tutoring help for

Lemon Road students who need extra time and guidance with their homework. The club

meets on Tuesdays at the Tysons-Pimmit Library from 3 to 4:30. Parents must stay in the

library but can take small children to the children's room. Lemon Road students are enjoy-

ing the older students' expertise and support while Marshall students are receiving service

learning hours needed for graduation. For more information, contact Parent Liaison Pamela

Huffman at pshuffman@fcps.edu.

Treats for our Troops

Thanks to all the fami-

lies who dragged their

extra Halloween candy to

the Fun Fair and donat-

ed it to Treats 4 Our

Troops. We collected 126

lbs. of candy to send to

our servicemen and wom-

en!! That's more than

double our collection

from last year. Go Lions!

PAGE 6 LEMON ROAD ELEMENTARY DECEMBER 2014

Thanks to the hard work of Erica McKinney, Lemon Road counselor, with the

support of SCA officers, SCA representatives in

grades 4 through 6, and parent volunteers, the Se-

cret Shoppe raised over $1,700! The proceeds will

go to UNICEF K.I.N.D., a pro-education initiative

to purchase desks for kids in Malawi. Our dona-

tions will supply a full classroom with desks: Lem-

on Road's generosity at work around the world!

Donations to the PTA are Tax-Deductible!

Don't forget, your PTA is a 501(c)3, tax-

exempt charitable organization, so your

contributions are deductible from your in-

come taxes. When you're planning your

year-end charitable contributions, please

consider making one to Lemon Road Ele-

mentary PTA. You can claim the donation

as a deduction -- and help the school!