P ATRIOT P RESS Patriot Oaks Academy Newsletter January 29, 2016

The

In This Issue

Basketball Schedule

High School Career Acade-mies UPDATED INFOR-MATION

Win An Author’s Visit

K Registration for 2016-2017

Strategic Planning Survey

Kindness Week

History Fair Winners

Proctors Needed

District Science Fair

Broadcom Masters

Internet Safety Program

MS Girls Softball Tryouts

Yearbook Ordering Infor-mation

Genius Hour Project

MS Math Counts Team

Elementary Battle of the Books

Summer Marine Science Camp

Band Fundraiser

Character Counts Run/Walk

Chocolate and Beyond 2016

2nd Quarter Honor Roll

Dear Families,

We have so many areas to be proud of around campus! In the past two weeks our children have

participated in the History Fair, competed in sports, attended field studies for musicals, visited the

Guana Preserve, researched at the Whitney Labs, met with registrars from Creekside High

School, competed in Science Fair and celebrated literacy during our state-wide Literacy Week

celebration. We have so many activities that occur in and around our campus that there is always

something going on to look forward to! Congratulations to all of our students for their

accomplishments! Some of these accomplishments are detailed in our newsletter… we always

enjoy highlighting our students’ successes!

Next week we celebrate KINDNESS! Please read the activities our guidance counselors have

suggested throughout the week and take some time to discuss and encourage kindness at school

and home.

Speaking of kindness, I always enjoy receiving those positive emails from parents about the great

things your child’s teachers do everyday. When I get these emails, I take the name off the

“sender” and send a “shout-out” to the teacher and/or team of teachers. Our teachers (and staff)

get a real boost from these simple, but powerful, kind words!

I am extremely proud of the work our students are doing with their “Genius Hour” projects. As a

school, we are trying to decide on the common language for these projects… some teachers also

refer to them as “Innovation Projects” and others as “Breakthrough Projects”. In the next month

we will decide what our term will be school-wide. In the meantime though, these individualized

projects are inspiring. Please check out one fifth-grade project mentioned on page 7!

Please also take a moment to complete our district survey. The link to complete the survey is on

page 4. Our district will use results from the survey to guide their strategic plan.

Lastly, please remember that our teachers will be engaged in a full day Visible Learning training

next Friday on “Feedback”… Don’t be surprised if you experience teachers and students utilizing

new “Feedback” strategies in the upcoming weeks.

Thank you as always for your continued support!

Your lead learner,

Mrs. Harrison

Building a Tradition of Excellence, Together! GO CHARGERS!

Principal’s Post

Fri. Feb 5: Teacher In-service ~ Student

Holiday

Mon., Feb 15: Presidents Day ~ Student/

Teacher Holiday

Tues, Feb 16: Student/Teacher Holiday

Visible Learning for Parents!

Ask your child this week:

What letter of the “LEARNER” or “CHARGER” acronym did you use today?

As an activity:

Make magnets / or cut out letters with the acronym to help spark dinner conversations.

Important Dates for High School Academies 2015-2016

There were a few date changes for the HS Academy Nights. All Academy Nights start at 6pm, except St. Johns Tech will start at 5:30pm. Academy Nights: Feb. 1st - St. Augustine Feb. 2nd– Creekside Feb. 1st - St. Johns Tech Feb 4th– Bartram Trail (New date) Feb. 1st - Ponte Vedra (New date) Feb 4th– Pedro Menendez (New date) February 5 St. Johns County Center for the Arts AUDITIONS at SAHS - You must bring your printed application form. February 8 Registration Deadline - Online - Registration will be closed at midnight. July 1 Last day to appeal For more information on St. Johns County High School Academy Programs go to: http://academies.stjohns.k12.fl.us/

Let’s win a visit from author, Jan Brett, for our school! What a fabulous opportunity to get excited about literacy! AND, it’s simple, all we have to do is vote! In order to win the free visit from Jan Brett, we need to have the most people signing into her website to vote for

Patriot Oaks Academy. http://www.janbrett.com/index.html . Please pass along this link to all of your family and friends! The contest started Monday, January 4th, 2016 and runs through April 4, 2016. Please visit the site, enter your name and email address using Patriot Oaks as your school. Each person can only register once. To make this even easier, here’s the school address: Patriot Oaks Academy, 475 Longleaf Pine Parkway, St. Johns, FL 32259. The Schools with the most logins will win! Go CHARGERS!

Charger Basketball Schedule

Feb. 1 5:30 pm POA v LPA Home

Feb. 3 5:30 pm POA v PBMS Home

Feb. 8 5:30 pm GRMS v POA Away

Feb. 10 5:30 pm VRA v POA Away

Come support our girls and boys basketball

teams!

Wanted! New Kindergarten Students!

It’s time to get the word out in our community regarding kindergarten and new student registration for the 2016-

17 school year. We ask that all of our Patriot Oaks Academy parents share the news with neighbors who have

incoming kindergartners or students who will be new to Patriot Oaks for the coming school year. We want to

encourage as many parents as possible to come to the pre-registration dates shown below so that we can get a

jump start on our kindergarten student numbers for the 2016-17 school year. Please help us by telling

neighbors to visit the school website (http://www-poa.stjohns.k12.fl.us/) for our registration packet and

information. Documents can be brought in or dropped off at any of the registration dates and prior to school

starting. We appreciate your helping us get the word out!

Pre-Registration for the 2016-17 School Year

St. Johns County Schools will be holding pre-registration for entering kindergartners and new students. The reg-

istration dates are as follows:

Tuesday, February 2 —9 am to 1 pm

Thursday, March 10 — 1 pm to 5 pm

Friday, April 8 — 9 am to 1 pm

Monday, May 9 — 1 pm to 5 pm

The purpose of the selected days is to help reduce the number of students that need to be enrolled in August for

the beginning of the 2016-17 school year. It also greatly helps us plan for the number of teachers needed for

the new school year.

Parents can start the registration process by bringing the following:

1. Proof of Residency – Three proofs of residency must be provided. These proofs must include a copy of the HUD-1

closing statement on your home or a current mortgage statement, a lease or rental agreement, and two other forms of resi-

dency documentation such as: a copy of your water/electric bill showing the parent/guardian’s name and address, a driver’s

license, vehicle registration, voter registration, and homeowner’s or renter’s insurance statement. Please note that P.O. box-

es are not acceptable as a proof of residency.

2. Student Information/Entry Packet – This is available at our website (http://www-poa.stjohns.k12.fl.us/) or it may be

picked up in our front office.

3. Birth Certificate – Must be original (we will make a copy for our records.)

4. Immunization Certificate – Must provide a Florida Immunization Certificate (HRS Form 680). This form can be obtained

from your private physician or the St. John’s Co. Health Department (825-5055). This form is mandatory for Kindergartners

or a first-time enrollment in a Florida school. Students who are transferring into our school district may be granted thirty days

to provide this document.

5. Proof of Physical Examination – Must be dated within one year prior to enrollment in school. Required for Kinder-

gartners or a first-time enrollment in a Florida school. Students transferring into our school district may be granted thirty

days to provide this document.

6. Social Security Number – Please bring original card if available; we will make a copy for our records

7. Custody Papers – Needed if parents are divorced

8. Final Report Card – If your child was previously enrolled in another school

** Kindergarten students must be 5 years of age on or before September 1, 2016

** First Grade students must be 6 years of age on or before September 1, 2016

Students can be registered during the spring or summer for the 2015-16 school year; however, parents are strongly encour-aged to register during the designated dates shown above so that our school can adequately plan and prepare for the new

school year.

District Strategic Plan Survey

Parents, Students, Employees and Community Members: Many of you received a recorded call from Dr. Joyner informing you about the survey to be used in the planning process of our district’s strategic plan. Your participation is vital to ensure that the direction we take in the next five years is reflective of the feelings, thoughts and beliefs of our stakeholders.

The survey will be open until Tuesday, February 2 and should not take more than 10 minutes to complete.

http://web.spcollege.edu/survey/20475

We are grateful for your continued support and dedication to the progress of our school district.

Middle School History Fair a Huge Success

Congratulations to the following students

who won their respective categories in the History Fair. These students will go on to

represent Patriot Oaks at the District level of competition in February.

Website:

Connor McKay and Gabe Smith

Padma Adimula

Documentaries:

Samuel Beasley and Kalvin Harr

Vanessa Esposito and Maddie Bryan

Exhibits:

Veronica Czajkowski

Mackenzie Foster

Rohan Bongu

Brandon Dahlman

Historical Paper:

Hanna Do

Be on the lookout for the Sign Up Genius!

Proctors are needed starting the end of Febru-

ary through May for Dis- trict and State testing.

Please consider giving of your time to help our testing go

smoothly.

We need you ~ sign up today!

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0a4daaa92ca31-test

St. Johns County District Science Fair

On January 20th, six of our Patriot Oaks Chargers participated in the St.

Johns County District Science Fair held at Sebastian Middle School.

All six students presented with poise and professionalism and did an

outstanding job representing Patriot Oaks. These students were 8th

graders Bella Camero, Hanna Do, Laila Shaktour, Miuru Warusa-

withana and Rishabh Singh, and 7th grader Gabe Smith

Two of our students placed 1st in the junior physics category, Miuru Warusawithana and

Rishbah Singh with their project “Contactless Brakes”. They also received a special award,

the Naval Science Award, from the office of Naval Research. And finally, they will represent

the district at the state science fair in March.

Job well done to all the students who participated in the first ever Patriot Oaks Academy science fair and to those who moved on to the district fair. Good luck to Miuru and Rishabh in March at the state science fair.

Rishbah and Miuru

1st Place Junior Physics

Naval Science Award

Miuru Warusawithana and Rishabh Singh are both nominees of the 2016 Broadcom Masters because they placed first at the district science fair and are eligible to apply to compete in this nationwide science fair competition. Broadcom Masters, a program of Society and Science & the Public, is a national competition that only the top 10% of middle school students in Society-affiliated science fairs NATIONWIDE are eligible to participate in. This a HUGE accomplishment for Miuru and Rishabh. Congratulations to you both!

GENIUS HOUR PROJECT Jackson Palmer, Mrs. Greenfield’s 5

th grade,

delivered Legos to South Woods Elementary after completing his genius hour project. When asked why he choose to do this project Jackson replied “For my Genius Hour project this quarter I decided to donate Legos to the kindergarteners of South Woods Elementary School. I decided to do this project because I love to build Legos, but I know that not everyone is fortunate enough to be able to play with these remarkable toys. Legos are a perfect toy because they teach you skills such as basic architecture but they are also really fun to play with. You can build anything with them, and they help you unlock your imagination. I think that the kindergarteners will really enjoy them, and I would really love to see how they will make them smile. The whole point of this Genius Hour project was to take something your our passionate about and be able to make a difference in the world, and I think that I did just that. Now the kindergarteners at South Woods Elementary School will be able to explore and enjoy something that I really treasure.”

SOFTBALL TRYOUTS

Softball Tryouts will be held at Aberdeen Sports

complex on Monday, Feb. 1, from 4pm-5pm.

Any middle school girl interested in playing

softball for POA should see Coach Bean in room

410 for information.

YEARBOOK ORDERS

The deadline to pre-order yearbooks

is February 15th and the cost is

$30. After February 15th, the price of the yearbooks will increase to $35. We are only offering hardcover books this year and all ordering will be done online through Leonard’s. You can go to:

www.leonards.com/yearbooks. Use the access code 35022 to order.

Middle School MATH COUNTS Team

Dear Middle School Students, A Middle School MATH COUNTS team is forming! We will meet on Monday afternoons in Mrs. Westberry’s room after school until 4:00. Any middle school student interested in doing challenging math problems for fun is welcome to join us. Since I registered our team too late to compete in this year’s competition, I originally just “advertised” the club to my students on-ly – but there seems to be enough interest to hold practices even without the competition, so now we are inviting students from any/all middle school math classes. Try this for fun (in 30 seconds or less): One half of three-fourths of a number is 20 more than two-fifths of the same number. What is the number? Stop by Mrs. Westberry’s room anytime to check your

answer . Stay mathy! Sincerely, ~Kristin Westberry

Elementary Battle of the Books Club Mr. Greco and Ms. Fletcher will be hosting the Battle of the Books Club for students in grades 3-5 on Thursday mornings from 8:00-8:30 AM in the library beginning Thursday February 4th. Students must have read at least eight of the Sunshine State Young Reader Award books and taken the AR quiz for each of the eight ti-tles. During each club we will ask direct quotes from the books and students will need to an-swer with the correct book title. After five weeks, we will total each students score. Students with the highest score will make up our Patriot Oaks team of five members and two alter-nates. The district Battle of the Books competition will be in May.

SUMMER MARINE SCIENCE PROGRAM INFORMATION

Applications for the summer Marine Science Program will be passed out by science teachers at all schools during the week of February 16th. Applications will be due back to science teachers by March 4th. Applications can also be downloaded at any time from the website prior to April 15 at http://www-grms.stjohns.k12.fl.us/and click on the Marine Science link. The link also will have a com-plete day by day curriculum for each grade level, parent information, and a video from last year’s pro-gram. This summer program is available to all students currently in grades five through seven and has been sponsored by the school district since 1982. Three eight day sessions are held at Gamble Rogers Middle School with bus transportation provided. The dates for the three sessions this summer will be May 31st through June 9th, June 13

th through June 23rd, and June 27th through July 8th. Small clas-

ses of 12-14 students are separated by grade level. All instructors in the program are St. Johns County School District teachers. The Marine Science Program is a carefully designed experience for responsible students who are interested in learning about our local marine environments. Learning is “hands on” in the field with students kayaking, canoeing, boating, hiking, snorkeling, sailing, windsurfing, surfing, SUP, etc. Spe-cific grade levels activities and curriculum are attached to the applications and are also available from the website. More information about the program can be had by emailing John Gordon at john.gordon@stjohns.k12.fl.us.

Discount Cards Now Available

The band is raising money for new instruments. We are a growing music program and need to expand our current instrumentation. Help us purchase a new French horn and euphonium for our students. If we reach our goal of 300 cards we will be able to provide these for our current and future students. Thank you for your support! Email Margaret.vance@stjohns. k12.fl.us or find a band student today

The CHARACTER COUNTS! Steering Committee is calling all walkers, runners and fitness enthusiasts to participate in the CHARACTER COUNTS! 6 Pillars 6K/3K Run/Walk on Saturday, February 6, 2016 at 9 a.m. The run/walk will begin and end at Palencia Elementary School located at 355 Palencia Village Drive, St. Augustine.

Walkers and runners will enjoy a scenic course running through the neighbor-hoods of Kensington and Las Calinas and can choose to participate in the 6K (3.73 miles) or 3K (1.86 miles) distance. Registration fees are as follows:

6K-$25 before January 1, $30 January1-February 5, $35 on race day 3K-$20 before January 1, $25 January 1-February 5, $30 on race day

Registration forms and more information are available online at www.racesmith.com/races/CHARACTERCOUNTS.html.

Second Quarter Honor Roll