Horn Notes - a weekly bulletin Tuesday, November 17, 2009

This is a weekly notice sheet for Horn announcements, published by the Horn Academy PTO.  To include items in this bulletin, please contact hornnotes@hornpto.org by Thursday 5pm.
Horn Academy PTO website:  www.hornpto.org
To sign up to receive news from HISD via e-mail, visit www.houstonisd.org/subscribe

 Book Fair Attendance
During the Book Fair, students may come to purchase books during their recess time or during class time if the teacher allows it. If a student is accompanied by his/her parent, they may come to the library at 7:30 or after school. No students will be allowed without a parent during the morning times before school and after school. There is not enough volunteer help at those times to help monitor.

Keep all your receipts as no returns or exchanges will be allowed without a receipt.

School Safety Concerns
Children are not allowed on the playground areas or garden areas before or after school. Teachers specifically planted certain plants to allow children to OBSERVE the life cycle of butterflies. Please do not allow your child to handle caterpillars, butterflies, etc. found in the garden areas. 

Play dates after school need to happen off campus. 
All play areas are reserved for the after-school program.

All children should report directly to the cafeteria before school if the morning bell has not rung.

Scooters and bicycles should be walked on the sidewalks around the school...not ridden. 

Student safety is one of our biggest goals. 
Your cooperation is appreciated in making Horn a safe place for children.
S. Harrington, Principal

No Place For Hate – Butterfly Project 
For the past two weeks, our Art teacher Ms. Howell has been working with our students in drawing beautiful butterflies in Art class. One of Horn’s projects for No Place For Hate is the Holocaust Museum Houston Butterfly project. The museum is collecting 1.5 million handmade butterflies to represent the children who died during the Holocaust. These butterflies will be for a special exhibit in 2012. Our butterflies are displayed on one of our bulletin boards in the front lobby before they are sent to the museum. They are beautiful. Thank you Ms. Howell and Horn children.

Thank You
Gates’ Gators would like to give a special thank you to Arlene Martinez and DaySpa-AtYourDoor.com for providing us with our James Coney Island hot dog party! We are proud Carnival Booth winners and we had a yummy, good time!

 Bring A Date To Lunch This Week!
Destination: Book Fair
November 16-20, 2009
The Fall Book Fair has arrived! We hope you’ll bring a special “date” to lunch this week and visit the Book Fair together afterwards! Funding for the library comes from the proceeds of our book fairs. Help support this great cause that benefits all Horn students! The Book Fair is open at the following times:

Tuesday-Friday
Before School               7:30 am – 7:50 am
During Lunch                11:00 am – 1:00 pm
After School                 2:45 pm – 3:30 pm
Thursday 11/19         Spaghetti Supper
Evening Hours             5:00 pm – 8:00 pm

We’ve had a great response for volunteers – thank you!  We could still use a few more volunteers during the night of Spaghetti Supper.  If you can lend a hand for 30 MINUTES this Thursday evening, please e-mail bookfair@hornpto.org.  Thanks!

 Spelling Bee Reminder
If you think you have signed a permission slip and have received no information please contact Emily Rath at erath@houstonisd.org.

FLU News
There will be seasonal flu vaccine & flu mist available at our Spaghetti Supper Night, Thursday, November 19th, 5 to 8 p.m. ($20.00 for the shot; $30.00 for the flu mist). If he has H1M1 vaccine/flu mist available, he will bring that, too.
Your Nurse, M.Bendiksen, RN

Reminder – Champions’ Parents!
Remember that there will be no after school Champions on Thursday, November 19th.

 REMINDER!!! Party on the Piazza!   
Thursday, November 19, 2009 
Tickets at the door $10.00 per person
The Spaghetti Supper Committee would like to send a huge “THANK YOU” to all of our sponsors.   Please take the time to visit their websites or stop by and say thank you!
Whole Foods Bellaire www.wholefoodsmarket.com
Pepsi  www.pepsi.com
Farrago  www.farragohouston.com
Tri-Tech Surveying Company   www.surveyingcompany.com
Randall’s Bellaire  www.randalls.com
Texas Orthopedic Hospital www.texasorthopedic.com
Frazerbilt  www.frazerbilt.com
Westside High School Baseball  www.westsidehighsports.org/wshsbaseball.htm
Hernandez Family
Arguello Family
McLauchlin Family

K-2 “Name That Book” Contest
If your Kindergarten, 1st, or 2nd grade child is interested in trying out for the K-2 “Name that Book” team, he/she will need to read the 30 books on the list by Tuesday, January 19th (try-out date).

The 6 students who score the highest on the try-out test will make-up the Horn team. The team will then compete in the HISD “Name that Book” reading competition held in February against other elementary schools in HISD. 

Interested students must love to read. They need to have very good comprehension, retention, and listening skills, along with excellent behavior and excellent conduct grades. They also need to be able to stay focused for 45 minutes at a time. The students who make the team will be required to stay after school for team practice on Thursday afternoons from 3:00-3:45 (January 21st thru Feb. 18th).

A list of the books along with the rules of the contest can be found on the following web site:  http://www.hisdlibraryservices.org/NTBK-2.html

Students do not need to sign up to try-out for the team. They just need to read the 30 books and be prepared for the try-outs on the morning of Tuesday, January 19th.  Before try-outs, Ms. Batke will be giving practice questions during student’s weekly library time.  To help your son/daughter prepare for the try-outs, you might assist him/her in reading the books and writing down questions from each book.

If you need additional information about the K-2 “Name that Book” try-outs and competition or you need a list of books, e-mail Ms. Batke at sbatke@houstonisd.org 

Thank You from Sounds of Success (SOS)
Many Thanks to following $50+ donors for their generous contribution to the Sounds of Success fundraising campaign!

Bailey Family
Bob and Antonetta Russo
Boyd Family
Cannon
Cook
Corder
Dave Clark, Realtor (Jared and Justin's Dad)
Iliev Family
Jason and Lee Anne Dixon
Jin Family
Kaiti Kling & Carl Classen
Kevin and Tarita Campbell
Luan & Maria Pham
Mamdooh Abdalla and Nancy Esper, parents of Andrew Abdalla
Marci & Mike Baker
Mark & Elise Newman
McLauchlin
Melissa & Derek Newton
Mr. and Mrs. Ted Meyer
Nates
Pingjun Guo
Randy and Sandra Stavinoha
Reichert Family
Ross Altman and Shelby Altman
Sandy and Will Parsons
Sarah and Eric Bittner
Sharon & Robert Cummings
Steve & Gemma Asteriou
The Draper Family
The Metzger family
Trina & Dan Feig
Whitehead
Will Johnson Family
Wing & Sophia Wong
Zaman

Updates from Sounds of Success (SOS)
The Sounds of Success (SOS) fundraiser is the primary method to raise funds for the Horn PTO. The funds raised throughout the year enable us to provide services, sponsor events, offer scholarships, and help purchase items not ordinarily provided through HISD. In addition to recurring PTO funded items such as teacher scholarships and teacher reimbursement for classroom consumables, this past year the PTO was able to appreciate the teachers with monthly luncheons and Holiday gifts; provide incentive programs for kids for things such as reduced tardies, perfect attendance and AR store to encourage reading; and a lot more….

Through your generosity, we have raised $10,716… still ways to go to reach our goal. Please keep these donations coming! The more you give, the more we can do!

Calling All Bakers!
WE NEED YOU to prepare goodies and/or help sell delicious treats at the Horn Academy Spaghetti Supper on Thursday, November 19, 2009. In addition to our generous bakers, we need chefs willing to share their special jams, sauces (sweet and savory), dry rubs, mixes along with other sumptuous food-items and gift ideas. 

If you have any questions, please e-mail (most preferable!) or call me.
Thanks again for your support of Horn! 
Ann Marie Falloure, e-mail: afalloure@pacinico.com
Office Ph: (713)655-1526
Home Ph: (713)218-6631

Horn Spirit Event – Farrago
Earn money for Horn while you enjoy a meal at Farrago. During the month of November, when you dine at Farrago (located at 318 Gray) on Monday or Tuesday nights, the restaurant will generously donate 10% of the check amount back to Horn Academy.  Simply inform your server that you are dining at Farrago to support Horn Academy and they will take care of the rest. For directions to the restaurant, please visit their website at www.farragohouston.com.

Early Dismissal on Tuesday, Nov. 24
Remember that Tuesday, November 24 is an early dismissal day. School is out at 12 NOON that day. Please make arrangements to pick up you children on time.

”No Toy” Toy Drive is Continuing
Horn Helping hands is extremely excited about their holiday fund drive. We have adopted Port Houston Elementary School. Port Houston is a small Elementary on the east side of Houston near the ship channel. Our goal is to collect enough gift cards to give every student a small present for the holidays. Since Port Houston only has 350 students we feel this is an easy goal to accomplish.

We are asking each Horn family to donate a gift card from either WalMart, Target, or Academy. We will take all donated cards and divide the amounts equally. Please write the value on the card so that we can evenly distribute them among the PK-6th graders at the school. (For example $5, $10, $20, $100 etc)

If you would feel more comfortable donating money please make out any check to Port Houston Elementary School Activity Fund.

Please send the cards or checks with your students or place them in the box in the Horn office. We will be collecting the gift cards and checks until December 11th, 2009.

Thank you in advance,
Horn Helping Hands

EasyTech
Some people have been asking about EasyTech. The website is www.learning.com and the district is “Houston ISD”. Students are allowed to go to it at home. They can login as hornk, horn1, horn2, etc. The password is “horn”. Parents can login as horn.

Note from the School Nurse
Dear Families,
We have had a couple of cases of head lice. It is difficult for me to pick up all the cases when I do classroom checks. If it’s early, I may not find anything on my quick check. I need the help of all parents. Please check your child regularly for any sign of lice or nits.
How do you get lice?
Lice can’t jump or fly; they are usually transmitted by contact with infested persons, their clothing (hats, coats, etc.), their combs, or brushes. It is not true that lice come from unclean people or homes. Daily baths and shampoos won’t prevent transmission from one infested hat!
What to look for
Lice are small insects about the size of a sesame seed. They are usually light brown, but can vary in color. They move quickly and shy away from light, making them difficult to see, especially in people with dark hair.
Diagnosis is more often made on the basis of finding nits or eggs, which can be seen most easily in natural light. Nits are tiny, whitish-gray oval eggs attached to the hair shaft. The female louse cements her eggs to the hairs with a waterproof, cement-like substance. Thus, nits can’t be washed or brushed off like dandruff. Nits are found throughout the hair, but are most often located at the nape of the neck, behind the ears, and at the crown.
Symptoms of infestation
The itching that occurs when lice bite and suck blood from the scalp is often the primary symptom of infestation, although not everyone will experience the itching. Children seen scratching their heads should be examined at once. Often bite or scratch marks can be seen on the scalp.
Treatment of Individuals and household cleaning
There are many lice shampoos on the market. Some are over the counter; some are prescription. You might want to consult with your doctor on which brand to use. After treatment, you need to manually remove all lice and nits. This requires a good light and time. There are special lice combs available to help remove lice and nits (eggs).
Bedding and recently worn clothing should be washed in hot water and placed in a hot dryer. Carpeting, car seats, and upholstery should be vacuumed to pick up hair that may have nits attached. Use common sense. Lice only live for a day off of a human head. Pets do not harbor head lice. The most important part of treatment is to comb or manually pull out every louse and nit.
Prevention
You can’t really prevent head lice. You can check your child frequently to catch a problem early on. Lice don’t jump or fly. They need close contact to spread. Consider pulling long hair back into ponytails or braids. Teach your child not to share combs, brushes, hats or scarves.
If your child has head lice, please inform the school nurse and the parents of your child’s playmates.
Make checks for head lice a routine at home, especially after play dates and sleep-overs.
Your Nurse,
M. Bendiksen, RN