LET US HEAR FROM YOU:

School P= hone: &= nbsp; &nbs= p; (713) 942-1460 = ; &n= bsp;

After Sc= hool Program: (713) 524-8430

Office Hours: = 7:15 am – 4:15 pm

Web Site= : &= nbsp; &nbs= p; http://es.houstonisd.org/riveroakse= s

E-mail:<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:3'> &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; km= cbride@houstonisd.org

PTO webs= ite: &= nbsp; &nbs= p; http://www.riveroakspt= o.org

CALENDAR ITEMS

May 15	5^th grade Exhibition, 3:30-6pm=
16	3^rd, 4^th and 5^{th grade Spring Program, 8:45 (last names A-L) & 1:45 (last names M-Z)}
22	5^th grade to Buckhorn Ranch
26	Memorial Day – No school
27	Switch Day for all students at 8:30=
28	Kindergarten Program in cafeteria at 8:30= 5^th grade Graduation Ceremony at La= nier MS, 5-7pm
29	Last day of school – Buses run at 12:45<= o:p>

FROM THE DESK OF … MS. MCBRIDE

Dear Parents,

Thanks to all of you who assisted Wendy Sides a= nd Valerie McNeel with the carnival. &nb= sp; I know it was fun and memorable for our students – and that is what it is all about! J   This week our 3^rd= , 4^th, and 5^th grade students will be performing their spring concert on Friday at two different times. And, our 5^th grade students will be presenting “Exhibition,R= 21; the culmination of their IBPYP work, on Thursday from 3:30-6:00.   This is an amazing thing to = see, and for those of you with students going into 4^th or 5^{th
next year, you might want to stop by and check it out to understand what it=
is
like.   I couldn’t =
be
more proud of the students and am anxiously awaiting the presentations.   We have lots of visitors att=
ending
– from our district, other schools around the state, etc., so know th=
at
pick up on Thursday after 3:30 may be more of a challenge. I am scheduled to be at many distr=
ict
meetings this week, so if you do not hear back on email quickly, know that I
will probably be a bit slower in responding than usual as I will be coming =
and
going a lot.}

Next Monday and Tuesday are our “Orientation” days for students registering at ROE for next year. This includes inc= oming students from the Vanguard transfer lists, as well as neighborhood students. Please encour= age anyone you know who is planning to register to attend – it is importa= nt not just for information, but also to determine class sizes and any issues = that will occur.

Science fair winners

Tuesday, May 6^th, nine teams from Ri= ver Oaks competed in the Central Region Science Fair. The regional level = is the highest level in which elementary students can compete until the 7^=
th grade. We are so proud of all= of the contestants and the work that they did. We would like to acknowle= dge the winners of the fair:

In the= Life Science Category

4^th grad= e:

2^nd place w= ent to Benjamin Shou and Grant Su for their project Do Detergents Affect Plant Growth?

1^st place w= ent to Dumarsais Coleman and Justin Campbell for their project Red Alert

5^th Grad= e:

2^nd place w= ent to Roehm Poet-Galvin and Eugenia Kakadiaris for their project Recall

In the Physical Science Category

5^th Grad= e:

1^st place w= ent to Lilly Chalker and Laila McCutcheon for their project Don’t Put Away That Food!

In the Earth and Space Science Category

5^th Grad= e:

1^st place w= ent to Emily Sherron and Ariana Ishaq for their project Was Galileo Right?

Congratulations to all of our winners!

Exhibition 2008

As part of the Standards and Practices of= the International Baccalaureate Program, in the final year of the program, all students complete a program-specific project that allows them to demonstrat= e a consolidation of their learning. In the Primary Years Program, that project is called Exhibition. Our fifth graders have worked this seme= ster preparing for Exhibition and we would like to extend an invitation to all of the River Oaks Elementary community to come and celebrate with them! =

Central Idea: A lack of social responsibi= lity can lead to crisis in our world.

The Kindergarten – 4^th grade students will get to view the exhibition on Wednesday May 14^th during the school day and we invite parents and the community to join us on Thursday M= ay 15^thfrom 3:30-6pm. This is an entire school community celebration, so we hope that you will make an effort to come by and see this incredible display of learning!

Roots and shoots

Dear ROE Community and Roots and Shoots members, we are down to our = last two meetings. The year has really flown by!

Our focus on making our planet a better place through recycling has = been well received by our community, student body, and staff! Thank = you to everyone who brought in recyclable materials from your homes, dropped off materials, and recycled at ROE. We have collected for the year over 1= 8,500 lbs of paper, 220 lbs of batteries, 600 gallons of plastic bottles, 30 gall= ons of plastic (enough oil to power a Honda Civic for 7,000 miles!) 175 printer cartridges, (enough to save over $200 on in= ks) and 10 cell phones and chargers. Whoo-hoo! We now have lots of experience so for next year we will look at maintaining our recycling and expanding into perhaps one other eco-friendly area for our Wednesday meetings. I am so happy to see so many of our students developing into internationally minded and action-oriented Global Citizens, and glad to be = part of such a great group!

Looking forward to next year! J –Paul Rainn, Science Specialist

Science Lab

Dear ROE Students, I’ve had a really grea= t time with you all this year! After 14 years of being a classroom teacher f= or the fourth and fifth grades it was a challenge to become a Specialist teach= er and work with everyone. But I’ve enjoyed working with all of you very much, from K to 5^th!! Of course I knew how cool River Oaks kids are from being a classroom teacher, but you’ve all shown yourselves to be so much more brilliant, learned, clever, and entertainingly funny/humorous/cute than I thought possible. Every grade level was a surprise! I’m looking forward to next year, and I hope to have = all 650 names memorized by then. (I’ve gotten to around 500 memoriz= ed by this time!) Now that I’m no longer a ‘new’ specialist it will be my goal for next year to develop more creative and educational science lab experiments and activities to better promote an interest in science and serve our very talented student body. 5^t=
h graders you will be missed, but you can always visit! Plus you are ab= out to start on something new and exciting; lucky you! Thanks to everyone at ROE—parents, staff, colleagues, and administrators for your support a= nd encouragement!

Sincerely,

Paul Rainn, Science Sp= ecialist

Grocery Shopping Earns ROE Cash!

Please find the Kroger and Randall's donation f= orms in your green folder today. If you are already enrolled at Randall's there = is nothing more to do. Otherwise, join the Randall's Good Neighbor Program by filling out the application and dropping it off at the Randall's courtesy booth.

Kroger is no longer using the white "share cards" to donate to ROE. Take the Kroger Customer Letter with the ROE barcode on it to your Kroger store the next time you go shopping and presen= t it to the cashier when you check out along with your KrogerPlus card. After th= at, just present your KrogerPlus card each time you shop. The Kroger Neighbor to Neighbor Donation Program will donate $1 million annually to non-profit organizations. We will earn a percentage on the $1 million equal to the percentage of total earned contributions attributable to our organization. This program will run through April 2009, but you must enroll your card to get us our share.

Don't forget to use your Central Market cards. = Don't have one? Pick one up in the school office.

Help ROE! Use your cards when you grocery shop!=

–Ann Guerra & Sandra Ahlhorn, 2008-09= PTO 1^st Grade Reps