JR4L

Parents and students,

Thank you for all of your hard work in helping raise money for Jump Rope for Life. This year, we raised money to help support both the American Diabetes Association and the American Heart Association. We raised just over $700 for the American Diabetes Association, and just over $2,400 for the American Heart Association! Great job to everyone who participate.

A quick note to all students who raised money:
Once the prizes come in from both organizations, you will be recieving an invitation to come to our Jump Rope for Life event. It will be held on a Friday afternoon, after school. This information will come home to you in your Tuesday folder, so please keep a lookout for it. Thanks.

Once again, thank you to everyone who had a part in helping your child raise money for these two great charities!

JR4L

Parents and students,

Thank you for all of your hard work in helping raise money for Jump Rope for Life. This year, we raised money to help support both the American Diabetes Association and the American Heart Association. We raised just over $700 for the American Diabetes Association, and just over $2,400 for the American Heart Association! Great job to everyone who participate.

A quick note to all students who raised money:
Once the prizes come in from both organizations, you will be recieving an invitation to come to our Jump Rope for Life event. It will be held on a Friday afternoon, after school. This information will come home to you in your Tuesday folder, so please keep a lookout for it. Thanks.

Once again, thank you to everyone who had a part in helping your child raise money for these two great charities!

Shoes

Parents, I want to send out a quick reminder that students are to wear tennis shoes to P.E. We are having issues with students wearing crocs, sandals, flip-flops, and other types of shoes that do not cover the entire foot and/or are not as secure on the foot. This is solely for the safety of your child and those that may come in contact with them during P.E. The last thing that we want is for a student's shoe to fall off while they are running around outside. Thank you for your help. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Jump Rope for Life

It's that time of the year! Jump Rope for Life time, that is. On Tuesday, February 14th, I will be sending home information regarding Jump Rope for Life in your child's Tuesday folder. This is a fundraiser that we do every year to help raise money for two separate charitiesl the American Heart Association, and the American Diabetes Association. 2 envelopes will come home next week, one for each charity. I have discussed with all students about our reasonings for raising money for these wonderful causes. Each child has the opportunity to raise money for the charity of their choosing, or they can choose to raise money for both. Obviously, if you feel like this is something that you do not want your child to participate in, then please feel no obligation to do so. All of the money that is raised between Feb. 14 and Friday, March 2nd (which is the deadline to turn all money in) will be sent off to the respective charities and they then send back gift certificates to the school to use through US Games, which is a company that distributes all kinds of physical education equipment. The more money that we raise, the more money we get through these gift certificates.

Each child also has the opportunity to receive "Thank you gifts" from these two charities. Based on how much money each child raises, they can receive gifts that range from t-shirts, to jump ropes, all the way to hand-held digital video cameras and electric Razor scooters! The more money they raise, the more "Thank you gifts" they get back. I am always reminding the students that they are not "buying" these gifts. The ADA and AHA are thanking the students for taking their time to raise money for a great cause.

On top of the Thank you gifts, the AHA has partnered with a couple local sports teams to provide a few extra incentives to the students. If a child raises $25 for the American Heart Association, then they receive a free ticket voucher to a Houston Aeros hockey game. If they raise $50 for the AHA, they still receive a voucher for the hockey game, but they also receive a free ticket voucher for a Houston Rockets game! On top of that, if you attend the Rockets game, each student participant gets to go on to the floor after the game to shoot a free throw! I don't know about you, but that would have been a dream come true when I was in elementary school!!

Now, once our timeline of raising the donations is over, I will send all of the money in to the AHA and ADA. Once they send the "Thank you gifts" back to me, I will send out a notice inviting all students who raised money to join me after school for a Jump Rope for Life party. The party will be under tha covered area and we will have some games, jump roping, music, dancing, popsicles, and this is als when the students will receive their prizes. If your child can not come to the event, then they will receive their thank you gifts the following week when they come to PE.

If you have any questions about Jump Rope for Life, please email me or let me know.

Don't forget to be on the lookout for the AHA and ADA envelopes coming home in Tuesday folder's on Tuesday, Februaru 14th!

Thanks and I hope you have a wonderful day!

Fitnessgram Testing

Hello to all 3rd through 5th grade parents. Over the course of the next few weeks your student will be completing the "Fitness Gram" test. This is a fitness test to determine your student's fitness level is at. The Fitness Gram is a state required test. Each student, from 3rd grade to 12th grade, in a Physical Education class in Texas is supposed to complete this test. Each child will complete a push-up and curl-up (sit-up) test, the PACER test (Endurance run), the trunk lift, the shoulder stretch, and I will also find their BMI (Body-Mass Index). I will also be the only person, other than your child, to see each student's height and weight (BMI). I am constantly reminding the students that this test is not anything that they need to worry about. It is mainly for their own personal information so they can see where they can make an improvement. There is no "passing" or "failing" grade or level. There is, however, an average range for each test that Fitness Gram feels to be an appropriate fitness level for each child (i.e. A 9 year old boy should be able to complete 7-20 full push-ups).

If you would like to know more about the test, you may visit their website at http://www.fitnessgram.net

Please let me know if you have any questions. Have a great day!