1. Shaffer LEADER September 2010 Your PTO welcomes you to the 2010 -11 school year! It promises to be a great one for our students! Just as our teachers are doing all they can to get to know the children, we want to get to know the grown-ups! Please attend our first PTO Meeting of the school year on Tuesday, September 14 th in the school library. The meeting gets underway at 6:30pm. Feel free to bring a snack to share and children are always welcome! Inside this issue of the LEADER, you will find a hero request form! Even if you are unable to volunteer during the school day, having your email address and/or phone number allows your PTO to contact you with news and updates! Please remember when you visit Shaffer to ALWAYS sign in at the main office. As much as we like to visit our children, please allow a staff member to help you so classrooms are not disrupted. Our Shaffer website is under construction, so keep checking at whsd.net. See you at Shaffer, where our teachers and students are LEADING the way! Tara Reis, PTO President Inside this issue: First PTO Meeting Fundraising Info Trash Into Treasure Calling All Heroes! 25-Book Standard Welcome New Faculty Shaffer Store Open House Calendar of Events

2. Turn Your Trash Into Treasure! Some things you may normally throw away can help our school! Items listed below earn points or money for Shaffer! Labels Contest Our fall labels contest starts now and goes through October 27 th. If you purchase these items, please save the part that helps the school. Simply save the labels from products and send them to school in an envelope or baggie with your teacher’s name so the class will get credit! Including Box Tops found on General Mills cereal, Betty Crocker fruit snacks and potatoes, Kotex products, Huggies diapers, Hamburger Helper and Kleenex. Only the BOXTOP$ rectangle needs cut out. They are worth 10 cents each to Shaffer! Tyson’s Chicken Project A+ Save the tear-off strip at end of box or top of bag. Each one is worth 24 cents to Shaffer! Labels for Education Look for labels on Campbell’s Soups, SpaghettiO’s, Pepperidge Farm items, Prego Italian sauces and Swanson’s Broth. Please trim labels – only a rectangle with UPC and Campbell’s boy should be saved. Labels are worth up to five points! Paper Recycling New to Shaffer this year: Abitibi Paper Retriever! Save your newspapers, magazines, old mail, catalogs and school papers - - BUT NOT THE LEADER - - and put them in the bin in the school parking lot any time you visit the school. Please, no plastic bags, corrugated cardboard or trash. Money paid by the company will benefit Shaffer!

3. Teacher Tidbits Fifth Grade’s Ms. White in Room 115 says: Welcome to the 2010-11 academic school year. You should start to see students bring home their spelling, grammar and practice books. Students have their homework assigned on Monday and it is due at the end of the week. Their math homework is due the following day. Please review the students behavior chart and daily planner each night. I look forward to working with you and your children this year! The K-Team says to Kindergarten parents: We are having a GREAT time in Kindergarten! We are rapidly learning letters and sounds – making our first steps toward independent reading. We are learning about sorting and classifying objects and counting up anything we can find during math class. Next we will be learning about color and shape patterns. We need parents to keep up the GREAT WORK and continue to check back packs and go over work with their children daily. Welcome New Faculty to Shaffer! Your PTO would like to extend a warm welcome to the following new faces on staff: Dr. Deborah Vereen, Principal Mr. Chessman, Asst. Principal Mrs. Shandrick, Admin. Asst. Ms. Zinn, Librarian Ms. Baldidge, Social Worker Ms. Santoro in Kindergarten Mrs. Bell in First Grade Ms. Vargas, paraprofessional Mrs. Furman in Learning Support Mrs. Holupka, Reading Specialist Ms. Tabb, Keyboarding Look for profiles of staff members in future LEADERS! 25-Book Standard With the exception of Kindergarten students and those new to our District, all our children know about this challenge. As part of the curriculum, our students are required to read and report on 25 Books. Please check with teachers as length of book varies with grade level. Students must reach 25 to participate in FUN Day on May 27 th. Plus, all students who complete this standard receive a great prize from your PTO!

4. Coming Soon in October: Scholastic Book Fair – Week of October 18-22 September Events: PUT ON FRIDGE!! 8 th Fall Fundraiser Kick-Off 10 th Spirit Day – Wear Red, White & Blue for Patriots Wolverines vs. North Hills – Wolvarena 7:00pm 14 th First PTO Meeting at 6:30pm in Library 17 th 9am-11am – Parents, come set up Shaffer Store! Donations of new items are always needed! Wolverines vs. Plum – Wolvarena 7:00pm 20 th Shaffer Store Opens This Week! 22 nd Open House at Shaffer 7pm-9pm 24 th NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS Wolverines vs. Central Cath. – Wolvarena 7:00pm 25 th Saturday School 8:30am-11:30am 29 th Fall Fundraiser Orders Due! Fall Fundraiser Watch for the Superb fundraising packet this week. A variety of food, paper products and gift items are included in the catalog. Remember that the success of our 2-3 fundraisers determines if your PTO can pay for field trips along with everything else we support throughout the year. Orders/payment are due 9/29. Cash, money orders and checks from Shaffer Families only. Please support the sale, even if you only purchase one item!

5. Calling All Heroes When you take just a few moments to complete this hero request, you are truly helping your child and the school! Even if you are unable to give time, we want to be able to send you updates so you’re IN THE KNOW! _______________________________________________ Child’s Name & GradeChild’s Teacher and Class #________________________ Parent/Guardian’s NamePhone #, Both Home/Cell _________________________ Email address Want to be a helping hero? Circle all that interest you: RIF ProgramScholastic Book FairFundraising Homeroom HeroHoliday ShoppePTO Meeting-Voting PTO Snack CommitteeShaffer Store FUN DayLabels/Box TopsStaff Appreciation Please tell us what times during the school week that you are available to help at Shaffer and if you want to help from home, please list that here as well! ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ After completing this form, please send it back to school with your child! Thank you! When you’re a hero, you’re in the LEAD!!!

6. Communication is KEY Please make sure that you complete the blue emergency contact form ASAP and send it back to school. Also, when your child is absent, you must send in an excuse within three days of the absence. Here is a sample: My child ___________, was absent on (date) _____________ due to ____________________. ___________________________________ Parent/Guardian Signature & DATE _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Please send in a note if your child requires an early dismissal or change in transportation. Have questions about immunization requirements? Please call the School Nurse, Mrs. Walter, at 412.371.4535 ext. 2250 for all the details. P.S. The school nurse always needs clean socks, underwear and shorts for students when accidents happen!