17321 Woodland Hills Drive

Humble, Texas 77396 281.641.2500 Phone

281.641.2517 Fax

281.641.2519 Absence Line

281.641.2505 Clinic

281.641.2563 Café

281.641.5838 Menu Hotline

www.humble.k12.tx.us/wpe

October 5, 2010

Press Panda WHISPERING PINES ELEMENTARY

This Issue October Fest P. 1

Lunch Menu P. 2

Afterschool Clubs at WPE P. 3

Silent Auction Baskets P. 6

Our Box Top Collection is off to a

GREAT start! Please keep send-

ing them to school! Last year we

raised just over $1,400. As of

this year in 2 short months we

have already earned over

$1,000!

Patricia Gnatzig, Principal & Shannon Lalmansingh, Assistant Principal

WHERE WE ARE WILD ABOUT LEARNING

Upcoming Events

October Fire Prevention

Month

10/5/2010

Til 10/20/10

Great America

Fundraiser Kick off

10/23/2010 October Festival

10/26/2010 Fall Pictures

(Individual)

10/19/2010 Spring Creek B-B-Q

night

10/11/2010 School Holiday

10/18/2010

Til 10/22/10 Book Fair Week

10/15/2010 3rd Grade Field Trip

10/27/2010

Til 10/29/10

Early Release

Parent Conferences

In addition to Box Tops, we also

collect Tyson A+ labels. This are

found on all of the Tyson

Chicken Frozen Products. Each

of these labels is worth 24 cents

to your school!

The Power of a Little Box Top

OCTOBER FALL FEST

SILENT AUCTION

BASKETS EACH HOME-

ROOM HAS A

THEME. SEE

HOW YOU CAN HELP OUT. List of Homeroom

Themes are on Page 6.

COLLECTION DRIVE CONTINUES THROUGHOUT THE SCHOOL YEAR.

On October 23rd

the Whispering Pines Elementary PTA will be having its Fall

Festival at the Whispering Pines Elementary school from 4pm to 7pm. We

will be sending out a flyer to the students individually but wanted to give an

overview of what activities you can expect. We will have the following

activities:

Silent Auction in the Cafeteria, Treasure Dig, Ring It, Muffin Pan Toss, Cake

Walk, Face Painting, Floating Ducks, Sucker Tree, Soda Can Toss, Football Toss,

Clothespin Drop, Goldfish Bowl Toss, Fishing Game, Bean Bag Toss, Sack Races,

also we will have a Costume and Pumpkin Decorating Contest (For the safety of

the children no carved pumpkins will be accepted in the contest). For the Cos-

tume and Pumpkin Contest (Pumpkins should be decorated in advance, not at the

festival) we will have the following categories: Most Original, Funniest, Scari-

est, Best Storybook Character, Best Overall and Best Teacher Spirit.

Tickets for wrist bands that will let you do all activities except concessions

and face painting will go on sale October 18th

for $10.00 each. The following

activities will be offered but not be included in the wrist band price and are

each $1.00: Face Painting $1.00

Autumn Scene Pictures $5.00

(These will be available to the students the following Wednesday)

Concessions $1.00 ( Nachos, Drinks, Chips)

The day of the event tickets will be a $1.00 per booth per activity. If you

would like to volunteer or have any questions please contact the following

people: Dulce Hernandez����Volunteer/Coordinator����713-551-6588����

hernandez_dulce25@yahoo.com

Teresa Withrow����Treasurer/ Fall Festival Coordinator����281-507-1285����

cropqueen2006@yahoo.com

Talya Powers����Communications/Publicity����713-471-8872����wpepta@gmail.com

Lunch

Week

Of… Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

10/4/2010 Chicken Nuggets or

Beef & Cheese

Burrito

Pizza Cheese Sticks or

Chicken Fajitas

Fruit Plate w/Yogurt

or Chicken Rings

Pepperoni Pizza/

Cheese or Beef Riblet

Sandwich

Cheeseburger /

Hamburger or

Macaroni & Cheese

10/11/2010 Student Holiday

Chicken Nuggets or

Chili & Cheese

Quesadilla

Student Planned

Menu

Bean & Cheese Taco

Boat or Chicken Rings

Cheeseburger /

Hamburger or Fish

Nuggets

10/18/2010 Chicken Nuggets or

Mini Corn Dogs

Beef Steak Fingers or

Hot Dog w/ Chili &

Cheese

Corn Chip Pie or

Oven Fried Chicken

Pepperoni Pizza/

Cheese or Baked

Potato w/ Cheese

Cheeseburger /

Hamburger or

Cheese Nachos

10/25/2010 Chicken Nuggets or

Cheese Enchiladas

SAY NO TO DRUGS!

Pepperoni Pizza Bites

or Egg Roll

EARLY RELEASE

Grilled Cheese

Sandwich

EARLY RELEASE

Beef & Cheese Sticks

EARLY RELEASE

Grilled Cheese

Sandwich

Check out the WPE webpage for

more information and a calendar of

events.

Great American will be back with an

awesome Fundraiser Kick-Off on

October 5th. Students can sell

wrapping paper, holiday candies,

jewelry and much more. This is a

great way to get your shopping

started for the holidays. Start getting

your family ready to order. Sales will

run through October 20th.

The students will have great

incentives to sell. Our duckies will be

back, but new ones are going to visit

our school.

FALL FUNDRAISER

consumable supplies the students might need. Please send the $20.00 activity fee (cash only) to your child's home room teacher. We want to make this a great y e a r f o r o u r students. Thank you for your support.

Each grade level collects $20.00 per student for activity fees during the year. These fees are used for any activities tha t t he g r ade l eve l participates in, including parties and field trips. These fees are also used for most

LIBRARY NEWS Is it a bird, is it a plane, NO! It is a Book Fair!Is it a bird, is it a plane, NO! It is a Book Fair!Is it a bird, is it a plane, NO! It is a Book Fair!

class collects will be the amount

their teacher will be able to spend

for books at the Book Fair. What

makes this program really special is

that Scholastic will then donate in

books the dollar amount raised by

the school to a charity! More

information will be coming soon,

including special family events.

Please check out the Whispering

Pines Library website for this

information.

The Whispering Pines Library will

be hosting a Scholastic Book Fair

the week of October 18-22. We will

be using the profits from this Book

Fair to paint a beautiful mural on

the back wall of the library. We are

also going to be participating in

One for Books, which will help

teachers build their classroom

libraries. Students will be asked to

bring spare change to donate to

their teacher. The amount each

We always need volunteers for the Book

Fair. We have A.M. (8:00-11:30) and

P.M. (11:30-3:00) shifts available. If you

would like to help, please contact Mrs.

S e l f a t ( 2 8 1 ) 6 4 1 - 2 5 0 6 o r

janet.self@humble.k12.tx.us.

Party Treat Policy If your child wants to celebrate their

birthday by providing treats for their

classmates, they will need to purchase

an ice cream through our Café. Each ice

cream is $.75 each. Thank you for

understanding. This decision is based

upon the Texas Child Nutrition Policy for

2010. You are welcome to visit

www.squaremeals.com to find links to

the policy.

PLEASE ORDER AT LEAST ONE WEEK PRIOR

TO DATE NEEDED. CONTACT MS.

MCGINNIS AT EXT. 2563.

Activity Fee Collection All Grade Levels are collecting $20.

CLUBS OFFERED AT WPE

Military History 4th & 5th Graders

Meetings are held on Tuesday’s from

3:30 to 4:15.

Clubs goals are to highlight the

powerful military events that helped

shape the United States of America

and Texas.

Military History Club hosts our

Annual Veteran's Brunch.

IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS OR WOULD LIKE

TO FIND OUT HOW TO JOIN, CONTACT MS.

MEDINA AT EXT. 2575.

Student Council 4th & 5th Graders

Meetings are held on Fridays twice a

month at 7:15am.

Whispering Pines Student Council is

organized to make our school a better

place to work, learn, and study. It

listens to, discusses and solves student

concerns. Student Council provides

good leadership and sets a good

example for the student body in

addition to promoting school spirit.

IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS OR WOULD LIKE TO

FIND OUT HOW TO JOIN, CONTACT MRS.

TOAL AT EXT. 2545

Math Olympiads 4th & 5th Graders

Meetings are held on Tuesday’s from

3:20 to 4:20 in portable room 312.

Olympiads are going to work hard to

communicate about work. They are

going to talk about it, write about it,

draw pictures, and build models. So

we can share our ideas with each

other.

WE ARE MATHEMATICIANS!!

IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS OR WOULD LIKE

TO FIND OUT HOW TO JOIN, CONTACT MS.

HUGHES AT EXT. 2574.

3rd Graders

The Homework Club is new to WPE.

Because there is such a transition I the

amount of homework given from 2nd

Grade to 3rd Grade, the 3rd Grade team

created this club exclusive to the 3rd

Graders. Homework club will help pro-

vide time for students to get their

required reading finished and work on

specific subject areas such as Spelling

and Math. There will always be a

teacher from our team available to

answer questions regarding homework.

IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS OR WOULD LIKE TO

FIND OUT HOW TO JOIN, CONTACT MRS.

GALEUCIA AT EXT. 2552 OR YOUR CHILD’S

HOMEROOM TEACHER.

Science Club 4th & 5th Graders

Meetings are held on Tuesday’s from

3:15 to 4:15 in the Science Lab. Red

Group meets on the 1st & 3rd Tuesday

of each month. Green Groups meet on

the 2nd & 4th Tuesday of each Month.

This is a club designed for students who

want to learn, investigate and explore.

Science club will be a hands on club

focusing on mini-lessons/activities

involving all aspects of the Sciences

(Earth, Physics, Environmental, Life…).

IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS OR WOULD LIKE TO

FIND OUT HOW TO JOIN, CONTACT MRS. DAVIS

AT EXT. 2568.

Homework Club

Book Club 4th & 5th Graders

The WPE Book Club is up and running!

We have 2 groups that meet weekly.

The fourth graders meet on Mondays,

3-4 and the fifth graders are meeting

on Wednesdays, 3-4. Our mission is to

promote and enjoy reading for

pleasure and information. Members

have signed up to volunteer in the

library in the mornings and during

their recess time. The students have

been a tremendous help getting the

library ready for classes and assisting

younger students with selecting

books. We’re looking forward to

having a very productive year!!

IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS OR WOULD LIKE TO

FIND OUT HOW TO JOIN, CONTACT MRS.

SELF AT EXT. 2506.

Eco-Bot Club 5th Graders

Eco-bots will be starting on Monday

the 18th October and be every Mon-

day from 330-430.

What is the EcoBot Challenge?

It’s a competition that requires 5th

graders to design and build robots

from a LEGO® MINDSTORMS®

Education NXT Robot kit. They must

then program the robots to complete

a series of environmental activities

such as recycling, reusing, and

reducing.

IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS OR WOULD LIKE TO

FIND OUT HOW TO JOIN, CONTACT

MR.KRAUSE AT EXT. 2572 OR MR. GERE-

SCHER AT EXT. 2529.

Scholastic will donate up to one

million books to the following

non-profit organizations: Marine

Toys for Tots Foundation, Kids in

Distressed Situations, Inc., and

Kids in Need Foundation.

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN THE WPE ART ROOM? In October, Kindergarten through

Fourth grade students are learning

the art elements of line, shape, and

texture and practicing the art

principles of pattern and rhythm.

Fifth grade students are learning how

to create form by creating an "Op

Art" designs.

Congratulations to 5th grade student

Alexis Stelly whose artwork was

chosen to be on display at the 2010

Association for Supervision and

Curriculum Development (ASCD)

Conference art exhibit at the

Westin Galleria Hotel in Octo-

ber.

Congratulations to the following

5th grade students whose work

will be on display at the Octavia

Fields Library from October 1-

November 18, 2010: Tye

Turner, Raven Coleman, Diana

Reinoso, Yeliz Emekli, Jada

Moore, Julian Galvan, Jennifer

Hernandez, Ashauria Mosby,

Kayla Long, Taylor Mehnert,

Megan Weigle, and Major

Brown.

Congratulations to Ms. Afyouni-

zadeh's 3rd grade class and the

following 5th grade students

whose work will be on display at

the Humble ISD Administration

Building from October 25-

November 18, 2010: Shelby

Streater, Raquel Ragusin, Megan

Diaz, and Zoie Prochnow.

Meet our Wonderful Specials Team

ART

MUSIC

Top (L to R): Dana Oleniczak

LIBRARY

Top (L to R): Ginger Wilson, Janet Self

PHYSICAL EDUCTATION

Top (L to R): Annie Castle, Gary Hester

Top (L to R): Keri Pye

COMPUTERS

Top (L to R): Kimily Wildman, Laura Pruitt

LOST & FOUND

With cool mornings and warm after-

noons, your child might forget to

bring their jacket home at the end of

the day. Currently there is a garment

rack near the front office area with

jackets that have been found without

an owner! Please have your chil-

dren check the rack, or take a few

minutes to check it when you are at

school! There is also a wooden box

near the rack with lost lunch boxes,

shoes and other items!

WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THE LIBRARY?

Gardening Project at WPE 5th grade goes to the garden. Both Mrs. Oliver

and Mr. Krause classes participated in WPE's

first vegetable garden. Many fall vegetables

were planted mid-September in hopes of a

bumper crop in a few months.

Our 5th grade students dug, hauled, and

weeded to prepare beds for seeds and

seedlings. We can't wait to enjoy our

organic harvest.

October is an exciting month in the library!

Students will get to preview books from the

Book Fair, participate in Super Hero activities,

such as the coloring contest and guessing

game. Grades K-2 will continue to work on li-

brary skills that include picking and locating

the right book(s) in the Everybody section of

the library. Grades 3-5 will learn about the

Texas Bluebonnet Program. Students who

read 5 of the 20 nominated Texas Bluebonnet

books will be invited to have lunch in the li-

brary to discuss and vote for their favorite.

As an added bonus, students who read 15 or

more will also be invited to a movie and pizza

party in the library after school. Voting takes

place in January, 2011 and I’ve encouraged as

many students as possible to join! Students

have been given a bookmark with a list of the

titles, and the books are also available at the

public library.

PTA’S Parents Night out November 19

th the Whispering Pines

Elementary PTA Board Members and volunteers

will have its second Parent’s Night Out with a

Camp Out! Bring your child (must be potty

trained) and their favorite sleeping

bag and flashlight for the weenie

roast under the Pavilion from

6:00pm to 10:00pm. Smores,

stargazing and not too scary stories

will be a fabulous backdrop to the

evenings activities and

this is a great way to get a Night Out for only $10

per child (Each child will have a serialized

bracelet, you will need the numbered portion to

pick them up). All non Whispering Pines Alum

must register in advance just fill

out the Parent Night Out Registra-

tion in order to participate as

registration will increase to $15.00

at the door. Minimum of 15

children must attend to guarantee

no cancellations.

DONATIONS FOR SILENT AUCTION BASKETS NEEDED

HOMEROOM TEACHER THEME

Afyounizadeh- 1st Movie Theme

Afyounizadeh- 3rd Movie Night

Bedgood Picnic Basket

Carriere Game Night

Coats Harry Potter

Daniels Father Appreciation

Ensey Coffee

Fonseca/Hays Family Fun Night

Galeucia Spa Day

Gerescher Houston Dynamo (soccer)

Harris Chocolate Lovers

Hughes Day at the Spa

K. Hill Astros

Krause His and Hers

Kuzminski At the Car Wash

Maker Movie Night

McCoy Sports

McSweeney Halloween

Medina Houston Texans

Murphy Baby

Nolan and Talent Baking Basket

O'Brien Bar B Que

Oliver Christmas

Pady Beach

Roberts Bath Items

Schulz Father Appreciation

Shillings Garden

Toal Japanese Dinner

Walter Dog Lovers

Weaver/Cushing Kid's Crafts

Office/Coaches Wine Bistro

Each teacher has selected a basket to create in order to enter into the silent auction at our Octo-

ber Fest on October 23, 2010. Below are some of the themes that have been selected by differ-

ent homeroom teachers. If there is something that you know you will be able to donate, but it is

in a different homeroom, it will still be welcomed. Each of us have different specialties or are able

to obtain different items. Your support of this activity will truly pay off in the end for your child’s

school. Thank you in advanced for your assistance in filling the baskets.

FITNESS TIPS Did you know that your child

needs 60 minutes of or more of

physical activity daily? Physical

activity builds strong bones and

muscles, decreases the likelihood

of developing obesity and risk

factors for diseases like type 2

diabetes and heart disease, may

reduce anxiety and depression

and promotes positive mental

health.

Working on 60 minutes of activ-

ity a day? Most of those min-

utes should be of moderate or

vigorous intensity in aerobic

physical activity. Examples of

aerobic activities include bike

riding, brisk walking, running,

dancing and active games such

as soccer and basketball.

PUMPKIN DECORATING & COSTUME CONTEST Start thinking about what you

are going to wear to the Fall

Festival. There will also be a

pumpkin decorating contest.

No carved pumpkins will be

judges. Get your thinking caps

on now as to what you could

create on your pumpkin. Bring

it with you to enter into the

Pumpkin Decorating Contest.