Teachers and Families Invited to Feb. 21 Presentation on the "Five Keys to Supporting a Student with Autism"

On Monday, February 21st in the West High Little Theatre from 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. Alyson Beytien will be presenting the “Five Keys to Supporting a Student with Autism.” This presentation focuses on what everyone - teachers, paraprofessionals, family and support personnel - can do each day to ensure success for the child and for all involved. This presentation is full of humor, reality, and practical ideas.

Permission slips for Dance Marathon, 'Souper Bowl' now online

Flyers and permission slips for two exciting upcoming Lucas events are now available for download from the PTO blog.

The Lucas Dance Marathon takes place from 3-4:30 p.m. Friday, January 28. To view the Mini Dance Marathon flyer, click here for a Word document or here for a PDF.

From January 24 to February 4, Lucas will participate in the National "Souper" Bowl of Caring project. The Lucas Student Council has set a goal of collecting 1,000 cans of soup. For details in a Microsoft Word document, click here. For a PDF, click here.

Deadline is Friday to sign up for the annual DEED Lucas Spelling Bee

Lucas Dads Engaged in Engineering Dreams will once again offer its Spelling Bee for students in first through sixth grades. The event has been rescheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, March 3, at Lucas. Permission slips are due back to school by this Friday, January 21. Your students should have received a flyer with information about the event, along with the permission slip, last week.

For more information, contact Jeffrey Fields at 936-1750 or Jeffrey.Fields@yahoo.com or Joe Pavelich at 325-6339 or j.pavelich@mchsi.com

January Lucas Newsletter now available online!

The January 2011 Lucas Newsletter is now available on the blog as a PDF (you will also be receiving printed copies home in your student's folder). Again, thanks to Emily Spellman's great work, the newsletter has lots of great content. Look for information about:

* A SMART Board interactive white board won by Lucas
* A Lucas family rollerskating outing
* The DEED annual Spelling Bee

And much more!

Click here to view the newsletter. You can also find it archived in the left-hand column of the blog, along with all the past newsletters.

Happy reading!

Come dance for a great cause at the Lucas Mini Dance Marathon!

The Lucas Student Council is sponsoring a Lucas Mini Dance Marathon from 3 to 4:30 p.m. Friday, January 28 in the Multipurpose Room. Free will donations will be collected for the U of I Children’s Hospital. Join us for music, treats, and fun activities!

Permission slips will come home soon!

Lucas Family Rollerskating Night is February 4

Lucas is sponsoring a free Family Rollerskating Night from 6-8 p.m. Friday, February 4 in the Mercer Park Scanlon Gym. Skates are provided free to all Lucas students and their families. The basketball and game room will also be available.

Come join the fun!

Leslie Veit, Free Family Night Chair

And in case you need a little skating inspiration, click on the video below.

Lucas scores interactive SMART Board in Hy-Vee competition

Lucas Elementary School--including one lucky fifth-grader--was a big winner in Hy-Vee's annual SMART Points competition this year. Hy-Vee awarded  SMART Board interactive white boards to 200 schools for earning the most points through families' purchases of certain brand products at local Hy-Vee stores.

Lucas was one of those winning schools, and the First Avenue Hy-Vee recently awarded an SMART Board to Mrs. Dixon’s fifth-grade classroom. Combining the simplicity of a whiteboard with the power of a computer, the SMART Board interactive whiteboard lets teachers deliver dynamic lessons, write notes in digital ink, and save their work with the touch of a finger.

In addition, Reese Hill, daughter of Brooke and Ben Hill, received a MacBook notebook computer!

Congratulations to all!

New online religious holiday calendar available

A calendar listing most of the major religious holidays throughout the year is now available online. This calendar will help PTO chairs and others avoid conflicts with special celebrations when planning school activities. Please note that the calendar is maintained by the Iowa City Community School District, not Lucas Elementary School. Click here to view the PDF. You can also access it by clicking the Calendar link in the left-hand column of the blog.

Recess sledding adult volunteers needed!

When it snows, Lucas students love to go sledding on the hill behind the school during recess. But because there's a limited number of sleds, students sometimes have trouble sharing so that everyone has a turn. To make sure things run smoothly, Lucas Principal Julia Burton is looking for a few parent volunteers to spend 15-20 minutes around lunch hours on days when there's snow to help supervise sledding.

If you're interested, please email Principal Burton or call the school's front office at 688-1140.

City High newsletter now available online

The January issue of City High Principal John Bacon's newsletter to elementary schools, "The Littlest Hawk," is now available online.

You can view it as a Word document or as a PDF.

Lucas invited to send students to Weber Chess Tournament January 29

The following announcement was sent to Lucas by our friends at Weber Elementary School:

The Weber Chess Club will host its 5th annual Winter Chess Tournament on Saturday, January 29,  beginning at 9 a.m. in the Weber gymnasium. All area elementary students (K-6) of any ability are invited to play. There is no fee: this is a FREE tournament.

No player is eliminated and all players will play all five rounds. We have lots of trophies for top placers per grade, overall, and for the highest scoring schools! Registration will open at 9 a.m. and close at 9:45 a.m., with the 1st Round to begin at 10 a.m.

Weber BASP will open and operate a concession stand, or please bring a sack lunch or make plans otherwise to eat during the lunch break. IMPORTANT!! Due to space and time limitations, the number of players will be capped at 150. Pre-registration is encouraged by sending the player's name, school, grade, and gender to gschmidt14@yahoo.com by January 27. We hope to see you there for a fun day of chess!

PTO Meeting Monday Jan. 10 at 7 p.m.

Please join us for the Lucas PTO Meeting on Monday, January 10 at 7 p.m. in the art room. We will discuss planning for both the Lucas Spelling Bee in February and Family Fun Night in April.

We will also discuss a PTO Fundraising Subcommittee recommendation that Lucas end the fall fundraising sale in 2011 and launch a campaign in its place to ask the Lucas community for direct, tax-deductible donations--so 100% goes straight to our school! If you want to make your voice heard on this important issue, please attend the meeting. As always, free childcare will be provided.

Mark Your Calendar for Conversations with the Principal

If you are interested in visiting with other parents and with Lucas Principal Julia Burton regarding your hopes and dreams for Lucas Elementary School, please come to one of the following focus group meeting times:

Wednesday January 12 at 8:30 am in the multi-purpose room and

Monday January 24 at 12 pm (noon) in the art room.

If you are not able to attend either of these sessions but still have ideas you would like to share, email Principal Burton at: burton,julia@iccsd.k12.ia.us.

Reminder: Deadline to buy tickets for Saturday's Hawkeye Women's game is Wednesday

Just a reminder that families interested in attending Lucas Day at the Iowa Women's Basketball game at 3 p.m. this Saturday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena must send in their money by 9 a.m. tomorrow, Wednesday, January 5.

Money can be turned in at the front office with the name and contact information of the ticket buyers and $5 for each ticket, in an envelope addressed to DEED member Joe Bell. You can pick up tickets from Joe outside the Lucas school office between 3 and 5:30 p.m. Friday, January 7.

Also, those who are interested in joining Lucas families for lunch before the game are welcome to meet at Old Chicago at 1 p.m. Saturday. Besides the regular menu, Old Chicago has a pizza buffet for $6.99 for adults and $4.99 for kids 12 and under.

Anyone with questions may contact Joe at jk.bell@mchsi.com or 354-2281.