Over the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend, 538 volunteers gave 5009 man hours to build a one-of-a-kind, custom-designed playground inspired by the imagination of FSUS elementary students.  As Ms. Boniella's class raced onto the playground Tuesday morning, January 22, I was overwhelmed with joy to see the students' delight in exploring the enormous ship, zany zipline, manatee bongo drums, big mouth bass chime wall, wobbly walk, monkey swing maze, and stage/outdoor classroom.  That morning the playground project mantra "We Have a Dream" officially changed to "We Built a Dream."

However, constructing the new playground is only half the story.  While watching countless parents, teachers, administrators, families, friends, and community members work together swinging hammers, operating power tools, collaborating on projects, sharing time, space and stories with each other, I began to realize more than a playground was being constructed;  to bring this dream to life it became clear that we were also building a new FSUS family.  One comprised of a diverse group of people committed to the future of FSUS students.   The new playground and renewed sense of school spirit is cause for celebration.   The children of Florida High have a unique, safe, and fun playground and the FSUS family can take pride in the knowledge that we can change the world around us for the better, by working together.

Thank you to everyone who donated their time, effort, energy, resources to build the dream!

Lisa Pessin
Playground Chair
FSUS Playground Project Co-Chair
lapessin@yahoo.com

Volunteerism is the voice of the people put into action. These actions shape and mold the present into a future of which we can all be proud. ~ H. Dyer

Annual Health and Safety Fair Scheduled for March 27
Look for big improvements at this year's PTSA Health and Safety Fair.  For the first time the annual fair will be held during school hours, allowing faculty to bring their classes to the gym to visit the booths of some 50-60 community groups that promote health and safety.

The fair will take place Thursday, March 27 (the Thursday before spring break) from 12PM-6PM in the Florida High gym.  The fair is open to both students and parents and scheduling the start of the fair during school hours is expected to significantly increase attendance.

Free refreshments will be served.  Pre-planning is underway and anyone with a spare hour or two to help out with this important project should contact Danni Vogt at dannivogt@earthlink.net or 922-7032(w).

School Garden
This project has been a major success, with the 15 or so elementary school participants successfully growing broccoli, cabbage, collards, lettuce, carrots, peas, radishes, onions, etc.  During their one hour a week in the garden, the kids tilled the soil, planted and watered crops, weeded, and waited patiently for stuff to grow.  During January harvesting began and the children got to taste test their stuff.  The verdict: everything tastes better when you grow it yourself.

The fall garden is winding down and strawberries and potatoes will be planted in the next few weeks.  A spring garden will be put in sometime in March.  Several kids have also formed a 4-H club.  Thanks to grownups Angel Spicer, Julie Lengacher, Trevor Hilton (FAMU), Wendy Warrell, Irene Bivins, Hank Stephens, Jayne Cerio, and Glenda Cobb and Zulema Wibmer (Leon Co. Agricultural Extension) for making this project thrive.

Any parents wishing to volunteer an hour a week to keep the project going in the spring so their children can experience the miracle of turning seeds into food should contact Danni Vogt at dannivogt@earthlink.net or Julie Lengacher at poppeeps@nettally.com.

Healthy Snacks on Campus
The PTSA has continued to survey the nutritional value of foods available on campus, last month looking at the boys basketball and soccer concession stands.  None of the items offered at boys basketball games met the nutrition requirements in the school Wellness Policy, while 4 (sunflower seeds, granola bars, rice krispies and oranges) of 16 items (25%) offered at boys soccer games met the requirements.  The policy requires 20% of snacks offered to meet the criteria.

A PTSA pilot program to supply healthy alternatives to the concession stands has been partially successful.  A list of snacks sold by Sam's Club that meet the school wellness criteria was developed and distributed to booster groups and others, and the best sellers were rice krispies treats and apple juice.  This pilot program will continue through baseball and softball seasons.

Candy is still widely available on campus through concession stands, fundraisers, and the fall festival despite an announcement by the administration at the beginning of the year that there was a ban on candy.  The PTSA will continue to monitor the snacks available at campus food outlets and report this information to the school board and the school Wellness Committee.  Any PTSA members interested in assisting with these efforts should contact me.

Danni Vogt
Health & Wellness Chair
dannivogt@earthlink.net
922-7032(w)

Mrs. Sue Fair's Fifth Grade Class, with the help of the Student Government Association has started a school wide recycling program.  They made and delivered 175 recycling bins for all of the offices and classrooms, and ordered a large recycling center for the behind the cafeteria.

In order to start off the recycling program with a bang FSUS is having two competitions through February 16:

School-wide Phone Books Recycling Drive
The elementary, middle and high schools are competing in the collection of old phone books.  The homeroom class that collects the most phonebooks will get a limo ride from Mike's Limo to Ci Ci's Pizza for lunch. 

Elementary Recycling Competition:  Stuff the Bus!
The elementary school is doing a separate recycling competition.  This competition is a 40 day competition called Recycle Nation, a knock off of CBS's Kid Nation.   The elementary classes are collecting paper, glass, aluminum and plastic with the hopes of filling a bus by the end of the 40 days.  The class that puts the most recyclables in the bus by the end of the 40 days will get a limo ride from Mike's Limo to Ci Ci's Pizza for lunch. 

Please be aware that it is up to your child's teacher if they are allowing students to bring in recyclables from home.  Please do not place recyclables and phonebooks in or around the recycling center behind the cafeteria.  All items need to be counted, measured and placed in the center by in Mrs. Fair's students.  All recyclables and phonebooks should be delivered to your child's homeroom teacher.

We have already collected more than 3000 phonebooks, which are going to a sugar factory in Georgia to make sugar bags, and 569,248.25 cubic inches of recyclables for our bus.  We will have a celebration and reward ceremony Friday, February 16 at 2PM to end our competition.

We want to promote recycling awareness and keep as many recyclables as we can out of the landfills.  We are hoping this competition will motivate our children to recycle everyday and become responsible stewards of our school and the Earth!!!

Earth Day Everyday!

Sue C. Fair
Elementary Teacher
245-3876
sfair@fsu.edu

For the third year in a row Spanish Club collected, put together and delivered over 40 gift baskets as their main Community Outreach Program. Spanish Club works with the Region I Migrant Education Program headed by Maria Pouncey, which provides a comprehensive array of programs and services to migrant families.

After three very successful years, Seņor Guastella, Seņor Sardiņas and all the members of Spanish Club, are looking forward to expanding their involvement with the Migrant Education Program.

Seņor Sal Guestalla
Spanish Club Faculty Advisor
sguastella@fsu.edu

Students in my class wanted to study Ocean Currents.  Using Curriculum Pathways (a website based curriculum software) the class decided to put a "Message in a Bottle", drop the bottle into a body of water, predict where it would go and hope that someone would find it and contact them.

A student visiting the Bahamas during the Winter holidays dropped the bottle into the Atlantic.  Last week a fisherman found it and called me.  The fisherman is going to put a new message in the bottle and drop it farther out in the ocean.  The students are curious to see if anyone finds it again.

The fisherman has also agreed to telephone the class and the recorded conversation will be available on the "Message in a Bottle" project webpage.

This is certainly one of the highlights of my educational career.  This fisherman has become a teacher to my students.  My motto is "Touching the World with a Passion for Science". This project truly "touches the world" and it touches back.

For more information on this project please visit the website or contact me.

Cathy McQuone
High School Science Teacher
cmcquone@fsu.edu
245-3821

Bullying: when a person or group uses power - such as physical, verbal or social - to hurt or intimidate someone or a group who has less power.

Listen & be empathetic - Be an active listener and let your child lead the conversation.  Occasionally, rephrase the information your child gives you and repeat the information back to your child in your own words.

Listen for the '5 Ws' - Listen for the who, what, when, where, and why - but be aware, your child may be sensitive to being asked a lot of questions at one time. Plan on multiple conversations to get the information you need to help your child.

Make changes / Build skills - Based on the '5 W's", discuss ideas on how to safely and effectively stop the bullying. Role-play different approaches and responses with your child so that he or she will be prepared to stop the bullying but not get into a physical or verbal fight. Also, brainstorm ways to increase friendships by developing physical and social skills that are appreciated by other children.

Discuss emotional expression - Being bullied can create feelings of anger, frustration, sadness, depression or vengeance. Teach your child how to relieve these feelings without being violent to themselves or others. Ideas may include talking with other adults and trusted friends, writing in a journal, creating art, doing physical activities and deep-breathing.

Work with the school - If the bullying is happening at school, speak to your child's classroom teacher or advisor so they can help.

The '5 W's' 

1. Who was involved? One person or a few? someone they don't know or people they hang with? Anyone else around?
2. What type of bullying - physical, verbal, relational, cyber, or a combination?
3. Where does the bullying happen? Online? In the neighborhood? The Mall? School?
4. When does it happen? At a certain time or is it random? Weekends? Before school? Or after?
5. Why does your child think that the bullying happens?