Osprey Family Update
November 15th, 2024
Important Dates
11/26- Progress Reports
11/26- Third Grade field trip to Fort Fisher
11/26- Thanksgiving/Friendship Meal @ TAES (see details below)
11/27-12/1- No School
12/3 - Dancing Drum Presentation
12/6- Jonathan Miller School Performance
12/11- Vision Screenings @ TAES
12/12- 3rd & 4th MOY Math Benchmark
12/16-12/20- Holiday Spirit Week (see below)
12/19- Fourth Grade Holiday Play @ 6pm
12/19- Science Fair
12/21-1/5- No School
Pender County Schools calendar: 24-25 PCS School Calendar
PCS Strategic Planning Questionnaire
Over the next several months, Pender County Schools will embark on creating its next strategic plan. This plan will guide our efforts over the next five years, setting a clear direction, aligning our efforts, and holding us accountable to PCS students, staff, and families. We hope that it will reflect our community’s goals for our students and inform how we prepare each student for their future.
We know that to truly reflect the will of our community, this process must be inclusive of a wide range of perspectives. Gathering this range of perspectives starts with a survey for students, teachers, and community members. Please take the time to provide your valuable input by filling out this survey. Your input is valued and appreciated.
PCS Parent & Family Focus Groups
Pender County Schools Strategic Planning focus group sign-up (click below to register)
Thanksgiving Friendship Meal
Date: 11/26
Pre-registration Form: Families/Visitors, please fill out this form if planning to purchase a to-go box. Students will receive a similar meal. They can go through the line as normal with the typical fees applied.
Times: Regular Lunch Times (Third grade is on a field trip and will not participate.)
What to Bring: Families are encouraged to bring blankets to sit on when enjoying their meals with students on the floor of the gym side of the cafe.
Family Check-in: Families/Visitors will sign-in, get a TAES sticker, and purchase their meal ticket with $7 cash only at a table that is outside our front doors under the breezeway. PTA members will help with sign in/stickers, and Cafe Staff will receive cash and hand out tickets.
Meal Pickup: Families/visitors will walk to the gym-side of the cafe, give their ticket at the table, receive their to-go box, and help themselves to the water with flavor packets. Then, they will find a spot to picnic on the gym-side of the cafe. Children purchase their typical lunch through the lunch line and join families/visitors with their meal.
Seating: Families/Visitors will bring a blanket to sit on the gym side of the cafe with their child(ren). Students who do not have families/visitors in attendance will have lunch as usual at their grade level tables.
Meals: This is what families will receive in their to-go box: BBQ Chicken Drumsticks, Seasoned Corn, Sweet Potatoes (with brown sugar and cinnamon), Fresh Apple, Garlic Texas Toast, Chocolate Chip Cookie.
Families with Children in Multiple Grades: Families are welcomed to stay for more than one lunch period; however, students must eat during their scheduled lunch time. Families can wait in their cars or in front of the school in between lunches if desired.
Parking & Playgrounds: The front playground will be closed for recess in order to accommodate parking from 10:00-1:00.
Signing-out Students: Families/visitors on contact lists must sign out students in the front office using the computer if they are planning to take students home after lunch.
*It is important to note that lunch periods are 25 minutes in duration. Please plan accordingly.
Lost and Found
There is an overflow of lost and found items. Please be sure to label all jackets, water bottles, etc. with your child’s first and last name. Next week is our school’s Veterans Day Concert and we will have the lost and found displayed for you to look through.
Book Fair
Exciting news, our online book fair is now open! We will host our in-person fair from 11/12-11/18, but you can also shop from home and still support our school. This is also where you can purchase digital gift cards for students (no need to fuss with cash!). If you do send your student in with cash, we encourage you to tell your students to "round up to the next dollar" to allow us to move through are purchasing lines effectively and efficiently.
Orders purchased online will be added to our school's book fair earnings and will ship at the end of book fair week. Please allow approximately 10 business days for orders to arrive at our school.
Link:
https://literati.com/store/?school=topsail-elementary-school-hampstead-nc
Holiday Spirit Week
CHAP
It's time once again for the Community Holiday Assistance Program. At Thanksgiving, families may receive a meal kit that includes a precooked turkey, so they can prepare a Thanksgiving meal. At Christmas, families are invited to “shop” through the selection of gifts for each of their children up to age 18, and they receive a grocery card. Last year CHAP served 433 families representing 718 children.
Watch this short 2 minute video to learn more.
Community Holiday Assistance - 2024 Dates, 2023 Impact
This year’s deadline for applications is November 18 for both Christmas & Thanksgiving. We encourage you to get your applications in early, as they are limited to 300 meals at Thanksgiving. They can accommodate more families at Christmas, so families applying after they receive the first 300 applications will be put on a waiting list for Thanksgiving and will be served at Christmas. Please use the link below to complete the google form application.
If you have questions, or find it difficult to complete the application form, please contact Dr. Lori Brown, TAE school counselor, for help. Her email is: lori_brown@pender.k12.nc.us
Save The Date
The 4th grade holiday play will be on December 19th @ 6pm
STEM
As you know, we added an additional specials class this year, STEM. Students are absolutely loving it. Our PTA major fundraising project this year is to furnish and get equipment for the room. We are currently in the design and ordering process and should have all of our new furniture and items arrive around November.
In the mean time we are looking to get some support for the consumables used for all the experiments and projects worked on in class. Here is our STEM teacher's wish list for those who would like to support the progra:
https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/22I3PJX42OJZU?ref_=wl_share
Car Rider Line
Transportation Changes
If your student has a change in transportation that is different then then normal, please take the following steps:
- Send in writing (handwritten note, email, rooms message) to your child's teaching
- If you do not get a response by 12 pm the day the change is needed, please call the front office. We will still ask you to send it in writing, but we will be sure the teacher gets the information
- No student can ride a bus other then the bus they are assigned to
- No student can ride a bus with a friend unless they are assigned to that bus
Attendance
In order to streamline attendance, this year we will be receiving attendance excuse notes electronically, not paper copies.
All excuse notes should be sent to tae_attendance@pender.k12.nc.us
This includes doctors notes, parent notes, etc. This allows us to make sure all excuse notes get to where they need to be. It also allows families to have documentation that they sent in their notes instead of things getting lost.
It is still best practice to communicate with the teacher in the event of the absence to ensure students have all necessary make up work, but you do not need to give the teacher the excuse note.
Please review Board Policy 4400 for the full attendance policy and to ensure you are up to date on what constitutes and excused absence. It can be found here:
Attendance
Student
September - 95.75%
October- 94.24%
Staff
September - 96.6%
October- 94%
Social Media
Parents, we invite you to follow us on social media:
Follow us on twitter: @tes_ospreys
Find us on Facebook: Topsail Annandale Elementary School
Find us on Instagram: topsailannandale
PTA Updates
General Info
Be sure to join the PTA! Join by clicking on the link below. If you have more than one student, be sure to note all teachers
https://tes.memberhub.com/store
Be sure to follow us on Facebook at Topsail PTA and on Instagram at @topsailannandalepta
General Membership Meeting
Please join us for our first general membership meeting is November 7th at 5:30pm in the media center.
Thankful for TAES
Volunteering
Please complete the volunteer interest form to support TAES!
Yearbooks
YEARBOOKS are on sale now! The cost is $18 if purchased before March 1, 2025. Please use the link below to order:
https://strawbridge.fotomerchanthv.com/search/YB30459
Do you have pictures for the yearbook? Please upload them to the link below. It is IMPORTANT to give us as much info as you can (teacher, grade, student names, etc). 4th grade parents, if you would like a baby picture of your student in the 4th Grade Dedication page you can upload them at any time, YOU MUST include their name as a label.