Tuesday, May 26, to Friday, May 29, is Spirit Week at Grady Elementary. Here are the themes for each day:
Tuesday: Sports Day
Wednesday: Crazy Hair Day
Thursday: Mix & Match Day
Friday: Super Hero Day
Enjoy this fun-filled week at Grady!
This has been a great week at Grady. The Chess Team dominated in the Mitchell Gran Prix. To see standings and pictures of kids with their trophies click here: Chess Tournament Winners.
The Book Fair was a huge success thanks to all of the families who participated and all of you who volunteered. Thank you for your support. Thus far, the sales at the book fair are $6,700.00, but they could go higher and break our record of $7,100, if parents purchase books through the online book fair that runs through May 26. Please just follow this link Online Book Fair Until May 26 and click in the middle of the page that says “Online Book Fair.” All orders ship free to the school and there is an expanded selection of books, including books for all ages (child to adult).
Also, we need more “treasures” for the Treasure Chest in the Kathryn Hance Media Center. If you have unused party favors, small toys such as Happy Meal toys, or other cool treats that would be a pleasure for a student to receive, please bring them to Mr. Tsourakis in the Kathryn Hance Media Center or Ms. Taylor in the front office. This is a great way to give unused party favors or Happy Meal toys a second life.
Next week, when we return is Spirit Week. Here is a list of the themes for each day: Spirit Week Daily Themes.
There will be one last End-of-the-Year Family Night at Yogurtology, located at 1202 S. Church Ave., on Wednesday, June 3, from 2 pm to 8 pm. Please come out for some yogurt and know that a portion of the proceeds of your purchase will benefit our school. Please mention Grady Elementary at the counter to ensure that our school gets credit for your purchase.
We are concluding our Spring After School Enrichment Program Clubs (Robotics, Chess, Dance, Basketball and Spanish Club). All clubs have concluded for the year, except for Spanish Club. We hope you liked the clubs; we are looking for feedback on our ASE Club Program and any advice you may have to help us make the program even more successful in the future. You can direct comments to Ellen Lyons at [email protected], and to ASE Club Coordinator, Moni Sears at [email protected]. We will be bringing back the program in the fall, with expanded club offerings.
The Grady Elementary Chess Club did very well at its first chess tournament, the Mitchell Gran Prix. Kindergarten and First Grade won Third Place, Second and Third Grade won Fourth Place, and Fourth and Fifth Grade won Second Place! Congratulations to the students. Below you can see some happy students with their trophies.
Grady Elementary has won the Hillsborough County PTA’s Superintendent’s Award for Excellence in Increased Membership. The Award was presented by Hillsborough County Public Schools Superintendent Jeff Eakins. The award was accepted by Grady Principal Kristine Dosal and PTA President, Debbie Bresnahan. Our school won the award because we had the highest increase in PTA membership of all schools in Hillsborough County. Prior to presenting the award to Grady, Superintendent Eakins spoke about the importance of parental involvement in schools and how parental and teacher cooperation is critical to the success of a school. We are delighted and grateful to be presented with this wonderful honor. At the same award ceremony, Grady also won awards for Volunteerism and a Golden Participation Award for parental involvement. Grady was represented at the award ceremony by Mrs. Dosal (2014 Principal of the Year), Sandra Richmond (nominated for Outstanding Non-Instructional Person), Mr. Florio (2014-15 Grady Teacher of the Year and nominated for Hillsborough County PTA Teacher of the Year), PTA President Debbie Bresnahan, PTA President-Elect Kris House, VP of Event Jennifer Narvaes, VP of Membership MaryAnn Hoffman-Dougill, ASE Club Coordinator Moni Sears, and VP of Communications Ellen Lyons
Receiving the award:
Here's a picture of the group with the Superintendent's Award:
And a picture of the group before the awards ceremony began:
The Spring Musical is May 13! Here are the times for the many events:
Morning:
7:30 am to 8:30 am – buy raffle tickets and bid on silent auction items in front of the school, while enjoying free coffee and pastries. You need not be present to win raffle and silent auction items.
8 am to 8:30 am – Chair set up in the Pavilion. We still need volunteers for this, and it goes quickly with more people. To volunteer, please click here: Volunteer for Set Up or Breakdown of Chairs.
Afternoon and Evening:
3:30 pm to 7:30 pm, Book Fair in the Kathryn Hance Media Center (to volunteer for the Book Fair, click here: Volunteer for Book Fair
4 pm to 7:30 pm, Student Art Presentation in the Cafeteria
4:30 Food Trucks start serving and vendor tables are set up
5:00 pm Silent Auction and Raffle items available under the Pavilion. Raffle tickets are 7 for $5. We take cash, check and credit cards for raffle tickets and silent auction items. To see prizes, click here: Raffle and Silent Auction Items.
5:15 Students in the Chorus to report to Room 26, Actors report to Room 13, Dancers report to your grade level classrooms.
5:30 pm, Introductory remarks, PTA General Meeting
6:00 Spring Musical, How to Be A Pirate in Seven Easy Songs, begins. All other events, except food truck sales, stop during the Spring Musical Performance (from 5:45 pm to 7:00 pm)
7:00 Spring Musical ends, Silent Auction and Raffle Winners Announced. Winners will be notified and their names/prizes will be posted on our website.
7:00 Spring Musical chair breakdown occurs. To volunteer for this please click here: Volunteer for Set Up or Breakdown of Chairs, or simply stay and help. It takes less than 30 minutes if enough people help. Also, we need volunteers with drills (preferably cordless drills) to help break down the stage backdrop after the show. If you have a drill and can help out, please bring your drill and stay after the show to help!
7:00 to 7:30 Book Fair and Art Presentation are re-opened after end of Spring Musical.
Please be quiet during the Principal’s remarks, the PTA General Meeting and especially during the Spring Musical performance. Please remember that all parents should be able to hear their children perform. If you plan to talk during the performance, please proceed to the food truck area for your conversation. Grady students and teachers have worked hard to put on a wonderful show for you!
We look forward to seeing you tomorrow for our many Spring Musical events. If you have any questions, please email VP of Events, Jennifer Narvaes, at [email protected], VP of Volunteers, Chely Sierra, at [email protected], VP of Communications, Ellen Lyons, at [email protected].
Grady Teachers and Staff say, "Thank you" for the delicious sweets! Click for pictures of the sweets provided by Grady Families.
This has been a tremendous Teacher and Staff Appreciation Week. Tomorrow is our final day and the theme is desserts. Please bring in, or send your students to school with special dessert treats (brownies, cookies, cake etc.) that are either homemade or store-bought, and preferably individually wrapped (except cake). Please plan to drop off the goodies at the front office on Friday, May 8th before 8:00 a.m
Thanks again for such a fun and wonderful week for our teachers. Teachers that we have talked to feel very appreciated!
Thank you Grady Families for your participation in the gift card give-away on Wednesday. 77 gift cards were donated by families from our school and another 80+ gift cards were funded by money made at the Barnes & Noble Family Night of Reading. A picture of the gift cards donated by families and some of the Barnes & Noble gift cards is attached. Gift card and gift item donations were made by the following families: Patterson, Azevedo, Panos, Andres, Mueller, Matos, Jackson, Sierra, Fitzgerald, Ledford, Dougill, Hammond, Schentrup, Lyons, Boyd, Stemac, Carroll, Sahoo, Andratte and Del Castillo. Some families did not leave their names on the gift cards, and we must simply thank them generally. The teachers loved the gift card give-away and we’ve received several thank you emails from the teachers. The teachers appreciate our strong family supporters and strong PTA, both of which greatly help our school.
Grady's Fence, Phase I, is almost complete. See pictures of the fence and mock-ups of the plaques.
Thank you for a fantastic flower day! So far, Teacher and Staff Appreciation Week has been a wonderful success. We started with Monday Breakfast (see a picture of the breakfast display here: Picture), today was flower day and tomorrow is Hats Off To Teachers and Staff. Please have students wear hats to school and consider giving teachers and staff gifts to show appreciation. If you don’t know what kind of gift card or gift your child’s teacher would like, please review teacher profiles here: Teachers; Administration here: Administration; and Specialists here: Specialists.
In addition to the individual teacher gifts given by students directly to their teachers, there will also be a drawing on the Morning Show, for prizes of gift cards and gift items. Thank you to everyone who has donated gift cards and gift items thus far. To donate gift cards and gift items for the Wednesday give-away, please drop them in the front office before 8 am on Wednesday. Please attach a note with your or your child’s name if you’d like it announced on the Morning Show.
To see more information about Teacher and Staff Appreciation Week, please click here: Teacher and Staff Appreciation. If you have any questions about Teacher and Staff Appreciation Week, please email Avery Maniscalco at [email protected].
Coming up is Grady’s Spring Musical. Grady Elementary PTA has lined up some spectacular raffle baskets and silent auction items for the Spring Musical. To see the items, click here: Baskets and Silent Auction Items.
You can join in the raffle and silent auction even if you don’t plan to attend the Spring Musical. You can buy raffle tickets (1 for $1 or 7 tickets for $5) on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (May 11-13) in front of school.
On Wednesday, May 13, we will not only sell raffle tickets, but we will display the baskets that are the raffle prizes (together with boxes for you deposit raffle tickets in), and we will display the silent auction items for viewing and bidding. We will serve free coffee and pastries, too. It should be a lovely morning for a raffle and silent auction get-together.
The winning raffle tickets will be drawn after the Spring Musical, but you need not be present to win, but please place contact information on the back of your raffle ticket! We will contact all winners of raffled and silent auction items, so feel free to buy tickets even if you are not planning to attend the Spring Musical.