355 Landrum Lane, Ponte Vedra Beach, FL. 32082 Palms Post Issue 4 Vol.22 - 2019

Hello Ocean Palms Families,

Honoring our veterans and active military is an important part of being a

good citizen. At Ocean Palms we have dedicated activities to promote

student awareness and provide opportunities to show appreciation for

members of the Armed Forces. Candy is very popular this time of year, most

students have plenty to share. One of the ways our students are able to show

caring and have made healthy choices is to give some of their candy to

members of the Armed Forces. We are delighted to see our students give a

portion of their personal Halloween candy to support “Treats for Troops.”

Many students are also writing letters that will be delivered to the USO at

the Mayport Station. Thank you to Joanna Leivent and parent volunteers who

are assisting with this project. They will deliver boxes filled with treats to our

troops. We are proud of our Student Ambassadors for this service learning

project and for supporting our veterans. Our Student Ambassadors are led by

OPE staff sponsors Faie Pellegrino, Kerry Fodor, and Kaleigh Kessler. We

will also continue the tradition of placing small flags outside our school’s fence

as a sign of our respect for veterans. The culminating event, led by our music

teacher Mrs. Christina Shore, will take place Friday, November 8th at 9:00

a.m. as our choir, instrumental ensemble and student speakers present their

Annual Veterans Day Tribute performance to an audience of veterans and

active duty military from our community.

We want to thank everyone who attended the Fall Family Festival in Octo-

ber! The event was well attended and everyone had a great time. Partici-

pants enjoyed good food, games, business partner booths, and the DUNK

tank! The dunk tank remained a popular attraction for students and specta-

tors for the duration of the festival. We appreciate the teachers who

volunteered their time to participate. Thank you Ms. Kessler, Mrs. Garner,

Mrs. L. Smith, Mrs. Hoeppner, Ms. Reid, Mrs. Kennedy, Ms. Della Porta, and

Mrs. Blaich for bringing the dunk tank to life and making it fun for our students.

We also want to thank Jessica Webster and the volunteers who gave their

time to make this event a success. We also want to thank Jessica Sellers,

Jackie Pennella, and the many parent volunteers for the commitment and

planning to provide our Fall Book Fair.

November Character Counts - Citizenship

7th - PTO Finance Committee Meeting 9:00 - 10:00 in our Kitchen Resource Room

8th - Annual Veterans Day Trib-

ute Performance (9:00-10:00)

11th - Veterans’ Day (No School)

12th - PTO Meeting (9:00 - 10:00)

in our Kitchen Resource Room

13th - 5th Gr. School Spelling Bee

14th - SAC Meeting (3:15-4:15)

15th - Individual Picture Retakes

18th-22nd - Canned Food Drive

11/25-12/6 - Holiday Toy Drive

27st - 29th Thanksgiving Break

December Character Counts - All Pillars

2nd - PTO Meeting (9:00 - 10:00)

in our Kitchen Resource Room

12th - SAC Meeting (9:00-10:00)

17th - First grade Music Perfor-

mance with Choir and ORFF En-

semble (6:00 - 7:00) - cafeteria

20th - School Pajama Day and

Holiday Sing-along for students,

Early Dismissal @1:45

Students, teachers and staff all took part in the dress-up days as Ocean Palms celebrated Literacy Week. Featured in this edition of the Palms Posts you will see pictures from our Celebrate Literacy Week. Some of the fun included: Books Brighten Our Lives—neon colors and sunglasses, Round Up a Good Book—western dress, Go Wild for a Good Book—wacky tacky Wednesday, Readers are Leaders—dress as favorite leader or storybook character and OPE Takes Pride in Reading—OPE gear. Our next community service project is our Annual Canned Food Drive that will take place November 18th-22nd. This food drive supports families right here in St. Johns County. This year, each grade level will compete to see who can bring in the most items. Our Student Ambassadors will be in charge of counting, boxing, and reporting each grade level’s daily total on the news. The grade level who brings in the most items will win a popcorn party. Special thank you to one of our silver business partners Pieology. Our spirit night at Pieology Pizzeria fundraiser earned Ocean Palms $174. Thank you again for hosting another spirit night and to families for yet another amazing turn-out! Speaking of giving back, community support is an integral part of the Palms Pride that is fostered at Ocean Palms. As we approach a season of giving, we are grateful to all our Community Partners, our PTO, volunteers and to our families for reinforcing the character attributes of responsibility, caring and citizenship. Together we are setting the expectation that all students can become caring contributors to the world. It is my honor and pleasure to announce our very own Mr. Brian Morgan is this year’s recipient of the Marjorie Davidson Individual Service Award! Mr. Morgan was recognized on October 23rd at the district’s Annual Character Counts Community Partner Breakfast where he was surprised with this award. Mr. Morgan serves on many committees throughout our district, but his commitment to the Character Counts Steering Committee has left a lasting impact on our district and its’ students. Mr. Morgan’s motto is “It’s all about the students”. He is always coming up with ways to get students involved in Character Counts activities and ways to display the Six Pillars of Character. Without Mr. Morgan, the district’s Character Cup would not be the event it is today. No matter the role Mr. Morgan serves in our district, he never loses sight of modeling good character for students, teachers, support staff and coworkers and that is why he is the perfect

recipient for this year’s Marjorie Davidson Individual Service Award. Please join me in congratulating Mr. Brian Morgan!”

Sincerely,

Mrs. Cantwell

Character Counts Recognition

for Responsibility

Kindergarten Sam Brignac, Mackenzie Mann, London McLaughlin, Taylor Mitcham, Nora Webster

1st Grade Nayelie Dickey, Layla Gharacholou, Ace Jackson, Jack Marciani, Greyson Moore

2nd Grade Gabriella Akers, Mady Carrouth, Maddox Garcia, Ronan McCarthy, Franco Milea, Francesca Sala

3rd Grade Zoe Brown, Caroline Houston, Arya Inchal, Vespa Latino, Cole Leivent

4th Grade Luke Canon, Ila Crowe, Sophie Koppenhafer, Aubrey Moore, Cooper Whirity

5th Grade Colin Janik, Lauren Lewis, Alexandra Li, Ellie Worth

Character Counts Recognition

for Fairness

Kindergarten Sebastian Felix-Quinones, Liberty Felts, Wesley Martin, Andrew Mutai, David Penna

1st Grade Wyatt Darling, Mia Garcia, Fletcher Simmers, Juliette Werba, Bridget White

2nd Grade Holden Fannin, Blake Hertzberg, Michael Lesso, Elliet Minch, Elizabeth Ster, Whit Tiedeberg

3rd Grade Vittoria Arnulfo, Colsen Cowart, Eden Howell, Meredith Kerekgyarto

4th Grade Julia Frias, Nati Landicho, Aiden Rendzio, Camden Tidwell, Zoe Walker

5th Grade Ariana Mutai, Carter Penella, Julien Rodriguez-Jaume, Addison Siebenaler

Holiday Cheer for Otters and Others

With the holidays quickly approaching, we

would love to spread some holiday cheer to our

very own Otter families in need as well as some foster children right

here in St. Johns County. Donations can be made through our

Amazon registry.

https://smile.amazon.com/wedding/share/holidaycheerforotters

All items will be shipped to the Ocean Palms Elementary School and

distributed to our families. We would like to have all donations

received by December 5, 2019. Thank you in advance for your

thoughtfulness and willingness to lend a helping hand. All donations

will benefit our Otters in need as well as foster children in our

community.

Attention all Amazon shoppers!

Did you know you can earn money for Ocean Palms every time you shop

on Amazon? It's super easy and every little bit helps. Just go to

smile.amazon.com and choose Ocean Palms Elementary School Parent

Teacher Organization as your charity. We will earn a small percentage of

every eligible purchase at no extra cost to you. Spread the word to fami-

ly and friends! Thank you so much for supporting our wonderful school.

Reporting Absences

Any student who has been absent from school shall bring a note from a parent or guardian within forty-eight (48) hours of returning to school stating the cause of the absence. Failure to bring in a note will result in an automatic unexcused absence. However, the fact that the student brings in a note does not require the school administration to excuse the absence. Administration will decide

whether the absence meets the criteria for an excused absence, and that decision will be final. The admin-istration may request additional documentation, such as a doctor’s note. The excuse must state specific dates of absence, and must be signed by a licensed physician. After fifteen (15) days of absence, whether excused or unexcused, a student must present verification from a licensed doctor for all subsequent absenc-es due to illness. For the complete Attendance Policy: http://www.stjohns.k12.fl.us/student/attendance/

Congratulations to Mrs. Eatmon's class and coordinator Katie Scotti for collecting the most

Box Tops with 429! Mrs. Eatmon’s class earned a cupcake party! As a whole, we collected

3,750 Box Tops = $375 for our school. This is in addition to the $66 that has been turned in

via the app. Thank you all for your clipping, counting, and organizing efforts. Our next

collection period ends on February 21st, 2020. We encourage everyone to download the

Box Top app. Please select OPE as your school of choice. Then, you can upload receipts

via the app within 14 days of purchase. It really is very easy: buy, scan, and earn... essen-

tially free money for our school!

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE TOP FIVE CLASSES!

First Place Eatmon’s Class 429

Second Place Della Porta’s Class 366

Third Place Hoeppner’s Class 261

Fourth Place Freck’s Class 250

Fifth Place Taylor’s Class 235

Follow Ocean Palms and PTO on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/OceanPalmsPTO

Congratulations to our Fifth Grade Spelling Bee Finalist! These students will go

on to compete in our annual school Spelling Bee on Wednesday, November

13th at 9:00 am. The winner will go on to compete in the district’s Spelling Bee

competition on Wednesday, December 4th at First Coast Technical College.

Sullivan

Anderson

Moussa

Bouaziz

Austin

Byrne

Ryland

Cherry

Janie

Eastman

Jacob

Fehniger

Jett

Jackson

Colin

Janik

Jack

Leivent

Carter

Pennella

Bailey

van der Walt

Amelia

Wilson

Diamond Partners

Platinum Partners

Gold Partners

Silver Partners