4300 Pounds Stuff Bus

Each holiday season Las Colinas Middle School ASB spearheads a district-wide food drive to benefit Food Share.  This annual event has come to be known as the Stuff-a-Bus Food Drive.  Las Colinas Principal (and former LMS Principal) Pam Gonzales sent the following message to our families:

I just wanted to thank your school

communities on behalf of the Las Colinas ASB for your wonderful support of our Stuff-a-bus project this year.  Through the generous support of your school communities, the “Stuffed Bus” carried over 4300 pounds of food to Food Share.  Food Share was very appreciative of the contribution by all of the schools who participated.

A special thank you also goes out to PTA volunteer Michelle Fisher and all her happy helpers for coordinating the event at La Mariposa.

La Mariposa Cuts The Cord

La Mariposa School has recently gone wireless! All classrooms now have a wireless connection to the internet. This benefits teachers because they can freely move around the classroom to share online content with students.  Kindergarten teachers can now assess students anywhere in the room using our online assessment tools, and grade level teams can plan together without having to find a “blue cord” to plug in to the network. Students will benefit fromtheir teachers’ increased access to content, especially online versions of our textbooks and supplemental programs.  Additionally, our 1^st and 2^nd grade teams will be piloting the use of tablet computers to build literacy skills.  These devices can wirelessly connect to content and apps that have been pre-selected by teachers. Parents and volunteers will also have access to the La Mariposa “Guest Network,” which allows internet access for personal devices.  The wireless network is protected from viruses and filtered for school appropriate content in the same manner as our hardwired network.   This huge step would not be possible without parent contributions to our PTA. Thank you for helping our teachers offer your students a true 21^st century education!

–Jay Greenlinger, Principal

Book Fair A Blast

Reading Is Out of this World!

What fun we had at our semi-annual book event.  Held on either side of Thanksgiving, this winter’s event was fun for all.  From our Family Night to our “Breakfast with Books” students were able to shop and share their love of reading with their friends and families.

Not only are book fairs great events to celebrate literacy, but profits help support reading programs and help purchase books on campus.  In addition to raising more than $2000 for our library or literacy programs, the PTA put approximately $1600 worth of new books in our classrooms.  Starting in February we will begin collecting books for our spring “Buck-a-Book” event–a used book sales were every book is only a dollar!

Special thanks to PTA Bookfair Chair Diana Goodson and the countless volunteers that made this event possible.