Latin American Festival Footage

More Valuable than Money

Dear Friends,

As we embark on another school year, I want to invite you into our school to volunteer, eat lunch with your child, participate in school events, and work as a PTA tutor.

While fundraising is important, especially in this economy when schools have been cut so much, all the money in the world can't buy a single second of time. Your time is by far the most valuable thing you have to offer and WE NEED YOU.

Whether it's volunteering to work with classroom centers, being a room parent, eating lunch with your child, helping out with crosswalk duty or lunch duty, serving on a PTA committee, helping with Fall Festival/Joyner Jamboree, or tutoring in our PTA tutoring program, your time is well-spent at Joyner.

All the best,

Chris

Our New 4th Grade Teacher

Dear Friends,

I would like to introduce our new 4th grade teacher, Jennifer Bell (Picture is coming later.)

Ms. Bell is a fourteen (14) year veteran and has taught middle school and elementary in both New Jersey and Florida, in public school and private school settings.

She has served as a grade chair, department chair, and YMCA Camp Director.

Ms. Bell's specialty is hands-on, child centered thematic units that differentiate for student ability and she was recognized in 2000 as a "Best Practices Award Winner" by the New Jersey Department of Education for her unit "Different is Better".

Ms. Bell is trained in the use of Promethean Interactive Technology and was a Promethean Trainer at the Sagemont School in Florida.

Her principal in Florida describes Jennifer as, " A truly gifted teacher who engages students with amazingly creative lessons." According to her references, Ms. Bell has been known to "go into character", showing up as Betsy Ross, Adda Adjective, or even a Mad Scientist when introducing a new lesson.

We can't wait to see her in action!!!

Elizabeth Walker- Interim 1st Grade Teacher

Elizabeth Walker will take over for Ms. Muttillo when she goes out in September to have her baby!

Ms. Walker brings tremendous service experiences to our school, serving as a Young Life Missionary to Tanzania, working in the National Ability Center's adaptive recreation program, and volunteering and teaching students with Autism at the Lionheart School in Atlanta, GA.

She also supervised the After School Program at Chase Street Elementary while working on her undergrade degree at the University of Georgia in Athens, GA

Her teaching coordinator and supervising teacher describe her as organized, committed, and

a person with a natural love of and talent for teaching. She was hand-picked by Ms. Muttillo and reminded us all of Ms. Muttillo.

Katherine Johnson- Our New 4th Grade Teacher

Katherine Johnson is our new 4th grade Teacher. She has been teaching 4th Grade for the last four years in Virginia and in Greensboro, NC.

Ms. Johnson has used interactive whiteboards in her classroom and is known for her innovative and engaging teaching style.

Max Pope, her principal at Pilot Elementary in Greensboro says, "Katherine is a tremendous teacher and even better person. She goes the extra mile to challenge her students and is a great communicator with parents. She is a motivator and students absolutely love being in her class."

Abbie Wright-Our New Kindergarten Teacher

Abbie Wright is our new Kindergarten teacher. She comes to us from Winston Salem, NC where she was the Honda Beginning Teacher of the Year for Winston Salem/Forsyth County Schools. Ms. Wright has been teaching in Winston Salem for two years and most recently taught a Boys Only First Grade Class. Abbie also led the initiative to bring Promethean Interactive Boards to Winston Salem and is a Promethean Trainer for the Forsyth County Schools. When we talked with Abbie's Principal, Mr. Koch, he had this to say, "Abbie is a real superstar! She is well prepared and a leader with a can-do attitude!"

Kimberly Benson-Our New Fifth Grade Teacher

Kimberly Benson is our new 5th grade teacher.

She is a three year veteran from Morikami Park

IB Elementary, an award winning elementary school in Delray Beach, Florida where she was

their Beginning Teacher of the Year.

Ms. Benson led many activities at Morikami, most notably

establishing an award winning Earth Club and recycling

project that sent Crayons to Haiti, shoes to Africa and South

America, recycled cell phones to trade for gift cards for the

troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, and recycled a variety of

materials to help reduce pollution and reuse containers and

paper.

Ms. Benson impressed us with her tremendous portfolio of student projects and knowledge of the IB curriculum.

Renee Elfe, the principal at Morikami describes Kimberly this way, "Ms. Benson is a bundle of energy and her class is active, inviting, and a real center of inquiry for children. I chose her to be my child's teacher because she is so active in making learning come alive. You are getting one of our finest!"

Jenna Carey - Our New Second Grade Teacher

We will be profiling one of our New Teachers every few days on this Blogpage.

Jenna Carey joins us from Arizona, where she taught First Grade for two years. Prior to that she taught in Maine. When our interview team talked with Jenna, they were amazed at how much she looked like Amy Scheffel. They were even more amazed with the tremendous commitment to children and teaching expertise that she brought to the table. Her principals raved about her ability to reach every child, her strong instructional skills and desire to learn new things, her strength as a communicator with parents, and her commitment to her children! Ms. Carey will teach 2nd grade.

New School Hours for 2009-2010

School will begin at 8:20 am each day this year (2009-2010) instead of the usual 8:30 am. Doors will open at 7:50 am each day

In keeping with the District Initiative of Professional Learning Communities, school will dismiss an hour early (2:00 pm) every Wednesday.

On the following Wednesdays, Sept. 23rd, Oct. 21st, Dec. 2nd, Feb. 3rd, March 10th, and April 21st School will dismiss at 12:00 pm for Professional Development.

Kindergarten Information

Dear Kindergarten Parents,

If you have not registered for Kindergarten or if you know parents in other grades who are planning to come to Joyner for the first time, please register, or have them register, in our main office as soon as possible. Our planning for hiring is dependent on our projection of student enrollment and with the budget as it is, it helps us if you register as soon as possible.

Staggered entry dates will be assigned in late July/Early August. You can request a specific staggered entry date by contacting me at cknott3@wcpss.net , although we in no way guarantee that you will receive it.

In order to achieve balanced classes, each Kindergarten teacher will assess the students during the staggered entry dates and we will assign students to teachers on Friday, Aug 28th. We will also hold a special Kindergarten meet the teacher session on Friday, Aug. 28th after school from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm.

Note: The Special Kindergarten Meet the Teacher session is solely for the purpose of meeting the K teachers. Parents should take care of business items such as Opening Cafeteria Accounts, Joining our PTA, Signing up for Before and AfterSchool Care, finding Bus Routes, getting Carpool Numbers, etc. during our Schoolwide Meet the Teacher night on Thursday, August 20th from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm.

Welcome to Mr. Knott's Blog

Dear Friends,

Welcome to the new Principal's Blog for J.Y. Joyner Magnet Elementary. We are expanding the way we communicate to better provide information to parents and families in a paperless format.

I hope to add video and pictures to this blog page soon and provide you with more information as we go through the summer.

Have a great summer!