Welcome Back and Happy New Year!

Welcome back Joyner Families! We hope everyone had a great break! Given the current deep freeze we are in, the penguins seemed appropriate. Please make sure you dress your children in lots of layers for the cold and stay tuned to local radio and TV stations should the threat of snow or ice develop.

Happy Holidays from Our Family to Yours!

JDRF Fundraiser - Parents Night Out!!!

Dear Parents,

Friday, December 11th is Parents Night Out at Joyner.

For a $20 donation ($30 for two siblings, $40 for three siblings), the Joyner staff will be providing an exciting childcare activity for your students from 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm.

Catch up on your holiday shopping, or just go out and enjoy dinner while contributing to a worthwhile cause.

Please contact Ann Truax at atruax@wcpss.net to RSVP. (Note: It is important that you RSVP as we may not be able to hold the event without enough parent interest)

Literacy Night - Thursday Dec. 11th!!!

We have a Big Night Planned for Literacy Night on Thursday Dec. 11th!!!

Everything kicks off at 6:00 pm in the Gym with our Kindergarten students performing a Spanish Dance to kick off our general PTA Meeting.

At 6:30 pm, the book fair begins and students will follow a schedule to visit two magnificent story tellers, as well as our Book Fair.

I will post the schedule and more details tomorrow.

Helping our Needy Children

Dear Friends,

In the history of my time at Joyner, we have been recognized by many
organizations as one of the most charitable and caring schools in Wake County.
Over the past 4 and 1/2 years, our children and families have raised over
$20,000 for relief efforts in our school, our community, our state, our nation
and our world.

As the Holiday season draws near, we have two projects planned to help our
Homeless and Less Fortunate Children.

The first of these is our Snow Angel Snowman. The Snowman is in the main office
and on him you will find Snow Angel tags. Each tag contains a number and the
gender and age of a needy child as well as that child's shirt and pants sizes as
well as shoe size and a favorite toy. This was a huge success last year and we
are hoping for even more success this year. We are hoping to have our Snow
Angels on the Snowman by the end of this week.

Also, as we have done for many years, we will be collecting grocery and discount
store gift cards (Wal-Mart, Target, Kroger, Harris Teeter, Food Lion, K-Mart,
etc.) for our needy families this holiday season. This has been one of my "pet"
projects over the years and I will match the donation total dollar for dollar up
to $600.

You can bring gift cards to the office.

Early Release Day-Wednesday Dec. 2nd

Wednesday Dec. 2nd is an Early Release Date. Students will be dismissed at 12:30 pm.

Must See Video-CNN's 2009 Hero of the Year

This link is a video from CNN's 2009 Heroes Tribute. The winner, Efren Pena Florida, sat out single handedly to eradicate gangs and bring education to the slums of the Phillipines. His story is a testament to the power of one person. I hope you enjoy his story.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxtOMuQRXCE

Congratulations to Heather Pelletier, our 2009-2010 Teacher of the Year

Congratulations to Ms. Pelletier for being selected by her peers as the 2009-2010 Teacher of the Year for JYJ. Ms. Pelletier is Nationally Board Certified and is a demonstration teacher for the Project Bright IDEA Program, a program that is designed to increase the number of students, particularly from underrepresented groups, to be placed into gifted and higher level programs. Ms. Pelletier currently teaches our 1st/2nd Grade split class and serves as the second grade chairperson. Ms. Pelletier is known for her curiosity and for developing curiosity in her students as well. This is Ms. Pelletier's third year at Joyner. Join me in congratulating one of our finest!!!

Not on the Test!!!

Click the link below, then click play to view "Not on The Test", by Tom Chapin. This is a hilarious, yet sad song about Standardized Testing.

http://www.notonthetest.com/

Catching Up or Leading the Way!!!

Click the link below, then click the play button to view Dr. Yong Zhao's commentary on the "global competitiveness movement", America, and China.

I presented after Dr. Zhao at Worldview and got to spend some time with him and I left very impressed.

http://zhao.educ.msu.edu/2009/08/07/no-child-left-behind-and-global-competitiveness/

A Must Read Important Book!!!

Greg Mortenson's new book, Stones into Schools, will be released in bookstores, Dec. 1st. It is the second book by Mr. Mortenson, the first, Three Cups of Tea, was a #1 Best Seller.

This is such a compelling story of how education is changing the lives of women and their children in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Below I have linked a recent story about Greg and his mission to bring education to girls in Pakistan and Afghanstan.

http://www.parade.com/news/2009/11/22-fighting-terrorism-with-schools.html

JYJ PTA Holiday Market coming Dec. 2nd!!!