Lee First in Texas to Earn Gold

Lee Elementary School will be the first Texas school to receive the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Gold School Award during a special celebration on Thursday, November 15th at 9:30 a.m. in the school gym.

USDA Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services Nancy Montanez Johner will present the nation’s highest school nutrition award to Lee Principal Maria Elena Coronado and to Michael Rosenberger, Food Service Department director.

Texas Department of Agriculture administrators, additional USDA representatives, IISD school board members, and local officials will also be present.

Lee earned the Healthier US School Challenge Silver Award last year after presenting a packet of information featuring menus that demonstrate healthy menu planning practices and the principles of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.  The application also highlighted physical activity and nutrition education offered at the school.

Since that time, Lee has pursued a variety of programs and activities that qualified the school for the Healthier US School Challenge Gold Award. Lee involved the school nurse and cafeteria manager in classroom nutrition education and incorporated nutrition lessons in art, music and physical education classes. The main objective is to ensure that students are encouraged to be physically active for the rest of their lives.

Initiated in 2004, the Healthier US School Challenge recognizes nutrition excellence in elementary schools across the nation.  On September 4, 2007, Lee qualified for the Gold Award, raising the total number of schools qualifying for Gold in the United States to 175.

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5 Selected for Region, District Choirs

Five IISD high school choir students have been selected for region and district choirs. JP Goski, bass 2 from Irving High, has been selected for All-Region Choir and will audition for area. Four chosen for All-District Choir include: Maximillian Garza, bass 2, Irving High; Cory Jones, tenor 2, Nimitz High School; TJ Took, tenor 1, Irving High School; and Meagan Toon, alto 1, MacArthur High School.

The students will be featured in a concert at 7 p.m. on November 10 at Duncanville High School. Choral directors are Sharon Gross, Irving High; Michael D’Spain and Xavier Lazo, MacArthur; and Bob Jones, Nimitz.

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Nimitz Decathlon Team Second at Rockwall

The Nimitz High School Academic Decathlon Team finished second at the Rockwall Invitational Practice Meet October 27. Canyon del Oro High School, a team from Oro Valley, Arizona, took first. Flower Mound Marcus High School placed third, Keller High School was fourth, and Rockwall High School finished fifth. Sixteen teams competed at the meet.

Individually, Austin Christenberry was the top “A” student and the highest scoring student in the meet with 200 participants.  Murtaza Jafferji was the #5 “A” student and Emarric Zipper was the #5 “B” student. Sara Enriquez was the top scoring Nimitz “C” student.

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Storytelling Presentations

Elementary storytellers will be featured at three cluster programs:

• MacArthur Cluster
  Thursday, November 8,  6:30 p.m.
  MacArthur High School library

• Irving High Cluster
  Monday, November 12, 6:30 p.m.
  de Zavala Middle School library

• Nimitz Cluster
  Tuesday, November 13, 7:00 p.m.
  Nimitz High School library

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Coat Drive Underway

“Warm Kids from Warm Hearts” coat drive is underway through November 16.

Please consider giving a new or gently used clean coat to benefit homeless and underprivileged IISD children in prekindergarten through grade 12. For more information, call Toni Gallego, Parent & Community Services, at 972.273.6919 or email tgallego@irvingisd.net.

Drop-off locations include:

     •  Parent & Community Services -
820 O’Connor Road (next to Irving High School)

     •  Dayspring Family Church -
618 N. Beltline Road

     •  First United Methodist Church -
211 W. Third Street

     •  Holy Family of Nazareth Catholic Church -
2330 Cheyenne

     •  Irving Bible Church -
2435 Kinwest Parkway

     •  Northgate United Methodist Church -
3700 W. Northgate Drive

     •  Plymouth Park Baptist Church -
1714 N. Story Road

     •  Plymouth Park Church of Christ -
1710 W. Airport Freeway

     •  South MacArthur Church of Christ -
1401 S. MacArthur Blvd

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Writing About Monsters

Lively Elementary School fourth grade students partnered with fourth graders at John Haley Elementary School for writing project. John Haley students created monsters, wrote descriptive stories about them, and sent the stories to their partner classes at Lively. 

Fourth graders at Lively took the stories and recreated the monsters based on the descriptions provided. Students learned how important good writing and communication are to informing your reader. The classes at both schools shared the results via video conference.

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Red Ribbon Week
	Allison Griffin’s first graders at Elliott Elementary School won the grade level door decorating contest during Red Ribbon Week, which is annually observed to honor the fallen Drug Enforcement Agent Enrique “KiKi” Camarena.
Thomas Haley Elementary School third graders wore red during Red Ribbon Week.
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	Keyes First Fall Festival Keyes Elementary School students, parents, faculty and staff enjoyed themselves at the first Fall Festival October 27.
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	Pierce First Fall Festival Family Faculty Club of Pierce Early Childhood School recently hosted the first Fall Festival. Students and parents had fun with a variety of activities including face painting.
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	Boot Camp at Lee Lee Elementary School sponsored Boot Camp field day for all students. Texas National Guard provided six soldiers and three military vehicles.