Osuna Elementary Newsletter
September 2010
http://osuna.aps.edu/
From the PRINCIPAL
Welcome to the 2010/2011 school year! As of
August 25th, there were 425 students enrolled
here at Osuna. I am grateful to have each and
every student and their family as part of the
Osuna community!
I am thrilled to announce that Osuna made
Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) this year.
School-by-school results for APS and the rest of
the state are available on the NMPED website at
http://www.ped.state.nm.us/ayp2010/index.html.
AYP status is based upon the results of the
Standards Based Assessments (SBA) tests that
our 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students took back in
March and April of this year. We will have more
details on this topic at Open House. I want to
offer my congratulations to all the students and
staff for their hard work and efforts in this
endeavor.
There have been a few changes in our staff over
the summer. Mrs. Donegan, Osuna’s beloved
librarian, has retired and is enjoying some well
deserved time with her family and her books.
Please help me in welcoming our new librarian,
Mrs. Nance, as well as our Music teacher for the
year, Mrs. Rivers. Both Mrs. Nance and Mrs.
Rivers are welcome additions to the fabulous
teachers and staff here at Osuna.
The Annual Boo-Hoo Breakfast was a big
success again this year. Sincere thanks to the
Osuna PTA Board, who hosts this event for
incoming kindergarteners and their parents at the
beginning of each school year.
Parents, please continue to reinforce high
expectations for work completion at school and
home. Review daily work with your child,
practice spelling words and math facts regularly,
and help your child develop the time
management skills needed for school projects
and long-term assignments. We will continue to
help your child learn and grow to meet his/her
full potential.
I’m looking forward to a safe, happy and
successful school year for everyone here at
Osuna Elementary!
Rebecca Robertson, Osuna Principal
September Calendar of Events
September 1 .............. Back to School Picnic
& Open House 5-7pm
September 2 .............. PTA Executive Board Meeting
September 6 .............. Labor Day (NO SCHOOL)
September 8 .............. PTA General Membership Mtg.
(1:30 pm in the Library)
September 10 ........... Entertainment Book sales end
September 22 ............ Jog-a-Thon Fundraiser
September 28 ............ School Picture Day
October 1 ................... Albuquerque Aloft Event
October 7 ................... PTA Executive Board Meeting
October 8 ................... Fall Break (NO SCHOOL)
Important Numbers
and Contact Information
Osuna Website: http://osuna.aps.edu/
APS Website: http://www.aps.edu/
Osuna Phone number: 296-4811
Osuna Cafeteria: 299-2985
APS Service Center: 855-9040
Bus Company: 298-6831
The Tiger Tales Monthly newsletter is
brought to you by the Osuna PTA. The first
newsletter of the school year is always a long
one. It is packed with important information,
so please make sure to take the time to read
through everything and mark dates and
events on your calendar. Thank you!
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Osuna Parents, did you know?
 Every Osuna student received an orange
folder from their teacher at the beginning
of the year? It contains important
information for families such as: an
Application for Free and Reduced Meals,
policy information for Accident & Health
Insurance Program for Students, an order
form for Osuna Spirit and Pride apparel
items, and a signed Background Check
consent form for volunteers.
 Every Osuna family received a packet from
the Osuna PTA. The bright orange part of
the packet is for you to keep. It contains
information such as a list of PTA Officers,
PTA sponsored programs and a Calendar of
PTA events. The blue portion of the packet
contains forms for you to fill out and return
to school, such as a PTA Membership Form
and a Volunteer Information Form.
 We are asking parents and/or guardians of
3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students to send in
$2.00 per student to help offset the cost of
the student agendas.
 The office has received numerous complaints
regarding parents bringing their pets with
them to pick up children at the end of the
school day. Please, leave your furry friends
at home when bringing your children to
school or picking them up. APS policy
prohibits the presence of animals on school
property.
PTA CORNER
PTA Membership
A HUGE thank you to all of the faculty and
parents who have already submitted their PTA
membership forms for the new school year! This
year’s membership numbers are so great that we
will be entered into a drawing by the NMPTA to
win $200 for the Osuna PTA! Let's keep making
our membership strong by sending in those
membership applications. It's not too late! The
membership application form is available in the
PTA section of the Osuna website.
Thank You!!! …
A sincere thank you to Osuna parent Mandy
Wilson, CPA, who generously donated her time
and expertise to conduct the annual audit of the
books for the Osuna PTA. Everything is in good
order and the audit report will be presented at the
first general meeting of the PTA in September.
The Osuna PTA board and all of the members of
the PTA are so appreciative of parents like
Mandy who volunteer and contribute to make
our school a great place for kids and families!
Volunteer Opportunities!
There are always
opportunities to
volunteer here at Osuna!
Volunteer opportunities
range from an hour in
your child’s classroom to
a morning or afternoon
in the library or at a special event such as the
Jog-a-Thon or Science Fair. If you haven’t
already, please take a moment to fill out the
blue PTA volunteer form and return it to your
child’s teacher. If you are unsure of your future
availability, you can always just list an e-mail
address and I will make sure you are aware of
volunteer opportunities as they come up!
If you have generously signed up to be a room
parent, please watch for a note to come home
regarding a room parent meeting sometime
soon. I will have a packet of information for you
and you will have a chance to meet with the PTA
President. My goal this year is to encourage
each room parent to work closely with your
child’s teacher while providing the school
community as a whole with a pool of volunteers
to support all of the school’s needs. Together
we can support our Osuna Tigers and make this
year fun and successful!
Please feel free to contact me regarding any
questions or concerns you may have regarding
volunteer time at Osuna! Thank you for all you
do!
Sharon Mikus
Parent Volunteer Coordinator
sharonmikus@yahoo.com
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From the APS website…
Background Clearance
While encouraging parent participation, we
must also consider the safety of every child in
the district by requiring a background check
from volunteers prior to any volunteer activity at
any APS school.
APS has lowered the cost of background
checks from $33 to $18, and you no longer need
to be fingerprinted. The background check, once
completed and verified, will be in effect for the
entire time your child is at Osuna.
1. Obtain a Volunteer Confidential
Information Agreement Form and get
your school Principal’s signature verifying
the request. (A copy of this form, already
signed by Principal Robertson, was provided
in the orange folder given to each Osuna
student at the beginning of the school year.)
2. Produce this form along with a picture ID
and a $18.00 cashier's check, money order, or
credit card (no personal checks or cash) to
the APS Background & Fingerprinting
Office.
3. The clearance will be emailed directly to the
school site.
4. Volunteers who have cleared their
background check will receive a volunteer
card distributed by the school. Volunteers
will be required to present this card each time
they volunteer for a school activity.
In addition to the background clearance, Osuna
Elementary is also requiring volunteers to sign a
confidentiality agreement. This document
ensures that volunteers respect the privacy of all
students by not discussing any information
obtained through their work in the schools. All
volunteers will need to complete the
confidentiality agreement, including previously
cleared volunteers. This form is available at the
end of this newsletter and on our school website
at http://osuna.aps.edu/. Please print out the two
page form, sign and date it, and turn it in to your
child’s teacher via backpack mail.
Thank you, in advance, for your time completing
this paperwork in order to volunteer at Osuna.
Back to School Picnic
& Open House
Wednesday, September 1
Picnic: 5:00 – 7:00 PM
Come enjoy a relaxing evening with
other families from our community at a
picnic. You may either purchase food
at the event (Dion’s and Hawaiian Ice
will be on site) or bring your own food!
Don’t forget a picnic blanket or chairs.
Open House: 6:00 – 7:00 PM
Principal Greeting in the cafeteria:
6:00 – 6:15 PM
See what’s happening in your child’s
classroom! There are no set times to
visit classrooms… come and go as you
please between 6:15 and 7:00. Friendly
reminder - no food in classrooms!
We look forward to seeing
you there!
Albuquerque Aloft
Friday,
October 1st
6:30am-8:00am
Osuna is once again very excited to
be able to help kick off the
Albuquerque International Balloon
Fiesta! So, bundle up the kids and head on over
to the grassy field at Osuna to see the balloons
go up! (Pilots plan to arrive around 6:30am.)
Hot chocolate and coffee will graciously be
provided by your Osuna PTA.
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BCCPTA Clothing Bank …
APS is very fortunate to have a clothing
bank available to school aged children who
are in need of new or gently used clothing.
Please consider donating your child’s
gently used clothing, jackets, books, socks and
new underwear to the BCCPTA Clothing Bank.
Donations can be left in the receptacle labeled
Clothing Bank on the Cafetorium stage by the
Parent Room.
Easy Money for our School!!!
How would you like to help our students
without spending any extra money? Every
time you shop at Smith’s or
Albertson’s and use your Fresh
Values or Community Partners
Card, our school earns much
needed money! It’s that
simple…just have your card
swiped every time you
make a purchase!
Even if you participated with the Smith’s
Earn and Learn Program last year, you need
to re-enroll each year.
4th and 5th Graders,
Get ready for Battle of the Books. We’ll be
reading the 20 Battle books, remembering
details, titles and authors, and having
classroom and state battles in the spring.
Start reading now so you can have a blast
participating. Pick up a list of this year’s
Battle books in the library. Battle books will
be ready for checkout in our library soon or
you can visit the public library or a local
bookstore. Get started now!
Questions? Ask Mrs. Nance, Osuna’s
librarian, or Mrs. Gonzales, Osuna PTA’s
Battle of the Books chairman.
Happy reading!
Celebrate Your Talents!
Reflections 2010-2011:
Do you have an interest in ART??
Join us as we create entries in visual art, music,
dance, literature, film/video, and photography.
This year’s theme is “Together we can…”. We also
need parent volunteers who are interested in this
amazing art program! To participate in this year’s
PTA Reflections Program contact Heidi Belville at
363-4707 or heidi@heidiannphotography.com
You can enroll or re-enroll at any checkout
lane by scanning your Fresh Values/rewards
card, along with the barcode assigned to
Osuna. Our school barcode is available on the
attached Smith’s Parent Letter at the end of
this newsletter.
Enrollment period for this school year is open
now, so please sign up ASAP the next time
you are at the store.
The more families we have signed up with
Smith’s and shop at Smith’s, the more money
we earn for our school! So have your friends
and family enroll as well! This past school
year, we earned over $1,500 from this
program. All by doing what we do anyway –
buying groceries!
We are also able to earn money with the
Albertson’s Community Partners Program.
Enrollment or re-enrollment is not needed
with the Albertson’s Community Partners
program. All you need is the Albertson’s
Community Partners card and have it swiped
with every purchase you make.
In the next few weeks, a card for Albertson’s
Community Partners program will be sent
home to each Osuna family via backpack
mail.
Thanks for all your support last year and
continued support now!
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School Pictures
What’s for lunch?
Kids grow up so fast and school pictures are a
great keepsake to “capture” your child’s
portrait. Fall school pictures are scheduled
for Tuesday Sept. 28th, so get
those smiles shining. This
will be the photo used in
the yearbook as well.
Individual pictures of
students will ONLY BE taken in the fall, NOT
in the spring. One of a Kind Photography, a
division of Kim Jew photography, will be back
taking school pictures again this year. Watch
for more information coming in backpack
mail.
You can find the monthly menu for Elementary
students on the APS website at
http://www.aps.edu/schools/school-meals
Jog-a-Thon 2010
Osuna PTA's major fundraising event is
scheduled for September 22. The Jog-athon is an enjoyable event for students and
parents alike. The Osuna PTA has elected to
limit fundraising events and concentrate on
Jog-a-thon to bring in the majority of the
funds needed to run our programs and
services throughout the year. Please support
our efforts. Encourage your children to sign
up pledges, advertise your business at the
event, volunteer to help at the event or simply
show up and cheer the children and staff on.
An informational packet will be distributed
soon and contact will be made to past and
potential advertisers. Watch backpack mail
for continued updates.
Free and Reduced Lunches
APS offers free and reduced lunches to families
that qualify. Based on the number of those
families, Osuna could be eligible for Federal
money. An application for free & reduced meals
was in the orange folder given out to every
student at the beginning of the year. We are
asking every family to please fill out the
application and send it in via backpack mail. See
Jane Kerr, Osuna’s Cafeteria Manager, if you
have any questions.
Watch D.O.G.S.
are here!
Osuna Elementary is proud
to introduce a new program
for all of the positive male role models we have
associated with our school. The program is a
nationally recognized organization called
Watch D.O.G.S. (Dads of Great
Students). Dads, Grand-dads, Uncles, and Big
Brothers are all welcome to volunteer their
time at least one day a year at the school. There
is no required training and you will get the
opportunity to spend time with your
children. You will not only influence your own
child in a positive manner, but also other Osuna
children. For more information about this
rewarding experience please contact
Jeff Storer, jstorer@spinn.net.
Traffic and Safety
The student drop-off lane is open and ready to be
used in our new south parking lot. For safety
reasons, you may no longer drop off your child
in the north parking lot or on the west side of
Moon Street. If you are walking your child to
their classroom, you may park on the east side of
Moon and use a crosswalk to cross the street, or
park in the south parking lot and use the
crosswalk that goes to the
administration building. Traffic flow
through the drop-off lane appears to
be flowing smoothly. Thanks for
being courteous to the staff
members assisting with the traffic flow. Be
mindful of the crosswalk located near the
Kindergarten playground. It is still used
extensively and could become dangerous due to
the increased traffic flow through that area. Let's
all work together to keep our children safe.
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VISITORS to our Campus
All visitors must check in at the office
and get a visitor’s badge. If you do not
check in and are on the campus, you will
be asked to leave.
MIDDLE SCHOOL OR HIGH SCHOOL
STUDENTS ARE NOT
ALLOWED ON THE GROUNDS OF
OSUNA ELEMENTARY
SCHOOL (UNLESS ACCOMPANIED BY A
PARENT).
If a middle school or high school student
is assigned to pick up an Osuna sibling
or neighbor after school, they are to wait
in the grassy field. Please designate a
meeting place in advance of pick up to
avoid any confusion. Additionally,
middle or high school students are not to
use the drinking fountains or restrooms
on our campus. As per APS policy,
middle or high school students found on
the school grounds during school hours
will be reported to the school police.
Entertainment Books
Entertainment Book Sales have begun. Osuna
Elementary is raising money for supplies and
items for the school. The entertainment
books are $35.00 each. Checks should be
made payable to Osuna Elementary. Please
return any unsold books to the school - this is
not a free book. Sales end on Friday,
September 10, 2010. If you sell three books,
you receive one free. The class that sells the
most entertainment books will receive a pizza
party.
Show your Osuna Spirit and Pride!
Osuna gear can be ordered three
different ways.
1. Place your order online at
www.spiritandpride.com (School ID
# is 160403
2. By phone at 1-800-854-4452.
3. Turn in your order forms via
backpack mail no later than Friday,
September 3.
Library News…
Osuna welcomes our new librarian,
Mrs. Nance. We are sharing her with
Double Eagle Elementary this year as
she serves as part-time librarian at both
schools. Throughout the year, Mrs.
Nance will continue some of our Osuna
Library traditions and will introduce
some exciting new programs of her own.
Mrs. Nance will be at Osuna
every other week to teach a
library lesson to the
students. On the weeks
that Mrs. Nance is at
Double Eagle
Elementary, parent volunteers will help
Osuna students go to the library for
book check in and check out. There are
still some time slots available for parent
volunteers in the library. Please stop by
the library today if you are interested in
helping out.
School Schedule
The school day at Osuna starts promptly at
9:00am. Thank you for getting your child here
on time and ready to learn.
8:57am 1st bell,
9:00am 2nd bell,
11:45am – 12:20pm K-2 lunch
12:25pm – 1:00pm 3-5 lunch
3:35pm Dismissal (1:25pm on Wednesdays).
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