Welcome back after a long holiday break. We have many events coming up before Winter Break starts. We hope that you and your families can join us for these wonderful events.
This Friday, December 5, from 4 pm to 7:30 pm, please join us at Barnes & Noble Booksellers located at 213 N. Dale Mabry Hwy. for a Night of Reading. Guest readers will read to kids, and there will a craft table for kids to make a craft. Mr. Tsourakis, Mrs. Ward, Mr. Florio and Ms. Oliva are among our special guest readers. The evening will be capped off by a special reading of The Polar Express by Mr. Tsourakis at 7 pm. At 7:15, complimentary hot chocolate and cookies will be served. This promises to be a fun night of reading for the whole family. So please come out to enjoy a night of family fun and reading with your Grady friends. For more information about this event, please click here: http://gradytigers.org/2014/12/grady-night-of-reading-at-barnes-noble
Barnes & Noble will also be donating between 15 and 25% of any sales that occur any time between December 4 and 7 to Grady, if you use the code 11498417 at checkout. We will have extra copies of this code printed on flyers at the event, or you can simply pull this email or the website flyer up on your phone http://gradytigers.org/_cache/files/8046b36a-0a0e-407d-9b7d-642b2795dbbd/bookfair.png in order to have the code ready at checkout. Gift wrapping by PTA members of any item purchased at Barnes & Noble in exchange for a donation will be available from 4 pm – 7 pm.
Good luck to Grady students in the fourth and fifth grades as they compete in the Math Bowl, this Friday, December 5. This Friday is also the day the fourth grade travels to St. Augustine, Florida for a field trip. Because this is going to be a very busy week, we will NOT have a Doughnut sale on Friday, December 5.
We hope students in the third, fourth and fifth grades are preparing for the Grady Spelling Bee. Written spelling competitions will occur in each classroom on December 10 and the school-wide competition featuring the winner from each class will occur on December 17, at 8:30 am on stage in the cafeteria. All class winners will receive a certificate of award a Spelling Bee T-shirt and a Yogurtology gift card. The school-wide first, second and third place winners will receive trophies. The school champion will proceed to represent Grady at the Scripps Regional Spelling Bee (payment of the registration fee for the regional event is included in the first prize). We are very excited about the Spelling Bee and we hope you join in our excitement! For more information click here: http://gradytigers.org/2014/11/grady-spelling-bee-coming-in-december. For any questions, please email Grady Spelling Bee Committee Chair, Suzan Kumm, at [email protected].
The Winter Concert and display of science projects is set for Thursday, December 11. Science Fair projects are available for viewing at 5 pm. The PTA general meeting will start at 5:30 pm and will be followed by the concert. Please look forward to a beautiful concert and to the presentation of class projects that will be available for silent auction. Also please bring your checkbook to purchase a panel of the new Grady perimeter fence. For more information about the fence, please click here: http://gradytigers.org/grady-fence.
It is Yearbook time! You don't want to miss out on these precious Grady memories. Order by December 19th to ensure you will get your copy and also to lock in the price. Orders placed after this date will be at a higher price. The best way to place an order is online at: ybpay.lifetouch.com using our Grady ID Code: 11885215. Paper order forms were sent home about a month ago if you cannot order online. Extra paper forms are available in the school office. Don't wait - be sure to place your order today!
If you take pictures at the Winter Concert or have pictures of the Fall Festival, Thanksgiving event or other school events, please consider submitting them to appear in the Grady Yearbook. Just email the photos to our yearbook coordinator at [email protected] with or without the names of the people pictured.
Lastly, a big thank you to the people who participated in Great American Teach In on November 20. It was wonderful to see so many people sharing their interests and inspiring students. Grady did get some news coverage during Great American Teach In. The news coverage was combined with some good news about Mrs. Ward’s husband, Eric Ward, Assistant Chief of Tampa Police Department. To read the article and the good news, please click here: http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/tampas-new-assistant-chief-a-quiet-storm-in-police-work/2208376. Congratulations to the Ward family!