
President
Andrea Kalvas
(440) 886-1371
Happy Fall everyone! This is my favorite time of the year. We've been very blessed this year with great weather and lately I've enjoyed the beautiful warm days and the nice cool nights. I can’t wait for the leaves to really turn. There’s nothing like the sight of bright colored leaves against a clear blue sky.
It was great to see everyone at our September meeting. I would like to especially welcome our new members. I hope you don’t feel too overwhelmed. I can still remember my first meeting and I know I felt overwhelmed. But here I am ten years later to tell you how much I’ve enjoyed Early Childhood PTA and more importantly how much my children enjoyed it. Just hang in there and give it some time. Try going on some field trips and attending our Fall Party and then you’ll see how beneficial our PTA is. We had 37 members join our cluster in September. Thank you Nancy Basalla for taking care of membership this year. Thanks also to Susan Franczak (Hospitality Chairman) for making us all feel so welcome and for helping to welcome our new members.
Now that the first meeting is behind us and everyone has a good idea of what will take place this year we can settle in and enjoy the fun activities we have planned for Fall. Many fun field trips will take place like Mapleside Farms, Brecksville Nature Center, Cleveland Mounted Police and The Humphrey Company. If you haven’t signed up for some of them you can call Denise Petek, Debbie Napoli, or JoAnna Lint to see if there is still room left. Thank you Denise, Debbie and JoAnna for all the field trips you planned.
Our Fall Party will be held on October 23, 1999 at Greenbriar Jr. High School. The party will be a Halloween party with a D.J. and balloon maker. I know our children will have a great time so please join us. Thank you Cindy McGuire and Rita Basalla for planning the party and to new member Lisa Abboud for offering to help them.
Our Fall Festival of Crafts, "Craft Fair", will be October 30, 1999 at Normandy High School. We still need people to help with many different aspects of the Craft Fair. This is one of our biggest fundraisers so lets all pitch in to make it successful. Thank you to Laura Ponikvar for all her hard work on the Craft Fair.
Besides those mentioned above, so many of our members have done a lot of work this year and I would like to take this time to thank some of them: Joyce Hinkle- 1st-Vice, Patty Andrasek-Treasurer, Joanne Spilker-Secretary, Cheryl Meriwether-Council Delegate and Web Site Coordinator, Robin Wangler- Newsletter, Lisa Amato-Entertainment Books, Karen Kolosionek and Robin Wangler- Telephone committee, and Rita Basalla, Sherri Spagnola, Nancy Basalla and Grace Lannoch- Tot Workshop. I know how much time and effort you all put in to make this a great organization for our children and we all appreciate it. I would also like to thank all the members who took positions at our September meeting.
Our next meeting will be on October 12, 1999 at 7:00 P.M.. The meeting will not be as long as the September meeting since we don’t have to go over all of the beginning -of-the-year organizational stuff. So come and enjoy our program on self defense, something we can all use, and some fun socializing. I’m looking forward to seeing all of you! Say "Yes 2 Kids" by showing them the beauty of the Fall season and having some memorable Fall family dinners.
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October 12 Meeting, 7:00 p.m. Green Valley
October 12 Cleveland Mounted Police Tour
& 15th 10:00 a.m. for both days
October 19 Brecksville Nature Center
Fall Colors Hike 10-11 a.m.
or 1-2 p.m.
October 22 Red Wagon Farms 4:30-5:30 p.m.
October 23 Fall Halloween Party
October 30 Craft Show, Normandy
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1st Vice
Joyce Hinkle
(216)524-2627
October is here and so are the clambakes, football games, pumpkins, mums, and trick-or-treaters. I am amazed by the beauty of Mother Nature as the leaves in my yard turn from green to the most brilliant yellow and burgundy colors. Halloween, will come and pass and then
è Thanksgiving!! So remember our blessings as we hold our Founder's Night Dinner in early November. Please be sure to remember your main dish/side/veggie or fruit/or dessert next month. I am not compiling a recipe book this year, but ask that everyone bring a copy of their recipe to the dinner. That way if you like a particular food, you can copy the recipe for yourself. This is sure to be a fun, relaxing meeting. (P.S. Remember, the start time is different è 6:45)
Council Delegate
Cheryl Meriwether
(216) 328-9723
The following information is from the September 8 meeting of the Parma Council of PTAs:
Don’t forget to check our web site for meeting dates, outings and the newsletter. The
address is WWW.ANGELFIRE.COM/PA2/ECPTA .
Environmental
Cindy McGuire
(440)845-9676
Waste Saving Tips
In addition to donating items, there are many other ways to reduce waste and reuse items we ordinarily throw away. Use your imagination to find creative ways to produce less waste and to give items a second life. Here are just a few:
Use It Again
Rent, Share, & Borrow
Maintain, Repair, & Sell
At The Store
Purchase from charity stores, second hand stores, antique shops, consignment shops, and garage sales
Nutrition Chairperson
Joyce Hinkle
Boo!
Kids love Halloween. They love wearing costumes, walking through the colorful fallen leaves, and most of all, they love getting lots of treats. However, all those treats can be frightening to Moms! You may worry that your child’s behavior will suffer. But did you know, the current research finds that sugar does not cause hyperactivity? Kids get over stimulated (not due to sugar) as a result of the exciting new experiences and their pleasure in receiving special treats.
Try a masquerade!
Halloween treat packs can be smart snacks. Animal crackers, raisins, string cheese, and pretzels can come disguised in fun trick-or-treat packaging. They make a nice alternative to the $950 million of chocolate and candy sold for Halloween.
Enjoy!
In moderation, Halloween treats can be part of a healthy diet. This is a great opportunity for kids to learn the lesson of balance in the diet. Here’s a tip: Offer the sugary snack along with other foods. This will allow for more saliva production to help clean the teeth. And of course, don’t forget to brush those little pearly whites, or the consequences could be ghostly!
Please save Campbells Soup Labels, Box Tops, and Supermarket Receipts
Campbells, Chef’s Kettle, Franco-American, Goldfish, Healthy Request, Home-Cooking, Pace, Pepperidge Farm, Prego, Simply-Home, Spaghettios, Swanson, V8, and V8 Splash.
Please save box tops from all General Mills cereals and the following products: Golden Graham Treats, Gushers, Fruit by the Foot, Fruit String Thing, Fruit Roll-ups, Bugs Bunny & Friend, Trix Fruit Snacks, Scooby Doo Fruit Snacks, Shark Bites, Dunkaroos, Lucky Charms Fruit Snacks, Hawaiian Punch Fruit Snacks, Yoplait Trix Multipack Yogurt, Gogurt, Yoplait Yumsters, Yoplait Multipack Original Yogurt and all Lloyds Barbecue Buckets.
All box tops will be worth $.10 this year. Trix Yogurt has double box tops this month.
Please save all receipts from TOPS Supermarkets, Giant Eagle will start 10/10/99, please save receipts through 2/26/2000.
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Special Education
Cindy McGuire
(440)845-9676
Telltale Signs of Stuttering
Preschoolers are notoriously fast talkers, and sometimes their offbeat jabber seems to outrace their thought and trip them up. Should parents worry when they hear a child stutter?
Stumbling over an occasional work or two isn’t unusual among kids this age, and 80% of such children quit their intermittent stammering on their own. But the remaining 20% suffer from a persistent stuttering problem, and a combination of environmental and genetic factors is believed to be the cause. According to speech experts, a child’s chances of stuttering increase three- to fivefold if one of his parents stuttered. And stress and anxiety can trigger or worsen a stuttering episode.
There’s usually no reason for concern if a preschooler simply repeats parts of works occasionally--unless the behavior continues for two or three months or gets significantly worse. But make sure to consult a speech and language pathologist if a child shows one of these signs:
It’s important not to delay in seeking professional help. Early treatment (between ages 2-1/2 and 5 years) usually leas to a good prognosis, says Lynn Neils, a speech and language pathologist in Evanston, Illinois. For more information or referrals, call the Stuttering Foundation of America at 800/992-9392, or the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association at 800/638-8255.