Pacifica Wednesday Weekly

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November 15, 2006

IMPORTANT CALENDAR DATES

If you have items to add to the calendar, please e-mail the date and time along with a description to calendar@pacificaschool.org

THANK YOU FOR A SUCCESSFUL BEAUTIFICATION DAY!

A giant “Thank You” goes out to everyone who participated in the Technology/Beautification Day on Saturday, Nov. 10th: David Homan, Sandy Grajeda, Doris Bradley, Darby Bayliss, Janin Paine, Lisa Covington, Carmen Staton, Brandy Adkins, Ramiza Saheed, Paula Cohen, Glen Eichenblatt, Siri Sahib, Robin Hagerty, Leslie Leach, Janette Kiso, Jeannette Orlando, Larry McLain, Penny Schulte, Todd Francis and Renato Tolentino.

STUDENT/PARENT/TEACHER CONFERENCES

Student/Parent/Teacher Meetings will be held during afternoons this week with your student’s primary teacher. The sign-up list is in the front entryway. These are required meetings and students ARE expected to attend.

A GREAT SUCCESS!

On Thursday evening, there was a packed hall for our “Big Show,” put on by our Young Storytellers. Professional actors performed walk-throughs of the scripts written by Riley Corbett, Carlee Foster, Anthony White, Ethan Bass, Dakota Kinney, Emily Powell, Grant Blades and Aubree Brown. The stories were all very creative and demonstrated understanding of script elements. The next session of Young Storytellers will start up after Winter Break.

MONDAY INCIDENT

On Monday, November 13 one of our students lit a bottle rocket firework (without a bottle) on the yard at lunch. While it startled quite a few people, no one was injured. Disciplinary action is being taken with the student. Discussions have been held in classrooms with effected students. We ask that all families take this opportunity to remind their children of the limits and expectations outlined in the handbook, the very good reasons for the limits and expectations and the consequences that can arise from not following them. We appreciate your support.

EXPLORATIONS

Our first round of Explorations (our electives program offered on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons) will begin after Winter Break. It will last approximately 10 weeks. This is a great opportunity for parents to share special skills and talents with our students. If you are available to lead an electives class on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2-3pm, please speak with Janette.

SAVE THE DATE!

On Saturday, December 2nd from 10am-2pm, we are asking that our parent community turn out in force for our next Beautification Day. It is very important that all families participate. Many hands make light work. Come and have fun with us!

BEST PRACTICES AT PACIFICA

We are putting together a presentation of our Best Practices at Pacifica, with a focus on Parent Participation and Conflict Resolution.

If you have any photos or any stories to share regarding parent participation and the benefits you see for your own or other children, please let me know. You can email photos and stories to Beth@pacificaschool.org or you can drop them in my box, listed as Abels-Sullivan. Thanks!

Beth Abels, Chair of Organization Council

IMPORTANT NOTICE!

In the past, we have tried to accommodate family needs by storing items in the office for students that were not appropriate to be stored in the classroom but were needed after school (e.g., swords for martial arts class, suitcases for sleepovers, etc.). Unfortunately, we cannot provide this service any longer and ask that families find suitable non-school solutions.  

GOOD HABITS START YOUNG

As adults, many of us recognize that many patterns in our lives were established in our childhood. Please think about what patterns you are supporting your children in developing. Being at school every day and on time helps students learn time management and can develop habits that will serve them well both as children and adults. We expect students to be in attendance 95% of school days and arrive by 8:55am, 95% of the time. This means they miss fewer than 9 days of school and are late no more than 9 times. Please do your best to uphold these standards. Your children see more clearly from your actions than your words that school is important. 

SAFETY NOTICE

PARENTS: Students are expected to enter school upon arrival. Loitering in front of the school (to visit, skateboard, etc.) is not a plan that we can support. It creates potential neighborhood relations problems and supervision concerns. If you have any questions about this, please see Janette.  

CLASSROOM UPDATES 

From David & Ramiza’s Group:

Hello again from your friendly 5^th and 6^th grade teachers! 

This week we are hoping everyone will sign up for parent-teacher conferences. The students are working hard to complete their portfolios for the conferences. If you cannot come at the designated times, please check-in with either Ramiza or David for alternative appointments. This week we are either starting or carrying on with our volume unit, also converting measurement units and exploring different 3-D shapes. We will also be starting to create narratives using SICERE structure, check-in if you need more info. This is targeted at developing writing skills.

F.Y.I. - Students CANNOT bring personal property on schools grounds unless they have a personal plan with a teacher AND have given 24 hours notice. Property without plans will be confiscated and given back to the parent. We would still like parents to volunteer time to help the students work on the desk and stationary slip projects. We would like to get these started as soon as possible. On the same note, we still need parental support in the classroom throughout the day to help us meet as many learning needs as we can. Please check-in with your child about their learning checklist and support them in any way you can. Lastly, we would like to thank all the parents that have contributed to our classroom. Your support is greatly appreciated!!! 

From the 2/3/4 Group:

This week I remember doing match and balloon rockets. It was fun seeing how far they would go and why. We split into Math groups for addition/subtraction, multiplication, and division. We created our own songs using music note patterns. It's nice to go to a school where you know there'll be music in the day! We chose animals we liked and wrote about them. I'm having so much fun it's hard to believe I'm learning!  -by Matthew 

From the 7/8 Group:

Greetings from 7/8!  John-Robin and I would like to send a big thank you to all of those who helped this past weekend with our school wide clean-up.  The changes in the classroom have made for a more positive learning environment.  Our class is looking forward to a field trip this Friday to Temescal Canyon to start thinking about our SEER project for this school year.  We still need parent volunteers.  If you can support our class on this trip, please let John-Robin or Brandy know as soon as possible.  We will be joined by 2/3/4 on this trip. 

We have been discussing “With freedom comes great responsibility” as it pertains to our classroom learning community, individual rights and group rights. We ask that you support this ongoing conversation at home by discussing the above quote in the context of home and school, reading and discussing the school handbook and setting an expectation of engaged learning at school.  

WE ARE HOLDING A VERY IMPORTANT CLASSROOM MEETING ON MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20^TH AT 6PM TO DISCUSS MAINTAINING A POSITIVE LEARNING CLIMATE IN OUR CLASS. ALL STUDENTS ALONG WITH A PARENT/GUARDIAN ARE EXPECTED TO ATTEND. It will be a Potluck meeting. Please bring a main dish or salad to share. Please speak with Brandy or John-Robin if you have an immovable schedule conflict as alternate arrangements will need to be made. As always, John-Robin and I are available to help support your child and family in any way that we can.  -Brandy 

Quote of the Week

Nothing is unless our thinking makes it so. - William Shakespeare

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