 01/2010 Hello Peterson Families! Happy New Year! I hope your winter break was filled with memories of special times spent together with your family and friends. A new year not only brings a change in date, but sometimes also brings changes to the family. Please remember to always keep your emergency contact information up to date in the office. It is important that we have current phone numbers, address and emergency contacts in case of an urgent situation. No matter how much loving care we provide, sometimes only mom, dad, or close relative can provide the comfort a child needs when they are ill or have an emergency situation. We appreciate your diligence in keeping this information accurate.
Teaching character quality here at school through our Character Counts program, we introduce and reinforce the importance of respect. Respect of self, others and our school. Students become very concerned when they arrive at school only to find someone else was not respecting our school. We continue to deal with trash left by people visiting our campus after school, dog feces not cleaned up by pet owners and most recently graffiti. We have also experienced attempted break-ins and damage to our facility and garden. Returning from winter break, we had a school district van tagged while in our parking lot and a ball wall graffitied. One morning just before break we arrived to find graffiti on the end of our primary building. Each of these incidences represent disrespect to our campus and infringes on the right of our students to attend a school with a clean, tidy environment. We encourage you to be vigilant when out and about and to please call the police if you see any loiterers or groups of older teens hanging around our campus or anyone damaging our campus. Aside from showing disrespect for property, removal of tagging and graffiti puts stress on an already tight budget. Please help us keep our school safe and clean.
Every year, teachers analyze test data from the previous year’s STAR test results to determine school and grade level goals to focus on. This year our goals focus on the following three areas:
Language Arts: comprehension and writing strategies
Math: number sense, algebra and functions, measurement and geometry
English Learners: word analysis and vocabulary
In addition, we are also teaching the use of academic vocabulary. For example, when referring to a car, you might refer to it as an automobile or a vehicle. The adjective big could be replaced by huge, enormous or humongous when using it to describe something. We encourage you to discuss alternative words at home and begin practicing the use of academic vocabulary.
Many of you have probably heard the term ADA when speaking of budget and attendance. ADA is an acronym for Average Daily Attendance. All schools in the HBCSD receive funding based on ADA. Because of the state budget cut to education, our ADA is based on the 2005-06 level, not on present day levels. Each school receives $26.23 per student per day as long as the student is in attendance, “sitting in their seat”. As in the past, we no longer receive money for the days your child is ill. We also do not receive funding when your child is not in attendance due to a family outing or for any reason you choose not to send them to school. $26.23 might seem trivial until you add up the number of students who do not attend on a daily basis due to illness or other. It is interesting to note that our absenteeism tends to go up the day prior to a holiday and the day after. On only two separate days in November, we had a total of 254 students absent which resulted in a loss to our school of $6,664.42. So far this year, we have experienced 2,870 non attendance days due to illness or other which results in $ 75,280.10 in non-funded ADA money. Non attendance not only affects the education your child is receiving, it also affects the school’s funding. It is worthy to note the cost of operating a school does not change due to student absenteeism. We do not want your child to come to school if he/she is ill, however, please make daily school attendance a priority. If by necessity you need to take your child from school early, send your child to school for as long as possible and then sign them out early rather than not send them at all. This will at least give your child some consistency with reading or math instruction and also count toward our ADA funding. It is quite sad that we as educators and parents cannot solely focus on education, but have to focus on budget issues as well.
I want to thank the PTA board, members and all our Peterson family for their consistent participation in the “fun” raising efforts here at school. Our students have truly benefited from the hard work done to raise money for our classrooms. Remember our classes continue to collect used ink cartridges. These are taken to Staples for purchasing credit and used for obtaining class supplies. Send your used ink cartridges to class with your child at any time.
Thank you for your continued support!
Barbara Crissman, Principal
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Attendance and Office Procedures Reminders 1.If you need to drop something off for your child during the school day (lunch, book etc.), please bring it to the office rather than take it directly to the classroom.
2.If your child arrives late for school, please do not take him/her directly to the classroom, but check them in at the office so their attendance can be recorded correctly.
3.If you absolutely need to take your child early from school, please sign him/her out through the office. Please try to keep this to a rare occasion as students need to be in class as much as possible.
4.If you are volunteering or visiting us, please sign in, in the office, and wear a name tag or a visitor’s badge while on campus.
Thank you for your effort in supporting our office procedures.
Claudia Rocquemore. Office Manager
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"Fun" Raising Updates Happy New Year! We are so grateful for all the support we received in 2009, and are very optimistic for an even more successful 2010!
Our Family “Fun”Raiser in December at the Bella Terra Shopping Center, with Barnes & Noble & Johnny Rockets was a huge success! The wonderful vocal performances by our students led by our music teachers, The McCranies, got everyone into the holiday spirit and the stories read by Mrs. Crissman and many of our teachers was such a treat! We earned almost $700.00 for our school from Barnes & Noble and additional money from Johnny Rockets! A big thank you to all of you who were able to participate in and support this event, and to Barnes & Noble, and Johnny Rockets for their generous donations to our school!
After school at Peterson has never been so cool! Thank you to Mustache Mike’s Italian Ice who came in December, and Dippin' Dots who came this month, to bring us a refreshing Friday treat, and thank you to those of you who were able to be there! We hope to continue to bring our families closer together by providing more opportunities to make some new friends and hang out with old ones! Parents, please remember no Peterson staff will be supervising these events, students will not be allowed to purchase a treat or stay on school grounds without a parent or guardian present and that you must monitor your children while on campus for these events. Next Month’s Treat: Dippin' Dots will be back from 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM on Friday, February 5th! Hope to see you all there!
Looking for any easy way to make money for Peterson? Have you signed up your grocery preferred cards and credit cards? There is a form in the office to start the enrollment process or you can do it yourself! Here’s how:
*To register your Albertson’s Card visit: http://www.albertsons.com/cp/
Login with your card # & phone #
Click “My Account” to add Peterson as your partner
Enter Peterson’s ID # 49000106031
Click Add Partner
Enter 100% for Peterson
Click Update
*To register your Ralph’s Card visit: http://www.Ralphs.com
Sign-in to your existing account or create a new one
Click on Community Contribution
Click on Sign-up in the participation box and complete the information with Peterson’s Organization Number: 82719
*To register your Vons' Cards, various other participating merchant’s and your credit/debit cards visit: escrip.com
Enter Peterson’s ID #: 6668729
If you have any questions regarding fundraising, please call Marcela Alban (714) 625-2109.
Marcela Alban
PTA Fundraising Chair
Check out all our fundraising opportunities. |
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TANAKA FARMS February is National Heart Month and March is National Nutrition Month
This is a special time for love, sweethearts, friendship, giving pretty cards, chocolates and flowers. Extend your care to those you love with a gift that celebrates healthy hearts and life.
Mark these celebrations by ordering 4 weeks of
fresh, tasty and organic Tanaka Farms produce.
IT’S SO GOOD FOR YOUR HEART AND PETERSON!
(The school receives $5 from each box as a fundraiser)
The cost is $30 per box. $120 for a four week cycle.This is comperable to what you would pay at Mother's Market. Choose from organic vegetables or fruit only options. If every week is too much for you, how about every other week for half the price? Please pick up an order form in the office for specific dates of delivery. Any questions? Please call Deanna Zamiska at 714-378-1515.
Deanna Zamiska, Peterson Teacher/PTA Member |
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COOKIE DOUGH Fundraiser deadline: Jan. 26th Welcome back from the holiday break, I hope everyone had a nice vacation. Peterson's 2nd annual cookie dough fundraiser has begun! It's time to sell some delicious cookies. This year students that sell 20 boxes of cookie dough will win the PARTY BUS RIDE to the PIZZA PARTY! Last year the kids had a fantastic time, and can look forward to another amazing experience!
Every student will receive a PETERSON WRISTBAND for selling 1 box! The money orders must be turned in by TUESDAY, JANUARY 26. Thank you for all of your support, and a thanks to my committee for their help in making this year's cookie dough fundraiser a huge success!
Stacy Di Bernardo, Cookie Dough Chairperson |
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BOOK FAIR's around the corner - we need volunteers! This year’s Peterson Book Fair will be held February 12 – 19, 2010. This week-long fundraising event is fun for all and an opportunity for each student to purchase a book.
he theme for this year’s fair is “Book Fair Diner: All You Can Read.” Volunteer to help our children pick out books of their own as each class will have a scheduled time to “shop the fair.” Before and after school hours will be available for parent shopping as well as on Open House Night, February 18. More information will be coming your way as we get closer to February. We look forward to seeing at the Book Fair!
Myra Klepinger, PTA Member
Contact Maria January to volunteer. |
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BOX TOPS FOR EDUCATION Thank you to all of the families who sent in Box Tops in October. Each Box Top is worth 10 cents and together we earned over $800 for our school. Let’s see if we can top that in February. Box Tops will be collected again on Friday, February 5th in each classroom. Remember, a special prize will be rewarded to the classes that collect the most (K, 1-2, and 3-5). Be a winner!
Lisa Cargile, PTA Box Tops Coordinator
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Sacramento Safari Every year, Peterson PTA sponsors a couple PTA members to fly up to Sacramento with the Orange County area PTA group. They spend 2 week-days meeting with legislators, analysts, etc to advocate for education. Each year they leave a message stating how our children’s education experience is affected by decisions made on Capital Hill. Each year they bring back information to the Peterson community about what is going on and how we can have a voice.
This year, a new program “Race to the Top” is likely to be a hot topic while we are there. This program is President Obama’s plan to improve the educational system. Watch for more in the paper, in HBCSD news and at PTA meetings.
We need your help! If you have specific scenarios of how the current budget cuts have affected your child’s education, we’d like to hear from you. Your story may be the one we use to make our point.
Send your comments to Alyce Britton at a.britton@gte.net Watch in future newsletters and at PTA meetings for legislative news and ways in which you can advocate for your child's education to our law makers.
And don’t forget, you can always contact your legislators directly. They are Assemblyman Silva (www.assembly.ca.gov/silva) and Senator Harmon (http://cssrc.us/web/35).
Alyce Britton, PTA Member
Contact your legislators directly! |
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ATTENTION DOG OWNERS! According to civil code: OCC article 2 Sections 4-1-45 & 4-1-50, dogs are not allowed on school property except Seeing Eye dogs or dogs used for teaching purposes. Animal Control was contacted recently regarding a dog fight on campus and then again regarding a loose dog roaming our school and has since been issuing citations to people with dogs on campus. Dog feces on campus is a health and safety issue. We have all probably stepped in dog poop at one time or another and know how disheartening it is and how difficult it is to clean up. Our children deserve to run and play in the grass and field area without the worry of stepping into dog poop. These incidents, unfortunately, occur frequently and result in lost instructional time because of the clean-up to shoes and clothes not to mention classroom carpeting. As a dog owner, please remember your “poop” bag no matter where you walk your dog. |
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