Newsletter – December 11th

Holiday Schedule

Hello Everyone!  Here we are on the cusp of the winter vacation.  The first semester is here and gone.  Remember that school is closed from December 18 – January 8, 2010.  January 18 is also a school holiday in recognition of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Calling All Donations

Don’t forget that right now our 1st grade is completing their “Official Kids for Kindness” project where they are collecting toys for the Westside Children’s Center.  If you have a new toy that you can donate, please deposit it in the bins outside of the auditorium.

School Holiday Program

Next Wednesday, December 16 is the Holiday program.  Kinder and 3rd grade will perform at 9:00 am, 2nd and 5th grade will perform at 10:45, and 1st and 4th will perform at 11:45.  Don’t forget to visit the Holiday Boutique between shows.  There will be some fantastic vendors there with very unique gifts and treasures.

Meeting Canceled

Next week’s Governing Board meeting has been canceled and is being replaced by a finance, facilities and legal committee meeting.  These meetings will take place on Thursday, December 17 at 2:00 pm and are open to anyone interested to hear what is going on.

Report Cards

Report Cards were issued on Friday, December 11. Kinder students have an alternate report card that issued only twice per year.  They will be issued early in the new year.  Sometimes the 1st-5th grade report card can be tricky to understand, especially if it is the first time you have seen it.  Each subject area is divided into two scores: Achievement and Effort.  Teachers use a scoring guide published by LAUSD where specific skills and benchmarks are provided for students who are proficient readers and are able to consistently and thoroughly apply comprehension strategies to a variety of reading material.  In addition they are able to effectively and consistently distinguish between the structural features of text and literary terms (plot, theme, conflict, irony for example).  A reading score of “3″ is reserved for students who read and comprehend grade level material and are able to use comprehension strategies as needed. A reading score of “2″ is reserved for students who read and comprehend some grade level material and use some comprehension strategies.  A score of “1″ is reserved for students who read and comprehend little, if any, grade level material.

In mathematics, a score of “4″ is reserved for students who can explain clearly relationships between numbers, estimate accurately, solve problems effectively, as well as organizes, displays and interprets data accurately and clearly. A score of “3″ is reserved for students who can model and apply learned problem solving techniques, determine relationships between numbers, use estimation strategies, collect data, and solve problems in reasonable and justifiable ways.  A score of “2″ is reserved for students who demonstrate misconceptions about relationships of numbers, units of measurement, or interpreting data and solves some problems using whole numbers (fraction, decimals depending on grade level).  A score of “1″ is reserved for students who do not use estimation appropriately, determine few relationships between numbers, does not model problem-solving techniques, does not recognize units of measurement or makes few decisions about how to set up problems.
Work and study habit grades are a bit different where a “4″ is reserved for students who show STRONG performance in the criteria, “3″ is reserved for students with CONSISTENT performance in the criteria, “2″ is reserved for INCONSISTENT performance in criteria, and “1″ is reserved for students who show POOR performance in the critieria.

Hopefully this small explanation, coupled with your child’s conference this past week, helps you to understand the report card.  If you have any questions, please contact your child’s teacher or myself.

The Read-a-thon is Back!

From Dec 7-Jan 29th the books that your children read and listen to, count towards the read-a-thon. By now you should have received an envelope with a pledge form on it and flyers inside. The flyers explain how the read-a-thon works and what dates to remember. If for any reason you misplace these pages, just go to the Marquez home page and you will find a “quick link” and  print them at home.  I have personally challenged each child to read at least 10 books over the 8 week period.  Remember a book for the older kids constitutes every 50 pages.  Our goal for the school is 10,000 books!!  You can keep track of how many

Our kids will be raising money for Marquez and getting excited about reading. The holidays are a perfect time to curl up with a good book or have a relative read one to you. Oh, and if one of your children reads a book to the other, BOTH CHILDREN get to count it on their reading logs. Every child who participates gets a certificate, every child who reads at least 10 books and turns in their paperwork gets a medal and the class in each grade that reads the most books (as determined by the pledge envelopes and paperwork turned in Feb 1st) wins an ice cream party!!! Please make sure your student track their reading on the  reading logs and remind them that “READING IS COOL”. Thanks for supporting your kids and Marquez!

Character Counts!

We are continuing to talk about our Character Counts! program with the students and Michael Josephson has a commentary he shares on KNX 1070 every morning at 6:50 am.  I found the commentary below particularly interesting because he refers to a phrase that many of us use and grew up on.

“Sticks and stones may break your bones, but names will never hurt you.”

Really? Insults, teasing, gossip, and verbal abuse can inflict deeper and more enduring pain than guns and knives.

Ask anyone who as a kid was fat, skinny, short, tall, flat-chested, big-busted, acne-faced, uncoordinated, slow-witted, or exceptionally smart. In schoolrooms and playgrounds across the country, weight, height, looks, and intelligence are the subject of more taunting and ridicule than race or religion.

And it doesn’t get better. Unkind words, tasteless jokes, criticism, and ridicule don’t lose their sting when we become adults.

There’s nothing new about this. But if we trivialize how damaging words can be, especially to youngsters, the ethical significance of verbal assaults can be lost. When we say words can’t hurt anyone, we negate the feelings of those who are genuinely hurt.

Instead of minimizing the importance of words, we should encourage parents and teachers to demand a higher level of respect and greater sensitivity precisely because words can be so powerful.

Yes, we should try to fortify our children’s sense of self-worth so they can bear insults and sarcasm better. And we should urge them not to take what others say too seriously. But it’s just as important to teach them that words have the power of grenades and must be used carefully.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

I once had a teacher that used to say that a person’s tongue has more venom thanany snake.  I think it is a good conversation to have with our kidswhen we hear things that might not be the most appropriate comment.  I think a great way to talk to your kids about comments and sarcasm is when you are watching TV.  It won’t take long to hear a sarcastic comment or putdown on many of the shows that our kids watch. You can pause and ask your kids about the comments and how, if it were a real situation, would it make someone feel to hear “teasing” or name calling towards them.  Just an idea!

Last Newsletter for 2009

Anyways, this will be the last newsletter for 2009.  I wish each and everyone of you a happy, healthy new year.  I will be basking in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada with my family and am looking forward to it greatly.  Except, the weather report today had the temperature listed at -39 degrees.  Hey, that’s only about 100 degrees colder than it is here!!  Hopefully the cold snap will be gone by the time I get there.