MONTEREY RIDGE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Message sent - 09/21/2009
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
Let your life speak. ~ Anonymous
DR. NEWMAN IS SHAVING HIS HEAD THIS FRIDAY
The time has finally arrived for me to shave my head. It will occur at our
Friday Flag ceremony this week. As you know, last year I challenged our
staff to reduce the achievement gap, increase the number of advanced and
proficient students in all areas and across all grades, and to become a
10/10 school. As part of that challenge they came up with the idea of having
me shave my head in front of our students if we met our goals. Well, we
won't know about 10/10 status until much later in the year, but we did meet
EVERY single goal we set forth in our SMART goals, including significantly
reducing the achievement gap in every subgroup we focused upon,and we had
the highest growth in API of ANY (yes, any) school in Poway. So, next Friday
is the day. Dr. Phillips, our Superintendent, will be there to do the
inaugural first cut. I hope you will join us for this hair-raising (or hair
losing) event.
MONARCH BUTTERFLY DAY
This Friday is Monarch Butterfly day. Make sure to wear orange and/or black
to school.
PICTURE DAY
Don’t forget that this Wednesday, September 23 is picture day.
INTERNATIONAL FALL FESTIVAL IS THIS FRIDAY– DON’T MISS IT
The International Fall Festival will definitely be one of the largest events
of the year. So, make sure to mark your calendars and join the fun this
Friday from 4:30 - 7:00. This will truly be an event not to miss. A HUGE
thanks is owed to all our room parents and the PTA for getting us organized.
URGENT NEED FOR VOLUNTEERS TO HELP AT THE FALL FESTIVAL
Our PTA has an urgent need for volunteers who can help serve food and/or
help set up and clean up at the International Fall Festival. Please contact
Gigi at ggadaya@gmail.com if you are able to help.
DAD’S CLUB
Calling all Dads!!! Calling all Dads!! We need your assistance to help once
again bring to life the tradition we began last year. I continue to hear
pleas to host another Paper Airplane Making Contest. While Dad’s Club is
designed to allow working Dads to have a special night at school with their
child, it is not an exclusive club. In fact, it is open to moms,
grandparents, uncles and other family members. So, please feel free to
participate and help us plan our events for the year. I will be planning
(hopefully along with a few dads, others and, of course, our Honorary Dad
Mrs. ioscia) our first event. Please email me if you are interested in
being involved.
JIMBO’S DONATES TO MRES THIS FRIDAY
This Thursday Jimbo’s is donating 5% of their total sales to MRES. Please
support those businesses that partnering with us to help raise funds. Don’t
forget to let them know that you are a MRES family member and bring your
flyer.
THIS IS THE WEEK TO PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT TO MAKE OUR IMPACT PROGRAM A REALITY
This is the week to make your pledge to help us fund our IMPACT program. We
are hoping to have each parent pledge $125 per student. Please be on the
look out for the pledge sheet from our Foundation. As you know, we are
looking to be able to bring back two of our very own teachers, Karen Stokes
and Greg Burrows to support our students throughout the year. Please support
our Foundation’s efforts to help us raise funds to make this a reality.
PTA GIFT WRAP FUNDRAISER ENDS THIS WEEK
Our PTA gift wrap fundraiser ends this week. This is the largest fundraising
event the PTA conducts throughout the year. We receive back 50% of the total
sales. Orders can be placed on line. The website to order from is
http://store.gafundraising.com and
enter the code: 1423722. The funds raised from this sale help fund so many
events on campus, including our music program with Mr. Lee, Playground
Partners, and mini grants to our teachers. Thanks for supporting our
efforts.
MUSIC WITH MR. LEE
On Friday of last week we began our choral music program with Mr. Lee. Our
3rd and 4th graders will be the first students to work with Mr. Lee. We are
able to provide this fabulous program because of the generosity of our PTA.
Thank you PTA.
COMPASS LEARNING AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAM
Our after school Compass Learning intervention and enrichment program begins
this week. Students will attend either Monday and Tuesday or Wednesday and
Thursday. If your child is attending please make sure they attend each
session. We have a waiting list for each session and students will be
dropped from the program if they miss more than two sessions.
ICE CREAM SALES
Ice Cream Sales continue every Wednesday after school at the lunch tables.
Ice Cream is $1 and all proceeds go to the PTA to help fund many school
programs!
PLAYGROUND PARTNERS & COOL KIDS LUNCH PROGRAM
We are once again offering Playground Partners and our Cool Kids Program at
lunch this year. Our Playground Partners program is run by a YMCA staff
member and parent volunteers on M, W & F. Our Cool Kids Lunch Program will
take place on T & Th. The goal of Cool Kids is to provide different
opportunities for those students who struggle to make friends on the
playground, have difficulty making positive choices on the playground, need
appropriate modeling or simply to introduce students to a different group of
friends by engaging in activities in a small group setting where they can be
supervised and supported. Approximately two students from each class will be
chosen each week to participate. Parent volunteers are needed to help out.
Dr. Rich Newman.