MONTEREY RIDGE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Message sent - 09/28/2009

QUOTE OF THE WEEK
The essential question is not, How busy are you? but What are you busy at?
~Oprah Winfrey

MRES IN THE NEWS
We hope you had a chance to catch some of the news coverage from last Friday’s coverage of my new hairdo. Channel 7, The North County Times, and the Rancho Bernardo News all covered the story. If not, the links are:
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local-beat/Shaved-Head-for-Good-Grades-61482437.html
and
http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/poway/article_48052e6f-bf8a-5c78-916f-af9015fd3c13.html

INTERNATIONAL FALL FESTIVAL WAS A HUGE SUCCESS
The turn out for our International Fall Festival was HUGE on Friday. So much work went into making this event fun and exciting for all of our students. MANY thanks are owed to our PTA, room parents and all the volunteers that worked tirelessly to ensure a great time for all.

REFLECTIONS
Represent Monterey Ridge Elementary in the National PTA sponsored Art Competition, REFLECTIONS 2009-2010. This year’s theme is “Beauty Is…” Think about what “Beauty Is” to you and express it in one of the following categories: Literature, Visual Arts, Music Composition, Film Production, Photography, and Dance Choreography. Entries are due by Friday, October 2nd. Participation Rules apply. Entry forms are available at www.mrespta.org . Everyone wins an award and a butterfly catch.

BREAKFAST OF CHAMPION
S
On Friday, October 2 we will be honoring our Character Counts Students of the Month at our Student Council led Breakfast of Champions before Friday Flag. As I am certain you are aware, our commitment to character education is strong. We want to celebrate students who exhibit the behaviors of the Pillar of Character we emphasize each month. Over the course of the school year we celebrate the six Pillars (Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring, and Citizenship) to help us bring character education alive and provide a barometer to help guide our students' decision making. Thanks again for joining us in helping build the minds and characters of our students.

COFFEE WITH THE PRINCIPAL – THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1
I hope you will join me for Coffee with the Principal this Thursday immediately after school begins. I will be spending time sharing specific literacy and math activities that you can do with your child at home, while also sharing some data from our results and engaging you in an activity designed to hear your hopes, dreams and wishes for MRES this year. Lastly, there will be time for questions and answers.

MONTEREY RIDGE e-PACKET CONTINUES TO BE A SUCCESS
Our e-Packet continues to be a success. Every week the PTA website, which hosts the e-Packet, receives between 4-6000 hits after the ConnectEd email comes out. If you have any suggestions to improve the format of our e-Packet please let us know.

PLAYGROUND PARTNERS VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!
The PTA is excited about Playground Partners occurring during lunchtime. Playground partners is a YMCA program which assists schools in running structured sports, games, and activities to help with conflict resolution, social learning, role modeling, and of course physical activity. Two stations will be set up with both active games and less active games. The program will send one YMCA staff member each day (M,W, F) to help parents set up games and provide guidance on our playground. The PTA will need two parent volunteers per day to effectively run the program. A YMCA staff member will be there to help volunteers run the games. The PTA will be sponsoring three days per week during the lunch sessions during the hours of 12:30 to 1:55 p.m.

The PTA hopes that you will join us in keeping our kids healthy and active by volunteering for this fun program. If you, a friend, or a grandparent is interested in helping in this program, please contact Karen Hayes at ghayes01@cox.net.

COMPASS LEARNING ACCESS FROM HOME
All students at MRES, including our preschool students, have access to Compass Learning from home. Many of our classes are using the program as part of their homework program this school year. Additionally, we hope you encourage your child to use the program frequently. You are welcome to work closely with your child on the program. Each skill is taught in a manner that allows you, the parent, to also teach it. If you have trouble accessing the program from home please be in touch. The website is: cl.powayusd.com

Dr. Rich Newman.

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