Alcott Elementary eNews Brief
December 16, 2009
A WONDERFUL YEAR
The holiday season lends itself to reflection as we close out one year and look forward to the next. We replace one form of busy-ness (work) with other forms (like shopping and travel). But in that brief moment in-between, we have the opportunity to look back and evaluate and see what has transpired in the past year.
2009 was hardly uneventful for me, having passed the car keys over to my son, watched my second begin her first year in high school, and been amazed at my littlest one who will start kindergarten next fall. My wife and I even decided to make good on our promise of a new puppy, Ollie the Shorkie. So in a year of change, a move to a new school seems perfectly appropriate and in keeping with the theme!
At this time last year, I had no idea that I would be here at Alcott Elementary—not even the tiniest of clues. It is not easy moving from what is comfortable and successful and known, to new challenges, new dynamics, and what is not known. But here I am, and I have been blessed.
In retrospect, I want to thank you for making me feel welcome and part of the team. The staff has been patient and understanding especially in light of all the goofy ideas I bring to the table. I have appreciated and enjoyed working with parents (especially the PTSA) for the sake of students. I’m just getting started and can’t wait to see what 2010 has in store for our school. It has been a wonderful year!
To each of you, I wish you health and happiness and lots of time with family and friends. In the same breath that I look forward to the break, I am equally excited about the start of the new year with your children—please stay safe.
Sincerely,
J. ‘Kimo’ Spray, Principal, Alcott Elementary
eNews Brief
December 15, 2009
HOMEWORK CLUB 2010
Is your child struggling to get homework turned in and meet important deadlines? Homework Club might be one way to help improve their study habits and get organized to be successful at school. Homework Club will be offered to 3rd – 6th graders on Thursday afternoons from 3:30 – 4:45 pm.
Mrs. Rothlisberger and Mrs. Hobbs will run the club in 6-8 week sessions for the first 20 children to sign up and pre-pay. This is a great opportunity for your child to receive extra instruction and help on their homework from some of our Alcott teachers.
Session 3 of Homework Club will begin on Thursday, January 7th and run for 7 weeks through the end of February. Students can sign up now to reserve their spots on the Homework Club roster. The cost is $98.00 for the 7-week session, checks need to be made payable to Alcott PTSA. Forms and checks can be submitted to their classroom teachers this week. Please see the attached flyer.
Sincerely, Mrs. Rothlisberger and Mrs. Hobbs
KNIGHTS OF PI MATH TOURNAMENT
Alcott 6th Graders Win First Place
Eight Students from the Alcott Math Club sponsored by the Alcott PTSA participated in the Knights Of PI Math Tournament held at Newport High School on December 12th in Bellevue. The team comprised of Rithvik Bharath, Caroline Canistra, Aditya Murali and Mayukha Vadari won first place with Caroline awarded 4th place in the individual contest.
The team of Mathew Lockwood , Anurag Polisetty, Avi Soval, Atul Sridhar also participated in the event.
It was a great experience and lots of fun for all the kids who attended.
Sincerely,
Hema Bharath, Coordinator
Alcott Math Club
Alcott Elementary eNews Brief
December 14, 2009
Running Club
Thanks to everyone who helped to make Running Club such a huge success this year! We had 169 kids join this year, which was the most we have ever had. I appreciate their great effort and smiling faces. It was a joy to watch them piling up the mileage week after week. Thank you to all the parent volunteers, who helped in so many ways. We truly could not have had Running Club without your support. This year, our students ran a whopping 2,158 miles! That is enough miles to get all the way to Mexico and back! Mr. Laughlin and Mr. Bellefeuille
Elk’s Club Free Throw Shooting Contest
In PE Class, once again we conducted the Alcott Free Throw Shooting Contest. The winners move on to a “Lodge Contest” for school champions on January 17 at Pine Lake Middle School, hosted by the Elk’s Club. Winners continue to advance to the district, state, regional, and national finals. National Champions have their names engraved on a trophy at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts! Great job, shooters! Mr. Laughlin
Alcott’s winners were:
Girls 8-9 Lauren Fisher
Boys 8-9 Cameron Lynch
Girls 10-11 Elise Petit
Boys 10-11 Rand Ferch
Girls 12-13 Ashlyn Lutz
Boys 12-13 Jason Orr
Cartooniversity sponsored by the Alcott PTSA
You are probably thinking “What is CARTOONIVERSITY?” Cartooniversity is a drawing class being offered on Monday mornings, before school, at Alcott by Jeff Johnson. Jeff Johnson is a self-syndicated editorial cartoonist whose work appears in 20 daily and weekly newspapers throughout the state of Washington
Cartooning is a great way for kids to practice their drawing skills and learn to tell stories without words. Multiple fun projects are designed to have students learn the many aspects of cartoon drawing including character development, expressions, action/movement, layout, background, perspective and much more.
Please see the attached information and sign up sheet if your child would like to participate in PTSA sponsored Cartooniversity.
Dance Concert hosted by Renaissance Choice School
Hello All,
My name is Martha Daman and I am a teacher at the Renaissance School of Art and Reasoning. One of the classes that I am teaching is performing arts and our school is presenting its fourth annual dance concert of student created dances. The concert will be held on Tuesday, December 15th @ 7:00 PM. Tickets are $4.00 for students with an ASB and elementary students, $5.00 for general admission and $25.00 for a family of 4 and a DVD. If you are interested in ordering tickets ahead of time and reduce the time that you need to spend the night of, please download the form attached above and send it back to the school care of Martha Daman:
Ø Renaissance School @ EHS
Ø 400 228th NE
Ø Sammamish, WA 98074
Thank you for your support and encouragement of our students.
Martha Daman
425-836-6600 ext. 370
mdaman@lwsd.org
Alcott Elementary eNews Brief
December 9, 2009
A SAD DEPARTURE…
This past week we announced to staff and wanted to let you know as well that the long-time office manager at Alcott, Jerie Broze, has accepted the office manager’s position at Rose Hill Elementary. While there were many factors that influenced her decision, certainly one of them was being able to work again with Karen Janick, former Alcott principal, now at Rose Hill. (And yes, Karen has apologized and apologized and apologized.) Most importantly, as Jerie talked to me about her final decision, it became more and more apparent that she is needed at that school at this time.
The timing, while not ideal, was a result of the retirement of the long time office manager at the school. I can say that it was not at all easy for her, mostly because of the people she knows and works with at Alcott.
In reality, there is no way to replace what Jerie brings to the school. She is a special and dearly loved part of the Alcott Community. While we are going to give Jerie a very hard time about this at every possible turn, it is obvious that she will be missed by everyone here at Alcott.
BUT, AN IMPORTANT ARRIVAL…
I am enjoying working at Alcott, but one thing is clear—it is a very big school (about 230 more students than at Rush Elementary) and having someone with experience like Jerie is invaluable. And replacing her? Virtually impossible.
As it became more evident that this was the direction that Jerie was heading and knowing that I needed someone with experience, I contacted my office manager from Rush, Carolyn Cruse, about the school and position here at Alcott. She asked lots of questions about the position and the people and the challenges and the things to look forward to (as you can tell, she is very thorough). It was evident that she was excited about the school and felt, like I did last year, that it was time to try something new. As a result, the job was offered and has been accepted by the new office manager at Alcott Elementary, Carolyn Cruse.
Among the many things that I appreciate about Carolyn is her efficiency, her sense of responsibility, her kindness, her willingness to be a team player and a leader, as well as someone who is proactive and an excellent problem solver. She has experience at the district office and just happens to be very good at all the things that I’m not very good at.
Finding an experienced and quality office manager at this time of the year is very difficult, so I feel very blessed to have Carolyn joining our team. (And yes, I did apologize and apologize and apologize to the principal at Rush). Jerie and Carolyn will be working together to make for a smooth transition sometime in early January.
UPCOMING EVENTS
|
Day/Date |
Event |
Location |
|
Mon., Dec. 14 thru
Fri., Dec. 18 |
PTSA Coat, Hat and Glove Drive
(new or gently used items) |
Classrooms |
|
Th., Dec. 17th |
Student Council’s School Spirit Day
Theme: ‘Holiday Hat Day’ |
Alcott Campus |
ALCOTT COAT, HAT AND GLOVE DRIVE
Winning Class Receives a Pizza Party!
The PTSA is sponsoring a Coat, Hat and Glove drive from December 14 to December 18. The donated items will be given to several area shelters for homeless and low-income men, women and children. Some will also be distributed directly to homeless people on the street by some Alcott parents.
We need your help! Please have your children bring new or gently used coats, hats, gloves and scarves for men, women and children. Please let your child know for whom the items are intended. There will be two boxes in each classroom. One box will be marked "Men" for items for men. The other will be marked "Women and Children." The shelters are divided along these gender and generational lines; therefore, it will be easier to have the items sorted as they come in rather than sort them after them have been compiled. Please make sure that gloves are pinned together.
The class that collects the most items will be awarded a pizza party to be held during the first week of January.
Coats = five points
Hats, gloves and scarves = two points
This drive is a wonderful way for the children of Alcott to help members of our community during these frigid days. We are hopeful that we will collect a large number of items, and that the added element of a contest will aid in this endeavor. Please let us know if you have any questions, concerns, or would like to volunteer on Friday, December 18, from 12 to 2, please e-mail.. E-mail Terry Scott at ezrioni@yahoo.com
Thank you so much!!!
APPROPRIATE CLOTHING for the Weather
Just as a reminder to parents, please check to make sure that your child is dressed appropriately for the weather when they leave home. When the temperature gets this low, we are sending lots of students in from recess who are not wearing weather-appropriate clothing—jackets or shoes, in particular. Your help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you.
Elementary Math Curriculum Adoption Review – Parent Input Meetings
All parents are invited to review the top four elementary math curricula options, as selected by the Elementary Math Adoption committee, at four informational meetings to be held in January.
The committee will hold a meeting in each of the four learning communities in January 2010. These meetings will include a presentation about the math curriculum review process, highlights of the top curricula, and an opportunity for parents to review the curricula and complete input forms. The dates, times and locations of the meetings are listed below. For more information about the work of the Elementary Math Adoption Committee, visit the district Web site: http://www.lwsd.org/News/Elementary-Math-Adoption/Pages/default.aspx.
· Lake Washington Learning Community: Tuesday, January 12, 2010 at Rose Hill Junior High, 7 p.m.
· Eastlake Learning Community: Thursday, January 14, 2010 at Eastlake High School, 7 p.m.
· Redmond Learning Community: Tuesday, January 19, 2010 at Redmond High School, 7 p.m.
· Juanita Learning Community: Tuesday, January 26, 2010 at Frost Elementary School, 7 p.m.
NEW eNEWS DISTRIBUTION LIST
The distribution list for the eNews has been updated. If you have any corrections or would like to be removed from the distribution list, please reply to this email. Thank you.
PURPLE AND GOLD EDITION of the eNews
For those that read this in HTML format, this is the commemorative Purple and Gold Edition of the eNews which is my way of being obnoxious about the Huskies beating the Cougs in the Apple Cup, while hoping not to be too obnoxious. Go Dawgs! J
J. ‘Kimo’ Spray, Washington Husky
eNews Brief
December 2, 2009
PRINCIPAL’S TEA TIME
Thursday, December 3rd @ 2:30
If you have the opportunity, please join me for a light snack and a spot of coffee/tea at our first ‘Principal’s Tea Time’ beginning at 2:30 in the library. I’ll certainly make sure that we will be done before school gets out! Besides a brief update on parking and traffic issues, this time is designed as a time of conversation about Alcott Elementary, or questions you might have about issues that we face in education. I’m looking forward to meeting you in-person for what I hope is the first of many ‘Tea Times’.
TOUGHER TESTING STANDARDS FOR MATH in Washington State
A recent study finds that the Washington state math test is tougher than in most other states. See the link below to the Associated Press article in the Herald. (The Seattle Times ran the same article but not in its entirety, which is why the Herald link is provided).
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20091029/NEWS03/710299796/lWashington.state.math.test.is.tough.study.finds
THE GIFT OF GIVING
Dear Alcott Families:
The holidays are approaching and many of our neighbors are facing difficult times. Alcott has a wonderful tradition of helping families in our community. Thank you for your gifts for Thanksgiving packages. We are still looking for families willing to adopt another family for holiday gift-giving. Any help you can give will be greatly needed and appreciated. Please contact the school counselor, Laura Lynch, at llynch@lwsd.org or your child’s teacher.