eLINK May 25, 2012

The Graystone eLINK
6982 Shearwater Drive
San Jose, CA 95120
408-535-6317
For the Week Ending : May 25th, 2012
MAY
May 28th - No
School
May 29th - NOT an
early out day
Dismissal Times
K - 2:30
1, 2, 3 - 2:50
4, 5 - 2:55
May 31st -
LAST DAY
OF
SCHOOL
*Early Dismissal*
K - 1:00
1, 2, 3 - 1:20
4, 5 - 1:25
HAVE A
WONDERFUL
SUMMER!!
August 15th
First Day of the
2012-13 School Year
1
Please visit our School Website:
http://www.sjusd.org/graystone
Message from the Principal
Dear Parents,
It is hard to believe that this is the final eLink of the 2011-12 school year. It has been a great year at
Graystone with many successes. We earned the California Business Excellence in Education and
California Distinguished School Awards. Hetal Sutaria and I were honored with Project Cornerstone
Volar Adelante (Flying High) awards. The following parents received volunteer awards from Project
Cornerstone: Alice Sappey, Swati Goel, Jodie Oubre, Vidya Karthik and Elise Newton. Our staff
piloted and implemented some powerful intervention strategies for our students—Imagine Learning,
Lexia Learning and DreamBox. Our Home & School Club began an exciting new tradition—the
Graystone Grown-up Gathering—and did a fabulous job on the Pumpkin Bust and the Walk-a-thon.
We are proud of the achievements of our school and our partnership with the parents to provide the
best possible education for our children.
This week, we are finishing up the inventory of our library and our textbooks. Please make sure that
your students have returned all of their library and textbooks. If any have been lost or damaged,
please pay for them so we can replace the book to allow other students to use it.
It is with sadness that I announce that Sandra Jonaidi Kennedy has accepted a new job as a supervisor
of food services in Half Moon Bay. This is a promotion for her. Although we will miss her as our
cafeteria supervisor, we wish her the best of luck in her new career.
In addition, Sheila Brewer will also be leaving Graystone on June 30th. This past Tuesday night, she
was appointed as the principal of Pomeroy Elementary School in the Milpitas Unified School District.
This is bittersweet for me since I am thrilled for her but we have made a good team and I will
really miss her. I hope that you will join me in wishing Sheila much luck in this next step in her career
and thanking her for all of her hard work at Graystone this year.
Thanks to generosity of our Home & School Club, our students will be rewarded for their part in
helping us to achieve the California Distinguished School award with an otter pop on Friday. If you
have time during lunch between noon and 1:00 to help distribute these to our 783 students, give us a
call or come by.
Don’t forget that school begins for the 2012-13 on Wednesday, August 15th. Class lists will be
posted on Tuesday, August 14th at 5:00 p.m. Please plan your vacations around this date so your
child can be in school from the very first day of school until the last day of school. Several one-week
breaks during the year, including one the week of October 1st, will provide you with time to travel
that does not affect the school year or your child’s attendance.
Have a wonderful summer and we will see you in August!
Warm regards,
Priscilla Spencer, principal

MEDIA CENTER NOTES...
One more time this year, Hicklebees has sent a phenomenal author and illustrator our way. On
Tuesday, May 15th, Eric Litwin and James Dean visited with our Kinders and 1st graders. Their
book Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons was a smash hit with the kids and staff. Again,
thanks to Hicklebees!!!! In addition, on Thursday, May 24th, author Katherine Applegate visited
with our 4th and 5th graders. Her book The One and Only Ivan was well received. This is a very
interesting book about a gorilla named Ivan who was caged in a shopping mall for 30 years until
released to the Atlanta Zoo because of the outrage of so many people. Both books will be in our library
at the start of school next year.
"When I step into this library, I cannot understand why I ever step out of it."
This has been one of my favorite library quotes this year--and now it is time to step out of our library
for the summer. I know that I have a stack of books-both kid's books and grown up books
waiting for some of those lazy days of summer. I would like to encourage you and your families to
spend the summer exploring the ways that reading for pleasure can become part of your daily entertainment.
This has been a busy year in our library. I cannot express my appreciation enough to our Home and
School Club and all of our wonderful volunteers. Their support for our library is essential and helps
us keep the magic alive. And so it is time to step out of the library and step into summer--
Enjoy those lazy days of summer and see you in the library come August!!
Melissa Powell
Literacy Events Coordinator
SCHOOL WIDE YEARBOOKS
YEARBOOKS ARE HERE!!! If you have ordered one, you will be seeing it soon. If you have not ordered
one, it's not too late to get one. We will be selling extra copies for $30 (CASH ONLY) after school
May 29th, 30th & 31st in front of the office.
This yearbook has a custom-made cover and is loaded with color photos of our students from activities
throughout the year. Help your child remember this fun year with a book that will freeze this year in their
memories.
Thank you,
Razan Khayo
2

WALK A THON
Thank you again for all your support with our annual Walkathon. We are still collecting money and tabulating expenses
but we had almost $44,000.00 in pledges this year! Overall, it appears the event will net about $47,000.00
for the school! This is HUGE and helps so much towards funding so many programs for our kids. The Home and
School Club sincerely thanks you for your efforts.
If you still have money outstanding, can you please write a check and send it in today? With only a few days of
school left, we need to get everything collected next week. Many families pledged $40 for their child to get a shirt
and the shirts were distributed before the event whether the pledge was received or not, so please…if you received a
notice that you still owe money…won’t you take care of that if you have not already done so?
We did have a bit of a problem with “Fundly”, our online donation company. For some reason their system mistakenly
refunded some of the donations. If you received a notice from Fundly stating that your donation was refunded,
we ask that you resubmit it either through Fundly or by sending a check in to the school. Some people have already
contacted us about this and have taken care of it, but we are waiting on a complete report from Fundly verifying
which donations were refunded. We issued incentive prizes based on these pledges, so please know that if your
pledge was refunded, it was a mistake and please help us out by reimbursing the refund. If you have any questions,
you may contact us at walkathon@graystonehsc.org.
The incentive prizes are all finally in and they will be distributed next week. Hopefully, you were able to send in a
bag for your child to take things home in. If you have not, please send one in on Monday.
And finally, please consider getting involved next year. Many of our volunteers will start their last year at
Graystone next year and be “aging out”, and we are going to need fresh new volunteers to take their places, not
only for Walkathon, but for all of our events throughout the year. There are many volunteer opportunities within
the Home and School Club and we welcome everyone to get involved. Mom’s, Dad’s, Grandparents, working parents
or stay home parents. We are grateful for any time that you can give. If you enjoy the events, please think
about being part of keeping them going. Not only do the kids have fun and desperately needed funds get raised, but
you will find so much personal satisfaction in seeing the results of your efforts. We would really like to find volunteers
to work with us next year so the “old-timers” can work with the “new-comers” and have them confidently
handling things before we leave.
Have a great summer and we look forward to seeing you back in the Fall!
Gina Freitag and Michelle Curley
LOST AND FOUND
Last Chance for Lost & Found
On Tuesday, May 29th after the H&SC meeting, all articles in Lost & Found will be donated to Sacred
Heart. Please check one last time for any missing jackets, sweaters, lunch boxes, water bottles, hats, etc.
Thanks!!
3

CASH CARDS
The Home and School Club would like to thank all the Graystone families that helped to raise money for our school
by purchasing Cash Cards this year. As of today, our Net Profit from Cash Card sales is almost $9,700.00!! But
we are not done yet because Cash Cards will still be on sale until school gets out. We will be selling in the Superdome
on Friday in the morning and afternoon, and after school each day next week. If you cannot come by but
wish to order, send your order in to the office or email cashcards@graystonehsc.org.
Thank you to the Bret Harte Booster Club for the huge order that they placed today. We appreciate their willingness
to continue to support Graystone by purchasing their year end coach’s gifts through our school.
Cash cards will be available for purchase over the summer. Just email me at the address noted above or call Gina at
(408) 613-2555.
CALIFORNIA MATH LEAGUE
California Math League (CAML):
All students from fifth grade had an opportunity to participate in the CAML contest last week. The top scorers were
Andrew Jang, Matthew Kang and Devin Sze. The following students received certificates of merit: Ryan Nogoon
and Russell Occhipinti (second place), Sarthak Dassarma, Matthew Dworkin and Michelle Huang (third place),
Joseph Chen and Tiffany Chen ( fourth place), Jeff Kim, Derek Jackson and Hannah Lee (fifth place).
Congratulations to all winners and participants.
Malini Subramaniam
Teacher, Fifth Grade
Graystone Elementary
4

HOME&SCHOOL CLUB
Volunteer Appreciation Brunch
Tuesday, May 29th
9am in the cafeteria
The Home and School Club invites everyone in the
community to our final meeting of the year which
includes our Volunteer Brunch and service
recognition awards. We appreciate all of the
financial donations throughout the year as well as
all of the volunteering to help make our school a
better place for our children and community.
Please join us Tuesday, May 29 at 9:00 in the
cafeteria for us to thank you, recognize specific
community members
and present our
proposed budget
for the 2012/13
school year.

Child Development Inc. has designed
this Camp Jr. K program to partner with
children and families to make the
transition to Kindergarten as smooth as
possible. Based on studies identifying
the factors that lead to success in
Kindergarten, our curriculum includes a
balance of language & literacy, math,
science, social-emotional, large & small
muscle development and self regulation.
Graystone CDC
(408) 997-1980
Los Alamitos CDC
(408) 268-6331
Session Dates:
July 16 – August 10, 2012
5/12-c:\Flyers)Camp Jr. K_Flyer_111-112.doc

Free clothing for children and adults provided by
local churches, schools and neighbors in the San Jose community.
Come find something in your size and color.
Saturday, August 4th, 2012 9am-1pm
Location: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
1336 Cherry Avenue, San Jose
(Off Minnesota Avenue, in Willow Glen neighborhood)
Donations of clean, usable clothing and
accessories may be dropped off on
Friday, August 3rd between 3:00pm-8:30pm
Saturday, August 11th, 2012 9am-1pm
Location: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
3060 Patt Avenue, San Jose
(Off White Road, in Alum Rock neighborhood)
Donations of clean, usable clothing and
accessories may be dropped off on
Friday, August 10th between 3:00pm-8:30pm
All clothing is free, in "as is" condition, and while supplies last.
Meridian Ave
Cherry Ave
280
Minnesota Ave
THE FAMILY
CLOTHING DONATION
For more info email: rscloset@yahoo.com
Willow St
87
W Alma Ave
880
E. Julian St
280
680
101
Maybury Rd
N. Capitol Ave
McKee Rd
Patt Rd
White Rd