feb 2013 grapevine[2] - Kingsburg Elementary Charter School District

GRAPEVINE
NEWS FROM AROUND THE DISTRICT
FEBRUARY 2013
WASHINGTON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Love and Learning are always in the air at Washington School and February was no exception!
Washington School would like to welcome to Erin Stark, our new Title 1/EL Paraprofessional at Washington
School. Erin comes to us with a background in Adaptive P.E. and General Education P.E. She and her husband
have two sons who attend Reagan Elementary.
The Parent Club Spell-A-Thon was a wonderful success with many students spelling the words with
100% accuracy and bringing in about $6,000. Thank you to Ginger Summers who headed up this
fundraiser.
The Parenting Classes held at Washington School in English and Spanish are a huge success with
many parents attending. For more information please contact Jodi Zapata who is in charge of the
classes this year. Thank you, Jodi, for getting these organized.
In other news, the library held a successful Scholastic Bookfair during the last week of February.
Congratulations to Character Counts Cathy (Trish Olson) and Kindergartener (Lisa Regier) who shared how to
have good character at the Character Counts assembly. We didn’t know that Heather Schofield could sing, Leigh
Ann Spitzer could rap, and Caitlin Tafoya could cheer! Susan Bergstrom sang with a sore throat and still was
amazing! Thank you all for a wonderful assembly. Washington School Character Counts Roadshow, here we
come!
Kindergarten students enjoyed learning and writing about President Washington and President Lincoln this
month. Classes compared and contrasted the presidents and some voted on their favorite. February also
brought Dr. Seuss week for our students with loads of fun activities to accompany it. A Dr. Seuss book was
featured each day along with a fun dress-up activity. Kids and teachers participated in silly sock day, crazy hat
day, wear green day, dress wacky day; and, of course, pajama day! As usual, the Kindergarten Valentine parties
were also a highlight of the month.
Early Intervention has accomplished so much in this very short month! In addition to focusing on preschool
expectations such as phonemic awareness, the students have been learning about keeping their bodies
healthy. They have also started a unit on transportation which is always a favorite.
Washington State Preschool continues their unit on Construction. The AM and PM classes are working together
to build Kingsburg in our block area. They have built Washington School and some of the downtown businesses
already and the kids are making signs, trees and bushes, too.
VDA State Preschool is also finishing a Construction unit and the students in the program are in the process of
building a stage for impromptu performances. They are also engaged in comparing and contrasting country vs.
city.
ROOSEVELT ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
We have had a very busy month at Roosevelt. We are working on RESPECT for our character trait
now. Our first graders are learning to treat others as they would like to be treated, and learning
lots of key words regarding how to show respect. Listening, being honest, and using kind words
is the focus!
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On February 15 th , we had our Read-A-Thon kickoff assembly. We had a visit from the Cat in the Hat, Clifford and
Emily Elizabeth, and Ms. Frizzle! They were there to encourage our students to read, read, read. This is a great
time of year because the students are proud of their new reading skills, and love to show everyone how much
they can do. We’re looking forward to the big day on March 1 st as we celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday and our
Read-A-Thon.
Roosevelt students have also begun studying the human body for our science writing block. They are learning
about the five senses, our skeletal system, our muscular system, and how we can keep our bodies healthy. Part
of the unit is also devoted to our teeth. With teeth coming out right and left, our Rough Riders are curious about
how many teeth we have, the different parts of the tooth, and how to take good care of our teeth.
On the 28 th , we had Junior Achievement Day. This is when employees from Guardian Glass come to teach
lessons on community and economics to our first graders. They enjoyed making maps of the community, and
learning about careers. We are always thankful to the employees who volunteer their own time to learn the
lesson plan and teach our students these great social studies lessons all morning long. It’s fun for the students
to have a different teacher for the day, too.
LINCOLN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Lincoln students recently participated in the Fresno Grizzlies “Wild about Reading” program.
Following an assembly featuring the Grizzly mascot, Parker, students were challenged to read ten
books in a certain amount of time. Many of the students excitedly participated, and they will earn
two tickets to a Fresno Grizzly game in April. Teachers also had the chance to submit names of
students who are “Outstanding Readers,” and they will be recognized at the game.
Friday, February 15, was a big day for the second graders at Lincoln School! Poetry and Prose
tryouts were held that morning, and everyone was eager to see who had been selected! Twenty-two
students, comprising twelve entries, performed for the team of judges. The judges found the decision this year
to be very difficult. All of the contestants were very well-prepared and did a great job on their performances! By
noon, the news was out! The following second-graders were selected as members of the Lincoln School Poetry
and Prose team and will travel to Visalia in March to perform at the festival: Nicolette Fierro, Sadie Carpenter,
Montana Wells, Trista Fry, Drew Johnston, Kendra Hodges, Emma Chappell, Claire Lunde, Lyric McLeod, Troy
Bamford, Derek Brett, Sadie Quintana, and Kaylynn Alves!
Third grade students tried out for Peach Blossom this month. The students were very excited and came well
prepared for the judging. Many students practiced with their teachers during lunch for weeks ahead of time.
The judges commented on what an especially great pool of participants there was this year. It was a challenge,
as always, to pick the most outstanding participants!
Here are the qualified students from Lincoln Elementary that will go on to Fresno State Peach Blossom 2013:
Riley Beck, Adam Erickson, Joey Lee, Julian Regier, Kailey Emmerson, Ryan Long, Zeke Weathers, Nathan Bishop,
Claire Dutra, Kaia Tate, Jenna Salazar, Lexi Maxfield, Kamryn Ewert, Tanner Rosales, Daniel Ortega, Sam Chapell,
Chelsea Flood, Natalee Phillips, and Luke Sever.
Lincoln students are crazy about AR Reading! At the end of the year, we give out awards for “Million Word
Readers.” Our top 10 readers so far this year are: Caleb Bahne, Riley Beck, Ethan Guerrero, Brenden Tackett,
Aiden McClusky, Ava Westerling, Joey Lee, Kayuana Cortez, Anna Wilson, and Alina Johnson. Keep Reading!
REAGAN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Mustang Choir
Don’t miss the musical event of the spring. On Tuesday, March 12 th , the 4 th -5 th -6th grade choirs
and the Mustang Honor Choir will have the taco truck dinner again. This is back by popular
demand! For more details you may contact Emily Broderick or a Reagan choir member.
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Also, The Mustang Honor Choir will be attending the CMEA choir festival competition at St. Therese Church in
Fresno in March. They have been working hard, even though we only meet once a week, so that they can earn a
superior rating!
Park Kingsburg
Rooms 207 and 208 visited the senior citizens at Park Kingsburg in January. Since they celebrate Martin Luther
King, Jr.’s., birthday in January, the students had memorized an excerpt of his speech to recite to the seniors.
They also shared some early valentines, which included figurative language cards and creative birdseed cards.
They look forward to returning in the month of March.
Little Mermaid
Kerri Pickrell, the Mustang Drama Club director, advises that 4 weeks of practice are down and it is going well.
He is excited to report they have a great cast that is fun and amazing. Currently, they are learning to
choreograph the songs and memorizing their lines and songs. April 11th is opening night. Start spreading the
news!
Reagan Track
Under the watchful eye of Coach Bobby Rodriguez, track will begin next week. They are excited to join Rafer
Johnson, Traver, Clay, and Kings River in their training at KHS. This cooperative training will be used to maximize
time and develop a stronger youth track program.
School Ambassador Program
The focus for this month with ambassadors is completing random acts of kindness the entire month of February.
This is to honor the memory of Sandy Hook Elementary school children and staff. Maureen Gillespie and her
team of teachers are meeting next week to help our students document their random acts of kindness. These
acts of kindness can be done at school or in the community.
Kingsburg Lion’s Club – Flag Day Assembly
Once again, the Kingsburg Lion’s club returned to Reagan to share with students the importance of respecting
the United State’s Flag. Students learned that the flag stands for freedom, loyalty and purity. They viewed a
demonstration on the proper folding of the flag. The teachers especially enjoy this assembly as they have the
opportunity to see their former colleagues, Mel Manley and Robin Peterson!
Heidi East - Update
As many of you are aware, Heidi East, a 5 th grade teacher, was diagnosed with ALL, Acute Lymphoblastic
Leukemia. We wanted to share a little of how the community has come together to support Heidi!
Thanks to Meagan Barbeau, the East family now has a meal planner that is a web-based application. People can
sign up for a night they would like to take food. They are asked to bring disposable containers as the response
has been overwhelming and the dishes were piling up faster than they could return them. In fact, Meagan has
had to recreate this meal planner three months’ running because so many people have wanted to help care for
her family. If you are interested in participating, please email Meagan Barbeau and she can send you the link.
Another wonderful idea to support Heidi was given to the staff by Brenda Brandon, our sixth grade teacher. With
the help of Berman’s Flowers, she brought in a huge “Giving Tree” painted beautifully in silver. Cards were
provided and staff and friends add “ornaments” to this tree in the way of gift cards, gas cards, movies, kind
words, etc. The tree has been refilled twice and the gifts keep pouring in. If you are interested in adding
something to the tree, you may send it via district mail to Reagan and Mr. Sansom will make sure it is added the
next time around.
Thank you to all who have donated sick days to Heidi. The response has been overwhelming and it provides a
great deal of relief during this stressful time. Thanks also to Rafer Johnson. They are in the process of
organizing a blood drive that will benefit not only their Abby Grace, but Heidi too!
The amazing parents in Heidi’s class joined together to provide support for Heidi and her students during this
difficult time as well. Mrs. Emmerson has put together a group of Heidi’s students and they will be completing
the yearbook project that Heidi has taken on for this year. Mrs. Sever is in the process of creating a safe, online
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communication forum where Heidi and her students can continue to share and work together. Mrs. Cooper will
be working with the students in Room 205 to create bi-monthly videos for Heidi to enjoy during her healing time.
The latest news from the doctor is that we are in Phase 2. This will require approximately four weeks of intensive
treatment at which time we pray for a cure! Heidi’s take on the whole thing? She was excited that it was only
four weeks and has already asked her husband, Jim, to start planning for a summer trip. That’s our Heidi! Heidi
and her family want everyone to know how appreciative they are of the support given during this difficult time.
Heidi can’t wait to “kick” this thing and come back to what she does best…teaching!
RAFER JOHNSON JR. HIGH SCHOOL
The Rafer Johnson Drama Club and Rafer Johnson Choir are teaming up to bring you an evening of
melodrama at E&e on April 26 and 27. More details will follow, but this event is also a fundraiser for
the Needham family, so mark your calendars!
April 13 is the date of Rafer Johnson Junior High's second annual blood drive. This event is a replacement
drive for Abby Needham and Heidi East. In conjunction with the drive, Heidi's class will be holding a bake sale
(you know you need baked goodies after donating blood!) to benefit the East family. We'll be e-mailing out more
information soon!
Pre-festival Choir concert for the Rafer Olympian Choir is on Monday, March 11 th with the KHS choirs at the Little
Theatre at 7 pm. Dr. Anna Hamre, professor and director of choirs at Fresno State, will do a workshop with the
choirs on stage after their performance just as if they were at festival choir competition. Wednesday, March 20 ,
the Rafer Olympian Choir will be traveling to St. Therese Church in Fresno to compete in the CMEA choir festival.
Then we will travel to Clark Intermediate School in Clovis to have a choir exchange with the Clark choirs!
Art classes here at Rafer are continuing to work on ceramic projects, creating really nice things to take home
once they are completed. Home Economics students are about finished with their shorts project and ready to
start a group lap quilt which will be eventually donated to a senior citizen facility. We are busy, busy, busy
creating new things every day.
7 th grade scientists in Mrs. Walls’ classes are sharpening their observational skills and laboratory
techniques. Students have learned to use microscopes to observe NaCl (table salt) crystals and Elodea
leaves. Students are learning to calculate magnification of the field of vision and to observe organelles in cells.
Students are also learning the function of cell organelles in plant and animal cells.
Rafer Johnson MESA students have participated in activities and workshops at Fresno State in preparation for the
MESA Day competition on March 9th. Students from around the valley will gather to compete with their projects
to see who will advance to the regional competition in April. Recently, several students pre-qualified for the
regional competition with their performances: Hena Sihota (1st place) and Ryan Flippo (3rd place) in the Solo
Math competition for Geometry, and Julie Clausen, Garrett Cooper, Tyler Hodges, and Scott Sheffield with a 3rd
place in the Prosthetic Arm competition. We look forward to more success at MESA Day, where students will
compete in various events, such as the Team Math Quest, "Speak Up" speech competition, Mousetrap Car,
Balsawood Glider, EggXpress, LEGO Robotics Tug-of-War, Popsicle Stick Bridges, and the Model Science Eye
project.
Congratulations to the following students who are part of this year's RJJH baseball roster: Timmy Boyd, Trent
Brandon, Brandon Caldera, Seth Costi, Jacob Duncan, Christian Gonzales, Chris (Adam) Gonzales, Kyle Hanson,
Kyle Haroldsen, Joey LeForge, Jose Morales, Matthew Sandoval, Scott Sheffield, Jonathan Soria, Riley Walls,
Henry Wildes, and Garlin Zimmerman. Team coach, Mr. Jimenez, has set up a web link which will broadcast live
game data as it happens! If you are interested, log onto: http://historyjimenez.weebly.com/sports.html.
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February 14th kicked off the start of the CVHS Spring Enrichment Classes. These elective classes are a tradition
here at the homeschool and offer all our K-8 students the chance to spend time together learning and having fun.
Enrichment classes will run for six consecutive Thursday mornings with the entire staff involved in teaching and
managing our students.
The art class is painting landscapes. They must use only the primary colors (red, blue, and yellow) to make the
secondary colors they need for their paintings.
The choral music classes, taught by Ms. Shu, are learning solfège, rhythm, and many wonderful new songs.
They will be putting on a concert at the end of the session.
The K-1 class is entitled, “Down on the Farm.” Here, students study farm animals, farm life, and the food
produced on farms through literature, writing, math, music, poetry, and many interactive games.
Second and third graders are exploring outer space with a study of the solar system. Holding the sun the size of
a ping pong ball, they were able to see that using that scale earth would be eight feet away and Neptune would
be at the other end of the school grounds – 269 feet away! After researching their favorite planet, they will write
postcards back to their parents telling them about what they saw on their pretend journey.
Students in the 4 th and 5 th grade science class are learning about ecosystems. They will be studying producers,
consumers, decomposers, food chains, food webs, and how living things compete for resources.
Grades 6-8 students are having a BLAST (Basic Leadership and Speaking Tools) with a splash of American History!
They are learning the 6 basic elements of speech giving! Performing a speech in front of an audience is a new
experience for most of the class. Together, they will be perfecting and then presenting the Preamble at the CVHS
OPEN HOUSE!
In addition to the enrichment classes, the usual schedule of activities and events continue each day. For
example, there are the ongoing math classes for 5th - 8 th grade students, meetings between the teachers and
their homeschool parents, intervention meetings, and for fun - a field trip to the civil war re-enactment in Visalia
just to name a few. Spring is a busy time at CVHS!
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