Monte Gardens News
October 13, 2017
Principal's Update
Monte Gardens Community,
I want to thank our community for pulling together and working to share the message regarding school closures on Thursday and Friday. Working together proves to be a success as we did not have any families that came to school and were uninformed. I want to remind our community that the school will post information on our website, communicate via Remind text, email, phone call and/or send home fliers for all pertinent information.
Please note the section on Monte Gardens website regarding Intradistrict Transfers. As has always been the procedure, Monte Gardens students planning on attending Sequoia Middle School must complete an Intradistrict Transfer Form. The only changes to Monte Gardens feeding into Sequoia Middle school process is the timeline to complete Intradistrict Transfer Form and completing the form online.
Please look at the flier attached below with information regarding our district's LCAP speaker series. These sessions cover topics of high interest to parents; "Everything I need to know about tech and my student", "Cybersafety" as a few.
I wanted to thank a few different volunteers and organizations that have helped our school implementing 21st century learning this year. Thank you Mr. Vega and family for volunteering time to construct our Lego and pegboard wall in our STEM room! Students have been building models of their bedrooms, multiplication arrays, and demonstrating learning in many ways not possible before! Thank you to Sterling Fairholm and Reliance Insurance Brokers for donating all supplies and purchasing items needs to construct the Lego and Pegboard wall.
Thank you Haralampiev family for your donation of Legos to help this project!
Thank you Sheehy family and all volunteers for helping our Book Fair be such a success! Thank you to DBPC for funding our STEM materials!
These projects of parents and school working together to support our students truly makes Monte Gardens a special place!
If you have and kindergarten or first grade size pants to donate to the office we would appreciate having some back ups for when students have an accident and need to change clothes. You can drop off any donations in the office.
If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.
Working together, school and home, students will succeed!
Floorplan
Working together to build a flashlight!
Bedroom Model
Ms. Annie School Counselor Section
Message from the Counselor:
Hello, Monte Gardens families! I hope you all are well. As I write this, in the wake of some terrible tragedies and natural disasters across our nation, I want to extend my deepest sympathies to anyone affected. I hope you and your loved ones are all safe! Should any of our students be impacted by the fires, or experiencing distress as a result, please always feel free to contact me. I can be reached at hagglunda@mdusd.org or (925)682-8000 x4644.
In happier news, we have a lot going on this month at school. October is National Anti-Bullying Month and National Disabilities Awareness Month. To celebrate, we are promoting the theme: “All Different, All Equal…Stop Bullying.” We started our Anti-Bullying Club this past week for grades 1-3 and grades 4-5. We discussed what bullying is, ways to speak up and do something about it if/when it happens, and practiced standing up to bully behavior. Some of our 4th/5th grade Anti-Bullying Club members are working on a skit demonstrating how to speak out and stand up to bullying which they will perform at lunch for all grades later this month.
We are also working on a video, with several of our Monte Gardens students making cameos, which will highlight all of our similarities, celebrate our differences, and send the message that everyone is different, yet everyone is equal, and everyone deserves respect. The video will be played for all of our students at lunchtime later this month. Immediately after the viewing, we will be encouraging our students to pledge to stand up to bullying, and celebrate our differences, by signing and/or fingerprinting a poster which we’ll then hang in the main hallway. Every student will also be given a bracelet with the words: “All Different, All Equal….Stop Bullying” to wear as a reminder to accept, include, and be kind to everyone.
Should you have the time and the desire to help reinforce the “All Different, All Equal…..Stop Bullying” mantra we are promoting at school, reading books with your children is a great way to do so. Here is a list of some recommended reading material:
Books Educating Children About Special Needs
Special People, Special Ways, Arlene Maguire
Don’t Call Me Special, Pat Thomas
My Brother is Very Special, Amy May
We’ll Paint the Octopus Red, Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen
My Friend Isabelle, Eliza Woloson
What’s Wrong With Timmy?, Maria Shriver
Rules, Cynthia Lord
Views From Our Shoes, Donald Joseph Meyer
Different Like Me, Jennifer Elder
Books Educating Children About Bullying
The Recess Queen, Alexis O’Neill
The Juice Box Bully, Bob Sornson & Maria Dismondy
Each Kindness, Jaqueline Woodson
The Hundred Dresses, Eleanor Estes
The Invisible Boy, Trudy Ludwig
Bully, Patricia Polacco
Bully B.E.A.N.S., Julia Cook
Chrysanthemum, Kevin Henkes
The Ant Bully, John Nickle
Enemy Pie, Derek Munson
As part of our Social Superheroes program this month, students have learned about FRIENDSHIP and RESPONSIBILITY, and practiced using their KIND WORDS POWER. The “Kind Words Power” is the power to say nice things to others, even if they are not saying nice things to you. Many of our students have made their own link to a Kindness Chain which will hang in the MU for the remainder of this month. Each link represents 1 kind thing each student has said or done for someone else. We are challenging our students to do as many kind things for others as they can this month, and to continue adding links to our kindness chain as they do. Let’s see how long we can make our chain!
In September, the Social Superheroes life skills we focused on were RESPECT and SAFETY. We also learned about and practiced the powers: CLOSED-MOUTH POWER and POWER of AWARENESS. The Closed-Mouth Power is the power to keep your mouth closed. This power helps you pay attention in class, and it prevents you from saying something you might regret. The Power of Awareness is the power to pay attention to what’s going on around you; this power helps to keep you safe.
We celebrated our September Social Superheroes with an awards ceremony and schoolwide clap-off at the end of September. Our Superheroes wore capes and masks and paraded around the school to music, as everyone came out of their classrooms to clap for them. It was a lot of fun! J I would like to extend a big CONGRATULATIONS to all of our September Social Superheroes; their names are listed below:
Teacher
Safety
Respect
Amundson
Richie J.
Santiago V.
Araujo
Tyler S.
Mariana D.
Asselin
Eimon L.
Ava C.
Carter
Lindsay R.
Angelo P.
Evans
Jennifer R.
Carter H.
Gaston
Luke B.
Diego H.
Grisafi
Kristina Y.
Mire O.
Johnston/Wright
Maryanne W.
Saathvika T.
Key
Adam A.
Mia B.
Lane
Yairith P.
Delylah J.
Muller
Rachel F.
Lucas S.
Petruzzelli
Stella C.
Kai B.
Riley
Thomas O.
Abigail T.
Rogers
Maria V.
Mateo G.
Schwartz
Joeli H.
N/A
Smith
Viviana D.
Cooper G.
Sugden
Isaac E.
Brescia S.
Swenson
Jayda M.
Daniella S.
Urias
Avery D.
Rufta A.
Walsh
Marco A.
Sammy C.
Welker
Carly S.
Oliver G.
Great job, Superheroes!! J
As the year goes on, we will be learning about and practicing more life skills and powers. Here is the order we are focusing on each one, so that you can help reinforce the meanings of these life skills and powers at home:
Month
Life Skills
Power
September
Safety & Respect
Closed-Mouth Power & Power of Awareness
October
Responsibility & Friendship
Kind Words Power
November
Gratitude & Initiative
Walk Away/Look Away Power
December
Flexibility & Caring
Positive Self-Talk Power
January
Courage & Organization
Power to Speak Up
February
Perseverance & Compassion
Trash Can Power
March
Integrity & Sense of Humor
Good Choices Power
April
Personal Best & Critical Thinking
Power of Getting Help
May
Patience & Creativity
*Review of all the powers
And here is a brief description of each power, for your reference:
- Closed-Mouth Power- The power to keep your mouth closed. Helps you pay attention and stay focused in class, and also helps you when you are tempted to say something you might regret.
- Power of Awareness- The power to pay attention to everything around you. This power helps to keep you safe.
- Walk Away/Look Away Power- The power to remove yourself, either by walking away or looking away, when presented with an uncomfortable or frustrating situation.
- Power to Speak Up- The power to stand up for yourself and/or others and let someone know if they are doing something that makes you uncomfortable. You can say “Please stop!” in a firm and respectful manner.
- Trash Can Power- The power to get rid of mean words, brush it off, and move on.
- Power of Getting Help- The power to talk to someone else to get the help you need, if your other powers haven’t worked or the problem is a big one.
- Positive Self-Talk Power- The power to communicate to yourself (either through thinking or actually talking) in a positive manner. This power facilitates growth and improved self-confidence.
- Good Choices Power- The power to make the best choice for yourself in a given situation, regardless of what others around you are doing.
- Kind Words Power- The power to say nice things to others, even if they are not saying nice things to you.
Parents, thank you for your support and participation in our Social Superheroes program!! I’m confident that, together, we will teach our children to become respectful, kind, compassionate members of our community.
Mrs. Fairholm
Email: fairholme@mdusd.org
Website: http://montegardens.mdusd.org/
Phone: (925) 682-8000 4463