Meadows Messenger
Weekly update for the Meadows Elementary School community
Thank You, Meadows Community for an Incredible 2019! Looking Forward to 2020!
Through your generosity of time and giving, we met our financial fundraising goals of $30,000 through APEX and can continue our awesome programs (including but not limited to assemblies, after school enrichment, PE equipment, Accelerated Reader and AR parties) that enrich and benefit our children and make Meadows school a place where children THRIVE and reach their greatest potential. Our Meadows Foundation thanks you for these gifts that benefits our children. Thank you to our entire Meadows Foundation Board and Jennifer Abbott, who oversees fundraising for the Foundation!
Our PTSA held so many events this semester and kicked off the year with one of my favorites, the Movie Night. Our PTSA Executive Board and President Robert Cabunoc dedicated hundreds of hours total so far to the 2019 events for our children and community including the Reflections Art Contest and Gala, Book Fair, Red Ribbon Week, Veteran's Day Breakfast and Holiday Shop. A very special thank to every volunteer, our PTSA Executive Board members and our chair of the Holiday Boutique, Tiffany Hernandez, who ran the most recent event where children shopped for holiday gifts. Our PTSA cannot survive without your support and volunteerism. Please consider being part of this organization and joining as a Board Member.
As the new principal, just in August, I remember writing about the strong initial impression the Meadows family and community made on me. Five months have passed, and I am more impressed by our school. And, getting to know you, your children, the staff and our parents, it is more clear how special this community is. Without hesitation, parents and guardians dedicate countless hours to make sure that our students experience the very best education and have access to opportunities that enrich their time here. Thank you for all that you give to our students and school. Every act of kindness is noticed. Thank you especially to our room parents and parent volunteers who collaborate with our teachers regularly. It is your involvement that makes our children's experience so extraordinary.
And, it is important to note that through the teachers' and staff's love and care for our students, our test scores have shown incredible growth, reaching the highest achievement indicators on the California Dashboard in our English Language Arts and Mathematics performance. This is not an easy achievement. Our teachers have worked meticulously to ensure that every child shows academic improvement and growth. And, to support the every day social-emotional challenges, our teachers have worked daily to establish our Positive Behavioral Supports and Interventions, and ROCKSTAR themed work lead by our PBIS teahcer team, 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Judge and Assistant Principal, Mrs. Van Gelderen. Also in daily social-emotional support, our school psychologist, Ms. Haft's and counselors, Ms. Harvey's and Mrs. Carson's availability and programming have helped all of our children be the very best version of themselves. From our welcoming office, caring safety supervisors, instructional aides, and hard working custodians, Meadows staff is OUTSTANDING; one of the most caring and united that I have every experienced as an educator. It is their daily efforts that help our children THRIVE.
I feel very strongly that our children and community will have the very best experience in 2020. Thank you to the generosity of the Hamblin family in many ways who has recently donated to our Makerspace and Cardboard Playground Initiative. More information to come on this endeavor starting in 2020. If you are interested in giving, we now have a "Donate Now" button. Click here for more information. Scroll to the bottom of the page.
We hope that each of our families have very Happy Holidays! Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas and Happy Kwanzaa to all of our families that celebrate any one of these holidays. We hope that each of you have a very Happy New Year as well!
Safe travels, joyous memories and may the light of the holidays shine onto your families and bring you good health and happiness.
We look forward to seeing you in 2020!
Juliet Fine
Principal of Meadows Elementary School
PTSA Board Positions-Volunteers Needed
Do you love…Making connections? Giving back to our community? Organizing Social events? Enriching your child’s learning experience? Are you a natural born leader? If you answered yes to any of these questions, we need YOU! We’re seeking energetic, enthusiastic, and well-organized parents to fill available PTSA E-Board Volunteer positions.
When you join PTSA, you join a community that encourages student achievement and enriches their learning experience. We believe in building partnerships between our families and our school. Research proves kids do better academically, when parents are involved. We welcome you to get involved.
The following positions will be on our March 18th, 2020 election ballot.
1. President
2. Vice President
3. Recording Secretary
4. Treasurer
5. Financial Secretary
Officer positions serve a 2-year term starting July 1st, 2020.See attached document. Please email Patti Mawer pattimawer@meadowsptsa.org
Please include a brief description of yourself and what position you’re interested in running for.
PTSA Winter Festival Cancelled
With heavy hearts from the PTSA and the parent PTSA member community, at the last PTSA meeting, we voted to cancel the January 24th winter Festival.
We were getting feedback from the community that due to the holiday break and family vacations we would have a reduced amount of volunteers, limited attendance and the overall sense of momentum and excitement has diminished since the fall festival was originally postponed.
Some donated items will be used in the first upcoming event in 2020 at our Meadows Family dance. Other items we will be distributed among other events throughout the year.
The room parents baskets, raffle and silent auction items will be discussed on which events will be best to hold a raffle and silent auction in the next e-board and associate meetings.
We are excited and looking forward to the great 2020 year events already scheduled like our Family Dance and end of the year Picnic. Have a great winter break!
~PTSA Executive Board
Women in History Volunteers Needed
Women in history has been a program at Meadows Elementary School for several years now. The AAUW (American Association of University Women) choose six renowned women every year to present to over 12 local schools. The women chosen have made major contributions in science, sports, academics, literature, society, etc. This year we are featuring female authors. Last year we focused on women athletes, the year before scientists, and the year before that First Ladies. Volunteers sign up to portray one of these characters. They are given a script and perform a short ten minute presentation in a classroom. The kids enjoy it and ask questions after the presentations. The presentations are based solely on the volunteer’s schedule. Volunteers can present in however many or few classes chosen.
If anyone is interested in being involved, please contact Emily Banks Verdi, Meadows parent at embbanks@hotmail.com (there are two "b"s in this email). Please let her know if you have any questions. The event is held in March and is an easy way for parents to get involved at Meadows.
Meadows Elementary School
Email: jfine@newhall.k12.ca.us
Website: https://www.newhallschooldistrict.com/Meadows
Location: 25577 North Fedala Road, Valencia, Ca 91355
Phone: 661-291-4050
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MeadowsElementaryNSD/
Twitter: @meadows_stars