The Weekly Roar
January 10, 2021
A Bittersweet Beginning
Dear Families,
Although we've only been back for one week, there is a lot that has happened. Our national and local news was quite bitter, with the horrific assault on the Capitol, and Covid-19 numbers increasing at an alarming rate. But happier things happened as well. We welcomed our littlest Lion to our La Ballona family on Wednesday: Congratulations to Ms. Campbell and welcome Baby Edie! I also enjoyed sharing a brief video with the students showing them my new pink hair, which they earned by raising over $4,000 for the American Heart Association. As our children returned from break, it’s been good to see them get back into the routine of daily contact with their caring and dedicated teachers.
There are two very important changes this week.
Office Closure and LB Learning Pods postponed.
Effective immediately for the safety of our students and staff, the main office will be closed. In addition, the Special Education and Lion Pride Learning Pods (lead by Mr. Dumas, Kumu Kim, and Ms. Miyamoto) have been postponed. Also, there will be no supply distribution this month. These new protocols are in effect until February 1st. Because there will be no one in the office to answer the phone, please use email to contact school personnel. Also be sure that your email is updated so that you will receive the latest news from us. You can do this by accessing your Parent Portal (directions in this newsletter). Below are important email addresses you may need during this closure. Note: OCD and STAR have NOT changed. If you are in OCD or STAR, please report to LB daily.
Attendance Clerk- joannamartinez@ccusd.org
Principal- rebeccagodbey@ccusd.org
School Nurse- sandyaguila@ccusd.org
Secretary- erikaarredondo@ccusd.org
Technology Support- lbtechhelp@ccusd.org
Changes in Art and Makerspace
Beginning this week, your child will now have live Zoom Art and Makerspace classes in the afternoon. This means that the Art and Makerspace teachers will no longer teach ELD groups in the afternoon. Read below for all of the important details.
Sincerely,
Dr. Becky Godbey
Pictured: This is Second Grade teacher, Ms. Campbell’s newborn daughter Edith (Edie) Acara Campbell. Born January 6th, 2021. 6lbs 14 oz. 19 ¼ inches.
NEW! MakerSpace and Arts Live Zoom and Lesson Changes! Please Read!
Happy New Year!
We, the MakerSpace and Art teachers would like to inform you of the changes that will be happening with our programs this second trimester. We have missed working with your students and have worked hard to create a schedule that will allow for LIVE Zoom lessons once a week with either your MakerSpace teacher or your Art teacher. The asynchronous lessons will also continue but on a 2 week schedule. The live Zoom lessons will correlate with the asynchronous work for the week.
How will this look different for you at home? For example, beginning next week, your child will have a live Zoom meeting with their Art teacher. For Makerspace, you will have asynchronous work assigned to begin working on as well. Then, the following week, you will have a live MakerSpace Zoom meeting with your MakerSpace teacher and will continue to work on your asynchronous art lesson from the week before. In the above example, if you do not meet with your Art teacher next week, your schedule will be reversed and you will start with your MakerSpace teacher.
We are excited about being able to meet with our students again and while the schedule is not perfect...what is in COVID? It does give us the opportunity to engage with your child again and to see our students who we have been missing. If you have any questions, please feel free to email us:
Mr. Sprung; jessesprung@ccusd.org (MakerSpace 1st, 3rd & 5th grades)
Mrs. Young: courtneyyoung@ccusd.org (MakerSpace Kindergarten, 2nd & 4th grades)
Ms. Pottinger: eileenpottinger@ccusd.org (MakerSpace & Art TK)
Ms. Alarcon: margaretalarcon@ccusd.org (Visual Art 1st, 3rd, & 5th grades)
Mz. Stucker: hillarystucker@ccusd.org (Visual Art Kindergarten, 2nd & 4th grades)
Adult School Opportunity
Do your English language skills sometimes get in the way when you are trying to help your children with school? If so, Culver City Adult School is offering a free-of-charge class for you! Interested? Please click on this link: Parent Education Class from Culver City Adult School
Important Dates
January 11- Feb. 1- Special Education Pods and Lion Prides postponed. Main office closed.
January 18- Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday. No School
January 19- Teacher In-service Day. No school for students.
February 4- PTA Meeting, 6:30pm
Zoom Anxiety? Try "Hide Self View"
Social Media Check!
Please make sure you've joined our Social Media accounts so that you get the latest news from La Ballona.
1. Our school website https://laballona.ccusd.org/
2. Our PTA website https://laballonapta.org/
3. Our facebook: https://www.facebook.com/laballonaelementary
4. Twitter https://twitter.com/LaBallona
5. Instagram https://www.instagram.com/laballonaelementaryschool/Story Pirates - Creator Club FREE to CCUSD
Exciting news!
Thanks to a generous donation from the Culver City Education Foundation, CCUSD’s Front and Center Theatre Collaborative Partner Story Pirates is offering their award-winning Creator Club free to all CCUSD elementary students and teachers. With Creator Club for Schools, your family will have access to video resources, activity guides, The Story Pirates Podcast, and more. All of these resources are specially designed to spark kids’ imaginations and get them excited to learn and write.
You can access Story Pirates Creator Club anytime and are free to explore and use the resources on your own. There are lots of great activities to keep your children entertained, engaged, and learning!
Click here to create your FREE Creator Club account! La Ballona Story Pirates Access Code
Are you ready to step into the Spotlight?
Originally started at Farragut, the Spotlight program is hoping to expand their program so that other CCUSD students can participate in their fun and robust enrichment class offerings.
The next eight-week session begins on January 25th and runs through March 19th, with registration opening Saturday, January 16th. If you think you might be interested, you can visit our website below for more information. Updates and class previews are posted about a week before registration opens.
https://www.spotlightenrichment.com/
Thank you so much for your time and we hope to see you at Spotlight
Free Online Math Tutoring
Dear families, I'm excited to share that masteryhour.org is offering free online math tutoring to K-12th grade children to children at La Ballona Elementary
Masteryhour.org tutors are vetted, student volunteers from top universities and STEM professionals. They have been trained in innovative teaching techniques including: best practices for online teaching, anti-bias and child-centered communication. It's their mission to provide the highest quality tutoring available to your students for free, by empowering them to love math and develop problem solving skills that will encourage them to learn independently.
To learn more or sign up, parents can visit masteryhour.org
Tutoring sessions are primarily conducted online, but parents may request phone sessions as well. Once families have joined, they can use the service as much as they want free of charge. Families may direct any questions to julie@masteryhour.org
Free TCRWP Parent & Caregiver Workshop
Join expert Teachers College Reading and Writing Project staff at our upcoming workshop day for parents and caregivers of students in grades K-8. Learn more about ways to support your child’s literacy education at home, what or how they are learning in school, how to best engage in home literacy projects, and more.
These days are typically 2-3 hours long, composed of a series of 15-minute small-group presentations. Parents and caregivers can choose the workshops that match their needs and are free to come for one workshop or many. The schedule of workshops will be made available prior to the event. These sessions are offered live and are not recorded for later viewing.
Click the link below to register.
https://tcrwp.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIudu-orzMrGdUN0IyGUGksRGCvS2Sjp9E5
La Ballona Elementary School
Culver City, CA 90232
Email: erikaarredondo@ccusd.org
Website: www.laballona.ccusd.org
Location: La Ballona Elementary School, Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, USA
Phone: 3108424334
Facebook: facebook.com/laballonaelementary
Twitter: @LaBallona