El Semanario
January 2-6, 2003
This Week at Edison
- January 3 -- First day back at school for elementary schools
- January 4 - Banked time day -- early dismissal
From the Principal's Desk
Happy New Year!
Welcome back to school! I hope that you have all been able to enjoy a restful, warm, and healthy holiday season with family and loved ones! Please make sure to administer one of the Covid self-test kits that we sent home before the holiday BEFORE your child returns to school. Rates of infection for Covid, RSV, and flu have been climbing over the holidays and we'd like to minimize absences in what will be a very busy month at school.
We are winding down the first semester of the 2022-2023 school year, with teachers finishing up first semester units and projects and conducting mid-year assessments of students' progress. All our students will take the Star assessments (with the number and languages of the assessments varying by grade level). These assessments are taken on-line in the classroom during the regular school day. Students in grades K-3 will also be taking 1:1 reading assessments and these will involve a substitute taking the class for one day (or two half days) so that the classroom teacher can individually assess the reading fluency and comprehension of students. Our kindergarten students will also be taking a district math assessment in January -- administered individually by their teachers. Your child's teacher will let you know the specific assessment schedule for their class so that you can avoid making any appointments for students on testing days.
Teachers will also be preparing Mid-Year Progress Reports, to be sent home Friday, February 3. These are not "report cards" with final grades; rather they report on your child's degree of mastery of the concepts that were introduced in the first semester. The progress reports will give you an idea of whether or not your child is on track to meet year-end expectations and give you information on what to do if your child is stuck in certain areas or is progressing slowly. Teachers will be sending you more information and are available after progress reports come out if you have questions about how to best support your child in the second semester.
We are also finishing up our semester of theater instruction with PS Arts and Maestra Martha Ramirez-Oropeza. Each class PreK-grade 4 will be offering an informance and parents are invited to come and see the children's work. Please see the article below and the individual class informances listed in the January Calendar. Some of these informances will stretch into February and our 5th grade play (involving students from all three classes) will be performed in March.
Finally, mid-month, we are kicking off Edison's participation in the Kids Heart Challenge -- learning to adopt healthy habits of diet, exercise, stress management, and service to others that contribute to healthy hearts. You can also read more about this program below.
Here's to a healthy and productive start to the new year!
January Calendar
Upcoming Events
- Tuesday, January 3 -- First day back at school for Elementary Schools
- Monday, January 9 -- Coffee with the Principal 8:30 am Library and PTA Board Meeting 6:00-8:00 pm - Zoom
- Tuesday, January 10 -- Principals Meeting 9:00-3:30; Teatro Informance - Maestra Newman 10:00-10:30 am, Room 107
- Wednesday, January 11 -- School Assemblies to launch K&J Challenge/ Kids Heart Challengeand ELAC Meeting 8:30-10:00 am Room 207
- Thursday, January 12 - Teatro Informance - Maestra Romo,Seaside - 9:30-10:00 am, Room 107; SST and 504 Meetings in the morning
- Monday, January 16 -- Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday – School Holiday
- Tuesday, January 17 - -- Teatro Informance - Maestra Melendez 8:30-9:20 am, Room 107
- Wednesday, January 18 -- Teatro Informance - Maestra Tejeda, 12:30-1:20 pm , Room 107 and Seaside Preschool Orientation – On Campus 6:00-7:30 pm
- Thursday, January 19 -- IEPs (morning)
- Friday, January 20 -- Teatro Informance - Maestra Martinez, 8:30-9:20 am, Room 107; Fire Drill (afternoon)
- Monday, January 23 -- Teatro Informance - Maestra Jimenez, 8:30-9:20 am, Room 107 and PTA Association Meeting 8:30-10:00 am -- Library
- Tuesday, January 24 -- Principals Meeting 9:00-3:30
- Wednesday, January 25 -- Teatro Informance - Maestra Díaz Roquette 10:35-11:05 am, Room 107 and Site Council Meeting 4:30-6:30 via zoom
- Thursday, January 26 -- Teatro Informance - Maestra Banks, 10:35-11:05 am, Room 107and TK-K Round Up Day – Orientation #3 -Evening Orientation Campus Visit 6:00-7:30.
- Friday, January 27 -- Teatro Informance - Maestra Cervantes - 12:30-1:20 pm, Room 107 and Learning Rounds - School Leadership Team Members Subbed out as Walkers
- Monday, January 30 -- Teatro Informance - Maestra Castillo 10:35-11:05, Room 107
- Tuesday, January 31 - Teatro Informance - Maestra Herrera 11:10-12:00 pm, Room 107
Winter Informances
Teatro Informances in January
In the January Calendar you will see a series of Teatro Informances for Preschool through 3rd Grade classes. As our semester of theater classes with PS Arts and Maestra Martha Ramirez-Oropeza begins to draw to a close, the students have prepared some informances to show you what they've been learning in their theater classes this fall, Not only does theater engage students in another way of learning, but it develops creative expression, helps children become comfortable speaking in front of others, and gives our immersion students another opportunity to express themselves in Spanish. Please join us if you can. Come a little early to sign in at the office and we'll give you a pass and direct you to the Theater Room. Typically the theater informances draw many parents and since they will be indoors in the theater room, we are strongly encouraging masking. The one thing we don't need to share is viruses! 4th and 5th grade plays are coming next! Don't worry if you don't see your child's class listed; informances continue in February and we cap the season with the three 5th grade classes collaborating in a 5th grade play in early March. Stay tuned for more dates!
Health and Safety
Health Precautions
We sent two test kits home with each student over winter break. Use one as needed over winter break but make sure to use one on Monday night January 2 or in the morning on Tuesday, January 3 before your child returns to school. Transmission rates are very high in California right now and there is the possibility of returning to indoor masking rules if rates keep increasing. Thank you for taking precautions to keep students and staff healthy and able to attend school!
Also watch for any symptoms associated RSV or the Flu. All are extremely contagious and community transmission rates are high right now. Keeping students home when symptomatic is the best way to slow down the spread. Masking indoors is also a really good idea right now to protect against all three viruses. While Covid spreads primarily through the air, the RSV and influenza viruses can live on surfaces, utensils, and hands, making handwashing and sanitizing especially important.
Announcements / Anuncios
Celebrating Silly Hat Day
The Wednesday before Winter Break we enjoyed creating and wearing Silly Hats and gathering in the cafetorium to show off our creative head-gear. in recognition of students' accomplishments in earning Golden Eagle Ticket Awards, the Student Leadership Team decided to celebrate by making and wearing Silly Hats. We purchased some extra craft supplies and students and teachers went to work, creating crowns, and caps, and cones with all sorts of themes. It was a display of our students' creativity. Thanks to the Student Leadership Team members who spoke at the assemblies, congratulating students on all the helpful and pro-social things that they have been doing and challenging them to keep on transforming our school with kind acts.
Edison Participates in the American Heart Association's Kids Heart Challenge
For a second year, Edison will be participating in the AHA's Kids Heart Challenge from January 11 - February 10, 2023. The Kids Heart Challenge is a service-learning opportunity -- helping students learn about heart health and at the same time helping raise funds to protect all hearts – especially other kids’!
Engaging in regular physical activity, eating a heart-healthy diet and avoiding tobacco are important to wellness. And so is mental health which can positively (or negatively) affect health and risk factors for heart disease and stroke. Kids Heart Challenge provides lessons, tools and activities to support both mental and physical well-being for students, families and staff. And while students are learning about whole body wellness and improving their own health and better their character, they also have the opportunity (entirely voluntary) to raise life-saving donations for the American Heart Association to help kids facing heart-health issues. Last year Edison raised over $6,000 to contribute to heart health.
Our school is already registered on the Kids Heart Challenge website and students can register on the site to create a personal account as part of Edison's registration. There they can set goals for increasing physical activity and kind and healthy actions. When they report in on their actions, they earn points for challenges completed and some fun little tokens distributed at school. For a wall full of mindfulness and yoga exercises for students that they can use at home, see the link below.
We officially kick off this year's participation with schoolwide assemblies on January 10 where students will learn more about the importance of heart health and the resources available to help them learn, grow and help others. Parents can check out the Kids Heart Challenge at the link below. We'll be talking about the Kids Heart Challenges in PE classes and classrooms over the next month, working on adopting heart healthy habits for the new year! Join us!
Support the PTA When You Shop on Amazon Smile
Thanks to all those families who used Amazon Smile for holiday shopping, automatically donating a percentage of eligible purchases to the Edison PTA. For those of you who shop on-line year round, you can generate money for Edison each time you shop when you go to Smile,Amazon.com, search all Charitable Organizations, enter Edison Language Academy PTA and sign up. Then when you go to shop, enter the Amazon site through www.Smile, Amazon.com and a portion of your purchases to to the PTA. It also works with Amazon Prime if you're a Prime member. Your PTA will put that money to good use supporting programs for our children!
Weekend Food Bags
The Weekend Bag Program will provide SMMUSD students experiencing weekend food insecurity with nutritious, easy-to- prepare bags of food containing 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches and 2 snacks for the weekends. Families wishing to enroll their students should contact Jessica Hernandez: (310) 828-0335 x 61-306
jessicahernandez@smmusd.org.
Siblings Ready for Kindergarten or Transitional Kindergarten in 2023-2024?
In order to take advantage of a sibling admission preference, you must submit a complete application before the deadline -- February 10, 2023. We cannot assure sibling preference for late applicants. If you have any further questions please email jessicahernandez@smmusd.org or call her at 310-828-0335 ext. 61-306. https://tinyurl.com/5pph9vrjhttps://tinyurl.com/5pph9vrj
Next Orientation for Prospective TK-K Applicants is Thursday, January 26 from 6:00-7:30 pm at Edison. You must sign up in advance to assure that we have room (see the link below). Please spread the word to interested friends and neighbors, have them sign up on line, and help us recruit the next Kindergarten and Transitional Kindergarten Edison students!
Workshops for Parents
Reflective Parenting Classes
What is Reflective Parenting? A 10-week workshop that provides parents/ guardians a framework to view their children’s behaviors as meaningful. The group will focus on different topics including temperament, discipline, and emotional regulation. You will build reflective capacity and learn to understand the thoughts and feelings that underlie your interactions with your child. Reflective capacity is shown to strengthen your relationships with your children. It also supports healthy cognitive and social-emotional development in children.
When: Wednesday Evenings, 7:30-9pm, January 11th - March 15
Where: Virtually via Zoom
This workshop is free of charge for SMMUSD parents/guardians
For more info, contact Emily Ferro, LCSW (310) 362-5148, emily@ferrolcsw.com
About Us
El Semanario is the weekly family newsletter from Edison Language Academy in the Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District. Edison is a school of choice and offers a 90-10 Spanish-English dual immersion program for all students. Edison's PreK-5th grade program is the first of three schools hosting SMMUSD's PreK-12 grade Language Academy. Students promoting from Edison can continue the dual immersion program at John Adams Middle School (JAMS) and Santa Monica High School (Samohi).
Edison is a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence, twice named as a California Distinguished School, a multi-year recipient of the State of California's Title I Academic Achievement Award, holder of a Seal of Excellence from the California Association for Bilingual Education, and a multi-year Honor Roll designee from the Education Results Partnership. This is Edison's 35th year as a dual immersion academy.
Email: lorum@smmusd.org
Website: www.edison.smmusd.org
Location: 2402 Virginia Avenue, Santa Monica, CA 90404, USA
Phone: (310) 828-0335