University Elementary Monthly News
October
Principal's Message
Dear Families,
The year has gotten off to a very busy start and October appears to be just as busy! This month we have our participation in the Founder’s Day Parade, project- based learning presentations, picture day, Walk-a-Thon and to end the month our involvement with the Community Halloween Carnival and the Rancho Cotate High School Band visiting us on October 31st. Hold on tight because this month will go by frightfully fast!
Arriving to school on time continues to be a problem for many students. Having raised three children, I would like to offer some advice. It helps to make lunches the night before, lay out clothes, have backpacks ready at the door and set the alarm a few minutes early before the children go to bed at night. As a parent myself, I even went to so far as to say if you want screen privileges after school then you will want to be ready to hop in the car so that we are not late. Please understand that every minute counts here at school, chronic tardies require extra effort to get to school on time. It is the parents’ responsibility to ensure this happens. Please see me if you need support in this area.
Our new school rules, part of our work around Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) are in the process of being finalized. Once they are finalized I will be sharing them out with you. We will be developing lesson plans to ensure that all students are taught the expectations. All of the expectations revolve around three basic ideas. Be Safe, Be Respectful, and Be Responsible. The rules are similar but now they are all presented in the positive. I look forward to sharing them with you.
Battle of the Books is a new district wide reading competition held in a "Family Feud" game style. This involves teams of four students reading books and then competing to answer the literature questions in a complete and timely manner. Information will be coming home next week. We will have a competition here at University Elementary and the winning team will go on to compete in the district competition in the spring.
Halloween will be here before we know it! This year students will be allowed to wear non-violent costumes or orange and black clothing to school. Accessories such as such as swords, guns, knives, sickles and the like will not be allowed so please leave them at home. We will have a parade at 8:30 am on our blacktop. After the parade students will need to take off masks, wings or anything that draws attention from teaching and learning and put those items away for the day. Parents please know that costumes should be sturdy enough to play in and that we are not responsible for any damage that might occur should your student wear their costume all day. On that note, I would like to take this time to wish all that celebrate this holiday a happy and safe Halloween.
Best regards,
Charlotte Straub
Laguna Walk
PBL Project
The Metric System
Current happenings in our classrooms
Parent Teacher Association (PTA) Update
PTA is in desperate need of a fundraising chairperson. We try to limit fundraisers but please know that it is crucial that we fund-raise in order to meet the needs of our school vision. This job will have lots of support working with them. If you are ready to learn about this role and/or commit to our school community and what we represent please let me or Molly Wandrey know as soon as possible. PTA has a mailbox in the office.
We have approximately 33% of our community as members of our PTA. It is important to our community that we increase this membership to a minimum of 80%. On that note, I am challenging families to join our PTA. Your participation is crucial to the well-being of our school. Our goal is a minimum of 80% membership. If this can be achieved by October 31st, I will be slimed (Nickelodeon style) by our PTA at an assembly.
Walk-a-Thon is coming! On October 23rd from 10:00 to 11:30 AM students will be walking laps as a fundraiser for PTA. This is one of our major fundraisers. If we can raise enough funds it is likely we will not need to fund-raise as much. In a perfect world every student would raise $100 however, any amount would be greatly appreciated. Please look for information coming home in a large manila envelope.
Be on the lookout for information about Reflections coming home soon. This is a PTA sponsored event where students create art work through a chosen medium and enter it in a school wide contest. Winning pieces then go on to next phases up until final winners in each category are selected. It is all explained in paperwork coming home soon!
This year we decided to join forces with the city of Rohnert Park's Community Halloween Carnival. We will be running a beverage booth, a pizza booth, and three activity booths. Our school will receive all of the proceeds from these booths. It is our hope that all of our families will be able to join in on the fun Saturday, October 27th.
Garden News
Please remember to contribute $40 for your student's participation in our wonderful garden classes. We have a carrot that we are coloring in as the funds come in. It is posted outside the nurses office. We really hope that we can sustain this valuable project-based learning experience at our school. If you cannot contribute $40 all at once we gladly accept payments of $10 per month.
Last year we held a Paint Nite fundraiser at Sally Tomatoes. We raised $600 with this event and most important, it was a great evening of community fun. We decided to do this again this year. It will be on Friday, November 2nd. If you like to experiment with painting this is the event for you. Please share this event with friends and family. See flyer below.
Paint Nite Garden Fundraiser
Friday, Nov 2, 2018, 07:00 PM
Sally Tomatoes, Valley House Drive, Rohnert Park, CA, USA
University Elementary
Email: charlotte_straub@crpusd.org
Website: https://uelf.crpusd.org/
Location: 8511 Liman Way, Rohnert Park, CA, USA
Phone: (707) 792-4840
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/University-Elementary-School-at-La-Fiesta-1628724350766801/
Twitter: @UELFSEAWOLVES