| Campus Happenings |
5th graders interview Percy in Spanish.
|
Alumni and Faculty spend time together at the Winter Alumni Gathering.
Alumni visit with Percy at the Winter Alumni Gathering last week.
First graders work on Language Arts.
Hawk viewing in Life Lab.
Reading in 2nd grade.
First and third graders playing football during recess.
| |
| Welcome to the Gateway Family News. Please be sure to click on the Confirm button at the very top of this email button. Doing this helps to avoid spam filters on your end. |
|
|
FROM THE HEAD'S DESK 
by Percy L. Abram, PhD, Head of School
Don't forget that there is no school Monday January 18th in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.'s
birthday. There is no childcare available as school is completely closed for
the holiday.
Response to Haiti
On Tuesday, a catastrophic earthquake struck near the
Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince,
causing widespread damage to the city's infrastructure, innumerable injuries
and a death toll that is estimated to be in the tens of thousands. Relief workers in the area report that 3
million people have been directly affected.
In response to the incredible loss and devastation in Haiti, Gateway School
is initiating a drive to support the Haitian families and institutions with the
resource they are most in need of presently - money. Beginning, on Friday, January 15th, we will
place a jar in our lobby to collect donations for the Red Cross. If you are able, please donate cash or checks
(payable to The Red Cross) in the lobby.
If you would prefer to contact the Red Cross directly, we have listed
their contact information below:
American Red Cross
2960 Soquel Avenue
Santa Cruz, CA
95062-1412
Phone: 831-462-2881
www.sccredcross.org
Next Friday, our Student Council will meet to discuss other
ways the Gateway School
community can support the people of Haiti. As we learn more about the effects of the
earthquake and its aftermath, I am hopeful that you will keep the people of Haiti
and their relatives throughout the region in your thoughts.
"Garden of Dream" Auction Gala February 6th -
support our children and faculty!
The GPA volunteer Auction Committee and our Development
Committee and staff have been hard at work preparing a fabulous evening for
Gateway parents and friends at the Dream Inn on Saturday February 6th. This
annual fundraiser benefits every child and all our faculty as proceeds enable
us to complete our budget for this school year.
Being our main fundraising event the Gala is a critical part
of the success of our school year. I hope that all parents will consider some
way to support this Gala -- buying tickets and attending, becoming sponsors,
underwriting faculty tickets, making a general tax deductible donation to the
event or donating an item for our on-line auction in February are all ways you
can help. This also supports the efforts of our volunteer auction co-chairs,
Amy Jensen and Andrea Hultzen. They have devoted countless hours to our school
over the months in providing leadership for the "Garden of Dreams".
It takes everyone's commitment to our community to ensure a great school year
and supporting the work of Amy, Andrea and their volunteer team is important!
New Report Card System
Thanks to a generous donation from an anonymous family
Gateway has been able to implement a new
student information system which offers features that will increase efficiency,
minimize costs, eliminate redundancies, and reduce our paper use. One of the features of our new system is
online parental access to students' report cards.
We are pleased to announce that, beginning this semester, we
will be switching to electronic report cards and comments. In an effort to honor our commitment to
environmental responsibility, we will use our new electronic reporting system
to notify parents when term grades and comments are available to view; we will
no longer mail report cards to families beginning this semester.
Look for an email from the school next week instructing you
how to log into the system and access your child's semester grades and teacher
comments, as well as how to access the online Parent Conference Sign-Up sheet! |
|
Garden of Dreams Auction Gala
 Amy Jensen & Andrea Hultzen
Auction Co-chairs
February 6th, 5:00 - 10:30pm - Plan on a fun evening out to
socialize with Gateway friends, dine, dance and check out the recently
remodeled Dream Inn! The event includes
our fabulous Live Auction, including Fund-a-Need which enables you to support
the school even if you don't want to purchase anything in the Live
Auction. Sponsorships to help underwrite
the event and faculty tickets are being secured now. To sponsor contact Amy at AJKJensen@gmail.com.
We are co-chairing the event in
order to benefit our school community, the children and the faculty. It IS a
fundraising event, so it is meant to raise as much money as we can to ensure a
fabulous school year for the children and faculty.
We are so appreciative of
the parents who have signed on as sponsors (to-date): The Chesnut, Frumkin,
Hall, Rowley, and Zicarelli families and Capitola Pediatrics.
And many thanks to the parents (and
students!) who have been working on class projects, who have made underwriting
donations, who have donated items or services for the auction (Live and
on-line, keep those coming!), and those who have bought tickets. We do need to
sell more tickets, so please get your reservation forms (with your meal
choices) in soon so that we know that everyone's hard work will pay off with a
great evening together.
Every year the parents who
attend the event say what a great event our school has! We wanted to make it a
little more special this year by trying out the re-modeled Dream Inn venue and
allowing more time for dancing!
All of our children benefit from the generosity
of the Gala supporters, so we look forward to spending the evening together as
we gather in support our school community and our 2010 non-profit partner the
Life Lab Science Program, housed at UCSC.
|
|
SCHOOL LIFE 
Reminder: Student
Teacher Conferences
are scheduled for Thursday and Friday Jan. 28th and 29th. The School will be closed but we will be
offering childcare. Please sign up
in the Main Office as soon as possible so that we can plan for staffing. Childcare is FREE during your child's
conference time, but please sign in.
After School Chess Class begins
Tuesday Jan. 19th. There is still space
in the after school chess class. You can
find the registration form on the website or in the Main Office.
Reminder: 2nd Grade
Parent Coffee Wednesday Jan. 20th 8:30 - 9:30am.
Join Percy, second grade teachers Cathy and Patricia, and Resource
Specialist Joan Saia for an informal chat about your child's developmental
milestones and outcomes, and information on what to expect from your child
throughout the year.
Middle School Theater
Elective is
performing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at the West End Theater on Friday Jan. 22nd.
8th Grade Washington DC
Fundraiser - Tea Party for 20 adults. Gateway parent
Sharon Hale (owner of Agreeable Hours Tea Parties) will provide 20 tickets to
attend her tea party at $25 per ticket, January 24, 2010. Please contact shdhale@aol.com if you are interested.
Environmental Advisory
Panel meeting Monday, Jan. 25th, 3:15-4:30pm (note starting time) in the
library. STUDENTS ARE WELCOME! Snacks will be served! Last time we met we had inspiring input from
more Gateway students! A kid's Eco club
is forming, currently with a waste reduction focus and we are getting closer to
launching a EAP web presence. The first
30 minutes of this month's meeting will be for student input and for supporting
them in planning their actions. Then they are welcome to stay or leave while we
meet about other business in the second part of the meeting. The agenda so far: student action check-in, and finalizing
environmental content for the gateway website.
Come join us! Please contact
Caprice at 479-4769 or caprice@cruzio.com with any questions and to get
on our email list and receive minutes from the meetings.
Middle School French
Enrichment Course with Patty Lucas - 2nd semester begins Wednesday
Feb. 3rd. Please see the Wednesday flier for
more info. If you'd like to sign up,
please fill out the flier, and submit to the Main Office.
Financial Aid for the
2010-2011 School Year: If you would like to apply for
financial aid for 2010-2011, please pick up a financial aid packet from the Main
Office or call the Main Office and ask that a packet be mailed home to
you. In order to apply for aid, you must
file a Parents Financial Statement (PFS) with School and Student Service for
Financial Aid (SSS) either by mail or online.
You will find the paper PFS form in the financial aid packet or, if you
prefer, you can file your PFS online by going to sss.nais.org. In addition to filing your PFS, you must also
turn in a copy of your complete 2009 tax return. This year, tax returns must be mailed in to
SSS rather than being turned in to the Main Office. Please feel free to black out the social
security numbers on your tax return before mailing it to SSS. We recommend that parents start preparing now
to get their 2009 taxes done as early as possible, and file the PFS by February
1, 2010. As long as your PFS is filed
by February 1, 2010 and the copy of your complete 2009 tax return is received
by SSS by February 22, 2010, your
application will be considered for the first round of financial aid awards (the
round in which the bulk of our financial aid budget is awarded). If you are
divorced, separated or never married, please be aware that each parent must
file a separate PFS and each parent must mail in a copy of his or her complete
2009 tax return to SSS. Please contact Rima in the Business Office at x 308 if
you have any questions.
Save the Date for our
upcoming Town Hall Meeting Tuesday, Feb. 9th at 7:00pm - Information will be
given on our Strategic Plan, tuition levels for 2010-11, and the partnership of
home and school in meeting the needs of children and families. In order to provide childcare that evening we
must have a minimum number of sign-ups so please sign up for it no later than
January 27th so we can plan our staffing.
|
GPA NEWS
by Sheri Corona, GPA President sheric2000@yahoo.com
Staff Treat Day - Next
Thursday, Jan. 21st.
If you are a 2nd, 5th, or 8th grade family,
please help us WOW our wonderful teachers and staff and show our ongoing
appreciation to them by contributing to the reception. Please drop off
your "treats" either in the lobby or upstairs in the Teachers
Lounge by 8:45am next Thursday. Get those winter time creative
juices flowing, as any items are sincerely appreciated. Some ideas
include: fruit salad or fruit trays, bagels and spreads, quiche, baked
treats, yogurts, sliced meats and cheeses, rolls/breads, sushi tray, veggie
tray, pasta salad, green salad, cookie tray, drinks. Contact
your room parent for sign up information.
Auction Gala - remember it is earlier this year,
Saturday, February 6th! Get
your reservations now.
Gateway's 2010 Family
Science Night February 24th 5:30 - 7:30pm. Our Family Science Night event was established to support
and provide encouragement for Gateway students participating in our County
Science Fair competition. The students'
Science Fair entries are put on display for family and friends to admire during
an evening visit to Gateway. From this
basic premise grew an opportunity for parents to share a special expertise,
hobby, or science interest with our students by leading a science project
session during the evening event. All
parents are invited to participate! The
most important requirement for a Science Night project is for it to be a
hands-on experience that can be done with a group of 8 to 10 budding scientists
in about one hour. Projects are grouped
into K-4 and 5-8 age ranges and there are two sessions conducted per project
during the evening.
If you wish to lead a project or help with this event,
please contact me by email or phone.
Please contact George Delli-Santi, Family Science Chair, if you are
interested in helping out! Email george.den11@gmail.com or phone (408)
338-9011 (day) / (831) 461-0885 (evening).
New Leaf e-Cards - New Leaf will donate 5% back to
our school with the use of their e-card system.
We need to ensure a minimum monthly purchase of e-cards in order to
participate, so if you shop at New Leaf, please sign up for a monthly e-card in the Main Office (you can even charge it to your monthly Gateway bill). Contact parents
Jeannie Wholey at 423-6033 or wholey@sbcglobal.net or Naomi Bendiner-Woldemar at naomi.devi@gmail.com with any questions. |
DEVELOPMENT NEWS by Meg Corman-Hall, Director of Development & Communications
meg.corman-hall@gatewaysc.org
Tickets are on sale now for our Annual Fundraiser, Gateway School's "Garden of Dreams"
Auction Gala Saturday Feb. 6th at the Dream Inn. Invitations were mailed out last week. If you did not receive and invitation please
contact Kristin Smith at 423-0341 x332.
NEW this year: our "Garden of Dreams" on-line auction will run from February 24th to March 10th. We are still collecting wonderful
donations for the on-online auction. A
donation form was sent home in the K-5 Wednesday envelopes this week. If you have a business, service or item to
donate, please fill out the form and return it to the Main Office next week or contact
Kristin Smith in the Development Office at ext. 332 or kristin.smith@gatewaysc.org. We need to get all auction items in by the
end of next week! A great benefit of our
auction being on-line is that businesses giving donations will have their
website link with the donations. This is
a great marketing opportunity!
Alumni - We welcomed back about 20 alumni at
our Winter Alumni Gathering right after Winter Break which gave Percy an
opportunity to meet some of our alumni who are in high school and college. |
 ADMISSIONS NEWS by Colleen Sullivan, Admissions Director
colleen.sullivan@gatewaysc.org
If you have
friends or neighbors who are investigating school options for their children,
encourage them to attend our February Open Houses to learn more about our
school or simply have them contact Colleen Sullivan at ext. 302 or colleen.sullivan@gatewaysc.org.
UPCOMING
OPEN HOUSE
Wednesday,
February 10th, 9-11am
A big thank you to our parent
tour guides who gave tours at the December and January Open Houses: Ilene Morrison, Anne Rowley, Sally Fauske,
Laura Lucas, Maria Gaura, Molly Slete, Sheryl Cowen, Sally
Fauske, Laura Lucas & Shannon Hersey.
They are passionate, articulate ambassadors for our school. (If you would be interested in becoming one of
our wonderful tour guides, call Colleen in the Admissions Office.)
Kindergarten Information Night, Thursday February 18th,
6:30 pm.
|
|
OUR VOICES CARRY
Each month,
our faculty would like to give you a glimpse of the kinds of ideas we are
discussing with your children regarding our new Character Education program,
Voices. The Voices program is built
around six foundational themes - Identity Awareness, Perspective Taking,
Conflict Resolution, Social Awareness, Love and Friendship, & Freedom and
Democracy - that address important aspects of emotional development and their
impact on the individual, our community and society as a whole. The themes
include developmentally appropriate reading, discussions, and project-based
activities that take place in the classroom over a six-week period.
On December
7th, we began discussing the theme Conflict Resolution with students. Our teachers have been teaching students to
consider the points of view of others involved in a conflict and helping them
learn the signs of conflict escalation and how to de-escalate conflicts.
In our
kindergarten classes, we are working on understanding how to share and get
along with others. We have been teaching
them ways to address conflicts by using the A, B, & C's of conflict
resolution - Ask, Brainstorm, & Choose.
The teachers and students begin by working on identifying when a
conflict is beginning to escalate (Ask).
The next step is to understand that there are different ways to solve
conflicts, (Brainstorm). Next, we look
at the possible solutions and Choose one that will help to de-escalate the
conflict. We often have to try multiple
solutions to discover which ones are effective which ones are not.
In class,
the kindergartners discuss problems and conflicts that have occurred through
the use of puppets, role plays and literature, and we reflect on which
problem-solving techniques have worked well.
Students often go home and discuss a problem that they are having at
school, but usually they will only see it from their own perspective. It is helpful for them to be encouraged to
think about the other person's thoughts and feelings, and asking open-ended
questions like "Why do you think he/she said or did that?" can help them to
understand the two-way nature of conflict.
The ability to take another's perspective is a very important part of
being able to solve problems and develop and maintain relationships. Helping your child to reflect on their own
actions and the consequences they had can support them to think about other
possible choices the next time that a conflict arises.
Although
this is strategy is meant for students in the early primary grades, there are
ways to adapt them to older students and adults. We encourage you to send feedback to your
child's teachers about your conversations.
|
|
TEACHER PROFILE
Sherri Helvie, 8th Grade Core
1.
Where were you born? In the Azores Islands, on the island of Terceira;
my parents were in the Air Force, and they were stationed there until I was six
weeks old.
2.
Where did you attend college? What did you study in college? I earned my B.A. in English with a minor in Women's Studies
at the University of Nevada, Reno; my M.A.
in English with a minor in Classical Greek at the University
of Nebraska, Lincoln;
and my Ph.D. in Literature with a degree notation in Women's Studies at the University of California,
Santa Cruz.
3.
What are your hobbies? Reading, gardening, walking, and following
politics like a fiend.
4.
Who was your favorite (elementary or middle school) teacher? Why? My favorite elementary school
teacher was Ms. Griffith; she was my fourth-grade teacher in Fairbanks, Alaska.
She taught me to always ask why we did things in particular ways, which I now
know is the foundation for critical thinking.
It also helped that my parents did not like this new-found perspective
that Ms. Griffith was helping me to cultivate, so it made me admire her even
more!
5.
What do you like most about teaching at Gateway? I really appreciate the good will and commitment to
collaboration amongst the faculty and staff. As a new faculty member, I have
benefited enormously from my colleagues, all of whom have been so generous with
their time. I have had countless
conversations, both formal and informal, in which my colleagues have answered
my myriad questions about the Gateway curriculum, and the ways in which I can
best teach individual students.
6.
What project or lesson that you assign Gateway School are you most proud of? Why? I'm sure most people would agree that middle-school students
love argument and debate, so I try to incorporate those elements whenever I
can. It was exciting to see them frame
and articulate compelling arguments in their "The Loyalist Meets the Patriot"
class debate, especially because students had to attend to the details of
effective oratory, rather than focusing solely on their personal perspectives
on the Revolutionary War.
7.
What project or lesson excites your students the most? Why/how? Because I began my teaching career in the college classroom,
my preference is always for the lesson that's based on the seminar model: and I find that students really enjoy it,
too. At least twice a week, we begin class with a journal entry that calls on
students to reflect critically on our primary literary text, and their written
work becomes the basis for our class discussion. Our small class sizes at Gateway ensure that
every student can be heard in every class session, which appeals both to my
sense of egalitarianism, as well as to my desire to quickly identify areas in
which individual students need extra support-whether they need to catch up, or
to accelerate.
8.
How would your students describe your personality in class? Even-tempered, interested in what they have to say, and
punctuated with a wry sense of humor.
9.
What is your favorite tradition at Gateway and why? I have yet to experience all of them, but I'm really excited
about the trip to Washington
D.C. I think it's an amazing opportunity for the
students to visit the capital within the context of U.S. History that we spend
all year studying. It's one thing to
read, write, and do research about our historical landmarks, leaders, and
defining debates; it's quite another to be right in the middle of it.
10.
Describe something about yourself that no one (until now) knows about you?
I first went to college on a full-ride music scholarship. I was a trumpet player, and was scouted by
the music director from the University
of Nevada when he visited my high
school in Fairbanks, Alaska.
I was happy to move to a place where the winter temperatures didn't dip
well below zero!
|
|
Parent Resources
Parent Education Network 2009-10
Speaker Series: Where is the Manual for Recess? Helping Children Learn to Navigate the Social
Demands of Recess and Free Time. Friday, January 22, 2010 9-11am at The Exploratorium in San Francisco, with
Dominique Baudry, MS, Ed. And Jahna
Pahl, MA. This seminar is designed to help parents
learn concrete strategies to ease some of the social anxiety of children and
teenagers. Dominique Baudry and Jahna
Pahl will discuss social learning groups and the role they can play in helping
a child develop and expand their tools for handling social situations. For more information, visit www.parentseducationnetwork.org.
|
|
Classifieds
Send your free classified ads (maximum 50 words) to kristin.smith@gatewaysc.org or put them in the Development mailbox in the Main Office. Submissions should be received by the first Monday of the month to be included in that month's issue.
Aux Trois Pommes Language School - Gateway
Parent Raymond Samaha is starting a foreign language school in Santa Cruz for children and adults. Languages include French, Spanish, Italian,
German, Russian, Portuguese, Mandarin, Japanese and Arabic. Classes begin January 18th. Visit Aux Trois Pommes www.aux3pommes-ca.com for more
information.
|
|
|
|
|
