| Campus Happenings | 
Zochipilli Ballet Folklorico dancers performed today in celebration of Cinco de Mayo.
Some students were taught traditional dancing techniques.
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GPA All Parent Meeting was held this week to discuss new officers and events planned for next year.
2009-2010 Student Council leaders with Percy, Ana and Merle.
Speeches and elections were held this week for next year's student council.
5th graders on their overnight field trip to Marin Headlands.
5th Graders in Marin Headlands.
2nd graders harvested vegetables in the rain for their Peter Rabbit Salad Luncheon.
2nd graders with display their hard work!
Gateway parents and faculty enjoyed the GPA sponsored wine tasting event at Bonny Doon Tasting Room last week.
Kindergarteners enjoyed their Salad Luncheon with parents in Life Lab.
2nd and 5th Grade buddy classes cleaned up trash near the Lighthouse near the Lighthouse on Earth Day.
Kindergarten and 4th Grade buddy classes cleaned up Lighthouse Field on Earth Day.
Gateway students at the Earth Day Festival in San Lorenzo Park.
3rd graders having fun outside. Brain research underscores the important relationship of physical activity to learning.
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| 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. |
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FROM THE HEAD'S DESK 
by Percy L. Abram, PhD, Head of School
Dear Parents,
After a comprehensive and exhaustive national search,
we are pleased to announce the hiring of LeighAnn Work as our new 7th
and 8th grade science teacher. We received scores of inquiries for the positions and were able to
narrow our search down to five qualified and talented finalists. We brought each of the finalists to campus to
teach a demonstration lesson and to interview with teachers, administrators,
and students. After considerable
deliberation LeighAnn emerged as a consensus choice among the Middle School
faculty, and we are pleased to welcome her to the Gateway School
community.
LeighAnn's passion for science, love for and
understanding of adolescents, clear and articulate educational philosophy, and
demonstrable work ethic impressed the faculty, students and administration. LeighAnn joins Gateway School
from Half Moon Bay High School where she has taught Earth and Life Sciences for
seven years and serves as the Chair of the Science Department. LeighAnn is also a member of HMB High
School's Academic Council; a role in which she
collaborates with her colleagues to derive and assess school-wide and
departmental goals. LeighAnn has
extensive experience with curriculum development and integration. She has worked as a Research Assistant in Peru collecting
data on the Scarlet Macaw, and as a field coordinator for the United States
Forest Service surveying near-shore waters for threatened birds. She is excited to bring her classroom and
scientific experience to bear in her work with our students. LeighAnn holds a B.S. in Ecology from
Evergreen State College (Olympia,
WA) and M.A. in Education from
UCSC. LeighAnn is an avid runner and enjoys her treks along West Cliff Drive.
LeighAnn lives in Santa
Cruz and is excited to spend less time in the car
commuting. LeighAnn may be on campus
this spring working with our science teachers, so if you see her, please
welcome her to the community.
I'd like to thank Sheri Corona for serving as our GPA President this year. The GPA is a crucial part of our school community and Sheri has been a dedicated and flexible leader throughout the year (and kept her sense of humor as well). Thank you, Sheri!
Warm regards,
Percy
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SCHOOL LIFE 
UPCOMING
May
7th 6th
& 7th Grade Parent
Coffee, 8:30 - 9:30am
May
7th Life
Lab Mother's Day Plant
Sale
- Fri & all next week
3:00 -
5:00pm
May
7th Bat
Night for Kids
(2011 8th grade fundraiser)
Seymour Center, 7pm
May
8th Middle
School Dance
7-10pm
May
11th Spirit
Day - Crazy Glasses Day
May
11th 5th
Grade Parent Meeting -
Orientation to Middle School
6:30pm
May
13th Bike
to School Day
May
14th Book
Exchange Day
May
14th Art
Tour Reception &
Open House, West
Cliff Room
5:30 -
7:30pm
Student
Council Elections: Congratulations to our new 2010-2011 Student
Council Officers!
8th Grade
President - Ben Hurvitz
7th
Grade President - Colby Morrison
Event Coordinators - Kate Whitley & Emily Love
Secretary - Daphne LaRiviere
Reminder: SCHOOL ½ DAY on
MAY 18th - School will be dismissed at
12:00pm on Tuesday May 18th because the Amgen Bike Tour is coming by on West
Cliff. We have been told that due to
congestion caused by street closures and out of town race spectators that the
west-side is likely to be in grid-lock at regular pick-up time. Aftercare will
be available until 5:30pm - please sign up in the Main Office.
Annual Mother's Day and
May Life Lab Plant sale starts May 7th, 3-5pm! Funds generated will benefit our Life Lab Science
program. The event will be held after school
May 7th, and May 11th-14th (Tuesday through Friday) from 3:00-5:00,
in our Life Lab garden classroom. Student volunteers will be selling plants
that they and other students have grown during Life Lab classes.
Various
grade levels have propagated plants that correspond to the theme gardens they
are growing in their spring gardens in Life Lab. For example the following will
be for sale:
Sunflowers, gourds, popcorn, (K)
3 sisters garden - corn, beans and pumpkins, (1st
grade)
Salsa gardens, (2nd grade)
Potato pots, spaghetti squash, pesto, tomato sauce
gardens, (3rd grade)
Salad bowls of baby greens, pesto, and tomato sauce
pizza gardens(4th grade)
Mother's Day Strawberry pots (5th grade)
Perennials
such as strawberries, raspberries, iris', day lilies, spider plants,
succulents, and mints were propagated by (5th graders) during a class on
adaptations and plant reproductive strategies. The middle school elective's herbal preparations, such as lip balm and salve,
will be available, as well as garden statuary, stepping stones and other
fanciful garden art made by 4th and 5th graders. Contact Caprice for more
information, caprice.potter@gatewaysc.org.
2nd Grade
Animal Masks on display at Twist in downtown Santa Cruz. Come
see Patricia and Cathy's second grade classes' native California animal masks at a cupcake art
show reception Friday May 7th from 4:30-7:00pm. Masks will be on display for the whole month,
so feel free to drop by any time after that to see their great work! Twist is located at 1364 Pacific Avenue in downtown Santa Cruz. Also, photo books of children with their masks are available for purchase for $25 each (see Cathy or Patricia if you are interested in purchasing one).
Bat Night for Kids - Class
of 2011 8th Grade Washington
DC Trip Fundraiser, Friday, May 7th at the Long
Marine Lab/Seymour Center from 7-9pm. Dinner & Beverages will be available for purchase beginning at
7pm. Local bat experts and Gateway
parents Winifred Frick and Paul Heady will talk about the natural history of
bats and lead an interpretive walk at sunset to watch and listen for local
bats. Admission is $5/children, $10/adults, or $20 per family. For more info, see the Wednesday Flier. Tickets are available for purchase in the
Main Office.
Book Exchange Day Friday May 14th - We will be having a Book Exchange Day on Friday, May
14. The Student Library Club is organizing this day as part of their
Promise and Renewal pledge. Can parents and students bring books for this event
upstairs and place them in the boxes on the black cabinets across from the
library or in the area across from Patricia's class from Monday, May 10 through May 13.
Please donate only children's books. This is a good time to go through
your children's books and bring them to Gateway School
for other students to enjoy.
Reminder: Spring Concert performances May 22nd at 2:30 and 4:30pm. Check the school calendar to see which time your
student's class is performing.
Earth Day Beach Clean Up Results - Gateway students collected approximately 65
pounds of trash and 35 pounds of recycle from different sites around Westcliff,
Lighthouse Field, and campus. Thank you
to Save Our Shores for organizing this beach clean up day, and thank you to all
of our students and parents for making this community service effort such a
success!
The Bookshop Santa Cruz
Benefit Day for Gateway
School was a success! Thank you to Casey Coonerty at Bookshop
Santa Cruz
for organizing our event and to Angela Chesnut for her suggestion to
participate in this new program. A special
thank you goes to all the families who purchased books for themselves
and for
Gateway classrooms. The school earned a gift card for $192 based on 15%
of
about $1300 of purchases on our benefit day, which we will use to
purchase
around 15-25 new books! In addition, our
families donated 12 books to the school from the wish list. Thank you
for
supporting our library program and Bookshop Santa Cruz!
Afterschool Mandarin Cass will
be
offered Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:15 - 4:00, for 2 and 3rd graders
(older
children who are interested see Rosemary).
Register Now for Summer
Program!Specialty classes are starting to fill up! Learn more and register online at http://www.gatewaysc.org/school_life/summer.html.
Important Notice About 2010-2011
Tuition Payments: If you have enrolled your child for the
2010-2011 school year, and if
you chose to pay your child's 2010-2011 tuition on
the Annual or Semi-Annual payment
plan, your Annual or Semi-Annual payment is due by the close of
business
(5:00 pm) on Friday, May 28th. We recommend
that families start
making arrangements for their Annual or Semi-Annual payments now so that
the
required funds are sure to be available by May 28th. This charge
for your tuition payment will appear on the 4/30/10 billing
statement that will mailed or emailed to you today. If you
opted to pay Annual or Semi-Annual tuition in cash or by check, no late
fees
will accrue on this tuition charge as long as your payment arrives in
the Main
Office by 5:00 p.m. on May 28th. If, however, your payment arrives
after this time, a late
charge of $20 will immediately accrue to your account and your child's
enrollment in the School for 2010-2011 may be jeopardized. Parents who
chose to pay Annual Tuition
by Visa or Mastercard charge should already have their Credit Card
Purchase
Authorization forms on file in the Business Office. We
will charge tuition to your credit
card on May 28th. If, for any
reason, your credit card company rejects this charge on May 28th, a late
charge
of $20 will immediately accrue to your account, and your child's
enrollment in
the School for 2010-2011 may be jeopardized. Please
contact Rima in the Business
Office at x 308 if you have any questions.
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GPA NEWS
by Sheri Corona, GPA President sheric2000@yahoo.com
We
held our final all parent meeting yesterday morning and Percy gave an update on
recent school issues and activities. We thanked outgoing GPA leaders for their
service this year, including Andrea Hultzen, Arlene Cook, Sheryl Cowen and
Jeannie Wholey. George Delli-Santi has
agreed to be President next year and I will continue in the Vice President role
assisting George throughout the year.
Other positions including Treasurer, Secretary, and Events/volunteer
coordinator are still being recruited for. If you have any interest in helping
us lead the GPA please contact me at sheric2000@yahoo.com or George at
gdellisanti@arthrocare.com. I have
learned a great deal about the school and met so many interesting and talented
parents in our community by serving on the GPA leadership team and I encourage
others to consider this level of involvement.
Next
week we hold a reception to kick-off our annual Art Tour. Join us
Friday evening May 14th 5:30 - 7:30 to celebrate our student artists.
Contact Jeannie Wholey wholey@sbcglobal.net
if you would like to help with the reception.
Our
annual Staff Appreciation Luncheon date has changed to Thursday June
3rd. Akemi Chee is coordinating the event for GPA, so please contact her if
you would like to help, lasirena@pacbell.net.
Thank
you to Naomi Bendiner for coordinating the GPA Bonny Doon tasting event last
week. Everyone who came had a great time and we plan to do it again next year!
Our
GPA gift to the school this year is a Smart Board for the Middle School
program. We are excited to be able to donate this technology to enhance our
Middle School program.
Thanks to all the
parents who have helped enrich our school this year through supporting our GPA
activities. The depth of parent involvement in the life of the school is part
of what makes Gateway such a wonderful school community. Enjoy our busy month
of May! |
 ADMISSIONS NEWS by Colleen Sullivan, Admissions Director
colleen.sullivan@gatewaysc.org
Gateway Host Families Needed- The 2010-2011 Host Family Program pairs
new families with current Gateway families to act as ambassadors throughout the
year. If you would be interested in being a Host Family, please contact Host
Family volunteer coordinator, Naomi Bendiner Woldemar at naomi.devi@gmail.com.
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DEVELOPMENT NEWS
 by Meg Corman-Hall,
Director of Development and Communications
meg.corman-hall@gatewaysc.org
Thank you to everyone in
our community who has participated in our Development efforts this
year. The money raised this year has ensured your children experienced a
broad, deep, and enriched program from our creative and talented
faculty. We are in our last phase of fundraising this spring which is
the tradition of our 8th grade families making donations to our
Endowment Fund as their child graduates from our school. We thank the
Class of 2010 families for supporting the school in this way to ensure
Gateway education is available in the future.
We have established a 40th Anniversary
Committee to coordinate activities celebrating our 40th year of
providing education in Santa Cruz! Committee members include: Virginia
Ganley, Jane Henry, Karen Hovekamp, Christina Falco, Angela Chesnut,
Anne Rowley, Percy, and myself. We are looking for additional help on
the Committee, so please contact Virginia Ganley at virginiag@cruzio.com if you would like
to be a part of planning our 40th celebrations.
There are two events being
planned so far, with others being formulated. Mark your calenders for Saturday October 2ndwhich will be a school community reception (for adults) at the Everett
's Family Farm. Former Heads of School, former faculty as well as alumni
parents are invited to join current parents and faculty as we mark this
special occasion and take a look forward to our next 40 years.
Additionally we are in the
process of securing a nationally known, informative and
captivating speaker on brain research to give an evening presentation
followed by a teacher's workshop (for both public and independent school teachers)
the next day, in February or early March 2011.
We're very excited about being able to bring a well known researcher to
the Santa Cruz community.
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PARENT RESOURCES
Reinforce your Child's
Learning over the summer!
Summer Review Workbooks
available for sale at Gateway after May 7 for $15
each. Contact Joan Saia (Ext 315) or joan.saia@gatewaysc.org
Summer Skills
Strengthening Skills.
Cultivating Confidence.
Summer Math Skills Sharpener
Books:
Kindergarten through 5th grade (Workbooks for 6th, Pre-algebra,
and Algebra I are also available and can be ordered).
Each lesson gives students practice in a mix of
skills.
Answer key, solutions for each problem (4th grade and
up), and tutorial "Help Pages" are included.
Summer Language Arts Review:
Lessons review mixed skills including reading,
writing, phonics, punctuation, grammar and more.
Kindergarten through 5th available now (6th and 7th
and High School Language Arts Prep is also
available and can be ordered).
Foreign
Language Review:
Spanish I Review for Middle School (can be ordered if
you want).
Spanish II Review for High
School (can be ordered).
Each book provides enough
pages so that students can refresh their skills 3 times per week (10-20 minutes
per page is usually sufficient) for 10 weeks.
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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. This information is provided as a service to parents and faculty.
Gateway is not endorsing or making representations about the quality of
these classified services.
Does anyone have a
good nanny recommendation? Family with twin newborns
looking for a few qualified people for infant care, also childcare for
seven year old. Please contact Denise at higgins999@mac.com |
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