May 2010 Old Mill Creek

Published by the
Old Mill School PTA

In this issue...

Grist for the Mill

Farewells and Appreciations

Volunteer and Teacher Appreciation Lunch

Spruce It Up Day Appreciations

Psychologically Speaking

It Takes a Village

Mill Valley Public Library News

May - June Calendar

Monday May 24 6:00-7:00pm
    Old Mill School Modernization -
     Public Input Meeting
    District Office

Wednesday May 26 11:45-12:45
   Volunteer/Teacher Appreciation         Lunch
   Old Mill Auditorium

Wednesday May 26 5:30pm
   School District Board Meeting
   MVMS Library

Friday May 28
    Tropical Day
    Old Mill School

Monday May 31
    Memorial Day Holiday
    No School

Wednesday June 2
    Almost New Book Faire
    Old Mill Courtyard

Tuesday June 15 6:00pm
    School District Board Meeting
    MVMS Library

Wednesday June 16
    Last Day of School
    12:45 dismissal

Every Wednesday 8:30am
  Coffee Cart
  Old Mill Courtyard

The Old Mill Creek

May
2010

Dear Treasured Old Mill Community,

It is with utmost appreciation that I write my last Old Mill Creek President's Letter. After seven years at Old Mill, I continue to be amazed each Spring. From the extraordinary growth from Kindergarten to First grade, from Graduating 5th graders embarking to Middle School, Old Mill is an incredible place of learning and enlightenment. As we recognized this past week, we owe our ultimate thanks to each of our teachers, the staff and principal of our school, but as the head of the PTA, I want to continue to recognize what each and every one of you as parents, volunteers and friends have to done to make this all possible. It is difficult to name all of the names (although we're going to try with our amazing Spruce It Up volunteers!) but know that each and every one of you are an integral part of what takes place at Old Mill. We hope that you will all join us on Wed May 26th at our Volunteer and Teacher Appreciation lunch so we can show our Thanks!

At this point I want to personally thank (as you should as well!) Ingrid Tolson for being a perfect PTA Co-President this year. Ingrid jumped on board last Spring, as we do, to help prepare this year's budget, calendar, and together, we executed all of the PTA activities of the year. We couldn't have done what we did without her. Her constant smile, her willingness to always say "yes" to help, her detailed analysis of challenges that were presented, and her clever ideas for solving problems, were greatly appreciated; but most important is her kindness and her gentle way she gets things done. Ingrid will be a fantastic leader for Old Mill next year. Thank You Ingrid for taking this on!

As we're thanking, THANK you for all of your donations to Kiddo! and for everyone's efforts to make our 2010 Donation Day successful. Please continue to send in your donations and pledges, so Kiddo! can commit over $2 million to the District for next year's art, dance, music and technology programs; classroom aides and library aides. A perfect example of Kiddo's efforts was our amazing Old Mill Art Show with special thanks to Laura Diecks, Stephanie Alamin, Jackie La Lanne and Katie Mostert, who put in hours and hours of work to make this possible. What a truly remarkable representation of student work from Kindergarten to 5th grade!

We all know that these last five weeks are filled with many activities; write down all the dates and try to enjoy everything that's happening. Be sure to appreciate how far your children have progressed and please continue to appreciate all the people that are around you that make this exceptional education possible. Two central figures in this endeavor have been, for over 40 years!, Linda Tanguay who retires as our beloved 5th grade teacher; and Jane McDonough, our fearless leader! Stay tuned for many tributes to these ultimate of educators for our children and for so many others.

With many thanks,

Deborah Goldman
with constant support from Ingrid Tolson

Drop Don't Stop Schedule

May 17-21

May 24-28

June 1-4

June 7-11

June 14-16

Room 4

Room 3

Room 15

Room 14

Committee

Useful Links

Old Mill School website:
www.oldmillschool.org

Mill Valley School District website:
www.mvschools.org

Kiddo! website:
kiddo.org

It Takes a Village website:
www.itavmv.org/

Creek Deadlines and Publication Dates

All dates are Tuesdays:

Deadline Publication Date
Tuesday prior 3rd Tuesday of each month

Please submit content for consideration to Nicole Taylor at nicole@advantisglobal.com on or before the deadline date. Thank you.

PTA Executive Board

Co-Presidents
Deborah Goldman
dmfreed@aol.com

Ingrid Tolson
ingrid_tolson@me.com

VP Communications
Nicole Taylor
nicole@ascendquality.com

VP Events
Maggie Woodward
mywoodward@yahoo.com

VP Programs
Mary Stervinou
mstervinou@comcast.net

VP Fundraising
Chris Hill
mackiemackco@comcast.net

VP Fundraising (Lunch Program)
Molly Mercy
molly@foursquareinc.net

Auditor
Karen Meezan
kmeezan@comcast.net

Parliamentarian
Cynthia Samson
cynthiasamson@sbcglobal.net

Secretary
Sarah McNeil
srmcneil@pacbell.net

Treasurer
Sue Weinswig
weinswig@gmail.com

Financial Secretary
Lisa Preger
lpreger@comcast.net

Administrative Rep.
Jane McDonough
jmcdonough@mvschools.org

Faculty Rep.
Linda Tanguay
ltanguay@mvschools.org

Faculty Rep.
Laura Shearer
lshearer@mvschools.org

Kiddo! Rep.
Stephanie Alamin
scalamin@aol.com

Historian
Leanne hansen
leannehansen@sbcglobal.net

Grist

Wrap up!
From Jane McDonough, Principal
May, 2010

Well you can never say you're bored in May! There is so much going on it seems best to take it one day at a time and not think too much about how fast the train is moving.

BIG NEWS! For starters this is my opportunity to mention the important news that Linda Tanguay has announced her retirement after so many years of service to the Mill Valley School District. Linda is, as most of you know, a mainstay to the school, having instituted many traditions and served in many roles over the years. As PTA liaison and Student Council advisor, as well as with Tam Buddies and many other special programs, Linda always shows an interest and commitment to the school community as a whole, in addition to her extraordinary commitment to her own classroom students and their families over the years. She has touched so many lives in so many wonderful ways! We will be celebrating her wonderful career in the weeks that come, but please make sure you remind those ex-students of hers that you know are out and about to send her a note on this auspicious occasion! Congratulations from everyone, Linda!

Marina Gamel has stepped forward to assume the fifth grade position, and our third grade classes will be changed from three groups to two groups with Ms. Dowell and Mr. Selix in Rooms 6 and 7. This changes Old Mill from 14 to 13 classrooms for the 10-11 school year, and is part of the complete budget adjustments that the district is making in light of the cuts we have heard so much about. Remember if you wish to have good and current information on the district budget you can locate it here: http://www.mvschools.org/news/finance/default.htm

FACILITIES COMMITTEE work has continued in order to develop plans for the Old Mill Campus remodel and upgrades (a result of Measure A Bonds) which are scheduled to occur in the summer of 10-11. If you wish to be kept up to date or want to look at drawings or other renderings of this planning work you can find it here: http://www.vpcsonline.com/mvsd/

The site based committee, which includes Marina Gamel, Molly Bass, Kim Sugrue and Kristin Flynn as well as myself and the members of the architectural firm and construction managers, meets with faculty this week (19th) and another public meeting is scheduled at the District Office related to our project at 6 pm May 24. If you wish to be brought up to speed on where we are in terms of plans for the front/side of the school building, the lower wing classrooms etc. be there!

SITE COUNCIL is concluding its business year in the next month and one of our last duties is to conduct our annual election for 2 parent representatives. If you are interested in becoming part of Site Councilyou may wish to contact the current chair, Dawn Dobras, or me about the nature of the work. A ballot will be circulated at Open House again this year, so if you are interested please let me know as soon as possible but no later than May 28!

DAY OF THE TEACHER was May 12 in our district and we all thank you for the lovely personal things that students did and made for their beloved teachers. It is such a great lift to teachers to receive this recognition and notice of their vital work!

CHARACTER ED is so important to all of us and we are very proud of those students who took the challenge to help illustrate the concepts we are emphasizing district wide - and about which our counselor Claudia Trinklein-Engman has written so eloquently- and below are the winners of the school wide student council sponsored poster contest. You can see ALL the entries of the brave 50 contestants in the main hallway just on the left before Room 4.

Honesty -Avery Grant
Respect -Taylor Burck and Alix Head
Responsibility - Grace Weinswig and Meya Saenz Zagar
Compassion- MacKenzie Bell and Amelia Einhorn
Community Service - Mahren Hudson and Gabriel Tolson
Creating community- Anne Schulze and Sarah Fingerhood

LASTLY, A BRIEF FAREWELL TO THE OLD MILL COMMUNITY:

Thank you for everything! It has been the most wonderful honor to be your principal for the last five years, and I look forward to retirement and reflection, bringing with me the warm glow of your friendship and support throughout my years here. The children, families and community of Mill Valley are all unique and have shown me the excellence that can be the world of elementary school when everything and everyone is focused on doing the right thing for kids. I will miss you all fiercely, and I will look back on my time at Old Mill as the best of years. Old Mill School really does Rock!

Love,
Jane

Farewells and Appreciations
Tree clipart

The PTA would like to take a moment to recognize some very special people who are leaving their positions this year:

Deborah Goldman
The PTA wants to thank you for your unwavering commitment to the betterment of our schools. Your ongoing service to Old Mill and the district at large is tremendous, and we feel privileged to have had you as our PTA president over this last year. Thank you for your endless hours, boundless energy, and amazing ability to get the job done. We are happy to know we will still be seeing a lot of you!

Linda Tanguay
I'm not sure there is anyone involved with Old Mill today who could possibly summarize the things you have accomplished and ways you have given to our kids over your 40 years!! Your commitment to Mill Valley schools has been inspiring, and you have affected the lives of countless students and their families. You are a legend and we will miss your presence in our PTA meetings, school hallways, and our lives. Enjoy your retirement - we'll be seeing you!

Jane McDonough
Where to begin?? You have brought calmness, order, respect, and inspiration to our school. How do you manage to get so much done and still bring such a zen quality to the job?!? You inspire us time and again with your can-do attitude to every project, your approachability, your happy face, and your human kindness. There is so much more to say. We'll miss you!!!

Volunteer and Teacher Appreciation Lunch
Wednesday May 26
11:45-12:45
Old Mill Auditorium

Potluck

This last Appreciation Lunch of the year is to honor our extraordinary teachers for their caring dedication to teaching our kids throughout the years, and also to appreciate our fabulous parent volunteers who tackle jobs large and small that make a world of difference in the quality of the education our kids receive at our wonderful school.

Please come enjoy this lunch that is for YOU - our wonderful volunteers!

There are some very special honorees this year, so don't miss it!!

- - -

It is an Old Mill tradition for the teachers to bring desserts to this luncheon,
so please bring
a dish of your choice - entree, salad, or appetizer to share.

1st Annual Old Mill School

"Spruce It Up" Day
was a HUGE success!!

Old Mill School and the Spruce it Up! Committee would like to thank all of you who came & helped "spruce" up the school. The campaign launched on Earth Day with students, teachers & parents working all around the campus. On Saturday, April 24th the school was a bevy of activity with approximately 100 volunteersdigging, planting, washing & painting. Everyone worked hard but managed to have fun along the way.

We hope you recognize the improvements & urge everyone to maintain our beautiful campus throughout the year. Most importantly we want to extend our gratitude to the following people for making this event so successful - we hope to see each you at our next Spruce Day!

The Spruce Team - Kristin Flynn, Victoria EInhorn, Cindi Frame, Hope Timberlake , Kim Sugrue

Leads:

Lynn Frazier
Stephanie Alamin
Julie Althoff
Jean Bolte
Brian & Laura Diecks
Danielle Hirsch

(Thank you Danielle for your professional color selection and for
facilitating the Dutch Boy paint donation!)

Kylee Kuhn
Megan Pheif
Lisa Polakis
Kara Roche
Cynthia Samson
Laura Stone
Jenny Terry

and
Steve Cuvin

A HUGE and special thanks to Steve of Bay Heritage Painting (415-609-2678)
for donating his time and supplies to get our painting projects done!

THANKS to each and every one of you!

Psychologically Speaking

The Importance of Kindness and Compassion

By Claudia Trinklein-Engman, District Counselor
May, 2010

This is the last in our series of articles suggesting how parents can support the schools' efforts to promote character education.

Respect and tolerance for others as well as the development of personal responsibility and integrity are necessary components of any striving environment. Within and outside of our classroom communities, these values have become a vital part of the curriculum. Over the year, we have offered to our children, step by step, the building blocks towards fostering the development of a respectful and socially conscious young person.

It is important that our youngsters understand the meaning of respect, tolerance, honesty, integrity and personal responsibility. But learning abstract definitions does not in and of itself build the compassion and the kindness that we adults understand is so important in building solid character. So, what comes next and how can we help our kids to do the right thing?

For beginners, we need to talk and model actively for our children what is necessary in order to demonstrate that we TRULY understand the feelings of others. For example, It is certainly a social grace to say "I'm sorry" if a mistake or wrong has occurred. But we cannot just leave it at that. I have a game that I often play with kids of all ages about what do you do and/or say if a mistake has been made. They have all been taught to say that they are sorry. But some children either have not been encouraged to take the next step or are reluctant to do so. If a young child spills her milk, she needs to be shown and taught that after the apology, it goes without saying that she should help clean up her mess, in part because it's the right thing to do, but also because there is the strong likelihood that an adult could be upset.

A sixth grader the other day had been reported to one of her teachers as being rude and mean to another child. The accused youngster wrote a letter, but somehow felt that that simply was not enough. So, the next day, she made a point to include the other student in an outside game. I asked the accused student how that felt to her and her response was: " I needed to do something to try to make it right. Just saying that I was sorry seemed so lame." I was enormously proud of her consciousness. She knew on some intuitive level that she had to SHOW her peer that she understood as well as understanding what needed to be done. Although she had shown poor social judgment, she not only took personal responsibility for her actions but took the Next Step.

Being kind and compassionate also means to express gratitude when someone demonstrates kindness to you. It doesn't necessary need to be a "thank you." It can be an appreciation and acknowledgement that the Next Step had been taken. The parent of the girl with the spilled milk could say thanks, but he or she could also say well done or it's great to have you taking responsibility. The girl who was included by her classmate who had been rude and mean the previous day could have simply said hey, that was fun. We all make mistakes and we all need to forgive the mistakes of others. We will all feel better if we all operate from a position of kindness, compassion and inclusion.

It Takes a Village
Special Education PTA
www.itavmv.org

PLEASE NOTE:

> There are no further speaker events or parent coffees remaining for the 2009-2010 School Year.

> Muir Beach Family Picnic on Sunday, May 23rd has been cancelled.

Final Family Event for 2009-2010 School Year

ITAV Summer Family Picnic

Sun, June 13th, time TBA

Boyle Park, Mill Valley (opposite Park School on E. Blithedale).

A great way to celebrate the end of another school year with a family picnic at Boyle Park

Website

Please check our website out to learn how we can help you and your child. It's at www.itavmv.org.

Information about our speaker events (including speaker notes and handouts) and parent coffees is posted.

Speaker Notes and Handouts

Many parents have asked for notes from our speaker events. They are available on our website, www.itavmv.org.

Mill Valley Public Library
News from the Mill Valley Public Library - May 2010

El Día de los Niños/ El Día de los Libros (Children's Day/Book Day). Join us as we celebrate books, reading, and the children of the world with bilingual stories, a colorful craft, and a surprise snack on Wednesday, May 5 at 3:30 pm in the Creekside Room. All ages, no sign-up required, and it's absolutely FREE!

It Takes A Village at the Library - IATV, Mill Valley's special education PTA has put together a list of books on parenting, learning differences, and much more. Ask for the ITAV Recommended Reading List in the Children's Room. Thanks to ITAV for donating books and expertise to this collaborative project.

Are you ready to "Catch the Wave" this summer? - Whether you're a surfer, swimmer, bookworm, couch potato, or all of the above, you won't want to miss our Summer Reading Program. The Library will offer over 45 amazing activities including reading and guessing games, entertainment, hands-on art projects, lizards, and dogs at the library! (Yes, the Marin Humane Society's Share-A-Book dogs will be back to listen to young readers.) Librarians will be visiting your school to give you the details; summer flyers will be available on May 26.

4th & 5th Graders: don't forget to schedule your Early Bird PeRL (Personalized Reading List) appointment! Get a customized reading list before summer starts. Ask about our A-List personalized reading program for kids going into 7th, 8th, and 9th grades.

For information on all of our programs and services, includingPeRL, HelpNow online tutoring service, My First Library Card, regular story times, and more, please visit our website at http://millvalleylibrary.org or call 415-389-4292 x106.

352 Throckmorton Ave
Mill Valley CA 94941
415 389-7727
www.oldmillschool.org

About The Creek

The Creek is published by the Old Mill School PTA on the 3rd Tuesday of each month to keep parents of students at Old Mill School informed on all the events, happenings, and news at Old Mill, in the Mill Valley District, and the school community. Entries for submission can be emailed as described in publication and deadline schedule, above. Any questions or suggestions about this newsletter can be addressed to members of the PTA Executive Board (listed above) or Nicole Taylor nicole@advantisglobal.com.