We are near the end of the school year 2011. The next time you hear from me will be in 2012. Our Academic/Financial Plan will be shared with the School Community Council on November 29 at 2:30 in the library. On December 6, 2011 we will present our Academic/Financial Plan to parents and the community. It will be held in the library from 6:00-7:00 pm. Our Plan is due to the Complex Area Superintendent on December 15, 2011.

 

This year we have a different format. Included with our Plan is the Ma`ema`e School Dashboard. It is a compilation of data (HSA, subgroups, gender, etc.) that we have put together to give us more information about our students and their needs. This too will be included and put on our website.

Trolley Night will be on December 9. Our Christmas Celebration will be held December 14, from 8:30-9:30 on the lawn area in front of the cafeteria. December 15 is the last day for students and teachers before their vacation. It will be a regular school day with dismissal at 2:15 pm.

 

Winter Break is December 16, 2011 to January 3, 2012. Students return to school on January 4, 2012.

 

Have a safe and enjoyable Holiday.

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,

Pearlene Blaisdell, 

Principal

QUICK LINKS

As we come to the closing of the 2011 year we'd like to take this opportunity to thank our parents, community and especially our volunteers. Without these dedicated people our school would not be able to afford the "life-style" that allows the teachers, staff and administration the valuable time to plan rigorous lessons for your children, plan activities that teach and inspire them and provide the dollars to enrich our programs at the school. We are indebted to you all.

 

To: Parents, Volunteers and the Community,

 

We know how good you all are

We don't have to look that far.

You are all amazing you help the students, parents, teachers and staff.

There can't be a better group of people as that!

We learn from all of you in more than one way

You are the best - You make the school what it is today

You are all the BEST!

Thank you from ALL of us! We are most grateful for all that you do!

Together we can do much more for our school!

 

Happy Holidays! Enjoy the winter break!

 

Sincerely,

L. Kobayashi, Vice Principal

SCHOOL INSPECTION

Ma'ema'e School conducted its annual school inspection Assessment on November 17, 2011. School inspections are required to comply with the Board of Education Policy #1110-6 ( Health, Wellness, and Safety ), Section 302A-1502, Hawaii Revised Statues and Section 396-6, HRS, ( "Employer responsibility: safe place of employment; safety devices, and safeguards"). This inspection provides a self assessment of the campus facilities and allows for the development of an action plan to address areas needing attention. Based on the data that was collected last year, the school was able to have the playground equipment refurbished and a new playground equipment (Gr. K-1) will be built that will be in compliance to safety regulations this school year.

 

The following are the results of the assessment:

Grounds = 2.16 (Acceptable)

Building: Exterior = 3.87 (Very Good)

Building: Interior = 3 (Very Good)

Furniture and Equipment = 2.3 (Acceptable)

Health and Safety = 3.04 (Very Good)

Sanitation = 2.21 (Acceptable)

 

This year there was an additional assessment called the "Vulnerability Checklist" that include the following categories:

Main Office

Hallways and Main Areas

School Facility in General

School Grounds

The assessment consisted of questions asked about each area. The collection of this data will help us to address areas in need to ensure that our school is indeed a safe environment to work and play in for all!

 

This year we had two teams that consisted of the following stakeholders: students, teachers, parents and community.

 

We would like to thank the following for their participation in the school inspection:

 

STUDENTS:

BS (5-37), KY (5-38), AN (4-28), WY (4-27)

 

PARENTS:

Chris Shiroma - BS (3-20) and AS(1-7)

Melanie Kawai- IK (5-34)

Ursula Costorio-Meyer-KC-M ( 3-17), KC-M ( 5-39) and AC-M ( 5-34)

Robin Hashimoto -KH(2-12) and TH (5-40)

 

CUSTODIAL STAFF:

Arsenio Rarangol - Head custodian

 

TEACHERS:

Kelly Asato - Counselor

Myles Ibara - Student Services Coordinator

 

ADMINISTRATION:

Lynn Kobayashi- Vice Principal

 

COMPLEX AREA:

Carlon Munroe - Administrative School Assistant

 

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TRAFFIC SAFETY 

Parking Reminders

Please park in stalls marked "Visitor Parking" only. Double parking, parking in "No Parking" areas, and handicap stalls are forbidden. Parking in unauthorized stalls will cause an inconvenience to teachers and other employees. Our JPOs will place a reminder on your windshield.

 

In addition, do not leave your car unattended. JPOs can escort your child (ren) to their classes. Please stop by the bus shelter for assistance. Thank you for your cooperation in this matter!

            

Drop off and Pick up Reminders

This is a friendly reminder for the safety of all!

 

There are two drop off and pick up locations on campus: the bus shelter on the Wyllie Street side of the school and the Maemae Lane crosswalk from Building B and Building D. Please kokua and make it a habit to use these two drop off/pick up areas for the safety of all. Please do not stop to drop your child off in the loading zone Bldg. B by the mural. Stopping here poses a problem, whereby you will be stopping the flow of traffic to the drop off points and JPOs are not stationed there for your child's safety. Please set a good example for all and follow the traffic and safety rules of the school!

Thank you!

MEALTIME REMINDERS

The cost of eating just a lunch for a month (20 school days) is approximately $45.00. Both a breakfast and a lunch eaten daily in an average month is $65.00. We strongly encourage parents to make regular cash deposits into their child's Mealtime account.

 

We would also like to extend our gratitude to parents/guardians, who have been diligently keeping track of their child's Mealtime account. We appreciate your support and cooperation!

 

NEGATIVE BALANCE NOTICES

Just a reminder that our staff will continue to send home negative balance notices through your child.   If your child's balance reaches an $11.25 or $2.00 negative balance for a child under the reduced lunch program, he/she will not be able to purchase a lunch (in accordance with Hawaii State Department of Education School Food Service Policy).   We strongly encourage parents to make regular deposits into their child's Mealtime account(s).  

 

ADULT BREAKFAST

Parents/adults are welcome to eat breakfast with their child, but due to Federal Rules and Regulations, parents/adults and non-Maemae students are not allowed to eat from the student's plate. Adults may purchase their own breakfast at $2.20 (effective 09/01/11).

 

RECESS JUICE/MILK PURCHASES

Also of note, if your child is under the Federal Lunch program (free or reduced meals) and he/she purchases juice or milk during morning recess, please make sure you have sufficient funds in your child's account to cover these ala carte items. 

READ BOOKS ONLINE AND GIVE TO CHARITY!  

(No money required, just read)  Link:  wegivebooks.org    Login:  maemaees  Password:  dolphins  You can create your own login if you wish.  A login is not required to read the books online.  Pearson Foundation and Penguin books have partnered up to provide books to read online free of charge.  Just choose a book and start reading.  At the end of the book, a button will pop up that says give a book.  Click on that button and a book will be donated to charity.  You do not need to pay or donate a physical book.  For every book read online, a book will be donated to a choice of three different initiatives.    There are fiction and non-fiction books appropriate for ages 0-10.  Please call or stop by the library if you have any questions or would like a demonstration.  The program utilizes Adobe Flash, so it is not viewable on your Ipad.    

 

RESEARCH RESOURCES  

Our school has purchased some online encyclopedia resources that may help your child with their research.  These are accessible online at home also.  Visit the library website which can be reached from the Maemae School website, click in the picture of the library link and it will send you to the library home page.  Look under Online Encyclopedias and click on either one.  The username and passwords for both are maemaees, maemaees.  (The username AND password are the same).  Explore the sites. They have educational games, pictures, videos, and links to websites for further exploring.    

 

CELEBRATIONS  

This is the last month of our Celebrations book donation drive.  Thank you to all of you who have donated $10 to the library.  We have some great additions to our collection because of you and the students are excited about reading.      

 

YEARBOOK PRESALE 

We will begin our yearbook presale in January.  Presale prices will be $15 per book.  Orders placed after the presale period will be $20.    

 

POTENTIAL YEARBOOK PHOTOGRAPHERS  

Do you have pictures of your child's class and activities to share?  Go to community.lifetouch.com  and register with the following access code  KNMOYS.  Once registered, you will receive an email from Lifetouch with an activation link.  You must click the activation link before you can log into the Community Image Upload Site.  Please enter a grade and room number for each image so I can identify what is happening in the photo. This will allow you to upload photos that may be considered for the yearbook.    

 

Happy Holidays    

Sandy Domion 

Librarian  

595-5400 ext. 233

HEALTH ROOM VIEW:  

The Flu Clinic was very successful again this year with 400 children, staff and faculty immunized that morning! It could not have happened without the fabulous volunteers who gave up their time helping here at Ma'ema'e.

 

A BIG MAHALO!

Nora, Jana, Lori W., Lori S., Art and Judy and our staff and faculty that made this happen.

I have not seen any high fevers or bad bouts of congestion yet this year and we hope this good sign will continue into the New Year 2012!

 

Wishing you all a very Happy Winter Break and Wonderful 2012!

 

Questions, suggestions, comments, please call the Health Room, school hours, 595-5406.     Heather Bedford, Health Aide

Technology Fundraisers  

• General Mills Labels (sent in November - next shipment will be February)
• Recycling Ink Cartridges and Toners - Intrade (847-5300) will pick them up at your office if you tell them, they'll credit to Ma'ema'e, or send to the office or lab.
• Office Depot - 5% back to the school (designate Ma'ema'e ) on qualifying purchases (ask Office Depot for a list of qualifying purchases) School ID Number - 70027176

 

As of this bulletin, if you don receive one digitally, please check our home page under "For Parents" - Parent Bulletins -we've archived all the bulletins. If you would like to receive digital copies, there is a link to subscribe in the "For Parents" section of the web pages. If you'd like to change your e-mail, unsubscribe with your old e-mail and then subscribe with your new e-mail. This is so the site can verify that your e-mail is active.

G.T. 5TH GRADERS REPRESENT MA`EMA`E!

 

On November 5, 2011, nine students from the Gifted and Talented 5th grade group were among sixteen teams who attended the District First Lego League Qualifying Tournament at Kalakaua Middle School. Their participation earned them many "Exceeds" scores based on National FLL norms and rubrics. The team shared incredibly innovative ideas related to how food could be protected from such bacteria as coli, lysteria, and other contaminants. We honor them for their Gracious Professionalism, as well as their strength in "teamwork!"

 

All G.T. students from grades 2-5 have been steadily working on teamwork in order to successfully complete missions related to this year's F.L.L. focus on Food Factor and are able to successfully run autonomous Lego robots on this season's mat. Their hard work and focus has allowed each student to understand ideas related to safe food handling and they are becoming more aware of the #1 defense against food contamination - washing their hands.

 

All Ma`ema`e students are now involved in their second Everyone's Enrichment Experience based on the concept of ANTI-BULLYING and teamwork. Through creative models, the students from grades K-3 are making "friendship webs" to understand how working together can keep bullying from occurring. In grades 4 & 5, students are working at understanding how teamwork can help everyone to build stronger bonds with their team and they are seeing a visual proof that, once hurtful words are spoken, they cannot be taken back easily. Please ask your grade 4 & 5 students to share the "toothpaste" project with you and what they discovered about bullying

CONGRATULATIONS!

Please recognize BS ( 3-20, Ms.Jan Zane Chin) for her outstanding artwork. Ms.Zane Chin's class participated in the "Play It Safe Day" poster contest. BS, her family and Ms. Zane Chin attended the ceremony at the State Capitol on Thursday, November 17, 2011.

 

BS received an Honorable Mention and was able to meet Governor Abercrombie and our State Senator, Suzanne Chun-Oakland. Please stop by the display case located on the back side of the administration building facing the cafeteria to enjoy her poster.

 

CONGRATULATIONS!

"SAVE OUR OCEAN" class mural from Ms. Ruby Jung's Grade 1 students ( SY 2010-11) was featured in the Lawai Fishing Magazine's Fall issue. The mural was an overall winner and is also featured in the display case located on the back of the administration building facing the cafeteria. Please take some time to enjoy the artwork!

HALLOWEEN PARADE Oct. 31

Mahalo to everyone for making our annual Halloween parade, "Hollywood, Heroes & Hooligans", a success !   What a wonderful display of creative costumes ! Our volunteer judge, Mr. Brandon Mitsuda from Councilwoman Tulsi Gabbard's office, had a difficult job. We also would like to thank Ms. Gabbard for donating pretzel snacks for all of the parade participants. Finally, hats off to our Glee for a surprise performance at the end of the parade.

 

Halloween Costume Contest Winners:

Preschool: The entire class for their cute insect costumes !

Kindergarten: ZM, SL, BL (21), AF-S, UG (22), TK-S (24)

Gr. 1: IH (6), NL (8)  

Gr. 2:  KY (11), EB (12), AI, LT (13), TF-S, SL, TS, CM (14), LT, RH (15)  

Gr. 3:  AM, CL, AS, MM, EO (16), TT, FM (17), EK-P, IN, AL, ZT (18), KT, JE, SM (19)  

Gr. 4:   KH, JH (27), RM, IG, MW, CS (28), KI, KL (29), FK, RH, JP, CS (30)   Gr. 5:   BS, MY, LE, JE (37), KY (38), , NT (39), CK, SM, TM(40), AC-M, JY, XQL222222                                                        (34).

Adults:   1st Place: Third Grade teachers ("Cruella DeVille and 101 Dalmatians"),   2nd Place:   Second Grade Teachers and Mr. I's "Angry Birds",   3rd Place:   K Teachers' "Dream Big, Work Hard Pageant Court".

 

HOLIDAY FOOD DRIVE NOV. 1-30

Thank you for your kind donations of canned goods and other non-perishable food items for the Hawaii Food Bank.

Your generosity has helped out many needy families this holiday season.   Thank you!

 

LOKAHI GIVING PROJECT Dec. 1-14

Mahalo once again for your support of the Lokahi Giving Project. The Student Council will be collecting new, unwrapped toys which will be given to needy children here in Hawaii just in time for the holidays.

We are pleased to be partnering with the third graders who are once again doing a special project to help support the Lokahi giving. The new, unwrapped toys will be presented to the Lokahi organization at a special assembly on Dec. 14.

 

'OHANA CHIP DONATIONS

Thank you for your generous donations to help stock out 'Ohana Chip redemption "store".   Students are rewarded by teachers and staff for displaying our 'ohana values with their positive actions both in and out of the classroom.   Every Wed. at first recess, the cafeteria becomes a bustling store where students can exchange their hard-earned 'ohana chips for small toys, pencils and healthy snacks (please do not donate any home-made food items and any food which contains peanuts).   Here is a list of recent donors: K: AI (22), SH (25), TY (21) Gr. 2: KT(12) Gr. 3: AY (20) Gr. 5:  KT (38), Susan T. (volunteer).   

 

WE ESPECIALLY NEED HEALTHY SNACKS---NO CANDY PLEASE---FRUIT ROLL-UPS, FRUIT BY THE FOOT, FRUIT SNACKS, ETC.. THANK YOU!!!

 

HI-5 RECYCLING NEWS

Here are the final revised dates for our ongoing Hi-5 recycling drive. We really appreciate your support in saving your Hi5 containers at home, separating them into plastic, aluminum and glass, removing the caps and bringing them to school on the morning of each collection day.   Remaining Hi5 collection days for this school year:  

 

Dec. 1             Jan. 5               Feb. 2              March 1            April 5            May 10

 

(We apologize for the erroneous dates published in the November bulletin.)          

TREASURER'S CORNER

 By Wendy Yoshioka-Moore

 

Happy Holidays! It's going to be a busy month for us all; I hope you took the opportunity to start your Christmas shopping early through the Signature catalog. Thank you so much for placing your order and supporting your school at the same time.  

 

All aboard! Ursula Costorio-Meyer is ready to go with our annual Christmas trolley. Hope you all enjoy the Christmas lights with friends and family by your side on December 9th.

 

Noteworthy expenses for October 2011:

Ohana Chips $394.83

Classroom Support $230.62

Campus Beautification $1,291.43

Xerox Corp (paper) $2,184.46

Spring Fling/May Day $1,330.00

5th grade Camp Timberline $1,050.00

Keiki Fun Run on Feb. 18---Registration now open !!!

Mark your calendars for this year's keiki fun run.   Formerly known as the "Keiki Great Aloha Run", it is now called "Hawaii 5210, Let's Go ! Keiki Run" . No matter what the name, it is the same well organized and FUN event, happening Saturday, Feb. 18 at the NBC.     Please go to http://www.greataloharun.com/events/keikirun to register and join our school team now.   Only online registration will be accepted this year.   Use the drop down list of schools and you'll see Ma'ema'e listed there. We hope to be able to get back 80 to 100% of all the registered participants who choose Ma'ema"e as their designated school !   This money will help support our PE and sports programs for all of our students.

12/1

• Gr. 4 - 27/29: Gene-ius Day @ UH Manoa, 8:00 AM - 12:15 AM (Rms. 27 & 28)

12/2

• Gr. 5: Traveling Storyteller in Cafeteria, 8:45 AM - 9:45 AM. 

12/5

• Gr. 2: Symphony @ NBC, 8:15 AM - 9:45 AM.
• Gr. 1: City Hall and Symphony @ NBC, 8:15 AM - 11:30 AM.
• Parent and Community Meeting (SCC) in the library, 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM

12/9

• Gr. 3:Holiday Gift Giving ( Lokahi Toy Project) Field trip to Toys R Us @ Pearlridge, 8:30 AM - 10:45 AM.
• PTSA: Xmas Trolley Ride @ Kakaako Park, 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM 

12/12

• Gr. 2: Xmas Recording in the library, 8:00AM - 11:30 AM. 

12/13

• Gr. 5: Kawananakoa Orientation, 8:10 AM - 12:30 AM.

 

• Gr. K: Edible Xmas Tree Activity in cafeteria, 1:15 PM - 2:15 PM. 

12/14

• Pre-K -5: Lokahi Xmas Program, 8:30 AM - 9:30 AM.

12/15

• Gr. 2: Traveling Storyteller, in cafeteria, 8:10 AM - 8:50 AM.

• Gr. 3: Traveling Storytellers in cafeteria, 8:50 AM - 9:20 AM.

• Gr. K - 5: Winter Celebration in the cafeteria, 12:30 PM - 2:00 PM ( staggered times)

12/16

• 2nd Quarter Ends 

• Directed Leave - No School for students

12/16 through 1/3/12 - Winter Break

(1/3/12 is Directed Leave-No school for students)