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JANUARY 11, 2010 Good Morning
Every Monday, Email Club members receive important information regarding upcoming events and communications from The PTA and Strandwood staff via the Roadrunner. The Roadrunner also provides links to important flyers and new items on the school website. Do you have any comments about this Roadrunner or suggestions for future Roadrunner articles or features? Drop us a line at strandwood_emailclub@hotmail.com. | |
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A Message From The Principal |
He's out there somewhere....  It's Thursday night in late November, 10:00 PM. I am sitting at the stoplight at the intersection of Willow Pass and Contra Costa Blvd in my VW bug. It's late, I'm tired, the light is long. In my rearview mirror I see the lights coming up behind me, they are bright and high. As the lights get closer, the glare in my mirror is making it increasingly hard to see. Just as this really big pick up truck, sitting on top of really big wheels pulls up behind me, the driver cuts his lights! I could see when the light changed we both moved on to our destinations. A simple, random act of kindness made my long day a better day.
Children are ego centric; developmentally they experience the world as it revolves around them for a long time. I wondered how that young man knew to cut those lights, to help the person in front of him? How did he learn that? Was it intuitive? Was it TV? Was it a good role model? To better answer that question, I watch students as I move around the school. The students who see adults hold doors, give up seats on the bus, pick up trash that isn't theirs, allow someone else to go first in a line often demonstrate that same behavior when the opportunity arrives. Is that how they learn?
I randomly polled a group of 4th graders today at lunch, polling question - What is your favorite TV show? The responses included: Sponge Bob, Tom and Jerry, Nickelodeon, and Cartoon Network. Is Sponge Bob or Crabby Patty responsible for teaching that young man the courtesy he demonstrated?
I believe children learn life skills from a variety of sources, I believe they learn the value of those life skills from the adults in their lives. As we move into 2010, teaching our children how to do random acts of kindness solely for the reward of feeling good about helping someone else with no expectation of anything in return, is time well spent. In this day and age of technology, with so much less face to face contact, the value of one moment in time helping someone else is priceless.
Happy new year....... | |
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Photo courtesy of the Bargmann family.
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Calendar
Click the calendar below to go directly to the Strandwood web calendar.
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FACT or NOT?
In Greek mythology, Pandora was the first woman.
The Apple computer company was founded on April Fool's day.
The names of the performing Marx brothers were Groucho, Chico, Harpo, Zeppo and Gummo.
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| WHAT IS IT? |
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| This is a close up of an object. What is it? The Answer is at the bottom of the page. |
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A Message From The PTA President |
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Happy New Year! I am pleased to report that my first New Year's resolution has already been accomplished - cleaning up the PTA room! Thanks to everyone that helped. Now the problem is the rest of my resolutions. Actually I need to write them first then start working on them. I know one will be finishing up my term as PTA President and ensuring its long-running success with a smooth transition to a new President and PTA Board. This process is just starting. Last week at the General PTA meeting, the Nominating Committee was elected - Ellen Javete, Carolann Ianora, Robin Elawady and Amanda Szakats (alternate). These people will be responsible for finding folks to fill any openings in next year's Board. I hope many of you will consider participating either in one of these positions, assistants to these positions or in coordinator roles.
We hope those of you interested will talk with board members to find out what is involved with these positions and where your talents may fit best. And please, don't be concerned about lack of experience. There will be experienced people remaining on the Board and plenty of experienced people eager to help, even though they may no longer be active Board members. As our school district continues to face financial difficulties and we all need to help Strandwood remain the special school it is. Please consider making your participation or continued participation part of your 2010 New Year's resolution.
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Box Tops and Subway |
Thanks all of you who continue to turn in Box Tops! Our December winner is Brett Anderson in Miss Lefin's class! Congratulations to Brett for collecting 157 Box Tops!! January collections will be due on Friday, January 29th.
What could be better than a Subway sandwich to get your New Year's Resolution to eat better off to a good start? Earning money for Strandwood Outdoor Education is the answer! Simply purchase a gift card for Subway restaurants and register the card on line at www.subwayschoolrewards.com. Enter our zip code to find Strandwood. It is that easy! A portion of every purchase will go directly to helping fund our fantastic Outdoor Education program for the 5th grade
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Read and Dream 100% Club |
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Congratulations to Mrs. Tarapore's B-3 First Graders. They were the first class to have all students join the Read and Dream Team.
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FAME for January |
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 Students explore primary and secondary colors using a color wheel in this lesson. They observe how color can affect mood and how Dufy used color to express himself. Students also listened for harmony in a lovely piano piece, and learned that nocturne means "dreamy night music."
Click on the names for more information on the individuls.
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You're invited to the BIGGEST party of the school year!
Did you know...Strandwood's Dinner Dance Auction is our BIGGEST fundraiser of the school year? Dust off your party clothes and dancing shoes as we celebrate with a "Passport to Italy" at Strandwood's 13th Annual Dinner Dance Auction! Join us for an evening filled with good friends, great food, and dancing to the DJ sounds of Strawberry Fields.
Date: Saturday, March 6th
Location: Pleasant Hill Community Center
Time: 5:30pm - 11:00pm
"Passport to Italy" packets coming home this week!
Be on the lookout for your "passport," which will be sent home with your child this week. It has everything you need to know about the Dinner Dance Auction and more.
Tickets are for our Dinner Dance Auction go on sale starting Friday!
Take advantage of the early bird discount & buy your ticket for $40 if purchased between January 15th through January 31st! $45 regular price if purchased after January. Tickets can be purchased online starting January 15th at www.strandwood.cmarket.com or contact Cindy Turner at pcturner@sbcglobal.net. Tickets do sell out for this event so don't wait!
2nd Annual DDA Re-Gifting Day - Part 2:
Due to the popularity of the DDA Re-Gifting Day, we will be hosting an encore on Friday, January 15th. Look for DDA tables on BOTH the upper and lower grade playgrounds, BEFORE and AFTER school. Thank you for all of your generous donations.
For everything you need to know about this event and more, click onto the auction page on Strandwood's website (www.strandwood.org). |
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MDUSD Board Meeting and More Budget Cuts |
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The next Board of Education meeting is tomorrow, January, 12th. Among the topics to be discussed will be item 17.2, "Public hearing and action on additional budget reductions including flexibility transfers authorized by SBX3 4".
"As a result of additional reductions to funding for local school districts and declining enrollment, the Mt. Diablo Unified School District must make additional budget reductions. While budget forecasts show a positive ending balance for the current and following school year, by June 2012, the district budget shortfall will be about $17 million. This projected deficit may increase depending on the Governor's budget proposal on January 8. Staff has identified specific program reductions in order to balance the budget in the 2011-12 year."
The board meeting will be Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in the Board Room at the Dent Center, 1936 Carlotta Drive, Concord. To view the entire agenda click here. Board meetings are also broadcast on the Clayton Valley High radio station KVHS 90.5. |
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California Content Standards |
If you attended last weeks PTA meeting, you heard one of our great second grade teachers, Mrs. Rowe, talking about the California State Board of Education Content Standards. Here is an example of what you will find there. To view the site please click here. Included are areas of education like English Language Arts (ELA), Health Education, History-Social Science, Mathematics and Physical Education for grades K - 12. 
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Kindergarten Pre-Registration |
| Pre-registration of children eligible for kindergarten in August 2010 will be conducted in all Mt. Diablo Unified School District elementary schools on a first-come basis starting Tuesday, February 2, 2010. The hours of registration will be 9:00 - 11:00 am and 1:00 - 3:00 pm.
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Intradistrict Transfer Deadline |
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FPHE Launches 2010 Annual Campaign |
Dear FPHE supporters,
Happy New Year... and with the new year comes out second Annual Campain for Education. 
Last week, the Pleasant hill Community Focus newspaper included the FPHE 2010 Annual Campaign flyer as an insert. The flyer announced our Help Schools Thrive - Give $55 campaign. The goal of the campaign is to have at least 1000 people donate $55 or more.
Thank you,
The Foundation for Pleasant Hill Education. |
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Math Night for Parents |
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Are you concerned about your child's performance in math?
Are you interested to learn about the newly adopted state math standards?
Do you want to learn several effective methods that you can use at home to help your kids with their math studies?
Save the date for Math Night for Parents presented by The Pleasant Hill Education/Schools Advisory Commission. It will be held Monday,  January 25th, from 7-9 p.m. at Sequoia Middle School. We will have a presenter, Phillip Gonsalves, who will focus on the math curriculum K-8. Phil has been working with our school district to help teachers for at least a year now. He works for Alameda County Office of Education. He has helped parents in our district understand how best to support their students with Math homework.
This event is FREE. Your RSVP is not mandatory but is greatly appreciated.
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| Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? |
1st Grade Question: What kind of animal is an anaconda?
2nd Grade Question: Bob bought 4 bags of oranges. Each bag had 10 oranges. How many oranges did Bob buy in all?
3rd Grade Question: Find the misspelled word in the following sentence. "The soul of my shoe leaves a footprint in the sandy beach.
4th Grade Question: Fill in the blank. Antonyms are words with ________ meanings.
5th Grade Question: True or False? The prime meridian is 0 degrees longitude.
Answers are at the bottom of the page.
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Dates, Times and Places |
January 12th - Site Council - 3:15 pm in the library January 14th - Sutter's Fort Parents Meeting
January 15th - Spotlight Assembly
January 18th - Holiday - Martin Luther King Jr. Day
January 26th - Field Trip, Kindergarten - Jelly Belly
January 29th - Principal Pizza Lunch - Blue Slips due by Wednesday the 27th
Check all the calendars on the Strandwood website by clicking here.
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In the Office
Flyers regarding the following items are available in the office this month. You can also click on the link, if there is one, to go directly to that site
No new flyers this week
E-Flyers
E-Flyers are ones that you can click on to view. As more and more organizations go to paperless this will become a popular method of getting notices to folks..
Pleasant Hill Park and Recreation Department |
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Youth Classes and Activities
Return To Top
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| Answers |
1st Grade Answer: Snake
2nd Grade Answer: 40
3rd Grade Answer: Soul (should be sole)
4th Grade Answer: Opposite
5th Grade Answer: True
What is it? Adhesive Bandage
2) Fact - Established in Cupertino, California on April 1, 1976 and incorporated January 3, 1977, the company was called Apple Computer, Inc. for its first 30 years, but dropped the word "Computer" on January 9, 2007 to reflect the company's ongoing expansion into the consumer electronics market in addition to its traditional focus on personal computers.
3) Fact - The core of the act was the three elder brothers, Chico, Harpo, and Groucho; each developed a highly distinctive stage persona. The two younger brothers, Gummo and Zeppo, did not develop their stage characters to the same extent, and eventually left the act to pursue other careers. Gummo was not in any of the movies; Zeppo appeared only in the first five.
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