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April 5, 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.
If you no longer wish to receive the electronic communications from Strandwood Elementary please use the "Safe Unsubscribe" link at the bottom of the newsletter.
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Happy Spring Break
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I hope everyone is enjoying their spring break. All the regular features such as "Are you Smarter Than A 5th Grader" will return in next week's edition.
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Box Tops and Webkinz
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 Congratulations to Maya Morris in Ms. Baskauska's class for collecting 147 Box Tops in March! She is the proud new owner or a Webkinz! Please don't forget that Box Tops are due on the last day of the month and must be in a baggie with student's name, teacher and # of Box Tops. Thanks all for participating, we have earned over $500 so far!!
Sophie Harrington and Courtney Turner (4th graders)
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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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A Message From The Principal
"Change"
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 Technology in the Elementary Classroom We have come a long way in education from the days of one room school houses, slate boards with chalk and multiage classrooms ruled literally by a ruler. We have state standards for the core content areas, we have textbooks aligned with those standards, we have state accountability tests and criteria for student achievement. Whiteboards have replaced chalkboards, document cameras have replaced the overhead projectors and the WWW has put information at our fingertips. Technology is now a tool for today's student and educator.
When technology is in the elementary classroom research shows there is:
* Changing roles for students and teachers:
* Students actively make choices about how to generate, obtain,
manipulate or display information.
* Teacher are no longer the center of information, they are
instructing, facilitating, setting goals, providing guidelines and
resources, supporting students, instructing students using
technology as a tool for learning.
* Increased Motivation and Self Esteem
* Technical Skills
* Accomplishment of More Complex Tasks
* More Collaboration with Peers
* Increased Use of Outside Resources
Tool uses of technology are highly compatible with the teacher's role, since they stimulate so much active mental work on the part of students. When the venue for work is technology, the teacher often finds him or herself joined by many peer coaches, i.e. students who are technology savvy and eager to share their knowledge with others. Students provide peer tutoring and build cooperative working skills as well with the increased use of technology in the classroom.
We are fortunate enough at Strandwood to have a generous PTA that provides support for our school to purchase additional computers, document cameras and web based software. Our savvy tech parent community has been instrumental in bringing new life and energy to our school's technology committee. Thank you to Brad Schwab, Sue Noak, Jennifer Murov, Jeff Eide and Orlando Guzman for helping us develop a technology plan, create a vision with achievable goals and the knowledge base needed to undertake the tasks at hand. Next technology committee meeting is April 22nd at 6:30 PM in the library.
I remember back in the late seventies and early eighties when mobile phones were the size of a shoe box (who ever thought they would catch on?) and I often chose to go in to the bank to make a cash withdrawal with a check rather than use that "new fangled cash" machine, aka ATM! With new advances in technology occurring on what seems like a daily basis who knows what will be the tools your students have access to by the time they reach college.
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Wacky Wednesday
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The next Wacky Wednesday will be Wednesday, April 14th. Let's hope the sun is out for this fun spirit day.
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Final Dinner Dance Kudos
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 We wanted to give a special thanks to all that were involved in this year's MOST successful (and fun) auction EVER!!!!
Because of our parents', teachers', and community's support we were able to exceed our goal and raise over $56,000!!! This money is vital to fund the various PTA sponsored programs that help to make Strandwood the outstading school that it is!
Even though we have wrapped things up for this year, we are always welcoming new faces to join our auction committe and start planning for next year. We are also in need of some folks who would like to shadow us this coming year and take this fun task over for the 2011-20112 school year.
Please contact Lea Harrington or Cindy Turner if you are interested! Thanks again for all YOU do!! |
Spring Has Sprung At Strandwood
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 At the Make a Difference Day, we saw yet again, evidence as to why Strandwood deserves its title of California School of Excellence. Between 9 to 5 that day, individuals and entire families arrived ready to work with garden tools of all varieties.
Leaving their beloved families that day to plant, pull weeds, shovel dirt were Noga Kessler, Denise Nylund, Elizabeth Swanson and Michael Howard and as well as the families, Lee, Olivier, Freeman, Phair, Maddox, Wilson, Reed, Jordan, Glemser, Meyer, Gallagher, Devlin and Daily.
 Taking the opportunity to serve as well were Girl Scout Troop 31125 who helped put in place new plants and eliminate garden pests, Cub Scout Pack 282 who helped level mulch, Webelos Cub Scout Den 8* for beautifying the Westover entrance with new plants and Den Leader Barb Meienberg and Assistant Den Leaders Jennifer Laske and May Hanecak for leading the pack. Special thanks goes to Grant Laske for the leading the project that resulted in the building and installation of the beautiful decorative fences in the main quad.
Also, Strandwood alum Nicole Santos even returned to do the tedious but important task of taking staples off the wall and cleaning the windows. And not to be overlooked are the efforts of Jeff Eide and Anthony Schmidt for wrangling a Bobcat** the week prior that made the mulch job easier. This overwhelming participation just shows that Strandwood is truly a very special place.
Many thanks to all!
* - Weblos Den 8 scouts included Trevor Gomez, Antonio Gonden, Tyler Meienberg, Max Laske, Cheyton Alvarado, Cian Chu and Dominic Hanecak.
** - Thanks to Store Manager Matt Simonson of Cresco, Pleasant Hill, for donating the Bobcat.
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Foundation for Pleasant Hill Education
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 Dear FPHE Supporters, March has ended and so has our 2nd Annual Campaign. A huge THANK YOU to all who donated to the campaign. To our friends that didn't donate, please know that we accept donations all year round - so if you didn't catch us during the campaign, no problem. You can visit our website www.fphe.org to donate anytime.
During this campaign we raised over $24,400, all of which will be used to fund grants which schools can apply for during the month of April. So remind your teachers and/or principals of any important projects (up to $1000 each) that need to be funded at your school. Teachers and principals have until April 30th to submit their grant requests to FPHE. The link to the Grant Application can be found on the www.fphe.org homepage.
Look for our next event coming up on May 11 - the Oak Park Restaurant Walk. Don't miss it! Tickets are available at www.fphe.org.
Thank you,Foundation for Pleasant Hill Education |
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Dates, Times and Place |
April 13th - Site Council Meeting - 3:15 in the Library
April 14th - Field Trip - B-8 to the PH library, 10:00 - 11:00
April 16th - Field Trip - P-3, P-4 to DVC Planetarium
April 20th - Field Trip - Kindergarten to Smith Family Farm
April 21st - Field Trip - B-9 to the PH Library, 10:00 - 11:00
April 22nd - Field Trip - 3rd Grade to Chabot Observatory - 9:00 - 2:00
April 23rd - Field Trip - P-2 to DVC Planetarium
April 27th - Spring Photo day
April 29th - Field Trip - E-1, A-5 - John Muir Historic Site
April 30th - Field Trip - A-3, A-6 - John Muir Historic Site
April 30th - Bike to School Day
April 30th - Pizza Lunch - Blue slips must be turned in by Wednesday, April 28th
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. | | |
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