Dear Rockwell Families,

What an amazing year!

This is always a very bittersweet time of year for those of us in education. As proud as we are to reach the finish line with your children, it also inevitably brings changes, and some goodbyes. We are SO PROUD of the learning your children have done this year, and of the growth we have seen. Getting our first peek at the photos in the yearbook confirms what we already knew: that these kids have grown immeasurably since they walked in the doors earlier this year. Some of these changes are visible; many aren't. The leadership skills, perseverance, curiosity, and bravery they have developed inspire us all. Our Rockwell Beagles are amazing.

This week we bid our fifth graders farewell as they head off to middle school and the adventures beyond. They are remarkable students and we foresee great things in their future. 5th Grade Families, please try to walk, if possible, to the promotion ceremony Wednesday morning. If you find you need to park in the neighborhood, please be courteous of our neighbors and make sure no driveways are blocked.

Thank you for sharing your children with us and for sharing this part of the journey. If we are bidding you farewell, we will miss you and hope you let us know whatever the road ahead holds. For those of you coming back in the fall, we hope you have a wonderful summer, that you all have a chance to play together, and that you all read, read, read!  

We will be working with our PTA to run our first "Back to Business" Day on August 26 this year... times will be announced soon. Please mark your calendars to come on down and take care of all of the beginning of year paperwork Wednesday, August 26. Teacher assignments will be given on that day, as soon as all paperwork is completed and submitted. We will not be posting lists at Open House this year, which will be August 27 from 11 to noon.

Have a wonderful summer, and thank you for an amazing 2014-2015 school year!

Kirsten Gometz

Principal, Norman Rockwell Elementary

Over 100 5th graders will be leaving Rockwell this year and we wish them the best of luck in Middle School and beyond.  

The ceremony for families begins at 9 a.m. The gym doors open at 8:30 a.m. after the tardy bell rings. Please allow normal traffic flow through the parking lot in the morning. (Walk if possible!)

Thank you to the 5th grade promotion committee: Beth Batig, Chamu Kallem, Jayaletchime Jayaraman, Kit Craig, Nithya Nagarajan, Renee Lawson, Shilpa Asrani and Yukiko Tsukada for decorating, hospitality and clean up.  Special thanks to Jaya and Chamu for assembling the banners that the student's personalize with their memories of elementary school.  Much appreciation to Ms. Legg for coordination and Ms. Ward for invitations, certificates, and programs.

Good luck 5th graders and may everyone in our Rockwell community have a safe and happy summer.

Felice Nightengale

5th Grade Promotion Chair

P.S. We need a 3rd grade (entering 4th grade) parent to chair this committee next year. Email me if you're interested. 

*5th Grade Promotion Chair and committee are traditionally made up of mainly 4th grade parents to allow the 5th grade parents to enjoy the day!

On behalf of the Field Day team we would like to thank all our parent volunteers. Without you, we couldn't have had such a great day, nor have it run so smoothly. You managed to keep everybody under control all while having water splashed on you, getting sticky from bubbles & having sand in your shoes. Special thanks also goes out to our awesome 5th graders who provided such an excellent example to the younger students this year by being on time & super helpful to all our parent volunteers. You should be very proud of yourselves!

 Siva Ananthakrishan, Heather Armenise, Julie Balkcum, Angie Ballas, Matt Brooks, Stephanie Butler, Barbara Chinn, Kit Craig, Radha Dalvi, Kendra Drake, Calvin Drover, Gayle Elam, Fumiko Emura, Trisha & Tony Fernandez, Kathleen Fisher, Myriam Gabriel-Pollock, Melissa Gallager, Paula Gordon, Brandon & Dawn Hildebrand, Claire Hogan, Margaret Hsieh, Leila Hsu, Nancy Irwin, Kelly Johnson, Ruhina Karthikeyan, Marly Khoury-Haddad, Doug King, Anastasiya Klychuko, Gretchen Knapp, Jodi Kunz, Tuhina Lal, Kumiko Lam, Kellie Larson, Rachna Mahajan, Daniela Marszhold, Kirsten Moreno, Lance Moreno, Jennifer Myrick, Ariane Newell, Scott Odle, Elena Petrova, Helen Pho, April Scully, Kiran Shah, Mike Shea, Lisa Sheffield, Ilene Simmonds, Raksmey Song, Jan Stemple, Tedra Stratton, Melissa Sutton, Karen Thomsen, Dawn Turner, Janelle Urfer, Nadezhda Ustinova, Sherry Uyematsu, Annie Wang, Susan Williams, Kim Wolfstone, Colin Worsely, Tali Yahuda, Jing Zhou, all our water balloon fillers & our popsicle helpers - we thank you!

An extra special shout of course has to go to the most fabulous Coach Conklin! No one can call a tug-of-war like you can.

We will miss each & every one of you as we move on to Horace Mann but know that Rockwell will always have a rockin' Field Day thanks to people like you.

Laura Drover & Liz Finocchio

• This is the last regular Beagle Bugle Newsletter for this school year.

• Expect one or two Bugles this summer - explaining details of "Back to Business Day", online packets, and Open House/Teacher Meet and Greet Day. So keep your eyes out this summer!

• If you are leaving Rockwell and wish to unsubscribe from the Bugle, just scroll down to the very end of this email and click the link for Safe Unsubscribe.