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Weekly Post
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October 21, 2013
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Superintendent's Message
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The highlight of last week was narrating the kindergarten assembly at Ormondale - Cool the Earth. Thanks to the leadership of our kinder teachers (Ms. Martinez, Mrs. Andrighetto, Mrs. Castillo) and our many actors and actresses. A special thanks to Ms. Martinez who pulled the entire performance together. Can't wait for next year.
Thank you to our PTO leaders who provided a wonderful lunch to the Super Staff at Corte Madera last week. Great food, but the time to spent relaxing for 20 minutes with colleagues to talk about non-work issues....priceless!
We had many staff off at trainings last week, including a large group at The Nueva School for "The Innovate Learning Conference: Shifting the Paradigm." We're looking forward to debriefing and sharing the new learnings in both grade level and professional learning community meetings in the upcoming weeks.
I spent Thursday and Friday in Superintendent coaching. Fifteen first-year Superintendents, like myself, will gather four times this year for training. I'm a huge supporter of coaching. Coaching is a great practice when you have immediate feedback on your performance, and an event better way to share scenarios and have multiple input points on solution brainstorming. With the Common Core, Smarter Balanced, the new Local Control Funding Formula, and more, education is certainly changing quickly. Having a group to learn and reflect with is important for learning. I hope you'll excuse the times I'm not here so I can continue to grow as a leader and be the best leader I can be for PVSD.
While I was sitting on the risers with the kinders during the performance, one of them said, "I love kindergarten," to which I responded, "Why?" The little guy I was conversing with shared, "Because people here love me." What a great school community we have!
Finally, a big congratulations to our more than 40 staff members who got flu shots last week in order to stay healthy (and thanks to Nurse Abbe for her help).
Portola Valley School District
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This Week's Calendar
Ormondale * Corte Madera * District
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Tue, October 22 (B)
ORM Fast & Lebsack to Baylands 8:15am
ORM Kindergarten to CA Theatre Center 8:15am
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Wed, October 23 (A)
School Board Meeting, 7pm, CMS Room 102
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Thu, October 24 (B)
ORM Meldonian & Woolfe to Baylands 8:15am
CMS 4th Graders to SJ Tech Museum 8:10am
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Fri, October 25 (A)
CMS End of Quarter 1
CMS 6-8th Grade Halloween Dance 7pm
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PVSD School Directory
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The 2013-14 School Year Student Directories are out and have been distributed to all families who ordered one at the beginning of the year. The Directories were sent home last week with your child, so be on the look out in their backpacks. If you did not get to order one, copies are available for sale in the school offices.
The PTO would like to give a sincere thank you to Kristi Patterson for all of her work in acquiring advertising, data coordination and the distribution of this years Directory.
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| Turkey Trot - ARTWORK CONTEST ENTRIES DUE OCT 15TH! | | |
1K and 5K Run/Walk
Saturday, November 16th, 2013
8 am - 11 am
Registration is now open. Both electronic and paper registration options are available. Please go to the links below to register electronically or to download the registration form. Paper registration forms can also be picked up from the school offices. Advance T-shirt orders will be available until October 25th. A limited number of T-shirts will be available on race day, and at a higher price, so please register early. The PTO wishes all children to have access to the event, regardless of ability to pay. Please contact Karen Urbanek regarding confidential scholarship registration.
To register, choose:
Electronic Registration: http://2013ormturkeytrot.eventbrite.com
OR
Paper Registration: Click here to open the registration form to print.
Contact Karen Urbanek ( urbanek.karen@gmail.com) or Aimee Armsby (armsbyfamily@comcast.net) if you have any questions.
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PTO Fundraiser-Amici's Family Night
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 Tuesday, October 22nd
5:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Amici's Pizzeria - Menlo Park Corte Madera and Ormondale families! Grab your family and friends and join us for a Pizza and Pasta Night. Amici's in Menlo Park will generously donate 25% of your evening's food and beverage purchase to help support PVSD - PTO.
Here is how it works. Print the attached flyer. Present the flyer to your server at Amici's. Relax and enjoy your dinner whether you dine in or take out.
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eScrip and Amazon.com Shopping Program
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Each year the Portola Valley Schools Foundation pays for classroom supplies for every student in the district using funds raised through the eScrip and Amazon.com programs. All you need to do to help is to go to www.escrip.com and register your credit cards and Safeway Club Card (if you have one). Please make sure to direct donations to the Portola Valley Schools Foundation.
Your direct purchases at Amazon.com also support our programs, teachers, and children. You simply go through the pvschoolsfoundation.org link to Amazon, sign in with your own account, and shop! Portola Valley Schools Foundation will receive a minimum of 4% of every purchase made through this method and, aside from the extra click, you should see no difference in your shopping experience.
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Ormondale Principal's Message: Kevin's Corner
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Dear Families,
It was a quick, but exciting week here at Ormondale. Our Cool the Earth assembly was a hit with the students and they walked out with new knowledge about climate change and a renewed spirit to do something about it. Hopefully you are using the Cool the Earth Coupon Book to reduce your footprint! We look forward to reaching our goal of 1,500!
This week ended with a team of Ormondale staff at the Innovative Learning Conference at Nueva School. Staff was able to attend a number of workshops, discussions, demo lessons and classroom observations over the two days. The strands of the conference were:
- Assessment and Common Core
- Catalyst for Change
- Design Thinking 102
- Gifted Across the Population
- Learning Beyond TextBooks
- Literacies for the 21st Century
- Innovations in STEAM
- Neuroscience in Education
- Re-Imagining Secondary Education
- Social-Emotional Learning
It was exciting and energizing to be a part of this amazing conference. It was also great to be able to recognize all of the innovative ways our Ormondale Community is educating our students, as well as reflect on the innovative ways that we can continue to improve on what we are doing.
Our Turkey Trot is coming up on Saturday, November 16th @ 8:00 AM. In order to prepare some amazing t-shirts that you can order for this event, our PTO held a Turkey Trot Art Contest. Congratulations to these students, Phoebe C., Hannah K., Oliver Q. and Carly F.r whose artwork will be displayed on our Turkey Trot T-Shirts!
Thank you to Lynn Holthaus and our 2nd Grade Parents for an amazing super staff lunch. The food was delicious and fed us for a couple of days. Thank you!
If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please contact me at kkeegan@pvsd.net or 650-851-1777. Sincerely, Kevin F. Keegan |
Book Fair Extravaganza!
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Kudos to our PTO, Chairs Sarah Byrne and Julie Dyson and all the wonderful volunteers for the fabulous book fair at Ormondale. It was a "Reading Oasis"! We had Mystery Readers in costumes come and read to the classes to kick off the Fair, an evening celebration the following week complete with food trucks (great grilled cheese and yummy cupcakes), and book readings by Dr. Lisa Gonzales and Mr. Keegan accompanied by a dragon that roooooarrrrred! Books were flying off the tables and a good time was had by all! Scholastic had a great selection of books this year. In response to parent feed back we tried to make finding just the right book easier for you by including a table of lexiled and "Common Core" books. Our Book Fair brings together our community and is a wonderful model for our children of everyone working together as a team.
The proceeds from the Book Fair fully fund our library budget for the following year. Many of you purchased books at the Book Fair for our library. I catalog, cover and check them out to the child who made the donation so he or she may be the first to read them.
If you have not stopped by to visit our great library please do so! It is usually a buzz of activity before school, and at recess and lunch. You can always find kids playing Geofix (geometric based math manipulative), and Mancala (an African board game) is always a popular choice.
With gratitude,
Suzy Dickinson
Ormondale Library
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PTO Thank Yous
| | The PTO would like to thank Sarah Byrne and her team of volunteers for a successful Photo Day at Ormondale! We would also like to thank Lynn Holthaus and her 2nd grade volunteers for organizing and hosting the first Super Staff Lunch of the year for Ormondale. It was an Italian feast enjoyed by all! Thank you to all volunteers who continue to make Ormondale an amazing place for the staff, children and families!
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ABC Language at Ormondale
| | Dear Ormondale Parents,
ABC Language will be available again as an after-school opportunity at Ormondale. Spanish and Mandarin Chinese language programs will be offered.
CONTENT: Conversational language skills taught through games, play, music and interactive conversation.
SCHEDULE CHOICES: Mondays, Tuesdays, or Thursdays from 3-4pm
START/END DATES: Start date week of Oct 21st, 2013, and ending the week of June 9th, 2014
GRADES/LEVELS: K-3, total beginner Level I, and mid-beginner Level II (those who studied last school year or who have a background in the language)
TUITION: $750
TEACHING METHODS: ABC Languages is a multi-method school with teachers who draw from a variety linguistic approaches. ABC teachers need to have a minimum of 2 years teaching experience before they interview with ABC. They then hire teachers literate in a multi-method approach for teaching to " multiple intelligences". ABC tends to favor teachers who like to use a "communicative approach" to teaching, who use " Total Physical Response", and who maintain a " student centered classroom". That is to just name a few of the approaches ABC favors. What this all means is the teacher will be speaking mostly in the target language, the focus will be on attaining real-life practical skills. Fun also is an important component to capture and maintain your child's interest in learning.
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CMS Principal's Message
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Thank you, PTO, For a Great Super Staff Lunch
Many thanks to all the volunteers who put together the CMS Super Staff Lunch last week. Our teachers and staff greatly appreciated the wonderful food and opportunity to enjoy each other's company on a beautiful day. Also, a special thank you to Renee Lewis and Jennifer Youstra for coordinating this event.
Thanks to: Sarah Dorahy Crouse, Jenny Vaughn, Norman Chen, Jenni Farrell, Jennifer Hanley, Nancy Tracy, Mary Henry, Sharon Shaffer ,Barbara Hughli-Jones, Rosario Comacho, Gina Rayfield, Julie Dickerson, Sandra Vaughn, Heather Asborno, Renee Courington, Josune Sullivan, Andrea Reid, Caroline Krauskopf, Kerrie Lynch
Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Expanding To 4th and 5th Grades
4th and 5th grade students and parents received information this past Friday about the BYOD program including use agreement information, minimum specifications for devices and FAQ's. Please know it is an optional program for any student who wishes to participate. Please call the front office if you have any questions.
Michael Corritone
Principal
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Corte Madera Bookfair is coming!
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 Corte Madera bookfair is November 4 - 8. The Annex will be filled with books for children, teens, and adults. Check out what's new and terrific. Buy gifts for the holidays. Donate books to your classroom teacher and the library. All proceeds help fund the school library. We will be open everyday 7:30 - 5pm.
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Yearbook Dedications
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Make the 2013-14 yearbook extra special for your student! Dedications are a great way to help personalize the yearbook for your child and to preserve a message of love and support for them that they can treasure for years and years.
Dedications start as low as $25 for a 1/16th page space and 1/8 page spreads are only $50. 8th grade parents have exclusive access to 1/4 page spreads for $100.
Don't miss your chance to leave a special memory for your child in the 2013-2014 yearbook! If you haven't yet ordered a yearbook, you can still purchase one for only $50. Order forms for yearbooks and dedication spaces are available at the CMS office. For questions, please email Tim Sato ( tsato@pvsd.net).
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Community Calendar and Events
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Portola Valley Library Program
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On Sunday, October 27 @ 2:00 PM, the library will host a storytime and craft activity at Bird Discovery Day at the Portola Valley Town Center. All ages welcome. This program is sponsored by the Portola Valley Nature and Science Committee and the Friends of the Portola Valley Library. Town Center is located at 765 Portola Rd in Portola Valley.
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Alpine Strikers Spring 2014 Tryouts
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Alpine Strikers FC is excited to announce upcoming tryouts for the spring season. If your child is excited about soccer, she or he might be ready to come out and participate in these tryouts. Players new to the club can be evaluated via age group wide tryouts. Roster openings vary from team to team and are at the discretion of the coaches. For general club information, please visit www.alpinestrikers.org. To register your child for tryouts, please click here.
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M-A Drama Presents LOVE RIDES THE RAILS
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Love Rides the Rails or Will the Mail Train Run Tonight?
When the villain, Simon Darkway, seeks to control the Walker Valley, Pine Bush & Pacific Railroad for his own evil purposes, he enlists his partner-in-crime, Dirk Sneath, and the sultry Carlotta Cortez for his scheme. Can the heroic Truman Pendennis, his trusty friend Harold Stanfast, and the angelic Prudence Hopewell save the railroad from certain doom? Swiftly and hilariously, the play, Love Rides the Rails by Morland Cary, screeches to the amazing climax when the hero is inescapably bound by the villains to the tracks of an oncoming train. Will good prevail over evil? Join us for this Old West melodrama, complete with songs, pantomime, great mustaches, and audience-participation. Guaranteed fun for all ages!
Performance Dates:
October 24, 25 & 26, 2013 at 7:30 PM
November 1 & 2, 2013 at 7:30 PM
Tickets: Adults $12 Students/Seniors $8 Senior Groups Tickets: Groups of 8 or more save $2 off per ticket - $6 tickets
Groups of 16 or more save $4 off per ticket - $ 4 tickets Non-Senior Group Tickets Groups of 8 or more save $2 off per ticket - $10 tickets
Groups of 16 or more save $4 off per ticket - $8 tickets Tickets can be purchased at the box office or online: www.thecenteratma.org For more information, please contact Ms. Zwicker-Sobrepena at 650-322-5316 or dsobrepena@seq.org
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Sunday, October 27, 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm, Portola Valley Town Center
Come to Bird Day  and enjoy l ive birds including a bald eagle, native and exotic birds, and chickens, diverse nests from a wide variety of birds, an amazing array of feathers to examine under microscopes, and samples and information on bird eggs.
Representatives from local agencies include:
- The Audubon Society which is providing experts on birds,
- Mid-peninsula Regional Open Space District which will share maps and information for those who wish to go exploring local open space,
- Palo Alto Junior Museum which will be bringing a bald eagle, and
- Wildlife Rescue which will advise residents on how to save injured birds and how to adopt a bird.
Sponsored by the Town's Nature and Science Committee. Contact 'Miss Tree' tdiehl@pvsd.net for more information.
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