The Presentation School e-News

September 22, 2013

KEY DATES

SEPT. 25

Choosing a High School & HS Curriculum 8:20am

SEPT. 26

All-School Mass

Dress Uniform

SEPT. 27

Free dress day

Sonoma Academy 2pm

SEPT. 30

Grade 6 to Camp SEA Lab

OCT. 1

Grade 7 to Ashland for Shakespeare Festival

OCT. 11

Field Day

OCT. 12

Imagine Fall Fundraiser

(RSVP today!)

OCT. 15-18

Conferences/Minimum Days

OCT. 28

Grades 3, 4, 5 to Academy of Sciences

OCT. 30

All-Saints Mass 10am

Dress Uniform

Justin-Siena 2pm

OCT. 31

Haloween

Minimum Day

NOV. 1

No School

Dear Presentation Families,

It was great to see everyone at Back to School Night. We are proud to showcase what our kids are involved in now, but are also always working on what we can do to improve.

Parent-Teacher Conferences are Oct 15-18. These are minimum days. As we did at Back to School Night, our fabulous 8th grade will be providing child-care during your conferences for $10 per hour. Please sign your child up in the office one week prior, so we can plan accordingly. The money raised will go toward off-setting the costs of the 8th grade trip to Washington, DC. More information will be shared in the coming weeks about scheduling conferences.

Our First Liturgy of the Year is Thursday, Sept 26th at 10am. This is a Uniform Dress Day. Parents are warmly welcome to celebrate with us.

Scott Parker

Annual Fund Well Underway

Help Us Reach 100% Participation

Have you seen this Presentation car magnet around the school parking lot? Well, one should be yours too.

By now you have received an appeal or pledge letter regarding this year's annual fund. We are aiming for 100% participation by all of our school families. As of today, we already have 50% participation. This is truly a great start! The amount of your gift is strictly up to you. The size of the gift is less important than the full participation of our community.

How does the Annual Fund create an exceptional education for my child?

* Provides necessary funding for our academic programs

* Allows us to provide rich experiences in Arts, Spanish, Athletics and Physical Education, and countless other enhancement programs

* Helps us attract and retain an excellent faculty and staff

* Enables us to keep class sizes small

* Provides funding to update and enhance our technology and facilities

Middle School Students Participate

in Coastal Clean Up Day

On Saturday, eight of our students, led by science teacher and Student Council liaison Katie Faircloth, participated in Coastal Clean Up Day. There were events all over the Bay Area, and our students traveled to Stinson Beach.

LUNCH, LUNCH, LUNCH, LUNCH, LUNCH

Order online today for October

Wooo-hooo! Not only do our students seem to be really enjoying the new lunch options, parents will also appreciate the fact that as of today, you can order your student's lunch online! Thank you Lisa Atwood for your hard work getting the web site up and running.

Click here to place your October order!

Movies of Your Children!

Our teachers have produced some truly great videos of your children recently. We will feature some each week. Right now, they are all being uploaded to a school You Tube site for ease of viewing. This site is not searchable by the general public and no students are identified by name.

This week's first two videos:

7th Graders Stand By Me

Kinders First Month

6th Graders Study Ancient Tools & Weaponry

In Joel Kuschner's 6th grade social studies class, students are learning about the first bands of humans who made tools, were hunter gatherers, and created fire.

Students used details in their textbook book and from the class conversation to diagram a set of three tools or weapons that these early humans may have used. Students needed to take into account the minimal technology early humans had and what they could have used the tools for. The other option is to diagram what the camp of one of these early nomadic people may have looked like.

Imagine an Evening in Hawaii is just 2 weeks away!

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 12

Did you see our ad in this week's Sonoma Index-Tribune? We are eager to get all ticket sales completed in the next week. Please return your rsvp card or call the office today! It is going to be a great night!

New this year is THE GOLDEN PADDLE! If you participate, you are buying a 1 in 100 chance to win the Golden Paddle, which is worth $5000. The lucky winner can use this paddle during the live auction event to bid on any item/items of their choice. The paddle is just as good as gold/cash. The $5000 must be used that evening and any left over funds will automatically be applied to the Fund A Need.

7th & 8th Grades & Parents Begin

Season of High School Research

Over the coming weeks, our older students and their parents are invited to hear presentations by local high schools who will visit our campus with our alumni who attend those schools. Please check the School Announcements section of this newsletter each week for those dates. Parents of younger children are also always welcome to stop by.

Up first is Sonoma Academy. This Wednesday, Sept. 25, SA is having its Admissions Open House on their campus from 6-8pm. This Friday, September 27, Sonoma Academy is the first school to come to our campus, at 2pm (parents welcome). Finally, SA is offering a special shadow day for our students on Monday, October 14 from 8am to 1:30pm. Up next visiting Presentation will be Justin-Siena on Wed. October 30 at 2pm.

This Wednesday, Sept. 25 at 8:20am, The Presentation School Speaker series invites school parents to an informal workshop that will cover: choosing a high school, how students can get the most out of their shadowing experience, preparing for entrance/placement testing, teacher recommendations and a discussion of high school curriculums with an eye toward college. Included will be a side by side look at every public, private and parochial school within a 45 minute drive of Sonoma.

Join us in the library and bring your insight and questions.

Middle School Students Enjoy New Advisory Program & Leadership Assembly

For the first time this year, all of our 6th, 7th and 8th grade students have been assigned to an advisor for the year. They meet weekly with their advisor, who is not one of their regular classroom teachers. In advisory, students are encouraged to talk about schoolwork, time management and to explore what "failing forward" might mean in their day to day life. Scott Parker meets with the 8th grade students during this time to talk about the school events, deadlines and topics unique to the transition year between middle school and high school.

Meanwhile, our 8th grade students recently hosted a leadership assembly in which they chose three adjectives they felt demonstrate leadership: responsible, confident, kind. They showed a short film they made driving the theme home!

Technology in the Classroom: Elmo Document Cameras

Presentation takes a thoughtful teacher-driven, need-based approach to technology in the classroom. When our teachers come forward with a desire for a technology that can advance learning in their classroom... thanks to events like our upcoming Imagine party... we are pleased to be able to meet their requests.

Last year, several of our teachers who had not previously had access to Elmo document cameras expressed a desire for the devices. In kindergarten last week, students found a regular sorting and patterning exercise brought to life thanks to the ability of the Elmos to project 3D shapes so that the entire class can follow along in a fast-moving learning sequence. Every K-8 classroom now has its own Elmo document reader. You can learn more about all these cool devices can do here.

Come Cheer on Our Volleyball Teams!

Our 7th and 8th grade volleyball teams are off to a great start with experienced players leading the charge and players new to the game enjoying developing their skills. Note: All Presentation athletics feature no-cut teams.

Please try to join us in cheering on our Patriots at home games this week Monday (7th grade only) and Wednesday (7th and 8th). Go Patriots!

Special Invitation for Presentation School Students

Come hear stories and get a first-hand look inside the current project of professional climber Kevin Jorgeson, who developed and continues to oversee Presentation's climbing program. Free of charge to all Presentation students!

THE THANK YOU BOX

A world of thanks to all of our lunchtime and office volunteers who have stepped forward to help out. Your assistance makes the day run ever so much more smoothly and your children so enjoy seeing you on campus!

and

Thank you to the volunteers who helped our with our very popular used-uniform sale -- Susanne Wilkinson, Alice Duffee, Tracy Geldert and Liz Lonie

SCHOOL ANNOUNCEMENTS

PERKS: The only PERK class still accepting students is Acting for grades 6-8 on Thursdays from 3:30-4:30pm. Click here to learn more. Email the office to sign up before Thursday.

Altar Servers Wanted: Students - if you are an alter server in your parish, we would LOVE to have you share the same with our school. Please let Mr. Parker know if you will help with our liturgies at school too.

Yearbooks: While we are still early in the school year, now is the time to order your school yearbook if you want to take advantage of a discounted price. Click here to place your order.

School Directory/Beehively: You can download the the school directory here. When you do so, you will notice that information is missing for some parents (perhaps you?). Families with missing information are urged to log in TODAY, HERE to update their information. Teachers will communicate homework assignments with you and the students until we are sure the system is up and running the way we want it. Note that this is our primary means of emergency notification, so if you do not list your phone numbers, you will not be able to be reached by the school's emergency notification system. If you cannot log in, please email Laura Wallace at lwallace@presentationschool.com

Emergency Cards: Please get your yellow emergency cards in. Even if nothing has changed we need a new card every year.

Barn or Storage Space? If you have some extra space in a barn, shed, garage or warehouse, we are looking for a place to store our art display boards, as well as some set pieces for theater. These boards currently live on the stage and they are preventing us from using the space for drama and music. Please contact Laura Wallace if you can help us out with storage.

Sports: This will be a busy fall for Presentation athletics with volleyball, cross country, climbing and tennis seasons underway. Click HERE for the cross country permission slip. All Presentation athletes need to download the concussion information and waiver form HERE. Click HERE to learn more about our rock climbing program.

Credit Card Billing: We urge all of our school families to complete a credit card authorization form and simply check the box, "charge my credit card on file". Doing so enables all future lunch orders, field trips, event tickets and sports signups to be billed to your card effortlessly. And you will still receive a complete accounting of the charges. Just complete the form and return to the business office. Click here.

COMMUNITY NEWS

Fencing in Sonoma: The first session of fencing classes offered by the Napa Valley Fencing Assoc. here in Sonoma will start October 8. Classes will meet in 6 week sessions at a cost of $85. Drop ins $16. Class will meet at the Veterans Hall on Tuesdays from 6:30-7:30pm. Ages 8 and up. Download the flier here.

SSAT Prep: SSAT Prep: If your eighth grader is considering applying to a selective high school like Marin Academy, Sonoma Academy or Branson, they will be required to take the SSAT admissions test. Sonoma Academy is offering a prep class. More details can be found here.

Presentation's facebook page enables you to get reminders about important school events and activities.

More than 150 of you have already joined

our online community.

"LIKE" us today by clicking HERE!