November 20, 2009

New Announcements:

 

·         Happy Thanksgiving: On behalf of the entire Disney staff, I’d like to wish you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving. We hope you enjoy your week off and are able to spend quality time with family and friends as the holidays are upon us.

 

·         Escrip – Did you know you can sign up for E-Scrip, register your Safeway card and/or your credit cards to the secure service, and earn money for Disney Elementary by just doing your normal and holiday shopping? This is the simplest thing to do. We would love to see 100% participation in this program. It is  quick and painless and as a result each time you shop you  know you are supporting our school. The link is http://www.escrip.comand I promise it only takes a few minutes but can yields thousands of dollars for us.  You can link to your Safeway Card as well as several different credit cards. Take your pick ..all will help out our school. 

 

·         Thank you to all the wonderful Walt Disney families for your generous donations during the "We Care" drive for our sister school in Antioch.  We delivered a car full of donations to Fremont Elementary that included warm coats and outerwear, mittens, umbrellas, and boxes of snacks.  The school staff was so grateful. They call our school families their special angels.  They assured us that every item would be put to use.  They shared stories of the children and how much they needed our help.  May you have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and know what a huge difference you have made in the lives of others. Thank you to Disney parents Joan Knight and Christine Salisbury for their efforts in chairing this worthwhile program that models to our children the giving spirit.

 

·         New Schedule for 2^nd Graders in 2010: As we enter December, please be mindful that all 2^nd graders in SRVUSD will transition away from the early/late readers schedule. Some SRVUSD schools eliminated their 2^nd grade early/late reader schedule at the beginning of the year. This will be in effect starting January  4, 2010 upon our return from Winter Break. All 2^nd graders will go a full instructional day.

 

·         PTA Art Contest Winners:  Thank you to all of our students who submitted entries into our PTA Art Contest. They were all beautiful. A special thank you to Sherry Rosso and our PTA for chairing and sponsoring, respectively, this event. The following are our winning artists:

 

Visual Art:



Group One (Kindergarten - 2nd Grade):
1st Place: J. Sung - Reid/Costa,
2nd Place: C. Singh - Siskind/Vanasupa,
3rd Place: K. Hirtle  -Prochazka, Honorable Mention: M. Rosellini - Prochazka



Group Two (3rd Grade - 5th Grade):
1st Place: A. Moghannam – Rodriguez, 
2nd Place: N. Baer – Tayeb,
3rd Place: M. Jaber –Tayeb, 
Honorable Mention: J. Sung - Parkhurst



 

Photography



Group One (Kindergarten - 2nd Grade):
1st Place: C. Moghannam-Drain/Fissore,
2nd Place: C. Casparian - Drain/Fissore,
3rd Place: I. Dutta - Drain/Fissore



Group Two (3rd Grade - 5th Grade):
1st Place: A. Rosso – Biven,
2nd Place: A. Badain – Macias,
3rd Place: E. Campbell - Hughes 



 

Recurring Announcements:
         

·         PC Desktops/Laptops Needed: we are still looking for donations of PC desktop or laptops. Even though our school is predominantly on the Macintosh platform, our library and one classroom has a need for a limited number of PC’s. If you or your company are looking to donate PC desktops and/or laptops, please contact me via email or by calling the school office at 479-3900. I am looking for PC’s that are able to run Windows XP proficiently.  We would be happy to provide you with a tax ID number for your tax purposes (please consult your tax advisor to see if your donation is tax-deductible).

 

·         Traffix Busing Update: We've seen a big reduction in traffic congestion on Pine Valley Rd. since TRAFFIX bus service began this year. We've also heard from a lot of Walt Disney parents and students who love having the bus service available. The routes are short, the buses are new, and the drivers are doing a great job looking after our students.

TRAFFIX pro-rates their annual bus pass throughout the year. So if you didn't get on board in August, you can get a discounted pass now for just $175 for service through the end of school in June. That's cheaper than the cost of driving back and forth to school twice a day for most folks. It's saving parents a lot of time, and preventing the congestion and gridlock we used to have in front of the school.

So if you're not yet on board, please go to http://www.ridetraffix.comto see the pickup times for the stop nearest you. If you buy a pass online with your credit card today, your child can begin riding the bus tomorrow. For more information call the TRAFFIX program manager directly at 866-TRFX (8739).

 

 

 

 

 

 

November 16, 2009

New Announcements:

 

·         WOW Winners:  Congratulations to this week’s WOW winners!

 

Bernie B. from Mr. Blair’s class

Caelan C. from Ms. Koby’s class

Collin S. from Ms. Fagerbourg’s class

Andrew Z. from Ms. Garrahan’s class

Jessica C. from Ms. Costa’s class

Alex P. from Ms. Schaeffer’s class

Arman K. from Ms. Hughes’ class

Chloe S. from Ms. Siskind/ Ms. Vanasupa’s class

Jake B. from Ms. Tayeb’s class

Jack B. from Ms. Drain/Fissore’s class

Holden M. from Ms. Rodriguez’s class

Ali B. from Ms. Macias’ class

Everett W. from Ms. Frank/Windham’s class

Jake O. from Ms. Biven’s class

Ben K. from Ms. Parkhurst’s class

 

·        Technology Town Hall Meeting:  our Disney Elementary School Education Foundation (DESEF), Parent Teacher Association (PTA), and staff are working together to host a “town hall” meeting to discuss how we can address our technology situation. The meeting will be scheduled for November 19 at 6:30 pm in the MPR. If bringing more technology to our classrooms is important to you, come and watch a presentation and have an opportunity to ask questions, provide feedback, and be a part of our solution. To help us prepare for an appropriate number of attendess, please RSVP by completing this online form.

 

·         Traffix Busing Update: We've seen a big reduction in traffic congestion on Pine Valley Rd. since TRAFFIX bus service began this year. We've also heard from a lot of Walt Disney parents and students who love having the bus service available. The routes are short, the buses are new, and the drivers are doing a great job looking after our students.

TRAFFIX pro-rates their annual bus pass throughout the year. So if you didn't get on board in August, you can get a discounted pass now for just $175 for service through the end of school in June. That's cheaper than the cost of driving back and forth to school twice a day for most folks. It's saving parents a lot of time, and preventing the congestion and gridlock we used to have in front of the school.

So if you're not yet on board, please go to http://www.ridetraffix.comto see the pickup times for the stop nearest you. If you buy a pass online with your credit card today, your child can begin riding the bus tomorrow. For more information call the TRAFFIX program manager directly at 866-TRFX (8739).

 

Recurring Announcements:
         

·         PC Desktops/Laptops Needed: we are still looking for donations of PC desktop or laptops. Even though our school is predominantly on the Macintosh platform, our library and one classroom has a need for a limited number of PC’s. If you or your company are looking to donate PC desktops and/or laptops, please contact me via email or by calling the school office at 479-3900. I am looking for PC’s that are able to run Windows XP proficiently.  We would be happy to provide you with a tax ID number for your tax purposes (please consult your tax advisor to see if your donation is tax-deductible).

 

 

 

 

 

 

November 9, 2009

New Announcements:

 

·         WOW Winners:  Teachers and staff are recognizing students who successfully demonstrate our “Mega-skills” inside the classroom, on the playground, or around campus. Our “mega-skills” are Responsibility, Respect, Honesty, Caring, Teamwork, Positive Attitude, Focus, Confidence, and Effort. Students receive a “WOW” slip when they are “caught” using mega-skills. On most Friday’s, teachers draw one WOW winner to be invited to the “WOW Lunch” with me. Students receive a prize as a part of being honored for their efforts. Although the prizes have not arrived yet, they will receive the prizes when they come.

 

The following students were WOW winners for this week:

Graciela A. from Ms. Parkhurst’s class

Riggs M. from Ms. Rodriguez’s class

Makenna C. from Ms. Biven’s class

Macy B. from Ms. Tayeb’s class

Sean H. from Ms. Schaeffer’s class

Christopher W. from Ms. Garrahan’s class

Abby R. from Ms. Koby’s class

Kagan L. from Ms. Siskind/ Ms. Vanasupa’s class

Nicholas A. from Ms. Costa’s class

Jonathan P. from Ms. Drain/Fissore’s class

Verona P. from Ms. Macias’s class

 

·         No School on Wednesday:  Yes, that is right…no school on Wednesday due to the observance of Veterans’ Day.

 

·         Thank you San Ramon Rotary:  the San Ramon Rotary Club donated dictionaries to all of our third graders this past week. Three members came to campus and presented the dictionaries to each third grade student in this longstanding tradition. We appreciate our partnership with the Rotary Club! To see pictures of the presentation, click here.

 

·         PTA Meeting on Thursday:  we have a very important PTA meeting this Thursday, November 12. During last month’s meeting, I gave a presentation regarding our instructional technology landscape at Disney. Since attendance at the October meeting was low, we decided to wait until November to vote on the allocation of PTA funds that will potentially be combined with school site funds and DESEF (the Disney Education Fund) funds to give us a significant upgrade in our instructional technology.  Come to this meeting, which starts at 7:00 pm in the library, to have your voice and vote count.

·        Technology Town Hall Meeting:  our Disney Elementary School Education Foundation (DESEF), Parent Teacher Association (PTA), and staff are working together to host a “town hall” meeting to discuss how we can address our technology situation. The meeting will be scheduled for November 19 at 6:30 pm in the MPR. While the topic of this meeting is similar in nature to what will be discussed at the November PTA meeting, the specific nature of this meeting is different. If bringing more technology to our classrooms is important to you, come and watch a presentation and have an opportunity to ask questions, provide feedback, and be a part of our solution.

 

 

Recurring Announcements:
         

·         PC Desktops/Laptops Needed: we are still looking for donations of PC desktop or laptops. Even though our school is predominantly on the Macintosh platform, our library and one classroom has a need for a limited number of PC’s. If you or your company are looking to donate PC desktops and/or laptops, please contact me via email or by calling the school office at 479-3900. I am looking for PC’s that are able to run Windows XP proficiently.  We would be happy to provide you with a tax ID number for your tax purposes (please consult your tax advisor to see if your donation is tax-deductible).

 

 

 

 

 

 

November 2, 2009

New Announcements:

 

·         WOW Winners:  Teachers and staff are recognizing students who successfully demonstrate our “Mega-skills” inside the classroom, on the playground, or around campus. Our “mega-skills” are Responsibility, Respect, Honesty, Caring, Teamwork, Positive Attitude, Focus, Confidence, and Effort. Students receive a “WOW” slip when they are “caught” using mega-skills. On most Friday’s, teachers draw one WOW winner to be invited to the “WOW Lunch” with me. Students receive a prize as a part of being honored for their efforts. Although the prizes have not arrived yet, they will receive the prizes when they come.

 

The following students were WOW winners for this week.

Selena L. from Ms. Biven’s class

Noah J. from Ms. Siskind/Ms. Vanasupa’s class

Elle S. from Ms. Koby’s class

Maddie M. from Ms. Parkhurst’s class

Eesha B. from Ms. Reid/Costa’s class

Shayna P. from Ms. Faber’s class

Abigail S. from Mr. Blair’s class

Eric C. from Ms. Garrahan’s class

Emma R. from Ms. Rodriguez’s class

Hamid K. from Ms. Frank/Windham’s class

Adrian P. from Ms. Fagerbourg’s class

Brianna H. from Ms. Schaeffer’s class

Isabella G. from Ms. Fissore/Ms. Drain’s class

 

·         PTA Morning Book Club Starts Wednesday:  our first PTA morning book club will this Wednesday, November 4, before school. Students are to arrive by 7:50 am in the Multipurpose Room (cafeteria) and will be dismissed a few minutes before the 7:35 warning bell for school. This is fun and great opportunity to come, foster students’ love for reading and literature, and discuss a variety of books with friends and parent volunteers.

·         Technology Town Hall Meeting:  our Disney Elementary School Education Foundation (DESEF), Parent Teacher Association (PTA), and staff are working together to host a “town hall” meeting to discuss how we can address our technology situation. The meeting will be scheduled for November 19 at 6:30 pm in the MPR. If bringing more technology to our classrooms is important to you, come and watch a presentation and have an opportunity to ask questions, provide feedback, and be a part of our solution.

 

·         We need your input on "The Next Level" for our schools!  Our community has grown accustomed to a high level of academic performance in our schools. The upcoming community forums provide an opportunity to think creatively about ways to make this outstanding school district even better, and to revisit the values, mission and priorities of our school district.
 
We need your input at these forums around issues such as:

·         How to best prepare students for success in a changing competitive, global environment, and what this means for teaching and learning.

·         Technology and expansion of world language education.

·         A possible restructuring of the senior year experience, allowing these students more time off campus in order to have a job, engage in community service or political advocacy, and/or take college classes.

·         How to best meet all of our facilities needs in terms of growth, modernization of older facilities and energy conservation.
 

The forums will be scheduled at each high school. Parents, staff, students and other community members may attend any forum that works best with their schedule. The community forums will be at 6:30 p.m. (staff forums at 4:00 p.m.). The dates and locations of the forums are:

·         Wednesday, November 4, San Ramon Valley High School

·         Monday, November 9, Dougherty Valley High School

·         Thursday, November 12, Monte Vista High School

·         Monday November 16, California High School
 

For more information, contact the Superintendent's office at 925-552-2933 or ghaddad@srvusd.net.   We hope to see you there!

 

·         Support the Rainbow Program:  Online Auction Starting Soon - From November 6 to 30, there will be an online auction from Time for Kids, an organization that supports the Rainbow Program in SRVUSD. There are 4 ways you can help:  1) Donate items or services.  2)  Be a sponsor.  3) Tell your friends.  4) Bid on auction items.  Donations to Time for Kids, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, tax-exempt charitable organization, are tax deductible (Taxpayer ID # 68 0331440). The auction has many exciting values, including donations in Danville and San Ramon of dining gift certificates, rounds of golf, handmade jewelry, and spa visits. Preview the auction now at http://www.timeforkids.cmarket.com.  Thank you in advance for your support!

For more information contact Debbie Roof, Rainbow Project Coordinator, at droof@Srvusd.net.

 

 

Recurring Announcements:
          N/A

 

 

 

 

 

October 26, 2009

New Announcements:

·         R-E-S-P-E-C-T … what does it mean to me?:  We will once again partner with our facilitator, Daniel Bruno, from Soul Shoppe this year in teaching our students the importance of character traits such as respect, responsibility, and caring. Skills such as problem solving, conflict management, and expressing our feelings equip us all to live a much more positive and productive life. We want our students to have these skills. In addition to our “Second Step” character curriculum that is taught periodically in class, Soul Shoppe will present workshops on specific character traits and skills three times this year. Teachers will also do facilitate follow-up lessons/activities throughout the year. Finally, as an entire school community we will positively praise our Disney students who successfully demonstrate our Megaskills (see below) with our WOW slips.

 

Disney’s Megaskills:

1.      Responsibility

2.      Respect

3.      Honesty

4.      Caring

5.      Teamwork                         

6.      Positive Attitude

7.      Focus

8.      Confidence

9.      Effort

 

This Monday, Soul Shoppe will conduct their workshop on “respect.” Our goal is to create a community of learning where each person is respected and honored.  The two tools Soul Shoppe introduces is the “Chair of Respect” and the “Balloon”. 

 

These tools help us get to the core of what Respect means in our school community. The “Chair of Respect” is a metaphor for making good choices to respect others.  The “Balloon” demonstrates how we can deal with feelings that we don’t know what to do with.  We encourage you to ask your child about the metaphors, and practice the tools with your child by using the bookmarks that they bring home after the workshop. These topics often make wonderful “dinner talks” or conversation topics while driving/walking your child to and from school.

 

If you would like to review more Soul Shoppe resources, visit the resource page on Soul Shoppe’s website.

 

 

·         Halloween Parade: this Friday, October 30, we will be on a early dismissal. Our schedule will be the same as our Wednesday bell schedule (dismissal at 1:53/1:55 for most). Starting at 1:25 pm, we will begin our all school parade around the field. The Cal High band will perform during our parade. The parade will be a fun time when costumes are appropriate. Costumes are NOT to be worn to school, as students will be given time to change into their costumes before the start of the parade. Costumes that are violent, gruesome, and/or overly scary are not to be worn. The parade will conclude by our dismissal time. Please consult your child’s classroom teacher for more details.

 

·         Lifetouch Picture Make-up Day: Our photographers from Lifetouch will be back on campus this Tuesday for picture make up. Say “cheese!”

 

 

Recurring Announcements:

·       PTA Cross County Partner School Program (October 12th to October 30^th):  We are once again collecting gently used jackets, umbrellas, mittens, NEW socks, scarves and warm hats this year to help our sister school, Fremont Elementary in Antioch  .  This year has been especially difficult for the children and families at our sister school so we are once again asking for your help. Also, many of the children have very little food at home so we are also collecting boxes of snacks such as granola bars (peanut free) and other packaged items that can be made into snack kits.  Look for the marked "We Care" containers around the school during the above dates.  Thank you for your generous support of this wonderful program.

 

 

 

 

 

October 19, 2009

New Announcements:

·       WOW Winners:  Teachers and staff are recognizing students who successfully demonstrate our “Mega-skills” inside the classroom, on the playground, or around campus. Our “mega-skills” are Responsibility, Respect, Honesty, Caring, Teamwork, Positive Attitude, Focus, Confidence, and Effort. Students receive a “WOW” slip when they are “caught” using mega-skills. On most Friday’s, teachers draw one WOW winner to be invited to the “WOW Lunch” with me. Students receive a prize as a part of being honored for their efforts. Although the prizes have not arrived yet, we had our first WOW lunch today.

 

The following students were WOW winners for this week. These students will receive their prize when the prizes arrive.

Sean K in Ms. Costa’s class

Jorden D. in Ms. Biven’s class

Lexi Z. in Ms. Rodriguez’s class

Nate M. in Ms. Hughes’ class

Gabby R. in Ms. Macias’ class

Arthur K in Ms. Tayeb’s class

Caitlin W. in Mrs. Drain/Ms. Fissore’s class

Hope C. in Ms. Siskind/Ms. Vanasupa’s class

Emmy B. in Ms. Schaeffer’s class

Madeline C. in Ms. Fagerbourg’s class

Natasha K. in Ms. Koby’s class

Leah J. in Ms. Garrahan’s class

Wesley W. in Ms. Parkhurst’s class

Mikael M. in Mr. Blair’s class

 

·       Red Ribbon Week Activities: We will observe Red Ribbon Week, a national anti-drug and anti-violence campaign, next week. The schedule of Red Ribbon Week events will be as follows:

Monday: Student council is meeting at the flagpole at 8am to tie the red ribbons around the school.  
Tuesday: Red Ribbon pencils will be passed out to students.
Wednesday:  PTA will be applying temporary tattoos on the playground at lunch recess for students.
Thursday:  Red Ribbon Trick or Treat Bags will be passed out to all students.  
Friday: Red Spirit Day. All students and staff are invited to wear red to school

 

·       DESEF & Site Council Meeting: DESEF will meet this Wednesday, October 21, at 3:30 pm in the Library Reading Room. School Site Council will meet for the first time this year immediately after the DESEF meeting concludes.

 

 

Recurring Announcements:

·      PTA Cross County Partner School Program (October 12th to October 30^th):  We are once again collecting gently used jackets, umbrellas, mittens, NEW socks, scarves and warm hats this year to help our sister school, Fremont Elementary in Antioch  .  This year has been especially difficult for the children and families at our sister school so we are once again asking for your help. Also, many of the children have very little food at home so we are also collecting boxes of snacks such as granola bars (peanut free) and other packaged items that can be made into snack kits.  Look for the marked "We Care" containers around the school during the above dates.  Thank you for your generous support of this wonderful program.

 

 

 

 

 

October 12, 2009

New Announcements:

·       Loading/Unloading Zone on Pine Valley Blvd:  This past week, the city of San Ramon erected “loading/unloading”  zone signs that converts a 90 ft. section of the street curb in front of our school to function as a loading/unloading area during our morning drop off and afternoon pick-up times. There is no parking along this section of curb. We will be observing a transition period where drivers will receive warnings for parking here, however, once the city paints the curb violations will be citable.

I realize this change will take a little getting used to. However, I do believe the loading/unloading zone will go a long way towards creating a better flow of traffic for drop-offs and pick-ups. I encourage all parents currently using Pebble Place as a drop-off or pick-up to use the front of the school. Pebble Place is designed for walking traffic, not for vehicles.

·       Meet the Masters is Back:  next Friday, October 16, we will kick off our first session of Meet the Masters, an art program facilitated by Mrs. Lewis. The session will start with grade level assemblies followed by class lessons the following week of October 19. Educational research is very clear regarding the benefits of teaching art for children and directly impacts student achievement. Thank you to our DESEF dollars for funding Meet the Masters again this year.

·       PTA Cross County Partner School Program
October 12th to October 30th
 
We are once again collecting gently used jackets, umbrellas, mittens, NEW socks, scarves and warm hats this year to help our sister school, Fremont Elementary in Antioch  .  This year has been especially difficult for the children and families at our sister school so we are once again asking for your help. Also, many of the children have very little food at home so we are also collecting boxes of snacks such as granola bars (peanut free) and other packaged items that can be made into snack kits.  Look for the marked "We Care" containers around the school during the above dates.  Thank you for your generous support of this wonderful program.
 
Many of you reached out last year, and we want to again thank our many wonderful Walt Disney School students and parents who so generously helped our sister school last year with warm jackets and socks.     
 
Gratefully…Christine Salisbury and Joan Knight

 

 

Recurring Announcements:

·       PC Desktops/Laptops Needed: we are still looking for donations of PC desktop or laptops. Even though our school is predominantly on the Macintosh platform, our library and one classroom has a need for a limited number of PC’s. If you or your company are looking to donate PC desktops and/or laptops, please contact me via email or by calling the school office at 479-3900. I am looking for PC’s that are able to run Windows XP proficiently.  We would be happy to provide you with a tax ID number for your tax purposes (please consult your tax advisor to see if your donation is tax-deductible).