4820 Spencer Street, Torrance, CA 90503 Office: 310-533-4542
A California Distinguished School 1993-1997, 2004-2008 Fax: 310-972-6457
Principal: William Baker PTA President: Nina DeFabio
Assistant Principal: Bobbie Wynhoff Editor: Joanna & Brittany Kazandjian
Victor Elementary School
Message from the Principal
Dear Parents and Guardians:
As stated in my letter sent to you in November and posted on our website, the State of California is experiencing a serious budget crisis. As part of the Governor’s proposal to address this crisis, the State is requiring Torrance Unified School District to cut over 8 million dollars from our already lean budget. Clearly, this is going to have a direct impact on our teaching programs here at Victor.
How can you help us get through this crisis? Simply.
1) Support all of our PTA Fundraising efforts. For example, by purchasing Scrip from our PTA. What you spend weekly in groceries, clothing, entertainment and eating out could go towards our wonderful academic programs at Victor. Those of you who purchased books at our recent Book Fair also helped because a portion of those proceeds went to providing new books for our library.
2) Donations of sealed reams of copy paper. Our primary color is white, but other non-fluorescent colors would be appreciated as well.
3) Give a tax-deductible donation to Victor Elementary School. In addition, many corporations offer their employees gift matching programs to schools. Please check with your employer about their school donation programs.
Do you know that all money will go towards implementing our Single Plan for Student Achievement? This would include purchasing new technologies, providing for After School Intervention and Enrichment classes, and other programs that make our school truly distinguished. If you are interested in seeing our School Plan, we could arrange that for you.
If you have any questions or would like to meet with us personally on how you can help get us through this difficult time, please do not hesitate to contact us.
We are soon approaching the end of the first trimester. Your child will bring home his/her Report Card on Friday, December 12th. Your child’s teacher should have contacted you regarding scheduling a conference. Since we offer conferences for only one week, teachers may not be scheduling conferences with all students. Teachers will schedule conferences on as needed bases. If you have not received any communication from your child’s teacher feel free to contact him/her.
I hope you will join us on Thursday night, December 11th for our Winter Band Concert. Mr. Schulman, Instrumental Music Teacher and the boys and girls from Victor, Anza, and Towers Elementary have been working on a wonderful joint concert of music that will get us in the holiday spirit. The music program will start at 7:00PM. Don’t miss this great event.
Lastly, I would like to personally thank our P.T.A. Board members for their boundless energy and their sincere commitment and dedication to ensuring that every child has a positive experience at school. These members truly know that having parents involved in your school is critical to a child’s success. I have personally witnessed the results of their efforts through the super fun Sock Hop, the creative Adventures in Art projects being done at Victor, the number of Reflection projects that were submitted, and from our highly successful Book Fair, and by this special Newsletter, to name just a few. Know that your efforts and dedication are highly recognized and appreciated!
I would like to wish you and your family a very happy holiday season. It is an honor and a privilege to serve as the principal of such a richly diverse school with outstanding students and educators. Happy Holidays!
Sincerely,
Mr. Baker
Principal
FREE ENGLISH CLASSES FOR ADULTS
Morning and Evening Classes at Victor
If you’re a parent learning English, you’re invited to attend the CBET/ESL class that meets two evenings each week at Victor. Improve your reading and conversation skills, read interesting books at home with your children, and learn how to help them with their homework. It’s a fun class where you can meet people from other countries and also learn about American culture.
This free class meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6:15 to 9:15 p.m. in the Y.M.C.A. building at Victor. Free babysitting is available during this evening class and school-age children get homework help while their parents attend the class.
ESL morning classes are also available. They meet Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 12 noon in the Y.M.C.A. buildings at Victor. Free babysitting is not offered during the morning classes at Victor. However, morning CBET classes at other school sites do have free babysitting. For more information about these or other Torrance Adult School classes, call Gayle Hall or Portia LaFerla at (310) 972-6500, ext. 8419.
REFLECTIONS PROGRAM - RESULTS
The theme for this year’s Reflections Program was “WOW.” We received a record-breaking 162 entries. WOW!!!
The Judge was very impressed by the entries that were submitted by the Victor students. He had a difficult time deciding the winners due to all of the fantastic entries.
The first place winners in each category will have their entries forwarded to the District for the next round of competition.
The theme for next year's Reflections Program is "Beauty is....." Reminders will be sent out to everyone in September of 2009.
There are two divisions in each category. Grades K – 1 – 2 and Grades 3 – 4 – 5.
GRADES K - 1 - 2
PHOTOGRAPHY
1st Anish D'Souza (Room 31 - Miss Rogers)
2nd Shashwat Chahar (Room 22 - Ms. Suminaka)
3rd Ema Tamaoka (Room 22 - Ms. Suminaka)
LITERATURE
1st Raajkiran Komirisetty (Room 32 - Ms. Mike)
2nd Emilee Barnard (Room 38 - Mrs. Uyeda)
3rd Zoe Vasquez (Room 41 - Mrs. Donaldson)
VISUAL ARTS
1st Sajid Manzoor (Room 22 - Ms. Suminaka)
2nd Abhinav Sinha (Room 7 - Mrs. Christian)
3rd Kevin Park (Room 22 - Ms. Suminaka)
GRADES 3 - 4 - 5
MUSICAL COMPOSITION
1st Almina Kirdar (Room 48 - Mrs. Brauch)
2nd Cezar Coziana (Room 13 - Mrs. Graves)
PHOTOGRAPHY
1st Mikayla Rubio (Room 11 - Mrs. Holdsworth)
2nd Shaonee Mitra (Room 30 - Mrs. Weber)
3rd Kristen Voelzke (Room 48 - Mrs. Brauch)
LITERATURE
1st Ryan Mills (Room 47 - Mrs. Pester)
2nd Serena Patel (Room 47 - Mrs. Pester)
3rd Ansh Trivedi (Room 29 - Mrs. Popp)
VISUAL ARTS
1st Conner Kurahashi (Room 30 - Mrs. Weber)
2nd Anna Lee (Room 12 - Mrs. Sobko)
3rd Cameron Hutton (Room 44 - Mrs. Shortell)
Victor's Green Corner
Don't forget to recycle your ink cartridges!
Not only is it great for the environment, it's
great for the PTA. We receive funds from
your ink cartridge!!!
5 ways to be green:
-Help your child's classroom by collecting plastic bottles, cans, and glass. Set up a bin and then when it's full, turn it in to a recycle center. Not only are you teaching the kids to recycle you can put the $ back into the classroom.
-Use less paper towels and napkins....cloth works just fine.
-When sending in copy paper to the school try buying recycled when you can.
-Press "no thanks" when asked to print a receipt at the ATM or gas station. It saves paper and you won't add to the trash.
-Walk/bike to school if they haven't started already. It's great exercise, better on the environment, and it's a great way to communicate with your kids.
*Remember being green can also save you $ green.