THE PINK PANTHER
KAISER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER 30, 2003
OCTOBER
1Minimum Day
3Bake Sale/Stenger
3African Dance
6Brownie Meeting
6Dad's Club Meeting 6:30pm
8Minimum Day
10Bake Sale/Staples
10African Dance
13PTA Board Meeting
14Staff Development Day/
School Closed
15Staff Development Day/
School Closed
17Bake Sale/Reese
17African Dance
17Latino Heritage Potluck
6:00pm Multi-Purpose Room
20PTA Board Meeting
20Brownie Meeting
22Minimum Day
24Bake Sale/Neat
24African Dance
25WALK-A-THON
28Picture Day
29Minimum Day
31Halloween Festivities
31African Dance
NOVEMBER
3-7Parent- Teacher Conferences MINIMUM DAYS
3Brownie Meeting
5Minimum Day
7African Dance
7Bake Sale/
11VETERAN'S DAY HOLIDAY
12Minimum Day
14African Dance
14Bake Sale/
17Brownie Meeting
19Minimum Day
21African Dance
21Bake Sale/
27-28THANKSGIVING HOLIDAYS
A MESSAGE FROM MS. MCLANE
People often ask me why I think Kaiser is such a special school and I believe that there are at least seven areas in which we continually strive to raise the bar:
1) We truly believe in and commit to success for all students. We measure this by monitoring each student’s academic and social growth and providing challenges and interventions when appropriate.
2) We encourage each other to deliver responsive, challenging and exciting instruction.
3) We strive to deliver a high quality instructional curriculum.
4) We try to meet the creative and artistic needs of students.
5) Our staff collaborates with each other and practices a culture of continuous learning. Our staff development meetings are filled with questions, analysis of practice and sharing of current literature or training which we have received.
6) We value diversity and practice cultural togetherness.
7) We welcome, care for, and connect with our staff, students, families and community.
We are always seeking our families’ input as to how we can improve in each of the above areas and feel confident that Kaiser will never settle for being just a “good”
school. We will always strive to be “great”.
In the August 17th edition of the Tribune’s “Bay Area Living” section, there were ten tips for parents to help make this a great school year. The job of being a parent is a tough one and one which many of
us can still use some helpful reminders. We appreciate all that our families do to support our children and hope that these reminders might serve to help us all focus on the toughest, yet most rewarding job of all, that of being a parent. To paraphrase:
1) Set down rules and routines that will save the hassle of changing bad habits mid-year.
2) Keep a separate calendar for homework and project due dates so that planning family activities can take these dates into account.
3) Give your child a distraction-free workspace with necessary tools. Some children do better if they are near a parent when working on school projects.
4) Ask your children what they are doing instead of how well they are doing. This encourages them to value learning.
5) Take time to participate in your child’s school by talking to the teacher, supporting classroom and PTA projects.
6) Encourage children to get involved in the day-to-day lives of their parents. Cook, run errands and shop for groceries together. Kids can develop math and reading
continued on page 2
SEPTEMBER 30, 2003 KAISER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL NEWSLETTER PAGE 2
Ms. McLane continued…
skills by measuring, counting skills by measuring, counting change or reading recipes and ingredients on packages.
7) Make sure your child eats a nutritious diet. Children should start the day with a healthy breakfast and eat five servings of fruits and vegetables a day. Cut down on foods that are high in sugar and fats such as soda and chips. Get them to drink plenty of water and get plenty of exercise.
8) Talk to your children and get to know what they care about. Spend at least ten minutes a day sitting down and showing your child how the world is manageable.
9) Prepare your child for new situations by visiting a new school, setting up a play date with new classmates, etc.
10) Spend time reading with your children. Take your children to the library, the zoo and educational places where both children and parents can connect, learn and enjoy things together. Celebrate the magical moments!
Our staff is looking forward to meeting with each of our families during the first week of November, the 3rd through the 7th. We will have minimum days all week that week, so plan ahead for coverage. Also, know that if you have questions or concerns, our staff is ready to help work with you to resolve the situations.
VISIT KAISER'S WEBSITE:
The Clock is Ticking Down for Walk-A-Thon
The kick-off assembly for the Walk-a-Thon was a huge success thanks to our emcee, Trish Wittmer, who happened to dressed in a poodle skirt (along with Mrs.McLane and Robin). The children were excited and enthusiastic with the kick-off presentation, 50's music and dancing by our teachers.
You child should have brought home their Walk-a-Thon packets on Wednesday and hopefully have begun collecting pledges. As always, especially with our younger children, please be sure they have a grown-up with them if they go door-to-door collecting pledges. If your child didn't get his/her packet, check his/her backpack and if it's still missing, we do have some extras in the office.
The T-shirt contest is up and running, so bring your designs, done on 8 1/2 x 11 paper and in black and white, to the office. The deadline for entries is October 6th.
We still need volunteers to lead a couple of committees. Please see Robin in the office if you would like to help out. Sign-ups for volun-teering on the day of are on the rolling bulletin board in the hallway. Please indicate where you would like to work and desired hours. For of all our families, this is a wonderful way to spend some time meeting Kaiser families and getting to know each other. The Walk-a-Thonis a wonderful community building event.
Thank you,
Robin Sasada and Kristin Alvarez
The Membership/Pledge Drive is now at $12.953 of our $35,000 goal. Special kudos and congratulations to the following leaders who are still holding on to their impressive leads and are on their way to pizza parties by getting 100% participation: Ms. Apaydin's class, now in the lead at 78.26%, Mr. Aurelio's class at 71.43% and Mr. Rust at 58.00%. Outstanding performances!! It should also be noted that Mr. Wade's class has moved up well this week, trailing Mr. Rust's class only slightly at 56.00%. Please check the bulletin board in the main hallway and the great charts in your children's classrooms for updates. Remember that our first goal is 100% participation on the part of all Kaiser families and $35,000 to help make the money we need to install and provide matting for our new play structure for all Kaiser students!
If you need another Membership/ Pledge brochure, they are available on the counter in the Main Office and at all school and PTA events. It's never too late to join and ensure that your child's class makes their goal of 100%participation. We want all Kaiser classrooms eating Pizza for the great job that they have done!
Thanks to the following Kaiser students who have joined this week:
Jacquelie Christie
Marina and Sierra Donaldson
Alistair and Annelise Eeckman
Jonathan and Benjamin Fratti
Imani James
Billy Johnson II
Alyssa Kunesh
Jill Reese
Tori Thomas
Savannah Whaley
Lily Viek
SEPTEMBER 30, 2003 KAISER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL NEWSLETTER PAGE 3
As we prepare our PTA directory, we want to have as much information as you wish us to print.
If you do not wish to have either your address or your phone number listed in the PTA directory, please call the school or drop us a note as to what
information you wish to delete.
If you wish us to print information from both households (in the case of joint custody), please
notify us as well.
The date for the Latino Heritage potluck has changed to Friday, October 17th at 6:30pm in the Multi-Purpose Room. If you are interested in planning this fun-filled cultural evening or are interested in helping the night of the event, please contact Ana Patterson at 251-1177 or Linda Pulido-Esquivel at 569-2048. Please plan to bring your favorite Latin dish to the first Kaiser Family Potluck of the new schoolyear. Gracias!
ADHD STUDY
ADHD STUDY and information is available at Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity disorder at 866-587-2575 or
Our first General PTA meeting took place last Wednesday. Thank you to all that joined us and we look forward to seeing more of our members at the next meeting on November 12th. We received updates from our committee chairs and reviewed and adopted the 2003-04 budget at the meeting. The budget was include-ed in the last issue of the Pink Panther for your review. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me or any of the other PTA officers. You will notice that this year we are spending quite a bit more than in the past, due primarily to the budgeted play structure project. We are currently looking at the next steps in order to get the play structure project kicked off.
Our Membership and Pledge Drive is underway. If you haven't already become a member, I encourage you to join the PTA today. As you have heard, the
PTA is responsible for funding Orff Music for our students, providing resources for art instruction, paying for Ms. Pearl's salary, supporting our family events, and paying for multi-cultural assemblies, and more. Our goal is to attain 100% participation of all Kaiser families. Help us reach our goal by participating at whatever membership/pledge level that you can. Basic membership starts at $25 with additional levels to $360. There is also an installment plan available for your convenience.
Please remember that we raise money for the upcoming year, meaning that the programs that your student will enjoy this year, including the play structure, come from money raised last year and in prior years. Therefore, it is very important that we raise the money required (approximately $60,000), to continue to offer these programs to our students next year. Your participation in the Membership and Pledge Drive is one way of raising this money. The auction and walkathon are the two other major fundraisers sponsored by the PTA.
Walk-a-thon is a way that your student can participate in raising funds for their programs. This year, Kaiser's 27th Annual Walk-a-thon, "Walk Around the Clock" will take place on Saturday, October 25th. Students received their information packets and sponsor sheets in last week's wild assembly. Please read more about the Walk-a-Thon in every edition of the Pink Panther.
We appreciate your continued support. It is families, working together thatallow us to provide our students with an exceptional educational experience and also
what makes Kaiser such a wonderful school.
SEPTEMBER 30, 2003 KAISER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL NEWSLETTER PAGE 4
PLEASE COMPLETE EMERGENCY PACKETS, INCLUDING CARDS
If your child’s name appears on this list and you know that you completed and sent back the emergency packet, please check the backpack, contact your child’s teacher, check the desk and look under the seat of your car. Sometimes the best laid plans do not pan out! We MUST have the forms in the packets returned ASAP. If there were to be an emergency, we need to be able to reach you.
Ian Alexander
Vivian Allen
Colin Babich
Alexis Carney
Ishaq Cash-Jauregui
Ashiian Castillo
Jacquez Clifton
Briya Daniels
Caleb Davis
Kira Debro
Amya Deslierres
Gracie Feferman-Perez
Ayren Griffin
Amari Harmon
Asia Howard
Alina Hubbard-Riley
Jennifer Hyde
Emahni Jackson
Kyle Lamberson
Maya Lopez
Alexandria Manouphath
Bryn Matthiasson
Katharine Mayer
Bryan Morris
Olu Nalls-Agbeti
Angela Nam
Dakota Plunkett
Jonathan Rice
Aaryn Cammri Smith
Erica Smith
Kyra Smith
Nicholas Smith
Arther and Yoichi Suruiki
Dashiell Tavernit
Marquis Taylor
Christopher Thaxton
Ch’Kia Tucker
Kevin Walker
Yasmine Wilson
Skyla Wincher
Reginald Woodard
Alicia Zahn
Parents who are teachers or work in the education field may select books from our library that are boxed or are stacked horizontally on the shelves. We are hoping to have all the “overflow” books recycled by the end of the week, October 3rd. We will then put the fabulous books from the Arts School on our shelves and be ready to open the Library to our children to check out books.
Parents who have extra time and would be willing to help enter the books into our computerized system should sign up and receive training from either Joy Marcelle, Nicol Blakely or other trained parents. Thanks to all of you!!
POODLE SKIRTS AND SWING DANCING KICKED OFF THE “WALK AROUND THE CLOCK”
Thanks to Robin Sasada, Kristen Alvarez and Trish Wittmer for their enthusiastic approach to the Walk-a-thon kick-off assembly. The children couldn’t believe their eyes when the staff got up and danced with each other! What fun! If you didn’t receive the packet, please contact the office and we will see that you get another one.
Students interested in joining the Wednesday after-school drama club which is led by Carmen Campanioni should contact her at her cell phone #332-7563. An eight week session is $50.00 and can be paid in twopayments of $25.00 each. The first session will begin Wednesday, October 1st and end November 19th.
"MAKE A DIFFERENCE” DAY
ON SAT., OCT. 25TH
Our Walk-a-thon is scheduled for the 25th and we also have volunteers from Community Impact coming to help in the library. We would love it if those parents who enjoy gardening would plan to bring gardening gloves that day so that we could plant the hundreds of bulbs that have been donated, as well as help weed the gardens. We will be part of the national effort which was begun ten years ago as part of the “Points of Light.” Thank you in advance!!
SEPTEMBER 30, 2003 KAISER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL NEWSLETTER PAGE 5
Mel Stenger has been teaching for over 23 years, 18 of them here at Kaiser. He's taught almost all grade levels from Kindergarten to 8th grade and still remains ener- getic, enthusiastic and compas- sionate with his students. What Mr. Stenger enjoys most about his students is that there is always something changing and shifting with them, and that brings new learnings for him as well as his students.
Mr. Stenger received his BA in Philosophy from Seminary College in Detroit. He was a Franciscan Friar for four years. He is still a practicing Catholic today, and works with incoming Christians at his church, Our Lady of Lourdes. Mr. Stenger had a short period in his life where he worked in the corporate world, in the insurance business, but found that immoral business practices we not for him. He pursued his Teaching Credential at Cal State Hayward and possess a Masters of Education Supervision and Administration. Mel has served as the Principal of Oakland's GATE Summer Program for the past several years. He has certificates from the Bay Area Science Project, Bay Are Math Project, Bay Area Writing Project and has taken workshop with the Arts Project.
Mr. Stenger finds that teaching Kindergarten is different from other grade levels, in that he feels strongly that he is not only teaching his students, but he is working with their families and helping them adjust to having kids in school. He enjoys being instrumental in this transition for Kaiser families. Mel is accessible to his students and families and believes that communication is key to making the Kindergarten transition smooth for his students and families. If you have had the opportunity to observe Mr. Stenger with students, you will find him authentic, caring and compassionate with our children.
Mel and his partner, Vince Morgante will celebrate their 21st anniversary on Friday. They have two sons, Ian, 13, a student at Montera Middle School and Paul, 10 a student in Mr. Neat's class. Mr. Stenger loves to cook…it relaxes him, and he has been performing with the Gay Men's Chorus since 1987. Mel feels that Kaiser is a good fit for him, as our school is about building whole children, families coming together and a community that is inclusive. He feels welcomed and respected as a gay person, teacher and parent which is something that he thinks is special about Kaiser.