OCTOBER 8, 2010

Dear SMASHing Families,
Based on parent and staff feedback about dismissal time last year, we started this school year trying to address four safety concerns:
1) overcrowding/wild play on the small yard in the midst of grown ups searching for their children,
2) cars double parked on 5th Street with drivers walking onto campus searching for their children,
3) cars driving through the staff parking lot as students walk through the lot, and
4) older students hanging out at the front gates well beyond the 15 minutes after school window unsupervised.

Thanks to thoughtful parent and student input about how dismissal is going this year, we are making additional adjustments so please note the following procedures:

Kindergarten pickup remains Monday through Thursday 1:30 from Candis’ room and little yard with access to campus through the front school gates and Friday 1:30 from the little yard with the 5th Street gate open. Those going to CREST childcare, enrichment, and/or sports get picked up by those CREST teachers.

1st through 8th grade pickup is 2:50 Monday through Thursday and 1:30 Friday. Either Coach Tony or Malaika will continue to cone off the staff parking lot and assist with the valet zone along 5th Street (similar to morning drop off routines so beautifully established by Jackie and helpful volunteer parents). Students from all Cores getting picked up may wait on the little yard for 15 minutes after school as they socialize or use the structures without running wildly around the yard.

Staff will be closing the 5th Street gate approximately 15 minutes after school is out (around 3:05 or 1:45) sending remaining students either to Playground Access or the Front Office to call home.

Older students walking home or getting picked up from the front gates must clear the front area 15 minutes after school is out or they will be sent to Playground Access where there is adult supervision.

We are lucky to have so many active volunteering parents after school working on various projects. Please remind your children that they need to remain with you as you volunteer; they may not be on the yard or playing around the campus without you.

Morning drop off remains the same. School begins at 8:30 daily. Students may be dropped off to the little yard starting at 8:15am; to the cafeteria for breakfast starting at 8:00am. Otherwise, students need to be signed into CREST if they are going to be on campus earlier than these times.

Please remember: There is NO PARKING in the 5th Street lot between 7:00am and 4:00pm. Please park in the6th Street visitors lot or on the side streets. The 5th Street is for staff only.

Thank you again for the ideas and partnership in making us all have the safest, smoothest drop off and dismissal procedures.

Next week I’ll share my notes from the Responsive Classroom parent training 55 of us enjoyed together for those of you who were otherwise occupied with soccer and many other family events!
Truly yours,
Jessica

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HOLIDAY SINGERS! Wednesdays, 3:00 - 3:30pm
Dian Andrews will once again offer free Holiday Singing sessions beginning

Wednesday, October 20 All ages are encouraged to join. Meet in Core 1

Performance at Main Street Farmer's Market, Sunday, December 5 at 8:30am

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DATES TO REMEMBER
Oct 11-13 - 6th grade Catalina Trip
Wed, Oct 13 - Bike It Day
Wed, Oct 13 - 5:30pm - Site Council Mtg - Laura’s room 225
Fri, Oct 15 - SMASH & John Muir Student Councils sponsored: CRAZY HAIR DAY!
Tues, Oct 19 - SMASH Picture Day Forms in today’s attachments
Sat, Oct 23 - RUMMAGE SALE
Fri, Oct 29 - SMASH-JOHN MUIR HALLOWEEN CARNIVAL

THINGS TO DO
Sat, Oct 9 - 11am-3pm - 21st Annual Malibu Pie Festival in the Courtyard at Malibu Methodist Church. Pie eating contests, pie judging, live music, a petting zoo, storytelling, silent auction, food trucks, kids' crafts, and more.
Fridays 1:30pm - Grades 4-8. Cheerleading. Meet at the lunch benches
Sat & Sun Oct 9-24 - 11:00am - If You Take a Mouse to School, Morgan-Wixson Theatre, 2627 Pico Blvd, SM $6 age 12 & under, $8 age 13 & older. Come see our Zelda! www.yesplays.org or 310-828-7519
Sun, Oct 17, 2:00pm, Elemental Strings Benefit Concert - First Presbyterian Church of Santa Monica; 1220 2nd St, Santa Monica. A wonderful opportunity for students to get to see and hear great playing up close. Tickets: $15 students, $25 adults. All current Elemental Strings students will get in free. Tickets available at www.elementalstrings.com or www.brownpapertickets.com, keyword Elemental Strings Benefit Concert.

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Do you have any high ticket items for the SMASH Rummage Sale?
Send a picture and description of your item to Catherine Lerer at clerer@mcgeelerer.com.
We will list your item(s) on Craigs List prior to the Sale!
REMINDER
RUMMAGE SALE is SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23
DROP your items on FRIDAY, October 22.
If you have any question or you would like to help, please let us know!
Contact Kelly at kebolance@yahoo.com or Jamee at tenzer@lifeworks4ucoaching.com.

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WEDNESDAY BAKE SALE DATES
CORE 4: Oct 13

CORE 1: Oct 20

CORE 2: Oct 27

CORE 3: Nov 3
TEACHER APPRECIATION LUNCH
CORE 2: Nov 5

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ptsa news
president’s message
Dear SMASHing Parents,
Fall is here, nights are getting cold (at least this week) , leaves are falling and we have had rain. As we look forward to the Halloween season including the SMASH/Muir Halloween Carnival and trick or treating on October 31, 2010, we all must make decisions about the upcoming election on November 2, 2010. If you are not registered to vote but are eligible to do so, you have until October 18, 2010, to register and have your vote count in this election

We will be voting to determine many important races and propositions, both statewide and locally, that will directly impact your family and your children’s education. Those of importance include the contests for State Superintendent of Public Instruction, SMMUSD School Board, Santa Monica City Counsel and Propositions Y & YY.

Over the next few weeks there will be numerous opportunities for everyone to get more informed, get involved and help make a difference concerning the issues and candidates that effect our lives. This is everyone’s opportunity to participate in our democracy. I urge every SMASH family to discuss the upcoming election, start preparing our children to take on their future responsibility to exercise their right to vote, have open communication and debate about the issues and participate in our political process.
Thanks,
Dan McGee

prop Y & YY phone bank
· SMASH parents are asked to join the Prop. Y & YY phone bank on Sunday, October 10, 2010, 5:30 p.m. – 8:30 pm. If you can only come for a few minutes or an hour or two, please REMEMBER the more calls we make, the better chance we have of passing Y & YY. Who better to call than a parent calling another parent. Campaign headquarters are located at 3000 Ocean Park Blvd., Suite 3005, 310-562-6003. To sign up to volunteer, email
Helga Schier at helgaschier@verizon.net or Dan McGee at dmcgee@mcgeelerer.com. It’s easy. They give you a script to follow with the group support of fellow parents working together to help our children.
ptsa annual family investment drive
· The SMASH Annual Family Investment Drive has moved into the next phase, in which we request that every family make a decision about what your family investment will be. We are looking for everyone to make a commitment for something. We need 100% participation and understand that many families cannot make their donation at
this time. Therefore, we ask that you first decide what your investment will be and then determine when your donation can be made. We understand that many families cannot make a donation until later this year, or sometime next year. But, if you haven’t already done so, please make a commitment for whatever amount your family can afford. Donations can be made by check, Paypal or credit card. Annual Family Investment (AFI) envelopes are available in
the office. Your investment helps pay for classroom teaching assistants, reading and math specialists, the SMASH fine arts program, science equipment, technology upgrades, professional development and so much more. If you have any questions, contact Marni Ayers Brady (marniayers@gmail.com) or Helga Schier (helgaschier@verizon.net)
SMASH business directory
· The deadline to place your ad in the SMASH Business Directory has passed. If you still want to place an ad or listing, contact Catherine Lerer (clerer@mcgeelerer.com) to see if your ad can still be accommodated.
SMASH Rummage Sale/Car Wash
· Volunteers are needed for the SMASH Rummage Sale and Car Wash, which is scheduled for Saturday, October 23, 2010. On Friday, October 22nd, volunteers are needed to sort and display the sale items. Volunteers will be needed on Saturday during the sale and car wash. Please contact Jamee Tenzer (tenzer@lifeworks4coaching.com) or Kelly Lance (kebolance@yahoo.com) to volunteer for the Rummage Sale and John Zemke (zemkejohn@gmail.com) to help with the car wash.
SMASH bash
· SMASH BASH sign-ups were today in the Little Yard. There are 23 exciting events in all. It's not too late though - there are still some "spots" left. Stop by the office next week to check out the SMASH Bash Folder for remaining events. If you want to attend one, just fill out a form (in the SMASH Bash folder) and leave payment in the office made out to"SMASH ptsa." REMEMBER: 100% of the money collected goes to SMASH. marniayers@gmail.com

SMASHing meetings
· Our next PTSA meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, November 10, at 8:30 am., in the music room to the left of the cafeteria.
DATES TO REMEMBER:
Sunday, October 10, 2010, SMASH Phone Banking at Yes on Y & YY headquarters, 5:30p.m. - 8:30 p.m. . To sign up to volunteer, email Helga Schier at helgaschier@verizon.net or Dan McGee at dmcgee@mcgeelerer.com
Saturday, October 23, SMASH Rummage Sale/Car Wash
Friday October 29, SMASH/Muir Halloween Carnival, 1:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. Free family fun!
Wednesday, November 10, 8:30 am. PTSA meeting in the music room.

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The SMASH PTSA is 236 members-strong
- and still growing!
If you haven't joined yet, here are some reasons why you should:
· The opportunity to be better connected with SMASH, Principal Jessica, and the staff and to learn what's happening at SMASH.
· The right to attend PTSA meetings, ask questions and vote on issues.
· Power to determine our organization's priorities and vote on the budget and expenditures recommended by the executive board.
· Personal growth as a parent and volunteer leader.
· Leverage our volunteer power to benefit our kids and SMASH.
· Connect with other parents to share ideas and concerns.
· A strong PTSA improves our school's reputation in the community.
· Costs only $8 per membership.
· Each membership purchased gets you a copy of the SMASH Phone Book.
To join, fill out the white PTSA envelope that came in your child’s first day packet, or pick up an envelope at the office. Insert a check for $8 per member, payable to SMASH PTSA. Drop the envelope off at the office. Any questions, email Catherine Lerer (mother of Molly McGee/Core 2 and Sadie McGee/Core 1) at clerer@mcgeelerer.com.
Sincerely,
Catherine Lerer, PTSA Membership V.P.

Daniel McGee, PTSA President

Jessica Rishe, Principal
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Bike It! Walk it! Day Recheduled
Due to the of rain this Wednesday morning (Oct 6), the Chair of Bike It!/Walk It! Day and I have agreed to defer the event by one week to Wednesday, October 13 . I apologize if this rescheduling inconveniences volunteers, teachers, schools, and parents; however, we all want Bike It!/Walk It! Day to be a great, and safe , experience for the students. The risk of thousands of our students (ranging from elementary to high school) dealing with wet road conditions
and difficult drivers is not part of anyone's equation. We look forward to having our students and staff riding their bikes or walking to campus on the new Bike It!/Walk It! Day: Wednesday, October 13 !
Sincerely,
Tim Cuneo
Superintendent, Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District

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Reflective parenting workshops
Beginning at FAMILY SERVICE OF SANTA MONICA in October
Goals of the workshop…
increased confidence in parenting
new ways to think about children’s behavior
more manageable & effective interventions
for parents of children preschool and school age

This innovative 10-week workshop series provides parents with a reflective parenting model, which views all children’s behavior as meaningful communication that can be understood. This reflective capacity lies at the heart of sensitive, effective parenting, which research has demonstrated is an important way to help parents strengthen relationships with their children. Parents agree. here is what they way...
“I thought this was going to be a waste of time, but now at the end I feel that I’ve learned so much. I’m a better parent and listen to my child.” David - father from past group
“This was an amazing experience.” Sara - mother of a 3 year old.
Wednesday evenings 7:00 - 8:30pm, beginning
October 13, 2010
To register please contact
Annie Wilson, LCSW, MS, 310-451-9747 or Kate Ross, LMFT, 310-451-9747
YOUR CHILD'S SPECIAL SENSORY AND SOCIAL NEEDS

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Site Council Meeting
Wednesday, October 13
5:30 pm - Room 225 (Laura)
Please join a discussion with SMASH parent and child/adolescent therapist Maggie Sennish, M FT about how to help your child/student cope with his/her own unique sensory and social needs. Ms. Sennish has 15 years experience working with children with special needs in school and private practice settings. Presentation will include a resource handout of books, professional connections and agencies offering help to families, teachers and students seeking a path to greater daily coping skills and social success.

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Friday, October 29, 2010
1:30PM to 3:30PM

SMASH/Muir Halloween Carnival
Free family fun!
To volunteer, contact
Helen at 310-279-3671 or helenhkim2002@yahoo.com
Helga at 310-828-8421 or helgaschier@verizon.net

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CORE 1 NEWS
Community Walks
Core 1 will be taking community walks throughout the year. Community walks offer children outdoor learning opportunities that could not occur in the classroom. Children will ask questions and make observations about the world that relate to learning projects. This week, the naturalists and the builders took a school community walk around Core 1. Before our first community walk to Hollister Park with our circle groups, we discussed ways to be safe and considerate. Here are some of the highlights:
· Stay in the sandwich. The sandwich starts with an adult leader and ends with and adult leader. They represent the slices of bread in a sandwich. The children stay between the bread representing the veggies. Additional adults are spread out within the club sandwich. Staying in the sandwich helps us stay close to the group, so we won’t get lost.
· Stay on the sidewalk. This keeps us safe from cars on the street and it helps us keep our shoes clean.
· Use quiet voices. One way to show consideration for our neighbors is to keep a quiet voice when walking on the street. If neighbors are sleeping, we won’t disturb them.
· Be safe around strangers. We keep a safe distance from people and animals. We let a leader know if a stranger gets close to us.
· We don’t pick things up. The flowers we see belong in gardens. Things could have germs or poison.

We will continue to remind children of these guidelines as they work on projects as builders, naturalists, and artists. Please discuss these guidelines at home.

Reminder
Please remember to bring a change of clothes for your child. They especially need it on rainy days and after exploring with water.
Conferences
Thank you for participating in your child’s conference. Our strong team-work will support the children.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Candis, Chrysta, Graciela, Jackie, and Karin
Candis: cberens@smmusd.org

Chrysta: cwyse@smmusd.org

Graciela: gbarba-castro@smmusd.org

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CORE 2 NEWS
Fall Family Conferences are going very well. Thanks for all of your thoughtful input about your child’s strengths. We are very impressed with how well the students know themselves and how excited and confident they are when sharing their work, ideas, and concerns. Everyone has set really great goals!
Advisory News: This week our Leadership focus was on the “E” in CARES, Empathy. We have been reading about, discussing, and practicing empathy as individuals by helping and caring for others, making others feel better, and “seeing” the situation through the eyes of the other person. Sometimes it is easy to put yourself in someone else’s shoes when the exact same thing has happened to you. It is much harder, and sometimes much more important, to try to
understand someone or a situation that is completely outside of your own experiences. Ask your child how and whenthey use their Empathy in Core 2. HW: Talk together about times when you have had to use empathy to help you through a difficult situation with a friend, colleague, or family member.

Literacy: We continued to read in school every day for 20 – 30 minutes. We have embarked upon our first writing piece: a “quick” publish, which will help us learn about all the steps of the writing process. The students collected ideas about themselves on a “Me” List and chose one idea to write about. The have been planning the story by making notes/ pictures about the beginning, middle, and end of the story. The nurtured their idea by identifying why they chose their idea and why it is important to them. Next week we will find ways to show the important aspect of our story idea in our writing. Then we’ll draft a short piece to revise, edit, and publish.
***RW HW: All Core 2 students should be reading for at least 30 minutes at home each day (independent reading, reading aloud to a family member, and listening to a read aloud all count).
***WW HW: Students, write down your full address, with number, street, city, state, and zip code. Also writedown two phone numbers you can use to reach your parents in case of an emergency.

Math: Laura’s 3rd graders solved addition problems in which the sum of the ones digits is greater than 10. Their homework provides practice adding and subtracting 2 digit numbers. Ask your child to explain how she/he solved each problem. Each day the students are learning different strategies to show their thinking – number lines, charts, pictures of ten sticks and ones, and equations. Tamara’s 4th graders started practicing/memorizing their multiplication combinations (times tables) by exploring arrays, playing games to test the ones they “just know” and identifying strategies for learning/remembering the ones they don’t know. You will notice family letters coming home with the Math HW packets from time to time—please keep those letters as a reference for discussing the homework from the unit with your child. Our HW Mantra is: start with what you know, do what you can, bring it in and ask for help. We never want homework to become a source of confusion or frustration for you or your child.

Word Work: This week Jayme joined us while the children wrote sentences--we all practiced our penmanship, punctuation,and writing in complete thoughts.

Media Center: Both advisory groups had the opportunity to visit, return, and check out Media Center books this week.Children will be allowed to check out 2 books and bring them home. Ask your child to show you their Media Center books, so you can help your child be responsible for caring for them at home and returning them when they are due.

Field Trip: We’ll be taking the Big Blue Bus to the Morgan-Wixson Theater mid-morning on Wednesday, October 20 to see Zelda in “If you Take a Mouse to School”. We need 3 parents from each advisory as volunteers to travel with us and we are asking for a donation of $10 per family to cover the expense of the trip and add to our trip “scholarship” fund. The sign up sheet and parent guidelines are near outside cubbies on the bulletin board. Look for the permission
slip and more details in next week’s Friday Letter.

Wanted: 4 or 5 mouse pads

DATES TO REMEMBER
Friday, October 15 – Crazy Hair Day sponsored by Student Council
Tuesday, October 19 – Picture Day, more info to come
Wednesday, October 20 – Field Trip to the Morgan Wixson Theater, 9:30 – 2:00
Tamara, Laura, Jayme, Nadja, and Karin
Laura: lsherman@smmusd.org

Tamara: tmugalian@smmusd.org

Jayme:j.wold@smmusd.org

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CORE 3 NEWS
Shout out to our Getty Center parent chaperones—Allison, Debbie, Frank, Morgan, John, Gina, and Christina!

CATALINA TRIP 10/11-10/13! Do not miss the boat!

10/15 Crazy Hair Day;

10/19 Picture Day

Art supplies STILL REALLY needed (Thanks for all that donated furniture catalogs):
~cardboard (at least 2'x2') any square or rectangle shape to be used for the base for our stage diagrams
~Plastic Sleeves for our 3-ring Working Portfolio Binders

6th grade Math w/ Carrie: In our only session of the week (because of the field trip) we continued our work with factors and multiples. Specifically we started looking at patterns in multiples and tried to answer questions such as: what happens when you add two odd numbers? Two even numbers? An odd and an even? What happens when you multiply them? Is there a consistent pattern? We will continue this work after the Catalina trip.
5th grade Math with Genie: We continued looking at factors of larger numbers using our knowledge of factors of smaller numbers. We started to share strategies to learn and internalize multiplication combinations. One student said she knows 9x7, because she knows 10x7=70 and she subtracted one group of 7 to get 63. That's where those combinations of 10 also come in handy. Can your child say them (1,9; 2,8; 3,7; 4,6; 5,5)? Can your child say combinations of
100 (53,47; 26,74; 81,19, etc)?
Science w/ Carrie: We continued to look at our Periodic Table Basics by organizing the elements so that we can see how the Periodic Table works.
Theme: We continued to draw our floor plans and think about how we want our houses to be organized. Next week, our goal is to be able to put our houses on a plot of land and start to put up the walls. We also started to look at the different styles of architecture and thought about what we like and dislike and why. At the Getty Center, our tour guides explained how line, shape, color, texture, composition, and symmetry/balance are basis of architecture.
Social Studies and Geography with Erin: This week Social Studies was shortened due our early dismissal days. Continuing with our theme of identity, students thought about a time when they either pretended to be something they weren't or hid their true feelings or part of their identity. This activity will continue next week with mask making, as students think further about what parts of their identity they share with the world and what parts they keep to themselves. This week in geography we delved into the topic of world population. Students spent one class period learning how to read a population map. Measuring six different, one square foot spaces to represent one square mile areas, students filled each square with 1, 25, 100, 250, or 500 beans. By participating in this hands on activity, students got a better idea of what an
atlas is attempting to show when it states, for example, that in a certain areas of the world "250 or more people live in a square mile." Students then used the population map in the world atlas to answer questions in groups about population density throughout the world. They explored how different landforms (ex: Sahara Desert) lead to differing populations.
Reading and Writing Workshop with Genie: Our Personal Narrative Publishing party was fantastic! What a great way to start off the year pushing our writing to publish on time! The stories were touching and focused on the heart with a build up to the top of our story mountain. I wrote comments on each piece—come look at their Working Portfolios if you didn't get a chance to see the comments during Conferences. In reading, we have dived into our shared short
story, "Border Crossing" by Pam Muñoz Ryan. We are reading deeply as readers and responding to the text as well as admiring the writing craft.
Homework:
Carrie's 6g Math - ACE problems 1-18 due Monday, October 18 (after Catalina)
Science - Overdue gluing Elements to periodic table
Theme - Floor plan final draft and questions due Monday, October 11
Erin's 6g Math: Due to early dismissals, there was no "Data About Us" math this week.
Geography: Please discuss the following questions/issues with your child. What is the most densely populated continent? Why is much of North Africa so sparsely populated? Why is a large part of northern South America so sparsely populated? In class we discussed China's one-child policy to help curb overpopulation. What is your opinion of this? What are some pros and cons?
5g Math - Packet #5 is due Friday, October 15 (all others are overdue and need to be turned in)
Reading - Read every day for 30min—Log in pages/write at least 1 question every day
Writing - Collecting ideas every day in notebook (1 page or 10 min. of writing)/Practice spelling of 'demon' words
Genie: ghwang@smmusd.org

Carrie: cferguson@smmusd.org

Erin: dodgers44@hotmail.com

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CORE 4 NEWS
Dear Families,
This week we are starting the “Weekly Learning Review” formerly known as the “Progress Report.” The information below will give an explanation of what we are expecting from your child and the information you should see every Friday. Please sign and have your child return the Weekly Learning Review my Monday.

WEEKLY LEARNING REVIEW & PARENT REPORT
This activity is intended as a review of current learning topics for students and a weekly communication to parents regarding their child’s progress, missing assignments, and behavioral choices. We have chosen this method of reporting because it fosters habitual reflection and self-evaluation. Authored by the learner themselves, with guidance from advisors, alumni tutors, and peers, this report should help parents understand what we are doing at school and why we believe it is worth spending time upon. As always, e-mail or drop around if you have questions.
Guiding questions and a CARES summary will be used to stimulate a learning conversation and create a brief weekly narrative. Please sign and return on the following Monday.

1. What are you learning, reviewing, or practicing this week in Non-Fic-Lit, Fiction Lit, Math, Inquire Science, and OARS? Describe our learning activities in specific detail; be sure to use any new vocabulary you have learned and to cite specific examples of measurable progress.
2. Why are you learning this information/skill/routine? Review your guiding questions, reflection journals, and working portfolios to help you make the connections between topics!
3. What questions come from this work? What is the next logical step in your learning?
4. List and describe all missed assignments. Seek immediate help to catch up!

Our social curriculum emphasizes consistent Cooperation, effective Assertion, Responsible choices, Empathy for other members of the community and Self-control. Known as the CARES curriculum, this Responsive Classroom approach provides us the time and opportunity to help children develop into fine young adults. Finish your learning report by evaluating your performance relative to SMASHing expectations. Focus on discussing your responsibility and self-control. If you have been reminded, redirected, or counseled about your choices, you must report this to your parents.
Kurt & Darwin

Calling all Core 4 families who want to help collect art supplies for the Core 4 mural There is a FREE event sponsored by Vista Paint called “Day at the Races” at Hollywood Park on Friday,October 15 from 11:00am and into the night.
Every person will receive free t-shirts and supplies offered by the various companies represented: Vista Paints, 3M (tape), Benjamin Moore, GE, Olympic, Rust-oleum (finishes) and lots more. For further information go to www.hollywoodpark.com

Kurt: kholland@smmusd.org

Darwin: dmendineuto@smmusd.org

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