Dear
SMASHing Families,
This is the
last Friday Letter of 2013. Winter Break begins after school next Friday,
December 20. The two weeks of vacation bring holiday celebrations for some and
lots of good family time for many. It is
the time of year for reflections, resolutions, and gratitude.
Reflection:
At the national memorial
service for the former South African President, President Obama said,
"Nelson Mandela reminds us that
it always seems impossible until it is done.”
Resolution:
As tributes to Nelson Mandela
poured in from around the world, a poem by Maya Angelou captured how many of us
are feeling. In His Day is Done, Maya Angelou wrote, "We will not
forget you, We will not dishonor you, We will remember and be glad that you
lived among us.”
Gratitude:
I am grateful for our SMASH
community, for all the shared learning and growing we do together. Thank you for all that you are and all that
you do.
Happy Winter Break and Happy
New Year!
Jessica
*********************
DATES TO REMEMBER
CREST Enrichment and sports sign-ups are now
available.
Details in this week’s Friday Letter and online
at www.smgov.net/crest
Tues, Dec. 17 - SMASH and
John Muir Winter Concert - Details
in today’s Friday Letter
Wed, Dec 18 - SMASH
Arts/Drama Share - Details in today’s
Friday Letter
WINTER BREAK - December 23 - January 6. School resumes on Tuesday, January 7, 2014.
Monday,
January 6 - NO SCHOOL
SAVE THE DATE
Wednesday, January 22 - Two SMASH fundraisers - CPK restaurant night and
Barnes and Noble Fundraiser
Arts & Letters Sale is
on Saturday, February 22. - We Need Art
! Questions?: info@smashartsale.com
*********************
SMASH 8TH GRADE
STUDENTS ARE SELLING $20 ICE TICKETS
FRIDAYS, BEFORE & AFTER SCHOOL AT THE MAIN GATE AND IN THE SMALL YARD ICE cards can also be purchased in
the SMASH office (check or cash amount only).
ICE will create a SMASH booklet that you can purchase
for $20. It can be used like cash for Admission, Skate
Rental and/or Concessions. Admission and skate rental at ICE is $12, and the
additional $8 left over can be used at the concession/food stand or 'saved' for
the next trip to ice where it can again be used toward admission or for food
and beverage. The cards can be used all
season long (except New Year’s Eve) so stock up! ICE tickets are good through January 20,
2014
For every $20 card
sold, the SMASH Trips Scholarship fund will earn $8.
Questions? Contact Lori Nafshun at gettalife1@gmail.com
*********************
Tidbits From SMASH PTSA
Are you up to the
Challenge? Take the D&B Matching
Gift Challenge!
Now through December 20,
Dun & Bradstreet will match, dollar for dollar up to $150,000, your donation to the Education Foundation in support
of the SMMUSD Vision for Student Success.
Every gift, no matter the size, will double the impact at your Child’s
school and every school in our district, $50 becomes $100, $500 becomes $1,000!
Make your gift online at www.smmef.org/donate
Or mail your donation to:
Santa Monica-Malibu Education Foundation; 1645 16th St; Santa Monica, CA 90404
THIS IS A GREAT DEAL! Donate your gently used clothing
and make money for SMASH.
Just visit our dedicated
SMASH LA Stitch Page (below) , request a bag and fill it up. UPS will come pick
it up when you are ready. SMASH makes 40% of the sales from your gently used
clothing.
http://www.schoola.com/stitch/santa-monica-alternative-k-8-santa-monica-ca
The PTSA wants to hear from you!
Please feel free to email questions, thoughts and
ideas: Jamee Tenzer, Co-President jameetenzer@gmail.com,
*********************
Looking for a fulfilling, free, outdoor activity this December?
At the Annenberg Beach House Stacey Vigallon of LA
Audubon and Lucien (Lu) Plauzoles of the Santa Monica Bay Audubon Society will
be conducting a Snowy Plover and beach ecology walk at 8:30 on December 29. The
Annenberg requests you to sign up by email at http://beachhouse.smgov.net/
If children under 8 are involved, you might want to
take the 10 AM (same day) family walk-- a softer kid-oriented discovery of
nature at the beach. (same link) Stacey and the affable Chris Lord will lead
that walk.
At Malibu Lagoon, Santa Monica Bay Audubon conducts
its monthly walk. Save the date. Check out the SMBAS blog at
http://smbasblog.wordpress.com/ The announcement for the Dec. 22 (Sunday) walk
will be posted in a few days, but you can always count on a walk the 4th Sunday
of every month: 8:30 AM for adults and the young birder, 10AM for the family
(kids under 8) intro walk. There are lots of friendly birders who are there to
help all experience levels, and if you don't have your own, they will lend you
binoculars.
*********************
In honor of Kwanzaa, the John Adams Middle School
Pathway schools cordially invite you to the:
Karamu Community
Celebration
Thursday, December 19, 2013
4:00-6:00pm
John Muir Elementary /SMASH Auditorium
R.S.V.P. to Donna McCoy at dmccoy@smmusd.org or
(310) 452-2326 x
72218 or
(310) 452-2364 x 67337
In recognition of Kwanzaa’s seven principles or Nguza Saba
(Unity, Determination, Collective Work and Responsibilities, Cooperative
Economics, Purpose, Creativity, and Faith), we look forward to
celebrating the rich diversity of our local community! Sponsored by Truxton’s American Bistro
*********************
FREE E WASTE DISPOSAL
Saturday, December 14 -
9am—1pm
SAMOHI Campus - Enter through
Olympic Gate
For Info:
ewasteclubsamohi.webs.com/ or e-mail at ewasteclubsamohi@gmail.com
*********************
SMASH and JOHN MUIR
WINTER CONCERT
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
6:00 pm
4th Grade Violin – Music Room
4th Grade Viola & Cello – Cafeteria
4th Grade Flute & Clarinet – SMASH Room
415
4th Grade Trumpet & Trombone – Computer
Lab
7:00 pm
4th Grade Chorus - Library
5th Grade Band, 5th Grade
Chorus, 5th Grade Orchestra – Cafeteria
8:00 pm – SMASH Middle School Groups
Chorus, Winds, Orchestra, Jazz Band Cafeteria
We are looking forward to sharing this evening with
you!
Ms. Bersch, Ms. Cruz, Mrs. Quíroz, Mrs. Spike-Gravelle
Mr. Hyziak, Mr. Muñoz, Mr. Anderson
Students: Please arrive 15 minutes before your
performance time
with appropriate concert attire.
GRILLED CHEESE AND FLOWERS!
Don’t worry about dinner or flowers for your
musician.
SMASH will be selling food and flowers in front of the
auditorium
8TH GRADERS!!
DON’T FORGET TO SIGN-UP WITH ESMÉ TO WORK
THE GRILLED
CHEESE & FLOWER TABLE!!
*********************
CORE 1 NEWS
Writing and Storytelling
in Core 1
Learning how stories go and
how to craft them is an important part of the writing curriculum in Core 1. A
good way of supporting your child’s growth in this area is through
storytelling. By telling our children stories and hearing theirs, we can help
them practice using some strategies and skills that make a story engaging to an
audience. On Monday, Core 1 was visited by Harry Hart-Browne, a professional
storyteller. For 30 minutes we listened, mesmerized, as he told fantastic
tales. When asked what made his stories so engaging and powerful, students
replied that it was the dialogue
(“character’s speaking”), character thinking, and action. These also happen to
be characteristics of powerful story writing. Practice in using and including
these when storytelling can help improve your child’s use of them in their
writing too.
SMASHing Spa Party &
Fundraiser
Please join us on Sunday,
December 15th from 2-5 o’clock for the SMASHing Spa Party and
Fundraiser. Organic products for face
and body will be featured and 10% of all proceeds will go to SMASH. The event
will be held at Candis’ house and will
be hosted by Chrysta and Candis. Friends are welcome, but this is an
adults-only occasion. Please RSVP chrystapowell@gmail.com.
Drama Share
Please join Core 1 as they
hold their Drama Share, Holding On to the Story, on December 18, from
9:00-10:00. Students will present The
Full Belly Bowl by Jim Ayleswork and Jubal’s Wish by Audrey
Wood. We will have three screenings: 9:00-9:15, 9:20-9:35, and
9:40-9:55. The whole school community is
invited to see how characters’ feelings change over the course of a story. The Partners’ work will be presented
Graciela’s room, The Bigs’ work will be presented in Chrysta’s Room, and the
Mentors’ work will be presented in Christian’s room. We hope that
you can join us!
Scribblebot Workshop
We want to thank those who
were able to join us for Wednesday night’s Scribblebot Workshop. Parents and
staff learned about the importance of invention, ingenuity, and experimentation
and how these characteristics can be
encouraged in children through creating or “tinkering.” If you were
unable to attend the workshop but are interested in volunteering, please
contact and of the Core 1 teachers.
Lice Alert!
Please continue to check your
child’s hair for lice. Although Nurse
Sandy and teachers have been checking students at school, most cases this year
have been reported by families. Checking their hair on a weekly basis would
increase our chances of minimizing lice from spreading.
Have a great weekend!
Graciela (gbarba-castro@smmusd.org) Chrysta
(cpowell@smmusd.org) Christian (ccarter@smmus.org)
& Nadja
*********************
CORE 2 NEWS
Can you
feel it in the air? WINTER BREAK, we’re
almost there!
With only 1-week
left of school in 2013, we still have SO MUCH going on in Core 2!
Thank you to Violeta’s mom, Sarah, for sharing her
expertise and knowledge with us this week in Core 2! Sarah is a Nurse-Midwife and an assistant
professor of Nursing at Mount St. Mary’s College. We learned about the amazing roles of
the human placenta (The ONLY organ grown after birth and then released!),
amniotic fluid, and the umbilical cord.
Core 2 also learned that Jayme’s baby hears all of us EVERYDAY! He knows how to respond to, “Knock, knock”
before he’s even born.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Core 2 students are so proud to share their work with
the SMASH community!
Here’s what you can look
forward to seeing during Core 2’s Share next week:
*Realistic Fiction writing
pieces
*Animal Books
*Cloud category charts
*Water Cycle Brochures
*Weather Forecasts
*Pastel and Charcoal
Portraits
*Sketchbooks with watercolor
artwork
*Overlapping shape designs
Hope to see you all there!
_________________________________________________________________________________
Winter Break Work: Yes, yes, we
know…no one really wants homework during the break!
Here are some suggestions of
fun activities to keep our learning going and minds growing:
Reading- Continue reading Just Right, Old Favorites, and
Adventure Books. This is a great time to
share your books with family and friends that you may visit during break.
Writing- This is a perfect time to use those “real world”
writing skills! You can write thank-you
notes, holiday cards, or letters to friends and family.
Math- Students can play a few math games with family and
friends, measure ingredients for a new recipe, or figure out how many
hours/minutes you have away from school!
:-)
_________________________________________________________________________________
On the first day back, January
7, students can check the list in either classroom to see their NEW
ADVISORY GROUPS! Students will stay
in these new groups until the end of the school year. Each group will have the opportunity to be with
both Tamara and Mimi. Tamara
will continue immersing students in non-fiction reading and writing, while Mimi will be guiding
students through the world of Fantasy!
*With so much going on around Winter Break, please let
us know in advance
if you will be
out of school for any portion of next week or the 1st week back.*
Upcoming Events
FIELD TRIPS
Art and Academic Sharing 11am - Wednesday,
December 18
Last day of school for Winter
Break Friday, December 20
First day back from Winter
Break Tuesday, January 7
Have a wonderful, restful, and fun-filled
vacation.
May your new year be filled with happiness and
love!
Jayme:
jwoldflorian@smmusd.org Tamara,
Jayme, & Malaika Tamara:
tmugalian@smmusd.org
*********************
CORE 3 NEWS
WHOLE CORE
BOOK CLUB this year will begin in January!
The books have arrived and will be distributed next week. This year's title is Rules by Cynthia
Lord. The book is about a 12 year old girl who has an autistic brother and
wishes for a 'normal' life. Of course in her quest to find normal she begins to
ask herself 'What is normal?' We will
link this book club to our thematic unit on Inclusion and to our
Dramatic Arts unit as well. We are asking for a $6.00 donation to cover the
cost of the book. Genie is asking the
students to read the book over winter break so that when we reread it January,
we will read it with more depth a second time together. Feel free to read it alongside your child
over winter break to share your insights and get a jump start into your child's
thinking about growing up, being normal, being different, and having people in
your life that include you.
Green and
Pink! Those have been our advisory names this
year. We will be remixing the advisories
and the new advisories will be announced the first day of the new semester,
TUESDAY, JAN 7th! (There is no school for SMASH on Monday January 6th.) This means that some students will stay Green
and some will stay Pink and some will switch.
We try to balance the groups on all different levels so please know a
lot of thought and reason went into the making of these groups. Change is great for some individuals and hard
for others.
6th gr
Math with Erin: We
are wrapping up the first of our units on fractions and decimals. This week
students again practiced converting decimals to fractions and vice versa. They
also thought about how to order decimals from least to greatest. Next week we
will have our unit assessment.
5th
gr Math with Genie:
We are learning equivalences and have begun to order fractions. We are playing a game called In Between
which will be coming home today so that your child can teach someone at home
how to play. If math is a challenge for
your child, playing this game a few times a week will be very helpful. If you feel like you need a fractions
refresher, check out video clips at khanacademy.org or pull out your
calculator to use the division operation to find the decimal equivalent, which
will help you order your fractions. For
example if you have 1/8 you can punch in 1¸8= and see the decimal answer is .125
= 12.5% and so that is just over 10%.
Social
Studies/Science with Erin:
Students have completed - or almost completed - their informational books about
their countries. This week they worked feverishly to put the finishing touches
on their work and to plan their display booths. In order for the student
books to be bound and covered (by Erin) for display, they need to have them
printed out and ready to turn in on Monday morning. Reminder: unfortunately
we do not have a colored printer at school, so if students want to print in
color they can take their work home on a flash drive (on Friday) and print at home.
If you do not have a color printer or the "pages" program at home,
students who do have offered to take others work home on flash drives and print
for them.
Social Studies Share
Reminders:
Tuesday, December 17th
11:00 - 12:25 (parents)
1:10 - 2:20 (parents and school
community)
Please come to celebrate all of the
students hard work!
Reading
and Writing Workshop with Genie: We are writing quick literary essays following on the heels
of our personal essay unit. The twist to
this essay is that the idea to be supported is about a book or movie and a
little summary, title, and author's name need to be included in the
introduction. Drafts that have been revised
and edited will be accepted if final neat published pieces can not be copied or
typed by Thursday, 12/19, when they are due. We are also gathering ideas and beginning our
science fiction short stories which will be slowly published over the next few
months. We are finishing our Read Aloud, The Giver, and making our
predictions on how the protagonist, Jonas, will choose which path he takes with
his new found knowledge and now that his childhood and innocence has been taken
away.
Visual
Arts with Julianna: Our Art Sharing of our Claymation clips and process will be
Wed, December 18, 8:45-10:00 for parents and from 10:30-11:30 for the Cores to
visit. DVDs will be available for $10.00 donation of the compilation of movies.
(Fingers cross the technology works!)
Homework:
5G math:
packet #14—same packet. Due 12/20/13—They have 2 weeks-last week and this
week to finish.
No
nonfiction sheet homework until the new year!
Make sure
your child is reading and writing at home almost every day!
Genie, Erin & Laura
Genie:ghwang@smmusd.org Erin:ehaendel@smmusd.org
*********************
CORE 4 NEWS
Humanities
·
Reading
- Student had a book club meeting this past Thursday, Dec. 12.
·
Writing
- The final draft of the cell essay is due today.
·
Social
Studies - Students are in their new groups and are focusing on the early history
of
the religion they are researching.
Science: The
focus this week continues to be ecology. Both science groups joined our
volunteer from the Audubon Society at the beach and learned how to use binoculars
to identify species and numbers of birds at the beach. This provided students with an initial ecology focused
field trip.
7th Grade Math: Here are the concepts we have covered this semester:
·
Chapter 1:
Expressions, Integers, and Solving Equations
·
Chapter 2:
Operations and Equations with Rational Numbers
·
Chapter 3:
Multi-step Equations and Inequalities
·
Chapter 4: Roots
and Exponents
·
Chapter 5: Ratios,
Rates, Proportions, Similarity, and Scale
·
And for some
students - Chapter 6: Applying Percent
Our goal is to complete chapter 5 before winter
break. If your child did not make it to
chapter 5, I will be
assigning some work so they can catch up during winter
break.
8th Grade Math
We are having a final assessment of all the topics we
have covered this semester on Wednesday and Thursday, December 18 and 19.
The concepts covered this semester are:
·
Equations,
Proportions, and Formulas
·
Simple,
Multi-Step, and Compound Inequalities
·
Function Concepts
and Applying Functions
·
Characteristics
and Using Linear Functions
·
And for some
students - Systems of Linear Equations and Linear Inequalities
Reminders:
Our Drama Celebration is scheduled for Wednesday, December 16. Each student is assigned to a specific drama
group. Please ask check in with your
child about Drama. The performances will
be held at the auditorium.
Here are the showtimes:
1:15 - “Fairy Tales” Group
1:35
- “Mystery” Group
2:00
- “Everything Good” Group
Don’t Forget to Prepare for the Yosemite
Trip. See previous Friday Letter for details.
8TH GRADERS –
SIGN UP WITH ESMÉ TO SELL
GRILLED CHEESE & FLOWERS AT MUSIC CONCERT!
Important Dates
Fridays until Winter Break - ICE ticket sales before and
after school
Wednesday, December 18 - Core 4 Drama Celebration 1:15 - 2:30.
Friday, December 20 - Last day before winter break
Tuesday, January 7 - First day back from Winter
Break (No School Monday, January 6)
Wednesday, January 8 - Yosemite Chaperone Meeting at 6pm
Sunday, January 12 to 17 - Yosemite Trip
Darwin Mendinueto
- dmendinueto@smmusd.org
Pam Dresher - pdresher@smmusd.org
*********************
