Dear SMASHing Families,
As we close the holiday season, the staff and I want to express our sincere THANKS for the lovely cards, the delicious treats, the handmade crafts, and the personally selected items. Thank you for gifting us with your appreciation and the SMASH staff gift envelopes that allow us to fulfill our own definitions of abundance. We are lucky to be part of such a giving, collaborative, dynamic community.
Did you know that the very
best way to bring good things into your life is to be grateful for the good
things that you already have? You each
generate so much for which I am grateful:
Thank you for the incredible energy, ideas, and
actions you bring to the SMASH community!
I believe that what I focus
on increases, and that affirmations are even more powerful than
resolutions. Here is one of my favorite affirmations I think to myself on
the drive to school: "Today I feel relaxed and happy. I have lots of time
for everything I need to do and feel."
I hope you feel relaxed and happy as you re-enter the school schedule after two weeks of vacation. And as I have shared before, to me, abundance is good health, caring relationships, generosity toward others, and intellectual pursuits. May we all have an abundant New Year!
I hope you feel relaxed and happy as you re-enter the school schedule after two weeks of vacation. And as I have shared before, to me, abundance is good health, caring relationships, generosity toward others, and intellectual pursuits. May we all have an abundant New Year!
Jessica
****************
SMASH Arts &
Letters Sale
Saturday, February 22nd, 7-10pm
Streetcraft LA, 2912 Main Street
Tickets are now on
sale!
http://smashartsale2014.eventbrite.com
We need art!
Packets are available in the office.
ICE Santa Monica
Skating tickets still available to be used for admission, skate rental and
concession.
ICE is open until
January 20. Tickets are $20 per packet, with $8 going to SMASH Trips
Scholarship fund.
***************
Jayme and her husband Cesar welcomed their baby boy
into their family on Tues, January 7!
Mother, baby, and father are doing well and enjoying
every minute of this new life adventure.
They will come visit SMASH as soon as they can.
***************
DATES TO REMEMBER
Wed, Jan 15 - 8:30am - PTSA
Mtg
Wed, Jan 15 - 3:30pm - Site
Council Mtg
Mon, Jan 20 - Martin Luther
King, Jr. Day observed - SCHOOL CLOSED
Mon, Jan 27 - 9:00-10:30am -
SMASH School Tour
Fri, Jan 31 - 9:45am -
Yosemite Assembly
Wed, Jan 22 - Two SMASH
fundraisers - CPK restaurant night and Barnes and Noble Fundraiser
Sat, Feb 22 - 7:00-10:00pm -
SMASH Arts & Letters. Purchase
tickets now at http://smashartsale2014.eventbrite.com
************
Tidbits From SMASH PTSA
Happy New Year SMASHING
Parents! There is a lot going on in your PTSA as we kick off 2014 and we want
you to be up to speed and in the know, so here goes:
40th Anniversary of SMASH, SUPERSMASH and SILENT
AUCTION
You may not believe it, but
we are already working on putting together SuperSMASH and the SMASH Silent
Auction - May is just around the corner!
Plus, we are going to be
inviting all SMASH Alumni to attend the event this year to celebrate our 40TH
Anniversary - which means lots of people and lots of fun.
To pull it all off, we need
you to help in any way you can. There are many small and large tasks that can
be done off campus, leadership roles, and ways you can help during the actual
event. Please contact the Chairs for these 3 events to see which jobs are
available and if there is one that is a good fit for you.
Silent Auction Chair: The
fabulous Sabine Werk visionwerk@mac.com
SuperSMASH Chair: The
marvelous Naren Desai narendesai@icloud.com
40th Anniversary Co-Chairs:
The awe-inspiring Summer Germann summergermann@aol.com
STORAGE SPACE NEEDED:
We are looking for some space
close to school to use for Silent Auction Storage. If you have space available
or know of someone who might, please contact me: jameetenzer@gmail.com. We might even be able to pay a small rental fee!
CASH FOR SMASH! CAN YOU
DONATE 1 BAG OF GENTLY USED CHILDREN"S CLOTHES THAT YOU NO LONGER NEED?
This is a great chance to
declutter 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
NEXT PTSA MEETING
Please join us. We have a lot
to talk about including PTSA Board positions for next year -Wed, Jan15 at
8:30am
***************
DISTRICTWIDE VISUAL ART SHOW
Friday, January 31 - 6:00-8:00pm -
Roberts Art Gallery, SAMOHI campus
We will be celebrating the incredible work
of our Visual Art students and teachers with our "Districtwide Visual Art
Show". Two dimensional artwork, photography, ceramic and video work will
be professionally installed in Roberts Art Gallery for all to see. All the art
teachers from across the district will be in attendance as well as the young
artists and their families. While admiring the fantastic work of our students,
you will be entertained by the Samohi jazz combo. Light refreshments and food
will also be available, so please mark your calendars now. You won't want to
miss this!
***************
Run for your lives!
The SMASH
Jog-a-thon is coming Friday, March 7
Submit a t-shirt design by 1/31.
Open to all students. Simply draw
your design (black/white or color) on an 8 ½ by 11 piece of white paper.
Include your name on the back and turn it into the office by
January 31.
Save the date. The Jog-a-thon takes place Friday, March 7.
Come
run with your child and/or cheer on the rest of the runners.
Volunteer. We need lots
of volunteers to help with refreshments, donations, accounting, etc. both
before and the day of the event.
Become a t-shirt sponsor by 2/7.
T-shirt sponsors defray the cost of the t-shirts so that all students
get a free Jog-a-thon shirt. Become a
Corporate sponsor by donating $150, $200 or $250 or a SMASHing sponsor by
donating $25, $50 or $100. Donations are
tax deductible to the extent allowable by law. As a token of appreciation for
your generous support, your name will adorn the back of the shirt.*
Questions?
Contact Lillie Schlessinger – lillie.schlessinger@transamerica.com
*Please use the
form below for making t-shirt donations and return to the office with your cash
or check made payable to SMASH PTSA by no later than February 7.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sponsorship: Corporate ___ $250 ___$200 ___$150
SMASHing ___$100 ___$50
___$25
Name (as you would
like it to appear on the t-shirt):_______________________________
Child’s name (so
we know who you are!):________________________________
Size preference
for complimentary t-shirt: ___XXL ___XL
___L ___M ___S (All sizes are adult sizes since all
students will already receive a complimentary t-shirt. If you specifically want your complimentary
t-shirt to be a child’s size, please note this.)
***************
CORE 1 NEWS
Plannning for Play in Core 1: How Teachers Think about Materials to Shape Purposeful Play
When teachers think about the learning materials in their classrooms, it often involves piles of school supply catalogues and Back-To-School Student Supply Lists. Hours are spent organizing closets, displaying books, putting up bulletin boards. What we have come to realize in our collaborative teaching, however, is that the materials are a strong reflection of how children will learn, and in some ways, can dictate the depth of learning, questioning, theorizing, and dialogue that the children will be doing every day. If the teacher's intentionis to provoke the students to experience "real world" learning - or, more importantly, think in "real world" ways - then the materials need to be chosen with purpose that continues to evolve throughout the school year. From cardboard tubes to water pumps - from pencils to sewing needles - as a Core 1 community we explore how the decisions teachers make about the materials in their classroom have profound effects on the children's experiences and the depths of their thinking.
Determined to infuse our classrooms with joy, wonder, and critical thinking, some of our students' learning is grounded in play. Our multi-age classrooms and constructivist philosophies afford us entry-points for all students' engagement, and provide us the flexibility for collaboration and proglem-solving. However, we strive diligently to guide the children's play in purposeful ways, considering variables such as grouping children, time of day, and the choices we offer within areas in our room. Hoever, one of the most important facets we consider is what specific materials we offer and how we present these materials in order to shape the children's thinking and guide their experience with intention.
As the school year evolves, so too does the play in our classrooms. By carefully thinking about the materials we present, the children's play begins to fucus on common themes and threads (what we refer to as "projects" or "studies"), which allows for more complexity in their experiences and creations.
We begin each school year by thoughtfully presenting materials, open-ended materials that foter experimentation and multiple uses, as well as more traditional tools, such as pencils, markers, blocks, etc. Introducing the materials one-by-one, the children learn how to use them and care for them independently. Our challenge has been to prepare and introduce materials to children in a way that sets up parameters for their play, while leaving flexibility for them to create or use the materials in a way htat we had not expected.
At times, we choose materials that provide opportunities for the children to make observations, hypothesize, or note cause and effect. Other times we choose materials that may offer opportuonities to develop language. Specific and technical language become fore complex as the children developed their skills in each study. There have been other play studies that have provoked collaborative questioning and proglem-solving. Taking time to really know these materials also provokes children to make connections beyond their play - into real world experiences.
- Barba-Castro, Berens & Powell (2014)
SAVE THE DATE: January and February Birthday Bash: Friday, January 31
More information to follow.
***************
CORE 2 NEWS
Welcome
back, welcome Mimi, and happy 2014! Jayme,
Tamara, and Malaika thank you for all of your generous and yummy holiday gifts.
We hope you found the break restful and reinvigorating. The students are
enjoying their new advisories. We don’t have new names yet, but we are working
on it. We aren’t the only ones who aren’t named yet – Jayme had her sweet
baby boy on Tuesday, January 7! Mother & son, & proud Papa are all
doing well. We’ll let you know when he (and each new advisory) has a name.
Core
2 is busy revisiting CARES, classroom routines/guidelines, and all the things
that help us be active, enthusiastic, responsible, and independent learners. As is the Core 2 way, we hit the ground running this
week - launching a new theme unit (science w/Mimi—body systems, social
studies w/ Tamara—US geography & history), jumping into new math
units (3G—2D Geometry, 4G—Addition & Subtraction), preparing for reading
and writing fantasy stories (GOT FANTASY? BRING IT IN!!!), and making a renewed
commitment to choosing Just Right Books for independent reading at school
and at home. Please read the following tips for ways to help your child get
the most out of reading homework.
The
Goldilocks Strategy for Choosing Books: Do
you remember Goldilocks' quest in the fairy tale "Goldilocks and the Three
Bears" to find the porridge, chair, and bed that were "just
right"? Selecting a book can sometimes feel the same way. Just as
Goldilocks found that some porridges were too hot or too cold and others were
just right, readers often have difficulty finding books that are "just
right" and not too hard or too easy. Reading should always be fun for
your child.You want them to feel confident about the books they read and not
frustrated. Children should read books that are on their level. Here is an
easy strategy to help your child pick a book that is just right!
Too Easy Books. Ask
yourself these questions. If you are answering YES, this book is
probably a Too Easy Book for you.
1.
Have you read it lots of times before?
2.
Do you understand the story well?
3.
Do you know and understand almost every word?
4.
Can you read it smoothly?
Just Right Books. Ask
yourself these questions. If you are answering YES, this book is
probably a Just Right Book for you.
1.
Is this book new to you?
2.
Do you understand what you’ve read so far?
3.
Are there just a few words per page you don’t know?
4.
When you read are some places smooth and some choppy?
5.
Can someone help you with this book? Who?
Too Hard Books. Ask
yourself these questions. If you are answering YES, this book is
probably a Too Hard Book for you. Give it another try later.
1.
Are there more than a few words on a page you don’t know?
2.
Are you confused about what is happening in most of this book?
3.
When you read, does it sound pretty choppy?
~ From “Lessons from Goldilocks: Somebody’s Been
Choosing My Books But I Can Make My Own Choices Now!” by Marilyn M. Ohlhausen
and Mary Jepsen. The New Advocate, Vol. 5, No. 1, Winter 1992, p. 36 Norwood,
MA: Christopher-Gordon Publishers, Inc.
For Drama with Kristy we'd love to have some parents to help us dress &
undress, walk the neighbor-hood, and - especially - to record our discoveries
with still and video cameras (BYOC). We would like a regular or rotating group
of 3 - 6 parents to commit to Wednesdays between 1:15 - 3:00 to assist with
Drama. Let us know if you can help.
“No matter how busy you may think you are, you must
find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance.”
~Confucius
Mimi: mimilichterman@yahoo.com Tamara: tmugalian@smmusd.org
***************
CORE 3 NEWS
Upcoming
field trips! Chaperones needed! Unfortunately district buses aren't
available on these days so we are
trying to get charter buses which cost more. We're sorry for the extra cost but feel these
are great experiences. The museum and
the dance show are free so the $9/trip cost is for the bus. Thanks for your
support!
Natural
History Museum Silk Road Exhibit Friday 1/17 from 8:30-1:30.
Pepperdine
Spirit of Uganda (a Dance Troupe) Thursday 1/30 from 10:30-2:15
6th gr
Math with Erin: This
week we began our unit on Ratios and Proportions. We are working through this
unit in anticipation of building our "dream rooms" in the coming
weeks. After they learn and review the math concepts, students will be learning how to build
their dream room model to scale.
5th
gr Math with Genie:
We are learning ways to add fractions by understanding the fractions and their
percent equivalence. We are playing a game called Round the Clock
using the 1/12's on the clock to add common fractions. So if I roll a ½ I know that is at the 6
(6/12) on the clock and then roll a 1/3 I know that is 4/12 on the clock so 6+4=10
(6/12+4/12=10/12) so I know that ½+1/3 =10/12=5/6.
Interdisciplinary
Project: Medical Issues: Knowledge of
Diseases, Conditions, and Syndromes and their Inclusion within Society
This week we
began an introduction to our winter unit on medical issues. On Tuesday students
watched and took notes on an informational science video about the various body
systems. After that students worked alone and in groups to brainstorm about
all the medical issues they are aware of.
From there we discussed the different things they have heard of and from
where they heard about them. On Thursday, students participated in a discussion
about the social aspect of medical issues. We shared our answers to questions
such as: How do you feel when you see someone who looks different? Have you
ever seen something that made you feel uncomfortable? How do you think our
society treats people with physical differences? What about other societies? On
Friday we followed up this discussion with short documentaries about how people
with physical and mental differences are treated. We then continued the
discussion to share what we learned.
***Next week
we will be viewing the National Geographic Documentary titled "The Human
Body". It is rated PG-13. It is rated this due to the discussions
between a married couple journeying down the IVF path in order to have a child
and the viewing the surgery of a teacher who has a brain tumor. He is kept awake in his surgery to minimize
risk as they take out as much of the brain tumor as possible. It is amazing to watch but may be hard for
some. Please let us know if you have
concerns for your child watching this video and we can come up with an
alternative plan for your child.
Reading
and Writing Workshop with Genie: Whole core book club has begun! We have begun to reread Rules to pull
up our magnifying glass and look with a closer eye especially as we are
adapting the novel into a screenplay for dramatic arts. We want to close-in on our reading and notice
things like when the writer writes that Catherine's dad says "Hi, Cath!"
and the protagonist says that she hates when he calls her that because it
sounds like a baby cow, that there is tension between the dad and Catherine or
she feels he doesn't listen to her.
We're really reading between the lines looking at actions, dialogue, and
internal thinking.
Dramatic
Arts with Kristy: Kristy launched the unit with having the
students look carefully at the characters in the book thinking about who they
are on the inside and outside and who they are that doesn't change and who they
are that changes. Students are working
in small groups to adapt a chapter of the book into a screenplay that will then
be read and rehearsed round-table.
Homework:
5G math:
packet #15—same packet. Due 1/17/14
Nonfiction
Reading sheet due Wednesday, 1/15/14
Reading 30
minutes every day!
WW: collect
2 entries (full pages) in writing notebook each week.
Genie, Erin and Laura
Genie:
ghwang@smmusd.org Erin: ehaendel@smmusd.org
***************
CORE 4 NEWS
YOSEMITE
REMINDERS
When: Sunday, January 12, 2014. Be at SMASH no
later than 7:15am, but no earlier than 7:00am.
Where: Meet at the front gate on the strip of
sidewalk between the two parking lots
What to
bring:
1.
The signed white MEDICATION INSTRUCTION FORM (whether or not you
are bringing meds). Bring medications in a bag if you need them.
2.
The orange YOSEMITE TRIP PACKING LIST/CHECK-IN SHEET
3.
A sack lunch or money for lunch for the ride up; money for food on the
way back ($10 each way/$20 total should be ample)
4.
A backpack for the bus containing the required items (see the packing
list)
5.
One suitcase or duffel bag containing your gear (see the packing list).
It’s okay to wear your boots if you can’t fit them into your bag.
6.
One sleeping bag/pillow. Try to fit this inside your bag if you can.
7.
Optional - Money of Souvenirs
What NOT
to bring:
1.
Cell phones or other electronic devices, especially ones that can send
or receive calls, emails, or messages.
2.
Candy or gum of any kind.
**When you arrive at school, check in
with Darwin or Pam.
Both you and your adult should go to
Darwin or Pam together to check-in.
Once you have checked in and the bus has
arrived, load your gear.
Be patient and stay nearby until
instructed to get on the bus.
Get ready to have a great week!
***Parents:
We will be returning on Friday evening, January 17. Anticipated arrival time is 8:00pm. Darwin or
Pam will update Janice or Jessica with our progress on the trip home. When we
are an hour away, an e-blast will be sent out. Please anticipate our arrival
time and be at school to pick up your child.
****Please
feel free to email us this on Friday or Saturday if you have any questions.
Darwin Mendinueto - dmendinueto@smmusd.org
Pam Dresher - pdresher@smmusd.org
***************
