Teacher Appreciation Lunch - next Wednesday!

Laura had the great idea to have a teacher appreciation lunch next Wednesday for LEAP DAY!

When Wednesday Feb 29th.

Sign up to bring something below:

Menu: Sandwiches, Salads and sides!17 teachers
Roast beef: Laura Federico
Turkey: Velrose White
Ham:
Rolls: Natalie Johnson
Cheese, lettuce and tomato:
Condiments:
Pasta Salad: Gretchen Daues
Fruit: Nadien Menke
Chips: Karin Sturgis
Cookies: Nadien Menke, and Karen Zanotto
Drinks:


Thanks! 


ADDITIONAL UPDATE: Natalie Johnson has volunteered to head up the spring rummage sale fundraiser!  Way to go Natalie!  She will keep us posted when she has more information. 

Healthy Children Article

Check out the link below shared  by parent Jasmine Nguyen:


http://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/Pages/default.aspx

It's sponsored by the American Academy of Pediatrics. The site addresses many important issues, such as nutrition, sleep issues, behavioral concerns, toilet training, etc. Topics that pediatricians simply cannot cover at length in a 20-30 minute well child check.  I particularly like the article about Growing Independence: Tips for Parents of Young Children

Notes from PTO meeting held February 1, 2012

Guest Speaker Melody Bosley, Kindergarten teacher at Southport Elementary School, spoke about Kindergarten readiness. 

• Curriculum taught in this district is "Open Court" for reading and "Math Expressions" for math. 
• For Kindergarten, there is a 20-1 student teacher ratio. 
• Social aspects are so much more important than academic aspects of preparation.  Knowing how to share, to sit quietly for longer periods of time and to not cry when parents drop off are very helpful. 
• Academic preparation - "well-prepared" kids can write their letters, numbers and their names.  Ways to help your child prepare include lots of reading, singing, counting, etc. 
• By the end of the year, students will read a minimum of 34 "site words" and write numbers 1-30. 
• There is some comfusion about birthday cut offs for starting kindergarten.  Check back at the Washington unified school district for more informatio.n: http://www.wusd.k12.ca.us/   As of the meeting, the website showed a Dec. 2nd birthday cut off, but the laws are changing and we think the website may just not be up to date. 
• We discussed after school care options, which vary by school site. 

Other notes/announcements:

• Melinda announced that the outside structure for the toddler room has been ordered and they are just waiting on a delivery date. They also ordered a water table for the preschool and toddler room and some new mats with the money raised from the cookie dough fundraiser.
• February 10^th is parent's night out – sign up at Portside if you want childcare.
• Brad wanted to remind parents of preschoolers to please drop off either before 9am or after 9:30, as to not interrupt “group time.” He is working hard to get the pre-schoolers ready for Kindergarten. Thank you for understanding.
• Hang on to anything you may wish to donate to the spring rummage sale!  All proceeds will benefit the PTO.  Date to be announced. 

Thanks for Laura Federico for arranging our guest speaker this month! 

We will announce our next meeting as soon as we set a date, probably sometime in mid-March.

As always, if you have an idea for an event/activity for the PTO, let us know and we can try to make it happen! 

It is so nice to see parents at the meeting and we would love to have even more parents getting involved!