Kentwood Newsletter October 2009

Kentwood Elementary School Newsletter Jean Pennicooke, Principal • Christine Ferreira, Assistant Principal Jeanie Butler & Christina Halloran, PTO Presidents

A Message from the Principal “When dealing with a child, keep all your wits about you and sit on the floor.”

- A. O’Malley

Dear Parents:

October 2009, Volume 19, Issue 8

School Calendar 1 0/22/09 School Tour 10/27/09 5th Grade Field Trip-Griffith Park 10/28/09 5th Grade Theater Trip 10/30/09 Halloween Parade - starts at 11a.m. School will let out at 12:34 that day don’t forget cameras! 11/2/09 Yearbook cover contest begins ~Flyers will go out with more details (Contest ends Nov. 23) 11/11/09 School Holiday (Veterans Day) 11/16/09 Holiday Candy Fund raiser (ends Nov. 30) 11/25/09 Minimum Day 11/26/09 School Holiday 11/27/09 Happy Thanksgiving! 11/30/09 Book Fair (ends Dec. 4) 12/10/09 Holiday Candy Delivers 12/21/09 Winter Break (ends Jan. 10) 1/11/10 School Resumes 1/11/10 Yearbook Tribute Sales begin (end February 26) 1/18/10 School Holiday (Martin Luther King Jr. Day) 2/15/10 School Holiday (Presidents’ Day) 3/22/10 Hawaiian Raffle Sales begin (ends April 26) 3/26/10 Bunny Hop (walkathon) 3/29/10 Spring Break (ends April 4) 4/5/10 School Resumes 4/30/10 Spring Fling (Talent Show/ Hawaiian Raffle/Silent Auction) 5/31/10 School Holiday (Memorial Day) 6/10/10 In N Out Truck Fund raiser 6/24/10 Last Day of School

We are off to a fantastic school year and we are already in the second month of school. I would like to acknowledge our brilliant students, supportive parents and dedicated staff for all their hard work culminating in a 47 point increase on our API, bringing us to 859. This year we welcomed new Kentwood family members: Christine Buckly and Tanasha Williamson Kindergarten teachers Katrina Woods Special Education Assistant Alicia Campbell Kindergarten Supervision Aide Thank you to our magnificent parents who signed up to volunteer. We made a new record with not only the numbers of parents, but with volunteers for

several different activities as well as support to our classroom teachers. We are indebted to you. Your time spent volunteering = $$$ saved for the school. Thank you to all our families and friends for your pledges, donations and participation in our fund raisers. Your continued support is truly appreciated. I would like to also put in a personal plea for your support of our 5th grade science camp fund raisers. We want to make this an annual event that all 5th graders can look forward to enjoying. So although your child might not be currently in the 5th grade, your participation right now will help ensure that it becomes a tradition that your child will enjoy later. Congratulations to Denise Sample, our newly elected Governance Council member! Thank you to Sandy Diep and Leah Kelly for volunteering for

this seat and we look forward to continuing to work with you and our other parents on our sub-committees. The Orientation and Elections for our School Site and English Language Advisory Councils will take place on October 26th and November 2nd respectively. Both will be held in the cafeteria at 8:15 a.m. Immediately following the Monday Morning Assembly. We are required to annually inform parents of our School Safety, Illness & Injury Prevention and our Asbestos Abatement Plans. The plans are available for review in the front office. Thanks for sharing your precious jewels with us and I look forward to having a phenomenal school year! Sincerely, Jean Pennicooke

Fund Raising Programs

A great way to make money for our school is to sign up for our fund raising programs. These are cash back programs at certain merchants (Vons, Ralphs, Target, Office Depot and more), where they donate a portion of your purchases to our school. 1) Use your Vons Club card when you purchase groceries, and Kentwood receives 10% back until September 15th. After that Kentwood receives up to 4% back depending on how much you spend per month. Here is how to sign up: Go to www.escrip.com and click on “Sign Up Now!” to create an account. You will need an email address, our Group ID: 139429772 (for the Kentwood Education Fund), and your Vons Club card number. Note:

escrip.com has many other merchants in addition to Vons. 2) When you shop at Office Depot for school supplies, Kentwood earns 5% in credit towards free supplies. Each time you make a purchase at Office Depot, give them our School ID number 70010333. If you forget the bring our School ID number, just ask them at the store for the list of 5% Back to Schools ID numbers. Kentwood’s School ID: 70010333

3) Use your Ralphs Club card when you purchase groceries, and Kentwood receives up to 4% back depending on how much you spend per month. To enroll you need to setup a login account at ralphs.com. You will need a valid email address, a Ralph Rewards Card number, and Kentwoods our Ralph’s organization number (90945). Go to the Community Contribution Program enrollment page at www. ralphs.com. Create a login account for ralphs.com.

Once you have signed into your account click on “My Account”. Enter your Ralphs Rewards Card number.Click on “Edit Community Contribution Program Information” and enter 90945 for our Organization Number. 4) Shop at Target, and they will donate up to 1% of your REDcard purchases to Kentwood. You need a Target REDcard to enroll in Take Charge of Education.

8401 Emerson Ave., Westchester, CA 90045 • p. 310.670.8977 • f. 310.670.6957

www.kentwoodes.org

Presidents Letter Welcome Kentwood Families, Our new year has gotten off to an exciting start. Lots of changes and new people have made this year full of surprises, not too many more though I hope. The Back to School Picnic and the Ice Cream Social both had great turnouts with lots of new faces to meet and greet. We hope this continues throughout the year at all our events. Our children love participating and seeing their families at these events. Our current and ongoing fundraiser is also our most successful, the Pledge Drive. We need everyone’s participation as this funds our field trips, art programs, computer lab, orchestra and of course

the Back to School Picnic, Ice Cream Social and many other programs. The PTO would like to thank all of our parent volunteers who have stepped up to help with all the fund raisers and school programs, there is a lot going on and we appreciate your time and effort. We hope that many of you can join us for our first Public PTO meeting, Wednesday, October 21 at 6:30 p.m., at Kentwood Elementary. Bring your questions and your planning book, we look forward to seeing you there. Sincerely, Jeanie Butler and Christina Halloran PTO Co-Presidents.

API Score Jumps

Popcorn/Otter Pop

42 Points!

Sales on Friday!

Congratulations Kentwood Elementary students, Popcorn/Otter Pops are teachers, administrators and parents! Kentwood’s available for sale 2009 API score of 859 is an impressive 42 points during lunch on Fridays higher than the previous year. That means that for fifty cents each. Kentwood students performed over 5% better on state-mandated standardized tests in 2009 than they did in 2008, with an incredible 96 point (+12%) increase over the last two years! The API (or Academic Performance Index) is a numeric index that ranges from a low of 200 to a high of 1000 with a statewide target of 800. All parents are welcomed to come and see Kentwood’s 2009 score was the highest in the Kentwood’s school’s recent history, as this chart indicates: Halloween Parade, Friday, Oct. 30 at 11a.m. Costumes are welcomed and don’t forget to bring your camera! Students will be dismissed at 12:34 p.m.

Halloween Parade

Annual Pledge Drive Begins! Kentwood Elementary needs your financial help to bridge the gap between the shrinking LAUSD budget and our growing programs. We want to keep our art, chorus, orchestra, computer lab, field trips, assemblies and our classroom supplies. We believe these programs along with great teaching helped push our API scores to the highest in the LMU Family of Schools! The Annual Pledge Drive is our largest source of income to fund the budget gap. Our goal is to raise $500 per student, less than $1.70 per instructional day. There are 3 ways to pledge: (1) check, (2) credit card or (3) via PayPal click here. You can pay all at once or make monthly payments. If you can, please consider sponsoring a child at Kentwood. In the past we have received donations from $25 to $6,000. Anything you can give is gratefully accepted and your generosity WILL make a difference at our school. All donations are tax deductible. See our website for more information

Where does the money go? • Computer Lab • Computer teacher who works with all grade levels in the computer lab • Upgrades to hardware and software • Book, Supplies, equipment • Library books • Computers • Art materials • Class copy machines/cartridges • Classroom supplies • Test prep materials • Student subscriptions • Field trips/assemblies • 2 field trips per grade level • 1 Mad Science workshop per grade level • Special Events • Back to School Picnic

Volunteer’s always welcome! Go to www.kentwoodes.org

B U Y KO A L A G E A R !

• Ice Cream Social • Family Math Night • Talent Show • Orchestra instruction for upper grades

Get Active Campaign www.CalGovCouncil.org

Your Child’s Name In Lights!

Show your support for Kentwood by purchasing and wearing your Koala Gear on Fridays! Children wearing their gear earn “Caught Being Good Cards. ” Proceeds from Green Fundraising items support our Science and

Technology programs. Gear is available every Monday morning at assembly near the cafeteria or you can visit our website at www.kentwoodes.org.

Celebrate a birthday with a special message on the school marquee! For $25, payable to KEF, you can have your birthday message displayed on the school marquee. Submit the name, birth date, along with $25.00 donation to KEF and drop it off in the PTO Box in the office. Space is limited and requests are granted on a first come, first serve basis. All requests must be submitted at least 7 days in advance. Weekend birthdays will be posted on Friday.