Webster School
WEEKLY EVENTS AND NEWS
FOR THE WEEK OF: Nov. 9-13
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Tuesday, Nov. 10 - Rooms 2, 4, and 14 Field Trip to Underwood Farm
Wednesday, Nov. 11 - SCHOOL HOLIDAY: Veterans’ Day
Thursday, Nov. 12 - Public Schools Week Open House at Webster at 9:00 am - All Parents and Community Members Invited To Join Us For a Tour and Q & A
Rooms 16, 17, and 22 (4th Graders Only) Field Trip to “Around the Horn” at Santa Cruz Island
PTA General Meeting at 7:00 pm
Friday, Nov. 13 - 9:00 am-10:00 am - “Coffee Hour With Susan Stiffelman” in the Webster Auditorium (See flyer)
Wednesday, Nov. 18 - PUPIL-FREE DAY for Parent Conferences
Thurs., Nov. 19-Wed., Nov. 25 - “Shortened Days” for Parent Conferences:
Kindergarten - 8:45-11:45
1st-5th Grades - 8:45-1:20
Thurs.-Fri., Nov. 26-27 - THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY
NEWSFLASH!-NEW NOTES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Service Project - U.S. Soldiers Serving Overseas - Monday, Nov. 9 is the Last Day to send in gifts for U.S. soldiers. The “Packing Party” for everything being collected throughout Malibu is Tuesday. It would be great to have some Webster parents join the group that is preparing all of the gifts and cards to be sent overseas. The Packing Party will take place from 9 am-noon at:
Point Dume Clubhouse
29500 Heathercliff Road, Malibu, CA
If you wish to attend, please contact Cindy Linke at 310-457-4510 or e-mail her at malibucinda@yahoo.com
Halloween Parade - Many thanks to everyone who joined us for our annual Halloween celebration this past Friday. Our students had a memorable day and seeing so many parents enjoying the occasion in costume made it even more special. As always, our teachers were enthusiastic supporters in every way, including some very creative learning activities.
Public Schools Month Events - The school district is celebrating Public Schools Month by scheduling an Open House at each school. Webster’s Open House will take place on Thursday, Nov. 12 at 9:00 am. Current Webster parents and everyone else in the community are invited to come to school for an orientation, tour, and question/answer session. Invite your friends! On Tuesday, Nov. 17 at Malibu High from 6:30-9:00, a “Report to the Community” and public forum will be presented by the Superintendent of Schools, Mr. Tim Cuneo. (See letter and schedule on our website).
Johns Hopkins “Talented Youth Search” - Parents of 3rd, 4th, and 5th Grade students who scored “Advanced in ELA and/or Math on the California State Tests last May are receiving packets of information regarding the Johns Hopkins University “Talent Search”. If you are interested in this program, your application to Johns Hopkins is due by Nov. 20.
Susan Stiffelman at Webster - You are invited to “Coffee With Susan Stiffelman” at Webster at 9:00 am on Friday, Nov. 13. Susan has presented to parents at several PTA meetings and has recently published a book entitled Parenting Without Power Struggles. You will be happy you came!
Holiday Programs - Our PTA has agreed to fund a series of vocal music lessons in November that will prepare pairs of classes to perform two songs each at our annual holiday program. The dates for these programs are:
Tuesday, Dec. 8 at 9:00 am - Kindergarten-2nd Grade Classes
Thursday, Dec. 10 at 9:00 am - 3rd-5th Grade Classes
Adding the cost of this program to the budget was a difficult decision for our PTA because as of this date, less than 100 Webster families have contributed to our “Teach Your Children Well” contribution campaign and we are about $100,000 short of our goal. In other words, the programs that are already in place, such as classroom instructional aides, Computer Lab, Art Studio, Gardening Angels, and classroom instructional supplies and materials are not yet fully funded. We are betting that we will soon receive contributions from the remaining 200 families. Please donate whatever you can and help us keep Webster the special school we have built for your family.
Parent Volunteers Workers’ Compensation - We have been asked by our school district to distribute some information to all of our parent volunteers regarding the fact that volunteers are covered by the District’s Worker’s Comp. insurance. You will receive this little packet in your child’s classroom whenever you come in to work and you will be asked to sign for it. You are being informed that you have the opportunity to go online and specify the name of a doctor whom you would see in the event of a Worker’s Comp. injury at school. People who have no identified doctor on file will be required to see the District’s Worker’s Comp. doctors.
Character Counts “Pillar of the Month” for November is CITIZENSHIP. Some of the ideas in this area include:
1. Be a good neighbor
2. Care about and pursue the common good
3. Be a volunteer - help your school and community be better, cleaner, safer
4. Protect the environment by conserving resources, reducing pollution, and cleaning up
after yourself
5. Participate in making things better by voicing your opinion, voting, serving on committees, reporting wrongdoing
6. Play by the rules, obey those in authority
Children’s Program at Malibu Public Library - “Lizards & Turtles & Snakes, Oh My!” at 4:00 pm - This program is for everyone aged Pre-K - High School and Their Families (See Flyer)
Classroom Volunteer Lunch Supervision Schedule - We have begun our parent volunteer lunch supervision program this coming week. Each week, one classroom’s parents are asked to come at least one day during the week to help us with lunchtime playground supervision. Each class will only be assigned to a week twice during the year. We are hoping that parents will be able to plan ahead and make themselves available just twice during the entire year. We have found that this is an effective way to organize parents to help us keep our students safe during lunch. Parents are needed from 11:40-12:55. The schedule for the next four weeks is:
Week of November 9 - Ms. Maccani
Week of November 16 - Ms. Morris
Week of November 23 - Ms. Nix
Week of November 30 - Ms. Stark
REMINDERS
PTA Reflections Contest - Materials are going home in today’s Thursday folder. This year’s theme is, “Beauty is ...”. Students may enter in any or all of 6 categories: Photography, Visual Arts, Literature, Film Production, Choreography, and Music. Entries are due by November 6. We would love to see as many students as possible submit an entry in one or more of these categories. The entire packet, including Entry Form, and Rules, is on our website.
Donate Hand Sanitizer - Our classrooms need donations of hand sanitizer - Purell or similar product. We are hoping that many of you will be able to send in a bottle or two.
Cookies For Sale on Fridays - Our cafeteria sells chocolate chip cookies every Friday for 50 cents. Students are only allowed to buy one for themselves.
A Note From the PTA
Teach Your Children Well
Donations are slowing down. Even if you can’t donate right now, please pledge now for payment later in the school year! In this season of gratitude, now is the time to write your check for “Teach Your Children Well,” our direct fundraising drive. Ninety-two families have donated and raised $144,000 so far! It costs the PTA roughly $1,200 per student to pay for teachers’ aides, computer lab, art, a P.E. assistant, Gardening Angels, additional teacher supplies, etc., and this fund pays for the bulk of it. We couldn't do it without your generous donations. Please give at whatever level you can to help us continue to fund those valuable programs and services we all take for granted and that keep our school multi-faceted, competitive and a dynamic place to learn and grow! You may donate by check or credit card, or, new this year, PayPal (click on the PayPal donate button in the left column; there are also clickable instructions there). Whatever avenue you choose, please fill out one of the donation envelopes, or print out one here. And however you donate, be assured that your donation amount and your personal info are confidential and secure.
Sincere thanks to everyone who has given this school year, and helped keep Webster the best it can be! We are honored to publicly thank our families who have made donations. This is our next batch of angels:
Anne and Duke Blackwood
The Gibson Family
Jill and David Reeder
Curtis and Danielle Senffner
If you give us your pledge, we promise to award your wings next week!
Grants or foundation $ ?
If you have a foundation that is in a position to donate or make a grant to Webster, please consider us in your plans. We can provide whatever non-profit paperwork is needed to fulfill it.
Reflections deadline tomorrow!
Have your child bring his/her PTA Reflections Contest entry to school on Friday, Nov. 6. FRIDAY IS THE DEADLINE! Please note this contest is judged by parents, but be assured that parents are not allowed to judge any category in which their own child is entered. If you would like to volunteer to be a judge, please e-mail Soniya Perl at soniya.perl@yahoo.com. Stay tuned to this space for judging results.
Room Reps meet Friday
Room Reps will meet Fri., Nov. 6 in the Teacher's Lounge at 9 a.m. (done by 9:30 a.m.). If you are a Room Rep, please make every effort to attend. Thank you for everything you are doing on behalf of all parents at Webster. Contact Bonny Bolander at BonnyBrae@gmail.com for more info.
Attn: Amazon power shoppers!
If you go through Webster’s portal when you are shopping on Amazon, Webster gets a 5% kickback, at no cost to you. That’s right...free money from America’s largest online shopping site. Please bookmark our NEW LINK TO AMAZON, and use it when you are shopping on Amazon. If you really want to spiff your karma, tell everyone in your family to use our link, too! If you want instructions on how to bookmark it on your computer, look here.
Thanks!
Our favorite part of the job is thanking people who volunteer. We’re delighted to thank:
· Anita Hall and her team of Janna Fragen, Lynell Perna, Laurie Cappello, Sandy Beck, Felicia Faden, Jill Farwell, Dana Keyser, Lananh Do-Tarnay, Sara Fernandez, Sky Kunerth, Faisal Al-Harden, John Liu and Veronica Brady (music) for a fantastic Halloween parade! Truly one of the most memorable events of the Webster year!
· Front office ladies Lore Meline and Linda Reinbold for judging the banner contest.
· All our Room Reps for helping plan and pull off Halloween parties in each of our classrooms. You are much, much appreciated, by all your fellow parents.
· Craig Foster for nurturing our Amazon.com Scrip program. If you are going to shop globally, not locally, use our Amazon link. Puhleeze!
· Marie Wexler, once again, for a fantastic Webster phone book. A lot of attention to detail and formatting produces the most important document of the year. Our hats are off to you, Marie!
· Ken Harris, for stepping up to train on how to do the Parent Handbook and Webster Phone Book for next year. (Ken is teacher Stacy Harris’ husband, and is also a Kindergarten teacher at Pt. Dume.)
That’s just a few -- more thanks to come next week. It takes our whole Webster village to keep our school top tier. We thank you for being a part of our success, and for making Webster a very special place!
Nov. 13 parenting talk
Malibu therapist Susan Stiffelman will be at Webster Fri., Nov 13 from 9-10 a.m. in the auditorium for an open discussion “coffee hour” about parenting. All Webster parents are welcome, and encouraged to bring their tricky, sticky parenting questions and issues. Susan is a licensed Marriage, Family and Child therapist, a K-9 credentialed teacher, an educational therapist and a highly regarded parenting coach. She has a new book out this month: “Parenting Without Power Struggles: Raising Joyful, Resilient Kids While Staying Cool, Calm and Connected.” For more on her: susanstiffelman.com
Update on Jog-a-thon
We’re returning to our roots this year and moving our popular Jog-a-thon to January 28 during the school day. This year it will also include some old-fashioned, fun Field Day activities for our students designed to get their bodies moving! Parents are welcome to come watch and help out. You'll be hearing much more about this in the next three months. In moving the Jogathon to a school day, we intend for all students to have the opportunity to participate and help fundraise for their school -- and add a focus on fitness and Field Day fun!
Adopt your kid’s fave program!
Several more families and businesses have risen to the challenge of adopting our classrooms and programs this school year. (See the list in the far left column of this e-News.) Thank you! We still have a few open spots open. You may adopt as a family, team of families or as a business – whatever floats your boat. Our goal is to have all classes and programs adopted before the end of December (think tax write-off for year 2009). It costs $300 to adopt a class, which provides additional money to each teacher so she can buy extra supplies and special items for her class. Checks should be made to Webster PTA and sent to the front office to the attention of Beth Lucas/Adopt-a-Class. Please contact Beth Lucas at BLucas4@verizon.net if you are interested, or if you have a suggestion of a business to pursue.
We need your loot!
If you were at Back to School Night, you saw Sky Kunerth’s pitch about Giving Engine. (Reminder: Giving Engine is a charity auction company that Webster hired last year to help us raise money to fund essential school programs like teacher aides, music, art and computer lab.) This year we find ourselves facing an unprecedented deficit, and must find creative ways to make up the difference. Giving Engine can help, by using a worldwide eBay audience for our charity auctions. And eBay users love unique experiences, so here is Sky’s wish list for November, and you are just the people to get these things for her:
1. VIP meet-and-greet and concert tickets for (any date/any city) of the Taylor Swift 2009 Tour. (Can't get Taylor Swift? How about Lady Gaga or the American Music Awards?)
2. Red-carpet tickets to the premiere of Sony Pictures' "Planet 51" on Sat., Nov. 14, 2009 at the Mann's Bruin Theatre in Westwood Village. ("The Road" and "Fantastic Mr. Fox" are also having their premiers in November! Can you get us tix to those?)
3. World Series tickets in New York or Philadelphia.
4. VIP tickets to USC v. Stanford OR UCLA v. Arizona State OR how about the Lakers? (Take us out to the ball game. Any ball game!)
If you can rustle up these or anything like these, please contact Sky Kunerth immediately at sakkasky@mac.com. We’ll get your tickets posted and auctioned off and earning money for Webster, the best elementary school on the planet!
Book Fair is coming
Mark your calendar -- our annual Book Fair will be here Dec. 7-11, timed perfectly for your upcoming holiday gift-giving needs. You think that’s a long way off? Nah, we’re telling you because we want you to save up your book-buying for our fair. We’d hate for you to buy a load of books in November, when our Book Fair is only a few short weeks away. Remember, the Book Fair is one of our important fundraisers, and enables us to keep our library up-to-date and well stocked. Books rock!