BLUES’ NEWS
Richmond Street School and PTA Newsletter
January 2005			Volume 5, Issue 5
Richmond Street School 615 Richmond St., El Segundo, CA 90245 (310) 606-6831		Dickie Van Breene, Principal http://elsegundousd.com/richmond_school Shari Gulian, Newsletter Editor, ssa@copper.net		Windri Barriga, PTA President PTA El Segundo Council 33^rd District, CCPTS

MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Dear Richmond Street Families,

I hope everyone had a healthy and restful winter break. We concluded 2004 with an incredible winter concert performed by the students and directed by Mrs. Baldino. I would like to thank Mrs. Baldino for her hard work and enthusiasm. We are fortunate to have an outstanding Arts Program at Richmond Street School.

We will continue to work on writing during the month of January. Tuesday, January 11 is a minimum day. Teachers will be working with a coach from the UCLA Writing Workshop to learn strategies to improve your student’s writing. The Writing Project continues on Friday, January 14 when the teachers meet with UCLA consultants all day. Richmond Street reading specialist Lisa Holbrook invited district personnel and teachers from the Center Street and the Middle School to watch Dr. Mel Levine’s A Mind at a Time video on memory. We were joined by Superintendent Bruce Auld, and Assistant Superintendent Dr. Geoff Yantz. Our staff will continue to work with Dr. Levine’s video series, which helps students with different learning styles and needs achieve success in school.

January will also be a month for working on correcting bullying behavior. We will concentrate on 4^th and 5^th grade. More information will be going out to parents in those grades.

The Richmond Street staff would like to wish you and your family a Healthy and Happy 2005.

Sincerely,

Dickie Van Breene

Principal

dvanbreene@esusd.k12.ca.us

PTA JANUARY MEETING SPEAKER, DR. GEOFF YANZ, ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT

El Segundo Unified School District has designed an ambitious comprehensive professional development plan for all preschool through 12th grade teachers and administrators to build and sustain unity and develop a synergistic movement among four Distinguished Schools.  The articulated instructional program will be supported through a collaborative model that allows teachers and administrators to analyze and discuss instructional practices and student work in a collegial environment.  Dr. Yantz, Assistant Superintendent, will be presenting the District’s unique vision for creating this professional learning community at the next PTA meeting on January 10th at 7:15 pm.  All parents and teachers are invited to attend. 

JANUARY CALENDAR OF EVENTS
1/10 Monday	PTA Meeting 7:15 PM Richmond Auditorium
1/11 Tuesday	MINIMUM DAY – Early Dismissal Grades 1 – 5 attend 8:30 – 1:30
1/14 Friday	Pupil Free Day Professional Development for teachers
1/17 Monday	Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday No School
1/27 Thursday	Family Reading Night for Kindergarten and 1^st Grade

2003/2004 Richmond Street School Site Council Survey Results: To access the 2003/2004 Richmond Street School Site Council results please go to: http://www.surveymonkey.com/Report.asp?U=46559642844

The annual survey was given to parents, staff, and community members in Spring 2004. Thank you to all of you who completed the survey.

Gently Used Book Drive: The El Segundo Rotary along with Richmond Street Student Council is continuing to collect gently used books for needy children. Thank you to all of you who have donated.

After School Supervision: It is imperative for safety reasons that children be picked up upon dismissal from school. Children are not permitted to play on campus after school. We also recommend that you do not let your children play at Library Park unsupervised.

Employment Opportunity: El Segundo Unified School District is currently hiring Substitutes, Instructional Assistants (openings available at Richmond), Custodians and Cafeteria Workers. For information please contact Patricia Guzman at 310-615-2650.

SCHEDULE OF MINIMUM DAYS

Grades 1 – 5 attend from 8:30 – 1:30

(Kindergarten remains on regular schedule)

January 11 Professional Development

February 8 Professional Development

March 8 Professional Development

April 4 & 5 Parent/Teacher conferences

May 26 Open House

June 23 Last Day of School

MESSAGE FROM THE PTA

Happy New Year and welcome back to Richmond Elementary. Since the beginning of the school year, the PTA has launched its membership drive, sponsored several fundraising efforts including Innisbrook gift wrap, Ralph’s Boxtop, Campbell’s and Tyson labels, and the ink cartridge recycling program. In addition, we have held the Fall Festival, the Red Ribbon Drive, and Reflections. And of course we ended the year with our annual Book Fair, which was a huge success. Thank you to Lynette and the Marcus Family and as well as to all the volunteers, teachers and administrators for all your hard work.

Money from the fundraisers, as well as donations from several Richmond families, will be given back to the school. Ms. Van Breene and Richmond’s teachers are putting together their wish list for the New Year. A gift committee consisting of parents, administration, and a teacher will oversee the funds. The committee will have responsibility to review the wish list and discuss Richmond’s needs. If you are interested in joining the committee, please contact me by e-mail at Windri@aol.com. The next PTA meeting will be January 10^th. Dr. Geoff Yantz will be speaking about the District’s new curriculum as well as its educational vision. I encourage everyone to attend.

Welcome back,

Windri Barriga

BOX TOPS AND LABELS FOR EDUCATION NOVEMBER WINNERS

Box Tops

Campbell’s Labels

Grade	Teacher	#BoxTops
K	Jacobson	52
1^st	Maisonet	146
2^nd	Kuch	163
3^rd	Feinbloom	122
4^TH	Lewis	159
5^th	Stone	123

Grade	Teacher	#Labels
K	O’Brien	1512
1^st	Pickett	18
2^nd	Kuch	504
3^rd	Feinbloom	39
4^TH	Blaney	1040
5^th	Sleeth	561

Remember to buy bonus brands if you can:

• 1- V8 Splash Label = 2 points
• 1- Campbell’s Select Soup or Soup at Hand Label = 5 points

We are also collecting Tyson Labels as well this year. Tyson and Campbell’s labels will be combined into one total!

Our collection day is generally the first Wednesday of the new month and counts for the previous month. So keep clipping, cutting and earning money for our school!! The collection dates for 2005 are January 5^th, February 2^nd, March 2^nd, and the last and final collection date - March 28^th!!

Richmond Parents, Children & Staff:

We want to thank everyone that participated in the Innisbrook, Fall Fundraiser sponsored by our PTA. Through your efforts we raised almost $20,000! This money will be used to help our school in so many ways, technology, field trips, classroom materials, and beautifying our school, just to name a few!

We also want to thank all of the parent volunteers that helped count, gather and distribute all of the orders. Our office staff and teachers were also wonderful in relaying information to parents with questions and helping the entire process run smoothly.

We are so grateful to have such a wonderful group of families who support our PTA in so many ways.

Thanks again.

Judy Gilberts & Polly Houston

PTA Fundraising Chairpeople

PTA BOOK FAIR

I would like to extend a huge thank you to everyone for a wonderfully successful PTA Book Fair.  I had an incredibly awesome group of parent volunteers this year and I enjoyed working with each and every one of you.  Your help and enthusiasm made my job as chairperson much easier.  Thank you for everything. 

I would also like to recognize the entire Richmond Street School staff for their support.  Thank you Ms. Van Breene for your assistance and distribution of your email reminders, the PTA is truly fortunate to have the support of such a wonderful Principal.  Thank you Richmond Street School teachers for working so hard to coordinate your schedules as to allow each student the opportunity to attend the book fair during the day.  Thank you Ann Hancock and Mary Smalley for never tiring of my infinite number of questions and requests. Thank you, Francisco, Alfredo and Auggie for your patience with my many requests and all of your help, it made my job much easier. 

Thank you to our Richmond Street School parents and the community for visiting and shopping at our Book Fair both day and night.  Our two Family Event nights were a huge success, thank you to our Super Star parent readers; Roseanne Barr and Lanny Zechar, and to our student readers Colleen Marcus and Cheyenne Overton, you did an awesome job entertaining the children. And thank you to all of our parents and the El Segundo community for your support and patronage. Finally, I would like to extend a special thank you to a Richmond Street parent for donating ten Book Fair gift certificates. Because of your generosity we were able to provide books for many students who could not otherwise afford them. We all thank you very much.

To everyone, your support not only means success for this PTA fundraiser, but it will also mean the success of Richmond Street School students. Funds raised from this event will go back to our teachers and staff so that they may purchase much needed books and teaching supplies for each classroom. Again, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Lynette Marcus, PTA Book Fair Chairperson