BLUES’ NEWS
Richmond Street School and PTA Newsletter
January 2006				Volume 6, Issue 5
Richmond Street School 615 Richmond St., El Segundo, CA 90245 (310) 606-6831		Dickie Van Breene, Principal Marisa Janicek, Assistant Principal elsegundousd.com/richmond_school Shari Gulian, Newsletter Editor	Windri Barriga, PTA President PTA El Segundo Council Thirty-Third District California State PTA, everychild.onevoice

MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Dear Richmond Street Families,

I hope everyone had a happy and restful winter break. We welcome Mrs. Baldino back this month, as well as the Young Americans. The Young Americans is a musical performance group who tour world-wide. Mrs. Baldino was a member of the group several years ago and she brought The Young Americans to El Segundo. Our 4^th – 12^th graders have the opportunity to perform with the group and it’s a wonderful experience for them. They produce outstanding shows for the entire family. See the calendar of events for specific dates and times.

We will be continuing our professional learning community and staff development days on Friday, January 13^th. Students do not attend school on that day but teachers will be very busy. Throughout the day teachers will be:

• examining the effectiveness of using Cornell Notes in the upper grades to assist students in gaining a deeper understanding of subject matter
• learning more strategies to differentiate instruction to meet the needs of all learners
• exploring the benefits of “The Wave”, an ESMS program of Writing And Vocabulary Enrichment instruction
• experimenting with a new Everyday Math interactive internet program
• meeting in across-grade-level department teams to discuss curriculum and instruction
• and more!

We will continue to work hard during the month of January on our Minimum Day Mondays at Richmond. We will be doing more work on our writing assessment program, The 6 + 1 Traits of Writing, reading fluency, bully prevention, and we will establish school goals for the 2006-2007 academic year.

Wishing you a happy and healthy 2006,

Dickie Van Breene

Principal

dvanbreene@esusd.k12.ca.us

JANUARY CALENDAR OF EVENTS
1/9 Monday	PTA Meeting 7:15 PM Auditorium
1/12 Thursday	K – 1 Family Reading Night 5:00 – 7:00 Auditorium
1/13 Friday	Teacher Professional Development Day Pupil Free Day (No School)
1/14 Saturday	Young Americans Performance 3:00 PM High School Auditorium
1/15 Sunday	Young Americans Performance 7:00 PM High School Auditorium
1/16 Monday	Martin Luther King, Jr. School Holiday
1/25 Wednesday	School Site Council Meeting 8:30 AM Room 202

School Breakfast: School breakfast is available every day in the cafeteria at 8:05 for $1.25.

El Segundo Girls Softball Registration

When: Tuesday, January 10, 2006 6 pm - 8 pm

Where: El Segundo Recreation Park

Downstairs "Drop-In" Room at the Clubhouse (Park on Pine Street)

For more information: www.elsegundogirlssoftball.com

Cold and Flu Season: Fevers are very contagious. If your child is sick, please check his/her temperature and keep him/her home if there is a fever. Good attendance is important to your child’s education and children with fevers spread illness to those who are well.

RSS Website: The Blues’ News and school lunch menu can be found on our school website at http://elsegundousd.com/richmond_school

Our website is updated monthly and has the latest school information.

MINIMUM DAY EVERY MONDAY

Grades 1 and 2

Early Birds 8:20 – 12:50

Later Gators 9:00 – 1:30

Grades 3 – 5

8:20 – 1:30

Kindergarten remains on regular schedule