BLUES’ NEWS
Richmond Street School and PTA Newsletter
June 2006				Volume 6, Issue 10
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,

It is hard to believe that the school year is quickly coming to an end. I would like to thank each one of you for your support. We have an outstanding program at Richmond Street School, due in large part to our wonderful parents. I would also like to thank our PTA President, Windri Barriga, and her talented executive board. We are so fortunate to have such a dedicated, hard working and supportive PTA. No task seems to be too big or too small for our PTA parents. Thank you to our School Site Council Representatives, including Chairperson Shari Gulian.

This year the PTA is giving over $30,000 to Richmond Street School for the 2006-07 school year. We plan to use some of the money to purchase the following:

• Field trips
• Assemblies
• Digital projectors for all 3^rd grade classrooms (grades 4 & 5 are presently equipped)
• Special resources for Character Education, Reading, Art, Music and Resource Programs

I would also like to thank the many businesses that contributed to Richmond Street School, the El Segundo Educational Foundation for its generosity, and the school board and district personnel for their support. Thank you to our wonderful staff of teachers, instructional assistants, office personnel, custodians, noon supervisors, librarians, and cafeteria workers. Each day these people work very hard to ensure that each child receives the quality education that he or she deserves.

I wish you all a safe, relaxing and fun summer. I look forward to seeing you back in September and to those of you who are moving on, I wish you the best of luck.

Sincerely,

Dickie Van Breene

Principal

dvanbreene@esusd.k12.ca.us

JUNE CALENDAR OF EVENTS
6/2 Friday	Center Street Ice Cream Social 6:00 p.m.
6/8 and 6/9 Thursday and Friday	Spring Sing (see schedule below)
6/15 Thursday	Orientation for Parents of Incoming 4^th Graders, 6:00 p.m., auditorium (parents only attend)
6/21 Wednesday	5^th Grade Culmination at the El Segundo High School Auditorium, 11:00 a.m.
6/22 Thursday	5^th Grade Picnic Chevron Park Minimum Day – Early Dismissal Grades K – 2 are Early Birds LAST DAY OF SCHOOL
9/1 Friday	Class Lists posted on Richmond Street School Library windows

SPRING SING 2006 SHOW SCHEDULE for PARENTS

Thursday, June 8^th

9:10-9:50 AM – choir and 1^st grade perform –   All 1^st grade parents are invited to attend this performance.  It is the only 1^st grade performance for parents.

11:00-11:40 AM –  2^nd and 3^rd grades perform together both on Thursday and Friday, but for seating space issues all 2^nd grade parents are encouraged to attend the Thursday performance.

2:00-2:30 PM – The only 4^th grade performance for 4^th grade parents.

Friday, June 9^th

9:00-9:45 AM – final choir performance – All Choir parents are invited to attend this show / awards ceremony.

11:00-11:40 AM – 2^nd and 3^rd grades perform together both on Thursday and Friday, but for seating space issues all 3^rd grade parents are encouraged to attend the Friday performance.

2:00-2:30 PM – The only 5^th grade performance for 5^th grade parents.

Not returning in September? If your child will not be attending Richmond Street School in September, please contact Ann Hancock in the office, 606-6831, ext. 400

School Office Closed: The school office will be closed from mid-July to mid-August.

Gifted and Talented Education (GATE): The District is conducting a search to identify students in grades 3 – 12 for GATE. If your child is a high achieving student or is exceptionally talented in the arts he/she may be eligible to be designated as a GATE student. Referrals for gifted students with learning disabilities or limited English skills who might be typically overlooked are also considered. Applications are available in the school office and the deadline to submit an application has been extended to June 16.

Summer School: Summer School will not be held at the elementary level this summer due to lack of state funding. State funding allows the district to operate summer school for grades 6 – 12 only. Fee-for-service programs such as Science Camp, Drama Camp, and Art Camp are available at Richmond. In addition, some Richmond Street teachers will be offering tutoring for a fee over the summer. For more information visit the school office.

5^th Grade Culmination and DARE Graduation will be held on Wednesday, June 21 at 11:00 in the El Segundo High School Auditorium.

School Supplies: The supply list by grade level for back to school materials will be listed during the summer on our website at http://elsegundousd.com/richmond_school/materials/materials.htm

Parent Volunteers Needed: Please mark August 30, 2006 on your calendar. We will be meeting in the auditorium at 9:00am to put together the first day packets that are handed out in each classroom. The information that goes out in these packets is important for everyone, so please help us to make this task go quickly by lending a hand.

INNISBROOK

As a reminder you can support your school all year long by shopping online on our PTA’s webpage http://elsegundousd.com/richmond_school/pta/. Innisbrook has many great products like gift wrap, books and magazines, gourmet candy and many other things. They also carry many of the school supplies your children will need for next year! The school will receive 50% of the proceeds. Richmond received over $1100 from internet sales during the first half of the 2005-2006 school year.

Thanks for your help!

Brandy Smith

KBKSmith@excite.com

MESSAGE FROM PTA

Can you believe that the end of this school year is almost here?  So much has happened in the last year for PTA!  We kicked off the year with the Fall Fund Raiser, and our Fall Festival, and Silent Auction.  From there we jumped into Holiday Programs and the fabulous Book Fair.  In the new year we moved on to our Honorary Service Awards, the Run for Education, and the truly amazing Teacher Appreciation Week. 

None of these programs can even get off the ground without the help of all our parent volunteers.  Richmond Street had nearly 12,000 volunteer hours this year and we are gifting over $30,000 to the school with the help of our wonderful parents.

PTA is not a club or a clique, it is you.  Richmond School is a great school for our children and we are so fortunate to have the staff and administration to support the PTA and teach our kids. I urge you to get involved next year.  It is such a nice feeling to know that we can help make our school the incredible place that it is. 

On a last note, I just want to say thank you to Windri Barriga, our outgoing PTA President and the entire PTA Board.  Job well done!

Have a great summer and we look forward to working with all of you next year.

Tammy Long,

PTA President 2006 - 2007

BOX TOPS AND LABELS FOR EDUCATION YEAR END WINNERS

Class	Teacher	Box Tops	Labels	Total
Kindergaten/Tedde	Jacobson	2424	983	3417
First Grade	Pickett	611	290	901
Second Grade	Nodar	920	1013	1933
Third Grade	Igi	626	252	878
Fourth Grade	MacKenzie	515	956	1471
Fifth Grade	Sleeth	684	681	1365

As the year comes to an end for our Box Tops and Label collections we are excited to announce our Grade Level Year End Winners! We will be having our ice cream parties for the Grade Level winners the first week in June! Everyone did a fantastic job this year and together we collected 13,848 Box Tops which translates into $1,384.80 for our school. Also, we collected a total of 7,663 labels with which we will be given credit to purchase supplies for our school. A huge thank you to all the parents and students who helped all year with this effort!