	BLUES’ NEWS
Richmond Street School and PTA Newsletter
March 2005			Volume 5, Issue 7
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 would like to encourage you to join us in the 13^th Annual Run for Education on Saturday, March 19. Registration forms are available in the school office or at http://www.elsegundousd.com. All proceeds benefit El Segundo public schools. It’s a very fun way to spend a Saturday morning!

Tuesday, March 8th, is a minimum day for grades 1 – 5. Richmond teachers will be working with a UCLA writing coach that day to increase the quality of student work. Several of us attended another training at the high school presented by UCLA. This training focused on a system we will implement to aid teachers in examining student work and school issues. This system enables us to find effective solutions to problems, increase student achievement and open dialogue regarding important issues.

It’s a busy month so please read on for more information on school events.

Sincerely,

Dickie Van Breene

Principal

dvanbreene@esusd.k12.ca.us

OPEN 2005-2006 PTA BOARD & CHAIR POSITIONS

Calling all parents interested in helping make Richmond Street School the best it can be! The PTA helps out our school in so many ways and we need parents who want to join the PTA Board or chair a PTA committee. There is a list of open positions in the school office so please stop by and see what is available, then contact Monica Siadek at 640-8678 to let her know of your interest.

MARCH CALENDAR OF EVENTS

3/1 Tuesday

4^th Grade STAR Writing Test

3/2 Wednesday

Read Across America Day

3/4 Friday

All Kindergartners attend 8:30 – 1:45

Fieldtrip

3/7 Monday

Spring School Picture Day

3/8 Tuesday

Minimum Day – Early Dismissal

Grades 1 – 5 attend 8:30 – 1:30

3/14 Monday

PTA Meeting

7:15 PM

3/16 Wednesday

SONGFEST Choral Festival

7:00 p.m. ESHS Auditorium

3/19 Saturday

Run for Education

April 11 – 17

Spring Break

MARCH PTA MEETING SPEAKER

C. J. Walsh will be speaking at the Richmond Street School's next PTA meeting on Monday, March 14th at 7:15 PM. C. J. is a personal trainer and will be speaking on living from the future to the past and why scheduling food is essential. C. J. is an energetic, upbeat speaker who you will not want to miss! We hope to see you on the 14th.

SCHEDULE OF MINIMUM DAYS

Grades 1 – 5 attend from 8:30 – 1:30

(Kindergarten remains on regular schedule)

March 8                                          Professional Development

April 4 & 5                                     Parent/Teacher conferences

May 26                                           Open House

June 23                                          Last Day of School

Character Education: We will continue the discussions 4th and 5th grade had on bullying behavior by having student council members visit each classroom to give a book review on books dealing with bullying. The student council purchased books for our school library on this topic with the profits they made from the Valentine’s Day Candy Sale. The books will be available in the school library for check-out by the end of March.

4^th Grade State Writing Test: 4^th grade students will be taking the California STAR Writing Test on Tuesday, March 1^st. Please make certain that your child attends school that day. We encourage you to also make certain your child has a good night’s sleep and eats a healthy breakfast that day.

Spring Picture Day: All students will be photographed on Monday, March 7. Do not send money with your child. You will have an opportunity to see the pictures and then decide if you would like to purchase them. Lifetouch, the photography company, donates a portion of the proceeds back to Richmond.

Read Across America and K – 2 Read-a-thon: March 2^nd is Read Across America Day in recognition of Dr. Seuss’s birthday. All Richmond Street students will recite a reading pledge. Students in K-2 will attend an assembly to kick-off our annual Read-a-thon. Students in grades 3 – 5 have just completed the Laker’s Read to Achieve Program.

SONGFEST Choral Festival: Come hear the beautiful music of all the school choirs in El Segundo, including our wonderful choir led by our very talented Mrs. Baldino. The performance will be held at the high school auditorium on Wednesday, March 16 at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased from Mrs. Baldino or on the night of the performance.

Lunches from home: If your child is bringing their lunch to school we would like to encourage you to plan ahead and send the lunch with your child. We have too many lunches that are brought to the office during morning classroom time. We also have many “special lunches” i.e. McDonald’s, pizza, Subway brought in late. The amount of lunches brought in late is overwhelming and time consuming for the staff. Please help us by limiting “special lunches” and by planning ahead.

Report Cards: The trimester ends on March 30. Report cards go home on April 8.

Run for Education T-Shirts: If you have turned in an entry form you can pick up your Run for Education T-shirts here at Richmond Street School on Thursday, March 17^th between 2-3pm or on Saturday, March 19^th right before the run.