March/April 2019

Para ver el boletín en español u otro idioma, vaya hasta la parte inferior y oprima el botón blanco "traducir". Usando el cuadro que emerge, seleccione el idioma de su elección "

While it has been a wet winter, the blossoms are fast upon us! And the end of the year is right around the corner. This fact prompts us to reflect on this wonderfully busy year. Each week has been packed with teaching, learning, and fun!

At the district level, we started the year off with an amazing Pancake Breakfast followed by the spooky and fun Harvest Fair at Olivet! Mid-year, we had the Fall Clean-up, Halloween Parade and the fantastically successful Winter Wonderland. Upcoming are our Spring Clean-up and Outdoor Adventure Day (mentioned in the Olivet Families section below). The year will wind down with a district-wide Color Run, Field/Play Day at Olivet, and 6th Grade Promotion. These are just of few activities this year that demonstrate the depth of our school spirit. Whew - what fun!

Thank you all for your time, donations, and trust! We love being the "small school, big heart"!!

Warmly,

-Dr. Anna

YOU CAN BE PREPARED TO HELP YOUR CHILD

Most important: Make sure your child gets enough sleep, eats healthy, and comes to school on time every day! We will be giving out frozen treats for PERFECT ATTENDANCE after testing (no tardies, no absences!).

Learn more about the tests:

Every spring, students in grades three through eight and grade eleven take the Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments for English language arts/literacy (ELA) and mathematics. Fifth Grade students take the Science test. These assessments are part of the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) System. Results from these assessments are just one piece of information to help teachers, parents, and students understand how well a student is meeting the grade-level expectations. Here are some suggestions to help you better understand what your child will be tested on and how you can prepare your child for the assessments.

FIND OUT THE FACTS. To start, Olivet 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th grade students will take the Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments between April 3rd and April 16th. Students usually take the English Language Arts (reading, writing speaking and listening) and Mathematics tests on different days. Since the test includes questions that measure critical thinking and problem solving they do take longer than “fill in the bubble” tests given on paper. However, the tests are untimed, so students will have plenty of time to finish. For more information about the Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments, talk to your child’s principal and teacher and visit http://bealearninghero.org/classroom/smarter-balanced (see link below).

TAKE A LOOK AT THE PRACTICE TEST. This will help you better understand the types of questions your child will be answering. You may want to walk through the test with your child to help familiarize him or her with the test format and features and answer any questions. Olivet students have been practicing in class but it is great for parents to look and talk about the tests with students. To see a practice test, visit the California Department of Education’s (CDE’s) Smarter Balanced Practice Tests Web page at http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/sa/practicetest.asp. (see link below)

When will my child be taking the tests (please confirm with your student's teacher as the schedule is subject to change)?

April 15th - Carter, Brown

April 16th - Miller, Carter, Brown

April 17th - Brown, Doughty, Seliga, Miller, Bickel

April 18th - Doughty, Seliga, Brown, Bickel

April 19th - Carter, Brown

April 22nd - Bickel, Doughty, Seliga

April 23rd - Carter, Doughty

April 24th - Miller, Doughty, Seliga

April 25th - Doughty, Seliga

April 26th - Miller, Seliga

April 29th - Miller, Bickel

April 30th - Carter, Bickel, Brown

May 1st - Carter, Bickel

Learn more here!

Healthy Habits:

Flu and cold season is STILL upon us! While we encourage healthy habits at school, please talk to your kiddos about how to protect themselves from getting sick:

1. Wash hands before eating.

2. Cough and sneeze into your elbow (not hands).

3. Dress for warmth.

4. Drink lots of water.

5. Eat a well balanced diet with a variety of foods.

6. Get plenty of rest (turn off the video games at least one hour before bedtime).

Safety is our number one concern.

1. DROP OFF ONLY IN FRONT OF THE SCHOOL PLEASE!
   

2. Please STAY IN YOUR CAR.

3. PLEASE PULL FORWARD.

4. DO NOT park in the fire lane at any time. Doing so is against the law.
   

5. KINDERGARTEN PARENTS: Once you have picked up your kiddo, please leave the school immediately as school is still in session.

THANKS EVERYONE, FOR HELPING US MAKE OLIVET A SAFE PLACE TO BE!!

March is the month of magic in TK! This month TK learned all about our sneaky magical friends, the Leprechauns! We also learned about other Irish traditions like step dancing. Each student was tasked with the challenge of building a trap to catch a leprechaun. Making traps was not only fun, but helped us persevere, problem solve, and be creative. After their traps were made they practiced their speaking and listening skills by demonstrating to the class how their trap worked. The listeners thought of great questions and compliments for each trap. Everyone did an amazing job!

We have been having a lot of parents calling during the day and wanting to interrupt the class with change of pick-up plans. We understand there are emergencies but it would be helpful to the office and teachers if all after school pickup procedures are arranged before your child starts the day.

Parents- we are looking for substitutes for classified positions, ESPECIALLY CUSTODIANS. Please see Azura in the office if you are interested in being a sub. for yard duty, office, classroom aid. For custodial substitute positions, please contact Ellen at the district office: ewhitt@pousd.org or 522.3003. Thanks!

This summer, we will once again be offering iExplore Maker Camp. It will be located on the Jack London Campus. Students enrolled in the Piner-Olivet Union School District who will be in grades 2-6 during the 2019-2020 school year are eligible to participate. This two-week camp will be held from Wednesday, JUNE 12 - Tuesday, JUNE 25.

Camp will run from 8:30-2:00, with breakfast being served at 8:15. There will be no before-camp or after-camp supervision, so students may not be dropped off before 8:15 or left after 2:00. Both breakfast and lunch will be served.

To sign-up your child or children, please complete the registration form by following the link listed below. Each child needs to be registered individually. Registration will be considered complete when the form is submitted, and a $30 materials fee has been received at POUSD District Office or the materials fee waiver information has been completed. Registration is due no later than May 10, 2019.

* If you wish to apply for a waiver of the materials fee, please fill out questions #1 and #2 when you register.

If paying by check, please put the name of your child/camper in the “notes” and make checks payable to POUSD. Send or deliver to:

Piner Olivet Unified School District

3450 Coffey Lane

Santa Rosa, California 95403

Phone: (707) 522-3000

We will be taking the FIRST 200 STUDENTS who sign up, and after that, students will be placed on a waiting list!

We look forward to an amazing summer of learning and exploring!

Camp registration link:

http://tinyurl.com/POUSDCAMP

In March, we celebrated Read Across America Week with exciting literacy activities and themed dress up days (Twin Day was the clear favorite!). Radio DJ Eloy from Hot101.7 came and read to students. It was a fun week had by all.

2018/19 Olivet Families PTO Officers:

Christi Eisiminger, President

Sonia Ramirez, Vice-President

Stephanie Silvas- Secretary

Maren McCloud, Treasurer

PTO News:

Hello Olivet Families!

I’d like to officially welcome Stephanie Silvas as PTO Secretary. Stephanie has a child in TK and is a wonderful addition to the PTO.

I can’t believe how close we are to the end of the 2018 / 2019 school year, but there’s still fun to be had before we all break for summer!

April 14 is Outdoor Adventure Day. We will play outdoor games, BBQ, and enjoy the outdoors. More details coming soon!

We’d love to have all hands on deck for our Spring Clean-Up, April 28,

8 am to Noon. Bring your gardening tools, gloves, and elbow grease and let’s beautify our campus!

Our Spring Book Fair is the week of May 6th. It’s a great time to grab some good books to keep our kids reading throughout the summer.

Open House is on May 9th.

Lastly, mark your calendar for our annual End of Year BBQ and Basket Raffle, May 24.

We’re looking forward to all of these fabulous end of the year activities and hope you’ll join in the fun!

A very special thanks to our yearbook coordinator Jen Fraga who has dedicated so much of her time to making sure that our years at Olivet are remembered well. Jen will be passing the baton to someone new for the next school year. Interested? Reach out to us at olivetfamilies@gmail.com

To keep you in the know for Spirit days and PTO meetings, visit

http://www.olivet.pousd.org

Click the menu tab, then click

“Calendar “.

Christi Eisiminger

President

Olivet families PTO

A little about myself:

My name is Lindsay Hunter and I currently teach STEAM/Maker at Piner Olivet School District and Sonoma County Libraries. I have my own company, Nutbar Studios, where I love to tinker making a wide range of things and love learning about new inventions. I have a BA in Industrial Design, and I have been a fashion designer at Levi Strauss. I have also taught art, science, and technology at the elementary school level, middle school summer camps, and fashion design at the college level.

The students at Olivet are having a rewarding time working on projects in the STEAM Labs. These projects are based on Next Generations Science Standards for engineering with another topic they’re learning about in science. In addition to engineering and science, the students are often surprised they are also learning about math, art and technology. For me that is what makes teaching STEAM Labs valuable, seeing students fully engaged in their learning and excited about making their project.

Not a whole lot happening around the yard lately. We have had to spend many recesses inside and we know it’s difficult for the kiddos to be inside so much of the time. Spring is officially here, but lately it doesn’t seem like it.

*We had a representative from Master Gardner’s come and gave a ‘worm composting’ presentation. She taught the kids ( approximately 30) the benefits of worms in the gardens. It was a 30 to 45 minute presentation and the kids really enjoyed it!

Now (hopefully) most of the rains have stopped so we can be outdoors more and enjoying our campus. The field will dry up and the kids will have more areas to run and get ‘the wiggles’ out.

Remember when we see trash, stop and pick it up. Keep our school and earth clean.

REMINDERS: When the field is closed due to rain or muddy conditions, this means the track is also closed. NO EXCEPTIONS.

PULL UP BARS are considered part of the field and therefore if the field is closed so are the bars. NO EXCEPTIONS.

Soccer will only be played on the field if and when it is OPEN. Not on the BLACK TOP.

There is no BANANA TAG or MUD BOWL played period.

Happy Spring !!

~Linda Galloway, Lead P.A.

The Environmental Discovery Center at Spring Lake Regional Park is a natural history center featuring hands-on displays and exhibits designed primarily for children in elementary school. Check out their web page for weekend activities, family hikes and much more!

The Olivet Outlook is the Olivet Elementary family newsletter put together by our family here at Olivet and published every other month. If there are any amazing, outstanding or extraordinary happenings going on here at Olivet, we will have our Wings all over it!

Editor/Layout: Katie Hernandez, Library Media Coordinator / khernandez@pousd.org

Website: http://www.olivet.pousd.org
Location: 825 Willowside Rd, Santa Rosa, California, USA
Phone: (707) 522-3045
Facebook: facebook.com/Olivet-Elementary-Charter-School