June pg 1_2013 - Arlington Elementary School

SUPERSTARS
Newsletter
www.ArlingtonPTA.com
June 2013 / Issue: 8
Dear Arlington Families,
As our year comes to a close, with the last days in sight, I want to thank you all for the
part you have played to make Arlington the best school for our kids this year!
“Together We Can” and DID do all kinds of things for the education of our children!
Our PTA supported many, many programs at Arlington, through the help of all
our wonderful volunteers – parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, sisters, brothers, friends.
Because of your support, through all the budget cuts, the PTA has continued to fund and
provide so many important programs to fill the gaps for our students. I would like to
acknowledge the people who coordinated these programs, and to give you a run down
on all that your PTA is doing for our kids. So huge thanks and appreciation
to the following:
• Cayme Momita, our docents and assistants for bringing Fine Art to our students
through ADVENTURES in ART, and the opportunity to express their creativity
and ingenuity.
• Lori Valot, Joann Dubay, and our library volunteers for staffing our PTA library,
covering and repairing books, keeping our library in order, checking books in/out,
and providing this great resource for our students so that they can have regular access
to free books to read!
• Sabrina Aguirre, Donna Rabut and the Book Fair volunteers for bringing us books to
read at home, and providing books for our library so the students can have up to date
resources and reading materials.
• Jennifer Watanuki, Linda Terao and our Reading Incentive Week volunteers for
providing this great program to encourage our students to spend more time reading
and building their reading skills!
• Aleah Sawai for bringing readers for the children for Read Across America Day,
and for bringing the firemen to Arlington to teach fire safety, and coordinating our
Firefighter’s Appreciation.
• Cindy Moromisato, our Room Parents and assistants for keeping the fun and
celebrations in our classrooms, as well as communication with our families and
coordinating with our PTA.
• Aleah Sawai, Kim Miyamoto and our Teacher’s Assistance Program (TAP)
volunteers for providing weekly clerical support to our teachers so they can spend
their time focused on the students!
• Nick Pepper for planning our activities during Red Ribbon Week to help us learn to
“say no to drugs”. And for supporting our technology here at Arlington. Thanks to the
PTA, we were able to provide ipads for each classroom for the students to use for
Accelerated Reader and so much more!
• Mr. Kamida for taking on extra students, so we could continue to support the
instrumental music program.
cont’d on page 2
Arlington Elementary
17800 Van Ness Ave.
Torrance, CA 90504
Dr. Vicki Hath, Principal
Arlington PTA
Torrance Council of PTA’s
Thirty-Third District, California State PTA
Diane Wang, President
Ron Uyema, Newsletter Editor
Page 2
Arlington
SuperStars
June 2013
PTA President’s Message cont’d
• Paul Sawai for keeping us prepared for disasters! We were able to purchase emergency blankets and refresh supplies
for our emergency kits!
• Sharon Sawai for bringing us family programs, like Movie Night and Holiday Marketplace!, so our families can enjoy
each together! And for our Mad Science Assemblies and Honorary Service Awards program.
• Pam Shigeta, Pauline Hirabayashi and the Ice Cream Social volunteers for dishing up yummy ice cream.
• Dawn Sawyer for encouraging our students to give back through our Holiday Giving program, and for heading up our
Scholarship awards, given to five of our former students to help with their college tuition!
• KL Chok for bringing the Bike Rodeo, so kids can learn about bicycle and road safety, and test their skills.
• Nancy Nishihira for bringing us Reflections to foster creativity and the arts. And for reminding us to be safe,
and coordinating our appreciation to our Policemen during Blue Ribbon Week.
• Tracy Kucera and Joann DuBay for teaching our Five Star Club students about service and character.
• Ron Uyema for putting together this newsletter to enhance our communications.
• Chris Mason for keeping track of the recess equipment so our kids have balls to play with!
• Kristin Ishida for coordinating our appreciation for our wonderful teachers.
• Kristin Ishida and Jan Hirata for coordinating our fabulous Supperstars Club! Through this, we were able to raise
valuable funds for the Intervention program.
• Melanie Misumi for bringing us our new Spiritwear designs, which also raised funds for Intervention.
• Robyn Musick for providing hospitality for our many programs, including snacks for our kindergarteners on their
first day, for CST testing kids, Field Day and more!
• Loretta Alvillar, Cayme Momita and our Parent Information Packet (PIP) volunteers for preparing our weekly
communication packets.
• KL Chok for maintaining our website and sending out valuable information to our families.
And we couldn’t do it without the people behind the scenes:
• Jolene Morita, coordinating our fundraisers so we can fund these programs
• Jennifer Watanuki, keeping track of our membership
• Janet Kaneshiro, Jan Hirata, and Cayme Momita, our financial team
• Linda Terao, Laura Shiozaki, and Kristin Ishida, our record keepers.
• Vicki Hath, our Advisor
• Ms. Lyu and Ms. Hampikian, our teacher representatives.
I count it a privilege to have been able to work with all these wonderful people and many more! We are so fortunate here
at Arlington to have so many people willing to be involved with their students! Thank you for your support in all ways,
big and small.
I hope you all have a great summer – enjoy spending some extra time with your children! This is such a valuable time.
I look forward to working together again next year!
With gratitude and much appreciation,
Diane Wang
PTA President
Page 3
Arlington
SuperStars
June 2013
Principal’s Message
Dear Arlington Families, Friends, and Super Stars!
I cannot believe that there are only a few weeks of school left in the 2012-13 school year! As usual,
the campus is bustling with learning, activities, and fun. The staff and myself were so pleased with our
turn out on Open House Night! I hope all of you had a wonderful time. I enjoyed looking at all the
student work that was showcased for the event as well as eating the delicious ice cream! Yum!
As we begin to close for the school year, we ask families to ensure that all library books are returned,
textbooks find there way back to school, and lunch balances are paid in full. Parents are reminded to
pick up medication and earthquake kits. If students are in good standing in all of these areas yearbooks
will be passed out, report cards distributed, and our summer with start with no worries! I thank you in
advance for your cooperation regarding these matters.
Besides collecting books and materials for the end of the year, the office and staff are starting to plan
for classroom configurations, student placement, and teaching assignments for next school year.
There is the exciting news of the TUSD staffing ratios for K-12 being reduced, which means class
sizes at the elementary level in K – 3 will be 28 and in grades 4 and 5 class sizes should be 32.
This is fantastic news!! With the reduction in class size, Arlington is also slotted to add
another teacher. We are excited to have this addition.
As Arlington staff works to create classes for the fall, it is the philosophy of Torrance Unified
School District, along with federal and state laws and guidelines that public school classrooms
are to be heterogeneously grouped. This means each class should have an even distribution of
achievement levels, an equitably balance of boys and girls, as well as students learning English as a
second language, students with special needs, and students of various ethnicities; therefore parent
requests for specific teachers will not be considered.
Speaking of class sizes and configuration, class start and end times will remain the same Start times
are 8:59 a.m. for grades 1st – 3rd and 8:50 for grades Kindergarten, 4th and 5th. All grades, with the
exception of kindergarten will end at 3:12 p.m. Kindergarten will end at 1:59. Please continue to visit
the TUSD website www.tusd.org throughout the summer for more information on the first official day
of school, calendar and updates.
If you do not anticipate returning to Arlington next school year, please let your classroom teacher
know soon so we can accurately plan for classroom configurations.
I hope that you are as pleased as I am with your child’s progress this school year. It continues to be a
pleasure working as Arlington’s principal. I hope your child feels a special connection to our school
and our Super Star community. Have a great rest of the school year, and I will see you in September!
Sincerely,
Dr. Vicki Hath
Principal
Page 4
Arlington
SuperStars
June 2013
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
Thank you so much to all of the wonderful Arlington families who
helped make Teacher Appreciation Week a success. The donations
of flowers and school supplies were overwhelming. I know the
teachers were very appreciative of all of your kindness.
In addition, I would like to thank all of the room parents for helping
to organize the flower and supply donations for their classes.
I could not have done that without your help. I would like to
thank all of the families who donated food for our teacher breakfast
and luncheon, including Starbucks coffee who donated a generous
amount of delicious coffee! Diane Wang and Leah Sawai for all of
your support and help, listening to my ideas and helping me
execute them.
We are all so fortunate to have such a great staff of teachers for our
children here at Arlington. PTA is truly thankful for everyone’s
help in letting our teachers know how much we appreciate them!
Kristin Ishida
Teachers Appreciation Week Chair
AT A GLANCE
13 — Kindergarten Picnic
Family Math Night
14 — 5th Grade Picnic
18 — 5th Grade Culmination
9:30 - 10:30 AM
19 — Field Day
20 — Last Day of School
8:50 - 11:50 AM
Sc h o o l ’s O u t !
une 20
J
BLUE RIBBON WEEK !
THANK YOU TO EVERYONE THAT DONATED TO OUR "BLUE RIBBON WEEK GOODIE BASKET!"
Besides giving TPD our "goodie basket" of brownies, cookies & fruits, we also took lunch to the station.
Thank you to El Pollo Inca for helping us provide them their delicious food along with some torpedo
sandwiches & chips for TPD to enjoy. The response was overwhelming and the list of names is so long
I couldn't fit them all in the newsletter. Arlington really showed its appreciation to the Torrance Police Dept.
THANK YOU to SERGEANT NICK PEPPER with the CITY OF GARDENA POLICE DEPT
for helping with the assembly;
DR. HATH; MS. LORRAINE for the card stock;
DIANE WANG, CAYME MOMITA, KRISTIN ISHIDA, DIANE LUIS, SHARON SAWAI and
OUR SPECIAL LAW ENFORCEMENT GUESTS THAT ATTENDED OUR MONDAY ASSEMBLY.
AND ANYONE ELSE THAT I HAVE FORGOTTEN TO MENTION.
A BIG SPECIAL THANK YOU TO ALL THE STUDENTS THAT MADE THANK YOU CARDS THAT
WERE GIVEN TO OUR GUESTS AND THE TPD. THEY WERE ALL SO WONDERFUL AND VERY
MUCH APPRECIATED BY EVERYONE THAT RECEIVED THEM.
I THANK EVERYONE for making BLUE RIBBON WEEK such a success!
Hugs to you all!
Nancy Nishihira
Blue Ribbon Chairperson
Sticky note Thank You, surfboard, children and June clipart courtesy of mycutegraphics.com
School closed clipart courtesy of DiscoverySchool.com
Sand Castle clipart courtesy of Clker.com
Page 5
Arlington
SuperStars
June 2013
Thank You Room Parents
and Assistants!!!
A very special thank you to all Room Parents and Assistants for helping with the various activities,
events and celebrations this past 2012-13 school year! Everything ran much smoother
because of YOU!!!
2012-13 Room Parents:
Jennifer Watanuki (RP-K)
Melanie Misumi (RP – K)
Isabel Barros (RP-K)
Loretta Alvillar (RP – 1st)
Kristi Moriya (RP – 1st)
Susan Kamada (RP – 1st)
May Ito (RP-2nd)
2012-13 RP Assistants:
Nick Pepper
Mike Asahara
Jennifer Oyama
Kristi Tanaka
Tabitha McCullah
Ryoko Manabe
Julie Honda
Yuko Felde
Sabrina Aguirre
Diana Luis
Christina Whelchel (RP – 2nd)
Jennifer Watanuki (RP – 2nd)
Kristin Ishida (Co-RP – 3rd)
Tish Une (Co-RP – 3rd)
Sandy Tsukamoto (RP – 3rd)
Mary Maas (RP-3rd)
Kristi Tanaka (RP – 4th)
Fran Gillis (Co-RP – 4th)
Jan Hirata
Rowena Docuyanan
Sabrina Aguirre
Ottum Aimee Yates
Polly Izumo
Christine Shirota
Carol Tamanaha
Ayumi Kurosu
Lynne Dacuycuy
Mai Ngo
Pam Shigeta (Co-RP – 4th)
Pauline Hirabayashi (RP – 4th)
Laura Shiozaki (Co-RP – 5th)
Stacey Ishimaru (Co-RP – 4th)
Joyce Nishikawa (RP – 5th)
Sharon Sawai (RP – 5th)
Hasima Begum (RP – Garza)
Kristen Henry
Tanya Schumann
Linda Terao
Aleah Sawai
Robyn Musick
Pamela Semple
JoAnn Dubay
Jennifer Petty
Grace Najjar
Eveleen Tanaka
Christy Calhoun
Laura Shiozaki
Rossy Flores
Liz Uribe
Sheri Kamiya
Tina Whelchel
Paula Samora
Cayme Momita
Barbara Avila
You are a shining example of an ARLINGTON SUPERSTAR Parent!!! On behalf of the PTA,
THANK YOU very much! Have a wonderful summer!
Cindy Moromisato
Room Parent Coordinator 2012-13, RP -3rd Grade
ATTENTION PARENTS!
Lost and Found
You would be surprised at the amount of items collected each day at Arlington...
This is your last chance to reclaim that lost jacket, lunch box or other items left behind on the playground.!
Each and every day items are left on the yard, and every Friday they are collected and put on the
LOST & FOUND rack. Please on your next visit to the campus, check out the rack - Located near the front gate
at the entrance to the cafeteria.
You would be surprised at the amount of items collected each day at Arlington...
ALL items not claimed at years end will be donated to charity!
Thank you!
Chris Mason
Noon Supervisor
Lost n Found clipart courtesy of DiscoverySchool.com
Shooting Star clipart courtesy of office.microsoft.com
Page 6
Arlington
SuperStars
June 2013
Hello Arlington Families!
We hope you all had a chance to enjoy our art gallery where all of our Arlington Superstars’ artwork was
featured.! It’s hard to believe the school year has come and gone so quickly!!
Thank you to our wonderful PTA and all our Arlington Superstar Families.! We would be unable to bring art to
the students without your continued support of the Adventures in Art program.! We are so fortunate to be
able to expose the students to fine arts along with the different types of art materials they do not always
encounter in the regular classroom setting.
Special thanks to Dr. Vicki Hath and to all our teachers and staff for always supporting our program.!
We wouldn’t have this fantastic art program without these special volunteers:
Chris Mason!
Diana Luis
Hasina Begum
Jennifer Petty!
Loretta Alvillar
Sandra Jones
Cindy Moromisato
Diane Wang
Jan Hirata
Jolene Morita
Nancy Nishihira
Sharon Sawai
Derek Kawamura
Gina Mullin
Janice De La Mora
K.L. Chok
Robyn Musick
Susan Brooks
!
Besides our wonderful docents, PTA, teachers and principal, there are a few others I need to thank.!
! Our art assistants who have come out to help our docents with our art classes, assisting the children
and cleaning up! Your help is invaluable to us!
! Jan Akahiji, Gabby Dominguez, Melanie Misumi, Paula Samora, Laura Shiozaki and Jean Yamatsuka
for their help preparing for the gallery…and you aren’t even docents!!
! Chris Mason for designing the cover art for our gallery program
! Jan Hirata, Cindy Moromisato, Jean Yamatsuka, Sharon Sawai and Michiko Tashima for taking care of
things behind the scenes in the kitchen on gallery night
! The AIA Docents and PTA Board Members that provided food for the gallery
! Tracy Kucera and JoAnn DuBay for providing Five Star students to help serve snacks at the gallery.!
Five Star Students:! Michele Momita, Kailee Sawai, Matthew Kucera, Christopher Dominguez,
Kristin Akioka, Roy Huallpa, Katie Tashima, Kennedy Joo, Madison Yamada, Evan Rey, Aaron Neal,
Cassidy Guerrero, Leo Hinojosa, Kolton Kippel, Kayla Mullin, Chase Jones, Siera Misumi,
Brandyn Hannah, Harry Jeong and Stephanie Ajifu.! (Sorry if I missed anyone.)
! Mr. Glen Kamida, our music teacher, for providing our very own Superstars to play the ukulele,
recorder, cello and violin for us throughout the gallery.!
! Our secretary Lorraine Morrell for helping us get some of the supplies needed to complete our
projects and for gallery
A special thanks to Diane Wang, Chris Mason and Sharon Sawai, who have been there for me throughout
my 2 years as AIA Chairperson.! I couldn’t have made it without your constant support.
!
It has been my honor to be a part of Adventures in Art for the past 6 years.! Thank you to the class of 2013
for making my experience in AIA so enjoyable.! I will miss being here at Arlington as my daughter Michele
moves on to middle school next year but I leave AIA in the capable hands of Robyn Musick.!
Cayme Momita
AIA Chairperson
Paint brush clipart courtesy of www.wpclipart.com
Page 7
Arlington
SuperStars
June 2013
Thank you for helping Arlington PTA raise money
for our Intervention Program
Through your support of our Fresh and Easy receipt collection, shopping night and restaurant
fundraisers, we were able to raise $3,962.43! Way to go Arlington Families!
Supperstars Club Results
Thank you to all of the families who joined us throughout the year at our
Supperstars Club Meetings! We hoped you enjoyed the nights off from cooking and being
able to eat amongst friends. After collecting the receipts from our four meetings
(Red Robin, California Pizza Kitchen, Mc Donalds and El Pollo Inka),
the results are in and we have a winner!!!!
WINNER:
Mrs. Fukunaga’s class won both in Participation and Total Dollars Collected.
Way to go Room 15!
(They have won a class lunch and Mrs. Fukunaga won a restaurant gift card.)
RUNNER UP:
In Participation: Mrs. Camberos and Ms. Suh
In Dollar Amount: Mrs. Shintaku
(Each student in these classes will win popsicles)
Here is a list of the final totals for each class:
Ms. Eguchi
Ms. Orquiola
Ms. Hopf
Ms. Dixon
Ms. Shintaku
Ms. Wimberley
Ms. Hampikian
Ms. Kuriyama
Ms. Camberos
Ms. Fukunaga
7%
13%
12%
8%
21%
14%
15%
11%
23%
30%
239.61
563.69
448.75
342.58
1068.06
624.13
682.23
421.96
936.57
1445.50
Ms. Christie
Ms. Lyu
Ms. Suh
Ms. Gerhardt
Ms. Kennedy
Ms. Nakano
Ms. Writer
Ms. Fish
Ms. Hargenrater
Ms. Garza
13%
22%
23%
11%
5%
10%
6%
8%
16%
0%
492.56
820.70
807.67
456.34
311.79
554.93
304.12
522.86
1039.87
0
Page 8
Arlington
SuperStars
June 2013
SCHOLARSHIPS
On May 23, 2013 the following scholarships were awarded to 5 deserving students who are graduating
from a Torrance high school this year. These deserving students all started down their education path
at Arlington Elementary.
Congratulations to Kaitlyn Akiyama, Jessica Chong, Zachary Kimura, Jay Miyazato and
Jade Taniguchi on their accomplishments! They all have an exciting college path they are
going down and they got their start here at our wonderful elementary!
Dawn Sawyer
The Scholarship Committee
VISITOR!S BADGES
Any and ALL visitor's to Arlington campus should always check in with the office FIRST
and sign in and obtain a temporary VISITOR'S BADGE before heading to a classroom
or area on campus.
This is for the protection of our students & staff!! :)
ALSO - PLEASE RETURN THE BADGE(S) TO THE OFFICE WHEN YOU LEAVE CAMPUS.
Thank You
The Arlington Superstar Staff
(*)PTA & Staff should also display their staff badges when on campus!
Have a Great Summer!
Diploma/Cap clipart courtesy of wpclipart.com
School clipart courtesy of DiscoverySchool.com
Page 9
Arlington
SuperStars
June 2013
ATTENTION ARLINGTON
FAMILIES!
You have an assignment for the summer.
Even though it’s summer vacation,
you can still help Arlington!
Here’s how:
! Continue saving Box Tops for Education
Follow these easy steps:
• Cut out Box Tops (Please check the expiration dates)
• Put them in a Ziploc bag
• Put your name and room number on the bag
• Turn them in to your teacher or put them in the Box Tops box in the
office when school resumes on September 6.
0/00/00
Our first drawing for the school year will be in October!
! Go to the South Bay Galleria to…
… Buy summer clothes and gifts
… Watch movies, buy popcorn, drinks and snacks
… Get your back-to-school gear
… Have a bite at the Food Court or one of the
Galleria Restaurants
And every time you do, our school can earn points to win Galleria gift cards which are used to purchase
supplies/prizes for various programs at our school.
It’s so easy and takes just a few minutes… simply take your same-day receipts to Guest Services
(Level 1, Nordstrom Wing) where your purchases will be recorded. Your receipts are then stamped
and returned to you. Have your family and friends help out, too!
As of May, Arlington was in FIRST PLACE. Don’t let Arlington fall behind during the summer! Turn in
your receipts for our school so we can stay at the top!
Thanks and have a great summer!