PTA Pinnacle June

 The Alderwood PTA Pinnacle Parents and Teachers Working Together to Achieve the Heights of Success for Our Children! Issue #8, June 8, 2015 Upcoming Events! June 9 PTA Meeting, 830am Instrumental Concert at Bethel Korean Church June 11 Vocal Concert, MPR June 17 Food Truck Night! 5pm! June 18 Minimum Day! LAST DAY OF SCHOOL! August 26 FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL! The PTA Pinnacle Issue No. 8, June 8, 2015 Teacher Spotlight Terrific Third! Meet our amazing Third Grade Teachers! From L to R, Ms. Sarah McIsaac, Mrs. Kim Kinnaird, Mrs. Cindy Esquinas, and Mrs. Jennifer Bolinger (and baby=p) Hi, I’m Mrs. Esquinas. I have been teaching at Alderwood for 10 years. Before that, I taught at Brywood Elementary for 18 years. I have taught K, 1st, 2nd and 3rd grades. I am excited to be teaching 3rd grade with such incredible colleagues, students and parents. I love the classroom experience that promotes enthusiasm for learning and the excitement the Room 14 friends bring each day. I live in Irvine with my husband, Rob, my son, Michael, and my beagle, Harley. I love spending fun times with my family, walking Harley and taking him to Central Bark Dog Park, anything that has to do with the beach, and having fun with family and friends! Hi, I’m Miss Mc Isaac. This is my first year teaching and I couldn’t think of a better school than Alderwood. I graduated from Chico State and received my credential from Long Beach State. One of my favorite hobbies is to travel. I was able to travel all across Europe, while I was living overseas while working with children for the United States military. I lived in Germany, Italy, and Sicily. I am hoping to plan a trip to Bali next summer. I have had an amazing year working in third grade at Alderwood. I can’t wait for what next year brings! Hi there! I’m Mrs. Kinnaird and I have been lucky enough to be teaching here at Alderwood for 9 years. However, I have been here much longer than that. I worked here as an aide, did my student teaching here, and was even a student at Alderwood grades K-­‐6! I love Alderwood with its amazing students, parents, and staff. I consider myself so blessed to have this job. My husband and I live in Santa Margarita with our 1 year old daughter, Violet. She is awesome!! She is a bit of a daredevil and keeps Mr. Kinnaird and me on our toes. She loves climbing anything she can and exploring new things. She also LOVES the water so we will be enjoying a fun summer at the pool and beach. Some of my favorite things to do are spending time with my family and friends; who include Mrs. Edgar, Mrs. Bo, and Mrs. Kimmich. I also love traveling, shopping, reading, and eating yummy foods! Hi, I'm Mrs. Bolinger. Most students call me "Mrs. Bo" for short. I've been a third grade teacher at Alderwood for 4 years now. I have the best job in the world! Teaching allows me to be creative, productive, and multi-­‐task everyday. I love it! My husband and I live in Mission Viejo with our 4 month old baby boy, Shane. We call him Mr. Bub or Buddy. He actually has a lot of nicknames already. Mr. Bub is adorable and being a parent is the best! Mr. Bo and I enjoy playing sports (volleyball and soccer) and hanging outside with our neighbors and friends. I am absolutely obsessed with Pinterest because it gives me good ideas about teaching, cooking, and crafting. So many people have a sweet tooth-­‐
but not me! I have a salty tooth. My favorite snacks are always salty, cheesy, and crunchy. Mrs. Kinnaird and Mrs. Kimmich are really great friends of mine. I'm so thankful to teach because it's a challenge and I get to impact the awesome students of Alderwood. If I haven't met you yet, stop by Room 13 and say "hi"! 2 Parent Spotlight Meet one of our most active parent volunteers, Co Chair for Team Kids and TASAW (Teacher and Staff Appreciation Week), and incoming PTA Vice President, Lakshmi Kannan! Hi everyone ! My name is Lakshmi Kannan. I was raised in INDIA and got my bachelors in Computer Application. I moved to California about 9 years ago because my husband, Kannan, got a job here. He is a software engineer & loves to play volleyball with his friends. He is an awesome person who always been a big support for me to help serve the community. I have two girls. My older daughter Manisha started her 1st grade here at Alderwood & now she is in 5th grade. My younger daughter Tanya is in 2nd grade. I have been a room parent for my kids class for 4 years and a volunteer for the many different events at Alderwood such as the Book-­‐fair , Red ribbon week , International Night, and Silent-­‐auction. I’ve also enjoyed being a part of the Jog-­‐a-­‐thon prize committee and a co-­‐chair for Team kids and TASAW (Teacher and Staff Appreciation Week). TASAW is one of the most favorite event for me to work & this year for TASAW we had new committee people. Isis, Meygan & Lena I loved working with them with their positive thoughts & ideas. Here at Alderwood,I enjoy volunteering the most!I feel fortunate to be able to work with wonderful community people . I'm excited about my role as a vice president and look forward to working with all of you to make this an exciting school year for you all. The PTA Pinnacle Issue No. 8, June 8, 2015 Alderwood PROGRAM HIGHLIGHT… The Alderwood Running Club!!! By Kimberly Connell, Photos Courtesy of Teri Sinor On May 11, 2015 the Alderwood Running Club concluded its fourth season with an awards celebration at Knollcrest Park. The Alderwood Running Club is a part of the "Kids Run the OC" program, a Training Program designed to help pre-­‐adolescent kids become more physically fit, while promoting an active and healthy lifestyle. During the season, in weekly practices, students run an accumulation of 25.2 miles and learn about nutrition and other healthy habits. Alderwood was one of 92 Orange County schools to offer this program to encourage healthy habits and a love of running this year. On Saturday, May 2, 2015 #120 Alderwood students ran in the 1 mile Kids Run to complete their "marathon" and earn an OC Marathon Medal. We are extremely proud of every student who participated in the program! Our top runners were: • Kindergarten -­‐ Wyatt Everwick , Laurence Thorn, Maria Luinga Rodrigues • 1st Grade -­‐ Ryan Hayes, David Soto • 2nd Grade -­‐ Adam Abdel-­‐Sayed, Rustin Jafarkhani, Isabella Mansouri • 3rd Grade -­‐ Oleg Shatskikh, Jonathan Soto, Gurman Brar • 4th Grade -­‐ Michael Dougherty, Andy Xu • 5th Grade -­‐ Tony Lee, Ramiyah Thorn • 6th Grade -­‐ Steven DuAlba, Laci Carleton Please see the next page for a list of all of our amazing Alderwood Runners! The Alderwood Running Club is completely volunteer run. We would like to thank the following parents and community members for their support and help: Coach Mike Collins, Coach Noelle Darden, Coach Dan Iwanaga, Coach Jeff and Laurie Thompson, Kimberly Connell, Amanda Teal. Tatiana Shatskikh, Anshu Agarwal, Paniz Ebrahimi. Without these dedicated volunteers, we would not have been able to have this valuable program. We are always looking for new volunteers! If you would like to help in the 2015-­‐2016 program, please contact Kristina Lee at [email protected] 4 The PTA Pinnacle Issue No. 8, June 8, 2015 Congratulations to all of Alderwood’s Amazing Runners! Kindergarten – Kendall Everswick, Wyatt Everswick, Adam Greber, Maddox Lee, Zoe Pumerantz, Nikan Rafi, Maria Luiza Rodriues, Faris Said, Michael Soto, Laurence Thorn, Jerry Yao, Maimuna Zeitoun, Yunrui Zheng 1st Grade – Attie Lin, Dawson Mai, Sofia Mendez, Shiven Patel, Christian Smith, David Soto, Owen Talley, Emily Teal, Reginald Thorn, Rilee Weaver, Bingging Yu, Kasra Zandpour 2nd Grade – Adam Abdel-­‐Sayed, Edgar Aghryan, Aryana Allamehzadeh, Adair Boehme, Sarah Chen, Ava Clouse, Luke Harris, Camille Helbig, Josh Iwanaga, Rustin Jaforkhani, Tanya Kannan, Peyton King, Stephanie Liang, Adi Lieber, Addison Lindenberg, Joshua Ma, Isabella Mansouri, Bianca Morrell, Preston Nguyen, Jude Said, Arohi Shah, Ananya Swaminathan, Bradyn Thompson, Annabelle Wonder, Jesse Yao, Julianna Yoon 3rd Grade – Zoe Altarac, Nemal Anand, Gurman Brar, Madison Corliss, Mateo Cruz, Georgia Damboise, Yuliana Estrada, Lex Hackett, Henry Jeong, Meagan Jennings, Benjamin Lew, Muhammed Qoanith Kama, Sienna Patel, Jinan Said, Ailah Samoylovich, Oleg Shatskih, Jonathan Soto, Ai Taguchi 4th Grade -­‐ Mina Banga, Tyler Beak, Noah Boehme, Ella Hajian, Ryan Jenkins, Ritka Joshi, Tina Mai, Ethan Pau, Leylany Rabadan, Alexa Salem, Max Santayana, Katrina Soto, Sebastian Verneuil, Riley Woods, Andy Xu, Camellia Zandpour, Carl Zhang 5th Grade – Emma Clouse, Joshua Jeong, Tony Lee, Nolan Lew, Ethan Nguyen, Savannah Salem, Ayushi Shah, Oliver Teal, Ramiyah Thorn, 6th Grade -­‐ Kiyan Ahmadi, Akashvir Brar, Laci Carleton, Beau Connell, Stecen DuAlba, Sujay Ottimi, Victoria Pau, Eric Sun, Nadia Said 5 The PTA Pinnacle Issue No. 8, June 8, 2015 Your PTA dollars at work…enabling our kids to supplement their learning with educational experiences 3rd Grade goes to the Tessman Planetarium! By Minharda DeVilliers The 3rd grade group were privileged to go on a field trip, courtesy Alderwood PTA, to the Tessman Planetarium at Santa Ana College. The Director of the program Dr. Eastmond, did a fantastic and lively presentation about our solar system. It was a very interesting enrichment activity complementing the 3rd grade curriculum about our solar system. With the planetarium being newly remodeled, the show was fueled by stunning visiualizations of the planets, the stars, zodiac signs and more. I was impressed by Alderwood's little scientists of tomorrow's inquisitive and knowledgeable questions. I am sure quite a few of them were inspired to figure out more about their existence and how our very "small" human race fit into our mind boggling universe. From the Q&A at the end of the presentation I am sure I recognized a physicist or two of tomorrow. Alderwood Supports Lupus Awareness Month! By Kirsten Maeda Our beautiful butterfly garden/tile mural was especially decorated last month with awareness colors and signs in honor of May's Lupus Awareness Month and to support the “High Five” Lupus LA Campaign. 6 The PTA Pinnacle Issue No. 8, June 8, 2015 Alderwood Celebrates…
Thank you for your help in yet another succe ssful
Teacher Apprecia tion We ek!
In past years, we used caterers, organized by the
PTA, to bring in food and drinks to celebrate all of
our teachers and staff for their hard work.
This year we decided to give Tea cher Appreciation
We ek a bit more of a personal touch, by having our
parents provide coffee and lunc h for their teachers. Whe ther it was homemade or
restaurant food, parents were able to directly show their appreciation in a more
personal way to their te acher.
By saving the cost of hiring caterers, the PTA had more money to purchase
Nordstrom gift ca rds all of our te achers and staff.
Teacher Appreciation Week was succe ssful a nd f un. We had an amazing group of
fun and hard working pa re nts helping out throughout the we ek. Next year, we invite
more parents come out and help plan and organize this annual event.
By committee cochair Lena Wonder
7 The PTA Pinnacle Issue No. 8, June 8, 2015 Alderwood Owls at the Irvine Junior Games
By Peter Abdel-Sayed, Photos Courtesy of Kirsten Maeda
The 28th annual Irvine Junior Games were held Sunday May 17 at
Irvine Stadium, with proceeds benefitting the Irvine Children's Fund
(IFC). The IFC is a non-profit community support organization, whose
mission is to raise funds to help parents meet the before and after
school child care needs for children on Irvine elementary school sites
and to provide child care scholarships. Participants ranged from 4th to
8th grade. Events included sprints of 50 and 100 meters. There were
also intermediate and longer distance events including the 400, 800, and
1500 meter races. Relay races were also held as well as long
jumping. Other events unique to the games included basketball
shooting, soccer ball kicking, and bag shot events.
Alderwood Elementary was well represented with multiple athletes
participating in the games. Athletes marched in the opening ceremony
and went on to complete in multiple events. We had tremendous support from our Alderwood
families, cheering on our athletes throughout the event. Our Alderwood contingent represented
well winning several events. 4th graders won two sprint events, with Julian D'Angelo winning the
50 meter sprint and Phillipe Lalonde winning the 100 meter sprint. 6th grader Jesseca Jaymes
Zarnekee won the long jump and 6th grader Sean Salah took the bronze in the 50 meter. But
most importantly all of our Alderwood Owls displayed wonderful sportsmanship while competing
for a good cause. Congratulations to all of our student athletes!
Congratulations to all of our student
athletes!
Representing Alderwood were Sara
Alhokail, Elle Crist, Mia Fox, Ella Hajian,
Taylor Kazan, Alexandra Lalonde, Luke
Abdel-Sayed, Juliam D’Angelo, Francois
DeVilliers, Michael Dougherty, Brycen Hill,
Philippe Lalonde, Aaron Redjaian, Owen
Rooney, Andy Xu, Hunter Jue, Trinity
Karpynec, Ayushi Shah, Kassius Ashtiani, Joshua Jeong,
Ashton Salberg, Lir Bartal, Emily Edgett, Eva Khosravi,
Madeleine Lalonde, Kortney Maeda, Jessecajaymes
Zarnekee, Isaac Betancourt, Patrick Hackworth, Hayden
Hill, Jozel Ligenfelter, Brian Liu, Javier Rodriguez, Sean
Salah, and Eric Sun.
8 The PTA Pinnacle Another Great Spring Book Fair! By committee chair Jamie Ko Issue No. 8, June 8, 2015 Thanks to parents, the Spring Book Fair was once again a huge success! This year’s theme was “Under the Sea”, Explore an Ocean of Books and we had an awesome time in the sea! The Book Fair is critical to our school library as its only fundraising event to raise money to bring new books into our school library. Partnering with Scholastic allows our school to take almost 40-­‐
60% of the net sales! Thanks to parents, we had great parent events such as Kindergarten Story Time for the kinders and Lets Do Lunch for grades 1-­‐6. Also a big thanks to all of our students and parents for their patience and understanding as we navigated the new waters of working around the SBAC testing… Also, a BIG THANK YOU to Mrs. Rydman, Mrs. Cheshire, the Alderwood staff, Bernie and more; plus the awesome parent volunteers, with a special shout out to Lena Wonder, Lakshmi Kannan, and Gwen Aquino, and the Book Fair Committee – Joy Hsu, Amy Lipson, Susan Saucedo, Yvette Watson and Jocelyn Ng-­‐ for making all of this possible for our kids and school! Fish decorating contest winners Kindergarten – Kobe Nguyen, Fabrizio, Plant v Zombie 1st Grade – Sierra Corliss , Marques, Star Wars Jedi 2nd Grade – Ethan Huang, Taylor, Pokemon 3rd Grade – Faith Chavez, McIsaac, Finding Danny 4th Grade – Ankita Narayan, Yao, The Tail 5th Grade – Meghna Joshi, Machesky, Pie 6th Grade – Geraldine Ang, Landon, Eragon 9