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El Semanario

Edison Language Academy – Together Through Two Languages (310) 828-0335 www.edison.smmusd.org

ANNOUNCEMENTS KID BIZ TRAINING FOR PARENTS – Friday, October 10 at 8:30 am in the computer lab, we’ll offer an orientation to this Spanish and English reading program for grades 2-5. FRIDAY FAMILY MOVIE NIGHT: FROZEN – PTA and the Kinder Committee are presenting the movie Frozen on Friday evening October 10 at 5:00 pm. in the Edison cafeteria. There will be no admission charged at this movie night since we this showing is a “rain check” from spring when we had technical difficulties. The Kinder Committee will be offering a hot dog dinner and treats for sale. Children are invited to come in costume (either from the movie Frozen or in their Halloween Costume). SMMUSD BIKE IT! – WALK IT! DAY will be observed at Edison on Friday, October 10. Bike It! Walk It! encourages students and staff to leave cars at home and utilize other modes of transportation to come to school - including carpooling and riding the bus. Since we’re a magnet school, not everyone can walk or bike to school. But carpooling is a great option for us! And reducing the number of cars that travel on Kansas and Virginia Avenues in the morning benefits our students and the planet! BLUE DOG GIFT SALES – All Blue st Dog orders are due October 1 . Orders will th be delivered on October 24 . Your purchases earn money for programs for our school AND for the Education Foundation’s VSS programs. THE GREAT SHAKE OUT IS COMING On October 16 (10/16) at 10:16 am, Edison along with schools throughout California will be practicing our emergency response systems for dealing with a large earthquake. The students will practice their usual Duck, Cover and Hold and evacuation drills. Our staff members are all assigned to various emergency teams and we will be practicing our roles during that time. Do you have a home safety plan in place in the event of a big quake?

FROM THE PRINCIPAL’S DESK There have been some amazing things going on at school over the last couple weeks – even while the challenges of high temperatures and picketers have been occupying the public conversation space. Our professional and hardworking learning community keeps its focus on student learning and caring for students – even during challenging times. I want to highlight some of the work that’s been done in the last couple of weeks to ensure that rich and rigorous learning experiences continue to fill the days of our Edison students. I am particularly grateful for:  The important and careful work our teachers and coaches/specialists have been doing to assess students’ academic skills at the beginning of the year. Many of the assessments were new this year and required both a learning curve and additional time from our teachers. But this investment helps our teachers differentiate instruction based on needs and identify students who will likely need additional support this year.  The work that our new Literacy Coach Aileen Salmaggi has done to support teachers in data collection and analysis, while at the same time meeting with teachers to develop literacy coaching priorities and teach some demo lessons.  The work that Aileen, ELD Coach Elizabeth Ipiña, and Reading Teacher John Ellis have done to extend and clarify our assessment and Response to Intervention (RTI) programs and to map out our intervention programs.  The great enthusiasm of our teachers after the districtwide workshops on Cognitively Guided Instruction from UCLA and District specialists.  The 85+ parents who came for our first Volunteer Training workshop so they can be available as classroom volunteers. Yoly and I will hold two more workshops to handle requests from parents who couldn’t come that day.  The beginning of our K-2 music program (supported by VSS) with Jacqueline Fuentes teaching vocal music in Spanish to our youngest students.  Another year of our PS Arts Theater Program in Spanish (now fully supported by VSS) with our wonderful theater teacher Martha Ramirez-Oropeza. th  The impressive progress our 5 grade students are making in Ballroom Dance. Not only are they learning dance skills, but their confidence, interpersonal skills and respect for their partners is developing beautifully.  The generosity of Mark Aguilar (night custodian) for coming in early for several mornings and volunteering to wear the Blue Dog costume – not only to promote the Blue Dog sale but also so that our kids would have a fun distraction from the picketers in the morning.  The very hard work of the parents working on fall festival/Dia de los Muertos, movie night, and the Blue Dog fundraiser.  Our office, health office, and library staff who were just feet away from the picketers all week and still calmly tended to the needs of our students.

October 8 – Site Council 4:00-6:00 p.m in the Community Room

October 15 – PTA Association Meeting 8:30-9:30 AM CAFETERIA

October 20 – Make Up Picture Day