June 2009 Newsletter

Ladera News, June 2009,

The Ladera News

Ladera Elementary School PTO Newsletter June 2009

Principal’s Message

By Ryan Bollenbach

Throughout this past school year the Ladera community has

worked together to create a positive learning environment and

professional learning community where every student can excel

both academically and socially. It has been through the work of

the students, teachers, support staff and parents that Ladera has

truly become a community of learners. To everyone who is part

of this community, THANK YOU!

To our PTO and PTO President Kirsten Jessel, thank you for all

you do for our students and staff. Whether it’s organizing our

fundraisers, coordinating assemblies, planning Family Nights,

working the Book Fair, bringing together a student Green Team,

or the countless other jobs the PTO has participated in, your

support is greatly appreciated.

Thank you to all of our parents, you have shown your support of

our school throughout the entire school year. Whether you are

volunteering in the classrooms, chaperoning a field trip, or

helping your child with their math homework, we are so grateful

for the time, energy and effort that you dedicate to Ladera

Thank you to our support staff, you consistently demonstrate the

highest degree of dedication and professional performance.

Ladera is fortunate to have so many wonderful people to work

with our children.

To our teachers, not only have you done an incredible job of

educating our students, your dedication to our profession is

amazing. You have set the bar high for your students and for

yourselves and through hard work and motivation you have

helped our students reach that bar. It has been my privilege to

work with you this year.

To our students, you are the reason we come to work everyday.

We are all so honored to be able to work with such an exceptional

group of young scholars. Thank you for being such wonderful

citizens. I want to personally wish all of our fifth graders the best

of luck as you continue your educational careers in middle

school.

It has truly been an honor to serve as your principal. Have a great

summer and I look forward to seeing everyone in the fall.

Thanks to School Site Council

Many thanks to the parents and staff

members who served on the 2008-2009

Ladera School Site Council:

Parents Staff

Paris Hajali Erin Neuer

Nancy Mallory Bonnie Elconin

Kim Patrick Ro Moore

Liberato Martinez Melanie

Valencia

Julie Wiggins Tammi Girch

Ladera Elementary School

2515 Rawlings Way, Tustin, CA 92782

(714) 730-7505 - www.tustin.k12.ca.us/ladera

2008-09 PTO EXECUTIVE BOARD

Principal Ryan Bollenbach

President Kirsten Jessel

Co-VPs, Programs Noreen Wong

Linda Lowder

Co-VPs, Fundraising Nancy Mallory

Kathy Kendall

Co-VPs, Membership Pam Edmondson

Janice Lee

Co-VP, Publicity (Newsletter) Kim Patrick

Co-VP, Publicity (Email Blast) Michelle Hernandez

Co-VPs, Volunteer Coordinators Emmy Coats

Tori Crummack

Secretary/PM Meetings Kirstin Schechter

Secretary/AM Meetings Liz Lehnhof

Treasurer Camille Gershenovitz

Financial Secretary Pam Dixon

Parliamentarian Cathy Waldman


CAL ENDAR O F EVENTS

JUNE

3 Walk to School Wednesday 10 Walk to School Wednesday 15 3rd Trimester Awards Ceremony Kindergarten Promotion 17 Field Day Walk to School Wednesday 18 Last Day of School-Minimum Day End of 3rd Trimester 5th Grade Promotion

SEPTEMBER 1: FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL FOR THE 2009-10 SCHOOL YEAR

President’s Message By Kirsten Jessel, PTO President

During the 2008-2009 school year, members of the Ladera PTO were dedicated to accomplishing our mission “To enhance

and improve the existing educational experience of students attending Ladera Elementary School.” Of course this goal

could not have been reached without the support of Ladera teachers, staff, and even the students themselves.

I’d like to thank the PTO Executive Board for their hard work and commitment this year; 1st VPs Programs, Noreen Wong

and Linda Lowder, 2nd VPs Fundraising, Nancy Mallory and Kathy Kendall, 3nd VPs Membership, Pam Edmondson

and Janice Lee, 4th VPs Publicity, Michele Hernandez and Kim Patrick, 5th VPs Volunteer Coordinators, Emmy Coats

and Tori Crummack, Secretaries Liz Lehnhof and Kristin Schechter, Treasurer, Camille Gershenovitz, Financial

Secretary, Pam Dixon, and Parliamentarian, Cathy Waldman.

I would also like to thank our Committee Chairs; Pam Edmondson, Victoria Longstreet, Elizabeth Stevens, Janine

Rilum, Lori Palmer, Julie Wiggins, Sherry Higgins, Angelika Belle, Tori Crummack, Michele Hernandez, Kathy

Winters, Sara Varela-Martinez, Linda Beck, Judy Wiese, Janice Lee, Nicole Stepanian, Shannon Bowers, Shannon

Heaton, Michele Hernandez, Robin Steinmetz, Helen Sirmopoulos, Charlene Wong, Mary Hajali, Anjela Jaquez,

Keith Schildt, Marilyn Monroe, Gita Kalili and Maryanne Liscio.

The organizational skills and creativity of these individuals is amazing! Innovative thinking, tenacity, teamwork, and of

course generous donations have created an efficient and multi-faceted Parent Teacher Organization. To the many other

additional parent volunteers that gave so much of their time and efforts -- your assistance is vital and greatly appreciated!

On behalf of the PTO I would also like to thank our Principal Ryan Bollenbach for all the support he has shown over the

past year. The PTO is extremely grateful for our Ladera Teachers and Staff, who always give our children the highest

standard of education and help them to become their best.

I have truly enjoyed my role as Ladera’s PTO President these last two years. The Ladera Community is comprised of a very

special group of people who together greatly benefit our amazing school. I hope you all have a wonderful and safe summer.

Congratulations to our graduating Fifth Graders and for all those returning, I look forward to seeing you on September 1rd,

the first day of the 2009-2010 school year.

The Ladera News is a monthly newsletter published by the Ladera PTO. To submit an article, please contact Kim Patrick at. [email protected]. Look for the Back-to-School issue in late August.


.

Teacher Appreciation Day By Michele Hernandez

Committee Chair

I would like to take the opportunity to thank all

the volunteers who came to school on Tuesday, May

12th to clean the classrooms. The tables and chairs,

sinks, windows, doors and outside areas were all

wiped down and sanitized. PTO sponsored breakfast

and lunch on Wednesday, May 13th, with the

teacher’s lounge decorated by Pam Edmondson and

Lisa Thoresen—it looked great ladies!! A special

“thank you” for breakfast goes to Carlie Lendino

coordinating with Nancy Aynehchi’s for a superb

buffet. Another “thank you” for coordinating lunch

by Beach Pit BBQ goes to Kathy Winter’s and her

assistants Cathy Waldman and Pam Edmondson. The

strawberry shortcake dessert was wonderful.

In addition to the meals on Teacher Appreciation

Day, teacher duties were covered by a dedicated

group of volunteers which included: Pam

Edmondson, Niki and Joe Patrick, Tori Crummack,

Kirsten Jessel, Kavitha Ravikumar, Golita Kalili, Liz

Lenhof, Kiran Dara, Riza Querubin and additional

Kindergarten parent volunteers.

Tustin Public Schools Foundation holds an annual

“Teacher of the Year” dinner following Teacher

Appreciation Day, and PTO sponsored all Ladera

PTO teachers who wished to attend. Congratulations

to Mrs. Moore for her Teacher of the Year award.

The Ladera Elementary turnout was awesome!!

A Note from P.E. By Maryanne Liscio

The school year is almost over and I wanted to wish you all a very happy,

healthy and safe summer. Teaching PE this year has been very exciting and

getting to know our amazing students has made my job most enjoyable. I

sincerely hope your kids have learned a new skill or have become even better at a

sport they currently play. Mr. Bollenbach has officially told me I am able to return

next year. YEAH!!! (I LOVE my job!!!) I will be planning new lessons and getting

more equipment for next year over the summer. Please feel free to email me any

comments or suggestions you may have at: [email protected].

Enjoy the summer and keep those kiddos moving!

FIELD DAY IS

COMING!!!

Mark your calendars

for WED, JUNE 17th.

The kids will spend

their morning playing

games, getting wet,

and just having fun. Please remember

to send them to school with sunscreen

and a hat. They may get wet and dirty

so please have them dress accordingly.

Snack will be provided for grades K-5

and a pizza lunch will be provided for

grades 1-5. Contact Shannon at (714)

573-7525 or [email protected]

to volunteer or with any questions. See

you there!


Ladera Talent Show

A Smashing Success!

The Ladera students have showcased

their talents once again in Ladera’s annual

talent show held on May 29th. The show

included all grades and a wide range of

talents from singing and instrumental music

to dance and magic. Thank you to the cast

for a great show. In particular, a huge thank

you to Mrs. Pilon, Mrs. Whitfield and Miss

Crawford for all of their efforts and many

extra hours in putting together the show.

Also, a big thank you to all of the parent

volunteers that made the show possible.

Are you looking for a way to

network, use your skills, have fun

and support Ladera Elementary?

If so, the Fundraising Committee is the place for

you! All parents are invited to participate in the

Fundraising Committee for the 2009-2010 school

year. We need your ideas, knowledge and energy

in order to raise the incremental funds needed to

support the PTO programs and Ladera! The

committee will be getting together over the

summer to brainstorm and plan for ’09-10. If you

are interested in participating, please email Kathy

Kendall at [email protected] or

Janice Lee at [email protected] .

We are looking forward to a great year!

Kathy Kendall & Janice Lee, Co-VPs, Fundraising


Birthday Book Club

The Ladera Birthday Book Club welcomes the

following new members who recently donated a new

book to the Ladera Library in honor of their birthday:

Kylie Bell Olivia Knobbe

Julie Chun Jason Lam

Bella Coats Cade Libertoski

Samuel Coulston Ali Raoufi

Alana Edmondson Dylan Ryan

Jed Fernando Sooji Shin

Anastasia

Gershenovitz

Ashley Teng

Misty Kang RJ Winters

Sloan Kiley

Library Corner By Geri Shaw, Ladera Librarian

Summer is upon us and that means more time to relax and enjoy a good book! This summer, I am encouraging students to read with my Summer Reading Program. Reading logs will be coming home with

your child soon. For every twenty books your child reads, they can choose one new, free book when they return to school in

September. When tracking student reading, chapter books are worth one book per each 100 pages. The student that reads the most

books during the summer will receive a special prize!

For book lists and recommendations, please visit the Library page on the Ladera website. There are lists from the school district

by grade as well as great links to other resources. There is a link to the Orange County Public Library site that has a great page for

kids, including access to online books and beautifully-read audio books. Click on the children’s services link for lots of neat

information.

Barnes & Noble and the local public library will also have summer reading programs. Stop by and pick up reading logs at the end

of May/beginning of June. Put together a folder with all three book lists in it as an easy way to keep track of your child’s reading.

Each book your child reads can be listed on all three.

Remember, books that you read aloud to your child count toward their reading total as well. Reading more challenging texts aloud

to your child helps enrich their vocabulary. Whether you think a book may be above or below your child’s reading abilities, allow

them to read it anyway…this is what reading for personal enjoyment is all about.

Finally, I would like to say a big thanks to the parent volunteers that came in each week with classes to help during library time.

Sima Bhakta, Reena Bhargava, Shawn Zambon, Cindy Mathes, Robin Steinmetz, Cindy Lee, Michelle Fong, Steve Wayt, Alison

Fong, Lisa Thoresen, Laurie Biele, Jenny Roettger, Dana and Shirley Crandall, Charlene Pitchess, Kathy Ghanouni, Marilyn Jones,

Robin Martinez and Nina Patel keep the library running smoothly. Also, thank you to the parents that came in to help with our

Reading Counts book labeling project.

A special thanks to Elizabeth Stevens for organizing the Birthday Book Club all year. The students loved seeing the new larger-

format photos in the hall. Nearly 150 Leopards donated books to the library this year.

Most importantly, a big thanks to Lori Palmer and Janine Rilum, the organizers of our fantastic Mrs. Nelson’s Book Fairs as well

as the parents who staff the fair. These are so well-run and are very successful financially. The funds earned from the book fairs are

used to purchase books for the Ladera Library. These funds are the key to keeping an updated collection of books available for our

students.

Have a great summer and remember to keep reading!

Congratulations Battle of the Books

Finalist Gold Medal Teams:

Miss Whitfield's Fourth Grade Team (Zack Heller, Christian Sul,

Ashley Palmer, Leah Messinger and Justin Wayt) and Fifth Grade

Team (Malik Faez, Paris Carillo, Dani Lowder, Lauren Nguyen,

Misty Kang, and not pictured; Andrew Mathes)


A WORD FROM NURSE RIZA, RN

Hello Ladera Leopards. This will be my last entry for the school year. I have enjoyed being a part of

the Ladera family and have been impressed with the dedication of the parents as well as the students

to ensure Ladera remains one of the best Tustin has to offer. So for this article I thought of sharing

with you what school nurses do. As quoted by a nurse from Orange, school nurses are invisible when

we are doing our job right.

All school nurses are licensed registered nurses who’ve completed a bachelor’s degree, many in

nursing. California is one of the states that require a Health Credential in addition to our license. This

means nurses must take additional 32 units of upper division courses and pay a fee to receive their

credential from the California Teacher Credentialing Commission. This credential authorizes the

holder to conduct immunization programs, assess and evaluate the health and development status of

pupils; interpret the health and development assessment to parents, teachers, administrators and

other professionals directly concerned with the pupil; design and implement individual student health

maintenance plans, incorporating plans directed by a physician; maintain communication with parents

and all involved community practitioners and agencies to promote needed treatment and secure

reports of findings pertinent to educational planning; interpret medical and nursing findings

appropriate to the student's individualized education program and make recommendations to

professional personnel directly involved; consult with, conduct in-service training for, and serve as a

resource person to teachers and administrators; develop and implement health education curriculum;

act as a participant in implementing a comprehensive health instruction curriculum for students;

counsel and assist pupils and parents in health related and school adjustment services; and to teach

health related subjects under the supervision of a classroom teacher.

Majority of school districts place school nurses in the certificated position and receive the same pay

scale as a teacher. This makes the job unattractive to many licensed nurses. Many of us have

completed our education, have had 10, 20, even 25 years of nursing experiences before we enter school

nursing, however very few districts award a move in the pay scale for non school related experience.

Also, the ratio of nurses per students has grown astronomical. “At last count, there are approximately

2,844 nurses who serve California’s 6.3 million public school students. That translates to a ratio of

2,227 students to every one school nurse, the largest student-to-nurse ratio in the country. This in

no way, shape or form provides effective healthcare for the increasing numbers of students with complex

chronic and immediate health needs that require daily care on our school campuses. If we had more

school nurses on our campuses, perhaps they could have played an even greater role in early detection

and prevention efforts". According to Ca. State Superintendent Jack O'Connell testifying before the

Congressional Hearing on H1N1 Flu (5/7/2009)

Tustin Unified school nurses will have a ratio of 5200 students to every one nurse next school year

because of budget cuts. Therefore, our nursing staff will be depending more on you, parents, to ensure

your child come to school healthy. School nurses have an array of community base partners that

provide free or low cost medical, dental, vision, hearing services so do not wait until the problem arise.

Contact your school nurse or the health clerk if you require assistance to meet the needs of our little

Leopards, because healthy children learn better.


Congratulations to the following students who were recognized for their achievements during the 3rd trimester of the school

year at the June 15, 2009 Awards Assembly:

Kindergarten/Elconin 2nd Grade/Goldenberg 3

rd Grade/Pilon

Miachanel Nguyen – Principal’s Award Kylie Bell – Principal’s Award Cameron Mallory – Principal’s Award

Asal Khosraviani - Citizenship Eugene Kang – Principal’s Award Andrew Hwang – Principal’s Award

Jacob Weiser - Penmanship Kala Franklin - Citizenship Casey Hernandez - Math

Bella Tran – Writing James Hoag – Voice in Writing Gianna Lendino - Math

Unique (Niki) Andre - Participation Adrian Ortiz - Math Matthew Nugraha - Writing

Sammy Wang – Reading Jared Platero - Math

Kindergarten/Wenner Kian Aminloo - Math Andy Liscio - Writing

Sidra Villacorta – Principal’s Award Bella Coats - Writing Sarah Klaus - Science

Elijah Bunney – Principal’s Award Sooji Shin – Academic Excellence

Emily Manetta - Citizenship Danielle Lee -Reading 3rd Grade/Sommers

Gwendolyn Gaylord– Reading Emma Monden – Principal’s Award

Ethan Fong – Math 2nd Grade/Moore Isabelle Ho – Principal’s Award

Julianna Christpoulus - Writing Jenna Alvstad – Principal’s Award Luc OlhavaHenderson – Reading

Joshua Koblin - Penmanship Sabrina Chen – Art Mateen Raoufi – Math

Elizabeth Bowers - Reading Weston Caruso – Social Studies

1st Grade/Crawford Halle Andree – Math Kyle Hysen – Language Arts

Eli Schwartz – Principal’s Award Aylssa Nguyen – Math Dylan Dieckhoff – Social Studies

Vincent Mann – Math Eden Miller - Reading

2nd Grade/Crawford Parmida Favakehi - Reading 4

thh Grade Schwartz

Milton Ortiz – Principal’s Award Aria Aminloo - Citizenship

Jason Lam – Spelling 2nd Grade/Neuer Justus Henderson - Principal's

Brooke Pitchess - Writing Carley Worobey – Principal’s Award Brian Bowers - Citizenship

Christina Garabedian - Math Sean Ignatuk – Principal’s Award Hayley Johnson - Positive Attitude

Wells lee - Science Jose Villa - Science

1st Grade/Semotan Julia Patrick - Math Alec Martinez - Science

Kelly Winters – Principal’s Award Zach Wayt – Math

Leo Lee – Principal’s Award Madison Shealy – Reading 4th/5th Grade/Whitfield

Alyssa Young - Reading Alyssa Nguyen - Citizenship Leah Messenger – Principal’s Award

Kristine Kato – Reading Nichholas Tran – Principal’s Award

Ali Raoufi – Writing 3rd Grade/Donavan Autumn Heil-Carr – Language Arts

Ethan Zambon – Art Olivia Patrick – Principal’s Award Andre Spinoglio – Citizenship

Negin Favakehi – Reading Justin Stepanian– Writing Misty Kang – Performing Arts

Benjamin Tran – Math Sabrina Crummack– Poetry Curtis Talley – Math

Taylor Stern - Math Paris Carillo – Academic Excellence

1st Grade/Valencia Zachary Shube- Math

Sanda Kim – Principal’s Award Justin Sul - Writing 5th Grade/McDonald

Sphia Aguila – Principal’s Award Alex Ignatuk - Music Cala Gin – Principal’s Award

Bradford Le– Writing/Reading Natalie Tran – Principal’s Award

Alan Hernandez – Math 3rd Grade/DiLellio & St. Clair Junior Lanz – Citizenship

Sophia Koch – Reading Anna Biele – Principal’s Award Erin Foley - Citizenship

Micah Taira - Citizenship Andrew Kim – Principal’s Award Sammy Holte - Reading

Thomas Koch – P.E. Carson Wong - Writing Elisa Zonouzi - Writing

Lauren Kilger - Writing

Anastasia Gershenovitz - Math

Calvin Mouisset - Math

Julia Greenbaum - Math

R.J. Winters - Reading

Jason Shube – Language Arts

Students Honored at 3rd Trimester Awards Assembly

June 2009 Newsletter

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