Crocker Highlands Weekly BulletinEcometro
525 Midcrest Road, Oakland, CA 94610
Phone: 510-451-5900
crockerschool.org
facebook.com/crockerschool
@crockerschool 
 
Beth Rhine, Principal

 Wendy Ghorai/Jessica Tagami,
PTA Co-Presidents
   
October 3rd, 2011
In This Issue
Priincipals Note
Picture Day
Library
Auction Meeting
Walk & Roll to School
Word of the Month - Cooperation
Health and Nutrition
Lost & Found
Oakland School Fundraiser
Calendar
In October
Crocker Community Celebrates...
Cooperation

     


Oct 13
PTA Executive Board Mtg  
        Message from your Principal

 

Dear Families,

We had our first fire drill last week and everyone exited the building in 3 minutes, 55 seconds.  Not bad for our first time!  At the Auction last March, we raised funds to replace the items in the earthquake bin on the playground.  Hilary Stoermer, one of our Crocker parents, coordinated replacing the items in the earthquake bin, and is now updating our emergency binders.  In the spring, we are going to have a school-wide emergency drill.  We are working to ensure that we are ready if there is ever a big emergency.

Don't forget, there is no school for students this Friday, October 7th.  The teachers will be participating in a Bay Area Writing Project workshop.  It's a great time for us to work together, collaborating on our writing program at Crocker Highlands.

Our 5th graders are off next week, 10/12 - 10/14/11, for the annual 2-night overnight trip to Alliance Redwoods.  It's a great trip, focusing on team building activities.  Fundraising from the Bake Sale and the Movie Night helped pay for chaperone and student fees.  Thank you for your support.  It's a great experience for our kids!

Believe it or not, families are already looking at schools for next year.  That means that the school tours will begin next month.  Do you love Crocker Highlands and want to share all the great happenings here?  Well, I need tour guides!  Crocker parents, acting as tour guides, take groups of 10-12 prospective parents around the school, showing the different areas and answering general questions.  The tours are currently scheduled for 11/15, 11/18, 12/1, 12/2, 12/6, 12/9, and 1/6 at 9:00 a.m.  I need 3-4 parents per date.  If you are interested, let me know.  

And for those of you wanting to know more about Edna Brewer for 6th grade, Sam Pasarow, the principal, will be at the November 10th PTA meeting.  Be sure to bring your questions if you want to know more about Edna Brewer!

Have a great week.

Beth Rhine 

 Say Cheese!

Picture Day is scheduled for Tuesday, October 18th.  We are using a new company this year, Shooting Stars.  Pictures will be taken outside in the beautiful edible garden.  The prices are slightly higher but the quality is very good.  There are two ways to purchase pictures: select a proof and purchase, or view and buy on-line.  More information will be sent home before Picture Day.
  Read Me! A Note from the Library

Thanks to all of the Crocker families who participated in our amazingly awesome book swap! We traded thousands of books and have lots of leftovers to pass on to the East Bay Children's Book Project. A HUGE thank you to Evelyn Hess, Orit Vogel, Yan Edwards, April Quinn, Afifa Sayeed, Natasha Haugnes, Hilary Stoermer, Vicki Smith, and Ms. Foster's class who helped collect, move, organize, and clean up!


This week, I'm sending home bookmarks with information about the Crocker Library website. Visit the website for updates on what's happening in the library and lab, a preview of these attractive bookmarks, and the chance to see our new giant Pete the Cat.


Lisa Hobbs, Crocker Librarian


Auction Kickoff Meeting - Monday, October 3

Please join us for the Auction Kick-off Meeting!
Monday, October 3rd
7:30 p.m.
1012 Ashmount Avenue

Crocker's auction is set for March 3, 2012 and we need everyone's help to make it a success!

Come to the kick-off meeting and find out how you can get involved. Whether you can contribute many hours or just a few, we have a job for you.

Being a part of the auction is a great way to meet people, learn more about the inner workings of Crocker, and have an impact on the education our children receive at our wonderful school.

We look forward to seeing many new (and old) faces there! Contact us at auction@crockerschool.org if you have any questions.

Melissa Heller & Nicole Fee
Crocker Auction 2012 Co-Chairs

Walk & Roll To School - Wed Oct. 5th

This Wednesday, October 5th, is Walk and Roll to School Day! On this day, we will celebrate healthy and green ways to get to school. We'll have a "give-away" table in front of the mural with a little something for every Crocker student. Please plan on leaving your house 5-10 minutes early on Wednesday to join in the fun.

Kaiser Permanente created a video endorsing walking and biking to school. Walking/biking to school is not just good for our health, but it's also important for our environment, both in our neighborhoods and beyond. Take a look and be inspired and encouraged to walk/bike with your child(ren) to school. Many of you have been doing so already.

Everyone at Crocker can participate:
  • Walk, bike or scooter with your family to school (bikes and scooters can parked in the new bike rack or in courtyard near the library -- bring a lock if you have one
  •  Park a block or two away and walk with your family and/or join the "Walking School Bus (see below). 
  • Carpool - Even if you need to come early to school, you can participate by parking a block away and walking to school.
  • Walking School Bus.
Volunteers will be waiting at the intersections below-with a sign-at approximately 8:15 am and will leave at approximately 8:20. You can park and walk with your child or s/he can walk with the volunteers.
  • Longridge and Paloma/Carlston Triangle
  • Sunnyhills and Grosvenor
  • "Secret Stairs" at the base of Mandana Circle
  • Top of "Secret Stairs" Creed/Underhill
  •  Clarendon Crescent and Longridge
DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE LEAVE YOUR CHILD ALONE AT THESE INTERSECTIONS. Please wait with your child until a walking school bus "driver" comes along-parents will have signs so they should be obvious. If you walk with your child, that would be great.
 Crocker Cougar Community Celebrates Respect!
Last Friday, we held the first of our 8 assemblies celebrating the Crocker Cougar "word of the month."  The Cougar word for August/September was "Respect."  Ms Uk's and Ms. Henry's kindergarten and Ms. Eng's 3rd grade buddy classes were our "Respect Cougars" for August/ September.  At the assembly, we were able to see a mural that the buddies had worked on, decorated with stars containing information they had learned about each other, such as holidays they celebrate, things that they like, etc. In some cases, the information was the same, but in other cases, it was different.  The buddies learned to respect these differences. This wonderful mural is hanging in the hallway near the library.  In addition at the assembly, the classes put on a short version of "Classroom Feud" based on "Family Feud.  Two teams (blue and orange) had to explain what respect meant.  Correct answers  ("survey says") got a circle and wrong answers got the red X.  The students did a wonderful job.  A copy of the video is on the website http://crockerschool.org/about/photo-galleries/. The Cougar Celebration board near the office also has a display of the buddies spelling out" CROCKER COUGARS SHOW RESPECT."   These pictures are also on our website.  Thanks also to all the other teachers and students who learned about Respect this month.  Let's keep that Respect coming:  here at school, at home, in the community, in the environment and especially, within ourselves.

The Crocker Cougar Word of the Month for October is "COOPERATION"

Please take the time to talk about this word with this child and what it means.  One way is to simply ask:   "How did you help out today?"  Here are some things you can do to support the idea that cooperation is an important life skill and that the rewards outweigh the sacrifices.

  • Have a discussion about cooperation in the family. In what ways do you cooperate with each other, and how does that make things nice? In what ways do you not cooperate enough, and how does that make things difficult or unpleasant? Make a "family cooperation" chart and see if you can do something about improving the cooperation within the family. 
  • For one week keep a daily record of all the things you do that require cooperation (at home, at school, and everywhere else). At the end of the week give yourself a grade on how cooperative you have been.
  •  Pick one television program and watch it with your family. Afterward, have a family discussion about things people did in the program that were examples of either good or bad cooperation. Make a list of these examples.
  • Initiate a fun project that involves all family members (a garden, jigsaw puzzle, homemade pizza, etc.).
  • "Catch" your child cooperating (or attempting to cooperate) and offer your encouragement by verbally showing your appreciation; material rewards are not necessary.
  •  Stop by the Cougar Bulletin Board near the office and talk with your child about what she or he sees.
If you have any questions, please contact Liz O'Brien at lizobrien@pacbell.net.
Health and Nutrition

Hi Crocker Families,

Health and Nutrition is off to a good start at Crocker!  Students are interacting with the health and nutrition board, which is great!  Six students had the correct answer for the Fruit and Veggie Trivia, which was Raspberrires contain more fiber than apples. One serving of raspberries equals one cup, which contains 8 grams of fiber while a medium apple contains 3.3 grams of fiber.

Congrats to Francesco 4th, Caleb G. 2nd, Frankie 5th, and Johnny.  There were two other correct answers but with no name.

Moving forward, I would like to share with you what I shared with the PTA towards the end of last school year.

4 Goals for Health/Nutrition at Crocker
  • The primary goal is to help our kids develop healthy eating behaviors. 
  • The second goal would be linking nutrition and physical activity.  This is particularly important because of the rising proportion of overweight youths in the United States. For that reason any nutrition education information posted on the bulletin boards, sent via email or lessons taught in classes will stress the importance of combining regular physical activity with sound nutrition as part of an overall healthy lifestyle. 
  • Family and community involvement is goal three.  I want to involve family members and the community in supporting and reinforcing nutrition education as much as possible.  Examples; send nutrition education materials home with students, ask parents to send healthy snacks to school, invite families to attend exhibitions of student nutrition projects, health fairs, providing nutrition education workshops and events for parents, and assigning nutrition education homework that students can do with their families (e.g., reading and interpreting food labels, reading nutrition-related newsletters, and preparing healthy recipes). 
  • Lastly I would love to see some type of school nutrition policy put in place.  A school nutrition policy would be a brief document that incorporates input from all relevant bodies of the school community: students, teachers, staff and parents. Student involvement is critical to the success of a nutrition policy.   One example of what the policy would address would be; Food Use Guidelines for Teachers. 
  • Some teachers give students candy, as a reward for good behavior (Why should kids be rewarded for turning in homework, isn't that what students are suppose to do?), and punish misbehaving students by denying them sweet treats. The problem with this is that it reinforces students' preferences for such foods and it sabotages the efforts of nutrition education being taught by parents and now the school through Health/Nutrition at Crocker.
Parents and the school can recommend that teachers find other ways to reward/discipline students.

Lets work together to be the best role models we can for our children and help them grow up to be healthy adults!


Be Healthy,
Donna Ricketts-Ajike
Check the Lost and Found This Week - Items donated after Thursday

The Lost and Found will be on the play yard Thursday Oct. 6th  for easy viewing.  Please stop by and claim your child's belongings.  There is a lot of GREAT stuff that I'm sure will be missed!  I will be donating all unlabeled items after school on Thursday.  If you won't be at school on Thursday, please try to get over to the Lost and Found earlier in the week and make sure your child takes a look, too. 


Thank you!!
                            Oakland Schools Fundraiser
 
You may or may not have heard that Saturday October 8th, East Bay Loop and Ozumo restaurant are sponsoring a fundraiser for Oakland schools - buy tickets - then eat and drink at several uptown bars and restaurants from 5-8pm. Their goal is to raise $60,000!
http://www.eastbayloop.com/featured/2nd-annual-uptown-oakland-block-party-oct-8th