November/December 2015 - Washington Union School District

November/December
Issue 3
Special Points of
In this issue:
Interest:
October Highlights
1
High School
Recommendations
1
Student Council
2
Upcoming Events
2
SHS Shadow Day
2
Art/Music Update
3
Parents’ Club
4
WUEF
5
The San Benancio Oak Leaf is
published monthly. It is also
available on our website at:
http://
www.washingtonusd.org
Please call the attendance line at
484-0972 when your student is
absent.
Thank you!
The Oak Leaf
San Benancio Middle School
O C TO B E R H I G HL I G HT S
The month of October was both busy and exciting! The
Annual Harvest Time Carnival on the 10h was another
amazing day. The weather cooperated, the kids had a great
time, and the attendance was outstanding. Thank you to Ali
Barrett and all of the committee chairs for a wonderful day.
Thank you also to all of the parent and student volunteers
who worked tirelessly to make the event a success.
App for the district website. This free, downloadable app
will give you access to many of the most important features
on the website and allow you to access information right
from your smartphone. The app is available in Google Play
or in the App store; search for Washington USD or
WUSD.
Have you registered on the website this school year? If
not, you are missing out on receiving alerts regarding
newsletters, updates, special events, and emergency
notifications.
Instructions are available on the District
homepage, www.washingtonusd.org.
Our annual High School Options Night will be
Wednesday, November18, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the
Multi-Purpose Room. Representatives from our area’s
public and private high schools will present information
about their programs to interested families. If you are
undecided about where your child will attend high school, I
hope you’ll take the opportunity to attend this informative
event.
Have a wonderful month and Happy Thanksgiving!
Sincerely,
Gina Uccelli
If you haven’t done so already, you can download our Mobile
H IG H S C HO O L R E C O M M E N DAT IO N S
This is the time of year when many of you are considering
private high schools for next year and we receive many
requests for recommendations. In order for us to
complete the recommendations, we have some guidelines
available for students to follow in order to provide teachers
and administrators with information that will assist us in
completing the required paperwork. The information can
be found on the District Schools homepage. If you have
any questions or are having trouble finding it, please contact
the school at 484-1172. Most of the recommendations aren’t
due until January, so you still have plenty of time, but please
don’t wait until the last minute to turn them in as they take time
to complete.
1
UPCOMING EVENTS
√
November 4:
Collaboration Day: Dismissal at 1:05
√
November 13:
End of Trimester 1
Ö
November 11:
Veteran’s Day—No School
Ö
November 18:
Minimum Day: Dismissal at 12:45
STUDENT COUNCIL NEWS
HAT DAY was our first day
of school wide community
service. All San Benancio
students participated in this
fundraiser. Sixth grade remained at SBMS writing letters to soldiers in Operation
Yellow Ribbon, bagging beans for Costello’s Project, and
making sandwiches and placemats for Dorothy’s Kitchen.
Seventh and eighth grade painted all lunch benches at
Washington Union and Toro Park Schools. Some 7th
graders helped Toro Park students by reading one-onone. It was a huge community service project that
shared our Character Counts Program values of citizenship, respect and caring. Total profit made from this
community service/magazine drive fundraiser was
$5,800.
WUSD Board Meeting:
6:00 pm in the WUSD Board Room
High School Options Night: 6:30
p.m., MPR
√ November 20-27 Thanksgiving Break
Shadow Days for 2015-2016
For: 8th grade students that are considering attending
Salinas High School in the Fall.
Our first school dance was last Friday. All 7th and 8th
graders were invited to attend. Entrance was either
$5.00 or 5 cans of food. About 80 students attended
the dance and
90 cans of food
were donated
to Dorothy’s
Kitchen.
When: October 21, 2015 or January 13, 2016
Description of Day: Students should report to the
main office at 8am. They will be escorted to the ASB
office where they will have a 30 minute briefing with SHS
staff regarding rules and expectations for the day and
have the opportunity to meet with their mentor student.
Your child will have an orientation and tour as well as go
to several classes with their mentor student from ASB or
Link Crew. Your child will need to be picked up in the
ASB center at the end of our school day, 2:51 pm.
How to register: Parents need to email their request
for their child to participate to rachel.alfaro@salinasuhsd.org. A waiver must be filled
****Reminder****
The Parents’ Club Speaker Series
out and sent by mail, attached to the registration
email, or brought to the main office a week prior
to the Shadow Day date. Shadow Days have limited
Presents
space and registration will be first come first serve. For
further information or questions, please use the email
address above or call 796-7400.
Congratulations to the 7th grade
Girls Volleyball team! They defeated
Carmel Middle School in 3 games to
capture the MTJAL Championship!!!
HIGH SCHOOL OPTIONS:
WHAT’S AFTER 8TH GRADE?
SAN BENANCIO MIDDLE SCHOOL
Multipurpose Room
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2015
Way to Go OAKS!!
6:30 – 8:30 PM
2
Art News for November
News From the Music Room
We had a great start in October. The quality of the students’
artwork was incredible.
The picture of the month docents had great discussions with
their students. Thank you docents for all your hard work.
I hope everyone had an enjoyable,
memorable, and safe Halloween!
The Winter Concert is scheduled for Tuesday, December
8th at 6:30 p.m. This concert
will showcase the hard work and
talents of our Concert Band, Jazz Ensemble, and Choir.
Please mark this date on your calendar and come enjoy
an evening of fine music presented by our middle
school musicians.
The Art Docent Board and I would like to thank the Parents
Club and all the families that supported our Harvest hand
painted pumpkin fundraiser. We made a record amount! All
proceeds go directly to our art supplies for this year’s art docent lessons. Thank you again for your generosity!
November is Drawing Month The Art Docent projects for
November feature drawing for all grades. Drawing comes
naturally to a child. Once children discover simple forms
can symbolize objects, they begin to build a vocabulary in
which shapes and lines are combined to stand for whatever
they wish. Young children prefer to draw pictures using
these preconceived symbols, rather than what they actually
observe. Starting around fourth grade, the student’s observation of the world becomes more acute. At this point children want to draw realistically, and this is an excellent time
to introduce the skill of contour drawing. Contour drawing
involves perceiving the edges of shapes and drawing them
from close observation with a continuous line. Students
learn how to draw what they really see, and to draw only
what they observe.
The Jazz Ensemble will also perform on December
15th at 7:30 p.m. at Hartnell College. This holiday
concert includes performances from our Jazz Ensemble
and the Hartnell Community Jazz Ensemble.
November/December begins our monthly sessions
with the Monterey Jazz Festival Traveling Clinicians.
These jazz masters come to our rehearsals, sit in with
our young musicians, and inspire everyone with their
tremendous knowledge, experience, and vast insights
to the jazz style. This program is a great opportunity
for our Jazz Ensemble to play with and learn from professional musicians.
District Visual Art Standards call for every child to learn
contour drawing and develop appropriate observational
drawing skills by the time they reach sixth grade. The Art
Docent Drawing, Painting, and Printmaking projects in
grades five through eight give students a chance to practice
their drawing skills and build upon the contour drawing
techniques introduced in fourth grade.
GRADE 6: Drawing Figures in Motion: Students learn a new
drawing skill: gestured drawing with circular lines. Students
take turns arranging wooden mannequins and make several
quick drawings to show the body position and movement.
Students then apply the technique by drawing athletes and
dancers from photographs, capturing a true feeling action.
Picture of the Month
In November, Picture of the Month docents will be discussing
19th Century Art. During this time, Italian painters were engaged in the major artistic movements of the time. Neoclassicism dominated the early 1800s and gradually gave way to
romanticism, realism and experiments with impressionism.
For much of the 19th century, Italy was also embroiled in a
political movement to regain local control from French and
Austrian regimes and unite the peninsula into one nation.
Italian painters reflected that political ideal -- and the nationalism that fueled it -- in their work.
American art changed dramatically in the early 19th century.
The formations of galleries and major art academies in major
cities began to appear. European artworks on loan hung
side by side with American ones compelled the American artists to show their best work – fully exploring landscapes, history, still life and narrative.
3
Congratulations to following SBMS Choir members
who were accepted to the CMEA-CCS Middle School
Honor Choir: Elizabeth Schwaiko, Kayla Harvell, Alexandra Molinari, Tristan Williams, and Kyndle Choate.
There were several hundred boys and girls from all
over the Central Coast that auditioned for honor
choir. These students will represent our school at several rehearsals and a memorable concert on January
30th, 2016 at Peace United Church in Santa Cruz.
Have a great November and a wonderful
Thanksgiving Holiday.
PA R E N T S ’ C L U B U P DAT E
Parent’ Club would like to thank ALL those involved with the Harvest carnival this year!! Not only does Parents’ Club thank
you but our district, your teachers and your children thank you as well!!! There are so many people and businesses that extended their hands to make it a super day.
Tanamura & Antle
Dole
Driscoll
Mann Packing
Marchini Farms
Taylor Farms
Hibino Farms
Borchard Farms
Home Depot
Vision Soft
Praxair
JD Jose
The Davis Family
Acosta Builders
Hayward Lumber
Ross Roofing
AND SO MANY MORE!!!
We would like to also thank ALL of the amazing chair people, parent volunteers, high school volunteers, middle school volunteers, those who loaned items and of course all those who came out to enjoy the day!!!! And not to be forgotten, the WUSD
teachers and staff who spent extra time and energy with us the day of the carnival!!
·
Class winner(s) of the Cake Contest was a tie with Mrs. McCall’s 1st grade and Mrs. Muller’s 3rd grade classes bringing in
the most cakes! Parents’ Club will be treating both classes to a pizza party!!
·
Winner of the Cake Decorating contest was 5th grader Rachel Vita! She will receive a $25 gift card to Michael’s Craft
Store!
·
Thank you to the room parents who helped with the Scarecrows, Mrs. Mccall’s “Jack Skellington” was our top seller!!
If you are interested in hearing more about the success of the carnival please feel free to join us at our November 9th Parents’
Club meeting at San Benancio middle school in room 10 at 6:00pm.
Parents’ Club has changed gears and started our preparations for the annual Holiday Gift Fair!!
First, we need your Halloween candy!!!! The kids will be using many food and candy items for decorating the Gingerbread
houses!!! The Halloween candy makes for some terrifically decorated houses. Each school site will have a box in the office
where you can drop off your candy! Next, we need your crafts! Over the next break might be a fun time to get together with
your family or friends and create some fun crafts to donate to shopping part of the Holiday Gift Fair. We ask that you submit
10 of the same hand crafted items in order to be entered into the contest of which craft sells out first!! If you only make a
couple of items that is perfectly fine and we would love to have them at the fair as well. Please look for emails, eblasts, and
flyers and on our Facebook page for more craft ideas and further details about the Holiday
Gift Fair!! Remember the success of these great events depends on You and directly benefits
our district and our Kids!!
All the best,
WUSD Parents’ Club
4
W U E F U P DAT E
WUEF is pleased to announce that the WUEF Golf Tournament and Dinner raised a total of $17,000!!! The event was a huge success!!! The
Board voted to bring back the Tournament next year and it will be held on
September 30, 2016 at Corral de Tierra Country Club.
Upcoming Events:
See’s Candy Fundraiser…. A great way to start your Christmas shopping early and help us raise the
money we need in order to maintain our music and art programs in the district.
Important dates to remember:
November 2nd – Candy sales begin
November 16 – Due date for candy sales
December 3rd – Pick up candy orders
32nd Annual Dinner Dance Fundraiser – Mark it on your calendar, the date has been set! February
20th, 2016… Corral de Tierra Country Club. Attend and Spend!!!
Please feel free to contact me with any questions about our fundraisers or if you would like to volunteer!
lisamilburn1@att.net
Like us on Facebook. Go to Washington Union Educational Foundation. We will keep you updated on Facebook!
The WUEF Board Meeting will be held on November 17th @ 6:00p.m., Toro MPR room. Please feel free
to attend.
Sincerely,
Lisa Milburn
WUEF President 2015-16
5