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Mason Elementary
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San Diego
Unified
School
District

Past Issues

 

Principal Corner

November

Dear Lion Families,

In November, we practice gratitude and so I would like to say thank you for all that you do to help us create a positive learning environment for our children. Remember, a strong parent teacher partnership will benefit all of our children.

Parent conferences will take place November 16th, 17th, 18th and 20th (school will be dismissed at 12:15 everyday that week). These conferences will be informative and all parents are expected to attend one for each of their children. Parent-teacher conferences are an opportunity for you to communicate with teachers about your child’s progress. We want all of our students to meet or exceed grade level standards. At the conference, the teacher will share your child’s work and what is expected to reach proficiency. Here are some strategies for making the best use of this time:

Before the conference During the conference After the conference

Another way to help our children meet/exceed grade level standards is to make sure that they are in school! We can not teach our children if they are not in school and early leave slips are a disruption to the learning environment. So, Please… plan vacations/trips/appointments during the declared breaks. Lions make attendance a daily Habit!
 
Have a restful Thanksgiving season!

Deidre
Ms. Deidre Hardson
Principal

October

Dear Lion Families,

I would like to say thank you for all that you do to help us create a positive learning environment for our children. Mason is a world class school! We are fortunate because we have parents, staff and teachers who care about the success of our children. It is important that we all work together to keep our school moving forward. Parent involvement plays a role in positive student achievement. We depend on volunteers. How will you give 3 hours to our school?

The International Potluck will be October 21 from 5-7 p.m. This will be a special night that you will not want to miss! Please join us as there will be food, fun, and a student presentation!

I am very excited that we will continue to implement the Everyone A Reader program (EAR). Please take time out of your busy day to attend the EAR training on October 27 from 8-11:00. This will be an important training because we will discuss ways to help our children become better readers. This program depends on parent volunteers! Please join hands with us! If you have additional questions please e-mail our coordinator, Erica Tse at ephilipp@sandi.net or visit our website at http://sandi.net/mason/.

As stated before, We need students to attend school daily because we have so much to teach them and we can not educate an empty chair. One way to help our children meet/exceed grade level standards is to make sure that they are in school! We have a school attendance goal of 97%. So, PLEASE… plan appointments/vacations/trips during the declared breaks. We can not teach our children if they are not in school. Lions make attendance a daily Habit!
Deidre
Ms. Deidre Hardson
Principal

September

Dear Lion Families,

I hope you had a wonderful vacation and you are ready for an exciting year at Mason. We are looking forward to the new learning that our children will acquire during the 2009-10 school year!  WE NEED STUDENTS TO ATTEND SCHOOL DAILY because we have so much to teach them and we can not educate an empty chair. We will be rewarding students who have perfect attendance this year and we will be meeting with parents when students have excessive absences. The law says that unless your child is sick, you must send him/her to school on time. Our goal is to have a 97% attendance rate but we can not meet this goal without your help.

Character Education Program. The trait we will be practicing/focusing on each month can be found on the school calendar. Also, morning meetings and my Monday message will address the Character Traits. This month, please help your child focus on Responsibility-help us encourage our children to practice Responsibility both at school and at home. Like the African proverb says, “It takes a whole village to raise a child.”

Parent involvement is essential to student achievement. It’s important for our children to see you involved in their education so we ask that each family volunteer at least 3 hours per year (you will get a timecard that will need to be turned in once you have completed your 3 hours). We have many projects and activities happening throughout the school year where we invite your participation. Help us by volunteering your time in the classrooms, on outside items and/or during school events. We have so much to do and learn this year and I am convinced that working together; we can achieve all of the goals we have set for our students!

I take pride in being the Principal of the Mason Lions! I know that our children will achieve great things this year because they are capable, hard working, excited about their learning and have involved families. This is the formula for success! I look forward to working with each and every one of you this year.

For our children,

P.S. This year, we will Go Greener so please be sure to review the website(www.sandi.net/mason/) each week and monitor the school calendar for events and activities that are important to our students.

Webmaster Note: masonpta.org/updates lists other ways that you can keep update.

July

It’s July and I can’t believe the school year is coming to a close already. Time sure flies when you are having fun! By now you should have received an application for Summer School if your child is eligible. If Summer School was recommended by the classroom teacher, it is important that your child attends the program July 27 through August 21st. Classes will be held at Walker Elementary and I will be the hosting principal. Summer School is one of the best interventions for helping our children meet grade level Standards. If you need more information, call our school office today.

Parent involvement is essential to student achievement. Next year will be challenging due to the budget cuts. We will depend on your help to maintain the high standards and expectations we have at Mason. We need each family to volunteer at least 3 hours next year. We have many projects and activities happening throughout the school year where we invite your participation. Together, we can achieve more!

Research shows that children who don’t eat regular meals do not do as well in school. Starting next year, lunch must be built into the modified/minimum day schedule. This means that Monday through Friday, all students will eat lunch at school. I am working with our school Governance team to come up with a schedule that works for our children, staff and families.

Thank you for all that you did to help us create a positive learning environment for our children this year. I know that next year will be even better! As you plan for next year, remember to check our school calendar on our website @ http://www.sandi.net/mason/. Please plan vacations and appointments when school is not in session. We will be expecting each healthy child to have perfect attendance. In the 2009-10 school years, Lions will be rewarded for perfect attendance. We need our Lions here every day so that we can teach them.

I wish all members of the Mason family a restful vacation and I look forward to seeing you all on Tuesday, September 8th, 2009!

For our children,

June

I can not believe that it is June already! The first and second week of June is a critical time because we will be taking the state tests. These tests are important for your child and for our school. Please be sure that your child gets plenty of sleep, eats a healthy breakfast and does his/her personal best. This is an opportunity to show the state how many Standards we have mastered.

Speaking of Standards, please help us to communicate the importance of a high rate of attendance. We can not teach children who are not in school! Daily student attendance is critical to your child's progress. We need all of our Lions here and on time. As you plan vacations and appointments, please review the school calendar and arrange these so that they take place during breaks. The 2009-10 calendars will available on our website on or before July 1st (http://www.sandi.net/mason/).

This year, we will hold summer school from July 27 to August 21 at Walker Elementary and I will be the hosting principal. Remember, Ed Code states that the classroom teacher makes the final decision regarding promotion or retention. It is important that students who are not meeting grade-level Standards attend summer school to improve his or her reading comprehension and math number sense. If your child needs summer school, please be sure that the application is in today!

Parent involvement is essential to student achievement. We depend on you to help keep our students achieving at high levels! Please begin thinking about how you will support our school next year. We are in desperate need of a PTA president. If we do not have a PTA president, the PTA will fold and all extra activities for our kids and families will disappear. We need you and a parking space comes with the job!

In closing, I would like to thank the parents and community members who helped with our clean up day, May 16th. We were able to accomplish a great deal for our children! Sadly, there were not as many families as I hoped to see. I look forward to the involvement of many more parents in the future. Remember, we are all busy but together we can achieve more! We have asked that all parents/families become members of the PTA and volunteer at least 2 hours during the year. There is still time. Have you done your part?

For our children,

May

Welcome back to school! We hope that your vacation was relaxing and that you enjoyed the time with your children.

We thank you for all that you do to help us create a positive learning environment for our children. We are really excited about the all of the things that will be happening at Mason these next few months. You will want to pay attention to our calendar so that you don’t miss out on the many activities that we have planned. If you can not locate your calendar, you can look on our website http://www.sandi.net/mason/ .

Attendance each and every day is crucial! School is almost over yet we still have so much to do and learn! At Mason, we continue to stay focused on State Standards and student productivity at proficient levels. Next month, we will take the California State tests. These tests are extremely important to our school and our only opportunity to let the district and state know what hardworking students we have here at Mason.

We know that our children will do well but please make sure that your child has established these habits:

At Mason, we expect our Lions to always do their personal best while practicing good character. This month we practice cooperation. The words 'Co' and 'Operation' make up the word cooperation. The children understand that we are showing cooperation when we work together and we are asking them to help on our Clean up Day (Saturday May 16th from 11-3). You are needed too so please support us and "get involved"-cooperate!

Enjoy the rest of the month and be sure to visit our website http://www.sandi.net/mason/

For our children,

March

I can’t believe that it is March already! We still have so much to do before State Testing in June (STAR) and the end of the school year. I am very grateful that we have such hard working students and families here at Mason! Next month, teachers will begin preparing report cards. They will be inviting you to meet with them to hear about the great work our students are doing. Parent conferences will be held March 31 to April 3rd and school will be dismissed at 12:15 each day. Please plan ahead.

Remember you are your child’s first teacher. Our Character Traits can be found on the Mason website and in the school calendar. When reinforced at home or in the community, these attitudes become second nature for our children. It is vital that Lions focus on developing positive attitudes toward people, the environment, the world, and learning. As Gandhi said, “we must be the change that we wish to see in the world. On March 2nd, we will begin collecting Pennies for Pasta to help fight Leukemia. Each classroom will compete to raise donations and the winning class will win lunch catered by Olive Garden.

Congratulations to Ms. Tse who was voted Mason’s teacher of the year. In addition to her work as a classroom teacher, Ms. Tse works hard to lead the first grade team and has made our EAR(Everyone A Reader program) a reality. We are very lucky to have her as part of the Mason staff.

We hope our two new drop-off locations are helping to ease traffic and stress associated with getting our wonderful Lions to school daily. Thank you for following the traffic rules and helping to ensure the safety of our children. Our children listen to what we say but they watch what we do.

Lastly, I want to remind you that vacations should be taken when school is out of session. We will be out of school April 6 through May 1st. Attendance is critical to student success! Please be sure that our Lions attend school each day on time. We can not teach them if they are not here!

For our children,

February

Welcome back to the 2008-9 school year! We trust that your vacation was relaxing and filled with the making of new memories with family and friends.

We are at the half way point and we still have so much to do and learn! At Mason, we continue to stay focused on State Standards and student productivity at proficient levels. We expect our Lions to always do their personal best while practicing good character!

We are concerned about the safety of our children. Please remember that parents are not permitted in the parking lots during arrival and dismissal. Also, remember to obey the traffic laws when near our school. On January 20th, we started the student before and after school drop off and pick up in the white loading zone on Gold Coast. We are excited that we can use this drop off location on Gold Coast and hope that you are following the rules for this accessible drop off opening. Please do not park nor leave your car while in the white zone. Students must use crosswalks or we will discontinue this drop off process and location. We hope this will ease some of the traffic and stress for our community. Parents can support us by volunteering. If you are interested in helping to assist drivers as students exit the cars and enter the side gate to the campus please contact drubio@sandi.net.

Learning is an evolving process which requires meaningful input from all parties involved. It’s important for your child to see you involved in his/her education. WE NEED YOU! Please help us by volunteering your time to help in the classrooms, on outside items and/or during school events. We have many projects and activities happening throughout the school year and we invite your participation (see below for ways you can Support our efforts at home). On February 19th we will have our Fundraiser Night at Fuddruckers from 4-9 p.m. Join us for dinner while helping us raise money for our school! Immerse yourself in the lion spirit and continue to support our school because participating in school events promotes a sense of community which helps to improve student achievement.

We hope each and every one of you is having a prosperous new year!