For an easier to read LINK go to:
http://graystone.ca.campusgrid.net

Lost and Found items will be cleared out during the Spring Break. Please stop at the lost and found area (located by the cafeteria) and claim your jacket/sweatshirts/lunch buckets etc...before April 5th. All efforts will be made to return any items that are marked with the child’s name. All unclaimed items will be taken to the Children’s Shelter.

We will be administering the STAR test from April 30th-May 11th, for grades 2-5. When we return from Spring Break, the teachers will be doing review and final preparations with their students for testing. We will be seeing the results of the testing in August. As important as the STAR test is, it is only one of many assessments we administer during the school year to measure our students’ successes. During the year we perform a number of assessments that help us benchmark student performance to keep the parent informed of their child’s achievements and to provide the teacher with current data. We spend a lot of time in August and September studying the STAR test results in order to provide the highest level of instruction for your child. Our teachers work very hard to make their students feel confident about the testing. A parent can certainly add to that confidence by making sure that your child gets a good night’s sleep and a good breakfast before testing.

If you would like to see a sample of the STAR test questions, you can go to the Graystone web page. We have updated the CST release questions on the side bar of the page. Each year before testing the state posts questions from prior years to assist the teacher in preparing their students for the test. In fact, if you want to better understand the whole testing process, you can go to the California Department of Education web site and find out more information about the state’s assessment system than you probably would ever want to know.

I am very please to announce that Janet Ghani, second grade teacher, is Graystone’s Teacher of the Year. Each year our teachers decide on one of their own to be recognized with this honor. As you can imagine, that with such an outstanding faculty, choosing one teacher to be honored is no easy chore. I am very proud of Janet and know that she will do a wonderful job representing Graystone School.

Thank you for your support of Graystone School and I hope to see you soon.

Dave

OK -- you have us convinced ---- this IS a book loving school!! Every chance we have thrown at you to enrich your home libraries, and therefore your children, you have embraced fully!! We had planned on David Schwartz and his books followed by our March Madness 1/2 price book fair. Then, last week, thanks to Hicklebees we had another last minute FREE author opportunity. It was such a pleasure to introduce our 4th grade students to Michael Buckley, author of the Sisters Grimm series (and writer for Nickelodeon, Discovery and David Letterman). Watching him engage with our students was wonderful --- and I so appreciate Hicklebees giving us this chance to introduce our students to another new author. Michael was so impressed with our school and the excellent caliber of questions our students presented him with. AND Hicklebees was impressed with the number of his books that we sold during his visit. As with any Hicklebees event, a percentage of the purchase price of each book is returned to our library. Please take the chance to thank Hicklebees any chance you get!!
And there is another reason that Hicklebees rules!! On April 19th, our second graders will have the chance to meet Marc Brown (author of the Arthur series) . Marc will be visiting with his new book The Gulps and this should be an exciting afternoon. More info will be coming home as the date draws near.
So - 3 cheers for all of you book loving families, and 3 more cheers for Hicklebees -- what a winning combination!!

See you in the library!!

Michele Taylor
Literacy Events Coordinator

Our "Rhythms Around the World" celebration is on
Friday, April 20th from 4-8PM at Graystone School. We have nineteen heritages participating and a dozen
cultural performances this year. The parade will
start at 5:00PM and the cultural performances will
follow.

Passports will be given out to all the children on the
night of the event and they will be given a homework
pass if they answer the music related question from
each of the heritage booths. Our show this year will
conclude with a hula lesson for everyone from our own
Kindergarten mom, Laurene Johnson. Everyone has a
heritage! Please join us and learn a little bit about
yours and many others!

.



SPRING BREAK
Apr. 6th - Apr. 13th
(school resumes Apr. 16th)

Please continue to use PeaceBuilder language at home with your children to reinforce the lessons the children have learned here at school; Praise People, Give Up Put Downs, Notice Hurts, Right Wrongs, Seek Wise People.

Look for the last PeaceBuilder Puzzle Challenge after spring break. (The certificates and pencils from the last one will come out then as well).

The Leadership Team has been very busy this month! The Newsletter Team put out its second issue; it should be in white envelopes TODAY! Look for it: Graystone 411. All of the articles and ideas are completely from the kids. They even did most of the layout and editing! They did a great job, again!

The Conflict Manager Team started last week. They have been specially trained to go through a step by step process to help students resolve their playground conflicts. They are stationed at the silver tables and students can go to them if they feel they need help with an issue. Last week, the kids that got to help resolve a conflict were so excited. I have even heard from some of the parents that this is helping their conflict resolution skills at home too! Make sure your kids know that they are out there every Tues.-Thu. at lunch recess, and what they are there for.

The Peace Patrol Team has just added 12 new Officers to the ranks. These students will start their playground duties next week. They will be paired up with the “old pros,” who will assist in their training. It is great to see such enthusiasm. And to those who have been Peace Patrol Officers all year, and have been responsible with their assignment and commitment, I say, Wow! You are great! Thank you for all you do for Graystone!

The Reading Team continues to read to the lower grades each month. They do such a great job! It is so cool to see them come in and find just the right book, and practice in the Roots and Wings office!

If you have any questions about the Cornerstone programs here at Graystone feel free to contact me at: ann_smith@sbcglobal.net.

April

April 3rd -
Home & School
Club Mtg.
9:05am in Cafe.

April 5th -
Pajama Day

April 6th - 13th
Spring Break

April 20th -
Spirit Day

April 20th -
Heritage Day

April 30th -
May 11th
STAR Testing

May

May 1st -
Home & School
Club Mtg.
9:05am in Cafe

May 4th -
Sports Team Day

May 15th - Open
House

May 18th -
Spring
Celebration

We are just a few weeks away from our 3rd Annual
Heritage Day, "Rhythms Around the World," and we need your help. If your Graystone student has an older
sibling in high school who would be interested in
helping out in one of our booths, please let us know
by signing up on our website. Their volunteer hours
would be credited toward their required community
service.

http://graystone.ca.campusgrid.net/home/Heritage+
Day

Thank you so much to our Picture Day Angels:
Lisa Calomeni
Vicky Maniglia
Jodi Tempel
Cynthia Easton
Elise Newton
Carole Keighley

The following classes had zero absenses:

Mrs. Wessling’s class: A-2 and
Mrs. Huerta’s class: G-28

The following class had zero tardies:

Miss Menendez’s class: G-32

Congratulations and keep up the good work!