Students also created a diorama of the place they visited.  In class, they shared their project with their classmates and gave a little report of their findings.  It was very interesting hearing some of the reports. Their friends asked questions after and were very supportive of the work done (“I think you did a great job on your diorama”).

“SOVA” is a Hebrew word that means “eat and be satisfied.” Much more than a food pantry, JFS “SOVA” provides free groceries and an array of supportive services to nearly 12,000 individuals of all ages, ethnicities and religions each month. At SOVA’s three comprehensive service centers in the Los Angeles area, we offer:

Sustenance: Free nutritious food that nourishes families, helps children perform better in school, and strengthens the elderly.

Opportunity: Free on-site services including legal advocacy, job counseling, nutrition counseling, food stamp enrollment, information and referrals, case management, and counseling.

Volunteerism: Hundreds of people of all ages work together each week to support the program and the community.

Advocacy: We reach out to the community and legislators in support of vulnerable members of society in need of food, opportunity, and social services.

Main Office: 16439 Vanowen Street Van Nuys, CA 91406 818-988-7682 http://www.jfsla.org/SOVA

We will be having another cooks week off fundraiser!

Watch for the flyer and help support your child’s school. Not only will our school earn $2 from every flyer collected (minimum purchase of a salad or pizza or sandwich required), but we’ve lowered the class requirements to try to let the kids earn more pizza parties. Bring in 8, 10, or 12 flyers (multiple flyers per family allowed) and earn different sized pizza parties for the classroom. 100 flyers were turned in last event, but if we get 200 flyers turned in, our staff and teachers will win the HUGE 54″ x 54″ pizza experience! Mother’s Day doesn’t need to stop on Sunday, give her a couple of nights off from cooking and help support our school and win a pizza party for the classroom! We had 5 classrooms win last time and the other classrooms really wanted to earn the pizza experience. This will be the last chance for the school year!

Big Mama’s and Papa’s Pizzeria
Zelzah and Chatsworth
(818) 368-1111

Download: May 2012 flyer

On Thursday, May 24th at 7pm, Pattie will provide a parent workshop in the Multi Purpose Room.  She will give you a preview of her presentation that she will give to the students.  You will learn how to keep your family safe using effective, child-friendly language and concepts, in a non-fearful manner.

Presentation descriptions are available below:

• An Ounce of Prevention - parent/caregiver safety presentation
• Kidz Power - K to 3rd grade safety workshop
• Play It Safe - 4th to 6th grade safety workshop
• Pattie Fitzgerald’s Biography

For those parents that do not wish to have their students receive this valuable instruction, please use the form below. Your child will go to another classroom or the library during the presentation.

Opt out form - return to the office/your child’s teacher

One of their new exhibits is the new Dinosaur Hall, which just opened last year.  The hall spans two large rooms on two floors so viewing of the large dinosaur skeletons may be done  from below and above.  Various interactive displays and exhibits allow patrons to better understand a variety of topics. Castlebay had a 10:30am reservation for admittance to the new hall and that was the first exhibit the classes went to.  After the Dino Hall, various groups broke off to visit other parts of the museum, including the mammal exhibits, rocks, minerals and gems, birds, the diorama exhibits and the Discovery Center, a hands on lab.  Upstairs in another section is a Dino Lab where actual work is done by staff members which can be viewed by museum goers.

At the Curiosity Cart

Some of the classes also visited the Rose Garden nearby after lunch before heading back to the buses.

Room 21 class picture at the Rose Garden fountain

This year the Porter Ranch Castlebay community energetically submitted many nominations with multiple being offered for Miss Littlejohn. This is her first year at Castlebay and her first year as a Principal. She has made a huge impact in one year on our already outstanding school (940 API).

PATH has appreciated working with her, her enthusiasm, vision and accessibility. She makes an effort to make each student feel welcome so they will want to come to school, whether she sees them on the yard or greets them through her weekly ConnectEd calls. She aspires to put a comment for each student on their report cards. She makes herself accessible to parents through her weekly ConnectEd calls, monthly website messages and monthly Coffee with the Principal meetings and tells it like it is, providing the latest updates on budgets and staffing. She reports out the impact of student absences on the budget to hold parents accountable and make them part of the solution.

She heard feedback through school reporting that Castlebay was not rated highly in physical education, so to supplement the PE program, she instituted Move It Mondays and Fitness Fridays, times when the whole school is out on the yard exercising and playing to energetic music. Students love this and teachers are getting into it! It creates a sense of school spirit.

Some of the changes she has made to the campus include securing funds for and completing playground upgrades including replacing the safety padding under the jungle gyms, Lowe’s landscaping projects, implementing recycling with LA City blue bins, and the installation of a handicap ramp at the front entrance. Future projects at parent request during PATH meetings include instituting parent-teacher conferences and the implementation of the online Accelerated Reader program.

Under Miss Littlejohn’s leadership, Mrs. Dorfman, teacher of the third grade Indefatigable Winners, has volunteered to head up a school paper, The Castlebay Connection. Fifth graders are so excited and proud to have been selected for this honor to write and publish articles about the school and community. They are rising to the challenge their new role presents. The paper too creates a sense of school spirit.

To help students and parents embrace the new lunch menus, she invited the LAUSD Chef to conduct a tasting at the school. This was covered by CBS Channel 2 News.

We encourage you to celebrate with her on Thursday, April 19, 6:30-8:30pm at the Odyssey Restaurant in Granada Hills. Tickets are $45 per person. Register online.

Some ideas that you can help:

• pack a non-disposable lunch

• plant a tree   • recycle   • turn off unused lights

 What do you pledge to do?  (add your response below)