Castlebay Lane Elementary PATH

Jersey Mike’s Subs – Junior Chef Experience Thursday Feb 23

jkwan — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 16:57:53 +0000

Join us for another Castlebay Cook’s Night Out fundraising event! Thursday, February 23 from 4pm to 10pm at Jersey Mike’s Subs in Northridge (Tampa and Nordhoff Street). The Junior Chef Experience will allow children to build their own Jersey Mike’s Sub sandwich and have a tour of the kitchen.

Jersey Mike’s Subs
19350 Nordhoff Street

This restaurant location is owned and operated by Mr Weintraub, a longtime supporter of Castlebay, and also the husband of our own Mrs Weintraub, a 3rd grade teacher at our school.
Download: event flyer

First Quarter – Perfect Attendance

jkwan — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 02:46:02 +0000

In a continued effort to increase daily attendance, Ms. Littlejohn will be visiting all 328 students who had perfect attendance during the first reporting period, from September to December. She will be awarding each child with a certificate and encouraging him/her to stay healthy and present at school every day!

[Show as slideshow]

roller coasters – a study of balance and motion

jkwan — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 04:02:01 +0000

Mrs Lingard’s second grade class spent a couple of days this past week building roller coasters. This helped the students learn about balance and motion while working in a cooperative groups to build roller coasters. The roller coasters were built with foam tracks with multiple segments taped together using duct tape. Marbles were put on the tracks they built to test their designs. The class worked in groups of three and in their study, they learned how high to set their tracks to complete a loop. If the track was set too high, the marble would go too fast and fall off. If the track was too low, the marble would not have enough energy to make the loop. They also experimented with how big or small to make the loops. The more difficult challenge was to build two and even three looped roller coasters.

Healthier US School Challenge – Bronze Award

jkwan — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 02:17:00 +0000

Castlebay, as part of LAUSD, received the Bronze Award in the Healthier US School Challenge. This Challenge is a cornerstone of Let’s Move!, an ambitious initiative to solve the childhood obesity epidemic within a generation.

As a winner of the Bronze Award, our school is among the very best of the best, going above and beyond the minimum requirements to help ensure our students live full and active lives. Our school was presented with a framed letter signed by First Lady Michelle Obama.

Principal’s Message – February 2012

jkwan — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 06:35:54 +0000

Well it’s official-we are half way through the 2011-2012 school year and things are in full swing! I am in awe of how many people take the initiative to bring ideas to fruition, to make Castlebay Lane even better-educationally, physically, and emotionally-for our children.

• The hours upon hours of time a core group of parents spent on organizing Donors Choose resulted in $20,000 of classroom materials for our school in just six weeks.

• In an effort to increase the awareness of the importance of daily attendance, teachers are designing a wonderful bulletin board recognizing students with perfect attendance for the first reporting period, and our dear Mrs. Woo has taken pictures of all 328 of these students!

• Our Safety Shed has been completely cleaned out and inventoried, as have our classroom emergency supplies. Many of our teachers will go for recertification in First Aid and CPR within the next month. We feel more prepared than ever should an emergency occur.

• Students continue to get better each week about recycling and keeping our campus clean. One teacher has initiated the Sanitation Workers organization (which is catching on like wildfire) to help with this effort and to teach students about responsibility to their school and community. Soon we will partner with a local food bank to donate uneaten school lunches at the end of each day.

• Children come to me daily to share their ideas for peace keeping on the yard, and holding fundraisers to help those less fortunate than themselves.

• And our teachers spend long hours planning together and problem solving, to bring each of your children the very best education possible. As I write this, our first Student Newspaper is in the works.

The list could go on for pages and pages, as you well know. What warms my heart the most is that no one does these things for any type of recognition. This is truly a tribute to how committed we all are- parents, staff, students, and community-to making Castlebay Lane Elementary a very special and unique place. I am so proud to be a part of something so wonderful.

I encourage all of you to continue to “think outside the box” and offer up your ideas to carry along this path, especially in light of the tough financial times that lay ahead. Your devotion inspires me and I am quickly realizing how fast the second half of our school year is going to pass.

Victoria Littlejohn

Download: February 2012 newsletter

5th Grade Spelling Bee Finalists

jkwan — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 05:50:07 +0000

On January 25, 2012 Castlebay held its Second Annual Spelling Bee for the fifth graders. Finalists included: Fareeha A, Tasha B, Taylor C, Colin C, Shaan L, Syeda K, Christopher K, and Caleb Y. The event was attended by their fellow fifth graders who were vocal in their support of their classmates. After working their way up the 8th grade words, Caleb was victorious with the word siege. We wish Caleb all the best at the Regional Spelling Bee which will take place on Saturday, February 25, 2012.

Donors Choose Castlebay Results

jkwan — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:31:32 +0000

Donors Choose is a project to help teachers get funding for projects for their students to help their classrooms directly. The Wasserman Foundation provided generous donations to LAUSD schools by offering gift cards to all LAUSD students which could be redeemed towards projects their parents choose.

Unfortunately, funding from the Wasserman Foundation has run out sooner than expected and remaining gift cards are no longer redeemable (learn more). This also includes those cards obtained at Starbucks.

However, at Castlebay, 39 teacher projects totaling over $20,000 was funded!! The Wasserman Foundation provided about $9,900 in partner funding with donors giving $10,000 (mostly in gift cards, again from the Wasserman Foundation). It’s estimated we redeemed about 674 of the $15 gift cards which is an incredible 83% redemption (the school was given 810 gift cards).

Thanks to immediate mobilizing, tactical planning, and implementation between teachers and our team of parent volunteers, we were able to help 90% of the teachers and resource staff at Castlebay upload, submit, and eventually fund their projects. Of course, we owe our amazing parents a huge debt of gratitude for trusting the team with your emails and granting us permission to submit them on your behalf. As always, our parents, teachers, and staff worked together to attain the best results given the small window of time to post and fund these projects.

View our results on our Castlebay Donors Choose page.

Nerd Day at Castlebay

jkwan — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 21:38:33 +0000

Friday, January 27th was Nerd Day. Children and teachers dressed up in nerdy outfits and Castlebay spirit wear.

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Safe Wise Water Ways Poster Contest

jkwan — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 18:13:13 +0000

On Friday January 13th, the winners of the Safe Wise Water Ways Poster Contest were announced at the morning assembly. Ms Cindy, our art teacher, coordinates our entries to several art contests. The following are the winners for each grade level state wide:

• Melissa G — 5th grade winner

• Makenna B — 2nd grade winner

• Isabella K — Kindergarten winner

• Kate M — received an honorable mention (one of only four state wide)

Great Job!

Porter Ranch burglary news report

jkwan — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 03:06:01 +0000

3 Men Wanted In Porter Ranch Residential Robberies near Castlebay

New security camera video was released this week of three men responsible for several residential robberies in Porter Ranch.