This week Travis Sheppard was Caught Being Good!
Come by the office to pick up your prize. Who will be caught next?
From the Principal:
It has been an exciting first week for us at Los Cerros. The return of our great 7th and 8th graders and the entrance of our new 6th graders was a welcome sight on Tuesday. I want to encourage all parents to carefully read school communications, such as Panther Press and School Loop mailings, as they always contain important information.
Our TRAFFIX school bus program began this week with approximately one-third of our students signed on. Between these busses, and students walking and riding bikes to school, the number of cars in our small parking lot has been significantly reduced. The purpose of the TRAFFIX program is congestion easement and as TRAFFIX continues to expand that goal will be met. To parents driving students to school I appreciate your continued patience as we work out the juxtaposition of nine school busses and your cars. The busses will eventually be out of the parking lot ten minutes after school dismissal so after their departure will be a perfect student pick-up time.
Back to School Night is Thursday, September 3rd at 7:00pm. This is an informative evening where you can walk through your student's schedule, meet their teachers, and hear an overview of their class goals and expectations. I look forward to seeing all of you on that night.
Mr. Cannon and I held class meetings to welcome students back and to reinforce our expectations for the year. We covered many topics such as modeling good behavior for the younger classes, understanding the role of kindness and cooperation in making our community successful, and finally clarifying the function of the student handbook as a behavioral contract. Your support is invaluable as part of our work and in particular I ask that you monitor your students adherence to appearance code and the presence of cell phones on campus. Both are clearly defined in the handbook at the front of the student planner and can be reviewed with your student.
I've heard many affirming statements from students about how happy they are with Los Cerros. Thank you for a wonderful week and I look forward to the year ahead. I'll see you on September 3rd, Phyllis Roach
Phyllis Roach
Principal
PTA MESSAGE
Welcome back students and parents! A new school year is upon us, and PTA is busy getting ready for the exciting weeks ahead. The first meeting will be held September 24, 9am, in the Los Cerros staff room. All of our parents are invited to attend this meeting and we encourage you to stay involved with PTA and Los Cerros throughout the year. PTA is a wonderful way to keep up with all that is happening at Los Cerros. You will gain insight the schools direction from Ms. Roach, hear from teacher and student representative, counselor Mrs. Schubb, and monthly guest speakers
PTA is a great way to stay involved with the school community in just an hour a month. Come and grab a cup of coffee with us as we would love to have you.
Thank you for your support of PTA during registration. Your membership allows us to provide financial support for Los Cerros in areas of technology, Red Ribbon week, teacher recognition, and guest speakers.
On Friday, August 28th the Los Cerros magazine drive begins with the full support of PTA. It is the only fundraiser we do in middle school so please support this effort by renewing your magazine subscriptions with Los Cerros. It's a great way to keep your favorite reading materials coming while supporting Los Cerros at the same time.
Thank you again for supporting PTA, we look forward to getting acquainted with you at our first meeting. "There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, learning from failure." Colin Powell
Lisa Knebel
PTA President
Los Cerros Magazine Drive
The annual Los Cerros Magazine Drive will kick off Friday, August 26th. This is our only fundraiser of the year that contributes to all of our extra curricular activities on campus (homework club, intermural sports, drama, etc.). Information will be coming home with students on the 28th. Address book turn in will be Tuesday, September 1st, and turn in days will be Wednesday September 9th and 16th. Students will receive prizes based on the number of magazines they sell. Donations to Los Cerros can also be made in the front office if you would like to contribute to the extra curricular activity fund (ACA).
Fall Play Casting Call
The Los Cerros Drama Club announces open casting call for the Fall play, Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. All interested students, grades 6 though 8 are encouraged to try out. Auditions will be September 8, 9, 10, after school 2:35, on the stage. Audition forms and scene scripts will be available in the drama room after August 25th. You must have a short memorized monologue and be prepared to act out a scene from the play. Contact Mrs. Kaplan with any questions you may have. Production dates are November 4,5,6.
Academic Boosters
Looking for a way to get involved? Los Cerros Academic Boosters need you!! We are looking for you to join the board in a position working with Corporate Matching funds. If you are interested or would like more information, please contact Christine Oldfather at oldfather2@aol.com. Thank you for your support of the Boosters. Christine Oldfather 925/820-1321
eScrip
The PTA can recycle iPods for Cash for Los Cerros. You can drop them off in the office or library. Thanks for your help.
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After School Sports
The first after school sports seasons for Los Cerros will begin the week of September 8th. Flag Football and Cross Country sign up will take place September 2nd-4th. There will be three flag football teams, one per grade level, and games will be after school from 3:30 – 4:45. Teams will play Charlotte Wood, Stone Valley, and Diablo Vista. Please fill out all paperwork that will go home with students, including any driving forms.
Cross Country will be for all grade levels and be one team. Meets will be at Oak Hill Park in Danville on September 22nd, 29th, and October 13th starting at 3:45.
Once again, all information will be given to students at lunch between September 2nd-4th during the lunch periods. Donations to the ACA fund helps cover the expenses of these activities. You can make a donation in our webstore (lcms.srvusd.net) or in the office. If you have any questions, please contact Mike Cannon at mcannon@srvusd.net or 552-3464. |
Welcome back!
No more changes are being made to electives as all classes are FULL. I apologize if your student didn’t get one of their top choices, but I’m hopeful that you and your student can see it as an opportunity for challenge. Please be patient the first week of school. Schedules may need to be adjusted and I may not be able to respond as quickly as possible (or with the right answer). I am the only counselor and this is an extremely busy time for me.
Each week in the Counselor’s Corner you will find information in the areas of: special announcements/events; academic; personal/social; career; parenting tip.
Academic
All 6th graders will be receiving 3 days of Student Effectiveness Training in their wheel this week. These are middle school “tools for success” including organization and time management. Please have a discussion with your child about what they’re learning.
Personal/Social
New student group – Would your student like some place at lunch to make new friends? Please email Ms. Schubb if you would like your student to receive a special invitation. nschubb@srvusd.net
Creating Lasting Family Connections- The Discovery Center is offering an after school group to support students in their transition to middle school. The group starts 9/16/09 here at Los Cerros from 2:30-4pm. Students will learn tools for stress management, communication skills and navigating middle school. For more information, please contact Michelle Cummings at 925.837.0505 x. 305 or michelle@discoveryctr.net
Career
Parents - if you would like to volunteer to help with career day or have a career you would like to share with the students, please let us know. Career Day is April 23rd from 8-10am. nschubb@srvusd.net
Systematic Training for Effective Parenting (STEP) Classes provided by the Family Stress Center: foster/adoptive grandparents; general co-parenting custody divorce classes. For more information visit www.familystresscenter.org or call 925-706-8477 x.500
Parenting tip for cell phones:
Most carriers have various levels of parental controls you should investigate. Verizon has the greatest amount of parental-guardian features, including:
Content filters
Content filters are free through most carriers. They allow parents to set filters for what multimedia content their children can download to their cell phones. The choices are:
• C7+, which is recommended for ages 7 and older. It’s like TV-G with little or no violence, G-rated movies and no explicit-rated songs.
• T13 is for ages 13 and older, and it allows some explicit language and sexual innuendo. This is similar to TV-PG and PG-13 rated movies with no explicit-rated songs.
• YA 17+ has content recommended for young adults ages 17 and older. This may include content similar to TV-MA, R-rated movies and some explicit-rated songs. Crude language and graphic violence, sexual situations and drug abuse may be seen or heard at this level.
Usage controls
Usage controls come with a small monthly charge on most carriers. They put the parent in charge of the child’s cell-phone usage, and the controls are password-protected. They include:
• Usage allowance: The number of minutes or text messages allowed during a billing cycle.
• Time restrictions: These restrictions limit usage during a certain time of day or day of the week (for instance during school, or after a set time at night). Parents can limit this to texting only, voice only, or both.
• Blocked numbers: Depending upon the plan, up to 20 numbers can be restricted from calling or texting your child at all times. Your kid cannot contact these phone numbers, either.
• Allowed (or trusted) numbers: Always available regardless of other restrictions (for instance, a time-of-day restriction). Such numbers usually include allowed adults and family members, as well as calls to 911.
Usage controls also can reduce the risk of unexpected charges on your wireless account for downloads, ring tones, videos and so forth.
Another interesting feature that is available from Verizon is called Chaperone. Details can be found through this link. This feature helps put the parent’s mind at ease by showing where the child’s phone is. (Presumably, the kid is with the phone!) Some of its functions include:
• Family Locator: Used to locate the child’s phone from the parent’s cell phone or computer, based on a GPS system built into the child’s cell phone.
• Child Zone: Allows the parent to construct zones or vicinities that the child is allowed to be within. When the child leaves an allowed zone, the parent’s phone will be notified by a text message. The system is transparent, meaning that the child will be alerted that the parent is checking upon the whereabouts of the youngster. This program costs an extra $9.99 a month, but can lead to a great deal of peace of mind!
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