Saint Leander School

Weekly Newsletter: 5/16/12 – Volume 6, Issue 33

Christine2010 — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:16:09 +0000

Dear Families,

The end of the year is approaching quickly! Our First and Seventh Grade students led us in a beautiful liturgy in honor of the Blessed Mother on Friday. We were privileged to have Fr. Juan celebrate this Mass with us. Our Eighth Graders enjoyed a beautiful Dinner/Dance with their parents Friday evening, and our Second Graders began their First Eucharist celebrations over the weekend. Tomorrow our candidates for Student Council will deliver their speeches and we will hold our election. We are impressed with the spirited and creative campaigning that has enlivened our hallways and the stickers on the students’ uniforms.

We only have a few weeks left of the school year, but we still have lots going on! Check out the announcements in the newsletter for more details. Keep encouraging your child/ren to work hard for a strong finish to the year.

Plan ahead to attend our Move-Up Ceremony on the last day of school, June 8th at 9:45 AM in the Church.

A quick reminder that all tuition accounts and parent service hours must be up to date for us to accept your child into school for next year and to release report cards on the last day of school. Please contact Mrs. Rosas if you anticipate any problems meeting your commitments to the school.

Have a great week!

Star Students

Congratulations to the following students who were recognized as “Star Students” for being EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATORS this week:

Pre-Kindergarten: Chinelo Agwumezie & Myles Gordon

Kindergarten: Nilan Crockett & Phoenix Biven

First Grade: Leo Lorenzo

Second Grade: Alan Rodriguez & Sierra Gray

Third Grade: Christian Marquez & Mariah Martinez

Fourth Grade: Joshua Gamez & Chelyn Johnson

Fifth Grade: Athena Ballantine

Sixth Grade: Selina Esaias & Ryan De Castro

Seventh Grade: Amy Medina

Eighth Grade: Michael Dyer & Ryan Miller

VP Corner with Ms. Cross

If you are interested in enrolling your child for Summer School, please do so as soon as possible. The school is filling up fast, and we want to be sure we are serving our own students first! If you are delaying registration because you need to make payment arrangements, please contact Ms. Cross to secure your spot. Thank you.

5th Annual Summer Basketball Camp

Basketball Skills clinic for 3rd through 8th Grades! 1 coach for every 5 players means your child will receive the individual attention he or she needs to compete at the next level of play! Don’t get lost in the crowd! The clinics will take place throughout July at the St. Leander’s gym at Ryan O’Connell Hall on 575 W. Estudillo Avenue. Click here, and click here for the registration form.

Moreau’s Summer Football Camp

Coach Andrew Cotter’s Non-Contact Junior High Football Camp at Moreau Catholic High School focuses on teaching campers both basic offensive and defensive fundamentals in a fun oriented environment. They emphasize how the sport of football helps people learn life skills. Please see their brochure for more information.

Bishop O’Dowd’s Spring Concert

On behalf of the O’Dowd music department and Music Director Fred
Randolph, they love to have as many of our musically inclined
students and faculty join us for the 2012 Spring Concert.
Concert details and a glimpse into the O’Dowd music scene are below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we5xjGkNDYs

Bishop O’Dowd High School Spring Concert
Thursday, May 17th, 2012 @7:30pm
Bishop O’Dowd Theater

St. Joseph Notre Dame’s Summer Camps

Summer Discovery Camps at St. Joseph Notre Dame High School in Alameda has a new selection of academics, athletics and fun activities for students entering grades 3 through 8. Try photography, debate and science camps, as well as volleyball, basketball and conditioning programs. Find out more about the camps through their Summer Discovery Camps brochure.

Sincerely,

Principal

Weekly Newsletter: 5/9/12 – Volume 6, Issue 32

Christine2010 — Wed, 09 May 2012 15:28:18 +0000

Dear Families,

We had our first ever performance last Friday night from the newly created Drama Club, and I was so impressed with everyone’s performance! Many thanks to our parent volunteers that helped make all this happen. I look forward to future productions from our talented students.

Also, we had our popular annual Special Person’s Day earlier last Friday, and once again Mr. Silva delivered a great performance from our students. It’s always such a delight to hear our little ones sing with all their might. All the students sounded like sweet angels.

Our Second Grade’s faith journey continued as they participated in a retreat on Saturday, which will lead them up to their First Eucharist celebration coming up this month. We welcome you to the Lord’s Table.

Our Eighth Grader’s will be celebrating with their families at the upcoming Graduation Dance & Dinner this Friday, May 11th at 6pm in the Auditorium.

We had many of our students enter the Diocesan’s Young Author’s Faire, and we’re happy to report that several of them were given Honorable Mention for their stories:

Meaghan Calhan (2nd Grade) – “Lucky Me, My Dog Lucky”

Audrey Rubinstein (2nd Grade) – “Meet My Grandfather”

Maya Daluz (6th Grade) – “My Journey to Ellis Island”

Ashleen Calhan & Nina Daluz (8th Grade) – “The Broken Mirror”

Star Students

Congratulations to the following students who were recognized as “Star Students” for being EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATORS this week:

PreKindergarten: Alexander Sanchez

Kindergarten: Cameron Chapman

First Grade: Janki Patel

Second Grade: Idalina Apkarian & Julian Douglas

Third Grade: Edwin Jasper

Fourth Grade: Krishan Raj & Kristy Cerna

Fifth Grade: Anthony James

Sixth Grade: Isaiah Ashford & Joseph Apkarian

Seventh Grade: Mica Cabrera

Eighth Grade: Daniel Mitchell & Joshua McClinton

VP Corner with Ms. Cross

5th Annual Summer Basketball Camp

Walk-A-Thon Report

Our Walk-A-Thon for academic books was a great success! We collected $2,000 in pledges! Our Top 10 Pledge Earners were: Ryan Miller, Christian Bonardi, Gina Bonardi, Bernice Angeles, Nathaniel Berber, Natalie Alldridge, Sequoia Nakai, Saia Lorenzo, Russell Kim, and Dominic Sanchez. They will all be treated to a “Day at the Movies” with Mrs. Mullen, who will notify the families when a date has been chosen. Thank you to all students that participated in collecting pledges, and to the Student Council for making it a fun day for our students!

Drama Club’s Review & Photos

The first production of our Drama Club opened with a full house last Friday! The first play, Character Matters, featured our lower grade students, and the second play, Munchkin Mediation: Conflict Resolution in Oz, featured our upper grade students. All the actors were adorable in their costumes, and the plays were both entertaining and educational. Also, the upper grades did a great job running the back stage and front of the house, along with acting in the second play. Thank you to everyone that attended our shows last weekend. Plus, a big thank you to Candice and Emmett Schneider for running the Drama Club! They plan to be back next year with another exciting production!

Special Person’s Day Photos

One of the events that PTG hosts is Special Person’s Day, where we celebrate the Special Persons in our students’ lives whether they’re the grandparents, aunts, uncles, or close friends of the family. Entertainment was provided by our wonderfully talented music teacher, Mr. Silva, who led the students in a rousing musical performance from traditional songs like “Amazing Grace” to the contemporary like “Paradise” by Coldplay. This event could not have been a success without our many hard-working parent volunteers, and the leadership provided by our chairperson, Patty Vecchiarello. Thank you for another amazing Special Person’s Day!

Coffee Chat

Please join us for the last Coffee Chat of the school year next Wednesday, May 16th from 7:45-8:45AM in front of the PRIMARY CAMPUS. We will be celebrating our 2nd year of Coffee Chat with many delicious breakfast treats and fresh-brewed coffee. If you would like to continue Coffee Chat for a 3rd year please contact Christine Chan at cchan@csdo.org. It would be wonderful if we can continue this community strengthening event!

Sincerely,

Principal

5th Annual St. Leander Summer Basketball Clinic

Christine2010 — Mon, 07 May 2012 16:32:32 +0000

Basketball Skills clinic for 3rd through 8th Grades! 1 coach for every 5 players means your child will receive the individual attention he or she needs to compete at the next level of play! Don’t get lost in the crowd! The clinics will take place throughout July at the St. Leander’s gym at Ryan O’Connell Hall on 575 W. Estudillo Avenue. Click here for more info, and click here for the registration form.

Drama Club’s First Original Production!

Christine2010 — Wed, 02 May 2012 17:03:23 +0000

Drama Club presents:

Character Matters and Munchkin Mediation, Conflict Resolution.

Don’t miss the first production from St. Leander’s Drama Club!!! Our talented students will perform two plays in the Auditorium this Friday, May 4th at 7pm and Saturday, May 5th at 6:30pm. Come enjoy an evening with Cinderella, Jack and the Giant, the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy, and many other famous characters. Ticket prices are: $2/Children 3 and up and $5/Adults. Tickets are available at the Front Office. All proceeds will benefit future productions of our Drama Club.

Weekly Newsletter: 5/2/12 – Volume 6, Issue 31

Christine2010 — Tue, 01 May 2012 22:33:41 +0000

Dear Families,

We had a great time at our Walk-A-Thon on Friday! Many thanks to the parents who came out and served water and stamped laps. We also thank our Student Council who showed incredible leadership and school spirit as they led cheers and set the tone for the fun day.

Congratulations to our Pre-K! Why? Because they have made it to the end of the alphabet and are learning the letter “Z” this week! We are so proud of our littlest learners who are getting ready for reading in Kindergarten.

We are looking forward to Grandparents’/Special Person’s Day this Friday. If you are free to volunteer, please return the pink sheet to school tomorrow. Remember that dismissal is Noon on Friday.

We keep our Second Grade in our prayers as they take another step in their faith journey. They will participate in a retreat on Saturday and experience the Sacrament of Reconciliation and enjoy activities in anticipation of their First Eucharist celebrations coming up over the next month. We welcome you to the Lord’s Table.

Next Tuesday, May 8th, our Fourth-Eighth Grade students will hear a presentation by Mr. Dennis Flannery who is a regional coordinator for the “Get On The Bus” program. This special program across California brings children to visit their incarcerated parents near Mothers’ Day and near Fathers’ Day. Our parish is a meeting point for two busses to carry children the Friday before this Mothers’ Day, and our Student Council will pack snack bags for the children and chaperones as a service project. We wish all the travelers this year a safe trip and visit.

Star Students

Congratulations to the following students who were recognized as “Star Students” for being LIFELONG LEARNERS this week:

PreKindergarten: Kimson Li & Santiago Duenas

Kindergarten: Bryce Washington

First Grade: Hailey Miller

Second Grade: Kidus Netsanet & Alyssa Ballentine

Third Grade: Sage Rider

Fourth Grade: Ava Arroy

Fifth Grade: Leslie Gomez

Sixth Grade: Nick Sanchez

Seventh Grade: Ashley Vasquez

Eighth Grade: Imani Williams

VP Corner with Ms. Cross

Spring Walk-A-Thon Photos

Our students had a fun and healthy Friday last week, where they walked to raise funds for new academic books. Each class had their own color and cheers. Thank you to the Student Council for leading us in the cheers. All pledges are due tomorrow, May 3rd, to qualify for the Grand Prize: the ten students with most pledges will enjoy a MOVIE WITH MRS. MULLEN AT BAYFAIR CINEMARK. Now that you know how many laps your child walked, keep those pledges coming! Check out the photos below from the Walk-A-Thon (Mr. Silva skipping with his hands in the air was one of the highlights).

Drama Club’s First Play

Drama Club presents:

Character Matters and Munchkin Mediation, Conflict Resolution.

Sincerely,

Principal

Weekly Newsletter: 4/25/12 – Volume 6, Issue 30

Christine2010 — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 05:33:21 +0000

Dear Families,We are looking forward to our Walk-A-Thon this coming Friday! Please be sure to apply/send sunscreen and provide hats for your students.Proceeds from this fundraiser will help us keep our curricular materials up to date. Thanks for your support!
We are looking forward to Grandparents’/Special Persons’ Day next Friday, May 4th. We are seeking yummy donations of cookies (no peanuts, please) and helpers for the day. We have enclosed another flyer for signing up.

Academic Excellence

Our Sixth and Eighth Grade students participated in an online academic contest, sponsored by the American Scholastic Achievement League. This entertaining and challenging enrichment activity allowed them to demonstrate a variety of problem solving skills and knowledge in many academic areas. The task was to complete one hundred questions within an hour’s time.

Congratulations to the following students who were recognized as School Champions in Scholastic Challenge 2012:

Alexander Garcia – Grade 8

Riley Chasteen – Grade 6

Congratulations to the following students who were recognized for outstanding achievement in the Scholastic Challenge 2012:

Sixth Grade: Eighth Grade:

Joshua Bernaldo Carmina Martinez

Joseph Apkarian Daniel Mitchell

Ileana McDonald Ashleen Calhan

Kayla Danao Jeffrey Nguyen

Maya Daluz Angelica Cabato

Christian Lopez Angelo Belenson

Bernice Angeles Nina Daluz

Joseph Cysewski Matthew Reveles

Star Students

Congratulations to the following students who were recognized as “Star Students” for being LIFELONG LEARNERS this week:PreKindergarten: Joshua Lowe & Dylan Meeks-Crider

Kindergarten: Maria Oropeza

First Grade: Adan Arreola

Second Grade: Vince Moreno

Third Grade: Sebastian Velarde

Fourth Grade: Brian Phaophongsavath

Fifth Grade: Joey Li

Sixth Grade: Joshua Bernaldo

Seventh Grade: CJ Koch

Eighth Grade: Angelo Belenson

VP Corner with Ms. Cross

Spring Walk-A-Thon

This Friday, April 27th, the students will participate in our school Walk-a-Thon. They will walk at the Main Campus with their classes, and they must complete a minimum of 10 laps to meet their pledge requirement. Students will have free dress, and each class has its own color and cheers. Please observe the free dress guidelines. All proceeds will go towards upgrading our Academic books. Please remember to put sunscreen on your child, and they may wear hats. The top ten students with the most pledges will win a Movie with Mrs. Mullen at Bayfair Cinemark. Minimum pledge is $25, and all pledges are due on May 3rd.

We still need volunteers for this event, so please contact the school’s front office. Volunteers will be needed starting at 1:00pm. The flyer and pledge forms can be downloaded from our school website. Service hours will be given. If you cannot volunteer but would like service hours, we will accept donations of bottle water (i.e., 3 cases of 24 bottles will earn 1 service hour).

Drama Club’s First Play

Drama Club presents:

Character Matters and Munchkin Mediation, Conflict Resolution.

Our talented students will perform two plays in the Auditorium on Friday, May 4th at 7pm and Saturday, May 5th at 6:30pm. Come enjoy an evening with Cinderella, Jack and the Giant, the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy, and many other famous characters. Ticket prices are: $2/Children 3 and up and $5/Adults. Don’t miss the first production from St. Leander’s Drama Club! All proceeds will benefit future productions of our Drama Club. Tickets are available at the Front Office.

Spring Testing

As part of our accreditation and curriculum mapping work, we are administering a Spring round of testing (core subjects only) for Grades 3-8 next Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. These results will be used for planning purposes for the upcoming year.

2012 Parish Festival News

As we prepare for the 2012 Festival we are seeking volunteers to support the following areas:

Filipino Food Booth
Donations Coordinator
Game Booths

The Festival will be on September 15, 2012. If you are interested or know someone that is please contact Adriana Lemus at 510-207-2748 or

adrianalemus@netscape.net

Sincerely,

Principal

Weekly Newsletter: 4/18/12 – Volume 6, Issue 29

Christine2010 — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 21:13:55 +0000

Dear Families,

I hope you all enjoyed a restful Easter Break. We are back in full swing as we gear towards the end of the school year! On Monday, our Eighth Graders went to Sacramento to see their Social Studies lessons in action! In the afternoon, the rest of the school enjoyed a presentation about recycling from “Doug the Recycling Wizard” to help us celebrate “Earth Day” this week.

Congratulations to our Fourth/Fifth Grade Girls’ Basketball team who participated in a diocesan Easter tournament and brought home a plaque to add to our ever-growing collection! On Easter Sunday, we welcomed Cameron and Dean Taylor Chapman, Camillia Creese, and Julian Douglas to our Catholic family as our parish celebrated their baptisms.

Looking forward, please see important information about our upcoming events: Kids’ Night Out, Eighth Grade Bake Sale, first Drama Club performance, Grandparents’/Special Persons’ Day, and the Spring Walk-A-Thon which will support the upgrade of our Social Studies curricular materials for all grades.

There is still time to order your copy of The Gift Is In The Giving which was read to our students by the author at a special assembly before Easter. Mr. Fontenot will return to meet your child and personally autograph a copy of this special story.

Progress reports for the middle of the third and final trimester of the year are included in this newsletter. Please review carefully with your child and set some goals for a strong finish to the year. Wow! There is a lot going on at St. Leander School, but we’re excited with all the Spring happenings!

Star Students

Congratulations to the following students who were recognized as “Star Students” for being “LIFELONG LEARNERS” this week:PreKindergarten: Jeremiah ValenciaKindergarten: Arianna Jackson

First Grade: Abigail Sanchez

Second Grade: Camillia Creese

Third Grade: Sebastian Madrigal

Fourth Grade: Kyrah Bishop

Fifth Grade: Britney Salas

Sixth Grade: Riley Chasteen

Seventh Grade: Natalie Alldridge & Charles Lukan

Earth Day

Earth Day is this Friday the 20th, and we honored this important day with a kick-off eco-tainment performance from Doug the Recycling Wizard on Monday. He taught us about the 4 Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Rot/Compost, and what things can go in a blue (recycling) container and green (compost) container, all while he sang, juggled, and entertained us with characters and educational videos. Check out the photos from this fun assembly!

Spring Walk-A-Thon

Let’s promote healthy habits! Students will participate in a Walk-A-Thon with their classmates on Friday, April 27 after lunch time. The Top Ten students with the most pledges will win “Movie with Mrs. Mullen.” They must have at least $25.00 in pledges. All proceeds will go towards buying new Social Studies books.

We will need volunteers for this event, so please complete the bottom portion of your flyer and send it to the school office. Volunteers will be needed starting at 1:00pm. The minimum laps for each student to fulfill their pledge is 10. The flyer and pledge forms can be downloaded from our school website. Service hours will be given. If you cannot volunteer but would like service hours, we will accept donations of bottle water (i.e., 3 cases of 24 bottles will earn 1 service hour). Start collecting pledges today for a chance to be one of the winners!

Drama Club’s First Play

Drama Club presents:

Character Matters and Munchkin Mediation, Conflict Resolution.

Our talented students will perform two plays in the Auditorium on Friday, May 4th at 7pm and Saturday, May 5th at 6:30pm. Come enjoy an evening with Cinderella, Jack and the Giant, the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy, and many other characters. Ticket prices are: $2/Children 3 and up and $5/Adults. Don’t miss the first production from St. Leander’s Drama Club! You may get your tickets on Friday during the Drama Club class, and starting next week you can also buy tickets at the Front Office.

Photo/Video Release Form 2012-2013

The photo/video release form for the new school year was passed out during registration two weeks ago, so if you have not filled one out yet please do so immediately and turn it back in with your child to their classroom. The form can be found here.

Please understand that if you mark “Do Not Consent” that any academic or extracurricular accomplishments achieved by your child(ren) cannot be proudly shown through our school and to the outside media. Also, any photo or video of them with fellow classmates/teammates will be rendered unusable for school communication purposes. Thank you for your cooperation.

Sincerely,Principal

Spring Faith Family Walk-A-Thon on April 27, 2012

Christine2010 — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 17:52:20 +0000

Our students will participate in a Walk-A-Thon fundraiser with their Faith Family. All proceeds will go towards the purchase of new academic books. The Walk-A-Thon will be held on Friday, April 27th, during school hours. Pledges will be collected by May 3rd. Click here for more info on the event, and here for the Pledge Form and Tax Receipt.

Alumni HS Star Basketball Player like Jason Kidd

Christine2010 — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 21:16:05 +0000

St. Leander alumni, Gemey Givens ’08, is headed into his 2nd straight State Championship final at the Power Balance Pavillion in Sacramento on March 24th. Gemeny has displayed leadership not only on the court but also off the court, where he once gave an inspiring speech to our 2nd & 3rd Grade Boys’ Basketball team about teamwork and dedication. We are proud of his achievements as student-athlete, where he has maintained a 4.0 average while working hard on the court at St. Joseph Notre Dame High School, and we wish him and his team the very best in the Championship! For more of this exciting story please click here.

Weekly Newsletter: 3/21/12 – Volume 6, Issue 27

Christine2010 — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 15:13:56 +0000

Dear Families,

Our Lenten Stations of the Cross have been a special way to journey through the season. Every week, a different class has offered reflections on the stations, and Mr. Silva and Mrs. Young have provided music to enrich the experience. Our parish begins its Lenten mission series with the gifts of Mr. Mark Price who will preach at all the masses this weekend and present an entertaining, informative, and spiritually-enriching program to our students next Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday at 1:00 PM and evening presentations to the adults and young adults those days at 7:00 PM in the Church. You are encouraged to enrich your Lenten journey by attending these programs. Our students in Grades 3-8 will share the Sacrament of Reconciliation on Monday, April 2nd.

Our school will also welcome Mr. Chuck Fontenot, a published author, who will share his latest children’s book, The Gift Is In the Giving, with our school community next Monday. He will read his book and talk about the process of writing a book. We are eagerly anticipating this enriching experience.

VP Corner with Ms. Cross

Summer School is coming! St. Leander School will once again present our popular Summer School program from June 18th-July 20th. Please click here for the application form, and here for more information.

SLED Reminder: If you are picking up your child from the PreK/K SLED program, you must enter the building through the regular SLED door on the side yard on Carpentier and Davis Streets, not through the main school yard. The teachers cannot leave the children to open the door for you, so please help us out by walking around the building to the proper door.

Star Students

Congratulations to our Star Students who were recognized for being “Committed Christians”:

Pre-Kindergarten: Bella Wijangco

Kindergarten: Kyra Frogozo

Grade One: Yonatan Petros

Grade Two: Jacob Padilla

Grade Three: Colin Chasteen

Grade Four: Charles Li

Grade Five: Abel Getachew

Grade Six: Gabriel Cristobal

Grade Seven: Matthew Aseremo

Grade Seven: Brandon Acopio

Grade Eight: Anjelica Tinoco-Templeton

Due to a short week next week and Spring Break the following week, our next Star Student Assembly will be April 16th.

Financial Assistance for 2012-2013

PSAS (Private School Aid Service) forms in English and Spanish are available in the school office. If you are planning to apply for FACE, Basic, or St. Leander School Tuition Assistance, you must complete and submit this form. No assistance will be granted to families who do not submit the form on time. Families who seek assistance from St. Leander School must be in good standing with the school with their tuition and SLED accounts.

Photo/Video Release Form 2012-2013

Science Fair Participants

Six 8th graders participated in the Diocesan Science Fair held at St. Joseph Notre Dame in Alameda on February 25th and placed in second and third places. Angelica Cabato’s project of the probability of a ping-pong player’s ability to hit the ball based on predictability was chosen to move on to the Alameda County Science and Engineer Fair held at Chabot College in Hayward, CA this past week from March 20-22. We are proud of all our participants, and we wish Angelica the best!

Sincerely,

Principal