School Highlights: Lobster Boil, Jump Rope and a Career Faire

The following is a roundup of the highlights from the school newsletters throughout San Bruno.

Here’s the latest from this week’s principal’s newsletter at . 

Principal’s Message: Please attend School Beautification this Saturday, Mar. 3, from 9 a.m.-noon.  If you cannot attend, please consider sending a six-pack of flowers. Please come even if you can help for only one hour. There will be doughnuts! —Fran Dunleavy

Principals for a Day: Two students will be principals for the day at school on March 9. They have declared that everyone will be Irish! So wear your green! 

Parents’ Night Out: The school will be having a lobster boil fundraiser on March 24 from 6-11:30 p.m. at the senior center. Tickets are $45 until March 5. Afterward, they are $50. 

Here’s the latest from this week’s principal’s newsletter at . 

Teacher and Staff Luncheons: Throughout the school year, our parents show their appreciation and surprise our teachers and staff with a luncheon. Our Valentine’s Day-themed luncheon for February was spectacular! Thank you to all who participated. It was greatly appreciated. 

Jump Rope for the Heart: On Monday, March 6, Katie Martin of the American Heart Association will speak to our students about Portola’s 30^th year of participation in Jump Rope for the Heart, our annual fundraiser to fight heart disease and stroke, promote a healthy lifestyle and reduce childhood obesity.

Since 1983, we’ve raised over $87,000 for the Heart Association’s efforts to address these issues. Please encourage your child to be part of this year’s event and jump “for the health of it” on Friday, April 6, the day of this year’s jump.

Here’s how you can help. On March 6, your child will receive a permission form and a sponsor form for this year’s jump. Fill out and return the permission form to Mr. Casey, start your child training for the jump, and begin collecting pledges to support the heart association’s programs. We would also welcome donations of oranges for our jumpers.

Finally, why not consider joining us on April 6? We begin jumping at 8:30 a.m. 

Portola’s Annual Spring Dinner and Fundraiser: SAVE THE DATE! The Portola PTA is again hosting our annual spring dinner and fundraising event on Friday, May 11 from 6-9 p.m. This is an evening of great food, entertainment and a chance to win some raffle prizes. Please send your donations to the school's office by May 3.  Volunteers are also needed. Please contact our event coordinators if you are interested. Thank you for your support and generosity!! 

PTA Meetings: Meetings our held the third Thursday of every month. Hang out with Portola parents and stay informed of school news. This month we will hold our meeting on the fourth Wednesday of the month (March 22). 

Park and Rec Kickball Registration: The Park and Rec Department is offering a kickball league this spring. If your child is interested in participating, please be on the look out for the registration form that will soon be posted on-line or on the counter top in the front office. 

Here’s the latest from this week’s principal’s newsletter at . 

Principal's Message: Thank you to the partial funding from the PTA for our schoolwide music classes. We will be able to have classes until the end of the year. If you  know of any organization or person who would like to help fund this great program for next year, please have them contact me. I will gladly work with them. Again thank you for helping our students at Rollingwood. —Schrene Whitmore

Outdoor Education: March 5 kicks off Outdoor Education week. It is finally here.  We wish the students a great and memorable time. 

MyNutriKids.com: We want to remind everyone that you are able to view your student’s school meal account online at no cost. Mynutrikids.com is an easy way to find out your students account balance, pay account online, view transactions and have reminders sent to your email if your students balance is getting low. Signing up is fast and easy. Please go to Mynutrikids.com to create an account! If you have any questions please contact Alisia Muñoz, the school district’s food service supervisor at 650-624-3127. 

Founder’s Day: Founder’s Day was a huge success. A special thank you to the fourth and kindergarten students and their teachers. Congratulations to all the Honorary Service Award recipients, new and former.

Here’s the latest from 's monthly newsletter, "Capuchino Cares." 

Principal Matters: This may shock you, but we are three months away from concluding the 2011-12 school year. With this in mind, I ask that parents and staff continue encourage students to finish strong. In the spring time, there is a tendency for “senioritis” to kick in whether one is a senior or not, so make sure students hit the books and commit to the academic habits that have produced success up unto this point.  

The next progress report (12-week grades) ends March 30, so students have four weeks to improve or maintain grades.

Next, the survey results are in and our graduation ceremony will be held at our stadium June 1st at noon. (Details forthcoming).

Finally, the time is here and our WASC Visiting Committee has been assembled and we will host this team from March 4-7. It is with great pride that I represent this school and the work we did to self assess our strengths and areas of improvements. It was through strong leadership in Sarah Krummel, our WASC coordinator, and teacher leadership that we produced a living document to guide the work we do as a school for the next six years.  

I also take this opportunity to invite you to the WASC Findings presentation happening March 7 at 2:45pm in our cafeteria. During this time we will hear what the WASC team recommends and we will get a sense of our accreditation status. —Shamar Shanks

Career Faire: Our Career Faire is coming Wednesday, March 21, and we are happy to host over 40 different businesses and career representatives! Our school goal embodies the importance of inspiring students to go into careers that they are prepared for; understanding the necessary qualifications to attain their relative goals. All students will participate, so  followup and encourage regular career exploration both at home and school.

Open House: Please join us for Open House on Thursday, March 15, from 6-8 p.m. We have several events planned on this evening and it’s a great opportunity to talk your child’s teacher about his or her progress in school. We will start off the evening with a spaghetti dinner from 5-6 p.m. in the cafeteria sponsored by ASB, student leadership. Parents of English Learners are encouraged to attend the ELAC parent meeting from 6-6:30 p.m. in Room P-27 to discuss services for EL students (Junta de ELAC para padres de estudiantes aprendices de Ingles.). 

A special addition to Open House this year is a presentation from 6:30-7:15 p.m. in the cafeteria on anti-bullying, facilitated by Anne Brownell, founder of the Amanda Network and mother of a teen who attempted suicide because of bullying in school. She will share her personal story and discuss ways in which parents can help their children deal with being bullied at school. 

Teacher Recognition: This month we would like to recognize several Capuchino teachers who are finding innovative ways to use technology:

Dan Salvemini has his GeoStats students using “The Geometer's Sketchpad” to make shapes and design buildings based on the principles they have learned in GeoStats. The Geometer's Sketchpad gives students a tangible, visual way to learn math and is similar to a computer aided drafting program.

Bill Bowe has been using CK-12, which is an online provider of free state-adopted textbooks. Bill has been using the website to create flexbooks for his math class. A flexbook is a textbook that the teacher can edit. The flexbook contains only the material that students will need in the class, and, most importantly, Bill has edited the flexbook to include definitions of terms students might find difficult.

The English department has been using Google sites to build a living English curriculum that is aligned to the IB standards. The department has identified the key standards students need to master for success in IB and what that looks like in each course. The Google site is being filled with the resources teachers need to implement the curriculum and will be updated each year.

If you would like your school's weekly or monthly newsletter included in San Bruno Patch's school highlights, email martin@patch.com.

For more news about San Bruno, follow San Bruno Patch on Twitter and "like" us on Facebook. Got Patch in your inbox? Sign up for our newsletter.