Valley View Newsletter: Catherine Glandon, Mural & More

The Mural Work Continues!  

If you are able to help with the finishing touches on Monday after school, please contact Ms. Hoeschen, who will be painting 2:30pm to 5:30pm.

Thank you to ALL who participated in this delightful art project so far!

Take a moment and watch the fantastic video made by our Valley View upper-grade music program. Smile Like It's A Holiday!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLJTsTREjeE 

We have only a few yearbooks left, (2012 & 2011 issues.) 

You can purchase them in the office, so hurry while supplies last!

Don't forget to look through the Lost-and-Found items!

Valley View T-Shirts will be sold on Monday and Tuesday before school, at year-end discounted prices: 2 for $20! It is a tradition for all the kids to wear their Valley View shirts for Tuesday's Family Field Day! 

FAMILY FIELD DAY This Tuesday!

The kids are excited for Field Day on Tuesday!

Field Day is an all-school activity day. Students work together in various activities which are designed to be challenging, fun, and to have students build on their teamwork skills. 

All students who participate in Field Day receive a medal so they can walk away with a feeling of accomplishment. A healthy lunch is provided for our students as we are also trying to promote healthy living.

Send your child to school in active-friendly clothes (including Valley View t-shirt and athletic shoes) and sunblock. Be sure they have a good breakfast and send them with a healthy snack.

If you haven't already, contact Mr. G atbigdave32@gmail.com to volunteer to help with the big day.  

On Thursday, June 7, Valley View's campus was transformed into an obstacle course for the Victory Lap. Kids in all grades got a chance to break through the pool-noodle wall, duck under the parachute, dance through the disco cabana, slalom the bench-hurdles and lunch tables, crawl through the spider web, and hop through the hula-hoop pathway. (See more photos here.)

1st-grade mom Lucie Murray and 4th grade mom Kelly Cole headed up the event, with the help of Coach S, which took place during the kids' regularly scheduled PE class. Some students ran and others walked the two laps around campus while volunteer-parents cheered and misted them with water.

After all the laps were completed, the kids moved over to the library to sign their names in chalk on the black-top. It was there that they heard about how the Victory Lap was meant to help celebrate the school, the library, the teachers, and the students. "We want to make Valley View the best school ever and your signature on the blacktop shows your pledge to support your school", said Lucie.

In addition, to many fun obstacles, the Walk of Fame was a central part of the Victory Lap. Stars with the names of sponsors who contributed to Valley View were hung on the fence by the playground apparatus. Each star represents a donation raised by a student. In all, we have raised over $7,100 from the Victory Lap thanks to the many students who fundraised for our school.

The top fundraisers were:

FIRST PLACE - Scarlett Pinkey

SECOND PLACE - Robert Petersavage 

THIRD PLACE - Delilah Murray

These three kids raised a combined total of $1,500, and each one personally raised their own money to support Valley View! One of these kids made a lemonade stand, one went door-to-door, and one went through their entire family one-by-one! GREAT WORK! They will be recognized at the Sno-Cone party, for all those who turned in stars, on Wednesday, June 13 after school. If your child turned in star money, please check his/her backpack for a sno-cone ticket next week. 

Enormous thank-you's to Lucie and Kelly, Coach S, all the parent volunteers (too many to name), Ms Kim, and Milton. Stars will remain up until the middle of next week. We encourage you to enjoy this colorful display of support and take photos of your child's stars. Next Friday you may take them home to give to your donors or keep as a memento.

Another Resounding Success!

Amazing! That's what anyone who saw either of the two performances of the Valley View Talent Show said this year. It was incredible that nearly one out of every four students in the entire school participated and showed their enthusiastic skills on stage - not only dancing and singing, but martial arts, magic, cheering, original poetry, piano playing and much more. The show was child-focused, with acts originated by children from every grade.  Their show was entertaining, fast-moving, and joyful too!

The parent team of Caroline Pinkey, Kelly Cole, James George and our librarian Carole Cain helped the children put on the show. Fourth grader Joe Roberts was the student stage manager, working with the essential Stacy Halbach and Kathy Weiss Squires.  Dear friends (who don't even have children at VV) offered enormous help too, with editor extraordinaire David Harris crafting the crucial playlist, the talented Toma Jelonek decorating the stage gorgeously and Alison Connell pulling together a beautiful program. 

It takes a happy army to put on a show of this scale, and there was a great cadre of cheerful volunteers, to which we offer any enormous thank you!   Parents Shawn-Holly Cookson, Kiersten Warren, Terry Maloy, Tina Zachariassen, Donald Zappala and Siobhan DiNardo were essential to the smooth sailing of show day, handling 50+ performers with ease.  Parents Ron Baldwin, Amber Craine, Catherine Glandon, Taylor Heredia, Valerie Hills, Anita Lyon, Annica McCrudden, Ian McCrudden, Michael Pinkey, Bryn Roos, Solange Wills, Stephanie Keys and Cas Hyman all had crucial roles to play, which they did, beautifully. Ms. Kim offered encouragement and support every step of the way, as did her teachers and staff.

Check out a short video and series of photos onStudioCity.Patch.com here, and you can add your own photos, too.

If you need some extra help!  
Valley View's former principal, Harold Klein, isn't taking retirement very well. He says he would love to work again with children, and will help with tutoring, special needs issues or assessing your child's needs (see story here). He makes house calls. Contact him at hxk5398@gmail.com or call (310) 277-7220.
Also, you may not know that Mrs. Klein (Renny Darling) is a popular cookbook author. For information about her latest book, and more about her CLICK HERE!

YMCA Summer Day Camp

June 25, 2012 - August 10, 2012

Hours are 7 am - 6 pm

Grades K - 4

$160 per week

Toluca Lake Elementary, 4840 Cahuenga Blvd, N. Hollywood

Carpenter Elementary, 3903 Carpenter Ave, Studio City

www.ymcala.org/east-valley/classes/summer-day-camp

Destination Science Camp

http://destinationscience.org/   

They have many different locations.  The closest is at:

St. Michael & All Angels Church
3650 Coldwater Canyon Avenue, Studio City, CA 91604

Ages: Entering K through entering 6th grade next fall

Full Days: 9-3:30 with extended care 8-5:30

Half Days: 9-12

North Weddington Park CAMP COOL KIDS!

10844 Acama Dr, Studio City 91602

June 25 to August 10

For ages 6-12. Activity hours: 9am-4pm, with extended care hours 7:30am-6pm

4-5 Days per week: $140/week or $150/week extended or

3 Days per week (M/W/F only): $115/week

Registration fee: $25, plus camp t-shirts $10 each (required for field trips)

Weekly field trips such as Universal Studios, Magic Mountain, Knott's Berry Farm, Mountasia, and many more! Weekly cool themes, Daily nutritious snacks and Plenty of FUN!

Cool Camp Kids is based on fun, fitness, and friendship and is designed to offer age-appropriate activities through traditional and non-traditional sports, old and new games, in an environment that encourages participation but also keeps children active and provides opportunities to learn important social skills and values.

For more information, drop by the park office or call 818-506-1467.

Kallpachay Summer Day Camp
www.kpysummercamp.com
Miriam Epstein, 323-309-8420, kpycamp@gmail.com

This camp is unique in that it is a small, homegrown start up with lots of heart, and the only Spanish language immersion program in the area for five to ten year olds.  Summer is a terrific time to quench the thirst that parents have for their child to experience something new and different while gaining skills that will last a lifetime.  We offer Spanish language instruction as a course of engaging in the activities that all kids love.  Better yet we will have options for continuing the progress during the school year as afterschool programs.  Add to this the option (lowest tutoring rates in the area) for group or individual tutoring in English Lang Art and Math in the relaxed comfortable environment of our camp and you have got the perfect mix for the summer doldrums.  So the price is right (only $250 for M-F, 9-4pm) and the time is now. 

DK Dance Factory

5505 Laurel Canyon Blvd, North Hollywood 91607

www.dkdancefactory.com

Daiana Koren 818-980-4635

Sign up your children for our "BROADWAY STAR DANCE CAMP" July 9th-August 3rd.

Space is Limited so sign up today! Great for Girls & Boys ages 5-10yrs! $65/day or $285/Week

Dance classes include Jazz, Musical Theatre, Tap, end of camp SHOWCASE and a field trip!

CATHERINE GLANDON 

My daughter has been at Valley View for three years. We came here for first grade, and if I had known how cool the school was we would have been here for kindergarten. The first year I was here, Mike Symanski took me under his wing and that's how I got involved in the PTA. I am now in charge of hospitality for the PTA, and my favorite thing about that job is getting to know all the parents, all the kids and being the "Mama of the school."

Q1: What was your favorite childhood food?CG: Grilled cheese sandwiches. And they still are my comfort food. When I'm upset, I make a toasted grilled cheese in the oven, not on the stove, but in the oven and it makes me feel all better.   Q2: What are your hobbies?CG: I read like crazy. I probably go through a book a day. I love my gardening, and I love collecting, I'm a crazy collector. I collect vintage spice tins, old coke crates, Disney figurines, crystals, and rocks. In my household everyone of us are collectors in some ways.
Q3: What are your hidden talents?CG: I can still put my legs over my head. And I keep that hidden!Q4: If you could have dinner with five historical figures, who would you choose?CG: Shakespeare, I would love to talk to him about "Taming of the Shrew," Joan of Arc, Amelia Earhart, Jack the Ripper, just so I could figure out who he was, and Bruce Lee. He was not just about martial arts, Bruce Lee was a philosopher, too. He had such a wonderful view of life and how you should be as a person. He wrote proverbs that were so amazing, for example, "I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times."Q5: What is something you believed as a child that you wished you still believed in now?CG: Fairies. And I still do believe in fairies, but I wish I was lucky enough to believe in them as much as my daughter does right now.