GOLDEN HILLS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 20215 Park Street Tehachapi CA 93561 661.822.2180 http://www.teh.k12.ca.us/
Dear Parents and Guardians, The holidays seemed to approach so quickly this year. We have just a few weeks before celebration time is here. Most of us will be looking to buy goodies for our little ones. As educators we are always looking for things to help students in their education. Of course, our all-time favorite gifts are books. For our younger students some of our great books include Where the Wild Things Are, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and Oh, The Places You’ll Go. For our older readers, we might suggest Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Extra Credit, and Bridge to Terabithia. LeapFrog has a great reading and writing system for our beginning readers. Don’t forget to pick up some board games. These games teach not only colors (Candy Land) and counting (Connect Four), but social skills such has taking turns and learning how to be a good winner and loser. We know that our older students are longing for those expensive electrical toys, most of them starting with the letter I...iPad, iPhone, iPods, etc. We also know that the video games are big with many of our students as well. While these items can be quite beneficial for a child's academic growth, we
Heather Richter, Principal
[email protected]
December Newsletter
as parents must be diligent in the use of these items. These items have some advantages such as stress relief, entertainment, hand-eye coordination and learning to make decisions on games that require strategies. making. And as a parent, I can honestly attest to the advantage of my kiddos being entertained by video game play while I am making dinner. But there also some disadvantages. They may be losing important time in social activities, they may shirk responsibilities such as home work and chores, they may not get adequate sleep if they stay up late or sneak a video game play after bedtime. Children may have difficulty coping with boredom/downtime, they may also become conditioned to expect immediate results. And of greatest concern is that violent video games may desensitize children to violence and increase aggression in your child. The most important thing to consider….all things in moderation!! Some hints: Electronics should be a privilege . • They should earn time. For example, an hour of chores/ responsibilities for an hour of game time. • You should always know what they are doing on these devices. • And parents should always maintain control. Nothing is private and passwords are unacceptable.
JOG A THON Info We are thrilled to announce that our school brought in over $16,000 in Jog-a-thon pledges. After purchasing gifts for participates, we were able to deposit close to $12,000. We appreciate all your support and help with this great fundraiser. We were able to give out our prizes on Friday, Nov 16th. We had some top winners: Kaden Rodden and Kenneth Rogers earned the $200 awards and were able to take their families to a Condor Hockey game. We had seven bike winners who brought in over $250: Dylan Collins, Hayden Michael , Rodney Michael, Ashton Geddes, Sara Heier, Thomas Nichols and Aaron Christopherson. We offered a brand new Kindle Fire to the students who brought in over $500. Our winners were Emily Ecklind and Matthew Benton. Matthew Benton brought in $1202.55 and it was his third year as a top earner. Our cafeteria will be named “Benton Hall” for this school year as a thank you for all his hard work. The class that raised the most money was Mrs. Butler’s class with $2640.55. Thank you again for all your work! SCHOOL SITE COUNCIL DATES ● December 20 ● January 17 ● February 21 ● March 21 ● April 18 ● May 16
We have many activities happening around our school. Be sure to check out what we are doing on our campus! • Student Council is sponsoring a coat drive. If you have any older coats at home that your students have out grown, please send them in. We will wash and get to a family in need. • Student Council is sponsoring a coin drive to help with the needs of the victims of Hurricane Sandy. All monies will be given to the Red Cross. • We always collect canned food in December. If you have a few extra to spare, please send it in. Mr. Woods collects them and gets them to a local organization that helps local families • Robotics Meeting on Dec 11 I continue to have an open door policy and hope to discuss any concerns or questions you may have. I wish you a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, and a very exciting new year. We have great things planned and are thrilled with the learning that will take place in 2013!
PTO Meeting Dates ● December 10 ● January 7 ● February 11 ● March 11 ● April 8 ● May 13
Calendar of Events 12-10 PTO Meeting 12-13 Student Council Meeting 12-20 School Site Council Meeting Student Store Open 12-21 End of 2nd Quarter 12-21 Half day before holiday 12-24 through 1-4 Christmas Break
I would like invite you to follow GHES on FaceBook by “liking” our page. We will post events, announce minimum days and holidays, and celebrate our students. http://www.facebook.com/ GoldenhillsElementaryschool
1-7 Back to School 1-9 Spelling Bee @ school 1-10 Student Council Meeting 1-11 Report Cards go home 1-21 No School– MLK Holiday
We want to thank Don Morrison from our local Albertsons for donating the turkeys to our turkey trot winners. We also want to thank Savemart for helping our Kindergarten have their personal pumpkin patch here at our school.
Spotlight on Golden Hills Staff Each month I will be shining the spotlight on two of our staff members. This month I have chosen Mrs. Linda Smith, and Mrs. Janet Liebengood. Mrs. Linda Smith is one of our dedicated Kindergarten teachers. She started teaching in 1975 in Bishop, CA. She was the drama director and even had the opportunity to take her students to New York to see Topol on Broadway. She taught at several Christian schools and came to Golden Hills in 1995. She has married to her husband, Bill, for 38 years. He taught for TUSD for 24 years. They have 6 children and all graduated from THS. They have 5 grandchildren with one more coming in March. Her passion is teaching the arts. She wants to ensure that Kindergarten remains a “child’s garden as they begin building the foundation for all their future learning. We are thrilled to watch her instill a love and excitement for learning to our young precious minds.
Our school wouldn’t be as effective without the help of our instructional aides. Mrs. Janet Liebengood is a huge asset to our school. She has worked for TUSD for 16 years and ALL of these have been at Golden Hills. She has worked as a playground supervisor, kinder aide, reading aide, day care aide and crossing guard. She has worked the last five years as a special educational aide for Mr. Devine. Her passion is watching the kids learn to read. She moved to Tehachapi 24 years ago with her husband Jack. They recently celebrated 35 years of marriage. They have four children who all attended TUSD schools and graduated from THS. She is a proud grandma to four grandsons, one of which attends Golden Hills.
