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From our June issue
Lexington School
K. Erdosh
Lexington School offers longtime teacher, Sally Bailey, our heartfelt best wishes as she begins her much-deserved retirement. Sally has been a source of inspiration and knowledge at Lexington School since 1985. Sally has been a dedicated professional serving students with all her heart and energy. Her colleagues will miss her sense of humor, quick wit, and ability to help all children succeed. Sally’s colleagues have a tremendous amount of respect for her knowledge of children, learning, and how to help students achieve their highest potential. Students in her classes have consistently shown the highest level of enthusiasm for learning and for the International Baccalaureate program. Sally will be greatly missed at Lexington School.
Nancy Haworth says, “It has been my pleasure to work with Sally for the past twenty-one years. Sally is the voice of reason. One of our past parents thought that she was so cute that he started calling her Mrs. Babeoly. I will miss her dearly.”
Nineteen students from Lexington were among 150,000 worldwide to participate in this year’s Math Olympiad program. Under the supervision and coaching of Karen Brodine, they were recognized with certificates for their enthusiastic participation in a series of five monthly contests and weekly practice sessions. Five “mathletes” won national awards for excellence within Division E for grades 4 to 6: Tay Brodine, Royce Fisher, Cameron Wehr, Sarah Bahsoun, and Emma Hanck. Tay Brodine, Royce Fisher, and Cameron Wehr also won a trophy for earning the highest individual score of the team.
Thank you to those who helped or attended our annual Day on the Green. Because of your generosity, it was a wonderful success. The funds raised will support the activities and programs of our Home and School Club and school community.
The Lexington fifth-grade exhibition was held on Tuesday, May 25. The International Baccalaureate Program requires fifth-grade students to engage in an in-depth, collaborative inquiry at the completion of their elementary schooling.Working in groups, the students researched water-related topics such as filtering of water, government control, effects of global warming, ocean pollution, droughts, floods, dams, conservation, and deaths and illness related to unsanitary water. Students created a slide show, completed an action plan, and participated in teaching others about the importance of clean water.
Congratulations to the Class of 2010.
Diego Barragan, Tay Brodine, Savean Brugger, Spencer Chaclan Bates, Shea Filardo, Marlena Fisher, Royce Fisher, Matthew Hanna, Carmen Harris, Abbi Heumann, Ally Hobson, John Holland, Kianna Kabba, Danyyil Kamyshenko, Richard Kennedy, Ben Lewis, Solomon Marcus, Carleen Markey, James Peters, Niels Pilot Darier Baziere, Keynan Quigley, Josh Ricksecker, Ari Schreiman, Christine Vargas, and Paige Parentice
From our April issue
Lexington News
K. Erdosh
This winter, students received five weeks of art education through the Artist-in the-Classroom program. This program teaches art concepts, including discussion, observation, and student self-critique to students from kindergarten through fifth grade. The program is funded by the Los Gatos Education Foundation, the generous support of our LGUSD parents, and the community.
Day on the Green, our annual Home-and-School-Club family fundraiser, will be held on Sunday, May 16, from 2 to 6 p.m. While loads of fun for the entire community, the funds generated provide critical financial support for our Spanish and IB programs.
Applause for “The Case of the Character.” What a show. Once again, our very own librarian, the multi-talented Barbara Lougée, wrote, produced, and directed a wonderfully entertaining play, with a brilliant cast of 47 gifted actors from grades first through fifth. Congratulations to the entire cast and crew and a heartfelt thank you to Barbara for her creativity and hard work.
Student-led conferences held in March gave students the opportunity to reflect on the knowledge and skills they gained during the past year, and share their reflections with their parents. Parents are asked to listen to their children as they set their goals for the final trimester of the school year. A student-led conference is one type of reporting process encouraged in an IB World School. By spending 45 to 60 minutes listening to children share their learning during student–led conferences, parents gain valuable insights into their child’s strengths and weaknesses.
Life Lab and Day On The Green
Jenny Whitman and Alex Sauerwein
Due to budget cuts, the Life-Lab program was discontinued last year. This vital program helped children develop a hands-on, living- garden laboratory where they could learn the science of plants, nutrition, nature, organic gardening, life cycles, and decomposition.
Fortunately, the teachers, parents, and children of Lexington School are now restoring the Life-Lab.
Join us on May 16 for our fundraiser, Day-On The Green. Vegetable seedlings planted by the students, native plants, and student-created crafts will be available for purchase. Proceeds will support the Life-Lab and other vital programs.
A special thanks for helping us renovate the garden area go to Rick Barrier from Green Leaf Landscaping (rbarriere3@gmail.com), Rebecca Schoenenberger from California Nativescape (www.calnativescapes.com), and The Girls On The Run from Lexington School.
From our March issue
Lexington News
Angelé Price
Shamrock Shuffle. Mark your calendars and get your running shoes. It’s Lexington’s Shamrock Shuffle jog-a-thon on Friday, March 19. You will want to get the traditional tie-dye T-shirts for sale designed by one of our students and help by making a pledge to one or more Lexington runners. Join us and cheer on these wonderful kids.
Registration. Visit the school office to pick up registration forms for kindergarten and new students, or call 408-335-2150.
Spanish at Lexington (submitted by Alison Buchter). Children at Lexington school have been learning Spanish. To celebrate the winter vacaciones, second, third, and fourth grades decorated and broke papier mâché pinatas. They also learned about sports and activities that we can do in the winter, invierno. For example, Yo puedo esquiar means I can ski.
Fifth-graders wrote and performed skits in Spanish about immigration to America as part of their International Baccalaureate unit on migration. Fourth-graders made posters and performed skits about protecting natural resources. Kinder and first-graders talked about family, patterns, numbers, weather, and feelings.
Lexington Construction. Plans are under way to prepare a temporary location for Lexington students while a new school is being built during the 2011-2012 school year. Preliminary plans are for Lexington School to operate on the Fisher Middle School campus. Being centrally located with a significant amount of playground space for additional classrooms and play areas, Fisher Middle School is an ideal location for Lexington’s students. Lexington School will need classrooms for instruction and adequate space for the administration, library, and daycare facilities.
From our February issue
Lexington School
A Play, Good Works, and a Bazaar
Angelé Price
Don’t miss the opportunity to see Lexington Elementary’s annual play. More than forty children perform in The Case of the Character Chaos. In this play, books come to life in the library while others try to get them back where they belong. Performances are Wednesday, February 10, and Thursday, February 11 at 7 p.m. at the school.
Lexington Students Do Good Things
In times of need, it is refreshing to know that young students are reaching out to make a difference. Lexington’s International Baccalaureate Program supports the notion that we are a globally interconnected society. Recently, some of the students have started outreach projects. Kandy Motoza’s third- graders made beautiful laminated placemats and donated them to a local shelter. Third-graders Ellis Price and Desiree Hernandez set up a donation box and collected blankets and towels for animal shelters, a project that they developed on their own. Fourth-grader Emma Hanck was chosen to lead the Pledge of Allegiance at a Los Gatos city council meeting. Grace Marcus has set up a Pennies for Peace shop in her house. She sells her toys to raise money for the Pennies for Peace program that Vanessa Halliday’s first grade class started.
Reported by Kisa Harris, five fifth-grade girls (Carmen Harris, Abby Heumann, Carleen Markey, Marlena Fisher, and Ally Hobson) decided to make dog and cat blankets and toys for pets adopted over the holidays. They also made “banana training treats” to deliver to the pets at the Santa Cruz Animal Services Center. They made more than 75 custom fringe-fleece blankets and fleece-braided toys, and then wrapped each one with a special holiday message. Trisha from Santa Cruz Animal Services greeted the girls and gave them a tour. The girls said this project was rewarding because they were helping animals. They used several of the IB profiles as they reflected on this project: caring, empathy, respect, curiosity, and cooperation.
Lexington’s Holiday Bazaar was a huge success even though it was a last-minute idea. The event raised $1500 with such great items as holiday florals donated by Chrystal Johnson and a percentage of sales from jewelry vendors. Lucky bidders bought their own reserved parking space for drop-off times. Thanks for your generous donations.
From our January issue
Dear Lexington Community:
We are pleased to bring you an update on our progress toward a new campus for our students at Lexington Elementary School. The governing board and the site committee, composed of teachers, parents, district staff, architects, and a community representative, have been busy over the past several months deliberating and developing a final program and budget for the Lexington campus.
The board of trustees has confirmed a program and a final budget for the Lexington project. The board accepted the final recommendation of the site committee in response to the board’s requests.
The district will require financing for the project through a possible bond measure. The program will include over 10,000 square feet of additional space, including a doubling of the multi-purpose building and a greatly expanded library. The district plans to add three new classrooms for teaching to accommodate additional enrollment, for a total of eleven. All classrooms at the school will be built to the new standard of 1,080 square feet to provide an optimal teaching and learning environment for the school’s International Baccalaureate program.
District staff and the newly appointed construction manager, Rick Kramer of Kramer Project Management Company, are now developing detailed plans. The construction will be a combination of custom and prefabricated buildings, and the district is currently evaluating manufacturers of the prefabricated structures. In addition to the new buildings, the district is cevaluating its ability to upgrade water service to the school so that both day-to-day needs and fire-suppression requirements will be met by upgraded service from San Jose Water Company.
The board and the superintendent appreciate the community’s involvement in the development process and look forward to future community meetings to provide details as the project moves forward.
Feel free to provide input or ask questions by emailing Richard Whitmore, Superintendent, at rwhitmore@lgusd.k12.ca.us, or David Freed, Principal, at dfreed@lgusd.k12.ca.us.
Richard Whitmore
Superintendent
Los Gatos Union School District
From our December issue
Lexington News
Angelé Price
Bazaar, Feasting, Grant, and
Project Cornerstone
Lexington’s Holiday Bazaar will feature vendors selling jewelry, crafts, and other gifts. Vintage and gently used items will also be available on December 4.
Honoring a long-time Lexington tradition, students celebrated and gave thanks at a large feast prepared by the classes. Each classroom prepared a portion of the meal large enough to serve the school and teachers. A special thanks to Geri Markey and Katherine Wooley for organizing the event.
Lexington received a $1000 check from the Los Gatos Wells Fargo Foundation. The funds will be spent on IB professional development for teachers and for new technology.
Project Cornerstone is a county-wide program aimed at connecting the community with school children. A new component of Project Cornerstone is the ABC volunteer program for parents. Once a month ABC volunteers read stories and lead discussions in the classrooms about social skills designed to encourage student-to-student respect and develop values such as honesty, caring, responsibility, and friendship.
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