Fall Festival and Red Ribbon Week

Our Fall Festival is now officially a tradition for Rivera. Last year the festival was a big success. Well, this year's festival was a HUGE success. The weather was perfect, the PTA had pre-planned where teacher booths were to be staged so the set-up went smoothly, and the crowd came! We estimate we had well over 1,000 people attend the festival. Teachers are busy planning on how they will spend the money their booth generated. Mr. Cash was the bravest teacher of all during the event. He took several hundred pies in the face to earn about $300 for his class. When asked if it was worth it, he replied with a grin, "My face is a bit sore, but I earned lots of money to spend on my class." Way to go, Mr. Cash! Next year we hope to have even more fun than we had this year. With the PTA Board we have this year, I'm confident that we will have a great Fall Festival next year!

Speaking of our PTA Board, they planned our Red Ribbon Week which was launched today with a kick-off assembly in our quad. We had three officers from the California Highway Patrol who came with their canine, Officer Rex, and put on quite a show! Officer Mike Ritter began the program by explaining to students how Red Ribbon Week became a national event. He shared with the students some of the responsibilities his job entails to keep our community safe. He also gave the students tips for having a "safe Halloween." Following his presentation, Officer Mike Blaine and his canine, Officer Rex, demonstrated how they find "bad people" and find drugs. Officer Robert Adelman posed as a "bad guy" while Rex chased him and locked him in a bite hold. It was quite impressive ~ and we were all glad that Officer Adelman was in a "bite suit" that prevented him from getting hurt. The assembly ended with a fly-over by the CHP helicopter who took a picture of all of our students and staff sitting in the quad in their red shirts spelling out the words RIVERA SAYS NO! We hope that the Press Enterprise will print our picture. If not, we will at least hang our picture in our school office for all to see! We certainly appreciate the time that our CHP officers gave to Rivera Elementary School and the staff and I are confident that their presentation had a positive impact on our students.

We are looking forward to seeing all of our parents during Parent Conferences on November 19 and 20.

It's Been a Long Time!!!!!

So many wonderful things are happening at Rivera that I have not had time to update my blog. Here are a few updates:

PTA: We have an awesome PTA board this year. We held our first PTA meeting on Tuesday, September 15 and had a great turn out. The PTA is planning many exciting events this year. We are just completing our first fundraiser which we hope brings in money to pay for field trips for all of our students. PTA has also initiated the Coyote Coffee Club that takes place every Monday Morning during our Rise and Shine assemblies (8:10 a.m.). We want to encourage our parents that bring their kids to school to join us for the assemblies and enjoy a cup of coffee with other Rivera parents.

Fall Festival:The PTA is sponsoring our Fall Festival which is scheduled for Friday, October 16 from 5:00-8:00 p.m. In addition to a Haunted Library (Yikes! It's scary!) we will have the following activities: Pie Toss; Pumpkin Bean Bag Toss, Fish Bowl Toss; Dog Walk; Fishing Game; Coin Toss, Jail; Face Painting; Toilet Paper Toss; Bottle Ring Toss; Jewelry Making; and Glow Stick Sales ~ and more to still be determined! All students participating will receive prizes provided by our PTA. We hope you all come out for an evening of family fun.

National Walk-to-School Day: Today, Rivera participated in National Walk-to-School Day. Due to the support from our PTA and staff, we had 343 students walk or bike to school. This is almost half of our students who normally are transported by cars. We were thrilled that Councilman Paul Davis was able to be here to greet our students and parents. We also had a big red fire truck from Station 9A here along with a crew of firefighters that made the event extra special. A noted benefit from this day was that we experienced far less congestion in our parking lot!!!

Reading Lions Assessments: October is the month for Reading Lions Assessments in all of our grade levels. I am confident that all of our students are well-prepared for these summative assessments that will reflect the learning that has occurred as a result of the rigorous standards-based instruction they have received in their classrooms. The reason I am confident that our students are well-prepared, is due to the collaborative planning that our grade level teams participate in on an ongoing basis. During planning sessions, teachers in grades 2-6 use the CST Released Questions, the California Blue Prints, and the California Standards to guide their instruction. They also look at last year's Reading Lions assessments to see if there are noticeable trends in student performance. Teacher in grades K-1, use previous Reading Lions assessments for the same purpose. All grade levels review student performance on last year's EnVision Math assessments as well.

Analyzing student data throughout the year keeps us focused on our AYP goals for all students and will help us in our quest to reach an API of 900! We appreciate your support in our efforts to provide an outstanding education for your children.

Look What We've Accomplished in 14 days!

We've had an outstanding and productive beginning of the 2009-10 school year. Here are a few notable events that we've accomplished in our first three weeks of school:

• First day of school
• Back-to-School Night
• Schedule changes for recess, lunch, and Grab and Go
• High Heat/Smoke From Fires (no recesses as a result!)
• Student Council officers installed

• School Site Council organized
• First ELAC Meeting
• RSP and Speech Classes Began
• Library open and serving students

With the extended effort from our parents as well as all of our 69 staff members (office staff, custodians, cafeteria staff, before school/noon supervisors, teachers, and site administrators) we have had an outstanding beginning of school! We appreciate the fact that you have entrusted your children to us for this school year.

We held a staff meeting last Wednesday and teachers spent time analyzing language arts and math data from the last three years. Looking closely at our trends, we set new goals for this year. We expect all of our subgroups to attain a minimum increase of 15% proficiency over last year's results. All teachers have identified their students by name and by need so that they can differentiate instruction for students who are experiencing achievement gaps as well as those needing to be challenged. At Rivera, every student counts!

We are looking forward to our first HOWL Awards Assembly on Monday, September 14. Our first Book Fair also begins next week. We have an awesome PTA this year and they have great plans for our school. They are launching a Capri Sun recycle campaign next week so please remind your children to put their empty Capri Sun pouches in the recycle container. Our first PTA meeting is next Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. in the Rivera Library and I encourage you to attend. The meetings run approximately one hour. You will learn a lot about the exciting plans our PTA has for our school.

Welcome to the 2009-10 School Year

The kids are back and all is well at Rivera! After many hours of preparation of interactive classrooms, analyzing data and preparing rigorous standards-based lessons, the staff at Rivera has kicked off the new year with a bang! I was able to visit each class both Monday and Tuesday and here's what I saw: teachers enthusiastically teaching students and setting goals with them, students highly engaged in learning, and a genuine sense of happiness on the part of the teachers and the students.

We began our year with some celebrations. Although the data released by the California Department of Education are only preliminary estimations, we are fairly confident that Rivera met our Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for all subgroups and showed gains in closing the gap between the subgroups. In addition, the preliminary information reflects that we raised our Academic Performance Index (API ). As is the case with most celebrations, we quickly realized that we continue to have work to do to increase the achievement level for each student at Rivera. So our work has begun again and the staff at Rivera are prepared for the challenge that the new year brings.

Mrs. Setzler, SDC teacher, received new "wiggle chairs" that were donated by a parent. They come from VS Furniture in Germany. They have been researched using body heat imaging to show increased oxygen to the brain and thus increased attention while learning! They're really cool! Kids can wiggle from side to side, front to back, and swivel. I could use one in my office!

Please plan to attend our Back to School Night this Thursday, August 27, from 6:00-7:30 p.m. You will have the opportunity to meet your child's teacher and listen to them present information regarding their goals for the school year. Their first presentation will be from 6:15-6:45. They will repeat the presentation from 7:00-7:30. This will allow parents who have more than one child at Rivera to attend more than one presentation.

Our PTA will begin our evening at 5:45 with a general meeting. Our outstanding PTA board has arranged for the following community members to be at our Back-to-School Night to share information about the services available to our Rivera families: Rivera PTA; RUSD Nutrition Services; Altura Credit Union; Orange Terrace Community Center; Orange Terrace Library; The Little Gym of Riverside; My Learning Studio; Boy Scouts; Girl Scouts; and the Woodcrest Pacers 4H Club. Each of these groups will have a table set up in the quad beginning at 5:45. You will have the opportunity to visit the various tables before and after the class presentations.

Please check my blog from time to time as I will update it as news occurs and time allows.

ELD Academy for 4th-6th Grade English Learners Ends ~ and Summer Vacation Begins!

We had another fantastic week for our English Learners. Mrs. Flores-Bertrand held the English Language Development Academy this week for 15 of our 4th-6th grade English Learners. She was assisted by two of our teachers; Mrs. LeeAnn Thomazin, 4th grade teacher, and Mrs. Beth Hollenhorst, 2nd grade teacher. This was a great week for our students and, like last week's academy, all students had perfect attendance for the week.

We had a few visitors stop by to observe how we run our ELD Academy. Mrs. Lari Nelson, Principal at Victoria Elementary School and her Title I Coach, Hans Kaufhold, visited for an hour and then met with Mrs. Flores-Bertrand to "pick her brain" about best practices she has found most effective with this group of learners.

This summer I have been inspired by the professional educators I have the privilege working with each day. During the past few weeks, I've had opportunities to meet with Earhart Cluster principals Russ Bouton, Jackii Hall, Randy Caudill, and Vivian Lee, to have reflective dialogue about the past year and the upcoming year. I also met briefly with Assistant Superintent Judi Paredes to share some of my goals for next year. Lari Nelson, principal at Victoria, and I have met to do some planning together. Since she and I have a long history of working together, it is nice for us to meet every once and awhile to bounce ideas off of each other.

Now it is time for some rest and relation and time to regain some balance in my life. As I head out for a few weeks of vacation, the first stop is Portland, Oregon, for a week of fun with my son and his wife and my precious 5-month old grandson. I will definitely be "stopping to smell the roses" at Portland's infamous Rose Garden ~ an awesome sight (and smell!) Then I will be spending a few weeks in Newport Beach which will be a nice relief from the heat of Riverside.

I will back in the office on August 10. I am looking forward to the RUSD Leadership Symposium on August 13-14. Dr. Rick Miller, our Superintendent, has provided the managers with some "homework" to complete prior to the symposium. Yes, even managers have homework! We are reading books, listening to podcasts, and viewing videos. I've found these "assignments" informative, inspirational, and refreshing.

I am excited about the upcoming school year and the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of our students. The Rivera community is fortunate to have such great students, parents, teachers, and support staff. Together, we will make it a great year for our kids!

Congratulations to Rivera's Students for Completing the ELD Academy!

We are so proud of our 14 English Learners who completed a week of Rivera's English Language Development (ELD) Academy! Each of these students attended three hours of school every day and received instruction in the areas of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Instruction was particularly focused on language development and reading comprehension. Thanks to Mrs. Flores-Bertrand for her careful attention to differentiating instruction for these first, second, and third grade students. We appreciate Mrs. Setzler and Mrs. Atwood for assisting Mrs. Flores-Bertrand this week. Also, a huge thanks to the parents who made sure that their children had perfect attendance this week!

Next week we will hold the ELD Academy for our 4th-6th grade English Learners. Stay tuned!

July 9 Update

Summer continues to bring opportunities for students to learn at Rivera. This week, Mrs. Adela Flores-Bertrand is teaching an English Language Development (ELD) Academy for 14 of our first through third grade English Learners. The students are excited about the opportunity to attend the academy which is evidenced by the fact that all 14 of them have been here every day!

Assisting Mrs. Flores-Bertrand with the academy are Keri Atwood, our Assistant Principal's Secretary, and Karen Setzler, our 1st/2nd grade Special Day Class teacher. Next week the Academy is being held for our 4th-6th grade English Learners. Mrs. Thomazin, a Rivera 4th grade teacher, will assist Mrs. Flores-Bertrand next week.

Mrs. Alicia Grissom, RUSD Program Specialist, spent the morning at Rivera gathering data for the Special Education Annual Report. It's always nice to see familiar faces on campus during the summer as it can get v-e-r-y- quiet around here at times! Not that I'm complaining! :)

Our custodians, DeShaun, Joe, and Gabe are busy deep-cleaning the entire school. In addition, RUSD painters are on campus this week re-painting all of our doors, ramps, and railings. Our students and staff can look forward to returning in August to a sparkling-clean school!