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.