News Bulletin

February 19, 2008

Dear Parents and Families:

Student Recruitment for 2008-2009 School Year

It is time again for student recruitment for the upcoming school year. Please contact the office at your earliest convenience to receive an enrollment form if you have a son, daughter, or other family member who will be attending KIPP Bridge this coming school year in the 5th grade. Also, please inform friends and neighbors that KIPP Bridge is enrolling 5th graders for the 2008-2009 school year, and urge them to contact the school immediately. There will be an information session for new 5th grade families on February 26th, from 6:00 – 7:00.

Student Return Form

Enclosed in this envelope is a form stating whether or not your child will be returning to KIPP Bridge Charter School next year. This is very important information, as it helps the school better plan for 2008-2009 school year’s budget and staffing. Please complete the form and return it in the envelope by Thursday, February 21st. We greatly appreciate your cooperation in completing and returning the form.

Saturday School

Please mark your calendar – the next Saturday School is scheduled for Saturday, March 1st from 9:00am – 12:00pm.

No School on March 10th

On Monday, March 10th, there will be no school for students, as KIPP staff members will be attending professional development workshops.

7th Grade Writing Test and the CST

As part of the California Standards Test, the 7th grade students will be completing the writing portion of this exam on Tuesday, March 4. All other portions of the California Standards Test will be administered to all students during the weeks of April 21st and April 28th. It is essential that your child be at school on this day as there is no make-up days.

Practice California Standards Test (CST)

On March 5th and 6th all KIPP Bridge students will complete their second practice CST in Language Arts. On March 11th and 12th all KIPP Bridge students will complete their second practice CST in Math. We are excited to see how much the students have improved since their first set of practice CSTs. We will then use these results to continue preparing our students for the actual CST in May. We are confident that with desire, discipline and dedication, ALL of our students will demonstrate significant growth on the 2007-2008 CST.

Timeliness to School

Too many students are still arriving late to school. School starts promptly at 7:30am every day. All families should take into account traffic time on the freeways. A large part of academic success is arriving to school on time. All families need to make this a priority.

Pennies for Patients

Keep those pennies coming! On behalf of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Foundation, KIPP would like to invite you and your family to partner with our students in the battle against blood cancer. Pennies for Patients raise funds for local patient programs and blood cancer research. Your child’s classroom will have a white box that will hold the pennies from February 11th –February 29th. We will also sell “paper pennies” for $2 in the office. The top fundraising classroom at KIPP Bridge will receive a Pizza Party! There are also incredible prizes if we are a top fundraising school! So, give your child all your spare change and let’s make a difference in our community!

Sees Easter Candy Sale

From Monday, February 11th through Wednesday, February 27th, the 7th and 8th grade students will be selling Sees Easter Candy to raise money for high school scholarships and 8th grade graduation. All items cost $5 and will be available for pick up on Thursday, March 20th just in time for Easter Sunday. Please help your child sell these great gift items and support our 8th graders as they move on from KIPP to incredible high schools.

8th grade Washington, D.C. Trip

From May 27th- May 31st, our 8th graders will visit Washington, D.C. This will be our 3rd year participating in this educational excursion. As stated earlier in the school year, only 8th graders with a paycheck average of 80% or above will be eligible to attend this trip. Also, it was mentioned that because accommodations have to be booked a few months in advance, the cutoff date is a lot earlier than the 5th-7th grade end-of-year field trips. As a final reminder, the cutoff date for paycheck averages is Friday, March 21st. Please note that your child must be passing the 8th grade to attend this trip. Also, there is a $100 registration fee for this trip, which is due Tuesday, May 13th. Any family that wants to pay in advance is encouraged to do so. Please make checks payable to “KIPP Bridge”.

Contact information changes

Please remember to inform the office whenever there is any contact information changes for you or your child. It is important for us to have up-to-date contact and emergency contact information at all times. This includes address changes, home & cell phone number changes, work telephone number changes, or if your authorized pick-up people change. It is against school policy to release our students to anyone that is not on the contact information sheet. This is for the safety of your children, so please help us.

Volunteers for Black History Month

Thank you to all parents and community members for your participation in Black History Month. Some of you made presentations to our students about your career choice and others read a story. It was a wonderfully enlightening experience having so many visitors in classrooms impacting our children.

Black History Month Soul Food Potluck

The Black History month Assembly is scheduled for Wednesday 27, 2008. After the assembly students will participate in a soul food potluck. We are asking all parents to either donate $5 or a soul food dish. For every $5 donation you can earn 1 hour towards your parent volunteer requirements.

Parent Seminar

Ms. Toby Eastman will be hosting a seminar on March 1, 2008 during Saturday School from 9 to 12 providing discipline and support strategies for students at KIPP. This seminar is invitation only.

Team & Family Association

The next Team & Family Association will be held March 6, 2008 at 5:30 pm until 6:30 in the Team & Family room, above the fifth grade wing. Topics on the agenda include Cinco de Mayo, Diversity Celebration and teacher and student recruitment.

New Work Harder Be Nicer Policy

If students are required to attend Work Harder or Be Nicer detention a letter is sent home on Thursday night notifying parents. If an excuse is required, the parent will need to submit that excuse in writing and be prepared to attend a SST the following Monday morning before his/her student can return to class. If the parent is unable to attend the SST, the student will be sent home until the parent can meet with the administration of the school.

7/8th Grade High School Placement

Grades: Students and parents need to be on top of all missing work! Both Catholic and independent schools have asked for mid-trimester grades. Grades will be sent to the schools on Tuesday, February 19th. If you are concerned about your grade in a particular class, ASK THE TEACHER. Currently, there are many students with failing grades and missing assignments in one or more classes.

High School Placement Fundraising

PIZZA SALE on Wednesdays, at 3:30 outside the Administration Building (until further notice). Get your hot, cheesy, and yummy pizza! Don’t forget to bring your money on Wednesdays. (Thank you for your support, last week we raised $100!)

SNACK SALE on every Saturday during the basketball games from 9-1 pm. Come to support your 7/8th grade teammates and cheer them to victory! Donations of canned soda, bottled water, and small bags of chips are greatly appreciated!

Academic Word of the Week

Each week, students are learning a new academic vocabulary word. If students submit a sentence that uses the word correctly, they qualify for a weekly prize drawing. The word for the week of February 4th was insignificant.

The winning sentences were:

“The amount of allowance I get is insignificant.”

-Mildred Mata, 6th Grade

“Amy points out a lot of insignificant details in class.”

-Purafé Eastman, 5th Grade

“My little brother always cares about the most insignificant detail.”

-Lucero Rosales, 8th Grade

“The poster was insignificant because no one looked at it.”

-Abayomi Taylor, 7th Grade

“Boys used to be insignificant to me.”

-Ciarra Matthews, 8th Grade

“My old toys are insignificant to me now.”

-Shallei’o Luna, 6th Grade