Dear SMASH Families, We Have Only Received One Response So Far From

smash@smmusd.org February 28, 2020

Dear SMASH Families,

We have only received one response so far from this message that was originally sent 2.7.20 so I am resending in case any parent wants to give Site Council input:

The District is supporting all school sites in developing an action plan for enhancing parent engagement that builds from who is already feeling connected and activated on our sites as well as trying new ways to connect with any parent who doesn’t feel informed or involved. We will include a family engagement plan and goal as part of our next Site Council school plan.

As part of this process, at Site Council last year, we drafted a SMASH vision statement for family engagement. Then we sent out a survey to families to obtain input about the statement and revised the statement based on the 32 suggestions received from parents.

Here is the revised statement:

At SMASH we believe that the participation of all members of our school community leads to enhanced social-emotional growth and nurtures individual potential for all learners. We will provide opportunities for all families to engage in academic and community events in order to create a supportive, connected and collaborative environment.

Please answer these three questions at home and send back the responses for your family by Fri- day March 6 via email or hard copy to the front office. Site Council will be looking at the compiled parent/child survey results March 11, 2020 at 3:15pm.

Thank you for honestly and thoughtfully providing your input so that our Parent Engagement Sub Committee of Site Council can create a vision statement and action plan that matches your collec- tive ideas.

Jessica

Student(s) name(s) ______

1. What do we still need to work on to make sure all parents feel the vision statement is true for them? In other words, what parent engagement goal might we set for 2020-2021 at SMASH? 2. What action steps might we take to achieve that goal? 3. What role might you play in achieving this goal? DATES TO REMEMBER!

Monday, March 2 School Tour 10-11:30 am

Monday-Friday, March 2-6 Parent/Teacher Conferences 1:30pm Dismissal

Friday, March 6 JOG-A-THON 10:30 am – 12:30pm

Saturday, March 28 “Save the Date” 7:00-10:00 pm SMASH Arts & Letters Sale

IS YOUR CHILD GOING TO BE A NEW STUDENT AT SMASH NEXT YEAR? ALL APPLICATONS MUST BE SUBMITTED ONLINE

PLEASE GO ONLINE TO: • smash.smmusd.org • click on “About Us” banner • go to drop down menu to “Admissions” • scroll down to link “Access the online 2020-2021 SMASH Application” • Complete the application and submit. A copy of your responses will be emailed to you • Application MUST be submitted before 3:00pm on March 13, 2020. Application process will close at that time and no more applications will be accepted.

This is to apply for new students only - NOT for returning students. Returning students please fill out “Is Your Returning to SMASH” form in this week’s Letter

Want to Volunteer for Jog-a-thon? We can’t do it alone, so please sign up here to volunteer for this event. Our success relies heavily on our SMASH Community’s participation. We are small but we are mighty when we work together. Signup Genius Link Here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/805084DA9AE2EA64-smash4

Let’s make this our best Jog-A-Thon Yet!!!

Terracycle News: Terracycle no longer accepts cereal bags or energy/ granola bar wrappers. They have lost corporate sponsors for those col- lection programs. For more info: [email protected] IS YOUR CHILD RETURNING TO SMASH NEXT YEAR?

We are in the process of making plans for next year’s enrollment. It is important for us to know if you are planning on returning to SMASH so that we can provide other children the opportunity to enroll.

If you are planning to attend another school in the district, you must complete and submit an Intradistrict Open Enrollment Application to the district’s Student Permit Office. Applications are available at smmusd.org

Please fill in this form and return to the main office by Friday, March 6.

_____ YES, we will be returning _____ NO, we will not be returning

If no, please let us know the reason and where your child will be attending so that we can transfer school records. Thanks.

______

______Child/Children’s Name

Current Grade/s______

______Parent or Guardian Signature

***********************

SIBLINGS ATTENDING SMASH FOR THE FIRST TIME APPLICATIONS ARE AVAILABLE ON SMASH WEBSITE DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS IS MARCH 13.

We are 1 week away from the opening of Samohi's spring musical, The Addams Fami- ly, in Barnum Hall. This production features over 130 Samohi students, including Samohi’s Pit Or- chestra conducted by Terry Sakow. This year, we are also very fortunate to have Jeffe Huls as Vocal Director for the musical. Many in the cast are theatre program alumni from JAMS, LMS and SMASH. We need your support to help promote the show and fill Barnum Hall with an enthusiastic audience. Again this year, we are offering an $8 discounted student ticket price for Middle School Arts Pro- gram Students at Lincoln, JAMS, SMASH in theatre, band, orchestra, and choir. The ticket limit is 1 per middle school arts student using the passcode: MorticiaAddams (Please share and keep the passcode private within your organization) There are 5 performances across two weekends: Fri-Sat Feb 28 & 29, Sunday, Mar 1 at 5:00pm, and Fri-Sat Mar 6 & 7 at 7:00pm.

• All seats are assigned, so please advise students to choose their seat in advance at http:// samohitheatre.org/tickets.html • Middle school art students will receive 1 discounted student ticket upon enter- ing passcode: MorticiaAddams • Students need to enter the passcode first, not later in the checkout process, then click “show available tickets” for the $8 ticket to appear. • Bypass the pre-selected seat by clicking the small Let Me Choose My Own Seat button below the seating chart in order to pick a new seat. (Use the standard website not mobile version to pick seats) • For questions about ticketing, please contact Denise Kato at [email protected] or 310 -403-0201 by text. • Brown Paper Tickets customer support is also available 24/7 at 800-838-3006 and can assist with placing orders and changing seats. • Additional tickets for friends and family can be purchased online and at the door before each performance — Adults $15 / Students $10

We encourage the middle school students and families to come out to the Sunday, March 1st show as a community, but of course students and families are welcome to come to any of our 5 shows. We appreciate your help in promoting the musical by announcing it in class and inviting your students and their families by email to see the show! Below is a brief description along with general ticketing info that you may share publicly via social media or email. Please keep the passcode above private for the middle school arts students only. Thank you and we look forward to seeing you at the show!

Kate Barraza, Samohi Theatre Director Joan Krenik, Samohi Theatre Producer

CORE 1 NEWS Partners - Graciela’s Workshop Group This week has been dedicated to reading and math assessments, printing practice, and Dr. Seuss books. Our phonics focus has been on medial vowel sounds like fox, cup, hat. I’m looking forward to meeting with each family next week. Thank you for signing up for a conference. During the day, our amazing Guest Teacher, Mimi, will be with the children. If your conference is after school hours, we will not have childcare available. Each conference will last 20 minutes. Please connect with me at your scheduled time so we can start right away. We have

Bigs - Chrysta’s Workshop Group Do you know about Doubles? What about Doubles + 1? Your child does. Check in with them about this fun math we worked on this week. I have also been meeting with your children one-on-one to do reading and math assessments. I look forward to sharing this information with you during our Monday and Tuesday conferences. Please meet me in the school library at your conference time. It is important that we all start and finish on time, so please walk right in to get started. Thank you!

Mentors - Ale’s Workshop Group Thank you to all of the families who have already met with me for our Spring parent/teacher conference! Please remember that next week every day we will have early dismissal at 1:30pm for conferences. I look forward to meeting with the rest of you next week. This Tuesday we started new circle groups. Please ask your child about where they are for the last rotation of the school year. A circle group list is posted on our classroom door. Have a great weekend!

Upcoming Events:

Monday, March 2 - 6 - 1:30pm Dismissal ALL week for BIgs and Mentors Parent/Teacher Conferences

Friday, March 6 - JOG-A-THON 10:30am-12:30pm

Core 1 Team Graciela, Nadja, Chrysta, Lydia, Alejandra, Juana, Marcus, Anne, Coach Angel Graciela: [email protected] Chrysta: [email protected] Alejandra: [email protected] CORE 2 NEWS Please note: • Core 2 Conferences are next week. Please note 1:30 pm dismissal daily. • A Hawaiian Dance performance will be held for the Elder families on Wednesday, March 11th from 2 :30-3PM in the Cafetorium. • We were given a free Family Pass to the Autry Museum. If you’d like to return with your child sometime soon, you can borrow it for the weekend. • Recorders are being given to the Tribe/Third Graders, thanks to the generosity of the Santa Monica Education Foundation.

Tribe Maths The Tribe has been enjoying a unit about fractions we are calling Finding Fair Shares. In this unit, students have been investigating the meaning of fractions and the ways fractions can be represent- ed. They have been solving sharing problems (How can 4 people share 7 brownies equally?), build wholes from fractional parts (½ + ¼ +¼ =1), and find fraction and decimal equivalents (⅔ = 4/6; ½ + 0.5). During maths, students are discussing problems in depth and are asked to share their reason- ing and solutions. It is important that children solve problems in ways that make sense to them. You can also support this learning outside of school. You and your child might investigate where and when you use fractions (or decimal numbers) in your home. You can discuss fractions on such things as measuring cups, tools, or on food packages.

Elders Maths On Wednesdays, for the past month, the Elders have been learning Hawaiian dance moves with Keali'i, a professor from SMC. It has been a wonderful experience for them. The teacher was fantastic and deftly incorporated information about the Hawaiian culture and language into his les- sons. The kids were extremely engaged and demonstrated a great deal of growth in a short amount of time. Please join us for a performance on Wednesday, March 11th, at 2:30 p.m. Please see the attached note below for more information. When not learning about Hawaiian dance and culture, the fourth graders were able to finish up another TERC unit on Multiplication and Division. Then they tackled a series of context-based problems designed to help them strengthen their division and place value strategies (including their understanding of partial products and the ten-times strategy). Through a series of scenarios involv- ing vending machines in the teachers’ lounge, the students were pushed to think about the relation- ship between quotative and partitive division.

THANK YOU! Thanks to the parents from the Firefox Advisory who were able to join us for our field trip to the Autry this week! It was a memorable experience and aligned perfectly with the work we have been doing in class. It was great to see the detectives from the Firefox Agency apply their observa- tion, analysis, and critical-thinking skills in another setting. (Pictures from the day are now posted on the Firefox Google Classroom site.) Also, we are excited to report that the FireFox Agency commer- cials were just sent to all of the other Cores. As cases are solved, the detectives will document their process (outlining the mystery, their thinking, the evidence, the moves they made as detectives, the suspects, and the resolutions) on FlipGrid.

All our best,

Carlee, Chrisauna, Christian, and Sarah [email protected] [email protected]

Continued... CORE 2 NEWS Core 2 Continued.

****************LETTER FOR ELDERS/FOURTH GRADE PARENTS****************

Dear SMASH Parent/Guardian: This is the fourth year that the Santa Monica College Dance Department will be providing World Dance for the SMMUSD Elementary Schools. The fourth graders at SMASH are learning a Hawaiian dance. The SMC Dance Academy is an instructional program taught during the school day. This program is a part of an Arts in Education course that will conclude with a Culminating Event. This specialized college pathway program is designed to encourage students to think independent- ly, to be able to work with others, to value creative thought and diversity, and to be responsible glob- al citizens. Our faculty members instruct using both the California and LAUSD Standards in dance and are trained to offer instructions according to these standards. The SMC Dance Academy’s goal for delivering dance instruction to SMMUSD’s students and is based on our mission to nurture the development of a skillset that students will use to build fulfilling lives for themselves and their community. According to the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO), dance is a powerful ally for developing every aspect of elementary age children. Dance helps children develop physically, emotionally, socially, and cognitively. Please join us for an informal viewing at SMASH on Wednesday, March 11th from 2 :30-3PM. This is a great opportunity for you to see what your child has learned and to celebrate their success. Sincerely, Caron Eule, SMC Dance Academy Liaison CORE 3 NEWS

5th Grade Math This week, mathematicians checked in with their fraction multiplication skills during a quick assess- ment. While just about everyone was able to find the product (the numerical answer to the fraction problem), many were challenged with showing the visual representation accurately. We noticed that it was harder to show the representation when we figured out the product first. Mathematicians also began to investigate fraction by whole number and whole number by fraction division this week. We noticed that we can use what we know about whole number multiplication and division to help us solve.

6th Grade Math This week in sixth grade math we worked on using rate tables to write equations. Next week we will review the order of operations and learn about equivalent expressions.

Sixth Grade Family Math Problems Monday - Page 84, #36 Tuesday - Page 100, #1 Wednesday - Page 103, #5 Thursday - Page 104, #8

Social Studies/Reading/Current Events This week we continued our reading aloud and worked on geography. Malorie also presented a slide show of her recent trip to Mexico. In current events we read and discussed the New York time article, “F.I.T. Model Refuses to Wear ‘Clearly Racist’ Accessories.” Students shared their thoughts and opinions about racist stereotypes and about how much intent matters vs. impact.

Writing and Science Scientists began their study of NASA’s Challenger space shuttle this week. We not only discussed the shuttle’s construction and mission, we also talked about the tragedy that took the lives of seven astronauts, including a school teacher. As we study space exploration, we’ve taken the time to appreciate the successes and incredible knowledge gained through these missions, yet we are also acknowledging the challenges and lives that have been lost as well.

As part of our science class this week, we read an article about the life of Katherine Johnson, the NASA mathematician, that died this week at the age of 101. According to NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, "Johnson helped our nation enlarge the frontiers of space even as she made huge strides that also opened doors for women and people of color in the universal human quest to ex- plore space.”

Conferences 5th Grade conferences with Jayme are next Monday through Thursday. Please use the link below to sign up. https://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050E48AAAA29A6FE3-5thgrade

Have a wonderful three-day weekend! Jayme: [email protected] Erin: [email protected]

CORE 4 NEWS

Announcements **LOOKING for Long styrofoam (from a large package) to help display our shadow puppets for the District Art Show. Please bring it in to Genie. **DISTRICT ART SHOW is 4/30 5pm-8pm. Mark your calendars! Lots of shadow puppetry will be highlighted from SMASH.

Jogathon Fri 3/6

1:30 Dismissal all next week! Conferences!

Spring Conferences are March 2-6. 7th grade families please sign up with Genie: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E0A4CAEAC2BA7F94-7thgrade6

8th grade families please sign up with Darwin: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E0A4CAEAC2BA7F94-8thgrade4

Math 8th Grade - We finished up the Looking for Pythagoras unit this week. Algebra - We continued to work on systems of linear equations. 7th Grade Math: Please ask your child what we have been discussing in math with this unit. There is a lot of real world application and understanding how ratios and rates like with percentages with mortgages, credit rates, tax, commission, would help them understand how to approach these story problems and the math.

Humanities - We planned to have the Red Scarf Girl essay today. We know that many students felt with all the music activities and being sick, many felt unprepared, but we discussed that sometimes we just need to push through and we write so many essays and some will be better planned than others. Also writing on the spot is also an important skill. We will begin our next novel Farewell to Manzanar next week.

Projects - Many have had responses to their interview requests which has been exciting! And students also began storyboarding their project to know how best to plan for the month of March which should be dedicated to completing their project. We are telling students their project should be done by April 1st so when we return from spring break we will be focusing 4 weeks with Autry Educators on how to present and share their work. We are planning to share the Passion Projects the week of May 11th.

Science - We finished our lab on introduction to microscopes.

Darwin Mendinueto - [email protected] Genie Hwang - [email protected]