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10160 Pleasant Grove School Road, Elk Grove, CA. 95624

February, 2014

Principal’s message:

Dear Pleasant Grove Families,

You may have noticed a new banner on our fence in front of the school. I am very excited to be able to now call Pleasant Grove Elementary School a Team T.O.M. school. Team T.O.M.’s goal is to encourage drivers to focus on their surroundings while driving in school zones. This gentle reminder is for all of us to Take One Minute to watch for kids and not allow ourselves to be distracted while operating our vehicles. More information on Team T.O.M. is available in this Gazette. Thank you to our PTA for their support of this important awareness campaign. This year we have been experiencing a lot of changes with the complete adoption (K-6) of our new math curriculum (GoMath) and the move to the new Common Core standards. I wanted to make you aware of an opportunity to preview the next change that will be coming our way. There are K-6 English/Language Arts instructional materials currently being piloted in classrooms throughout EGUSD (not at PGES) and I wanted to extend the invitation to our school community to attend a Parent Preview Night during this month to see the programs being considered for adoption. If you are interested they are being held at the Robert L. Trigg Education Center in Room 117 on 2/11/14 from 5:00-7:00 p.m. and 2/25/14 from 6:00-8:00 p.m. District representatives will be present at these meetings to answer any questions you may have. You are aware that there will be no STAR testing this year for our 2nd-6th grade students as we have been so accustomed to in the past. This year we will administer the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) as a trial run of the computerized testing system. There will be no score reports provided for the students to the school or families as this is a field test for sites to coordinate the testing of all students on computers. CAASPP will be fully in place for next school year (2014-15) and the process for reporting scores will return. The testing window will be 4/28/14 through 5/9/14 where all 3rd- 6th grade students will be taking the field test for ELA and Math on district provided Google Chromebooks. Teachers will be receiving training on these devices and will be working with their classes on sample test release questions that are now currently available. These tests will be quite a departure from the standardized tests your children have been accustomed to in the past. As the

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Principal’s message continued from page 1:

classroom teachers are able to access practice tests to walk through the expectations for the kids on this new style of testing, you are also able to access these tests as well to see what lies ahead for your child. To access the practice tests please visit www.smarterbalanced.org and follow the steps to the grade level practice test you would like to take. You must have an up to date browser. Thank you for all of your continued support of Pleasant Grove Elementary School. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns you may have. Remember…..It is always a great day to be a Tiger! Sincerely, Joe Donovan

Principal

SPARK PLUG AWARD

PHYSICAL FITNESS (January): Ezequiel Baez Cam-Truc Hua Di

David Borlak Sam Robbins

Jacob Brockmann Kaili Seto

Trae Chao Skyler Smith

Manuel Granados Collin Snyder

Riley Helton Evan Wortell

http://www.smarterbalanced.org/

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IMPORTANT EVENTS TO REMEMBER IN FEBRUARY

2/05 5TH Grade to Sheldon H.S. 2/06 TK/Kindergarten Student of the Month @11:00AM 2/07 Student of the Month Assembly @1:45PM 2/10 Lincoln’s Birthday Holiday – No School 2/12 P.T.A. Executive Board Meeting @1:00PM in room #15 2/13 P.T.A. General Meeting w/Kindergarten Performing @5:45PM 2/14 Happy Valentine’s Day!

2/14 Eat Pizza! 6th Grade Promotion Fundraiser (all three lunches) 2/17 Washington’s Birthday Holiday – No School 2/19-20 Shipwreck Island Musical @8:10AM, 9:40AM & 7:00PM

in m.p. room 2/19 Parent/Teacher conference notices sent home today 2/21 (Grades 1-6) Minimum Day schedule -8:00AM-1:20PM 2/25 Chinese Lion Dance Assembly @10:30AM (outdoor stage) 2/26 Phil Tulga Assembly @8:30AM & 9:30AM in m.p. room 2/28 6th Grade students to meet with counselors from Katherine

Albiani M.S. @8:15-9:15AM

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Students of the month

January

Congratulations Students of the Month!

CHARACTER TRAIT

ACADEMIC CITIZENSHIP EFFORT

Justin Alvizo Isabella Albiani Antonio Amaya

Eden Bedwell Sophia Albiani Sana Begum

Hope Brazier Hailie Albright Hunter Bryant

Cruz DeLaRosa Luke Alley Lea Caroline

Ty DeLaRosa Laudencio Almonte Ella Carr

Evan Earl Navnit Budwal Elizabeth Earl

Rocco Edralin Cole Chunn Zac Fuhs

Maxwell Freedman Leila Dahdouh Kelly Garrison-Larson

Aja Garcia Garrett Edwards Lauren Hartley

Angelo Ghio Austin Gallegos Hailey Hernandez

Franco Ghio Maisum Ghani Saim Hussain

Connor Goodnight Alyssa Gilson Arushi Jain

Ben Grau Devin Hernandez Jacob Jones

Misbah Haider Joshua Jordan Eliana Malone

Franklin Jardine Orion Kahle Cody McEntire

Fox Jordan Luke Ketterling Samantha Mitchell

Hailey Kirk Ciara McMahon Benny Murillo

Eric Kraemer Suhail Momand Elizabeth Rodriguez

Alexis Mandap Antonio Moreno Brayden Shaw

Andrea Mansel Greg Neher Cooper Snyder

Jamie Ngo Wesley Nguyen Karina Sahota

Anthony Nguyen Melak Othman Lauren Wassermann

Chuong Nguyen Brian Pham Preston Xin

Yusef Othman Emma Popham

Weston Pereira Ella Rockwood

Jenny Purewal Donavan Sams

Evan Revillas Matthew Shapton

Jaime Shapton Hallie Tran

Carson Shaw Jacob Votaw

Sierra Stewart Ella White

Carter Tseu Evan Wilson

Larissa Vang

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It’s not TOO LATE to support P.G.E.S. with your 2013/2014 tax

deductible donation!

ADOPT OUR TIGERS

Many thanks to the numerous individuals, families and businesses below who’ve

graciously contributed to our new Adopt Our Tigers program! This program empowers

parents and community members to help enhance the quality of our students’

education through giving. To learn more about how you can make a tax deductible

donation, please visit PG’s website and click the Adopt Our Tigers link. Please also

stop by and visit the Adopt our Tigers bulletin board in the multi-purpose room

recognizing our generous donors. Thank you!!

Ahmad Ahmadi Arpan Kaur Bhullar Big Kahuna Yogurt Diana Cava Gina Crane Custom Care Home Health Services Chris & Leslie Ellis Elizabeth Flores Aman Gupta Aaryan Gupta Happy Trails Before & After School Care Phil & Jenny Hollenbach Bethany Jackson-Russo Cristina & Eddie Jordan

Rachel Mauch Murillo Family Loan & Jamie Ngo Dave & Julie Nickerson Luan Pham Karina & Devan Sahota Amanat Sandhu Austin Schlosser Murphy Shiu Les Shively Khadega Suleiman Paul & Kelli Thompson Jeannie Zhang Annie Zhang

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