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School Phone: 408-252-5414 ~ Absence Line 408-252-5414-6 ~ FAX 408-996-9725

GATORAID

B o a r d o f E d u c a t i o n

S u p e r i n t e n d e n t : D r . W e n d y G u d a l e w i c z

B o a r d M e m b e r s : A n j a l i K a u s a r , B e n L i a o ,

J o s e p h i n e L u c e y , G a r y M c C u e ,P h y l l i s V o g e l

G A R D E N G A T E E L E M E N T A R Y

C U P E R T I N O U N I O N S C H O O L D I S T R I C T

1 0 5 0 0 A N N A R B O R A V E N U E

C U P E R T I N O , C A 9 5 0 1 4

B r a n d i H u c k o - P r i n c i p a l

A z m e h M a l i k - P T A P r e s i d e n t

SCHOOL CALENDAR OCTOBER 25, 2012

10/22-10/25 RED RIBBON WEEK

10/23 6:00 p.m. C.U.S.D. BOARD MEETING10/26 3:00-5:00 p.m. FALL CELEBRATION - GARDEN GATE FIELD10/29 STAFF LEARNING DAY - NO SCHOOL

10/31 8:15 a.m. HALLOWEEN PARADE11/1 4:00 p.m. PTA MEETING11/4 DAYLIGHT SAVING TIM E ENDS - TURN CLOCK BAC K 1 HR.11/6 ELECTION DAY11/9 FIRST TRIMESTER ENDS11/12 VETERANS DAY OBSERVED - NO SCHOOL

11/13 SECOND TRIMESTER BEGINS11/13 6:00 p.m. C.U.S.D. BOARD MEETING11/14 3:45 p.m. SCHOOL SITE COUNCIL MEETING11/16 SCHOOL SPIRIT - GATOR DAY11/19-23 THANKSGIVING RECESS - NO SCHOOL

11/30 REPORT CARDS GO HOME

EVERY TUESDAY IS EARLY DISMISSAL Students are dismissed at 1:30.PRE-PAY FOR CUSD LUNCHES at PAMS (Parent Account Management System) Lunchroom! You can make payments andview your students account balance online by going to http://www.pamslunchroom.com or by calling 1-888-994-5100.TO EMAIL STAFF: lastname_firstname@cusdk8.orgATTENDANCE: If your child will be absent, please call 252-5414. Ext. 6, by 8:30 a.m. to report the absence.HOMEWORK: Homework may be requested for illness absences of three days or more. Please call the office before 9:00 a.m.to request the homework for pickup after 3:00 p.m.

mailto:lastname_firstname@cusdk8.orghttp://www.pamslunchroom.com/mailto:lastname_firstname@cusdk8.orgmailto:lastname_firstname@cusdk8.orghttp://www.pamslunchroom.com/http://www.pamslunchroom.com/

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Garden Gate Elementary School 10500 Ann Arbor Ave., Cupertino CA 95125

Dear Garden Gate Parents,

Fall CelebrationJoin us from 3:00-5:00 this Friday, October 26, for our PTA-Sponsored Fall Celebration. During this outdoor celebrationGarden Gate staff will facilitate games and craft activities, and families can purchase pumpkins from our pumpkin patch.Dont forget to stop by the bake sale for some fresh-baked goodies! Its sure to be a great time!

Monday, October 29 is a Staff Learning DayThere is no school for students on Monday. Teachers and staff will receive professional development in the areas of promoting cyber-citizenship within students, using technology in the classroom, and Common Core State Standards. Enjoy ahree day weekend and well see you on Tuesday, October 30!

Hall oween Parade - W ednesday, October 31 at 8:15 a.m.Halloween is just around the corner and we are planning our Halloween Parade for

Wednesday, October 31st at 8:15 a.m. All parents are welcome to come, watch andake pictures! Please bring your child to school dressed in their costumes over their egular clothes, as there is no appropriate place to change here at school. Please send

a bag with your childs name on it so your child can put his/her costume away after theparade is over.

When helping your child decide on a costume, please encourage him/her to pick onehat supports our efforts to promote a positive and fun activity by keeping the followingn mind: Costumes should be comfortable, easy to walk in, and should not hamper vision. Regular school rules of dress and

safety apply. Costumes should be in good taste and not violent in nature. In accordance with the CUSDs Zero TolerancePolicy, no toy guns, plastic swords, knives, martial arts weapons are allowed on campus. Rollerblades, skates, skateboards,scooters, and bicycles are not permitted. Remind your child that there will be younger children in the parade who might befrightened by some of the scarier costumes and masks. Outfits that are scary or violent are not acceptable at school.

Help Your Elementary Schooler Take Responsibility for LearningYou have work to do every day, and so does your child! As the school year begins, encourage her to see learning as anmportant duty she can enjoy. Research shows this will help her succeed. Make it a priority to:

Speak positively about school. How will your child use what she learns? What goals will she reach with her education?Compliment teachers, classes and your childs abilities. Recall positive experiences you had as a student. Help your child stayorganized. Choose a simple-to-use system that keeps school papers in order. Together, tidy your childs school bag frequently.Pick a quiet, regular time and place for studying, too. Encourage time management. If your child receives a weekly homeworkpacket, help her break it into daily assignments. When older kids are assigned long-term projects, divide them into small partswith manageable deadlines.

Source: What You Can Do at Home to Help Your Child Succeed at School, LearningToGive.org, http://learningtogive.org/parents/helping/ 1_what_you_can_do.asp .

PropellersDo you wonder how to connect better with your children? Do you wonder what matters to them,and how you can assist them to grow up to be healthy, caring and responsible citizens? Iencourage you to try a "propeller" - a question intended to spark conversations with your children. Try it around the dinner table tonight! This week's Propeller: Talk about a time youlaughed so hard you thought you couldnt stop.

http://learningtogive.org/parents/helping/1_what_you_can_do.asphttp://learningtogive.org/parents/helping/1_what_you_can_do.asphttp://learningtogive.org/parents/helping/1_what_you_can_do.asphttp://learningtogive.org/parents/helping/1_what_you_can_do.asphttp://learningtogive.org/parents/helping/1_what_you_can_do.asp

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PARENT TEACHER ASSOCIATION (PTA) NEWS & RESOURCES

Garden Gate Elementary School 10500 Ann Arbor Ave., Cupertino CA 95125

Hello Garden Gate Families,

FALL CELEBRATION IS TOMORROW!Get ready to join us for the Fall Celebration tomorrow from 3:00 5:00p.m. It will be a fun@illed afternoon of games, activities, pumpkin patch, a bakesale, henna and more! You will also be able to buy yummy home baked goods anyour special pumpkin for your Halloween decoration. Thanks to all those who havesigned up to volunteer at this event. If you want to help with the Fall Celebrationhave not yet had the opportunity, you can still do so by contacting Aravinda Chikushal_mom@yahoo.com .

THIS IS RED RIBBON WEEK!Gators are celebrating Red Ribbon all this week. Students learn about making good

choices in life, staying safe, dealing with dif@icult situations and learning to say NO to drugs. Please remto ask your children about what they have done and learned in school this week. Keep in mind that the bto keep our kids drugfree is to talk to them and provide them with a supportive and nurturing environmenwould like to especially thank Chanchal Sahai, our Red Ribbon Week Coordinator , for her awesomeorganization of this signi@icant fourday event!

ICE CREAM SOCIAL AND BOOK FAIRLast Thursdays Ice Cream Social was a fun @illed evening of ice cream, socializing, and an opportunitybrowse and buy books at the Book Fair. A huge thank you toReshmi Narayanan , for organizing the PTASocial. Thank you also to all the volunteers who helped during the event.The Fall Book Fair had net sales oabout $11,000 thanks to everyone who shopped at the Fair! Twenty five percent of this amount goes to theSchool PTA. This years Fall Book Fair also enabled us to get books worth $1,300. for our school library!

This week long affair needs a lot of manpower and constant support that theBook Fair committee of @ive members cannot provide alone. I would like tothank the wonderful volunteers who signed up to set up the fair, help run it and@inally pack it away. The Fair has been a success because of your dedicationand hard work and we appreciate it!

IMPORTANT: CHANGE IN PTA MEETING TIMEDue to shorter days of daylight in the winter months, our PTA meetingsduring the months of November through February will be held at 4 p.m.instead of 7:15 pm. Please note the new start time and plan to attend themeeting on Thursday, November 1 st .

See you at the Fall Celebration tomorrow and have a wonderful weekend!

Azmeh Malik Garden Gate PTA President

mailto:kushal_mom@yahoo.commailto:kushal_mom@yahoo.com

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Garden Gate Elementary School 10500 Ann Arbor Ave., Cupertino CA 95125

Students,Educators & ParentsSpeak Up!Open October 3rd December 14th, 2012

Please join the conversation about the use of technologyfor learning through Speak Up, a National ResearchProject. The online survey is open to students,educators and parents alike and its quick and easy toget involved. We value your input, opinions, and ideas inregards to how technology impacts our student'seducation and their future. We hope that you willparticipate and provide your feedback. The survey willbe open until December 14th. To take the survey visit:http://www.speakup4schools.org/speakup2012

Your password is: gardengate

Odyssey of the MindOdyssey of the Mind is an international educationalprogram that provides creative problem-solvingopportunities for students from kindergarten throughcollege. Team members apply their creativity to solve

problems that range from building mechanical devices topresenting their own interpretation of literary classics.They then bring their solutions to competition on thelocal, state, and world level. Thousands of teams fromthroughout the U.S. and from about 25 other countriesparticipate in the program.

Interested parents can attend an information sessionabout the "Odyssey of the Mind" program on Sunday,October 28, at 4:00 PM in Tulip After School, 133 E.Fremont Ave, Sunnyvale. Barbara Hans, co-director of the Silicon Valley Odyssey of the Mind will be presentingthe program.

Please RSVP to Ipsita Chowdhury viagg.odysseyofthemind@gmail.com if you would like toattend this session and to sign up your child for thisprogram or to sign up to be a coach or a judge. Notethat while this opportunity is offered to all Garden Gatestudents and parents, it is a completely parent-run,voluntary program, and Ipsita Chowdhury is the contactperson.

INDEPENDENT STUDY CONTRACTSIf you plan to be away from school for a minimum of five school days and a maximum of ten school days,please contact the school office and your childsteacher at least three weeks ahead of your departuredate to arrange for a special Independent StudyContract. The following guidelines must be followed:

A student must be enrolled for threeconsecutive weeks before an IndependentContract can be initiated.The contract and homework must bereturned the first day back to school with allthe work completed, so days missed do notcount as unexcused absences.Students who are absent for more than tenconsecutive days will be dropped from theschool roster. When the student

returns, if space is available at his or her school, the student will be reinstated with thepresentation of a current PG&E bill. If nospace is available, the student will beassigned to another school in the districtwhere space is available.

http://www.edline.net/pages/Garden_Gate_Elementary_School/Our_School/Read-A-Thon_Informationmailto:gg.odysseyofthemind@gmail.comhttp://www.edline.net/pages/Garden_Gate_Elementary_School/Our_School/Read-A-Thon_Informationhttp://www.edline.net/pages/Garden_Gate_Elementary_School/Our_School/Read-A-Thon_Informationhttp://www.edline.net/pages/Garden_Gate_Elementary_School/Our_School/Read-A-Thon_Informationhttp://www.edline.net/pages/Garden_Gate_Elementary_School/Our_School/Read-A-Thon_Informationhttp://www.edline.net/pages/Garden_Gate_Elementary_School/Our_School/Read-A-Thon_Informationhttp://www.edline.net/pages/Garden_Gate_Elementary_School/Our_School/Read-A-Thon_Informationhttp://www.edline.net/pages/Garden_Gate_Elementary_School/Our_School/Read-A-Thon_Informationhttp://www.edline.net/pages/Garden_Gate_Elementary_School/Our_School/Read-A-Thon_Informationhttp://www.edline.net/pages/Garden_Gate_Elementary_School/Our_School/Read-A-Thon_Informationhttp://www.edline.net/pages/Garden_Gate_Elementary_School/Our_School/Read-A-Thon_Informationhttp://www.edline.net/pages/Garden_Gate_Elementary_School/Our_School/Read-A-Thon_Informationhttp://www.edline.net/pages/Garden_Gate_Elementary_School/Our_School/Read-A-Thon_Informationhttp://www.edline.net/pages/Garden_Gate_Elementary_School/Our_School/Read-A-Thon_Informationhttp://www.edline.net/pages/Garden_Gate_Elementary_School/Our_School/Read-A-Thon_Informationhttp://www.edline.net/pages/Garden_Gate_Elementary_School/Our_School/Read-A-Thon_Informationhttp://www.edline.net/pages/Garden_Gate_Elementary_School/Our_School/Read-A-Thon_Informationhttp://www.edline.net/pages/Garden_Gate_Elementary_School/Our_School/Read-A-Thon_Informationhttp://www.edline.net/pages/Garden_Gate_Elementary_School/Our_School/Read-A-Thon_Informationhttp://www.edline.net/pages/Garden_Gate_Elementary_School/Our_School/Read-A-Thon_Informationmailto:gg.odysseyofthemind@gmail.commailto:gg.odysseyofthemind@gmail.comhttp://www.speakup4schools.org/speakup2012http://www.speakup4schools.org/speakup2012

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Garden Gate Elementary School 10500 Ann Arbor Ave., Cupertino CA 95125

2013-2014 SCHOOL YEAR CALENDARThe Board of Education just approved the 2013-2014 school year calendar during the board meeting held onOctober 23, 2012. The full calendar is available on the Districts website at www.cusdk8.org . Here are the importantdates for the District and Murdock-Portal Elementary School for next year:

2013-2014 District Calendar (All schools except Murdock-Portal) 2013-2014 Murdock-PortalCalendar Students Return August 19, 2013 August 12, 2013Labor Day September 2, 2013 September 2, 2013October Break (Murdock-Portal only) October 7-18, 2013Veterans Day Observed November 11, 2013 November 11, 2013Thanksgiving Recess November 25-29, 2013 November 25-29, 2013Winter Recess Dec. 23, 2013-

Jan. 3, 2014Dec. 23, 2013-Jan. 3, 2014

Martin Luther King Day January 20, 2014 January 20, 2014Mid-Year Recess February 17-21, 2014 February 17-21, 2014

Spring Recess April 14-18, 2014 April 7-18, 2014Memorial Day May 26, 2014 May 26, 2014Last Day of School June 11, 2014 June 25, 2014 ELEMENTARY NEWSLETTER SCHEDULE

The Cupertino Union School District is constantly striving to streamline and improve our communication with our parent community. As such, starting in November 2012, all elementaryschools will be transitioning to an every other week newsletter schedule.Please be aware that the District will also be implementing several new communication toolsto keep you better informed and engaged at your school site. You will start receiving periodicemails regarding specific news items and phone messages from the school site regardingtimely items or emergency information. These communication tools will not only save staff time, but will prevent you from receiving the same information over and over again. Many of our Middle Schools migrated to a monthly newsletter format several years ago and this

schedule has worked well. Given the fact that the amount of parent involvement at the elementary school site ishigher than middle school, the every other week newsletter schedule seems to fit better.

CITIZENS BOND OVERSIGHT COMMITTEEOn June 5, 2012, voters residing within the Cupertino Union School District passed Measure H. Measure H is a$220 million bond measure that authorizes funding for needed repairs, upgrades, and new construction projects tothe Districts schools. Proposition 39 required a 55% supermajority for approval; Measure H was passed by 66.16%.

After a bond authorized under Proposition 39 is passed, state law requires that the Cupertino Union School DistrictBoard of Education appoint a Citizens Oversight Committee to work with the District. In accordance with EducationCode Section 15278(b), the Citizens Oversight Committee shall:

Inform the public concerning the District's expenditure of Measure H bond proceeds Review expenditure reports produced by the District to ensure that Measure H bond proceeds were

expended only for the purposes set forth in Measure H Present to the Board of Education in public session, an annual written report outlining their activities and

conclusions regarding the expenditure of Measure H bond proceeds The Board of Education of the Cupertino Union School District is seeking qualified, interested individuals to serve ona committee of community leaders which will serve as the independent Citizens Oversight Committee for theimplementation of the Districts Measure H school facilities bond program. Additional information and the Committee

Application are available at www.cusdk8.org, or by calling (408) 252-3000, Extension 323.

http://www.cusdk8.org/http://www.cusdk8.org/http://www.cusdk8.org/http://www.cusdk8.org/