GATORAID

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

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SCHOOL CALENDAR
October 14, 2010

10/15 & 22 12:45-1:45 p.m. COPY MACHINE TRAINING FOR ALL VOLUNTEERS
10/18, 20, 25, & 28 HUMAN GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT PREVIEW (FOR GRADE 5 PARENTS)
TEACHER RESOURCE CENTER - 10255 N. PORTAL AVE., CUPERTINO
MONDAYS & WEDNESDAYS IN OCTOBER
10:30-12:00 OR 12:00-1:30 OR 2:00-3:30
10/20 3:45 p.m. SCHOOL SITE COUNCIL (SSC) MEETING
10/22 SCHOOL SPIRIT DAY - “CRAZY HAIR”
10/22 3:00-5:00 p.m. FALL CELEBRATION
10/25 STAFF LEARNING DAY - NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS
10/26-29 RED RIBBON WEEK
10/26 6:00 p.m. C.U.S.D. BOARD MEETING - D.O.
10/29 8:15 a.m. HALLOWEEN PARADE
11/3 STUDENT PICTURES - GLC
11/4 7:15 p.m. PTA MEETING
11/10 FIRST TRIMESTER ENDS
11/11 & 12 VETERAN’S DAY HOLIDAY RECESS - NO SCHOOL
11/16 6:00 p.m. C.U.S.D. BOARD MEETING - D.O.
11/17 3:45 p.m. SCHOOL SITE COUNCIL MEETING
11/18 WALK/BIKE/CARPOOL TO SCHOOL DAY
11/19 SCHOOL SPIRIT DAY - “TWIN DAY”
11/22 & 23 STAFF FURLOUGH DAYS - NO SCHOOL
11/24-26 THANKSGIVING RECESS - NO SCHOOL

Parent Traffic Duty: October 18th - October 22nd, Parents from Rms. 24

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 and
view 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.org
ATTENDANCE: 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.
 FROM OUR PRINCIPAL....MRS. WOOD! PAGE 2
C.U.S. D. School Board Members Visit Garden Gate
We have been very fortunate to have three of our school board members visit us this week and last. Phyllis
Vogel, Jo Lucey, and Ben Liao toured classrooms and met students and staff. They were very impressed by the
learning taking place at Garden Gate. All three said they really enjoyed seeing the students and their teachers
engaged in the many different classroom activities!

Fall Celebration – Friday, October 22, 3:00 – 5:00 p.m.

Please join us for an afternoon of fun next Friday, October 22. We’ll have
many activities to engage our students. Look for pumpkins, games, and much
more! Please come!

October is Anti-Bully Month

Garden Gate’s Project Cornerstone is a key element in our efforts to combat
bullying in any form. Having a school where students feel safe, respected and
appreciated for who they are is very important to our staff and community. That is why our Project
Cornerstone program is such a vibrant part of what we do here. Our parent Project Cornerstone volunteers,
our 5th grade Cornerstone Kids program, as well as our staff members, work together to build a strong safety
net for our students. We are printing an excerpt from Kennedy Middle School regarding the issue of bullying.
Please read.

“Bullying is real. And it’s a real problem at schools in the United States. According to the National
Association of School Psychologists, “one in seven school children has been either a bully or the target of
bullying.” It isimportant that we as parents, students, and school staff use common language
to talk about bullying. It would be great if you, as parents can discuss these types of bullying at home with
your child(ren).

€ Verbal Bullying: 70% of all reported bullying. Includes name calling, harassment, degrading comments
€ Relational Bullying: This type is the hardest to detect. Includes
shunning, eye rolling, rejecting, alienating, aggressive stares, rumors
€ Physical Bullying: Less than 1/3 of the bullying incidents. Includes
slapping, hitting, choking, poking, tripping, pinching, spitting, damaging property
€ Cyberbullying: It happens when kids use their phones or the Internet
to create and send harassing or humiliating messages and images. 53% of teens admit to sending a hurtful
messages through instant messaging or phone texting, and by posts on social networking sites.”

With your support and vigilance, we can make a difference in our children’s lives by addressing bullying when
situations arise and, better yet, educating children on how to avoid either being bullied or becoming a bully.
--

Garden Gate Elementary School 10500 Ann Arbor Ave., Cupertino CA 95014
PTA CORNER PARENT TEACHER ASSOCIATION (PTA) NEWS & RESOURCES ! PAGE 3

Hello Gator Families!

WOW!

Have you seen our Direct Donation arrow lately? You have made a clear commitment to
support the Garden Gate PTA and our children! We were cautious with our projected budget
and planned for no more than $55,000 raised by Direct Donation this year. Well, you have
generously donated just about $80,000 - Thank you!

I would like to thank everyone involved with the Direct Donation. Special thanks go to Manonmani Ramadass –
the Direct Donation Chairperson and to her team of volunteers: Sreejaya Thandayankandy, Manimegalai
Subramaniam, Li Zhang, Reshmi Narayanan, Sripriya Sundarrajan.

We will be organizing a survey to hear from you about where we want to put the extra money to work at Garden
Gate this year. So please stay tuned for more information on this as we put it together.

------------------------------------------ We need your help -------------------------------------------------

The Fall Celebration is VERY SHORT OF PARENT VOLUNTEERS!

We will have to cancel at least half of the planned booths if we don’t get
more parents to help. PLEASE contact Vinutha at vinuthaps@gmail.com
to volunteer!

The event takes place on Friday, October 22nd from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. This
free event is paid for by the PTA and hosted by the Garden Gate Teachers!
This is one of our favorite events of the year. Remember to bring a few dollars
for bake sale items and a pumpkin! Come with your whole family to enjoy the
games and some relaxed social time.

Sincerely,
Merav Talmor
Garden Gate PTA President

Garden Gate Elementary School 10500 Ann Arbor Ave., Cupertino CA 95014
 GATORAID! PAGE 4
INDEPENDENT STUDY CONTRACTS
– If you plan to be away from school for a minimum of five
Halloween Parade school days and a maximum of ten school days, please
a.m .
Friday, Oct. 29 8:15 contact the school office and your child’s teacher at
our
We are planning least three weeks ahead of your departure date to
rad e for this
Halloween Pa arrange for a special Independent Study Contract. The
Fri da y, Oc tob er
year on following guidelines must be followed:
, sta rtin g at 8:1 5 a.m.
29
to
All parents are welcome •A student must be enrolled for three
tch an d tak e
co me , wa consecutive weeks before an Independent
! Ple as e bri ng yo ur
pictures their costumes over Contract can be initiated.
d in
child to school dresse
there is no appropriate •The contract and homework must be
their regular clothes, as
at school. When the returned the first day back to school with all
place to change here ir
dents will return to the the work completed, so days missed do not
parade is over, the stu wit h yo ur
classrooms. Please send a bag r
count as unexcused absences.
ur child can put his/he •Students who are absent for more than ten
child’s name on it so yo rade. When helping consecutive days will be dropped from the
pa
costume away after the
ch ild de cid e on a co stu me , ple as e roster of their school. When the student
yo ur r
k one that supports ou returns, if space is available at his or her
encourage them to pic fun ac tivi ty by
sitive and school, the student will be reinstated with the
efforts to promote a po
fol low ing in mind: Costumes should presentation of a current PG&E bill. If no
keeping the t
walk in, and should no space is available, the student will be
be comfortable, easy to of dre ss
lar school rules assigned to another school in the district
hamper vision. Regu
. Co stu mes should be in good where space is available.
and safety apply
nature. Remember, no
taste and not violent in
s, martial arts weapons,
toy guns, swords, knive , LUNCH LAP PROGRAM
. Rollerblades, skates
dyed hair or make-up ycles are no t Lunch Lap programs are conducted on Tuesdays and
and bic
skateboards, scooters, on ca mp us . Thursdays during lunch recess. Student Council officers
used
permitted to be ridden or and representatives help at Lunch Laps. Each student
has a lap card with twenty squares on it. Each time they
complete one lap around the track, they get one space
hole punched. When all twenty squares are filled,
UPDATING RESIDENCY INFORMATION students earn a foot charm. Foot charms are changed
Please be aware that district guidelines require that any every month according to the holiday of the month.
change of residence must be reported to the school office Currently, students can earn an apple or a pumpkin foot
within ten (10) days. This guideline is in place to ensure charm.
that the address and contact information that the school
has on file is accurate. This information is crucial and is Karthik and Navjeeth
used to send official school/district correspondence and it Public Relations Officers
is also used in the case of an emergency. Failure to
provide current residency information could result in the
immediate withdrawal of your child. If you have any
questions regarding this guideline, please contact the HELP OUR COMPUTER LAB
school office.
TO BE GERM FREE
Our computer lab is in need of
REDUCE, REPURPOSE, RECYCLE disinfectant wipes to help keep our
PRODUCTIVITY ROOM TRAINING computers as sanitary as possible.
When: Friday, October 15, and Friday, October 22, 2010 Germs can be easily spread on
Time: 12:45-1:45 p.m. keyboards, so if you can send in a
Where: Garden Gates Productivity Room. Check-in and container of disinfectant wipes, we
receive a visitors pass from the school office. would appreciate it. Please drop these items off in the
computer lab. Thank you in advance for your
Please RSVP - Sulgit_Terri@cusdk8.org. Questions? contribution.
Please contact Terri Sulgit by email or 252-5414 ext. 108.

Garden Gate Elementary School 10500 Ann Arbor Ave., Cupertino CA 95014
 GATORAID! PAGE 5
PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENT UPDATE
The Cupertino Union School District has received information from the Santa Clara County Public Health Department
regarding the current whooping cough (pertussis) epidemic in California.

There has been a dramatic increase in the number of cases of whooping cough (pertussis) in California this year.
Whooping cough symptoms usually start out like the common cold with a runny nose or congestion, sneezing and
possible mild cough or fever. After 1-2 weeks, there are bursts or attacks of severe coughing. These coughing fits are
very dangerous to infants and small children and make it difficult to breath. During this epidemic, anyone with cough
symptoms of greater than two weeks should contact their health care provider. Whooping cough is a vaccine-
preventable disease. The best way to stop the epidemic is to get as many people vaccinated as possible. Additional
information is available at www.sccphd.org/whoopingcough.

LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS FUHSD CANDIDATES FORUM

Parents and community members are invited to a League of Women Voters (LWV) sponsored Candidates Forum on
Wednesday, October 6, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Fremont Union High School District Office. Three seats on the five-
member Fremont Union High School District Board of Trustees are up for election on November 2, 2010. All candidates
will be at the forum to answer questions. Those in the audience can submit questions for candidates via the LWV
moderator.

REGISTER TO VOTE!
Exercising your right to vote is one of the most powerful actions that you can take to help ensure that education remains
a top priority. If you are not already a registered voter, please register to vote by Oct. 18th and get-out-the-vote for the
November 2010 elections. Registration forms are available at school offices. It is also important to become an informed
voter. There are many online voter information sources available, such as www.sccvote.org, where you can learn about
candidates' positions and all of the issues appearing on the ballot.

DISTRICT CALENDAR 2010-2011

October 25, 2010 Staff Learning Day
November 11, 2010 Veteran’s Day
November 12, 2010 CEA Non-Duty Day
November 22 & 23, 2010 Furlough Days/No School
November 24, 25 & 26, 2010 Thanksgiving Recess
December 20 - 31, 2010 Winter Recess
January 17, 2011 Martin Luther King Day
February 21 - 25, 2011 Mid-Year Recess
March 14, 2011 Staff Learning Day
April 18 - 22, 2011 Spring Recess
May 27, 2011 Staff Learning Day
May 30, 2011 Memorial Day
June 7, 2011 Last Day of School

Garden Gate Elementary School 10500 Ann Arbor Ave., Cupertino CA 95014