Spruce Elementary Newsletter

🔸 Every day is important for our students to come to school! We are well into implementing our reading groups and it is critical that we maximize every single day. Please continue to make school a priority. We only get 180 days!

🔸 In the past month we have worked by grade levels to strengthen collaboration and have made it consistent that grade level teachers meet with ELD Teachers, Reading Specialists and Administration to work together to problem solve to best serve our students.

🔸 In October we had two field trips completed! Ms. Beam and Ms. Bromann took their 5th grade students to the CA Academy of Sciences in SF and got to see a show in the planetarium. Ms. Cheung and Ms. Philpott took their 2nd graders to Heal Farm in Half Moon Bay and learned about agriculture and even got to make some food to eat! Upcoming we have Mr. Norton's class going to Heal Farm in November.

I know that families plan holiday plans and travel.

Please note that for Thanksgiving Break we have Wednesday-Friday off from Nov. 27-29.

For December we have TWO minimum days this year on December 19 and December 20.

Our Winter Break is from December 23 - January 6.

RETURN TO SCHOOL on JANUARY 7th TUESDAY.

Surveys are going home for TK-2nd grade families. This information is confidential and is needed by the county of San Mateo in order to orderly implement services by area which includes but is not limited to our Summer School Offerings which is a big part of Spruce.

Surveys will go home tomorrow Tuesday the 5th.

I request surveys to be returned by November 8th.

It is a short survey!

We are embarking on this See's Candy Fundraiser to help with costs of Field trips for ALL grades and Music for Minors in TK-2!

It is LIVE now! Please also feel free to share with family and friends near and far! They can be delivered directly to the home.

We will have some paper forms on hand for families wishing to do the pre order route instead.

Spruce Elementary See's Candy Fundraiser

• Online sales through December 6 (Delivered to home)
• Paper form orders due December 2
• Paper form orders arrive by December 16

Let the Yum-Raising begin!

On November 14 we will join to celebrate by meeting at SSF City Hall and walking together to school

• We ask that you join us this day as a family and walk to school!
• 7:40am Start Gathering
• 7:50am Speakers
• 8am WALK TO SCHOOL TOGETHER!

WEAR PURPLE OR YOUR SPRUCE COUGARS SHIRTS/SWEATERS!

In May 2018, a group of fifth graders from Martin Elementary School in South San Francisco, California, learned about Ruby and asked their school board to pass a resolution making November 14 Ruby Bridges Day. The San Mateo County Office of Education Safe Routes to School team met with the students about making it a walk to school day and invited them to present this proposal to the San Mateo County Board of Education. A resolution was passed endorsing November 14 as Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day in San Mateo County. The Safe Routes to School team invited other schools to join the Martin students in honoring Ruby’s courage by celebrating this walk to school day. Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day has grown exponentially since the first walk was held in 2018.

In January 2021, with the help of Northern California AAA, the Ruby Bridges Foundation joined the movement and began to expand RBWTSD as a national initiative and in September 2021, the California State Senate passed a resolution recognizing November 14th as Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day in the state of California!

Coming soon: Speed reduction to the following school locations

8:30am in the STEM Lab!

You can still do your part by paying the PTA membership HERE!

Food Policy

• NO CANDY and NO FOOD may be brought to the classroom

• See your teacher for possible donations for classroom art projects

• Other options for celebration: Stickers, Pencils, bubbles to be distributed at the end of the day to take home.

No Celebration

• If your family does not celebrate holidays, please inform your classroom teacher.

• For Halloween, we will have a parade in the morning. We will have a separate setting for students who do not participate.

Please be mindful of the snacks students bring to school. I encourage healthy snacks for recess and lunch please.

Every month we will be highlighting a different Character Trait to teach our students. We will begin September with our norm of being SAFE! Please talk to your child about the importance of being safe not only at school, but at home and in the community.

At the end of the month a few students will be selected from each class who exhibited the trait and be invited to sit at our VIP (Very Important Person) Table at lunch and be given a certificate. We will work to highlight every student in the class throughout the year at least once.

In accordance with the California Education Code (EC) Section 49452 and 49455, student vision and hearing screenings will take place annually at each school for TK/Kinder, 2nd, 5th, 8th grades, upon entry to a California public school and to all students with an Individual Education Plan. An additional hearing screening takes place in 10th grade.

If your child is not in the listed categories, and you would like your child screened, come to the Spruce Main Office to fill out a form to request screening.

Evaluation of a student's vision may be waived at the parent/guardian's request if the parent/guardian provides in writing a note of exclusion to the school nurse and a certificate from either a medical doctor or an optometrist specifying the results of an examination of the student's vision including visual acuity, and, in male students, color vision. (Education Code 49455, SBCUSD AR 5141.3 Students Health Examinations)

https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/he/hn/documents/visionreport.pdf

California Education Code

• VISION: California Education Code 49452, the California Department of Education, A Guide for Vision Testing in California Public Schools, and SBCUSD AR 5141.3 Students Health Examinations. School Nurses will conduct annual vision screening for the grades TK/Kinder, 2nd, 5th, and 8th. The screening consists of distant and near visual acuity for all grades. Additionally, color vision screening for first grade boys. Vision screenings are also provided for IEPs and teacher/parent requests.

• HEARING: California Education Code 49452, California Code of Regulations, Title 17, Section 2952 (c)(1)),and the state of California Health Services Children’s Medical Services Branch Hearing Conservation Program. The grades screened annually for hearing are TK/Kinder, 2nd, 5th, 8th, 10th, and upon first school entry. Screening is performed by our credentialed school nurses who hold an audiometry certificate.

-South San Francisco School District Nurses

PTA Sponsored Family Event on December 19

More details to come

Click HERE for updated events at Grand and Main Library

We do plan to have field-trips again this year and in order for parents to volunteer to be chaperones, you must be a fingerprinted cleared volunteer. This process takes time! Please come to the office to pick up an application to start the process.
Want to volunteer if teachers have a need in the classroom? It is the same process. Start today!

• November 1: Staff Development Day - NO SCHOOL 🚩
• November 7: Heal Farm Mr. Norton 🚌
• November 7: School Site Council 3pm via Zoom
• November 11: Veterans Day - NO SCHOOL 🚩
• November 14: Ruby Bridges Day - Walk to School Day 👣
• November 18 - 22: Vision/Hearing Screening Kinder/2nd/5th
• November 27-29: Thanksgiving Break - NO SCHOOL 🚩
• December 4: Super Hero Spirit Day
• December 19: Winter Festival by PTA (Afternoon/early Evening Family Event)
• December 19 & 20: Minimum Day Schedule dismissal 12:55pm 🚩