Sea Lion Spotlight

Malibu Elementary Parent Newsletter #27 - February 19, 2024

Principal's Pen

Hello MES Sea Lion Families,

Students continue to explore and enjoy our beautiful campus during their recess breaks. We’re thankful for the Instructional Aides who keep an eye on the students’ behavior, as well as providing instruction. This week we’ve been fortunate to have a parent volunteer guide the students in baseball down on the grass area. Thank you, Tim Corliss! The students are loving baseball and more and more join in play every day.

We are mindful and aware of the creative behavior of our students and sometimes we are short on supervision staff, so we will close some areas from time to time so students have a chance to reflect on expectations and we can provide great proximity and better supervision. We do have the best campus for play! Right?

On Friday all students were treated to a pancake breakfast with parent Miriam Hoof-Meeker. Thank you, Miriam! And thank you to all the other volunteer parents too! The event was a wonderful way to close out Valentines Week at MES. Below are a few photos.

Happy long weekend!! That's right, Monday is Presidents Day and school will be closed.

Thank you for your partnership,

Proud Principal Chris Hertz

Highlights

zoom_out_map

Below are some recent photos of our amazing students, staff, and parents. There are more photos in the last section of the newsletter! If you have a great photo, please send it to Principal Hertz for consideration. Thank you!

Important Dates Coming Soon

Full Academic Calendar Link

Mon 02/19 Presidents Day Holiday / No School
Wed 02/21 Fourth Grade Field Trip / 8:45 - 2:15 @ West Basin Water District - El Segundo
Thur 02/22 Fifth Grade Dance Show / 11 - 11:30 @ cafeteria (5th grade parents only)

Fourth Grade Dance Show / 11:30 - 12 @ cafeteria (4th grade parents only)

Fr 02/23 - Dress up as your Favorite Book Character Day / Spirit Day!

.

Looking farther forward...

Mon 2/26 Third Grade Field Trip to Malibu Lagoon
Wed 03/13 Bingo Night! / 5-7 @ cafeteria (Supports 5th grade!)
Fri 03/22 Last Day of School before Spring Break
Mon 3/4 second grader fieldtrip to Heal the Bay aquarium @ Santa Monica pier
Fri 3/22 Lost and Found to Charity / 1:30pm
Mar 25 - Apr 5 Spring Break
Mon 04/08 Return to School from Spring Break
Mon 05/27 Memorial Day Holiday / No School
Wed 06/12 Last Day of School
Spring Report Cards Sent Home

Articles for Parents

5th to 6th Orientation Activities 2024

Wed., February 28th - Parents invited to MMS for a presentation in the library at 9:30 followed by a tour at 10:30am.
Wed., February 28th- Principal and Counselor visit 5th grade classroom 1:30pm.
Wed., March 6th - Students & teacher come to MMS for fun & games, tour, and lunch. Buses pick up at 9:30 and leave MMS at 12:15. Lunch will be provided.

MMS Principal Greg Schellenberg

Counselor Lorene Whitehouse, M.Ed., P.P.S.

Accessing Lexia and DreamBox: A Step-by-Step Guide Link

The SMMUSD Parent Resource Network

PRN Meetup: The SMMUSD Parent Resource Network is hosting a meetup for all Malibu parents of Special Education students, or students with IEPs. Let's get together, share resources, and support one another! Malibu PRN representatives will be there to answer any questions about the IEP process, and share information about upcoming events. Please join us at Malibu Pacific Church, 3324 Malibu cyn. Rd., Thursday February 22, 6:30-7:30, upstairs in the event space. Please RSVP and direct any questions to denise.prn.smmusd@gmail.com.

Special Education Parent Workshop

The next parent workshop will be on March 14th at 4:30 p.m. at Webster. The focus will be on supports when students transition from one level to the next level (ie, prek to k, 5th to 6th, 8th to 9th).

Carmen M. Durand

Special Education Coordinator

Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District

(310) 450- 8338 Ext. 70-378

SMMUSD Climate and Culture Survey

Dear Parents, Guardians, Staff and Students,

Santa Monica-Malibu School District (SMMUSD) has partnered with Hanover Research to conduct a short survey to gather input from students in grades 4-12, all staff, and all parents about our school district’s climate and culture. We encourage you to share your opinions about your experiences in SMMUSD in order to inform the decisions made by school and district administrators.

Hanover Research is an independent research firm based in Washington, D.C., and is in no way affiliated with any other entity or organization. All information you provide will be maintained on a confidential basis by Hanover Research and will only be reported to SMMUSD in grouped or aggregated form only (i.e., de-identified data), so please be candid in your responses.

Please use the following link to take the survey: LINK

Survey deadline is: Thursday February 29, 2024.

We appreciate your participation.

Thank you,

Dr. Stacy Williamson
Assessment, Research and Evaluation

MBGC Information - February

The Boys & Girls Club of Malibu aims to provide a fun, safe, and creative environment for all Malibu youth to thrive, find support through positive mentorship, develop important life skills, and receive social and emotional support. We are currently offering: Link

More Highlights

WAIT UNTIL 8TH

The Wait Until 8th pledge empowers parents to rally together to delay giving children a smartphone until at least 8th grade. By banding together, this will decrease the pressure felt by kids and parents alike over the kids having a smartphone. Please note that this pledge is for smartphones only! If you would like your child to have a basic phone that just calls and texts, you still can sign the pledge! The basic phone avoids many of the distractions and dangers of the smartphone.

Top 5 Reasons To Delay Getting a Smartphone

1 Smartphones are changing childhood.

2 They are distracting and addicting.

3 Smartphones expose your child to...

4 They increase risk for anxiety and depression.

5 Cyberbullying is an important concern.

To learn more, please visit www.waituntil8th.org or check out Wait Until 8th’s Instagram account.