ADMINISTRATION’S

CONTACT INFORMATION

1500 Biscayne Blvd.

Miami, FL 33132

Phone

(305) 523-8390

November 2012

Volume 3

Dear Parents of M-DCPS PLC: November is a time that welcomes seasonal changes and family gatherings of giving thanks to all the wonderful aspects life has to offer. As I count my blessings this year, I am grateful to be part of this community that is committed to serving and caring for others. I truly thank you for your continuous support and the support of our faculty and staff who work together for the best interest of our children.

Sincerely, Alberto M. Carvalho, Principal

Principal’s Message

Alberto M. Carvalho, Pr incipal

Ail lette A. Diaz, Ass istant Principal

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iPLC Times

Calendar of Events

November 1 – Principal TODAY® Breakfast

November 5- Reading Interim Assessment (Gr. 3)

November 6- Election Day! VOTE!

No SCHOOL! Teacher Planning Day

November 7- Faculty Meeting (2:15 p.m.)

Math Interim Assessment (K-3)

November 8 – Principal Today, Mr. Jorge Rios,

International Financial Advisor,

Merrill Lynch comes to

visit the PLC.

November 9- Last day to pay for Thanksgiving

Feast

November 12- No School – Veteran’s Day

November 13-16th – Homeless Awareness Week

Canned Food Drive! (See page 8)

November 14 – Homeless Awareness Day

EESAC Meeting at 3:15 p.m.

November 16- Report Cards Go Home

3rd Grade Field Trip to MDC

November 17- PTA Family Event at Virginia Key

November 22-23- No School – Thanksgiving Recess

November 26 – Audio Enhancement CEO Visits

November 26-30 – PLC is Open to Parents

Laboratory Demonstration

November 28- Honor Roll Ceremony (Grade 1)

November 29- Honor Roll Ceremony (Grades 2-3)

Location: Cafeteria

Inside this Issue Principal’s Message 1

Thanksgiving Feast 1

Calendar of Events 1

Teacher of the Year &

Rookie Teacher of the Year 2

Bullying Prevention Month 3

Report Card Comments 3

Morning Drop-off 3

Literacy Parade Success! 4

Box Tops! 4

School News 5-10

Parent Volunteer Info. 11-13

A Look Ahead! 14

Thanksgiving Feast

Parents, some grade levels are planning on having a Thanksgiving Feast with their classes on Thursday, November 15th. Please contact your child’s teacher for more information. If your child’s class is planning a feast and you plan on attending, please give your child’s teacher $3.00 by November 9th so that a dish can be ordered for

you.

CONGRATULATIONS!

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Christine Rosario

3rd Grade Teacher

Teacher of the Year!

Vanessa Corujo Kindergarten Teacher

Rookie Teacher of the Year!

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Bullying Prevention Month

Mental health professionals have important roles in helping to change the behavior of youths who bully others. To be effective, mental health professionals need a clear understanding of the roots of bullying behavior and a focus on those strategies that are likely to work. It is also important to understand what approaches may inadvertently make the bullying behavior worse. Bullying is aggressive behavior that is intentional and that involves an imbalance of power or strength. Often, it is repeated over time and can take many forms. Many young people who bully see their own behavior as justified. Many are viewed by peers and teachers as popular at school. According to Olweus (1993), children who bully are likely to come from home situations in which there is little warmth and little positive adult attention, and in which discipline is inconsistent and periodically emotionally and physically aggressive. These young people may not develop adequate empathy for others and may not make cause-and-effect connections between their own actions and the consequences of those actions. Instead of re-examining their own behavior when they get in trouble for hurting others, they may blame adults in authority or the children whom they hurt. Consequences for bullying at school, in sports situations and in other environments may be rare or inconsistent. Without supervision, clear expectations, and consistent consequences, youths who enjoy the power and social status gained from bullying are less likely to change.

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Morning Drop-off

While dropping your child off at school, please make sure you drive all the way forward to the arrows, towards the yellow bollards, where it says DROP OFF HERE DROP OFF HERE For safety reasons, please do not get out from your vehicle, do not release them prior to arriving at the bollards, and make sure your child is seated on the right side of the car. Parking lot supervision will not be provided after 8:10 a.m. Security Monitor will be available to cross students safely.

Report Card Comments

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Literacy Parade Success!

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Box Tops!

Box Top and Labels for Education The first Box Tops/Labels for Education contest ended and the class who collected the most is Ms. Duarte's Kindergarten and the second place class was Mrs. Rosario's Kindergarten. Congratulations to both classes!!! Students will soon be rewarded for their wonderful collection efforts. The next contest begins immediately and runs through Friday February 22nd, 2013. Remember a few tips:

Please only turn in non-expired Box Tops that say "official coupon 10¢."

Please include the UPC along with the Labels for Education symbol.

V-8 Drinks, Wolfgang Puck Sauce & Prego Sauce require cap instead of the UPC

Photocopies of Box Tops and Labels for Education cannot be accepted.

Also keep in mind if you are doing already your shopping for the holidays or any shopping (Apple Store, Macys, Lego, ToysRus, Walmart, and more) please buy via Box Tops Marketplace website at http://www.boxtops4education.com/earn/marketplace/Default.aspx and the PLC will receive eBoxTops. Please visit http://www.boxtops4education.com/ to find out more.

And if you have a Target Redcard or would like to apply for one, remember that Target's Take Charge of Education is a year-round program that can give money to the PLC based on your Redcard purchases. Simply visit to

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On October 31, 2012 Pre-K students participated in PLC’s Literacy Parade.

Ms.Mir’s class chose “Llama Llama Red Pajama “by Anna Dewdney. The

students worked diligently on making their props and used a variety of art

materials and recyclables. The boys were dressed up as baby llama in

their red pajamas, Llama’s ears on their heads and were holding puppet

Llamas in their hands. The girls were dressed up as Llama’s mama and

wore blue aprons, and white beaded necklaces made by them using

model magic. In addition, students also decorated their quilt and

paraded proudly throughout the office areas as they chanted “Llama

Llama, don’t you know, mama llama loves you. “

Ms. Hernandez and Ms. Smith’s class voted on The Tale of the Three Little.

The students worked on making their head bands and voted as a class as

to what they should wear. The girls were the pigs and the boys were the

wolves. Throughout the parade the wolves would state “Let me come in”

and the pigs would say “not by the hair by chinny chin chin” The wolves

would respond “ so I will huff and puff and blow your house down.”

Ms. Chau and Ms. Marie’ chose “Class of Characters” dressed up as

characters from their favorite story book. The students participated in a

group discussion were they each shared why they chose their book and

their favorite part about the story.

All the students had a wonderful time!

LOOKING AHEAD: Friday, November 9, 2012: The deadline for the Thanksgiving Luncheon. The luncheon will be held in our classroom at 11:20 a.m. (The payment of $3.00 needs to be made to the cafeteria.)

Thursday, November 15, 2012: Thanksgiving Luncheon - The luncheon will be held in our classroom at 11:20 a.m.!

School News!

Pre-Kindergarten

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Kindergarten had a SPOOKTACULAR October! The students were able to travel the world using their virtual passport to visit Hispanic countries. We would like to congratulate all students of the week for their hard work and dedication. The character parade was a great success and we look forward to future celebrations. In the month of November, we will be doing a thematic unit on owls. We will also be giving thanks for a great start to our kindergarten year. Thank you parents for your continued support in your child’s education.

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Kindergarten

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The month of October brought our first grade students many opportunities to learn about

different cultures. Each first grade class selected a different Latin American country and

during the month, immersed themselves in the history, geography, literature, art and music

of that country. On October 25th, our students had the opportunity to present what they

had learned during our “Hispanic Heritage Showcase”. Parents and other guests were

transported to Columbia, Mexico and Puerto Rico and our students impressed one and all with

all they had learned.

During the month of November, our students will continue to explore different cultures and

traditions; but this time they will remain a little closer to home. This month, we will be

focusing on the continent of North America. Our students will learn about the geography,

features of our continent, and the first Thanksgiving in Social Studies. In Reading, they will

learn about our Native American people through literature; with a specific focus on legends

and pourquoi tales.

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Second Grade Ms. Kisselback and Mrs. Bloom want to give a very special thank you to the parents of

Samantha C., Zack C., Yusef B., Ivo D., Lorenzo B., Ife R., and Vivienne F. for their

donations to our 2nd grade classrooms. Each and every student will benefit

greatly from these generous contributions. We kindly thank you for your support!

Since the beginning of school, Ms. Kisselback and Mrs. Bloom

have maintained a classroom website documenting each academic

week. We both use this website to share pictures and information

about all the exciting lessons the students are completing. Our

share site has become a wonderful way to keep everyone actively

involved and informed about their child’s daily accomplishments

here at the PLC. Every Friday, one of us updates the website with a

letter about the concepts and activities we have completed in class.

The second grade team would now like to invite the rest of our

PLC community to log on and see what we have been up to!

http://plcsecondgrade.shutterfly.com/

password: sequoia

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Third Grade

Reminders

Scholastic online orders have resumed! Ordering online is fast and easy:

REGISTER at https://orders.scholastic.com/HXN6Q

CHOOSE from thousands of print titles, value packs, and Storia(TM) eBooks

SUBMIT the order

Students should be reading their Accelerated Reader books daily

November 6th

: Teacher Work Day-No school for students

November 12th

: No school in observation of Veterans Day

November 17th

: Annual Historic Virginia Key Beach

Fundraiser 10:00AM-4:30PM

October Updates

Throughout the month of October, the students had been learning about different perspectives by

comparing traditional fairytales and fractured fairytales. Throughout this process, we decided to conduct a

mock trial enabling us to learn about the court system and the responsibilities of each member. We had

guest Judge Smith and defense attorney, Attorney Moffitt, speak to the students about their professions and

followed up these discussions with a question/answer session. On Tuesday, October 23rd, 2012 at 9:45 AM

at the “Once upon a Time Courthouse” (also known as room 148) the case of The 3rd

Little Pig versus

Alexandra T. Wolf officially took place. I am happy to share that the Wolf (portrayed by me) was found

innocent!

I wanted to thank each and every one of you for making my birthday so incredibly special!

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November Projects

As mentioned in our previous Newsletter, our class began writing our own fractured fairytale of which the

characters were based on the characters they dressed up as, for the Literature Parade. The final product is

almost complete and we are looking forward to sharing our fascinating story!

November Birthdays

There are no November birthdays

Here Ye, Here Ye!

Congratulations to the Following Students: Perfect Attendance for the Month of October

Arnedo, Federico Levin-Duran, Romina

Bertot, Carla Mendoza, Hilary

Chew, Jaimes Nasai-Stewart, Aliyah

Dueñas, Hector Padilla, Andrea

Fleurelus, Jaz'Mine Robinson, Nicolas

Girala, Lucas Hughes, Kymani

Congratulations to the Following Students: Zero Tardies for the Month of October

Arnedo, Federico Girala, Lucas

Bertot, Carla Padilla, Andrea

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Parent Volunteer Information

Parent Involvement Guidelines 1. Ten (10) hours are required per family regardless of number of children in the household. 2. The student’s parents and grandparents or guardians should complete hours. Extended family is approved on a case-by-case basis, beginning with immediate caregivers. The easiest way to provide this list is to include those family members on your student’s dismissal form. The minimum age of the person completing these involvement hours is 21. 3. A minimum of half the required hours (for each school) should be completed during the second semester of school. 4. All hours must be completed AND recorded by 4 p.m. on May 31st. 5. All hours served must be recorded on a “Record of Volunteer Hours” form and signed by a school staff member. What qualifies for Parent Involvement Time? Time that assists the school, teachers, and classes qualifies to earn parent involvement hours. These items include:

Assisting with morning arrival

, car line, etc.

Attending PTA Meetings

rking to improve school building and grounds nging food or drink for events

What Does Not Qualify as Involvement Time? Time that is spent with only your child, at school or away from school, is good parenting time and not considered involvement time for the school. These items will not satisfy the parent involvement commitment:

Scouts

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M-DCPS PLC Parent Volunteer Log

2012-2013 STEP 1: Log into www.plcpta.org STEP 2: Click on Volunteer

STEP 3: Click on Parent Volunteer Log and Scroll Down

AS EASY AS 1-2-3

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STEP 4: Complete the following fields: Student’s Name, Student’s Homeroom Teacher, Parent/Guardian Name, Date Volunteered, Amount of Volunteer Time, Type of Volunteer Activity, Describe the Volunteer Activity Listed Above, Email, and type in letters.

STEP 5: Review and click SUBMIT Please make sure to complete update your log weekly. A monthly report will be generated and verified by a PTA Board Member (if it was a PTA related volunteer opportunity) or a staff member (if it was a school related opportunity).

1

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5

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10

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3rd – Winter After-care Enhancement Class Begin

5th – UF Teacher Fellow Meeting at 3:15 p.m.

7th – iPrep Students invite PLC After-care Students to Watch Polar Express at iPrep

11th – PLC Holiday Show at 9:00 a.m. (1st – 3rd Grade)

12th – Faculty Meeting at 2:15 p.m.

14th – PLC Holiday Show at 9:00 a.m. (Pre-K and K)

21st – Last Day of School prior to Winter Recess

24th – Jan. 4th – Winter Recess

Jan. 7th – Classes Resume

Tentative

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