Newhart News – Back to School Night- Thursday September 19th 6pm-8pm

Welcome to Newhart-

We want to welcome all of our new and returning students, parents, teachers, and staff. This has been one of the most enthusiastic starts to a year and are truly excited for the 2013-2014 school year.

We here at Newhart try our best to keep you informed about what is happening at school. Ways we keep you informed are by sending out this weekly email with current information, updating our website on a regular basis, and also phone calls home from the principal. We recommend checking out the Newhart website as there are many helpful links and resources posted for parents and students. We hope everyone is having a great week and wonderful year.

PBIS Day-

This Friday, September 13^th is our Positive Behavior Intervention and Support day. PBIS is a fun way for the students to learn about the behavior expectations at Newhart. Students will stay with their first period teacher all day while being engaged in different activities. Throughout the day students will be involved in discussions, attend an assembly with a motivational speaker, and participate in different activities regarding bullying, setting a positive example, school rules, etc. It will also be the first fire drill of the school year in the afternoon. Students are encouraged to wear their spirit wear or red/black and will need their agendas.

Back to School Night- Thursday September 19^th 6pm-8pm

It is that time of year again, we are looking forward to seeing all of our parents next Thursday night. This is a minimum school day with a dismissal time of 12:45pm.

A few reminders about Back to school night …

· Parking can be scarce, so we recommend arriving early.

· Back to School Night is designed for parents and we encourage students to remain at home

· Lastly, the purpose of Back to School Night is to learn about the standards and curriculum your child will encounter this year. If you have specific questions about your child, we ask that you call or email the teacher individually

The first weeks of schools have been very successful and we have enjoyed seeing our returning Panthers as well as meeting our new Panthers. We look forward to seeing you at Back to School Night so that we can share the exciting things we have planned for this year!

PTA’s PIE Fundraiser-

“Partners in Education” is Newhart PTA’s main fundraiser of the year. Please support us so we can provide the best education for your students.

Newhart PTA has set a fundraising goal of $30,000 to provide classroom instructional materials for core subjects and electives. CUSD has approved investing in infrastructure to make Newhart a complete wireless campus and PTA wants to complement this with technology purchases that will improve your students’ classroom experience on a daily basis. Please see the Newhart website for more information.

PTA Meeting-

The first PTA General meeting of the school year is this Thursday at 9am in the library.

Important reminder about arriving at school early-

Newhart Middle School does not open for students until 8:15am Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays and 9:15am Wednesdays. Students are not to arrive on campus earlier than this. Please do not drop off students before these times, there is no supervision available.

Drop off & Pick up-

Please remember when dropping off and picking up your students from Newhart to follow all posted traffic signs on La Paz and Veterans Way. There are often sheriff officers out giving tickets for those who do not. Also, when entering the Newhart parking lot from Veterans Way please do not block the driveway, follow all one way arrows and stay with the flow of traffic. We want all students and parents to be safe so please be considerate. A map is available on the schools website.

Newhart Book Club Meeting

Stargirl, by Jerry Spinelli: When a homeschooled student begins regular high school, the students react to her strange ways.

Tuesday, November 5th, 7:00-8:00 P.M. @ Newhart Library

1. Read the book.

2. Come to the meeting.

3. Discuss the book while you eat cookies!

· The Newhart Library has copies of Stargirl.

· Families are welcome!

· For more information, e-mail Mrs. Wendehost at mswendehost@capousd.org.

· Please preview any book that your child reads.

VFW Middle School Essay Contest-

Every year the VFW in our community service efforts, work hard to assist teachers in ensuring students are provided an opportunity to get a jump start in their education. A huge part of this is our national scholarship programs.

The Dana Point VFW Post 9934 has the distinction of being rated as the top post in the state of California for our tireless efforts in community services particularly in educating and inspiring our youth.

We wish to display these outstanding teachers and students though the annual scholarship competitions being held nationwide in our Teacher of the Year Award, Voice of Democracy speech competition, (high school level), and the Patriots Pen essay competition for middle schools.

The deadline for submissions is November 1, 2013.

If you require further details or need assistance, please feel free to call Michael Yawn at (949) 235-2992 Dana Point VFW Post 9934

Tdap vaccine requirement for students entering 7th grade

Whooping cough (pertussis) has been widespread in California. Many students have had to miss school because they were sick. To help protect your children and others from whooping cough, a new California law now requires students to be vaccinated against whooping cough.

For the 2013-2014 school year, all students entering 7th through 12th grades will need proof of an adolescent whooping cough booster shot (commonly called the “Tdap” vaccine) before starting school.

Parent Portal-

Please remember to register for the Parent Portal! Starting this school year, the Capistrano Unified School District will institute a paperless report card system.

Benefits of having a Parent Portal account:

· Online 2013-14 re-registration: Eliminate a substantial portion of the annual forms by updating and submitting the data online through the Portal instead of having to complete it by hand.

· Update and keep emergency contact information updated yourself all year long.

· View/Print live up-to-the-minute attendance data

· View/Print report card grades

· View/Print unofficial transcripts

· View/Print test scores including college test scores

· View future course requests

· View/Print current class schedule

· View/Print graduation status report

· View/Update medical information

· View school and district calendars, events (if posted)

Once created, the Parent Portal account follows student to whichever school they are attending in CUSD.

Instructions on how to request a paper copy was included with June report cards. For more information visit Newhart Middle School: Home Page