August 25, 2017

Catheryn Gates Elementary School

Explorer Express Mary Patrick, Principal ~ Derk Garcia, Superintendent

www.rcsdk8.org

A Message from Mrs. Patrick

Thank you for a positive opening to our 2017-2018 school year! After a week and a half the students and teachers are in full swing of routines. Thank you to the PTC volunteers who did an amazing job of helping us with assembling our Back to School packets and Back to School backpacks.

Since creating a routine is crucial at the beginning of the year, we want to remind returning parents and let all our new parents know that we are locking the front gate to the school five minutes after the bell rings as all visitors to our campus have to check in at the front office, sign in and receive a visitor badge. This way staff and students know it is okay for you to be on campus. If you do not follow this process expect to be approached and directed to the office. Save yourself the hassle and do it right the first time!

Routines are also critical in our school parking lot. Thank you to the majority of our community who continue to follow our safety expectations. As you know, the signage on the curbs and ground are there to help support your understanding of the parking lot expectations. Please review the parking lot safety expectations which are noted later in the newsletter. Communication is critical for your child’s education. This year we will continue to use phone calls and emails home, however we will also be using Facebook (RCSD Gates), Twitter and the Remind app. If you would like to sign up for the Remind app. please follow the directions on the flyer included in this newsletter. Again, welcome back and we look forward to another great year!

BACK TO SCHOOL PACKETS

Thank you to all who have returned the

Back to School Packets! For those who

have not, please return the completed

forms as soon as possible. Please work

with your child’s teacher to ensure all

forms are completed and returned as

soon as possible.

IMPORTANT DATES

TO REMEMBER

PLC Mondays—

Every Monday

All Kindergarten Classes

9:00 am to 2:00 pm

Grades 1 to 5

8:45 am to 1:45 pm

Fall Fundraiser Kick-off

Monday, August 28

Orders Due by Friday, Sept 8

No School - Labor Day Monday, September 4

PTC Meeting - All Welcome!

Wed., Sept 20, 3:30 pm

Please refer to the calendar inside this newsletter for additional programs and activities.

No Spinners

at School For the safety of our students

no spinners will be allowed on campus.

to all the parents who attended Back to School Nights. We appreciate you taking the time to come and meet your child’s teacher.

Parking Lot Safety: Red curbs are clearly marked and therefore no one should be parking there for any reason. In case of an emergency this could cause an access issue along with the fact it disturbs the traffic pattern. The large and small loops are for DROP OFF and PICK UP only. Unfortunately we still have some people who park and leave their cars and it creates an unsafe environment in the parking lot.

Parents are encouraged to report to the office any cars/license plates who offend in the parking lot. The school does not regulate the traffic on Trehowell Drive, however you are more than welcome to contact the Roseville Police Department at 746-1023 to report unsafe traffic behavior. Several tickets have been issued after the fact when this type of reporting occurs.

HOT LUNCH

Make purchasing a hot lunch easier for your child by prepaying for lunch. You can pre-purchase any amount of lunches by dropping cash or a check off at the office. Credit card purchases can be made online at www.EZSchoolPay.com using your child’s school ID number. Ask your child or call the office for the student ID. Please take care of any balance owing on your child’s lunch account.

Attendance Daily attendance is extremely important and we want to work with families to ensure that all

children are in school on time on a regular basis. California Education Code requires parents to

see that children are at school on time and maintain regular attendance. Per California State Law

and District Policy, Catheryn Gates School will be enforcing the SARB process for truancy.

Should a child have three unexcused absences and/or three tardies in excess of 30 minutes,

parents will receive a truancy letter and a referral will be made to the Roseville Police Truancy

Division if truancy issues continue. The letter will also be faxed to the Health and Human

Resource Department if necessary. Please make every effort not to pick up your child early from

school unless it is absolutely necessary and consider making appointments on Monday

afternoons after the 1:45 dismissal. Early unexcused pick-ups are tracked and can result in

truancy letters.

Absences When your child is not in school, please call the school office at 771-1780, the morning of the

absence, press 1 and leave a message 24-hours a day. You may also email the school office at

dfreeman@rcsdk8.org. Please leave your child’s name (spell the last name), the teacher’s name

and the reason for the absence. Absences not verified within 3 days will be recorded as

unexcused.

Independent Study is available for students who will be absent for 5 to 15 consecutive school

days. Paperwork for Independent Study must be turned in one week prior to the time requested.

Forms are available in the office.

Limiting Classroom Interruptions To keep classroom interruptions to a minimum, messages delivered to students during the school day are limited to true emergencies only.

Our policy is to send an email and/or voicemail to the teacher in regards to messages and/or forgotten items. Though we try our hardest, we cannot guarantee delivery of a message. Please remind your child to always check in the office at recess if they are expecting lunch or homework to be delivered.

PTC News Welcome back Gates families! The PTC has been busy making sure this year gets off to a great start! Thanks to all of you that have already joined the PTC. Membership forms went home in the Back to School Packets and extras are also available in the office. Membership is a bargain at only $5.00 per family. Our first PTC meeting will be held on Wednesday, September 20th at 3:30 pm in the staff lounge. As always, free childcare is provided for Gates students.

Don’t forget to purchase your 4th/5th grade planners in the front office for $5 each, cash only please.

Our Fall Fundraiser with Great American Fundraising kicks off on Monday with an awesome assembly. Please be sure to keep your eyes out for the fundraising packets which will be sent home with your student on Monday. Prizes can be won for participating students! Remember all the profits raised will go towards projects to benefit our school and your student! Things like field trips, assemblies, bus transportation for field trips, grade level purchases, teacher allotments and many other things that benefit your student! Please contact us at gatesptc@gmail.com with any questions.

Need to cool off from the heat? Then you’re in luck because Thursdays are now Jamba Juice Thursdays! Please help support Catheryn Gates by purchasing a smoothie after school from 2 to 3:15 pm every Thursday. We will be featuring two flavors, strawberry mango and strawberry banana and we will have two sizes to choose from, 8 oz. for $2 and 12 oz. for $3 (Cash Only). We will be set up by the multi-purpose room. Hope to see you there!

Have you been collecting your Box Tops? If so, the first deadline for submission will be on Friday October 20th. The student with the most Box Tops will win a prize!

Please join us on Wednesday, September 20th from 4 pm- 10 pm for our first Family Food Night of the year at The Habit. The Habit is generously donating 20% of all their proceeds to Gates so take a night off from cooking dinner and support your school at the same time. It's a win- win! See the flyer included in this newsletter for location and bring in for the discount.

Our Scholastic Book Fair and Harvest Festival are coming up during the week of October 9th - 13th and we are looking for volunteers. Volunteers are essential in making this event a success, and any and all help is appreciated. If you'd like to help out with this event please contact us at gatesptc@gmail.com.

A big Thank You to all the volunteers that helped getting the back to school and fall fundraiser packets together, as well as a huge thank you to Mary Haase & Mia Melville for doing a wonderful job organizing the Back 2 School Backpacks!

Our school is in need of volunteers to coach this year for Girls on the Run (GOTR)!

We have had this AMAZING program at Gates for the past 8 years. Let's keep this program at our school for Spring 2018! If you are interested in coaching, please contact kankley@rcsdk8.org for more information or go to www.gotrsac.org. The deadline is quickly approaching, volunteer now!

Not able to coach a team of 15 girls? Do you run? Then how about becoming a solemate? More information at www.gotrsac.org or try donating $0.25/mile to GOTR Sacramento using the Charity Miles app.

LABOR DAY

HOLIDAY NO SCHOOL

2017 Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri

28 29 30 31 1

4 5 6 7 8

11 12 13 14 15

18 19 20 21 22

25 26 27 28 29

RCSD Board Mtg 6 pm at DO

PICTURE DAY

Young Rembrandts Art

1:50 - 2:50 MPR

Young Rembrandts Art

1:50 - 2:50 MPR

PLC Monday

PLC Monday

Young Rembrandts Art

1:50 - 2:50 MPR

PLC Monday

Sami Assembly Teacher Work Day

NO SCHOOL

1st Grade Class Machado Orchard 9:15 — 12:15

PTC Meeting 3:30 pm

1st Grade Class Machado Orchard 9:15 — 12:15

1st Grade Class Machado Orchard 9:15 — 12:15

1st Grade Class Machado Orchard 9:15 — 12:15

Intellibricks 3:15-4:45 MPR

Sami Circuit #1

Fall Fundraiser Assembly

PLC Monday

Honey Code 3:10 - 4:20 Library

Honey Code 3:10 - 4:20 Library

Honey Code 3:10 - 4:20 Library

AUGUST AUGUST AUGUST AUGUST

Spirit Wear Orders Due

Sami Circuit Family Night 6 pm

PE REMINDERS

Don’t forget to dress your child properly on his/her PE days. PE is scheduled two days a week and children should be dressed comfortably for physical activity and wear suitable shoes for running. Please contact your student’s teacher for the PE schedule.

Family Night at Habit 4-10 pm

September 27th

Fall Fundraiser Orders Due