Make sure to mark your calendars for the following events at Roosevelt this week:

Monday, April 9
Classes resume

Site Council / ELAC meeting at 6:30pm in the Faculty Lounge (Room 14). Come and hear the latest district and school news. We will also be discussing the new drop off zones and plans for the drop off zone on Euclid and news from the District Grade Configuration Committee. All are encouraged to attend and Spanish translation is available.

Important Dates…
April 24 – May 2 – CST Testing
April 24 – PTA meeting at 5:30pm in Room 14 (Note: earlier start time due to CST testing)
May 4 – RCEF benefit at Pacific Shores Center
May 5 – Cinco de Mayo Celebration / Rummage Sale
May 7 – Last Site Council / ELAC meeting at 6:00pm in Room 14
May 7 – May 11 – 5th graders at Outdoor Education
May 15 – Last PTA Meetting at 6:00pm in Room 14
May 24 – Open House / PBL Fair 5:30-6:30, Bingo 6:30pm
May 28 – Memorial Day – No School
June 6 – Minimum Day
June 7 – Last Day of School! — Super Minimum Day — All grades dismissed at 12:00

Drop off and Pick up News…
Over Spring Break the new parking spaces for the staff were drawn. They can now only be accessed by driving down Vera from Alameda de las Pulgas. Please pay attention to the new loading zone areas and drive down Vera from Alameda de las Pulgas to use the drop zones. Please drive forward so that anyone behind can safely drop off their children as well. The drop off zone times are 7:30am to 8:30am and then 1:00pm to 3:00pm on school days. Officers from the Redwood City Police Department will give out tickets for making U turns, double parking, parking in the red zones and fire lanes, or parking in the handicap spaces. The curb on Euclid will also be painted white and drop zone signs added after approval from the city.  If you normally drive up Vera, you need to drive up Madison and make a Left on to Winslow and then a left on to Vera to use the drop zone.

On the Parent Blog…
The two 4th grade classes presented their Rocks and Minerals PBL presentation before the break and Ms Coyle’s 6th graders presented an Author Showcase. Each student read an original essay to their classmates and an audience of parents and visitors. I was only able to attend the morning presentation to take pictures, so if anyone has pictures, from the afternoon presentation, please let me know and I’ll add those to the blog. If your child wants to write something about what’s going on in their classroom or an after school activity, please let me know and I’ll be happy to post it.  As always, check out the parent blog to see these pictures and more. www.rooseveltparents.com

CST Testing and Final Benchmark Test…
The California Star Test begins on April 24 and ends on May 2 for 2nd through 6th graders. The 1st graders will also be taking their final benchmark test of the year. The PTA would once again like to put together snacks for the students taking the test to give them a little bit of much needed energy and also show them support and encouragement. The PTA is asking for donations of snack items – pretzels, Cheerios, Chex, goldfish crackers, popcorn, etc. that can be put into baggies for each student for each day of testing. Volunteers are also needed to assemble the snacks. Donations may be dropped off in the office and more information will follow about volunteering next week.

Rummage Sale…
Our Rummage Sale will be combined with a Cinco de Mayo celebration on May 5, 2012! Our PTA president, Aurora Gallardo needs help sorting and pricing the donated items that have been stored in the PTA room and selling booth space. Parents are also needed to help cook food for the festivities. 10×10 foot stalls are also available to rent by anyone that wants to sell at the rummage sale so ask family and friends if they want to rent a stall.

For more information, please contact Aurora at aurora.gallardo@star-vista.org

Box Tops…
We have one more Box Tops Contest running this year – you have raised almost $800 for our school, just by turning in BoxTops!

We are hoping for some small prize donations for our last contest of the year.  We are going to offer raffle tickets for every 5 box tops that are turned in, and that raffle ticket will allow the child to win a prize.  We are hoping to collect some prizes from our parents – movie tickets, small gift cards to Corner Yogurt or Jamba Juice, Target, Lego sets, cool books in English and Spanish – be creative!  If you have a prize you can donate, please send an email to megan.goulden@gmail.com.

Parcel Tax Phone Banking…
The parcel tax committee has assigned Roosevelt to 2 phone bank nights for Measure W (the parcel tax).   We need 20 people per night and they are fun and easy.   All we do is call people to understand whether they are supporters or not.   No convincing required!

Our scheduled Phone Bank nights are scheduled for Thursday, April 12 and Thursday, May 10 from 5:30-8:30pm.   Send an email to Dave Goulden at  dave.goulden@gmail.com  or click here to sign-up directly on the website.  To read the latest on Measure W go to Redwood City Community for Better Schools.

RCEF Benefit…
Tickets are now on sale for the RCEF’s Benefit for a Brighter Future to be held on May 4, 2012 at 5:30pm at the Pacific Shores Club. For more information about the event, go to www.benefitforabrighterfuture.org. To learn more about what the RCEF does for our schools, go to www.rcef.org

Have a great week!