Emerson Elementary 4803 Lawton Avenue Oakland, CA 94609 July

Emerson Elementary 4803 Lawton Avenue Oakland, CA 94609 July 23, 2015 Dear Emerson Family: We are excited to welcome you to Emerson Elementary and we want to take this opportunity to tell you about our school and give you some important information about what comes next. Community Play Dates are every first Saturday of every month from 11AM to 1PM on the Kindergarten playground, all ages welcome. Our next Play Date is August 1st. This is great way to meet other families and find out more about the school. New Family Welcome Event on Saturday, August 15th from 10am to noon on the Kindergarten yard. Come meet the Principal, the TK and Kinder teachers, see the classrooms, have a snack, meets some other families and ask lots of questions! Balanced Beginnings is a program for kindergarteners that allow teachers to know and assess their students before permanently placing them in a classroom. This process usually takes one week. All kindergarten families will be receiving information about this process. Mandatory Registration August 18th through 20th. The office will be open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Please come between 9a - 12p or between 1p - 3p. You must have filled out all paperwork and submitted all forms to complete registration. Your student will not receive their classroom assignment or be allowed to attend class until all paperwork has been completed. Class assignments will be posted on www.EmersonSchool.net website for two days prior to the start of school, and on outside the office on the first day of school. Your child will appear on this list only if registration is complete. Our Newsletter and Website are the BEST ways to keep up with all things Emerson. Our website: www.EmersonSchool.net is fully updated with great information on back-to-school, how to get involved, and has a calendar that is up to date. From our home page you can also sign up for out monthly digital newsletter – which has updates on what is happening month to month at Emerson. We are excited to welcome five new teachers this year and lots of new support staff! 1st Grade – TBD 1st Grade – Peter Limata 2nd Grade – Melissa Frost 5th Grade – David Kessler Science & Technology Teacher – Kasondra Walsh Restorative Justice Coordinator – Yari Sandel School Culture Coordinator – Alex Walton Common Core Teacher Leader – Maureen Whalen

With murals on the walls, halls filled with art, music on the stage, and a vibrant, caring community, Emerson is an enriching space for kids to grow. Our fabulous group of teachers is well known for how well they work together. They are constantly learning from each other, sharing best practices, and looking for ways to build community among the students of Emerson. Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is a core component of our school culture. Research shows that social emotional skills are critical to being a good student and citizen. Additionally, when SEL skills are infused into a child’s life, risky behaviors can be reduced and even prevented. One main pillar of support for SEL is Restorative Justice, and we are working intensely with highly trained staff to implement Restorative Justice school wide. This work will focus on positive goal making, empathy for others, fostering and maintaining positive relationships, and making responsible choices. Our goal for the students and families at Emerson Elementary School is to build a strong culture of socialemotional wellness. This will be recognized through improved adjustment in the classroom, less emotional distress, and more positive social behaviors and peer relationships. Emerson administration, along with staff and community have also introduced a new Positive Behavior Plan which outlines the model and expectations for our students around campus. The motto is “Be Safe, Be Responsible, Be Respectful.” With Principal Palin’s guidance and the support of ALL school staff, we will be teaching kids how to be successful in each area of school to create a positive and safe environment. Caring School Communities is a school-wide community-building program that teaches nonviolence skills to our students; facilitates cross-age buddies and weekly class meetings; and helps us build a tight-knit community. As part of our effort to create a school culture that welcomes and celebrates diversity, Our Family Coalition had led trainings with our teachers in their Welcoming Schools Program. Welcoming Schools addresses family diversity, gender stereotyping, bullying and name-calling, specifically for elementary school age children. Emerson expects excellence in academics. We were one of the first schools in Oakland to pioneer the Balanced Literacy curriculum. The Balanced Literacy approach incorporates many reading strategies in order to meet the varying needs of all students. One core component is a well-stocked classroom library where the students can choose books that interest them at their reading level. Because this emphasizes reading for pleasure, Balanced Literacy helps our students develop a love of reading that will last them a lifetime. In addition to our rich classroom libraries, our welcoming and well-stocked school library welcomes children for browsing and checkout. Emerson also offers a full slate of fantastic enrichment programs and physical education, helping every kind of learner find their best way to connect with school. With choral music by Cantare Con Vivo every week (TK-2) all our students learn to read and write music by second grade. For our third through fifth graders, Cantare Con Vivo teaches music that brings history to life. In Orchestra class, fourth and fifth graders study horns, strings, and more in our band program, which provides a great musical foundation and many students go on to excel in middle school and high school bands. Emerson Elementary is located just one block away from Studio One Art Center. Every year, our students participate in an art elective at Studio One focusing on a specific discipline (like ceramics, sculpture, painting, public art, cartooning, or animation). We have a school-wide poetry program – California Poets in the Schools which empowers Emerson students to express their verbal creativity, envisioning imagination, and intellectual curiosity through writing, performing and publishing their own poetry.

Full-time coaches from Hero Inc., are on hand to provide structure and get kids moving during morning drop-off, recess, and lunch. During weekly PE classes and after school, Hero coaches teach our students to play a variety of sports and games. Emerson is in bloom with three garden projects: a kindergarten vegetable garden, an upper grade fruit and vegetable garden, and a fruit orchard. Our garden teacher works school wide with each class to build environmental literacy and encourage healthy habits. Our whole school has access to fresh produce through our salad bar courtesy of a Whole Foods grant. Next to our garden is our dedicated Science Classroom. Each class has a dedicated hour of science instruction and hands-on projects. For our older students, this time also includes learning to use technology and getting comfortable with computers. We have a few after-care options for working families. Umoja Village is for families needing fulltime care, onsite, and is free of charge. This program is available for first grade and up. Umoja Village offers tutoring, supervised play, sports training, gardening, special programs and more. Needs-based aftercare is also provided for children at our Early Childhood Education Center. Other choices for our families with full or part-time options are nearby Studio One Art Center and Mosswood Rec Center. Both of these off-site programs pick up in the classroom and offer financial aid. Our Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) is a welcoming group of parents and grandparents, teachers and administrators that organizes school-wide events, funds field trips and enrichment programs, works to beautify the school, and supports the teachers and administration at Emerson. We welcome your input and excitement; you can help shape our school! Sincerely, The Emerson Administration and Parent Teacher Organization (PTO).

* If you are not planning on attending Emerson in the 2015/2016 School year, please let the office know right away at 510-654-7373 so we can adjust our records accordingly.