LAUSD's Transitional Kindergarten
Helps Younger Students Catch Up

Ask the parents of a youngster born late in the year about enrolling their not-quite-5-year-old in kindergarten, and they'll likely describe the dilemma about whether to send their child to school or hold him back.

That quandary will be resolved this fall under a new state law that gradually moves up the date that children are eligible to enroll in kindergarten. The December 2nd milestone that has been in place for decades will be September 1st by 2014.

The law also mandates the creation of transitional kindergarten, giving those younger students an additional year to master the academic, social and developmental skills required of today's kindergartners.

Winnetka Avenue School has been offering this exciting program for the last two years and will continue to offer the Transitional Kindergarten program in the fall of 2012.  Students turning 5 between November 2 and December 2, 2012 are eligible to apply.  Permits are available for students outside our attendance area.  

Read the rest of the article written by the daily news about Winnetka Elementary School

California Standardized Testing

Students in Grades 2 through 5 will be taking the CST beginning on Monday, May 7 and continuing through Monday, May 14 for most grade levels.  Testing will start promptly the first thing each morning so it is important students are at school on time. 

Here are some helpful hints:

Get a good nights' rest.

Eat a good breakfast.

Use the restroom before entering class.

Relax.

Listen to the directions.

Read each question carefully.

Apply your test taking skills.

Double check to make sure you didn't skip any questions.

ROCK THE TEST!

Earth Day Event

Children from Winnetka Avenue Elementary School celebrated Earth Day on April 26, 2012 with Councilman Dennis P. Zine, the City of Los Angeles' Department of Public Works' Bureau of Sanitation and the Million Trees Program by doing something meaningful for Earth Day --- planting trees.

Students at Winnetka celebrated Read Across America on March 9, 2012.  The Dr. Seuss book selected this year, The Lorax, was the focus of the event.  Our community partner, City National Bank, shared in the celebration by reading to our students and presenting the school with a basket brimful of new books for our library.

Jackets, Backpacks & Shoes

The Assistance League, San Fernando Valley, a long time partner of Winnetka Elementary School distributed jackets and backpacks to many of our students just in time for the Winter Holidays.  Our students were very excited and appreciative of their new items.

Winnetka Elementary School held its spring safety drill on Thursday, April 19, 2012. This year students and staff practiced a "Lockdown" in the event of any emergency in the area surrounding the school.  Staff members inventoried the emergency supplies in each classroom.  These exercises not only allow students to practice the procedures to follow at school, but allow staff to fine tune their emergency skills. These major drills take place twice a year in additional to monthly fire and drop drills.

Please be sure to work with your children on what to do in the event of an emergency at home.

Our 5th Grade Student Culmination will take place on Monday, June 18, 2012, at 10:00 a.m., at Sutter Middle School located at 7330 Winnetka Avenue, Winnetka.  All culminating fifth grade students will report to Winnetka Elementary School at the regular time, dressed for culmination.  The students will be transported to Sutter MS by school bus shortly before culmination.  Parents and family members will go directly to Sutter MS.  

Winnetka Elementary School recently joined an initiative between Northridge Hospital Medical Center and LAUSD Local District One.  As part of the initiative, parents participated in a free weekly walking club.  All students at Winnetka EL experienced an interactive student assembly called "Food for Thought 2:  The Message Comes Home."  We look forward to expanding our partnership with Northridge Hospital Medical Center this coming year with healthy cooking and yoga classes.

Winnetka EL was selected as one of three Los Angeles Unified Schools in the west valley to participate in the Mayor's Day of Service on Saturday, March 20, 2010. Over 200 parents and community members assisted with beautification projects at the school.

On March 15th, the Earthmobile from the Natural History Museum arrived at Winnetka EL. A large semi-trailer containing an archaeology site provided our third, fourth and fifth grade students an opportunity to excavate a simulated Chumash Native American site, where they uncovered artifacts and natural materials and studied them in a field laboratory.

On Monday, February 14, 2011, all the students at Winnetka EL attended a Jazz Concert, compliments of the Los Angeles Jazz Society.

The concert featured Maestro Delbert Taylor and Friends, talented musicians, who shared information on their instruments as they traced the history of jazz in America.

Congratulations to all of our teachers that were recognized at the Porter Ranch Walmart Teacher Rewards presentation by store manager Neil Batarseh on September 27, 2010. Ten teachers were selected to receive $100 Teacher Reward Cards to purchase school supplies for their classrooms. It is great to have a community partner step in and provide welcome support to assist the school in providing our students the best education possible.

The temporary trailer is gone, and our beautiful new offices are open.  We are excited to be back in the offices.  Six of our classrooms and the arcade have been reroofed, and the new student restrooms are nearing completion.  Classes began using our new library near the end of the last school year.  This school year, we will begin the process of decorating the library and making it attractive and kid-friendly.  

In addition, new fencing was installed along Roscoe Boulevard and along the eastern side of the school. We will also receiving wireless internet access in all our classrooms during the 2010-2011 school year.

Thank you for working with us during the construction.

We would like to welcome everyone to Winnetka Elementary School. We hope the summer vacation was relaxing and that you enjoyed the beautiful summer weather. There have been many changes since school ended in June. We have a new  assistant principal, Victor Saldana, and two new kindergarten teachers, Ms. Arsalan in Room 11 and Ms. Goudy in Room 22.  Our Office and Support Staff remain the same as last year. The first day of school this year for our students is Wednesday, September 7, 2011. We are looking forward to seeing you in a few weeks and hearing about your summertime adventures.