August, 2009 

Dear Parents and Students: 

I hope you have had a relaxing and enjoyable summer vacation and are getting ready to come back to school on Tuesday, September 8th! As a staff, we are so excited about making this another wonderful year here at our beautiful school! 

For the 2009-2010 school year, we have added some wonderful new staff members, but we have the same beautiful buildings, the same comprehensive library, and better technology than ever before. We are dedicated to providing the best possible education for your child. Working with you, our parent community, we will continue to build a school with high academic standards, a warm and nurturing atmosphere, and well-behaved and respectful students. Our goals remain the same: 

Allow every child to achieve to his or her potential 

Create a small school feeling where everybody feels a part of something special and worthwhile 

Establish active parent partnerships to promote student learning 

Use technology to enhance student learning and home-to-school communication 

Create a culture where character counts for all stakeholders (Respect, Responsibility, Readiness) 

As many of you know, there will be many changes to Ladera Ranch Elementary School in the 2009-2010 school year. In this way, it is vital that you are signed up for our school e-mails in order to get the most up-to-date information about important items such as schedules, when class lists will be posted, etc. To download the district calendar with our holidays and important dates, please go to the Capistrano Unified School District website at www.capousd.org. Here, you can sign up to get Ladera Ranch Elementary "school news" e-mailed home if you are not yet on our school's listserv. This is how I will be communicating with parents all year. Simply click on the box that says "Sign up for School E-Mail Here" and follow the directions to subscribe. 

As of now, class lists will be posted on Friday, September 4th at 4:30 p.m. on the handball courts and in the lobby of the library/office. There will be NO Meet and Greet on the 4th – see below for more information. 

The first day of school is Tuesday, September 8, 2009. School will begin for first through fifth graders at 8:00 a.m. (the bell will ring at 7:50 a.m. for lining up). Please bring your child to the playground where we will line up each morning. Kindergarten will have orientation on this day, and their schedule will be posted with the class lists as well as on Listserv. On September 8th, our teachers will be out at the blacktop in their space in line, ready to meet and greet you and your child. We will be on the blacktop from 7:50 a.m. until 8:15 a.m., and then we will begin our flag salute. After the flag salute where we will introduce all of our staff, we invite the parents to the lunch tables for coffee and then to the MPR to hear about some changes at school this year. The PTA will be available to assist you in becoming a member of this organization and will be offering Spirit Wear for sale, and the YMCA will also be there to hand out information about their program. 

The parking lot will be difficult those first few weeks of school. If it is at all possible, walking to school would be a great idea! Please always leave staff parking spots for staff members. 

Due to budget cuts, no after school intervention or homework club classes will be available this year. However, community education will be offering fee-based after school classes in reading, math, and homework club if we are interested. More information will be coming home about these classes. 

For those of you who are new to our school, we have a unique program for grades 3 - 5 in which parents and school combine resources to provide increased student access to computers and technology. This is called our Voluntary Laptop Program. Parents provide the laptop computer - an Apple iBook or MacBook laptop - and software for their child. The school provides the network infrastructure, instruction, and some technical support for the program. This is a voluntary program, and your child does not need to bring a laptop to school. More information about our laptop program will be in future listserv e-mails, and teachers will discuss this at Back to School Night on September 30th. 

We will continue our tradition of having a late start day each Wednesday. This is an opportunity to allow our teachers, Kindergarten through 5th grade, to spend time in staff development to create the best possible educational opportunity for your child. Students do not lose instructional time. Our daily schedule is as follows: 

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday: 

Kindergarten – Early Bird - 7:45 a.m. - 11:15 a.m. 

Kindergarten – Late Owl – 9:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. 

First through Fifth Grade - 8:00 a.m. - 2:20 p.m. 

Late Start Wednesdays 

Kindergarten – Early Bird - 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. 

Kindergarten – Late Owl – 10:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. 

First through Fifth Grade - 9:00 a.m. - 2:20 p.m. 

The office will re-open on August 19th. Our summer office hours are 8:00 a.m. – noon, with phones on all day. Beginning on August 24th, we will be open from 8:00 a.m. - noon, and from 1:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. On September 8th, we will resume our normal office hours of 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The phone number is 234-5915 if you have any questions. 

All of us here at Ladera Ranch Elementary School look forward to a school year filled with exciting learning opportunities for students, parents, and staff. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact me at any time at 234-5915. I look forward to working closely with you and our staff in order to make another successful year for you and your child! 

Sincerely, 

Meg Gwyn 

Principal