Calendar

March 10-- Spring Arts Festival 2:00-6:00 PM

March 19-23-- Parent-Teacher Conferences

1 hour early dismissal: K-1:30, Grades 1-5 1:40

March 30 – Cesar Chavez Day; School closed

April 2-6 – Spring Break; School closed

Thank You

• Thanks to Volunteers who helped set up, work and clean up for Mardi Gras as well as event chairs and those who organized art projects, catering, decorations etc. Annette and Ken Litle and Rose Lacy, Kelley Carlin, Jannice and John McDonald, Brewster Fong, Jennifer Wong, Susan Saylor, Illana Bernstein and Diane Desmond, Petra Nygard, Woody and Nancy LaBounty, Karen Robbins, Jennie Lee, Dawn Shaw, Dawn Silberstein, Erika and Brent Andrews, Justine Moore, Bennett and Joanne Hong, Steve Linder, Linda Renteria and Bob Sanchez, Rita and Terry Nemeroff, Stephanie Dudinski (from the art gallery) Breck Diebel, Michael Arrow and Rob Reich (our band), and Lowell students Jacqueline Ng, Annie Ng and Jessica Lei. Everyone who attended pitched in to clean up at the end of the night and bring items back to school. Thank you for all your support and hard work for West Portal School.

• The Spell-a-thon raised $8000 this year.  The classes that raised the most money will get an ice cream party soon. 
• Congratulations to Ms. Vradelis' room 37 second graders, who was the only class to have 100% participation.
• Thanks to parents Erika Andrew, Kelley Carlin, Joanne Hong, Kate and Brian Ikeda, David Magidson, Mike Rose, Connie Wong, and Frances Yang for correcting spell-a-thon tests.
• Thanks to Connie Wong and Kelley Carlin for counting money. 
• Thanks to all the students for a great job.
• Thanks to Dawn Silberstein for her grant writing achievements

Fundraising at West Portal 2007

The following is a guideline to this year’s events and fundraising:

Our budget and fundraising goal is $100,000. This amount covers all our present enrichment programs for the West Portal kids including PE, Music, and Library. Our major fundraiser is the Education Fund. This is direct contributions from parents, guardians, family and or friends. If we raised our goal of $100,000 with the Ed Fund there would be no need for more fundraising events. We sent out a reminder in the form of the red envelopes. We will send out another reminder if we do not meet our goal with the Spring Arts Festival. 60% of our goal is met through the Ed Fund. The Pumpkin Patch, the Carnival and the Scholastic Book Fair are community-building events that also bring in useful funds. Our other major fundraiser is the Spring Festival. This event included a silent auction, a raffle, and a performance by West Portal students. We raise the other 40% of our $100,000 at this event. This year we tried something different based on feedback from parents and other schools’ efforts. We divided the Spring Festival into the Mardi Gras and the Spring Arts Festival. The Mardi Gras was our Silent Auction/Social Evening. This allowed parents to walk around, socialize, and bid on items without their kids. We were able to talk to each other as well. It was a very successful event that raised over $8500.00. The other half of the Spring Festival turned into the Spring Arts Festival. Petra Nygard, our Arts Coordinator, created an event to showcase the children’s artistic efforts at school. Some of the pieces from the Spring Arts Festival exhibits will represent West Portal at the annual SF Arts Festival. The Spring Arts Festival will have an auction for classroom art projects, our annual raffle, and performances by the kids. We’ve added crafts and activities for the kids based on parent suggestions from past events. We will be selling food and baked goods too. Thank you for your continued support and involvement with West Portal School.

New Year Parade News

The Chinese New Year Parade was a wonderful time for everyone. Thanks to the many hours everyone put in, the students, the alumni teachers, and the parents.  The students did a great job and looked marvelous in their costumes. Now it's time to get ready for next year.  Let Jennie Lee know if you are interested in helping out.

Goodsearch.com is Raising Money for West Portal School 

Attention West Portal Parents - here is another easy way for you to help out West Portal.  Next time you perform an Internet search go to http://www.goodsearch.com instead of Yahoo, Google or your usual search engine.  Once at goodsearch.com just type West Portal into the "Who do you search for" box and click verify.  You can then search the web as usual and West Portal will earn money for every search you conduct.  Goodsearch is powered by Yahoo, so your search results should be comparable to your usual search engine. 

District 7 Meeting

Supervisor Sean Elsbernd will be holding a meeting to discuss the concerns of District 7’s public school parents on Thursday, March 22nd at 6:30 p.m. at the West Portal Park Community Building. This will be the first of a planned series of meetings to discuss concerns and issues that Supervisor Elsbernd will then be able to address with the school board.

Ed Fund Participants

The Ed Fund donation total has reached

$45,210.34, and we are still working towards our goal. Thanks to all who have contributed so far.

Spring Arts Festival

The Spring Arts Festival will be held March 10^th from 2-6 pm at Lincoln High School, 2162 24^th Avenue. There will be arts and crafts, food, raffle and games from 2-4 pm, and performances from 4-6 pm. Please come and support all the hard work and effort that the students, staff and parent volunteers have put into this event.

Be the Magic!

Join the 2007 Halloween Carnival Planning Committee.  We will be holding our first meeting around the end of March or the beginning of April.  Be sure to look for announcements in your child's Thursday message folder.  For more information you can also call or email Dawn Silberstein at 415-867-7654 or dawnas@pacbell.net

Storytellers Needed for St. Patrick’s Day

If you like to read aloud or tell stories, please consider volunteering on Friday, March 16^th. Irish born parents or grandparents are especially welcome so students may ask questions about Ireland and hear the brogue. Irish-American and all other parents who enjoy reading aloud are, of course, welcome too. Books can be provided if needed. Please ask your child’s teacher if he/she wants a story on the 16^th or contact Pat Madden at 681-6207 soon so she can set you up with one or more classrooms.

The First Two Panther Kickball Games

By Finn Moir (Room 24)

The kickball team has played two exciting games against Ortega and Sunset. The first game the Panthers played hard against Ortega. They had great fielding and great kicking. The Panthers won 24 to 8 at the first home game. The game was cool and everyone had fun.

The second game against Sunset was very dramatic. It was 6 to 1 in the last inning. But then the Panthers came back and scored 8 runs and won 9 to 6. It was a come from behind win. The Panthers are undefeated two games into the season. The Panthers will play more games and win. Both games the Panthers played like a team and won. Come and watch us play. Our next game is March 16 at West Portal.

Yahoo Groups List

Hello West Portal Community Parents. We have set up a Yahoo Groups list so that any member can post information or ask questions about West Portal activities. We truly hope this will facilitate communication within our community. Please be considerate in your posting. We do not want to overwhelm our members with excess email. An approved list of Rules and Etiquette will follow this posting. Feel free to contact Rose Lacy at rose@webrosedesign.com for information. Encourage all your friends at West Portal to sign on to the list. Here is how:

1. Go to www.yahoogroups.com

2. Set up a yahoo account name and password if you do not already have one (click on New User)

3. Search for West Portal School (Find a Yahoo! Group)

4. Click on Join this Group
   
   

Yahoo Groups Rules

When using this group list, make sure you consider them before you post. Please note that this list does not take the place of official school communications. It is meant to be used as tool for communication and community building at our school. To ensure a friendly and fair environment, please obey these simple rules of etiquette:
1. Respect other subscribers. No personal attacks are allowed.  Messages posted to the list must not contain any content that is abusive, offensive, profane, threatening, or obscene.
2. This list is for information only, limited to school related news, announcements of events, meetings, and general West Portal community questions.
3. Use a good subject line. When posting, use a subject line that concisely describes the topic. Use links to articles and websites rather than including in body of message.
4. When replying to a message use 'Reply to Sender' so that your reply will be sent only to the person posting. Only send a message to the entire list when it contains information that everyone can benefit from. Respond to everyone only when it is applicable to the whole school community.
5. No one is allowed to collect or use the addresses of the subscribers for the purposes of unsolicited emails or spam.
6. Advertising or campaigning is not allowed.
The list is moderated by volunteers from with in the school community and is overseen by the WPPC and the Principal. Two warnings will be given before the subscriber will be deleted from the list. For general District-wide discussion, please join the SF Schools yahoo group.

Big Grant News

West Portal School has been awarded a second Best Buy Grant in the amount of $15,000.  After winning the $2,500 Best Buy Grant for Suzanne Vradelis' Wet Puppy Press in December 2006, West Portal was invited to compete for a $15,000 grant in order to expand the program school-wide.  In fact, Best Buy was so impressed with the Wet Puppy Press concept that it not only awarded West Portal School the $15,000 grant, but also gave the entire San Francisco Unified School District the chance to compete for a $250,000 grant to take the program district-wide.  At West Portal, we have all known for a long time that we are blessed with extremely dedicated and talented teachers.  It is wonderful to see their work getting the outside recognition that it deserves. As a final cautionary note, parents should be aware that the Best Buy Grant money can only be used to purchase computer and technology equipment at our local Best Buy Store.  It cannot be used to support the important programs funded by the Parent's Club.  Therefore, it should not be considered a substitute for your support of the Education Fund. These grants are a wonderful opportunity for the school to upgrade some of its equipment. 

Neighborhood Free Days Continue
San Francisco residents can continue to enjoy Neighborhood Free Days at the Academy of Sciences. Every weekend, a different set of neighborhoods is invited for free admission. Each visiting adult must prove San Francisco residency.

Behind-the-Scenes Fish Tours
March 9^th, 14^th, and 23^rd from 10:30 am - 12 pm
Reservations are still open for this month's behind-the-scenes fish tours. Walk through the Ichthyology Department's vast collection of over 200,000 specimens, and get up close to some of the most bizarre, rare, and deadly fish in the world. Tours include Steinhart Aquarium's coral nursery and a glimpse of the new Academy's holding tanks. Cost is 15.00 plus admission; for reservations call (415) 321-8000. For the March 23^rd tour only, email enews@calacademy.org with "Fish" in the subject line for a chance to win two free spots,

Live Bat Encounter
Sunday, March 18^th at 11:30 am and 2 pm, meet live bats from around the world, including the largest of them all - the gigantic flying fox from Malaysia, with a wingspan of almost six feet. In this program, the Director of the Organization for Bat Conservation will speak about the benefits of bats, why we need to save them, and what you can do to help. First-come first-serve basis. Free with Academy admission.