Come meet Laurel's new principal, Linda Creighton, at the PTO General meeting on Friday, April 24, at 8:30 a.m. Linda will join us to introduce herself, discuss her plans for the roll-out of our District's new Everyday Math curriculum, explain how the new adoption will complement Laurel's current practices in mathematics teaching, and provide an update on this summer's construction plans for Laurel.

The meeting will be held in the library. Please join us!

Bottles Still Needed!

The Laurel Art & Science Fair needs your 2-liter bottles. Please drop off your bottles anytime through next Wednesday, April 22nd in the box in front of the Laurel Office. Contact Becky Jackson at becjackson( at )comcast.net with questions. Thanks very much for helping out!

Support Earth Day and Our School

Did you know that over 100 billion pieces of direct mail (aka junk mail) are being delivered by the post office every year? That's a lot of trees! Have you ever considered trying to get off those junk mail and catalogue lists, but found the process too daunting? Have we got the solution for you! This year, in honor of Earth Day, Business Alliances and the Environmental committee have teamed up to tell you about Tonic MailStopper (formerly GreenDimes).

MailStopper is a Palo Alto based, online service that puts a stop to unwanted junk mail and catalogues - up to 90% in 90 days. It's easy, it only costs $20/year, and it works, guaranteed. They even plant 5 new trees for each new member and if you join by April 30, our school will earn 40% of the proceeds. For more information or to sign up directly follow the link mailstopper.tonic.com. If you're interested in purchasing a gift card for someone else, contact kristincampbell( at )comcast.net.

$5 Fire Sale

Discontinued Laurel Logo Wear, 1st Quality, Limited Quantities, Everything $5

Friday April 24, 2009

during drop-off, pick-up and the PTO General meeting

2nd Grade Arbor

Discontinued styles will be available for purchase on a first-come first-served basis only. We have long-sleeve t-shirts in youth sizes (white and royal blue), youth sweat pants, adult crewneck sweatshirts, and Laurel cookbooks (120-page hardback filled with Laurel recipe favorites, Laurel lore and more).

Buy 2 or more items and get a free bandana*. Buy 3 or more and get a Laurel pennant*!

* while quantities last

Questions? Contact Renu Prasad Relan at renupr( at )yahoo.com.

Community Read News

Laurel Community Read kicked off on Thursday, April 16th, with a wonderful book "Aunt Chip And The Great Triple Creek Dam Affair" by Patricia Polacco, that we're sure you'll all enjoy. Thanks to generous funding from the Laurel PTO and Site Council, we were able to purchase a hardback copy of the book for every child and staff member in the school. The book is for your child to keep. Inside each book is an autographed bookplate, a bookmark, and a letter to parents. Be sure and look for the book in your child's backpack in the next week or so and enjoy it together. Happy reading!

Next week, April 20-26, is National Turn Off Your Screens Week. It's purpose is to encourage everyone to give up TV and computer/video games for the week. Your children will be hearing about this at school, and we encourage all of you to discuss as a family what everyone could do instead of watching TV or playing on the computer. Our Community Read book ties in nicely with this theme.

Sports and Fun After School Program Spring Session

The Spring Session Starts Tuesday, April 21st

Sports and Fun is for boys and girls, Kindergarten through second grades. Program will offer a variety of sports and fun games. There's constant activity, minimal waiting in line and enthusiastic instructors. For further information you may print out a flyer at www.sportsandfun.com. Please reserve your spot by calling Jim at 650-814-6734.

Encinal Class of 2012 T-Shirts

The end of the school year is upon us and our Laurel 2nd graders will soon become Encinal 3rd graders.The Laurel 2nd graders will be visiting Encinal in mid-May to get a glimpse of the excitement awaiting them next year.

Help build class spirit, order an Encinal Class of 2012 T-Shirt today. Please return this form and your check to your child's teacher by Friday, April 24, 2009. Shirts will be delivered prior to the Encinal visit. All proceeds will benefit the Menlo Park-Atherton Education Foundation.

Questions? Contact Heather Goudey at hgoudey( at )yahoo.com.

Rock the Foundation!

MPAEF's Rock the Foundation party is almost here and we're ready to Rock You Like a Hurricane! If you already have tickets, we'll see you Saturday, April 25th at the Fox Theatre. The doors open at 6:00 p.m. for Rockers and 7:00 p.m. for Groupies and Fans. Rock 'n roll costumes or concert attire (jeans and concert t-shirts) are encouraged, but anything goes! If you still need to purchase tickets, they'll be on sale the night of the event from 6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. in the theater lobby.

More information about how we're going to Rock This Town can be found at www.mpaef.org/springevent. The event website includes details about the awesome music line-up ('80s cover band Tainted Love and local parent's band Chapter Seven), parking and transportation, babysitting, this year's rockin' raffle prizes, and the amazing parties and teacher items that are part of the silent auction. Remember, bidding closes for teacher items at 8:15 p.m. and for parties at 8:30 p.m., so get to the event early to win the items you want!

Laurel Art Festival

Thursday, May 14

6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Laurel Multi

Please stop by the Multi during the Open House to see the wonderful art projects that will be on display! If you would like to help set up for the Art Festival, please contact Lora Cristen at lorachristen( at )yahoo.com and Amy Kratzer at adkratzer( at )yahoo.com.

From Environmental Education Committee

In other green news, Laurel School was recently awarded a $1000 Green Schools grant from PG&E and Sustainable San Mateo County in recognition of our Zero Waste Lunch program. The funds were applied toward the purchase of a new compost and trash receptacle on the first grade lunch yard. With Earth Day around the corner, this is a perfect time to make your child's lunch more earth-friendly and build on the great success of our compost program.

Here are a few tips:

Use wax paper bags or reuseable containers instead of plastic sandwich and snack bags.
Buy in bulk and avoid individually packaged foods that use excess packaging.
Use a reuseable water bottle.
Don't over-pack your child's lunch (wasted food also means water and energy used to grow and transport food is wasted).
Remind your children to compost their food scraps and paper products at snack and lunchtime.

Gently Used Books Needed in the Laurel Library

If you have any gently used books for ages 4-8, please consider donating them to the Laurel Library! Our "Take One, Leave One" box has been getting smaller and needs replenishing. This box allows students with overdue books to take a donated book home with them so as not to leave the library without a book. These books are "honor backs" and may be returned anytime or replaced with a donated book from home. Lately, we've had a lot of "takers" and fewer "leavers" so any donations would be appreciated!

Save the Date: 4th Annual Pancake Breakfast

Saturday, May 16

8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.

Encinal School Arbor

Take a break from cooking and attend the 4th Annual Laurel/Encinal Pancake Breakfast! The entire family will enjoy lip-smacking pancakes, bacon/sausage, delicious fruit, and hot/cold beverages -- all prepared by volunteers.

Register by April 30 and pay only $4.50 -- the rate goes up to $5 after that! To register and pay by credit card, please click here. Be sure to include all the names of your party in the "comments" section. Bring your printed confirmation page to the breakfast as your receipt. Cash payment at the breakfast will also be accepted.

Volunteer and get a FREE meal! Anyone interested in helping to set-up, flip pancakes, serve or clean-up, please sign up using the Pancake Breakfast online sign-up page. Encinal students with accompanying parent may also volunteer.

Any questions? Please contact Rebecca Wang at rebs1( at )aol.com or 888-8085.

Pizza My Heart Fundraiser Update

Pizza My Heart nights were a huge success--again! We raised $979.58 for our PTO in just three nights!! THANK YOU for your participation in this program! Next time you are eating at Pizza My Heart, be sure to thank them for their generous and consistent support of our schools!

The Pennies For Peace Campaign Update

The Pennies For Peace campaign has been a great success - it has ended after 7 weeks on April 1! We collected more than 70,000 pennies. Thanks to everyone for their support - special thanks to Mollie Stone's Markets for donating the use of their coin machine!

Community News

Kepler's Family Events

Ladybug Story Time, Ladybug Girl and Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy

Sunday, April 12, 2009

11:30 a.m.

Kepler's Books, 1010 El Camino, Menlo Park

**Remember to mention Laurel School at the register and 10% of your Kepler's purchases comes back to our PTO.**

The GreenSTART Challenge Continues!

Don't forget to turn in your raffle slips for the GreenSTART Competition. We'll hold a weekly raffle and you could win a little prize!

All the kids who bike to school got a signature GreenSTART silicon bracelet, if we could find you. If not, please let us know! We'd also like to hand out the bracelets for the children who walk to school. Please send us an e-mail GreenSTART( at )live.com with your name, school, grade/classroom and phone. We're looking forward to hearing from you!

As a reminder, below are a few of the changes that might get you a little prize if you are able to do any of those for four days:

Walk or bike to school.

Substitute dinners to vegetarian - let us know how you liked it.

Use re-useable containers or wax paper bags instead of Ziploc bags in your snack and lunch.

Click here for the Raffle Slips. Send them in your child's blue folder; put in envelope in the classroom; or e-mail us the information at GreenSTART( at )live.com.

Drive Less Challenge

Register now for the DRIVE LESS CHALLENGE, a week long event launching on Earth Day, April 22, created by Menlo Park Green Ribbon Citizens Committee!

This is a FREE week long community wide event involves self tracking on our website single occupancy car trips for a one week period and lets us measure the difference we make by making fewer of those trips and using alternative modes of transportation, such as walking biking, carpooling, or public transit. Easy online survey to complete and great prizes by local businesses to be awarded on May 1, at 7:00 p.m. at Kepler's.

Register now at http://drivelesschallenge.com.For more information, please contact the Drive Less Challenge coordinator, Adina Levin, at alevin( at )alevin.com.

Menlo Park Library Presents

Earth Day Story Time with Author Peter Brown

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

4:00 p.m.

800 Alma Street, Menlo Park

Celebrate Earth Day at the Menlo Park Library! Author and illustrator Peter Brown's newest picture book, The Curious Garden, is the perfect Earth Day read-aloud. You can help make the world a greener place with your very own "Plant Your Own Curious Garden" seed packet. Please click here for more information.

The Corny Crow Show with Steve Chaney

Friday, May 1, 2000

7 p.m.

Join ventriloquist Steve and his friend Corny Crow for a silly and entertaining show. Meet marionettes and sock puppets, get tips on how to throw your voice, and be ready for some
juggling and magic too! This event is FREE and open to the public. For more information, please click here.

Palo Alto Soccer Club

Since 1977, the PASC's goal has been to provide a competitive youth soccer environment, whereby each participant (ages 5-18) can enjoy a fun, positive experience, while learning and playing soccer on a select CYSA/NorCal teams. In addition to Blue Thunder (Class 1), we have sister teams (White Lightening and Red Storm) in the competitive Class 3 level in the girls U10 age bracket for this upcoming fall 2009 season.

Please visit the PASC website for more information about the club.

City of Menlo Park Annual Multi-Cultural Event

Friday, April 24, 2009

4 p.m. - 7 p.m

Onetta Harris Community Center

This event will celebrate the diverse cultures and backgrounds our community has to offer. We are planning to have a variety of food, music, and talent showcasing performances such as Blues, Salsa, Bellydancing, Soul Line Dancing, Faith Dancing, Poetry, and much more. This free event will be a fun filled affair for all ages! For more information, please click.

City of Menlo Park Annual Kite Day

Sunday, April 26, 2009

12 p.m. - 3 p.m

Bedwell-Bayfront Park

Come fly a kite with us! For $5, you will receive a kite, hot dog, and drink. All ages are welcome and it's fun for the whole family. For information, please click here.

4th Annual M-A Big Bear Run

Sunday May 3, 2009

Warm up is at 8:30 a.m. and the race starts at 9 a.m.

All are welcome to M-A's Bear Country on Sunday. The 5K course starts at M-A, weaves through Lindenwood and ends on Coach Parks Field. Enjoy the M-A Jazz Band, the M-A Dance team, the M-A cheerleaders and the football team's Hakka dance. The race raises funds for M-A's Athletic Boosters and helps support over 50 M-A sports teams and over 900 M-A athletes. No dogs please. Register today - download a form at www.m-aboosters.org or register online at www.active.com. Questions? Email Beth Harris, elizabethharris60( at )comcast.net.