Rooftop School

Summer Read SF 2012

Ali Shamsi — Tue, 15 May 2012 05:01:21 +0000

All Rooftop students are encouraged to join the SFPL Summer Reading Program.

Sign up at any branch or online starting June 1st
Get a pile of books and READ, READ, READ!
Keep track of your hours … Get PRIZES!

5th-8th Grades DOUBLE DIP - Books from your required summer reading list count for hours at SFPL!

3rd-8th Grades – Rooftop Reader DOUBLE DARE!
READ the California Young Reader Medal Nominees for 2012-2013
If you read the 3 books from the following list, you may submit an official vote in fall… (and other surprises)

Intermediate (grades 3-6)

Eleven by Patricia Reilly Giff
The Giant Slayer by Iain Lawrence
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

Middle School/Jr. High (grades 6-9)

Invisible Lines by Mary Amato
Wild Things by Clay Carmichael
Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper

Greetings Rooftop Community | Wed May 14, 2012

Tiffany Kendall — Tue, 15 May 2012 04:48:50 +0000

Dear Rooftop Families ~

The end of the year is approaching so quickly. I would like to take some time to thank some people for all the work they did this school year.

On behalf of the Rooftop Staff, I want to say thank you to all the parents who baked, cooked, donated, set up, cleaned up, and/or served the fabulous lunch on last Friday’s Staff Appreciation Day. Your generosity and hard work touched us all.

I would like to thank our Wednesday Bulletin translators: Veronica Lobos and Becky Ching for their hard work each weekend to translate the “Weekly Principal’s Message.” My heartfelt thanks to Mayeda Secretary, Rosalinda Garciacano, for producing the Wednesday Bulletin each week and to Ali Shamsi, who spends hours formatting it into our electronic version that goes out to many families. Finally, thank you, to Bernadette Yamada-Gabrielli, Ettie Rogers, Victor Yan, Amy Balsbaugh, and scores of others who gather weekly to copy and distribute the Wednesday Bulletin and all its many attachments!! You are much appreciated.

On behalf of the Rooftop Community, thank you to PTA Co-Presidents Saskia Charbonneau and Renee Minnis, and the PTA Board for their hard work and dedication this past year. In addition, I would like to express my deepest appreciation to the members of the School Site Council for their amazing generosity and leadership. To all the members of the Rooftop Community: It is our extraordinary home-school partnership which ensures the success and well being of each and every student in our wonderful school.

Finally, I give my deepest thanks to the extraordinary Rooftop Staff. You are gifted and generous individuals. It is a privilege to work along side you. I am looking forward to our continued collaboration in the coming school year.

Attached is a copy of Rooftop’s Expectations for Student Behavior. At the PTA meeting last Wednesday, I had promised that I would send a copy of this out with this week’s Wednesday Bulletin.

Sincerely,
Tiffany Kendall Obayashi
Assistant Principal

Attachment: Rooftop’s Expectations for Student Behavior (PDF)

8th Grade Calendar of Graduation Events

Ali Shamsi — Tue, 15 May 2012 04:45:19 +0000

8th Grade Parents – Please MARK YOUR CALENDARS for the following Graduation activities:

Tuesday, May 22

9 am-5 pm: Picnic at McNears Beach and Pool, San Rafael, Arbor #6

Wednesday, May 23

8 am: Breakfast at Rooftop

Thursday, May 24

5-6:30 pm: Graduation Ceremony
7-9pm: Cable Car
9-11pm: Dance

Attachment: 8th Grade Graduation – Calendar of Events (PDF)

ART Newsletter for May 2012

Amy Balsbaugh — Tue, 15 May 2012 04:43:45 +0000

Attachment: ART Newsletter for May 2012 (PDF)

Garden Work Party (Fri, 5/18)

Ali Shamsi — Tue, 15 May 2012 04:40:45 +0000

The Rooftop Garden is looking good, but it still needs a little tender loving care before we leave for summer break. Join us this Friday 5/18 as we also celebrate the completion of renovation projects in the garden made possible by the Lowes Toolbox for Education grant. Pull some weeds, do some digging, or prepare the potato beds. Don’t worry about being bored; there is a project for everyone. Please bring a food dish to share.

Day: Friday, May 18th
Time: Anytime after 4:30PM until dark
Where: Rooftop Garden

Questions? Call Coral Bells at 337-9470.

Yearbook 2012 still available!

Ali Shamsi — Tue, 15 May 2012 04:30:56 +0000

Yes, you can still get a 2012 yearbook … but quantities are limited – have you ordered yours? Order the Rooftop 2012 Yearbook by completing and sending in the attached form to your teacher with check ($38) made out to “Rooftop PTA.” Order today and don’t miss out on the best read of the year!

Attachment: Rooftop 2012 Yearbook Order Form (PDF)

Interesting in being a Room Parent?

Saskia Charbonneau — Tue, 15 May 2012 04:28:27 +0000

Are you interested in being a ROOM PARENT for the 2012-2013 school year? Rooftop’s PTA is committed to further leveraging the room parents in each class as a conduit for school-wide communication and community building. We’d like to have room parents identified for as many rooms as possible by the beginning of summer so we can hit the ground running when school starts.

Being a room parent is a great way for you to be involved in your child’s education, and does not necessarily involve time in the classroom, so working parents please apply! Please email email hidden; JavaScript is required if you are interested in serving as a room parent next year!

Art Parent & Volunteer Appreciation Party (Fri, 5/25)

Amy Balsbaugh — Tue, 15 May 2012 04:23:52 +0000

On the last day of school, we’d like to take a moment to thank Rooftop’s Art Parents, and all volunteers, who have worked so diligently and given so much of themselves to our students this year. We have many wonderful accomplishments to celebrate and much gratitude to share! So we can commend your Rooftop Spirit, you are cordially invited to a Garden Party luncheon in your honor! (Students of attending parents are invited to join us in the garden).

TDAP Vaccine Requirement for 2012-13

Tiffany Kendall — Sat, 12 May 2012 07:33:04 +0000

Dear Parent/Guardian:

Whooping cough, also know as pertussis, continues, to threaten students in California. To help stop its spread, all incoming 7the graders are required by law to have proof of a whooping cough booster (‘Tdap”) shot, or file an exemption, in order to attend classes this year. Students will not be allowed to attend 7th grade classes for the 2012-2013 school year without a shot record.

We need a booster shot record from your child. If your child hasn’t yet, please schedule an appointment, immediately with your regular doctor. Vaccine may also be available at http://www.shotsforschool.org/ If your child has already received the booster shot, please give us a copy of the shot record by May 24, 2012.

Fell free to call us with any questions or concerns. Our phone number (415)552-6757.

Thank you,

Tiffany Kendall Obayashi
Acting Principal

Attachment: Tdap 2012-2013 Letter (PDF)

Public Education & SFUSD workshops (Thu 5/10 & Thu 5/31)

Ali Shamsi — Fri, 11 May 2012 05:56:58 +0000

Temple Emanuel of SF is hosting two upcoming events focused on supporting public education and understanding more about the common curriculum that is going to be introduced soon in SFUSD. These events are open to the public and likely of interest to Rooftop Families

Thursday May 10 at 7 pm is a workshop on the common curriculum
Thursday May 31 from 7 -9 pm is the event Investing in our Families and Public School Teachers

In attendance will be key SFUSD representatives and other critical stakeholders in San Francisco public schools, including incoming Superintendent Richard Carranza. We will ask them to support specific actions that will strengthen and sustain the quality of public education in San Francisco.

To learn more about these steps and register for these free events, please visit the Temple website at www.emanuelsf.org

Greetings Rooftop Community | Wed May 9, 2012

Tiffany Kendall — Tue, 08 May 2012 09:20:18 +0000

Happy Birthday Rooftop School! Last Friday’s all-school celebration was a day to remember! I want to thank our 6th grade students for organizing a party for 700 members of our community. The day featured the performance of “On the Rooftop,” an original opera created by the students under the guidance of Mr. Weiss, Ms. Contreras, Teaching Artists Andi Wong and Lua Hadar and Composer Candace Forest of the SF Opera. Through telling the story of the first day of school 40 years ago, our students honored Rooftop’s founding teachers and their enduring vision of a school that embraces learning as an active process. We were honored to have three of the original seven founding teachers, Ernie Baumgarten, Gus Kearney and Bob Beckstrom, as well as two of their first students, Sherrie and Janine Young at the celebration. The guests shared stories of Rooftop’s early days and when asked if they could sum up the spirit of our school in one word, they all agreed that “Rooftop is Family.” The celebration ended with the entire community singing, “Open the Door,” a song that has been sung at Rooftop morning circle for 40 years!

The birthday celebration was one of many Culminating Event performances this past week, including Mr. Mattson’s and Ms. Kastner’s 3rd Grade study of poetry and jazz with Dr. Anthony Brown and former SF Poet Laureate Devora Major and our 5th Grade’s original play, “Jabuti the Tortiose” created by the students with Teaching Artist Laura Lowry of StageWrite. Three Blue Bear After School bands rocked out last Friday at Mayeda Media Night, raising money for our PE program, and today is another exciting day with morning Opera performances by Mrs. Toupin and Ms. Cruz’ classes, and our After School Chorus at tonight’s PTA meeting. Next Wednesday, Ms. Smith and Ms. Vaughn’s class will perform their mini opera, “Mama Don’t Allow.” Our days are rich with rewarding, joyful learning experiences that build our students’ abilities in communication, collaboration and creativity.

I encourage you all to come to tomorrow evening’s Open House where your children and their teachers can share the vibrant, engaging learning that happens every day at Rooftop School.

Tiffany Kendall-Obayashi
Rooftop School Assistant Principal
(415) 695-5691

International Festival Thank You!

Ali Shamsi — Tue, 08 May 2012 09:16:22 +0000

Thanks to everyone for making the 13th Annual International Festival so wonderful. Starting from the FREEZE, our improv on the spot hip hop act, to our past student Adam Traore performing his cutting edge songs, to the dozens of beautiful performances of our creative and bold student acts, there was always excitement in the air! Where else but Rooftop to promote the creativity and opportunity to let our kids shine! The self confidence and talent of our children was amazing! Our teachers who performed were pretty awesome also! Along with the acts, student MC’s and announcers, monitors, camera people, stage hands, set up, take down and sound crew all worked together in a show of Rooftop Spirit!

Especially amazing was all the delicious food that was made by all the parents from our diverse and beautiful Rooftop community! The kids all loved the wide variety of bite size morsels that was generously donated with loving care by our parents! The idea that we all share our different meals in the family table of Rooftop made our community even stronger! Thank you to all the parents for sending in these delicious meals! It made the festival complete! Special thanks to the parent kitchen crew and all the parents who helped to man tables and helped with the set up and take down!

Our student camera crew took pictures and filmed videos of the acts. Please let us know if you would like a copy sent to you, if we have it. We will try to send it to you hopefully before school lets out, or at least early summer; email email hidden; JavaScript is required. Thank you all again, from the International Festival Committee.

PTA General Meeting (Wed, 5/9)

Saskia Charbonneau — Tue, 08 May 2012 08:40:41 +0000

PTA General Meeting, Wednesday May 9 | Note Time Change! 7:00 – 8:15pm in the Burnett MPR

This last PTA meeting of the school year will be held after the chorus performance. The meeting will start at 7pm and we plan to finish by 8:15pm. Childcare by CASA staff and food will be provided. The agenda is as follows:

Approval of next year’s budget
Updates from our AP Tiffany Kendall Obayashi
Reflections & Goals of PTA board
Directory Presentation

ART Parent Feedback Meeting (Tue, 5/15)

Amy Balsbaugh — Tue, 08 May 2012 08:30:59 +0000

Parents actively participating as Art Parent Volunteers are invited to a meeting with members of Rooftop’s Art Committee and Ms. Kendall-Obayashi to discuss the joys, successes, opportunities and challenges of participating as an Art Parent at Rooftop. Please join us on Tuesday, May 15 at 6:30 pm in the Burnett MPR.

Spirit of Rooftop

Verna Liza — Tue, 08 May 2012 08:27:55 +0000

We are celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Rooftop throughout the month of May. As we face reduced state funding and a PTA budget deficit of $20K for 2013, please consider making a monetary gift to the school (c/o Rooftop PTA) in $40 increments. Gifts of any amount are fully tax deductible and in many cases can be matched by your employer. For a list of companies with a donation matching program, check out matchinggifts.com/eff/ … thank you!

Popsicle Day (Fri, 5/11)

Verna Liza — Tue, 08 May 2012 08:23:13 +0000

In recognition for the hard work our students put into creating awesome art pieces that helped generate nearly $150,000 from this year’s Auction, Friday, May 11 will be Popsicle Day. Popsicles will be distributed after lunch this Friday.

CASA Spring Play 2012 (Sun, 5/20)

Ali Shamsi — Tue, 08 May 2012 08:20:25 +0000

This year’s CASA play, I am the Center of the Universe, premieres on Sunday, May 20th. This one-of-a-kind original musical comedy was developed by professional theater artists, musicians & designers working in conjunction with 140 kindergarten through fifth graders. The event is a fundraiser for CASA (Children’s After School Arts), a fantastic nonprofit after school program. Buy your tickets online now!

I am the Center of the Universe
A musical journey from the origins of the universe to the center of the soul
Sunday, May 20th 5:30 PM | Lowell High School Carol Channing Theater | 1101 Eucalyptus drive
Tickets online at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/243308
(No one turned away for lack of funds; please contact email hidden; JavaScript is required for low-income seats)

It’s New Years 2000 and The Dapper Diaper Corporation has awarded cash prizes and celebrity status to babies born at the stroke of midnight. Ten years later, the kids are featured on a daytime talk show and chaos ensues! In the battle to be the center of attention, the kids get swept back to the beginning of time and journey to the true center of the universe. Starring 140 kindergarten through fifth graders from CASA (Children’s After School Arts) this original musical comedy explores creation myths, the big bang, dinosaurs and more. Guaranteed to put a smile on your face while raising funds for CASA!

Attachment: CASA Spring Play 2012 (PDF)

8th Grade Graduation Picnic (Tue, 5/22)

Ali Shamsi — Tue, 08 May 2012 08:20:21 +0000

This year’s 8th Grade Graduation Picnic is on May 22, 2012 at McNear’s Beach and Pool. 8th Grade parents, please read the attached flyer for full details.

Attachment: 8thGrade Graduation Picnic Details (PDF)

Auction Invoices

Verna Liza — Tue, 08 May 2012 06:45:14 +0000

There are still a few outstanding invoices from the Auction that we are trying to collect. Please settle your account upon receipt of invoices from the Auction Committee. Checks made to Rooftop PTA may be forwarded to the Burnett campus, attn: Auction. To reach the Auction Committee, email or call us at email hidden; JavaScript is required or 415.729.4581. Thank you!

Yearbook 2012 still available!

Ali Shamsi — Tue, 08 May 2012 01:00:21 +0000

Yes, you can still get a 2012 yearbook … but quantities are limited – have you ordered yours?

Order year Rooftop 2012 Yearbook online the Jostens Yearbook website (http://bit.ly/roofbook2011) or send in the attached form to your teacher with check ($38) made out to “Rooftop PTA.” Order today and don’t miss out on the best read of the year!

Attachment: Rooftop 2012 Yearbook Order Form (PDF)