Principal’s Message for March 2010

Dear Parents,

Welcome to spring and second semester!

We have had some exciting events and activities for our students on and off campus. National Geographic was on campus filming one of our teachers, Ms. Edie Walker, teaching a lesson about climate change to one of her 6^th grade classes. Many of the students from this class were interviewed about what they had learned about climate change. Mr. Craig Jones took his class to Cedar Sinai Hospital, for a Brainworks seminar. Northrop Grumman has been a partner with some of our science classes. Later this year, one of our students will attend “space camp” in Huntsville, Alabama. Ms. Hall took some of our folklorico dancers to participate in a Census 2010 kickoff earlier in the year. Our Woodcraft Ranger’s afterschool program has painted some beautiful murals. They are continuing with more artwork inside our hallways to beautify our campus. In addition, the Woodcraft Rangers basketball and flag football teams from South Gate Middle School were the Middle School champions for their division.

Congratulations to all of our eighth grade students who took the Explore Test. I also want to extend special congratulations to our eighth graders who scored in the 99 percentile nationally on this test. (A. Avalos, A. Bustillo, S. Cerpa, O. Gomez, B. Jacobo, J. Serrano and S. Villanueva). Good Job!

On Sunday, March 21, 2010, our Student Run LA, marathon team participated in the 2010, Los Angeles marathon. Fifteen of our students and four teachers completed the race! Great Job! I want to thank the team and their families for inviting me to their spaghetti dinner, the Friday before the race.

There will be a two week break for Viking Scholar, March 27 and April 3^rd for the Spring Break recess. Viking Scholar will resume on April 10^th, 17^th, 24^th and ending May 1^st. Our students are receiving extra support and enrichment during our Saturday program. I also want to thank all of the parents who have been in attendance on Saturday for our Viking Scholar Parent Workshop.

Please feel free to contact me at anytime with your concerns. Thank you, to all of the parents who have been participants in our Coffee with the Principal and Advisory Council Meetings. I want to give a big thank you to our parent volunteers and members of our PTA organization who support our school everyday.

Report cards will be sent home the week of March 22, 2010. Spring break will begin March 29 and end April 2^nd. Please continue to check the calendar on our website for upcoming events and school-wide activities.

On Saturday, May 8^th, we are planning a school beautification day. Ms. Navarro and Ms. Solis will be helping to coordinate this effort. We look forward to our school community’s support for this event.

Go Vikings!

Musetta Malone

Principal