Details:
Dear Pacific Parents and Guardians,.png)
Congratulations – Pacific students, parents/guardians, and staff had a wonderful first trimester! An enormous Panther thank you to everyone for helping to make our first trimester so successful. Throughout the last three months, we have had many unique and special opportunities to grow, learn, and celebrate as a community.
As you know, Parent-Teacher conferences will be held the week of November 29th and students in grades 1-5 will be on a minimum day schedule. If you have not confirmed your conference appointment, please email or leave a message for your child’s teacher. Our goal is 100% parent/guardian participation - please help us reach our goal. Pacific teachers look forward to sharing student growth and progress. Please do your homework and bring your questions, thoughts, or concerns so they may be discussed during the conference. The goals of the conference are to provide information, respond to questions and to strengthen our collaborative home-school partnership.
Thank you for our generous support of Pacific’s seasonal community service projects over the past few week. The Halloween candy drive generated over 85 pounds of donated sweet treats! The office staff was thrilled to accept bags of candy from so many students. The Food Pantry LAX, Rainbow Services, and the Toberman Center benefitted from your generous candy donation. The Richstone Center food collection was very successful and many, many families appreciated your support. Lastly, two Daisy Troops gathered warm coats and blankets/towels. They collected multiple boxes during the drive. Pacific Panthers are very kind!
I am thankful for our students, families, and staff who bring such generosity and empathy to our school community. I am also thankful that our students care for all people and give to those in need. Enjoy the wonderful week and take a moment each day to give thanks.
Debbie Mabry
Principal
Our Day with Mayor Richard Montgomery
by Sarah C., Anna M., Katie A. -4th Grade and Lyndsey G. - 5th Grade
On a warm, sunny day, we felt excited about meeting the mayor of Manhattan Beach. We walked into city hall and the energetic mayor came bounding down the hall and welcomed us with a big smile. We toured the city council chambers and sat in the mayor’s chair! We sat down in the press seats and took turns asking questions:
Q- When you were growing up, did you want to be the mayor? If not what did you want to be?
A- I wanted to go to law school and be a lawyer. I discovered later that many politicians went to law school. So it’s still a good choice to prepare for a career in politics.
Q- Please tell us how you got into politics?
A- I started out as a commissioner and then I ran for election for the city council.
Q- What did you study in school that helped you prepare to be a politician?
A- I loved school! I studied United States history, math, English, and social studies.
Q- What's the most difficult part of your job?
A- Sometimes I have to make decisions that are the best for the city as a whole. Sometimes my friends and neighbors don’t agree with me on those decisions.
Q- What’s the most difficult decision you have made on the job?
A- Deciding to underground all the telephone and power lines.
Q- Do you get to work and meet mayors of other cities?
A-Yes, twice a year all the mayors from across the country meet at the White House in Washington DC. I met President Obama and got to ask him a question. I love working closely with the mayors in the beach cities on a day to day basis to take care of our community.
Q- If someone gifted you one million dollars to the city of MB, what would you spend it on?
A- The Manhattan Beach schools. Education is the key to success in life.
Q- Do you think it is important for youth to vote today?
A- Yes, very important. Voting is the power to make a difference. I knew someone who lost an election by just 47 votes. Every vote counts so please vote when you turn 18 years old.
Q- Tell us about the centennial celebration plans for the city of Manhattan Beach.
A- It will be a very exciting time for the city of Manhattan Beach. We were founded in 1912. In 2012, the city will be 100 years old. Plans are underway but there will definitely be many events for our whole community to enjoy together.
Mayor Montgomery was kind-hearted, fun and cool. He took time out of his busy day running the city to talk to Pacific School Pawprints staff. We think being the mayor is one of the coolest jobs around.
65% of Pacific Families support our schools - Thank you. We still need your support! Pledge or donate today at www.mbef.org. Each class that achieves 100% participation receives a bonus. Check the Pacific website under MBEF to see where your class is at. Your single donation is applied to all your children, in all their classes, in all schools. MBEG keeps class sizes small and provides enrichment programs for our students. We ask $1250 a child to maintain what we have. Give more if you can, less if you can't. Support your child's education. Every child. Every chance.
Introducing Ms. Jackson
by: Alexandra S., Robbie K. & Ana V. - 4th Grade
We'd like to introduce you to one of our newest teachers, Ms. Jackson. Ms. Jackson joined us this year after previously teaching at MBMS, a Torrance Elementary School and working at the Los Angeles County Zoo for 25 years. She currently teaches one of our 4th grade classes, heads up the Jr. Rangers program and serves on School Site Council for Pacific. She REALLY jumps in head first.
One of our favorite things about Ms. Jackson is that she often plays the guitar in the classroom at the end of the school day. One of the songs we like is the "Three Little Fishes," although she can play many others.
In our interview with Ms. Jackson, here are some of the facts we learned:
Fact #1 - Have you ever held hands with a chimpanzee? Ms. Jackson has. Before Ms. Jackson was a teacher, she worked at a children's zoo. While there, she was feeding the chimpanzee peanuts when it unexpectedly grabbed her hand.
Fact #2 -If you don't know that Ms. Jackson saved a baby's life, then here's the story: One day, Ms. Jackson was at the zoo doing her regular routine, when she found out there was an antelope that was pregnant. She told the others at the zoo, and when they brought the antelope to the animal emergency room, they were just in time for delivery. As marvelous as this was, it wasn't the most exciting thing Ms. Jackson has ever done.
Fact #3 - The most thrilling thing Ms. Jackson has done is to have children. She has four kids: Joshua, Amy, Kerri, and Adam. They are not the only kids she likes, however. Ms. Jackson became a teacher because she likes kids and teaching.
Fact #4 - Do you wonder how to get your grades in her class? Ms. Jackson measures student's performance by looking at ongoing tests, formative tests and summative tests.
Fact#5 - When asked, "What would you want us to be when we grow up?" Ms. Jackson said she wants us to be KSRHELPR.
Fact #6 - Ms. Jackon's favorite color is green and her favorite food is Thai food.
Fact #7 - Ms. Jackson's favorite animal is a tree pangolin. A tree pangolin is much like a lizard, although the pangolin has scales that cover most of its body.
Thanks for reading these wonderful facts about Ms. Jackson, we hope you enjoyed learning more about her. Pacific is an even better school with the addition of Ms. Jackson. We hope one day you will be able to hear her play the guitar!
The New Mrs. Liu- From a Family of Teachers
by: London F. and Scott K. - 4th Grade
The rumors started during the summer. There would be two new 4th grade teachers.
Who were they? Would one be my teacher? What were their names and what were they like? These questions ran through our heads as we walked down the hallway to Room 22 on the first day of school. Once we got there, we were relieved to see how nice our new teacher, Mrs. Liu, was. Now that we’ve been in her class for more than two months, we wanted to learn even more about her and let the rest of the school meet her too.
London: How old were you when you decided to become a teacher?
Mrs. Liu: I was 10 years old when I decided.
Scott: What do you enjoy most about teaching?
Mrs. Liu: I like that every day is different. I like to expect the unexpected.
London: Do you miss anything about your old school?
Mrs. Liu: Yes, I miss all my old co-workers and the kids that I taught.
Scott: What was it like at your old school?
Mrs. Liu: Some similarities are that all students need motivation. Something different is that the students here at Pacific are more prepared.
London: What’s the biggest difference between your old school and this school?
Mrs. Liu: At this school the students are so prepared for 4th grade, everyone’s very involved, and I’ve met all the parents already.
Scott: What is the hardest thing about teaching?
Mrs. Liu: There is never enough time to do stuff.
London: Tell us about something funny or disgusting that’s happened in your class.
Mrs. Liu: This year when Lauren D. brought in a moldy pumpkin and it looked like it had an afro inside of it! Another funny moment was when the whole class started dancing to sound effects on the smart board.
Scott: What is your favorite hobby?
Mrs. Liu: I may not have a lot of free time, but when I do, I like to snowboard.
London: What’s an interesting fact about you that most people won’t know?
Mrs. Liu: I once camped out on an abandoned airport runway with my friends.
When I found out after back-to-school night that Mrs. Liu comes from a whole family of teachers, I knew there was a reason that the year was going so well! We’re excited to finish the rest of our year and we’re glad Mrs. Liu joined the 4th grade team of terrific Pacific teachers!
Togetherby, Olivia W., 4th Grade
All the family's are together
Cold is the weather
Kids are laughing and having fun
Were all together as one
Winter Loveby, Olivia W., 4th Grade
Winter is coming
Everyone is humming
To the songs they love
Im happy to be with my family all day
Im very happy right now I'll say
Book Reviewby: Molly G., 4th Grade
Imagine if you woke up in the middle of the night and you saw a huge
fifty
foot giant walking down your neighborhood? That's what happened to a girl
named Sophie in the book The BFG by: Roald Dahl.
The BFG is about a nice giant who catches all different kinds of dreams
and
blows them to people all different ages with his trumpet while they're
sleeping. Unfortunetly, there are giants like the Maidmasher,Childchewer, and
worst of all the fleshlumpeater that eat people all around the world! One
night they decide to snack on people in England and Sophie wants to go too
and stop the giants once and for all with the help of the BFG! That's when
the adventure starts!
This story is very interesting because there is very descriptive details
and CRAZY words like pigswiller,chiddlers,and a bunch ot others!
I would recommend this book to any 3rd,4th and 5th grader who enjoys
reading books that are adventurous and humorous. I hope you will enjoy this
book as much as my book club
Science Fair
by Robbie K., 4th grade
Have you ever been to Pacific School Science Night? If you haven’t you really missed a lot of fun! The Science Fair was fantastic…because we got to make awesome paper air planes, a comet out of dry ice, rockets made out of paper and many other things. If you like to look at the planets, there were two telescopes on the EDP playground focused on Jupiter and four of it’s moons… although it has more than sixty. My little brother loved it too. He got to investigate who stole the Pacific Surf Board, touch a starfish in the Roundhouse Aquarium room and check out the robot from the MCHS & RBHS team that won the national championship. We missed the Yucky Icky Bug show and the Fire & Ice Show because we arrived a little late, but next year we will be sure to make it on time so that we won’t miss anything.
As a special treat, we got to have dip n’ dots which seemed to be a hit. By the time we got there they were already sold out of two flavors. We also got to buy a few more things from the Book Fair.
All in all, it was a great night.
A "Pawesome" Experience-
Being a 5th Grade Presenter at Family Science Night
by Natalia U., 5th Grade
On November 3rd, from 4:30 to 8:30pm, Pacific fifth graders hosted and prepared experiments for the Family Science Night. In all there were 32 fifth grade docents, with two docents per experiment booth, and about 250 people visited the booths to see the experiments.
The experiments included "Pop Rocks," which involved putting Pop Rocks inside a bottle of soda and putting a balloon on top of the soda bottle. After shaking the bottle, the balloon fills up.
Another popular experiment was "Lava Lamps," which had oil and colored water in a cup. The water slowly moved through the oil, sinking to the bottom like a Lava Lamp.
Bella N. and yours truly hosted "Square Bubbles," with a cube dipped in a bucket of dish soap, glycerin, and water. Dipping the cube in the bucket creates a shape of two pyramids coming together. After that a straw is used to blow a bubble where the pyramids come together.
Family Science Night happens each year and is a fun way for kids to learn about science and to socialize with people.
