October 31st, 2013 saw spirits high at Vintage.  Cleverly decorated pumpkins lined Vintage's Pumpkin Patch in the grass area between the offices and the library.  Students eagerly awaited the end of the school day for the costume parade.  Students, staff, and family members gathered on the upper grade playground.  The music began and Kindergarten students led the parade, followed by each of the other grade levels ending with the staff.  It was a blast to see all of the imaginative costumes participants chose to wear.  Fifth grade staff really stretched their imagination coming dressed as BIC (breakfast in the classroom)!  Thank you to all who helped organize all of the fall festivities.  Click here to enjoy photos taken at the pumpkin patch and the parade.

Congratulations to Vintage Magnet 2013 Jack-O-Lantern Contest Winners:

Oct. 31 at 8AM - Pumpkin Patch: Bring your decorated pumpkin to display - Be Creative! - Use different materials. - Make it funny and interesting!
PTA will judge and award ribbons for creativity.
Please bring in your pumpkin by 8:00 am on Thursday, October 31st to the “Pat Dodge Reading Park” located in front of the Library. before school  (See flyer for important details).

Oct. 31, at 12:10PM,  Costume parade held on the playground. The fun continues at our annual costume parade. (Students are to bring costumes in a bag to school to be put on later.)  Parents and other family members are invited to come to watch. (See flyer for important details).

Please read the flyer below for important instructions regarding these events.
Click here for the Fall Festival flyer.

PTA's Fall Festival was a hit. Creative grade level decorated candy distributing stations ensured that no 'tricks' were played. They happily distributed donated yummy treats.  Students (and many adults) dressed in a range of fantasy costumes.   A haunted house thrilled visitors brave enough to stumble through it.  Casper the Ghost made a movie debut at Vintage's outdoor movie theater.  Families watched the movie while feasting on hot dogs, pop corn, and tamales.  The weather was perfect for this outdoor, fall evening event.  A grateful shout out to all who made this evening a smashing success. Thank you to those of you that set up and cleaned up making this even possible.

Enjoy our Animoto video below.  Also click here to visit this event's photo slideshow.

The SFV Del Air Rockhounds Club turned Vintage students on to a science close to home, Earth science, better known as geology.  Fourth grade students, politely and attentively, watched with great interest as members of the Del Air RockHounds education group covered topics such as rocks, earthquakes, volcanoes, minerals, fossils, and more.  The RockHounds brought along a wide variety of rocks, minerals, and fossils for students to see up close.  This excellent presentation gave a wonderful overview of the materials, structures, processes, and history of the Earth.

Here are a few of the topics discussed...
Why there are few dinosaur fossils found in California.
Why the roadside cuts along some freeways have wavy or swirly layers.
About different kinds of lava.
How minerals are used in our everyday lives.
Role of erosion, water, ice, and wind on our landscape.
Five foot dragonflies.
Why one of the tallest mountain, Mt. Everest, has ocean fossils at the top of it.

 Click here for more geology presentation Event Photos.

Fifth grade rooms, 1, 2, 7, and 8 studied American Indian Tribes then invited family, friends, and other Vintage students and staff to visit their classroom Indian Tribe Museum October 24th, 2013.  Each student picked one of the many native indian tribes in North America and produced mini museum displays.  Each display provided researched facts about where the tribe lived, what they ate, what they wore, what their homes were made out of and how they looked, tools they used, natural resources they utilized, what their religious beliefs were, and more. Each student stood next to their display eager to share their knowledge with visitors about the tribe they focused on. Some students really got into the spirit of the event and dressed up.  Click here for more photos.

On Wednesday, October 23, Vintage 5th grade students teamed up with CSUN science students to launch water rockets on the playground.

This event was the one of many exciting activities in  a joint effort between CSUN and Vintage.  In this program, Vintage 5th grade students have the opportunity to complete science and engineering projects during lunch  with CSUN mentors. The CSUN mentors are undergraduate students who are studying to become future science teachers. These future teachers have been observing best practices in science instruction in the science lab during the Fall semester. They are applying the techniques they have observed in the lab when working with Vintage students during their lunch time.  The projects include building and testing rockets, designing a model of an energy efficient home and creating a solar oven.

We are proud of our partnership with CSUN. It provides our students with an opportunity to do science and engineering outside the classroom and it is contributing to the future of the teaching profession by giving prospective teachers a chance to observe best practices in science instruction.
Check out Vintage's Photo Event page for more photos.

Parents and students, please check the Lost and Found in the office for smaller items such as glasses and, yes, even sets of house/car keys get turned in. Check back repeatedly! Your missing item may have not been turned in yet. Often staff find and hold onto found items thinking the owner will remember and return to the place they lost it.

Saturday, October 19, 2013 Beautification Day was a shining success.  With so many areas around Vintage's campus needing some tender loving care and attention, we are so appreciative of those families and staff that came to help out.  Lots of blowing, raking, picking, planting, trimming, brick laying, scrubbing, digging, trash picking, vacuuming, carpet cleaning, dusting, sanding, staining, weeding, and watering took place. Students, staff, grandparents, parents, siblings and others put a lot of elbow grease into their assigned task(s) from 9am to 12pm. Volunteers were energized by donuts and fruit. In that short amount of time, the results produced a cleaner and more attractive place to be.

Check out photos of that day (We hope we captured everyone.  If we missed anyone, sorry. Please know we thank you for all you did. See Sign in list below.  Click here to see the photos.

Thanks to the following awesome families and staff - Franco, Morales, Walker, Alarcon, Ponce, Moreno, Salamanca, Gonzalez, Salcedo, Deguillo, Varga, Rodriguez, Bulls, Florez, Castro, De La Luz, Reyes, Yindeepholcharoen, Balili, Wickramsinghe, Cruz, Stone, Kalujyan, Weiler, Diosdado, Rome, Hyer, Liu, Rayas, Hall, Fuchs, Balkcom, Forbes.

PARENTS IMPORTANT INFORMATION TO READ!
Thursday, October 17th, Vintage staff and students practiced what to do in the event of an earthquake.  Students were led to an open area on the playground to await parent pick up.  (Parents read below what you need to do.)  While some staff stayed to watch the students, others went to their assigned area such as Student Request Gate, Student Pick Up Gate, and First Aid.  Other staff slipped on vests and hard hats and searched through campus for anyone in need of help.  Vintage maintains a shed of earthquake supplies to last a few days such as first aid, water, and food (in the cafeteria).  

  * * * * * * PARENTS PEASE READ THE FOLLOWING IMPORTANT INFORMATION * * * * * 
It is critical that you turn in an Emergency Form for each of your children and keep the information updated. 
(Missing Emergency Forms or outdated may result in a delay in you or someone else being able to pick up your child.)  Click here for Emergency Form to download.

Parents - Here is what you should be prepared to do:
To pick up your child - go to the Haskell Street Request Gate; follow the directions of the staff at that gate; wait patiently please and remain calm.  Staff will issue a runner to bring your child to the Septo Pick Up Gate and will release the students at the Septo Gate on Septo Street. You or the person picking up should have their name on the Emergency Form.

Please be reassured staff will remain with the children until all are picked up.