Dear Families,

Welcome back from winter break. The second semester at

August Ahrens promises to deliver a variety of exciting

opportunities to share in our school community. Let’s look

at a couple of highlights to pencil into your calendar. In

January, grades 4,5,6 had their Career Day on January 27.

Thank you to our community members who donated their

time and expertise to share about their education and

careers.

We have a parent involvement opportunity coming. Our

school will have its first WASC accreditation visit February

22-25. This important process validates our academic

program and will provide feedback on our key initiatives

over the last 3 years. The school would appreciate the

support of 10-12 parents for about an hour to meet with the

visiting committee. If you are interested in sharing your

experiences as a parent of an August Ahrens student,

please call Lani Bayudan, PCNC Facilitator at 686-7245.

She will be coordinating a coffee hour. The committee will

share their findings with a final recommendation status

arriving by June.

Finally, to round out the third quarter - we have a couple

of parent nights showcasing your students and our

curriculum. On February 3, there is a STEAM science night

and about a month later is the wildly popular Dr. Seuss

Night. We will look forward to seeing you there.

Your students are also busy learning and preparing for

Smarter Balanced Testing. We will continue with our focus

on close reading at all grade levels. One way you can

support your child is to engage in conversations about

what they are reading. Just a couple of questions about

the key details or the main idea are helpful for their reading

practice.

We can’t wait to see you on campus!

January/February 2016 94-1170 Waipahu St., Waipahu, HI 96797 808.675.0202 (phone) 808.675.0216 (fax)

Principal - Hanh Nguyen

Vice Principals - Dean Kaneshiro, Zachary Sheets, Maribeth Thompson

ADMINISTRATION

August Ahrens Elementary School Parent Newsletter

We are collecting donations for student raffle prizes for the Mayfest/Family Fun Fair on May 18. Some suggestions include: snack packs, clothing, books, toys, small accessories (wallets, keychains, etc.) or gift certificates to places like McDonalds, Fun Factory, Wal-Mart. New items only please. You may drop-off your donations to Lani Bayudan in the library. Mahalo for your continued support!

Mayfest/Family Fun Day Donations

Mahalo

Thank you to the Waipahu Community Association (Rep. Henry Aquino, Executive Director) for the donation of 55 portable fans. Your generous donation will truly make a difference to our children in the classrooms!

Attention Parents!

AAES will be sending notices out for any parent that may

be interested in sending their child to AAES for Summer

School following this school year. Please note that the

availability of Summer School in June 2016 will strictly

depend on the number of interested students; therefore, it

is very important to respond to the questionnaire. In the

past, Summer School at AAES was from 8 a.m. - 12 p.m.

and lasts 6 weeks. Please look out for the questionnaire

and we look forward to your responses. Thank you!

Summer School Survey

B-4, Mrs. Ragmat's 5th grade class, was named Achieve3000's Read to Succeed National Winner! They were awarded a gift certificate to be used to help celebrate this class' remarkable achievement! Achieve3000 is a national program in which students complete lessons to aid in their college and career preparation by improving in reading.

Congratulations

FROM THE OFFICE School Meal Information

August Ahrens Elementary School uses an automated

meal card system. Each student has an individual

account that works like a debit checking account.

Parents/Guardians must deposit monies into the account

to be charged for meals purchased. The school

community has decided that all payments must be made

in CASH ONLY. Envelopes are available in the front

office, or you may use your own. If your child’s account

has a negative balance equal or greater than $7.50,

students in grades 3-6 may not be served a meal on

Wednesdays. If you are unable to make a payment,

please send a home lunch and drink with your child.

Health Room If your child has a SEVERE ALLERGY or MEDICAL CONDITION, please contact Julie Kojima, Health Aide, to discuss Emergency Action Plans for your child. If your child has a fever, they must be fever free for 24 hours before returning to school. Also, please ensure your children do not have head lice (ukus) before coming to school, otherwise they may infect others and will be sent home.

School Hours and Supervision Campus opens at 7:00 am

School office hours are 7:30 am—4:00 pm, Monday through Friday. The office is closed on holidays and

weekends. Adult supervision is available for your child from 7:45am to 2:00pm.

On Wednesdays, adult supervision ends at 1:00pm.

Breakfast is served in the main cafeteria and in I cafeteria beginning at 7:10am. Students who eat

breakfast are supervised in the cafeteria only. If dropping students off before campus opens at 7am, we encourage

you to take advantage of the Before School Program.

Before School Program

The Leeward YMCA offers on-campus before school care starting from 6am. Please contact the Leeward YMCA

Office at #675-0208 for more information.

Extended Trips Any trip of 10 or more instructional days will result in disenrollment of the student. Students may be re-enrolled when they return, provided they still meet the criteria of enrollment. If only the parents are leaving town, please remember to provide the school with a power of attorney so that we may release students to their designated care-

Notice and Request for Accommodations If you are an individual with a disability, please contact Dean Kaneshiro at #675-0202, ext. 7242 to make arrangements for reasonable modifications and access-ibility to school events at least 10 days before the event you wish to attend. Reasonable efforts will be made to accommodate your request. For August Ahrens School events, please contact the school office at #675-0202.

Driver/Pedestrian Safety JPOs and crossing guards are on duty from 7 a.m. to 7:35 a.m. before school and at 2 p.m. to 2:20 p.m. after school. Please be mindful of the children walking on or around campus when driving in our school zone. Mahalo!

Messages for Students Please refrain from calling the school office with

messages for individual students. Calls cannot be

transferred to classrooms. In an emergency, and as

appropriate, a message can be delivered by office

monitor. Thank you for your cooperation.

Field Trips Field trips are taken to give students an opportunity and

experience learning in a different environment. Please

submit permission form and payment together by the

deadline stated on the form. Payment must be turned into

the TEACHER by 8:00 am on collection days as stated

on the permission form. Payments should be CASH

ONLY and exact change. Office cannot accept any late

payments or extensions. We will do our best to remind

students and families via school connect message and

parent phone calls, as appropriate. Early Release Please check in at the front office and have your picture ID available when picking up your child early from school. This is for safety and security reasons. We are enforcing a cut off time for early releases. 12:45 p.m. on Wednesdays, and 1:45 p.m. for all other days. Please note that if you child is picked up before 11 a.m., he/she will be marked absent for that day.

Fresh Fruits/Vegetables Program (Every M, Tu, Th, F 8-10am)

10-12 Parents to (meeting information TBA)

May Day / Mayfest Program (sewing, set up, break down, etc)

Picture Taking Day

Volunteers Needed

Please call Lani Bayudan at #686-7245. Mahalo!

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER HOLIDAY / BREAK

MONDAY, February 15 — PRESIDENTS’ DAY

March 16-24 — SPRING BREAK

GRADE 3 2/16-2/17 “Japan in a Suitcase” We will learn

simple Japanese greetings and explore items in a suitcase

such as a Japanese timetable, writing, clothing, and

pictures of Japanese school events. In the end, students

get to play Jan Ken Po (Japanese style.)

GRADE 4 2/4 Field Trip: Polynesian Cultural Center 3/8 Field Trip: Bishop Museum 3/11 Field Trip: Mari’s Garden

KINDER 2/16 Field Trip: Hawaii Plantation (for I3b, I9a, I9b, I12B)

2/17 Field Trip: Hawaii Plantation (for I6a, I6b, I4 ) 2/24 Field Trip: Hawaii Plantation (for I5, I7, I8 )

GRADE 6 2/3: Panoramic Picture Taking (Wear Your Blue AAES Uniform or 6th Grade T-shirt) 2/4: Graduation Photos

GRADE 1 3/14 Field Trip: Plantation Village

UPCOMING EVENTS

Lifetouch Yearbook Sale If you are still interested in purchasing this year's yearbook

for your child, you may do so online. Go to the website

ybpay.lifetouch.com, the ID code is 2148516. Last day to

order online is Monday, March 14, 2016. Please do not

send any payments to August Ahrens Elementary School.

The Library will be having a white elephant sale, book fair and CFES (College For Every Student) Display of student work during Mayfest. We are asking for donations for the white elephant sale - any unused or lightly used clothes or household items. The money will be used to support student programs at our school. Please bring any donations to Ms. Smith or Ms. Ebony in the library. Thank you for your support!

STEAM Night - Wind & Wheels Discovery

(Kindergarteners, First graders, Second graders) Wednesday, February 3, 2016 at 5:00 to 7:00pm

Students, sign up and bring your parents/guardians for an

evening of: Wind Tunnel (Whirly Birds)

Wheels on Race Cars (recyclable) Hot Wheels Demo (long, long, track) and more . . .

STEAM night forms will be distributed/collected in your

homerooms. -Mr. Mesina and Mrs. Kikuyama

PARENT INVOLVEMENT

Dr. Suess Night

Wednesday, 3/2 5:30 p.m.—7:00 p.m.

Come dressed as your favorite Dr. Seuss character!

YEARBOOK SALE

MARSHALL REALTY 21ST CENTURY GRANT INTRAMURAL CLASSES

Intramurals Sessions began on Jan 21st.

Ohana100, a nonprofit organization who donated 230 new

books to our Headstart, Preschool and Kindergarten

students. Their mission is to promote reading. Mahalo!

CFES

CAREER DAY HIGHLIGHTS Career Day was held on January 27. Students in the 4th, 5th and 6th grades each got to listen to 3 different speakers talk about their careers. Mahalo to the special guests (many AAES and WHS

alumni), who took time out of their busy schedules to come and speak to our students.. Thank you to D.R. Horton Hawaii, Inc. for sponsoring this event and thanks to the staff and volunteers who

helped organize this event. We appreciate your hard work and dedication to our children.!

RUTH ANN OLIQUIANO (RADIANT ALLURE)

RYAN KAWAMOTO (KINETIC PRODUCTIONS)

SHANNON TUINEI (CITY & COUNTY - OCEAN SAFETY)

TINA MERCADO, R.N. (PALI MOMI CENTER)

TRAVIS NISHIOKA (KHON 2 NEWS)

WAILANI WONG -LONZANIDA (FIRST HAWAIIAN BANK)

WENDY YASUTAKE (KAMA`AINA KIDS)

WYRLO AGNO (PANDORA CAFÉ)

AARON DELOS REYES (AD DESIGN BUILD HAWAII)

ANSON KAIPO PAIVA (HONOLULU POLICE DEPT)

ARTIE WILSON (ARTIE WILSON & ASSOCIATES)

BRUCE ALCARAZ, R.R.T. (STRAUB HOSPITAL)

CEDRIC LORENZO, M.D. (QUEEN’S MEDICAL CENTER)

CHAD DOMINGO (CHILDREN’S COMMUNITY COUNSEL)

DAVE AMODO (PEARL HARBOR NAVAL SHIPYARD)

DON COLOMA (WAIPAHU HIGH SCHOOL)

ESTHER CEZAR (KAMA`AINA KIDS)

GARY ATUD (HONOLULU FIRE DEPT.)

GLENN ALCALDE (CARPENTER’S UNION)

JAY CRISOLOGO (ZIPPYS RESTAURANTS)

JAYSON PERALTA (U.S. ARMY)

JENNIFER SMYTHE (WAL-MART)

JESSIE FURTADO (OAHU TRANSIT SYSTEM - THE BUS)

JULIE ANTOLIN (HICKAM FEDERAL CREDIT UNION)

KENNETH LAPIDES (UNITED AIRLINES)

KEVIN ANCOG (HONOLULU POLICE DEPT)

KRISTINE UYENO (KHON2 NEWS)

LANA NEDERVELT (OAHU TRANSIT SYSTEM - THE BUS)

LEE TOKUHARA (D.R. HORTON HAWAII)

REPRESENTATIVE HENRY AQUINO (STATE REP., DISTRICT 38)

RON

For more pictures and videos from Career Day, please visit our website: www.AugustAhrens.org