Principal: Jana Davenport

Vice Principal: Kristen LoVerme

Magnet Coordinator: Christine Chun

Beat Editor: Carla Cross

17020 Labrador St. Northridge, CA 91325 818.349.4801

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Balboa Green Thumbs………….....PG 1

Family Game Night …...………..PG 1

INSIDE THIS EDITON

Reflections Winners …….…….PG 2

Festival of the Arts ......…….…..PG 2 Volunteer Opportunities ………...PG 2

Calendar Changes ………......PG 2

Student Council Report ……….. ..PG 3

Stop, Drop, and Recycle ………….PG 3

Thank Yous……………………… PG 3

Balboa Idol ………………………… PG 3

Afterschool Enrichment ………….. PG 3

BACK COVER

Calendar …..………………………..PG 4 Upcoming Events ………...………..PG 4 Community Corner ………………...PG 4

Volume 4 Issue 5

Balboa Gif ted /High Abi l i ty Magnet

February 2012

Mardi Gras Math Night Is Coming Soon!

February 24th 5:30 pm - 8:00 pm Mardi Gras Math & Family Game Night will be held on Friday,

February 24th 5:30 pm - 8:00 pm . Join us for an evening of fun

as we share the magic of math through games and play. There

will be math games, puzzles, fun, and food for kids of all ages.

Look out for the flyer! To volunteer at the this event, contact

Sandra Gibson at sgibson1@socal.rr.com.

Balboa Green

Thumbs

While many of us were

busy with holiday festivi-

ties, Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell

(parents of Maggie

Mitchell) were hard at

work at Balboa Magnet.

Many thanks to them for

donating their time and

talents in designing, pur-

chasing, and planting the

beautiful new garden in

the flagpole area in front of

our school. After securing

sizeable discounts from nurseries in our community, they created a native

California desert scape that gives a wonderful first impression to everyone

who steps on our campus. The Mitchell family has also attended both of

our Gardening Days this year coordinated by our two dedicated head gar-

deners, Ms. Convirs and Mrs. Conlon.

Also, a very special thank you to Paul and Jack McEvoy, Lia Teitler,

Teddy Schneiderman, and their families for attending our Balboa Garden-

ing Days!

My apologies to anyone who has come to help out whose name we have

omitted.

Jana Davenport

Principal

THE BALBOA BEAT

PAGE 2 THE BALBOA BEAT VOLUME 4 ISSUE 5

Volunteer Opportunities………………... A. Teacher Assistance Program (TAP) – Tuesdays and Thursdays, all day in the office.

Drop-in help is appreciated to complete copying and other projects for teachers.

B. Psychomotor – Please contact your Room Parent or teacher to volunteer for your

child’s class.

C. Yearbook - photos are still needed to complete pages!

D. Family Game Night - need volunteers to help run the activities

and hand out prizes. Contact Sandra Gibson at sgib-

son1@socal.rr.com

E. 5th Gr. CULMINATION CHAIRPERSON NEEDED!

Please contact Jodie Xua at exua@socal.rr.com

if you are interested in helping with this year's

culmination!

Festival of the Arts

The Festival of Arts is scheduled for

April 22nd. This fabulous event in-

cludes a silent auction of baskets and

special teacher events, crafts, and food

vendors. Many volunteers are needed

for this special day and to help with

teacher events .

If you are interested in helping out you can

contact the Festival of the Arts Chair and

she will let you know when the next plan-

ning meeting will be:

Alison Thompson alisonathompson@aol.com

Congratulations to 2011-12 Reflections Winners

Congratulations to our 2011-2012 Northwest Valley District winners:

Alexa Coons for her entry "We Are All Stars" (photography) and

Alaysia Lyons for her entry in film production.

Both girls' works were selected for their interpretation of this year's theme

“Diversity means…” Great job, Alexa and Alaysia!

We will be having a Direct

Appeal Phone-A-Thon in

February, date and time

TBA. Room parents will be

contacted to arrange volun-

teers to help make phone

calls. We will especially

need foreign language

speakers.

Calendar

Changes:

BPA meeting on April 25

is CANCELLED and has

been changed to Wednes-

day, March 21 at 8:30am.

Congratulations to the musical theatre cast of The Lion King! You

did an incredible job performing for the school. Thank you!!!

THE BALBOA BEAT VOLUME 4 ISSUE 5 PAGE 3

STUDENT COUNCIL REPORT

Valograms will go on sale 2/6-2/10 at $0.50 each. Order

forms will go out to the school on 2/3. Delivery will be on

2/14.

Donated shoes were given to a local charity called MEND.

Next event is in the last week of February - Student

Council will be collecting more used shoes & batteries!

There will be the following Spirit Days:

* February 3 will be Super Bowl Day

* Tuesday February 14th is Red, White & Blue Day

Balboa Idol is coming up fast!

Hey kids, do you have a special talent?

Do you sing? Play a musical instrument?

Can you juggle or tell funny jokes?

Do you and your friends have a dance group?

Then get ready for Balboa Idol 2012!

Entry forms will be coming out in February, but NOW is the time to start

thinking about your act!

Group Acts are Encouraged!

Afterschool Enrichment is Coming in February!

February 6th is the start date for the next session of enrichment classes. A flyer

has been sent home directing parents to the BPA website balboaparents.org to ac-

cess detailed class info with dates, prices, etc. This will allow parents to register

online directly with the vendors. For parents who don’t have access to computers,

they can request a packet of information through the office.

“Stop, Drop and

Recycle”

Friday morning, February 3rd

Please drop off your empty water bottles, printer ink

cartridges, old cell phones, plastic Ziploc baggies (any

size, any brand) and empty glue sticks at the carpool

drop off gate. A member of the Green Team will take

the items from your car so, please have the items in a

bag.

Thank you for your support! For more information,

please contact Kelly Mitchell at kelly@juicyplants.com

Thank you’s go out to: 1. Aya Katzaroff and Jodi Xua for putting on an

awesome Holiday Potluck

2. Judy Groode for her wonderful Parent Educa-

tion Series

3. Kristen Lazarian for organizing the Holiday

Outreach.

Spell-A-Thon Ends

Friday, February 3rd at 9:00 a.m.

Pledge money received after that time will NOT count

toward class totals (but will still be gladly accepted!)

Please send in your spellathon pledge money this week,

and thanks for helping to make this fundraiser a big

success!

Dana Adelstein, Spell-A-Thon Chair

FEBRUARY 2012 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2 3 4

Ground

Hog Day

Spell–A-Thon ends

- - - - - - - Stop Drop & Recycle

- - - - - - Spirit Day:

Super Bowl Day

5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Valograms on sale at

$0.50 each

12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Safety Committee

Meeting 2:00 pm

Valentine's Day

- - - - - - - -

Spirit Day: Red, White &

Blue Day

19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Presidents’ Day

No School

BPA Meeting at 8:30 a.m. in

the Parent Center

Family Game

Night

5:30-8:00 pm

Auditorium

Upcoming events for March:

Spring Picture Day End of 2nd reporting period Balboa Movie Night-TBA Cesar Chavez Day—no school Book Fair 3/12-16

IMPORTANT EVENTS IN FEBRUARY HISTORY

Supreme Court of the United States met for the first time, February 1, 1790.

Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the US, born February 6, 1911.

Thomas A. Edison, American inventor, born February 11, 1847.

Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the US, born near present-day Hodgenville, Ky., February 12, 1809.

Astronaut John H. Glenn, Jr., became the first American to orbit the earth, February 20, 1962.

Richard M. Nixon became first U.S. President to visit China, February 21, 1972.

George Washington, first U.S. President, born in Westmoreland County, Va., February 22, 1732

WE’RE MISSING YOU!

If you haven’t yet made your donation to the Direct Appeal Campaign, it’s not too late! Every dollar contributed helps make our school the #1 elementary school in LAUSD! Without the money raised by Direct Appeal, we would not have the funds to pay our full time PE coach and computer instructor, and fund many other valuable programs at Balboa.

For those who haven’t contributed, you will receive a friendly reminder call during our upcoming Phon-a-thon. If you prefer to be removed from the phone list, please give now!

Donating is easy—online at www.balboaparents.org, or send your check payable to Balboa Spirit Club to school with your child in an envelope labeled Direct Appeal. The suggested contribution is $400 per student, but any amount you can afford to give is welcomed and appreciated! Questions? Contact Stephanie Schneider at 310-990-7775 or sjschneider@b3law.com.

26 27 28 29 Feb 1 2 3

SBM/SSC

Mtg 2:45 p.m.

Sweet Success

fundraiser

begins

STOP DROP & ROLL

Room 15 Mrs. Woods 01/31 - 02/07

Room 6 Mrs. Felix 02/08 - 02/15

Room 3 Mrs. Lee 02/16 - 02/24

Room 19 Ms. Bronson 02/27 - 03/05