Principal's Message

Dear McGaugh Families,

We hope you all had a wonderful winter break and a Happy New Year. We are excited to see you all back on campus tomorrow, January 9th. As you get lunches packed, set backpacks by the door, and clothes laid out for the day, we ask for your help with a growing problem here at McGaugh. For semester 1, a total of 86 school days, we had a total of 3,069 tardies. See a detailed outline below. 

September 

·   430 unexcused tardies + 411 excused tardies = 841 total 

October 

·   488 unexcused tardies + 380 excused tardies = 868 total

November  

·   351 unexcused tardies + 331 excused tardies = 682 total

December  

·   364 unexcused tardies + 314 excused tardies = 678 total

One of the most valuable life skills a student can learn with the help of parents/guardians is the responsibility of arriving at school on time every day. McGaugh is making a special effort to ensure that all students fully benefit from their education by attending school on-time. Attending school on-time helps children feel better about school—and themselves. Furthermore, one of the most important times of the school day is first thing in the morning. This is the time when teachers define the plans for the day, instructional goals are reviewed and set, and important school and class news is announced.  The whole tone of a child’s school day is set in this first part of the day. Please help us support your child in learning the habit of punctuality to help with greater success at school and throughout life.

The research behind the long-term effects of tardiness:

Loss of Instructional Minutes 

Students who are tardy 5 minutes a day, every day, lose 25 minutes of instructional time a week. Students who are tardy 30 minutes a day, every day, lose 2 ½ hours of instructional time a week. 

Academics and Achievement

Students who are frequently tardy have lower GPAs, lower scores on standardized assessments, and lower graduation rates. Chronic tardiness in elementary and middle school is also linked to failure in high school.

Behavior Problems

In the National Center for Education Statistics 2007 Indicators of School Crime and Safety, teachers surveyed reported that students who are frequently tardy have higher rates of suspension and other disciplinary measures. Tardiness causes students to feel disconnected with school, leading to behavior problems and dropouts.

Important Details to Remember:

Students are considered tardy if they are not in their seats at 7:55am when the tardy bell rings.  Any student who arrives to class after the 7:55am bell must report to the office for a late slip before reporting to class. Please note that at 7:50am the warning bell rings to head to class. Yard duty supervision begins at 7:35am and students can come and be on the blacktop and eat breakfast at this time.

We ask you to partner with us in this 2023 New Year's resolution, to reduce the number of tardies and help ensure a successful second semester for all our Sea Lions. 

UPCOMING REMINDERS AND EVENTS YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS

·    1/9 Back to School

·    1/10 Project SEEK Meeting

·    1/11 College Day

·    1/12 PTA Meeting

·    1/12 SEL Parent Education Night 

·    1/13 Run Seal Beach t-shirt contest due 

·    1/16 No School to celebrate Martin Luther King Day

·    1/18 School Site Council Meeting

·    1/27 Jog-A-Thon

·    1/30 After school LAEF classes begin

 
Ms. Wendy Wood, M.Ed. ​
McGaugh Elementary School Principal

wwood@losal.org

(562) 799-4560 

Please Join our PTA Meeting 1/12

Please join us for our next PTA Meeting this 

SEEK Meeting 1/10 - Join Us!  

Please join us for Project SEEK’s next meeting, this Tuesday, 1/10/23 at 8:00 am in the Kids Korner room.

We’ll be talking about ways to support Project SEEK fund our Art and STEM classes this year and our largest fundraiser of the year, The Event, March 24th, 2023.

Looking forward to seeing everyone Tuesday, 1/10/23 at 8:00 am.

5th Grade Families!  

Hi 5th Grade Parents!

Please take some time to start gathering photos of your 5th Grader for the yearbook!
Click on the QR Code or Link below and start uploading.  If you have any questions, email Emmy Harris @ emiliaspealharris@gmail.com





https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1rDxxvTEyUqp17b4BQCujKEo2MbqTm0lU?usp=sharing

Rules for Photo Upload:
1) 30 photos TOTAL per student, choose accordingly.
2) All photos MUST be in JPEG format (Many photos from iphones need to be converted before upload.  Otherwise, they will NOT show up in the yearbook builder tool.) 
3) All photos MUST be uploaded by January 31st, no exceptions.

Thanks and we can't wait to see these cuties throughout their years at McGaugh!

The 5th Grade Yearbook Team


 

LAEF Spring After-School Enrichment Classes 

Sign up for our new after-school and virtual language classes at LAEF4kids.org!

Classes begin January 30th! This is an experience your children will not want to miss. There are opportunities every day of the week to get some physical activity in and to possibly try something new/exhilarating. The TK-K only classes will be 55-minute classes and the 1st -5th classes as well as Wednesday classes will be 1 hour and 15 minutes. The classes available at McGaugh are Acting/Stage Performance, Basketball, Breakdance 101, Chess, Fitness and Agility, Full STEAM Ahead, Happiness Mindset, LEGO Academy, Masters of the Field, Musical Theater, Ohana Fitness, Origami, Soccer, and Volleyball. 

The class fee is $175. Strategic Kids and Chess classes have a $24 materials fee. Class fee increases after January 24th.

FREE virtual world language classes for 1st - 5th graders begin February 6th!

Multi-class discounts available – 10% off the 2nd class and 15% off any class thereafter. All registration information including class descriptions and instructor bios are presented at LAEF4kids.org/afterschool. 

Call (562) 799-4700 x80424 or email programdirector@LAEF4Kids.org.

PEEK inside SEEK 

Before the holiday break, students in our SEEK STEM lab class practiced coding…future creators!

Students love our Art and STEM lab classes because they are fun! Plus studies show that STEAM classes increase students’ problem solving skills, growth mindset and creativity. Please consider donating to Project SEEK, so we can continue to fund these programs for year’s to come.
  
Click here to Donate now https://one.bidpal.net/sealionsponsor We understand not everyone has the ability to donate, so please consider joining us at our next meeting, the 2nd Tuesday of every month.

Parent Education Night - Social Emotional Learning

Los Alamitos Unified is pleased to invite you to a parent education night: How to Support Your Child's Self-Regulation led by Elementary Wellness Counselor, Priscilla Jara. The parent education night will focus on supports to help students recognize and validate big emotions and implement coping strategies at home.  

This event will be in person on Thursday, January 12, 2023 from 6:00PM to 7:00PM and will be held at Lee Elementary School in the Multi-Purpose Room. Please see the flier below for additional information.

Save The Date - SEEK Met Gala Event