Luke Myers, a fifth grader at Mountain Vista, will be representing the Santa Paula and Fillmore areas in the County Spelling Bee. Luke won on a class and school level. He then went on to the area bee and competed against 15 other students ranging from 4th to 8th grade. His winning word was “miraculous.”

When asked what he will do to prepare for the County Bee, Luke shared his plan. He will continue to study hard. He is working on languages of origins and learning the different prefixes and suffixes from the various languages. He reads them, writes them, sorts them and records them onto tapes so he can listen to them at night. He tries to find smaller words that are in many of the bigger words. He also likes to remember them in funny and familiar ways. Competitions with his mom keeps it fun.

He and Devon Leon from Glen City School will be going on to the County Spelling Bee on March 8th at CSUCI. The winner of that competition will go on to Washington D.C. to compete in the Scripps National spelling Bee.

Principal Chrissy Schieferlie and 4Th grader Nathan Granados.

As students arrived for school at the drop of area Thursday morning they noticed something special had arrived for picture day. A mommy wildcat had moved her family of three little kittens into a dry drain just under the sidewalk. The wild kittens appeared to be about 5 or 6 weeks old and looked liked "little gray tigers". After the students settled into class the wildcat family was rescued from the drain and were placed in loving homes. Mountain Vista's school mascot is the "Wildcat", how perfect that cats showed up for picture day.

3rd grade student Jake Saviers and Custodian Jorge Negrette.
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Mountain Vista Elementary School would like to thank Moon Valley Nurseries of Piru for their shade tree donation and our custodian for coordinating the contribution. We are so grateful for the shade and beauty the trees have brought to our school. The students are enjoying the birds that the trees have brought and watching the trees leafs change with the seasons.

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On Wednesday, May 13, 2009 Mountain Vista Elementary School kicked off the Fillmore Library’s Summer Reading Program with a field trip of Mrs. Carolyn Diaz’s and Mrs. Diane Grants’ Second Grade Classes.

The two Second Grade classes comprised of approximately 45 teachers, students, and volunteer parents walked 1 ½ miles from Mountain Vista Elementary School to the Fillmore Library. In addition to the 1 ½ challenging mile walk the classes climbed 84 steps leading from the North Fillmore area to the top near the Fillmore Middle School. After the program, put on by the Fillmore Library, the classes had a sack lunch picnic in Shiells Park before returning to class and the rest of their studies.

Of note is that this will be the last field trip for Mrs. Diaz who is retiring on June 5, 2009 after 33 years of teaching in the Orange, Norwalk and Anaheim School Districts. Mrs. Diaz has taught the last twenty-four years in the Fillmore Unified School District at the school sites of; Piru Elementary, Sespe Elementary and finally Mountain Vista Elementary. Mrs. Diaz received her education from Chapman University, in Orange, California, where she earned a Batchelor of Arts and Master of Science in Communicative Disorders Speech and Language and from California Lutheran University where she received her Professional Clear Multiple Subject Teaching Credential. Mrs. Diaz also is credentialed as a Preliminary Resource Specialist and is a licensed Speech Pathologist.

Mrs. Diaz will be celebrating her retirement on May 15th at the home of Mrs. Priscilla Anderson who is also a friend and co-worker at Mountain Vista Elementary School. Mrs. Diaz states she will miss all of her students, colleagues and the special “Ah Ha Moments” she has been privileged to be a part of when that one student really gets it! Mrs. Diaz, in her retirement, will spend more time reading and directing the “honey-do’s” she has planned for her husband Dick. In addition there will now be more time to spend visiting with her family. There could there also be some “substitute teaching” in her future? Good luck Mrs. Diaz in your retirement!

Anahi and Pepper the Reading Dog enjoy each other’s company.
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Gloria and Mariah with the baby chicks at The Painted Pony.
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Pepper, the Reading Dog, and her owner, Sharon Clarke (who volunteers at Santa Paula Library), visited Miss Berrington’s first grade class at Mountain Vista School. The children had an opportunity to pick their favorite book and read to Pepper. Sharon also showed different tricks that Pepper could do.

Recently, Mrs. Potter’s class, Mrs. Henrey’s class and Miss Berrington’s class went on a field trip to The Painted Pony in Santa Paula. At the farm, the children milked a goat, made ice cream with goats milk, fed the farm animals and pet the chicks. They also had the opportunity to ride on the tractor. It was a fun and hands-on trip. Painted Pony also has summer camps. The day was enjoyed by the children, teachers, and parents.

Luke Myers
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The Area 5 spelling bee included schools from Santa Paula, Fillmore, Briggs, Mupu, and Santa Clara districts. Luke Myers along with Sabrina Vasquez, a 13 year-old student from Mupu, were both declared the winners after spelling all of their words correctly. Dillon Galarza, a fourth grade student from Sespe Elementary, is the alternate for the county bee. The county bee is on March 9 at 6:00 p.m. at California State University Channel Islands. There will be representatives from 10 area bees competing. The winner of that competition will be heading to Washington, D.C. for the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Fillmore is proud of both Luke Myers and Dillon Galarza for all their hard work and for representing Fillmore so well! Please come out and show your community support at the county bee!