From Head of School
Moving Ahead & Much to Look Forward To!
Dear Clairbourn Families,
This week and last week are some of my favorite weeks of the year because our first graders are presenting our daily message at Morning Assembly. They have been watching the "big kids" all year and have practiced extensively for their turn. They are confident, prepared, and sometimes a little nervous, but courageous nonetheless. When they are finished, they are proud of their efforts and are all smiles. I love the pure joy that comes from a job well done. We see this in so many ways at Clairbourn, from the Morning Assembly presentations to the middle school athletes or mathletes, to the musicians, to the whole school performances in the spring and winter.
Now, our middle school students are preparing for exams and our elementary students are wrapping up projects and units as we approach the end of the year. Let's help the students stay focused and finish the year with energy, enthusiasm, and effort!
Amy Patzlaff, Ed.D.
Head of School
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Student Council
2023-2024 Election Results
This year we had 15 students running for the 2023-2024 Student Council. It is always so great to see so many who want to serve the school they love. They made posters, wrote and presented speeches to their peers. Thank you for your hard work!
The races were very close this year and we are proud to announce the election results:
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Clairbourn Insights
Math + Hands-on Experiments
= Deeper Understanding
Algebra and geometry students spent a week studying catapults. They began by learning about the history of catapults, medieval math, the science of projectile motion and energy conversions. They put principles of engineering into practice as they designed and built their own unique mini catapults, followed by using algebra as they collected launch data in order to write equations modeling their catapults' trajectories.
 On the final day, they took to the field in groups to launch rocks and melons from a full-sized catapult built by Mr. Morehouse and his wonderful Clairbourn maintenance team. Each group was given an equation for the trajectory of their object and used the quadratic formula to calculate their catapult placement in order to knock down the target castle! Well done, eighth graders! |
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 This week, middle school drama students performed as Winnie the Pooh characters in an adaptation of A.A. Milne's story. They presented their play to lower school students from kindergarten to second grade. What a perfect buddy bonding experience for our students and a fun showcase of the eighth grade drama classes! |
Congratulations to Clairbourn Mathletes
Three Cheers to Clairbourn Mathletes!
All nineteen members of the Clairbourn math team participated in the AMC8, a rigorous nationwide online math competition held earlier this year. Over 74,000 students from almost 2,000 schools across the country competed and our Cougars showed they are scholars with heart as they persevered through difficult problem-solving tasks.
Our team made us proud with incredible results all around, but here were a few big awards to note:
School Certificate of Merit: Awarded to a school's team when the top 3 scorers achieve a combined score of 50 or greater. Congratulations to Louis L. (8th), Tommy L. (6th) and Isabelle W. (7th) for accomplishing this for Clairbourn!
Honor Roll of Distinction: Awarded to individual students who score in the top 1% of all participants nationally. We had 2 Cougars achieve this award! Congratulations to Tommy L. (6th) and Louis L. (8th) who was 1 of 48 students across the entire country to achieve a perfect score!
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Bring History to Life
Retelling California and American History
Students from fourth and fifth grades had an exciting experience this week bringing California and American history to life! Fourth graders actively participated in a lively retelling of California’s rich history. Students focused on major events that shaped our great state of California. Drama, dance, games and music supported students’ vocabulary development and enriched their learning experience. They enjoyed dressing up to represent the different eras of California, presenting their vocabulary words and answering trivia questions to earn points for their team in a friendly jeopardy style game.
 Fifth grade students explored the famous events, historical figures and relevant vocabulary of this pivotal point in America’s history. Each student picked a famous figure from the American Revolution to be their character for the day. Flags, maps, re-enactments, music and games helped the students explore and understand the importance of American liberty and patriotism. |
Special Thank you From
the CFA Presidents
Dear Clairbourn Families,
It’s been a great honor to have been able to serve as your 2022-2023 CFA Presidents. Thanks to our generous community, we were able to have a hugely successful year raising $278,000. None of this could have been possible without the selfless efforts of our dedicated volunteers.
Whether it was chairing an event, serving lunches, attending a CFA activity or contributing as a sponsor, you all have made a lasting impact. Your dedication to Clairbourn not only helps create a nurturing community for our students, but also helps foster a sense of unity among our families. We are truly grateful for your contributions, which have allowed us to enhance various aspects of our school’s programs and resources. Your generosity has directly benefited our students by enabling the school to build better play facilities, purchase that latest technology for the i-Lab, stock new books for our library, allow students to be in a Shakepseare play and the opportunity to leave the classrooms for field trips.
We still cannot believe this school year is coming to an end. We have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know all the families, teachers and staff better. We are excited to see what the new school year has in store for us. We know Dana Lee Wong, your 2023-2024 CFA President, is already hard at work in preparing for upcoming events. We leave you in great hands as Dana is one of the biggest advocates for Clairbourn. She will make sure our upcoming school year is
one for us all to look forward to.
I would like to recognize and thank our 2022-2023 CFA board members who volunteered their valuable time this year to make all our events a success.
With love always,
Lucy Balikian & Ting Sung
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Message From the Incoming CFA President
Greetings Clairbourn Community,
I am honored to be serving as next year’s Clairbourn Family Association President aka CFA. I have two children here at Clairbourn, Presley, an eighth grader who Clairbourn prepared well for his next step into high school, and Penelope, a third grader who started in PK.
Our Clairbourn story started five years ago and we were immediately welcomed by the warm and supportive community and amazed by the level of involvement of our CFA and I was hooked. It has become our new home! I have been an involved parent volunteer since my early days and there are opportunities for any schedule. Your participation is encouraged as this is what builds our camaraderie and your kids see you invested. It’s a great way to meet other families from other grades and build lasting relationships and networks.
 CFA is excited to share a full school calendar year of activities that are waiting for you and your family. We have Coffee in the Quad on our first day of school and we have our Family Social, Book Fair and Entrepreneurial Fair all in the first quarter of school. Thank you to our current board who provided us with a very exciting post Covid welcome back. Our solidarity is unmatched. I love how we support each other and work on our community building. We are also very fortunate to have three past presidents (Lucy Balikian, Connie Kim and Ting Sung) serving next year, as well as the majority of our board returning. We will build on what we have developed and make it an even greater experience for our community.
Clairbourn is truly an amazing place! We are all so fortunate to be a part of this environment where our children excel and are so happy. Have a relaxing and fun summer. I’m looking forward to next year's journey together.
With gratitude,
Dana Lee Wong |
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Celebrating Hard-Work and Progress
Our fourth through eighth grade musicians put on an outstanding live concert that showcased their talents and hard work. Each student demonstrated musicianship throughout the performance and we are proud of each of you! A big thank you goes out to Ms. Kiertzner and Mr. Elmore, who worked tirelessly to bring out the best from each musician.
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Thank you for making Open House a success!
It was a great end-of-year celebration with our families to see the depth and growth demonstrated in each classroom! As one teacher said, "It was a magical evening! We were moved by the genuine care of each and every person we encountered." To our new incoming families, it was so nice meeting you all and we can’t wait to have you join us in the fall! Together, We Are Clairbourn! |
TOMORROW is the last day to shop at Cougar Corner!
Remember to come by and use up your accounts. Balances will not be transferred to the next school year. For questions please contact Fiona Zhang. |
School Calendar
5/19 Free dress
5/23 Pasta lunch
5/24 Middle school: noon dismissal and free dress
5/25 Middle school: noon dismissal and free dress
5/25 Panda lunch
5/26 No school
(teacher in-service day)
5/29 No school
(Memorial Day)
5/30 Pizza lunch
5/31 Dress uniform /
last day of school with a noon dismissal
6/1 Graduation
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The art show was a tremendous success, featuring a diverse range of artistic styles and mediums. Each piece was unique, showcasing the creativity of our students who proudly toured their parents through the panels of art, finding their own pieces and admiring others in their search. Our community is full of amazing artists!
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Clairbourn Swim Team Took Over the League!
We are thrilled to announce our impressive swim season! Sixteen outstanding middle school swimmers dove, swam, cheered and most of all, demonstrated exceptional sportsmanship for the team. Clairbourn took many first place ribbons, as well as many top three ribbons in the league against other private schools in the area. We are proud of our athletes.
Congratulations to all and thank you for representing our school with HEART! |
Lost and Found
Lost and Found items will be displayed at the transportation area through 5/31. Non-claimed items will be donated to the Goodwill or the used uniform sale. Please mark your child's name on all school items such as water bottles, uniforms and PE clothes.
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Auction Item Highlights
Eighth grader Shalom L. was the Head of School this Tuesday! Along with Dr. Patzlaff, he greeted students at morning transportation and shared donuts with the class of 2023! Students enjoyed his decree of having an extra free dress day. Thank you, Shalom!
Our Librarian for the day, fourth grader Atticus G., enjoyed a day learning about how the library functions. He got to greet the students, process their books and read stories to multiple grades! Thank you, Atticus!
Preschool Cougars went on a bubble adventure for a fun auction party! This event was designed to explore the enchanting world of bubbles. Preschoolers not only learned about the science behind them, but they each were wrapped in a gigantic bubble! |
Discover the Wonders of Nature!
First-grade students visited Descanso Gardens for a field trip this week. They learned about plants, engaged in hands-on activities and discovered fun facts about animals. We loved hearing all the feedback they shared at Morning Assembly. |
Asian Pacific American Heritage month celebration continues.
This week, we welcomed film director Justin Lin to school for an interview with the Student Council. Justin discussed the quality he values the most from his culture and that is family, and the importance of staying humble and working hard. Thank you Justin for sharing your insights and to the Student Council for arranging this special visit!
Tzi Ma is a Hong Kong-born actor who later relocated to United States and grew up in New York. He overcame career challenges as an Asian American actor by being selective about the roles he chose, avoiding those that perpetuate harmful stereotypes. He sought out roles that showcase diversity and complexity. He has also advocated for greater representation of Asians in media and emphasized the importance of Asian American actors and creators telling their own stories.
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