- No School or ESS on Monday, September 18 (Professional Growth Day)
- Dollar a Day Fundraiser - ends this weekend! Donate HERE.
- Sign up for Jr. First Lego League by Tuesday, 9/19 - HERE.
- Review next week's DCPSO Agenda for Thursday, 9/21.
- Contribute questions or comments regarding DCPSO Agenda items to the "Deer Deck."
Good evening, Deer Canyon Families:
I first want to acknowledge a slight shift in communication systems at Deer Canyon and help provide insight into the decided adjustment.
In response to community feedback that families are often inundated with frequent school emails and reminders, we have shifted to a once-per-week communication: this Friday Echoes.
My goal is to ensure that families have one place to go to access all weekly Deer Canyon information. Aside from infrequent stand-alone reminders for items missed in Echoes or last-minute information, I will be including all school news here (and, yes, it can get lengthy!). I hope this is a helpful tool for your family. You can also follow us on Instagram @deercanyonpusd for a peek into our daily learning and important school reminders.
We had another week full of learning and fun activities on campus! On Monday, we started Mileage Club, recognized Patriot Day, and initiated our new weekly Caught you Being Kind student recognitions. Every Monday, I will announce over the PA system the names of students who were “Caught Being Kind” and students will come to my office for a brief recognition. I’m excited to increase opportunities for students to be acknowledged for their positive actions and contributions to campus!
On Tuesday, each student participated in a bus evacuation drill, so we are safe and prepared for future fun field trips! On Wednesday, we welcomed Executive Director Christine Donnelly to campus for learning walks. As always, I enjoyed visiting classrooms with our guest and listening to our learners engage in discourse with each other and their teachers. Today, I kicked up some dust, running with students during Mileage Club. I’ll be at home icing and recovering for the next 48 hours!
Today kicks off LatinX/Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15-October 15). While we aim to find daily opportunities to do so for all cultures and heritages, this month is a time to explicitly recognize and celebrate the culture, history, and contributions of Hispanic Americans. For your personal reference, I wanted to share a few resources and ideas for observing the month:
The coming short week is sure to bring more joy and learning! Please remember there is no school and no ESS on Monday, September 18. Deer Canyon staff will be engaged in professional learning, focused on PUSD’s new Illustrative Math curriculum, schoolwide systems of support, and positive behavior intervention systems. On Wednesday, our 1st graders will participate in the Universal Screener with a team of PUSD staff and our TK-K teachers. This screener will help us better understand any individual reading intervention needs.
September is Attendance Awareness Month: Help your child be an Attendance H.E.R.O.:
Here. Everyday. Ready. On-time. Parent partnership is crucial to ensuring our students are receiving the full advantage of consistent school attendance. Students who attend school regularly are significantly more likely to achieve proficient academic levels in reading and math, do better on tests, as well as more likely to graduate and be successful in future endeavors.
Help us accomplish this by:
Establishing consistent bedtimes and wake up times
Planning ahead to avoid scheduling appointments and vacations during school
Communicating with teachers regarding illnesses or religious/cultural holidays
Staying engaged and regularly checking in with your children about their experiences
Emphasizing the importance of attendance with your children
Reaching out to us for help to address any barriers to attendance
Thank you for your support and partnership! For more attendance tips and resources go to bit.ly/attendancehero.
Welcome to our Newest Noon Duty!
Finally, I want to introduce you to our newest member of the Deer Canyon noon duty team, Laurel Hambuch. Laurel will be supporting your student on the playground each day during lunch and recess, providing supervision, guidance, and character coaching along with Ms. Tish and Ms. Irene. Laurel jumped right in on Tuesday and is focused on establishing positive relationships with students. Welcome, Laurel!
Enjoy your long weekend! Staff will be hard at work on Monday and ready to welcome your students back to campus on Tuesday.
Katie Bendix
Principal
Dollar A Day Fundraiser - Final Call & Thank You!
Great news, Deer Canyon! As of Wednesday evening, we are proud to announce that 77 families, representing 101 students, have committed to supporting our school with a total of $28,394 and an additional $4,890 in corporate matching.
This grand total of $33,284 helps us meet 28% of our annual goal and is a fabulous start to our year of fundraising! Way to go, DC Families! Thank you so much! We hope to see the rest of our community contributing their “dollar a day” through this weekend.
For those who have donated already or have yet to contribute, please check if your employer will match your contribution. Doubling your impact is a HUGE way to help our school and is a valuable source of funding we count on every year.
Small, medium and large-sized businesses participate in matching gifts. Please search for your company HERE or ask directly if they have a company matching program. Every company is different and it only takes a few minutes to make a big difference. Some matching companies include: Illumina, Sony, LPL, Qualcomm, Credit Karma, Labcorp, SOLV Energy, Cadence Design Systems, Servicenow, Harder+Company Community Research and many more!
We can’t put a price on how valuable it is to support our students’ enriched educational experience, as well as extracurricular student activities and community events. We are so grateful for your generosity and commitment to DC year after year. We look forward to more support from all families during the year.
Check the thermometer by the entrance and exit gates throughout the year to see how we’re meeting our goal, and here in Echoes for more information on fundraising, volunteering and much fun to come! Thank you again.
Want to contribute your dollar a day? Please register and donate via our Google Form HERE.
With warmth and gratitude,
Melissa Davis
VP, Fundraising
DCPSO
Upcoming PSO Meeting: Sept. 21
We hope you plan to attend our upcoming Parent Staff Organization meeting next Thursday, September 21, from 1:45-3:15 pm in Room 14. Childcare will be provided for the 90-minute meeting for Deer Canyon-registered students.
New for this meeting is a space at the top of the meeting for YOUR feedback! Please check out the agenda for the meeting, as well as the "Deer Deck" — a place where community members are encouraged to submit a question or comment in advance of the meeting. This form will soon have a place on our school website, and will always be sent along with the agenda in Echoes the week before a meeting.
If you'd like to speak about an agenda item or anything else, PLEASE submit it via the Deer Deck so we can hold space for you in our meeting. After the Community Feedback portion, the meeting agenda will continue as planned.
If you cannot attend, please feel free to join us on Zoom.
Link here (please note the change in meeting information!), or:
Meeting ID: 832 0496 7196
Passcode: DCPSO2023
Looking forward to seeing you in person or on Zoom on 9/21!
Eve Lanham
DCPSO President
Attention All Performers!
Calling all 2nd-5th grade singers!
Deer Canyon Choir is a free before-school program sponsored by the DCPSO. Rehearsals are every Tuesday, 8-8:40 am, starting September 26.
If your child is interested, please fill out this Google Form.
Fall Musical Theater Workshops
Our DCPSO is sponsoring after-school Musical Theatre workshops taught by Angie Serrano and Leasa Thernes. Details and registration forms are attached. If you’d like to register, please turn in your form and payment to the box in the office, starting September 5. Registration is limited and first come first serve, so don't delay!
Email Angie Serrano with any questions at jserrano@me.com.
Join Deer Canyon's First Lego League Jr.
Is your child interested in Lego?
First Lego League Jr. is a parent-run extracurricular activity for 1st–3rd grade students. This year's theme is MASTERPIECE where children will imagine and innovate new ways to create and communicate art across the globe in a masterful new challenge. Teams will have 4-6 students and will need at least 2 parent coaches.
Deadline to register is Tuesday, Sept. 19. **This short turnaround is needed to meet the deadline for those interested in the Westview mentorship program** Register here: https://forms.gle/JFuZGGi6N6h2qrH76
A Zoom info session will be held Monday, Sept. 18, at 5:30 pm:
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/79178900590?pwd=jwl6sskY3W2bnGIAeszpINZ1f8IqL0.1
Meeting ID: 791 7890 0590
Passcode: grN1nQ
Please reach out to Kristine Fernandez (mtkvfernandez@gmail.com) for questions about this year’s program.
