Dear Pershing Families,

Congratulations to our students who participated in our production of Seussical Jr! We have some really talented students here and Pershing and I am so of the work they did to make this production a success. It truly takes a village to make a production like this happen and I want to thank all the parent volunteers who gave so much time, energy and expertise to make this play happen. We are so blessed to have an involved community of parents like you!

I also want to make sure all families are aware that state testing is fast approaching - there is more detailed information below. We will be doing our English and Math testing the first two weeks of May through our English and Math classes. As we prepare for state testing, our ASB has a spirit week planned to get students ready for testing. We hope you will encourage your students to participate:

• Monday, April 24: "YEE HAW - It's Testing Time!" - wear your favorite country gear
• Tuesday, April 25: "Your Future Is Bright!" - Wear sunglasses and bright or neon colors
• Wednesday, April 26: "Put Your Thinking Caps on" - wear your favorite hat
• Thursday, April 27: "Give it You Best Shot" - Wear your favorite athletic/sports team gear
• Friday, April 28: "Dreaming of Testing Success" - Pajama gear

And finally, the Pershing Middle School staff would like to cordially invite all current and future Panthers to our Spring Fest Open House that we are hosting this Thursday, April 27th from 5:30-7:00 PM. We look forward to showing off many of the learning activites our students have been engaged in. Food will also be available for purchase. Please see the flyer below! We hope to see you there.

Sincerely,
Melanie Kray

SPRING FEST IS COMING!

The Pershing Middle School faculty would like to cordially invite all families to attend our second semester open house which we are calling Spring Fest on APRIL 27th @5:30-7:00 PM. The evening begins with a brief presentation in the theater from 5:30-5:45 PM and then families will have the opportunity to informally tour the campus and different learning centers. Stop by and play carnival games created by our advanced engineering students, engage in a Science 7 activity in Ms. Tayco's classroom, and try several English 6 learning centers in Ms. Tucker's class. There will also be food for sale in the lunch arbor area.

We hope you will be able to attend and future Panthers from our feeder elementary schools: Benchley-Weinberger, Dailard, Gage, and Green are also welcome. We know that some of our Benchley friends have open house at their site the same night. Spring Fest is designed to be flexible so families can come any time during the 5:30-7:00 PM window!

NEW TRAFFIC PATTERN IN THE 6TH GRADE TURNAROUND AFTER SCHOOL

We want to thank families and students once again for their patience and understanding regarding the external gate closurein the sixth grade turnaround area that began on Thursday, April 20th. It seemed most families were able to find alternate pick up locations for the sixth graders. The turnaround will be open and accessible in the mornings for student drop off but will be closed once school begins.

We did receive some positive news from the district office that Pershing is on the schedule now to have a higher interior installed over the summer. Once that gate is put in we will be able to reopen the sixth grade turnaround for families for pick up afterschool.

P4 WILL BE AVAILABLE IN POWERSCHOOL PARENT PORTAL FRIDAY, APRIL 28TH

A reminder that the P4 grading period ended on Friday, April 21st. Parent Portal will be down the majority of this week while the grades are processed. P4 grades will be visible in Parent Portal on Friday, April 28th. This is the last progress report before the final Semester 2 grades are recorded in June. If you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact your child's teacher or counselor.

CAASPP STATE TESTING MAY 1-19.

The window for state testing is fast approaching. While we recognize that there are many ways to measure student achievement and progress we still want to encourage our students to do their best on these upcoming exams.

• May 1-5: ELA CAASPP Testing through English classes (ALL STUDENTS)
• May 8-12: Math CAASPP Testing through Math classes (ALL STUDENTS)
• May 15-19: CAST Testing through science classes (8TH GRADE ONLY)

Tips for Testing:

• Ensure your child get's a good night sleep each night and eats a healthy breakfast
• Please make sure you child gets to school on time everyday
• Make sure your charge your chromebook every night so that it is fully charged when you come to school

We've got this Panthers!

8th GRADE REQUIREMENTS FOR END OF YEAR ACTIVITIES

Students have been working hard and an important benchmark, P4 grades, is fast approaching. CLICK HERE to see the 8th grade expectations that were shared with students to participate in end of the year activities.

PERSHING FOUNDATION UPDATE - STAY CONNECTED

There a lots of a ways to stay involved and support Pershing Middle School starting with our fabulous Pershing Parent Foundation. Be sure to check out their website: https://pershingmiddleschoolfoundation.org/ and visit them on facebook @parentsofpershingpanthers. On their facebook page they have information on how to sign up for Amazon Smile so that a portion of your amazon purchases support our school.

PERSHING SCHOOL WEBSITE

https://pershing.sandiegounified.org/

Do you have suggestions for our school website? CLICK HERE to complete our website feedback survey.

The donation stie for this year's Foundation Challenge Course is now live!

CLICK HERE to access the donation website.

The donation website can also be reached by texting Challengecourse2023 to 33100. Select "students" under the navigate tab and then just search for the student's name to get their individual donation page.

The Pershing Foundation is promoting The Challenge Course as its main fundraiser for the year. Funds raised will support teacher stipends, teacher appreciation and wellness throughout the year, campus beautification projects, educational classroom and teaching enhancements, supplemental supplies for engineering, physical education and the library, and so much more!

We need your help!

1. We are in need of prize donations. As students earn donations via the donation website, they will earn a raffle ticket for each $10 raised. Those tickets will then be used as a chance to win prizes. If you are able to donate items, tickets to events, gift cards, or anything a middle schooler might like as a prize, please contact Diana Smith at pershingmiddleschoolfoundation@gmail.com to coordinate.
2. We need business sponsors!
1. Business sponsors will have their business name and logo printed on the event T shirts, displayed on the donation website, and printed in the 8th grade promotion program! There are several different levels available for sponsorship.

Platinum $1000

Gold $500

Silver $250

Partner $100

We thank you in advance for any donation to this worthy organization. Your donation would be tax deductible, as the Foundation is a 501c3 Checks can be mailed to:

Shawna McCarthy

C/O Pershing Middle School

8204 San Carlos Drive

San Diego, CA 92119

Please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions to the event organizer, Diana Smith at (702) 286-9107 or pershingmiddleschoolfoundation@gmail.com

Important Challenge Course Dates:

Donation website launch - April 24th (more details to come)

Cutoff for donations to count toward prizes - May 14th

Raffle ticket distribution - May 17th

Raffle winners drawn - May 19th

Stay tuned for a list of available prizes!

Our fantastic Boys and Girls Flag Football teams remain undefeated after weekend play. Our girls team defeated Longfellow 33-8 and Lewis 42-0. Our boys team took on Mann and Grant and defeated them 48-2 and 44-0 respectively. Great work Panthers!

SPANISH TUTORING AVAILABLE

Does your child need help with Spanish? Mr. Barry is offering tutoring support on Tuesdays in Rm. 104 afterschool.

8TH GRADE HENRY HIGH SLIM PARENT NIGHT

If you were not able to attend the meeting CLICK HERE to see the slide deck the Henry team presented.

COVID-19 cases are on the rise in our area, with San Diego County recently entering the Medium COVID-19 Community Level. Other illnesses such as the influenza virus (flu), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and the common cold also remain highly prevalent and easily transmissible. Practicing good health hygiene habits – washing hands, staying home when sick, and considering wearing a mask indoors and in crowded areas – can help prevent the spread of illness and is especially important during this time when many will be traveling or gathering with family and friends.

The district is providing all students and staff with at-home COVID-19 test kits to help our school communities have greater peace of mind about returning to school safely on Tuesday, Jan. 3 after the winter break.

The California Department of Public Health now recommends self testing for COVID-19 the day before coming back to school and two or three days after returning. We encourage students and staff to test on Monday, Jan. 2 and again on either Wednesday, Jan 4 or Thursday, Jan 5.

Testing before returning to school is recommended but not required. Additional test kits for students and staff are available at the Ed Center COVID-19 testing facility. If you test positive for COVID-19, please do not attend school and report your illness here.

Please do not send your child to school if they are feeling sick or experiencing symptoms of any cold-like virus, until those symptoms start to improve and there is no fever for 24 hours (without use of fever-reducing medication). Keeping your sick child home will be a great benefit for the health and wellness of our students and staff.

What Symptoms to Look For

• The flu and COVID-19 are both spread from person-to-person, especially indoors and in crowded places. Symptoms for both viruses can include nasal congestion, fever, headache, and muscle and joint pain, as well as a sore throat and coughing.
• RSV is a respiratory virus that has been detected in previous cold and flu seasons. Symptoms of RSV include cough, runny nose, and fever. Treatment consists of managing symptoms.

Tips to Avoid Getting Sick [English | Español)
Public health officials offer these tips to prevent getting sick:

• Consider wearing a well-fitting, good-quality mask, especially indoors or in crowded spaces
• Wash hands thoroughly and often
• Use hand sanitizers, if unable to wash hands
• Stay away from sick people
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth
• Clean commonly touched surfaces and/or wash/sanitize your hands after using them.
• Stay up to date on COVID-19 and flu vaccines

Apr 27: Spring Fest @5:30-7:00 PM

May 1-18: CAASPP School-wide testing

May 8-12: Teacher Appreciation Week

May 19: Pershing Foundation Challenge Course

Jun 8: 8th Grade Evening Awards Assembly

Jun 9: 8th Grade Dance

Jun 12: 8th Grade Promotion Practice

June 13: 8th Grade Promotion Practice & Dave & Buster's Trip

Jun 14: 8th Grade Promotion