

Deer Canyon Echoes
December 15, 2023
To Do
- DCES Spirt Wear is here - order now!
- Sign up to perform in our spring DC Talent Show.
- Sign up to perform in our Winter Music Recital.
- Check out the minutes from last week's PSO meeting. Have a question or comment for the PSO? Please submit through Deer Deck.
- Contact Maha (melmeniawy@powayusd.com) if you’re interested in helping organize a lunchtime activity next week in recognition of a December holiday/custom.
Save the Date
- 12/22 - Minimum Day (1pm dismissal)
- 12/25 to 1/5 - Winter Break (no school)
- 1/8 - School resumes
- 1/16 - Auditions for the DC Talent Show @ 3:15 pm
- 1/23 - Auditions for the Winter Music Recital @ 3:15 pm
- 3/11 - Pro Grow Day (no school for students)
Principal's Message 📚
Good evening, Deer Canyon Families:
As December continues to unfold, I want to extend my heartfelt appreciation for our incredible staff, students, and families. Our staff and families dedicate much time and heart into creating positive, nurturing, happy, and meaningful learning environments for Deer Canyon students. We at Deer Canyon hope our families are embracing the spirit of joy and celebration that this time of year often brings!
This week kicked off with our Monday morning Caught you Being Kind student recognition. There were 28 students caught being kind last week; I’m not surprised because our students are so lovely, but it was almost a weekly record for us!
After a few days home sick last week, I spent Monday and Tuesday simply reveling in the joyful learning happening in our classrooms. Students were busy learning about holidays around the world, engaged in art lessons, global languages, mystery science, STEAM, and more!
On Wednesday, the Deer Canyon Equity Committee met with other elementary school teams, and PUSD hosted a safety summit in response to recent events at the local and national level. CLICK HERE for a recording of the event.
On Thursday, we conducted a fire drill in the morning and staff met in the afternoon to review schoolwide expectations, through the lens of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS). More to come on this!
Today was an XP day; students participated in PE and a Visual Arts lesson centered around geometric shapes! Additionally, parent volunteers hosted lunchtime activities today in recognition of Hanukkah. Thank you, parents! Students learned new games, created art projects, and colored. Any parents interested in further opportunities to host lunchtime activities may contact Maha Elmeniawy at melmeniawy@powayusd.com. It is our goal that each student sees and feels their culture, customs, and traditions represented on our campus.
Next week is sure to bring much fun, as we continue to host classroom winter parties and participate in a schoolwide assembly on Monday. For Monday’s assembly, Musical Theater students will be performing "Beauty and the Beast" for their peers and teachers. As a reminder, Friday is a MINIMUM DAY. Transitional Kindergarten through fifth grade releases at 1 pm.
As we tidy up campus before Winter Break, please be sure to check Lost and Found for any missing items. Any items remaining on the Lost and Found cart will be donated at the end of the day Friday, December 22.
Looking ahead to springtime, please mark your calendars: Deer Canyon will host a site-based Professional Growth day for all staff on Monday, March 11 (this will be a non-student day for Deer Canyon).
A Note about Attendance and Winter Break
We appreciate everyone’s efforts to ensure their student attends school each day before the winter break and when we return from break. As long as your child is healthy, please encourage and emphasize the importance of positive attendance while school is in session.
Every day of school is an important opportunity for students to learn as well as connect to peers and teachers. The student experience in the classroom cannot be replicated and is vital to student progress and development (both academically and social-emotionally).
During winter break, we are grateful to our families for helping student(s) maintain a schedule, structure, and routine in their day. This will ease the natural challenges of transitioning back to school on January 8.
We recognize and thank:
- Our students and their families who do their best to show up daily, even when it isn’t easy.
- Our teachers and support staff who go above and beyond to make school a welcoming and safe place for all students to learn.
- Our many, many healers and helpers — the support staff and community volunteers who provide the extra hands and attention our children need.
If your family or your child needs support heading into Winter Break, please reach out to me or school counselor, Carla Macdougall, for assistance or resources.
Thank you for partnering with us! We appreciate each of you. May the upcoming days off be restful and healing.
From PUSD Leadership: Poway Unified Strategic Arts Committee
We are excited to share an opportunity for you to get involved in shaping the future of visual and performing arts education in our community. Poway Unified will form a Strategic Committee to review and improve the current strategic arts plan.
The committee is seeking participation from teachers (of all grade levels and subjects), administrators, district office staff, parents, guardians, and students to be a part of the committee. As a member, you'll examine the progress of our existing plan, analyze arts education data, and create recommendations for visual and performing arts initiatives. Committee members will represent a diverse and inclusive range of representatives across Poway Unified.
Please view this flier to learn more about the committee, including meeting dates and how to apply. The deadline to apply is December 22, 2023.
If you have any questions, we are happy to help. Just reach out to Kayla Warren at kwarren@powayusd.com anytime. Forward this invitation to other members of our community that may be interested.
Here’s to a wonderful week ahead!
Katie Bendix
Principal
Upcoming Events
Sign Up: Winter Music Recital
Students, it's time to sign up for winter recital tryouts!
We're excited to see our DC students perform solos, duets with another student, or a musical piece with a few other students. (Family members may perform with the student in group numbers only.)
Auditions: Tuesday, Jan. 23 @ 3:15 pm in the MPR
Recital: Thursday, Feb. 1 @ 6 p.m. in the MPR
Please review our sign-up form for more details.
DC: The Eras Tour - Annual Talent Show
It’s time for the annual Talent Show!
This year, our 5th graders decided on the theme DC: The Eras Tour. And they will perform a fun dance to Taylor Swift’s "22"!
Please take a moment to review the Talent Show guidelines.
- Students TK-5th: Sign up for auditions HERE.
- Submit your child’s music for auditions to Talent Show Music. (5th grade crew & dancer sign-ups will be completed in class)
Questions? Email us at deercanyontalentshow@gmail.com
Updates from the DCPSO
DCES Movie Night Wrap-Up
Thank you to all who joined us for our first Deer Canyon Movie Night!
We enjoyed a performance by our Deer Canyon Choir under the direction of the incomparable Mrs. Angie Serrano, and got into the holiday spirit with a viewing of "The Grinch." We were thrilled to see so much of our community come out for this new event, and look forward to more movie nights in the future on our brand new pop-up screen!
A special thank you to Melissa Davis and Erin Simpson who helped plan, coordinate, and run the evening. Thank you to Melissa and Scott Doctor who provided the movie projector! Thank you to Courtney and Tyler Huff, Juliana Choi, Heather Hall, Lisa Thakkar, Dani Cook, Maha Elmeniawy, and the Westview High School NHS students for running concessions. Thank you to Mylinh Baumgardner, Dani Cook, Poorvi Patel, Tiele Hysni, Heather Hall, Melissa Davis, Holly Callahan, Donna Cordero, and Aki Iwatsuki for your wonderful baked treats.
Finally, endless thanks to our wonderful custodians, Mr. Pete and Mr. Javier, for helping set up, clean up, and trouble-shoot along the way to help our event run smoothly. And thank you to Clint Callahan for extra help with clean up.
Thank you to Fresco Pizzeria and Party Pop Popcorn for their support in not only offering their delicious food for sale at the event, but also providing a portion of their proceeds to benefit our DCPSO. We sincerely appreciate your generosity.
Here's to many more fun community events like this one!
-Eve Lanham
DCPSO President
P.S. Have more photos of the event? Please email them to deercanyonyearbook@gmail.com.
Deer Canyon Musical Theatre Performances
Over the last 10 weeks, several Deer Canyon students participated in a musical theatre workshop under the direction of Mrs. Angie Serrano and Ms. Leasa Thernes.
The culmination of their work were two performances in our very own MPR. Kindergarten-3rd graders put on a production of "Pinocchio," and 3rd-5th graders put on a production of "Beauty and the Beast."
The PSO feels so fortunate for the opportunity to bring Performing Arts onto our campus with these workshops, and it was amazing to see so many of our students take the stage and shine over the last week! Bravo and Brava to our performers, and thank you so much to Angie Serrano and Leasa Thernes for your hard work with our students! Be on the lookout for information about our next theatre workshops coming in February, which will be productions of "Finding Nemo" (K-3) and "Moana" (3-5).
-Eve Lanham
P.S. Have more photos of the performances? Please email them to: deercanyonyearbook@gmail.com.
A Note for Parents
ESS Holiday Gift
We’re gathering a holiday gift for Deer Canyon’s awesome ESS staff! If you are part of the ESS family, please consider participating. For more information or to donate, fill out this form.
Deadline: Monday, December 18
Questions? Please contact Lea Smoot:
"The Giving Tree" deadline extended
Each year, Deer Canyon participates in "The Giving Tree," a donation program that helps supply our own Deer Canyon families with much-needed holiday essentials.
This year, more families were nominated, and the collected donations so far aren't able to cover all of the families in need. If you would consider donating a gift card or making a direct donation of cash or check (made out to Carla MacDougall), it would go a long way in ensuring all nominated families receive support.
You may also donate to the DSPCO Venmo account @deercanyonpso. Please put "Giving Tree" in the notes. Thank you!