The Dolphin Whistle

Dear Parents,

There are 12 important days of school left before Winter break. Please help your child to stay focused and have a strong finish to this first half of the year, before their well-deserved break.

I would also like to remind all families that punctuality and attendance are important, even on rainy days! As is safety on the streets and in the parking lot. Allow extra time in the morning and at pick-up so you are not rushing. Student safety is always our first concern.

Lastly, please plan on attending the PTA Festival of Lights Family Event on Friday Dec. 13th. Come anytime between 3:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. Great food for sale and lots of fun for the children!

Best Regards,

Theresa Lambert

Principal Mariano Castro Elementary

The annual 4th grade field trip to Sacramento is Friday December 6th, 2019. This trip to the state capital is a one day trip where students go to to the California Museum and the State Capital building on Friday, Dec. 6th. It's a long day, but well worth it as it is an experience that the students will always remember.

New, and important for parents to know:

• In January, parents will receive four reports (two for math and two for English language arts): One report will show your student’s overall score and growth since August (take a look here), and a detailed report (look at the report here) will show how your student performed on each grade-level standard, in math and language arts. You can review this information and talk with your teacher about how to support and enrich your child’s learning.

• Your child can access i-Ready instruction at home online anytime through Clever to supplement, reinforce and enrich his/her classroom learning (exception: i-Ready instruction is not available at home during diagnostic testing). These lessons supplement core instruction, and support and enrich students' learning. They are tailored to students, based on information from their i-Ready assessments. Please ask your teacher if you have trouble accessing i-Ready.

Please visit www.mvwsd.org/ireadyreport to view sample reports and frequently asked questions. Thank you for your partnership with us in your student’s success.

Dec. 4th- First Grade Field Trip

Dec. 6th- Fourth Grade Field Trip

Dec. 11th- Castro Kinder information night

Dec. 13th- Festival of Lights , 3:00pm- 7:00pm- MUR

Dec. 18th- Last day of morning class

Dec. 20th - Jan.6th - December Break

Thanks to parents like you, MVEF is making great progress towards their $800,000 fundraising goal. Don't miss your chance to do your part to bring art, music, science, athletics and more to your child and every child in the district.There is still time to make a tax-deductible donation to MVEF this year. The more MVEF raises, the bigger the impact! Last year, MVEF exceeded our fundraising goal, enabling us to fund science materials for the new elementary science classrooms and professional development for teaching staff. Help MVEF surpass their goal and make your tax-deductible donation today! Mvef.org/donate.

On November 21, you received an email with your PowerSchool Parent Portal Account with your username and instructions. Please check now that you have access and that all your currently enrolled students are linked in your PowerSchool Parent Portal. Only one PowerSchool Parent Portal account is needed per family. If not all of your children are currently linked on your PowerSchool Parent Portal, please contact your school office.

Beginning January 13, parents with students in grades TK-7 will be able to log on to the PowerSchool Parent Portal to enroll their children for 2020-21. Current eighth-grade parents should check their mail for Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District registration information.

Eureka Math provides a series of free Parent Tip Sheets at the topic level that include suggested strategies and models, key vocabulary, and tips for how you can support learning at home. Available in English and Spanish for grades K-8. To view those tip sheets, click on https://www.mvwsd.org/academics/teaching_the_standards/eureka_math

To access Eureka math videos, curriculum and homework helpers through a free, sign-in parent dashboard, check out nonprofit GreatMinds at https://greatminds.org/math/parents. To access Common Core standards parent roadmaps for math and language arts by grade, click on Parent Roadmaps - ELA and Parent Roadmap - Math

The Mountain View Whisman School District is seeking Mountain View residents to serve on a committee of community leaders : Parcel Tax Oversight Committee.

Representatives monitor, provide oversight and ensure accountability to the funds received by the District, and include an annual report to the Board regarding the actual uses of such funds.

Applications are due December 9, 2019. Applications can be mailed to Mountain View Whisman School District, Attn: Dr. Rebecca Westover, Chief Business Officer, 1400 Montecito Avenue, Mountain View, CA 94043, or faxed to 650-964-8907. Applications are available online at http://www.mvwsd.org/about/committees

Questions? Please call Dr. Rebecca Westover, Chief Business Officer, at 650-526-3500 or email rwestover@mvwsd.org

Presenters:
Christine Wang, EdM, Heard Alliance
Eduardo Bunge, Ph.D Professor, Palo Alto University, Director, Master of Science in Psychology
Dr. Moira Kessler, Md Clinical Assistant, Professor Stanford Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Alicia Carter, MVWSD School Counselor, Crittenden Middle School
Kristin Castillo, Student Services Coordinator, Los Altos High School


Explore these topics, questions and more with our panel of experts:
What is typical development and behavior?
Signs and symptoms of depression and anxiety
Mental health at different developmental stages
What are the schools doing to reduce stress, provide support, and promote mental
health?
If a child/adolescent is experiencing an issue, how can you determine if it’s a typical
behavior or something more serious? When should a parent be concerned?
How can parents have an open conversation on difficult topics with their kids?
What types of wellness strategies can parents use at home?

Childcare and Spanish interpretation will be available. Reserve your seat: navigatingmentalhealth.eventbrite.com

School kindergarten information nights are at 6 p.m. on Dec. 11 for neighborhood elementary schools. You may click here to confirm your child’s school of residence.

If your child turns 5 years old between September 2 – December 2 of the current school year, he/she may qualify for transitional kindergarten. TK info night is December 5 at 5:00 PM at Theuerkauf Elementary.

The District has two choice schools: Spanish-English dual immersion at Gabriela Mistral School and a parent participation program at Stevenson Elementary School. These schools can be requested when you register your child. Gabriela Mistral's information night is Dec. 9 at 5:30 p.m. Stevenson's information night is Dec. 16 at 5:30 p.m.

There are a variety of school and program information nights and tours in December at the elementary schools. Please click here for a list of these events.

For NEW and CURRENT students: Open Enrollment is from January 13-February 7 online. You can register your child for the 2020-21 school year when online registration opens on January 13 here: www.mvwsd.org/register .

For more information, call 650-526-3500 or go to www.mvwsd.org/register.

Right at School is offering Winter Break Camp from December 23 - January 3 from 6:30 am - 6:00 pm, hosted at Stevenson Elementary. There is no camp 12/24, 12/25 ,12/31 & 1/1. Cost is $45/day. You are not required to have a child currently enrolled with Right at School to participate in winter break camp. See www.rightatschool.com/winterbreak/ for registration and information.

Festival of Lights

Please mark your calendar for Castro School’s 3rd Annual Festival of Lights! It will be held on Friday, December 13th from 3:00 pm - 7:00 pm at the MUR. Castro PTA and many Volunteers will serve delicious food and drinks that will be available for purchase at the event. There will also be arts & crafts, photos with Santa, a photo booth, letters to Santa, and piñatas for the celebration.

Come join the fun, and enjoy the beautiful lights and decorations of the holiday season with other Castro and Mistral Families! Hope to see you there!

Castro PTA needs Volunteers for the Festival of Lights

Please help us bring this event to the families!

Be a Volunteer, and your kids will brag about you to their friends!!

Thursday, 12/12 from 5:00-8:00pm Decorate for the event 20-25 people

If you have lights, outlet strips, or decorations to let Castro borrow please Sign-Up in the Office!

Friday, 12/13 from 1:00-3:00pm SET-UP for the Event

Food Set-Up, Ticket Sales, Signs, Arts & Crafts, Photo Booth 20-25 people

Friday, 12/13 from 3:00-5:00pm Food-making and serving foods/drinks, Help Arts & Crafts tables, etc.

Friday, 12/13 from 5:00-7:00pm Food-making and serving foods/drinks, Help Arts & Crafts tables, etc.

Friday, 12/13 from 7:00-8:30pm CLEAN-UP of the Event

Clean up of Food, Arts & Crafts, Photo Booth, Lights & Displays, Piñatas, Signs, etc.

Box Tops for Education

The internet is changing the way that many things work these days. Box Tops for Education is changing from clipping the top of the box to scanning your receipt after you shop! Please read the following for important new information about the future of the Box Tops for Education Program:

No more clipping. No more sending Box Tops to school. All you need is your phone. With the Box Tops for Education app, you can turn your everyday receipts into cash for your school. Here’s how:

• BUY the Box Tops products you already know and love

• SCAN your receipt so that your Box Tops purchases are recognized

• EARN cash for your school, based on your eligible purchases

Twice a year, your school will receive a check and can use that cash to buy whatever it needs!

Super-charge your earnings with special bonus offers shown in the app. No need to pre-select or opt-in for these bonus offers and you can stack as many as you like. Just buy the eligible products, scan your receipt, and watch the earnings stack up! And, in case you didn’t already know, here are some of the many Box Tops products that are probably already in your pantry: Cheerios, Lucky Charms, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Nature Valley, Totino’s, Old El Paso, Annie’s, Yoplait, Fiber One, Chex, Paper Mate, Nestle, Pure Life, Lysol, Boise, and more. Just look for the Box Tops label on the package. For a complete list of participating products, visit BTFE.com.

Psssst, just one last tip for you. Still seeing the traditional Box Tops clips on products you’ve bought? Most participating brands are allowing you to “double dip” by clipping unexpired traditional Box Tops to send to school AND scanning your receipt for double earnings!

Over the last 23 years, more than 70,000 K-8 schools across the U.S. have earned over $913 million through the Box Tops for Education Program. With the new Box Tops app, you can be a part of the next evolution of the program – strengthening our schools for generations to come.

DOWNLOAD THE APP TODAY!! Box Tops For Education in the app store!!