Pre sales for the 23-24 Park Meadows yearbook are underway! Order NOW to guarantee your student(s) a yearbook.

Pre-sale cost is $20 until March 8. (Will increase to $25 after 3/8) Envelopes will be distributed by classroom teachers and may be returned with cash or check, Order online with credit or debit card at Bell Photo.

Last day to preorder is April 8th.

The book fair was a HUGE success! Together with your purchases and All for Books donations we will receive around $3500 in scholastic dollars for new books and resources for our library! We set a goal of selling 450 books and we sold 904! We are going to aim high for the spring book fair. Thank you for supporting the book fair to ensure students have access to a variety of books.

Shawna Ward from the Agave branch of Phoenix Public Libraries visited with grades K-2 on October 16th. In addition to books and DVD rental, the students learned there are many activities each month at little to no cost, from crafts to reading with therapy animals! She passed out library cards to those students who returned the registration form and everyone got a lanyard. Shawna will be back later in November to talk with grades 3-6. If you haven't already, I encourage you to check out the Agave library at 35th Ave/Pinnacle Peak.

The first battle for Battle of the Books is October 25th. Students from fifth and sixth grades have formed 8 teams and are busy reading! If your child is participating, encourage a team get together to prepare for the upcoming battle.

Believe in your shelf-

Mrs. Hinton

Kindergartners that counted to 100 earned popsicles from Mr. Cookman, the Math Specialist!!

It was so nice to see so many families at conference time! We enjoyed being able to meet with so many of you. As we mentioned in so many meetings, the sight words coming home from your child's teacher will help to build fluency. Remember sight words do not typically follow a decodable pattern. Keep up the practice, we are ready to hand out special PARK tickets for list mastery. We have included a fun game to help with sight word practice, get your popcorn and have some fun!

To set up the game:

• To start you have 2 of each word you are practicing. Shuffle the cards and arrange them, face down, in a grid. The child picks one card and turns it over so the word is visible, reading the word on the card.

• The child then picks a second card and turns it over, reading the word on the second card.

• If the words on the two overturned cards match, the player removes the pair, placing them by side, and gets another turn. If they do not match they are turned back over in the same spot for someone else to try.

• Play continues until all the words are matched and there are no cards left unclaimed.

If a child is struggling with this game, you can read through all the word cards with them prior to the start of play to help refresh their recall of the words. You can also make the game easier by using a smaller deck of cards with fewer word pairs.

This game is yet another way to practice sight words without drilling with flash cards. Every learner is different, and what works for some does not work for all students, so it’s my hope that Sight Word Memory will be just one other varied method of helping your child become proficient with his/her sight words.

I make the most out of every experience.

Adaptability, Personal Accountability, Resourcefulness, Vigor, Constructive

Key Insights

• Making the most out of each experience is more difficult when you are having a challenging experience.

• It may be easy to make the most out of a good day, but making the most out of a day that is not going well takes skill.

• It is hard to be positive and resourceful when you are feeling frustrated. You may feel stuck and unwilling to move your thinking from "I can't!" to "I can!"

• Saying "maybe" in front of a negative thought can make room for more positive thoughts and experiences.

• For example, you may not be ready to believe, "I can do this!" But perhaps you are ready to believe, "Maybe I can do this." It's a small change, but an important one.

• The next time you feel frustrated and think, "I don't understand this" see if you can replace it with, "Maybe, I can figure this out."

Mistakes can be helpful if I let them.

Continuous Improvement, Diligence, Honesty, Self-Reflection, Fairness

Key Insights

• Everyone makes mistakes.

• Mistakes are helpful if you learn from the mistakes you make.

• Rather than punish yourself for making a mistake, focus on what you can learn from the mistake instead.

• When you learn from your mistakes, you are less likely to make the same mistakes again.

• Learning from mistakes is how you improve.

• Remember it is not the mistake that matters, but how you recover.

• Acknowledge you made a mistake and then ask yourself, "What can I learn from this mistake?"

When I make a mistake what should I do?

1. First, remember that it's okay to make mistakes. Be kind to yourself because nobody's perfect.

2. Second, find the lesson in the mistake. Your mistake can be helpful because you can learn from it and then you won't make the same mistake again.

3. If your mistake hurts anyone, let them know you made a mistake and that you are sorry.

4. The next time you make a mistake (and you will because EVERYONE makes mistakes) listen to your self-talk. Instead of beating yourself up, think "Everyone makes mistakes. What will I learn from this one?"

Here is a link to All Things EQ if you would like to explore all mottos further.

https://app.allthingseq.com/

Payment Options

When a student is enrolled in school they are given an ID number from the school’s front office that they will keep throughout their time at DVUSD. If you do not know your students ID number, please contact your school. All students key in their ID number on a pin pad when they go through the breakfast and/or lunch line to make a purchase.

Parents can add money to a student’s account in three different ways:

1. Cash: Students may buy meals with cash or add cash to their account in the cafeteria.
2. Check: Students may bring a check with their student ID number and current phone number on it to the cafeteria to be added to their account.
3. Online: Payments can be made at EZSchoolPay.com using Visa, MasterCard, or Discover card for a fee of $3.00 per transaction. Parents can also use EZSchoolPay to view student spending and set up low balance reminders.

Check the school lunch menus online at My School Menus or see the attached menu below. If you have any questions please contact Dwan Czosnyka or call 623-445-4114

Check out the DVUSD Food & Nutrition website here

We made it to mid October even if it's still pretty warm out there! Parents, please make sure you continue to send your kiddos with water to drink.

I hope everyone had a great time meeting with their kids' teachers at Parent Teacher Conferences and had time to stop in at the Book Fair to be able to pick out some amazing books. It was a very full short week.

We have our Panda Express FUNdraiser Night on October 25th from 9:30AM to 10PM. That's right, this one is an all day event! Go for lunch and then again for dinner (I am tempted to do that myself). Another great thing about Panda Express is you can order online, skip the line and pick up your order at the store. You will just need to put the code that is on the flyer in on your order. Come on out and enjoy some yummy food, (my favorite is the orange chicken). Please see the attached flyer. Your child will be coming home with at least one flyer leading up to the FUNdraiser.

Lastly, as my husband and I were looking at taking our kids to the fair we found this pretty cool "Read and Ride" form that kids can fill out to get up to 3 free rides. I have attached that form down below as well.

I hope the rest of your October is amazing and I look forward to what November brings.

Gratefully,

Cassandra Fraemohs

Did you know that Park Meadows has a clothing closet to help provide items to students in need? Currently our Clothing Closet is running low on certain sizes/items. If you are able to donate the following new or gently used items, it would be greatly appreciated. All items can be dropped off with the school nurse between 8:30 A-3:30 P

• Kids sizes (ages 6-10, no pre-school sizes) especially girls
• Adult sized t-shirts (both men's & women's)
• NEW shoes of any kind

If you have any questions, please contact the school nurse at 623-445-4110 or email Ann Pham

Community Education is hosting their Fall Break Camp for students ages 5 - 14 at Desert Sage. Camp will be on November 20, 21 & 22 during Fall Break. Registration opens on October 3 and closes November 5. More information can be found here

Early Dismissal Days

• Oct 20, 27
• Nov 3

No School

Nov 10th Veteran's Day

Nov 20-24th Thanksgiving Break

• Panda Express FUNdraiser Night- Oct 25th 9:30 AM-10 PM:
• Fall Kindergarten Preview Night Nov 2nd, 4:30-6 PM
• PARK Place- Oct 25th -27th
• Battle of the Books Oct 25th
• Volunteer Training Nov 9th 9:30 AM
  
• Kona Ice Nov 14th (Grades 1-6 only)