The Dolphin Whistle

Dear Parents,

The summer is almost upon us! June 5th is the last day of school and then all students will be able to use the summer learning options available from the district website. Under these circumstances, it is important that all students continue learning activities throughout the summer.

In addition to the options available in the district summer learning plan, at Castro we would like all students to work on math fluency throughout the summer. Math fluency is being able to answer addition, subtraction, multiplication and division questions with accuracy and speed. This is an easy task to do at home in the summer and we use a program called XtraMath that is available in Clever. Your child will receive their personal 4-digit pin code and the program will progress them through the 4 math operations as they pass each level. Just 15-20 minutes per day will be a tremendous benefit to each student's success in more complicated math. We will be able to monitor how each child is doing in XtraMath throughout the summer and I can send you a progress report on their math fluency.

Next week I will send you detailed information on both the wider range of summer learning options and on the XtraMath summer program.

Best Regards,

Theresa Lambert

Principal Mariano Castro Elementary

cell number (831)206-9522

Thursday, June 4th, 2020 - 10:00 a.m. 5th Grade Promotion Celebration (Zoom)

Friday, June 5th, 2020 - Last Day of School

Dates for drop off: May 28 & 29 June 1& 2

Times for drop off: during lunch pick up 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Please drive through and hand to staff or drop off in box if on foot.

If you need assistance getting your child into the Zoom lessons:

Call Ms. Calderon or Mr. Alcazar.
Kristen Calderon (408) 404-8166 Roberto Alcazar (408) 780-8615

If you are having issues with Chromebooks issued by the school district, please contact Technology at 650-526-3252 or support@mvwsd.org.

If your personal device breaks and you are unable to get another, please contact Ms. Lambert, Mrs. Calderon, Mr. Alcazar, or your teacher and we will do our best to get a device to you.

We are now serving dinner, in addition to breakfast and lunch, and on Fridays enough meals will be provided for the weekend as well. Just come to the food distribution in front of Mistral Elementary between 11:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. M-F.

Check this webpage for events in which we can connect on topics that are important to students’ education. Here are two that are upcoming:

Due to Coronavirus (COVID-19), children who are eligible for free or reduced-price meals at school will get extra food benefits. These food benefits are called Pandemic EBT or P-EBT benefits. P-EBT benefits help families in California buy food when schools are closed because of the coronavirus emergency.

Families will get up to $365 per eligible child on their P-EBT card to use on food and groceries. Families with children who get CalFresh, Medi-Cal or Foster Care benefits do not need to apply. Most will get their P-EBT card in the mail during the month of May. P-EBT cards will begin arriving sometime this month
(May).

Families with children who are eligible for free or reduced-price meals and who do not get their P-EBT card in the mail, must apply online before June 30, 2020. The online application will launch in late May. https://www.cdss.ca.gov/home/pandemic-ebt

Here are a few tips that might help you and your student with Distance Learning. Do you have any tried and true methods of helping your students’ school days be more efficient and your family’s life a little easier? Share them here. http://mvw.sd/37PbG

“Caught you being good!” Set a timer for yourself (15-45 minutes, depending on the age of your kids). When the timer goes off, positively reinforce your child by noting their focus, independence, and/or perseverance through a challenge. If you can periodically name, celebrate, and give attention to what they are doing right, they are more likely to keep it up, and less likely to get our attention with undesired behaviors.

Multiple kiddos? Go incognito! If you have multiple kids or are trying to access your own Google account while checking out theirs, here is a tip: Hold down COMMAND + SHIFT + N when you are in Chrome. This creates an incognito window, where you are not signed in. This means you can sign in with one account in one window and another account in another. You can do this for as many accounts as you like so that you can flip between windows to look at information from multiple accounts simultaneously.

Ask your student for high & lows for the day. Not everything is fixable, but asking and talking about schoolwork will help your student feel supported and understood.

Santa Clara County Office of Education (SCCOE) in partnership with county and city leaders, community organizations and agencies throughout Santa Clara County has announced a new online portal to provide essential workers, as defined by the Santa Clara County Department of Public Health, access to childcare during the shelter-in-place order.

In addition to this childcare resource, we have a list of resources for families developed by our School Community Engagement Facilitators. Sheltering in place and not being in our regular routines of work and school can be hard on our emotional and mental health, in addition to making access to meals, rent payments and other typical activities more difficult. Click here for info about help with meals, rent, legal issues, emotional support and more.

The Santa Clara County Office of Education has developed a Parent Support Webinar series just for parents who have questions on how they can support their kids with learning.

Free Parent Support Webinar series:
May 7 Episode 1: Maintaining a Healthy, Balanced Family Life
May 14 Episode 2: Reading Comprehension Support
May 21 Episode 3: Writing Development Support
May 28 Episode 4: Academic Content Support

Audience: Parents & Educators
Dates: Thursdays in May 2020
Time: 1-1:30 PM, PST
Join Live: bit.ly/sccoeparents
Cost: Free

With extended time sheltering-in-place, InPlay, MVWSD's partner for out-of-school learning, has created a list of home-based, instructor-led programs offered by your favorite local providers to keep your students active and engaged! Please check it out. https://www.inplay.org/r/mountain-view/discover

17AMICT is forging ahead and will be held this year despite COVID-19! The tournament will be online this year and will be held Sunday, May 31, 2020, from 11:30 to 5:00. Full instructions and registration are at tinyurl.com/mvwsdchess. The registration deadline is May 29. Come take part in one of the few events this school year going on as scheduled. Contact Mark Ruzon, Tournament Director, at mvwsdchess@gmail.com with any questions.

These plans will cover 14 dimensions: Governance, Health and Wellness, Equity, Curriculum, Human Capital, Nutrition, Facilities, Operations, Instruction, Resurgence, Enrollment, Communication, Technology, Finance. We'll define operations under each stage of reopening: Schools closed, Targeted opening, Open with Restrictions, Full opening using guidance from Santa Clara County Public Health and the Santa Clara County Office of Education.

To view the presentation to the Board of Trustees, please click here.

Next steps include: Activate the Reopening Task Force (composed of teachers, classified staff and administrators); continue to adapt our Distance Learning Plan; and get feedback from our stakeholders.

The goal is to adapt our learning environment for any scenario and make it nimble enough to adjust in the event that COVID-19 resurges later in the year. We will work with all stakeholders to vet the viability of any options. This is a community public health crisis, and we need community feedback

Seeking members: School Reopening focus groups

MVWSD is seeking representative groups of parents, students, teachers, and staff members for school reopening focus groups. Four volunteers are needed per school site. The focus groups will explore desires and concerns for school reopening.

Focus groups will meet twice (once in May and again in June) and each group will focus on a stage: Schools closed, Targeted opening, Open with Restrictions, Full opening. To apply to be a focus group member, please complete an application found here by May 16 or contact your school principal.