The Dolphin Whistle

December 16, 2020 Issue 19

MESSAGE FROM PRINCIPAL LAMBERT

Dear Parents,

This has been an amazing first half of the school year. The tremendous dedication, determination, and kindness shown by all of you and all of the staff is truly impressive. When students return to Zoom learning in January we will be ready and just as determined that every child experience success in their learning.

On behalf of the Castro staff, I wish all of you a wonderful holiday break with your family.

Warm Regards,

Theresa Lambert

Principal Mariano Castro Elementary

cell number (831)206-9522

Remember the three W's

Wear a Mask

Watch your Distance

Wash your Hands

PTA Free School T-shirt order

If you have not already filled out the form indicating your child's T-shirt size, please do so asap. Thank you!

Here is the T-shirt link.

Calendar

Monday, December 21, 2020 - January 4, 2020 - Holiday Break

Tuesday, January 5, 2021 - Students Return to School

Monday, January 11th, 2021- Friday, January 15,2021 - Conference week, Minimum Days

Monday, January 18th, 2021 - No School, Martin Luther King Day

Tuesday, January 19, 2021 - ELAC Meeting, 6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.

Wed, January 20, 2021 - School Site Council Meeting 5:00 - 6:00 p.m.

Tuesday, January 26, 2020 - Principal's Coffee - 3:30 p.m.

FROM THE DISTRICT OFFICE

Free children’s meals continue during the holidays

MVWSD free meals for children are available during the holidays. Meals will be available the weeks of December 21 and 28 at the Gabriela Mistral Elementary (505 Escuela Ave) location only on Monday and Tuesday from 11:30 a.m. -1 p.m. On Monday, bags of Monday's and Tuesday's breakfasts and lunches are available. On Tuesday, meal bags for Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday are available. Regular meal service resumes on the week of Jan 4. Please note that facemasks are required when approaching the meal distribution area, and recipients must maintain 6-foot social distancing while waiting for meals.

Better Together: Together we can appreciate our abilities

In December, we are celebrating Abilities Awareness Month. To honor our commitments in moving towards equity and inclusion, help us bring the voices of people with diverse abilities into your classroom or homes, and create a learning environment that rejects ableism. From lessons on art, activism and physical disabilities to education about new developments in Universal Design, these resources will help you and your children embrace diverse abilities and understand the injustices people with disabilities often encounter. Together, we can appreciate our abilities and celebrate our common humanity. See the attached graphics or view them on https://www.mvwsd.org/bettertogethermvwsd

Tester and Interpreter/Translator positions available

Looking for a part-time job with a positive social impact? MVWSD is now hiring organized and friendly individuals to administer English Language proficiency assessments to the district’s K-8 English language learners. To find out more, click here: https://www.edjoin.org/Home/DistrictJobPosting/1310195

Can you speak or write in a language other than English? MVWSD is always looking for qualified interpreters and translators. If you enjoy helping families and children and are fluent in English and one of the languages below, click on https://www.mvwsd.org/jobs and then click on “Support Staff - Hourly”. We are currently looking for the following languages: Arabic, Cantonese, Farsi, French, German, Korean, Mandarin, Tagalog, Vietnamese.

MVWSD’s award-winning Preschool

Is now enrolling for full-day and part-day for the 2021-22 school year. Information meetings will be held in January. Please see the attached flyer or https://www.mvwsd.org/preschool for more information.

Recording: Virtual i-Ready parent workshop

Are you curious about the i-Ready platform and how you can support your student at home? Please view this recording of the session that provides parents with an overview of i-Ready and answers their frequently asked questions about how i-Ready elevates instruction. https://vimeo.com/490839110

TK and choice schools’ meetings coming up. Open Enrollment for all MVWSD students starts in January

School and District information meetings are coming up in December. Please visit www.mvwsd.org/register for a list of these events and for login information.

If your child turns 5 years old between September 2 – December 2, 2021, he/she may qualify for transitional kindergarten. TK info night is December 16 at 5:00 p.m online.

If you are interested in the District's choice schools, information nights are:

Gabriela Mistral: Dual Spanish/English Immersion: December 15 at 6 pm

Stevenson: Parent Child Teacher: December 16 at 6 pm

Choice schools will also have information at the elementary schools’ info nights (6 p.m. Dec. 9).

For CURRENT students in transitional kindergarten-7th grade: Parents will be asked by email to confirm enrollment from January 18- 22.

For NEW students: Open Enrollment is from January 11 through Feb. 5, 2021 online. You can register your child for the 2021-22 school year when online registration opens here: www.mvwsd.org/register

Save the date! Parent workshop: How to Build Academic Language with Kate Kinsella

Virtual presentation on January 27 at 6:00 pm

Hosted by Huff, Landels and Jose Antonio Vargas elementary schools

Register: http://mvw.sd/kate

Presenter Kate Kinsella, Ed.D. will talk about:

• After school conversation tips to use with children to encourage thoughtful responses

• Strategies to help increase students' academic language and listening skills

Kate Kinsella, Ed.D., is a teacher educator at San Francisco State University and a highly sought after speaker and consultant to school districts throughout the United States regarding development of academic language and literacy across the K-12 subject areas. Her 25-year teaching career focus has been equipping children from diverse backgrounds with the communication, reading, and writing skills to be career and college ready.

For more information, please visit http://drkatekinsella.com/about-us/

CSA food distributions

Community Services Agency (CSA) will have three additional food distributions that families throughout Mountain View are welcome to come and pick up. Please see attached flyers in Spanish and English for details.

Getting Ready for the ELPAC information sessions, Dec. 15 and Jan. 12

The English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC) is administered every year to our English Learner (EL) students. To learn more about this assessment, the role it plays in the education of every EL, and how to help your child prepare, please join us for one of the following meetings:

December 15

5:00-5:30 in English: https://zoom.us/j/92673835582

5:30-6:00 in Spanish: https://zoom.us/j/94603257266

January 12

5:00-5:30 in English: https://zoom.us/j/93307939185

5:30-6:00 in Spanish: https://zoom.us/j/93709174683

Double your Donation with the MVEF December Challenge Grant.

Throughout December, every dollar donated will be matched dollar for dollar up to $47,000, through the MVEF December Challenge Grant. The December Challenge Grant has been made possible by generous MVEF donors who are challenging you to join them in supporting MVEF. Donate today to get your donation matched by this challenge!

https://www.mvef.org/donate

If your company has a matching gift program, you can triple your impact by donating this month!

Each and every year we rely on generous donors like you to help MVEF fund programming and experiences at every school in the district, ensuring that your child and every child has an inspiring, well-rounded education.

Every dollar donated makes a difference and allows the district-wide programs to be funded which is especially important now, during remote learning. It takes donations of every size for MVEF to reach their annual goal of $800,000.

These are the programs and activities MVEF is supporting during remote learning because of donors like you:

· Music and Art: CSMA weekly online art and music classes for TK-5th, instrument purchase and repair, and art supply kits for all elementary schools

· Science:

· Living Classroom environmental education for elementary and middle school.

· Environmental Programs taught interactively for the 4th and 5th grades

· Middle school science supplies for teachers

· TechSmart coding programs from 3rd grade through middle school (through a grant from Tides Foundation)

· Training for Elementary STEAM teachers with Discovery Education

· Additional Middle School funding to support the Elective Wheel classes, redesigned for distance learning!

· Padlet licenses for teachers

· Online apps (Smart Music, Flat.io, and SoundTrap) for Music Appreciation classes, Band, Choir, and Orchestra

· Music books

· Art Supplies

· Robotics

· Tech Smart coding (through a grant from Tides Foundation)

Even through distance learning, your donations to MVEF continue to fund art, music, and science for every student at every school!

Thank you in advance for your support!

CHAC offers free mental health support to parents and students

For parents: CHAC, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing affordable and accessible mental health services, supports parents in several ways. Please see the attached flyers for more information.

For students: PLUGGED IN - Social and Emotional Learning Skills Programs

CHAC is excited to offer two new Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Skills Programs to 3rd and 5th grade students. Both programs are a fun and enriching way to help students navigate the unique challenges they face in these extraordinary times.

1. CHAC's Weekly Virtual Group meetings focus on social interaction between participants. Through collaborative lessons and fun activities students will learn emotion regulation skills, problem solving skills as well as healthy coping and self-care skills.

2. CHAC's Independent SEL Curriculum teaches students essential social and emotional learning skills through entertaining video lessons and a variety of fun activities that students complete independently.

The parents who request the PLUGGED IN Independent Curriculum will have it emailed to them immediately.

The parents who would like their child to join a PLUGGED IN virtual group, will be contacted about scheduling options and asked to complete an online permission slip. Groups are expected to start in early January.

Click here to learn more about PLUGGED IN- CHAC’s new SEL Programs: https://www.chacmv.org/social-emotional-learning

Parenting in a pandemic: Free 6th district PTA speaker series

Wednesday, December 16, 7 PM. Teaching self regulation. Inclusion collaborative.

Cost: free. For more information and to reserve your seat visit www.capta6.org/parenting_in_a_pandemic/

MVLA Speakers series presents “Middle School Matters” with Phyllis Fagell

Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021 - 7:00 - 9:00pm | Live Online

Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor and Certified Professional School Counselor Phyllis Fagell helps parents use the middle school years as a low-stakes training ground to teach kids the key skills they’ll need to thrive now and in the future, including making good friend choices, negotiating conflict, regulating their own emotions, acting as their own advocates, and more. To answer parents’ most common questions and struggles with middle school-aged children, she combines her professional and personal expertise with stories and advice from prominent psychologists, doctors, parents, educators, school professionals, and middle schoolers themselves.

Audience: Parents of kids grades 4 - 8

Register: To register for this free event at https://mvla2020-21-phyllisfagell.eventbrite.com

Books: https://www.booksinc.net/book/9780738235080

Video Available!

Michael Reichert – How to Raise a Boy - Event Recording from 11/17/2020

Dr. Reichert has graciously allowed us to share the How to Raise a Boy recording with parents, teachers, and other caretakers of children and teens (K - 12) within our community. The recording will be available until December 17th. The link is https://youtu.be/K7aAVmHSd2Y