Garden Road Family Newsletter #27

February 17 - 21 No school

March 3 PTA Board Meeting

March 6 Earth Made Snow Cones

March 7 End of Trimester 2

March 7 Friday Flag - all students who received running club or Eagle Awards in February will stand up during the Friday Flag

March 10 Foundation Meeting

March 17 - 19, 21 Lunch with a Loved One (every day but not on Thursday)

March 20 Progress Reports viewable in Parent MyPlan Portal and Parent Synergy Access at 5 pm

March 29 Foundation Auction Boots and Bling

• "Boots & Bling" Adults-Only Garden Road Auction on Saturday, 3/29 5:30-9:30 p.m. Childcare during the event is available for only $20 at Impact Martial Arts! (Sibling discount)

• Purchase auction tickets & childcare at Impact Martial Arts NOW! Funds raised support our music, art, library, and more!

Get ready for an unforgettable evening at our school auction, a major fundraising event for Garden Road Elementary! We have incredible baskets and items put together by each class to auction off during the event. Many families have generously donated items and experiences. Thank you so much for all of your contributions!

BUT wait, we still need more items to make this auction even more spectacular. Can you help?

We are looking for families with any connections to try and get some of the following items:

• Sports tickets
• Concert tickets
• 1:1 opportunities with retired or active sports professionals (e.g., an NFL player offering 30 minutes of training or a motivational pep talk)
• Behind-the-scenes access to venues, restaurants, or private experiences
• Summer camps
• Weekend getaways (timeshares, AirBnBs)
• Golf packages
• Hotel stays
• Private lessons from a pro (e.g., pickleball, tennis, golf, piano, baseball, basketball)
• Private dining experiences or gift certificates for restaurants/catering
• Opportunities to have dinner with or bid on influential San Diegans to visit your child’s class as a special guest (e.g., retired or active politician, musician, athlete)

Don't miss out on the fun! This event is for all families at the school (adults only), and we’d love to see some new faces for a fun night! Buy your auction tickets here https://givebutter.com/c/GRESBOOTSBLING for an unforgettable time and experience whiskey tasting, line dancing, hat making, and more! Contact gresfoundationauction@gmail.com for questions and to share your connections with us!

Dear Garden Road Families,

Students and staff returned rested and ready to learn after our week off! We are closely approaching the end of the trimester on Friday, March 7! Students have been busy with performance assessments as the trimester comes to a close.

Leadership Showcase Days - Save the Date

The Leadership Showcase days have been set! Last week in the Smore was an error about the Leadership Showcase dates. Below are the correct dates:

April 23 - Leadership Showcase Grades 3-5 8 am to 10 am

May 1 - Leadership Showcase Grades TK-2 8 am to 10 am

Mark your calendars and plan to come and see our student leaders in action. They are very proud of their accomplishments and can't wait to demonstrate their learning this year!

TK IS A FULL-DAY PROGRAM FOR 2025-26

Full Day TK in Poway Unified!

We have some exciting news regarding our district’s TK program! Beginning in the 2025-26 school year, PUSD Transitional Kindergarten will be a full-day program.

The range of age-eligibility will also expand - children who turn four-years-old on or before September 1, 2025, will be age-eligible for TK. (Students who turn five-years-old on or before September 1, 2025 will be age-eligible for Kindergarten). Enrollment for TK for 2025-26 school year opens on April 1, 2025. Please feel free to share this news with your friends and neighbors who have children in this age range.

ENGLISH LEARNER FAMILY ENGAGEMENT SURVEY

Parents of English Learners: Tomorrow, Friday, February 28th, is the last day Poway Unified will be conducting our Family Engagement and Accountability survey to gather input from all families of English Learner students. This survey helps shape the District’s goals and guide priorities for the 2025-2026 school year. Your feedback is extremely helpful as we continue to seek ways to better our English Learner program. Please click HERE to complete the survey.

DELAC (DISTRICT ENGLISH LEARNER ADVISORY COMMITTEE) MEETING

Our next DELAC meeting is Wednesday, March 12th, at 6pm at the District Office. You are cordially invited to attend this meeting with your DELAC representative. At this meeting, we will be looking at the results of our engagement survey and will engage with one another to gather input from parents along with brainstorming ways to continue to support our English Learner families. Your time is precious and we would gladly appreciate you attending to support the hard work of your parents!

Sue Melnick

Principal

We continued with our California Young Reader medal nominee #2 for the lower and upper grades.

Grades K-3rd enjoyed a heartwarming and bouncy tale in rhyme : Room for Everyone, by Naaz Khan.

A young boy on a crowded bus in Zanzibar discovers that, after some wiggles and giggles, there’s room for everyone.

The daladala rumbles and roars as Musa and Dada drive off to the shore—but the bus stops for multiple detours. One stop becomes two stops which soon becomes ten, and Musa wonders when it will end: “How can any more people get in? We’re already smushed like sardines in a tin!” But there's always room for one more, if you make the room, which is the take-away from this joyous picture book.

Grades 4th & 5th enjoyed the non-fiction book, Cougar Crossing, an amazing true story of a wild cougar living in Los Angeles!

P-22, the famed “Hollywood Cougar,” was born in a national park near Los Angeles, California. When it was time for him to leave home and stake a claim to his territory, he embarked on a perilous journey - crossing sixteen lanes of the world’s worst traffic—to make his home in LA’s Griffith Park, overlooking the famed Hollywood sign. But Griffith Park is a tiny territory for a mountain lion, and P-22’s life was filled with struggles.
Los Angeles residents embraced this brave cougar as their own and, along with the scientists monitoring P-22, raised money to build a wildlife bridge across Highway 101. This bridge will help cougars and other wildlife safely expand their territories and build new homes, ensuring their survival.

Regards,

Tuhina Lal

Library Media Tech

TLAL@powayusd.com

​(858) 748-0230 x 2160

Garden Road Mission: We are empowered learners, who lead ourselves and others, to contribute to a better world.

Email: smelnick@powayusd.com

Website: https://gardenroad.powayusd.com/

Location: 14614 Garden Road, Poway, CA 92064

Phone: 858-748-0230