The Terrapin Times #27

Dear Families,

Exciting News – A New Mural at Turtleback!

A beautiful new mural is in the works at Turtleback! Our talented art teacher, Ms. Sandra, is leading a special project where every student will contribute to creating a stunning masterpiece. Over the break, she worked hard priming and painting a base coat on the large wall facing our playground.

Over the next month, students will design their own sections during art class and bring the mural to life with their creativity. We hope your children will be excited to share their experiences with you! Once completed, we look forward to welcoming all families to campus to see the final artwork.

This project, along with many others, is made possible by our incredible Foundation! Their support brings enrichment programs like art, PE classes, lunch activities, campus beautification, staff appreciation events, teacher grants, and so much more to our school.

Want to get involved? The Foundation meets monthly on the first Monday of each month via Zoom at 5:00 PM. We’d love for you to join us!

🔗 Join the Zoom Meeting: Click Here
📌 Meeting ID: 529 867 3494
🔑 Password: 002070

Thank you for supporting our school community!

Important Upcoming Dates:

📅 March 3 : Foundation Meeting @ 5:00 on zoom (link above)

📅 March 7 : Friday Flag and Awards

📅 March 14 : Lunch with a Loved One

📅 March 24-28: Book Fair

📅 March 25: Multicultural Family Event

Thanks again for a great week at Turtleback.

Lisa Maguire

lmaguire@powayusd.com

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.

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!

Habit 6: Synergize (from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People) teaches the power of working together by valuing differences, building on each other's strengths, and finding creative solutions. Synergy means that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts—when family members communicate openly, respect each other’s perspectives, and collaborate, they can achieve better results than working alone. This habit encourages teamwork, problem-solving, and celebrating diversity, helping families strengthen their relationships and overcome challenges together.

Practicing Synergizing as a family with young children means embracing teamwork and celebrating differences to create better outcomes together. One great way to apply this habit is through a family project or activity where everyone contributes based on their unique strengths.

Example: Planning a Family Picnic

Instead of one parent handling everything, involve the whole family in planning and preparing:

• Brainstorm Together: Sit down as a family and talk about where to go, what to bring, and what games to play. Encourage everyone to share ideas, showing that different perspectives matter.
• Divide Tasks Based on Strengths: Let each child contribute in their own way. A younger child might help pack snacks, while an older one can help with setting up. Parents can handle transportation and safety.
• Encourage Teamwork: If a child struggles with their task, encourage siblings or parents to help. For example, an older sibling can help a younger one carry supplies, reinforcing the idea that working together makes things easier.
• Celebrate Differences: Maybe one child loves organizing and makes a checklist, while another is more artistic and decorates the picnic area. Recognizing and valuing these differences helps children appreciate each other's unique skills.

By practicing synergy in fun, everyday activities, young children learn that teamwork, respect, and combining strengths lead to better and more enjoyable results for everyone.

Foundation Meeting: Monday, March 3rd at 5 pm via zoom

We are always looking for parent volunteers to help support our TEF events and activities. We are currently in need of parent volunteers for the following -- Trekkers Running Club, the annual Book Fair, and to support teacher appreciation week. If you can support these programs in any way, please join our meeting and email Archana Balasubramanian (archana.balasub@gmail.com) directly.

Meeting ID: 529 867 3494

Password: 002070

Link: https://us04web.zoom.us/j/5298673494?from=join#success

Book Fair: March 24th - March 27th:

The annual Book Fair will be from Monday, March 24th through Thursday, March 27th. The book fair helps us raise funds for the school library and supports events like the Finding Gobi Author Visit. It takes a village, and we need as many volunteers as possible to cover all slots. Currently, we have many class times and slots without volunteers, so please sign up :)

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E0D4BACA82FA5FE3-48608956-book#/

Trekkers Running Club Volunteers Needed!

Trekkers Running Club meets during morning recess on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We are in need of volunteers to help pass out sticks to students running laps. If you can help or need more info, please email Archana Balasubramanian -- archana.balasub@gmail.com.

Teacher Appreciation Week - Help Needed!

We need help with the following.

- Cutting Butcher Paper for Doors

- Creating Door Decorations for Doors that do not have room moms!

- Hanging Door Decorations for rooms that do not have room moms!

Please email Archana Balasubramanian (archana.balasub@gmail.com) directly!

SAVE THE DATE: Chick-fil-A (CMR) Restaurant Night -- Thur, March 13th

Eat Chick-fil-A at the Carmel Mountain Ranch location and support TBK!

DATE: Thursday, March 13th

LOCATION: 11670 Carmel Mountain Road

Yearbook Photos:

A huge thanks to all the parents who have already emailed or submitted photos for the yearbook! Please continue to email any photos you may have from spirit days, field trips, class parties, or movie days that have occurred in the 2024-2025 school year to the yearbook team --tbkyearbook@gmail.com.

- Please give us your student's full name, teacher's name, and the event the picture is from (i.e. December Friday Flag or Star of India Field trip) so that we may label and categorize the photos.

- Please email photos to tbkyearbook@gmail.com.

5th Grade Yearbook Baby Photos:

Submit your 5th grader's baby photo to tbkyearbook@gmail.com

• DEADLINE: February 28th
• Email: tbkyearbook@gmail.com
• FREE

We have received approximately 45 baby photos across the three 5th grade classes. If you have a fifth grade student and have not emailed us their baby photo, please do so!

5th Grade Recognition Ads:

Celebrate your 5th grader with their own 1/8 page yearbook recognition ad

• DEADLINE: February 28th
• Cost = $10
• Recognition ads are created by logging onto the Treering Software
• Please use a computer/laptop NOT a mobile device
• Need more help? Please contact Debbie Dexter: debbie@sumnerphotography.net

TBK Spirit Wear Store

The TBK Spirit Wear Store is Open

• 25% of all sales come back to TBK

https://url.usb.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/iJdzC8Xr8OTBnAvgTnfmSypHa4?domain=rgbcommerce.com

• When ordering please put the student name in “Company Name” field or in the “add order notes” field
• All funds raised support campus beautification at Turtleback Elementary

Thank you Ms. Kelley Hills and team for initiating this effort!

Our Special Education Department is OUT OF THIS WORLD and the Turtleback Education Foundation hosted a luncheon for the team on Wednesday, February 26th.

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The Poway Unified School District (PUSD) is an equal opportunity employer/program and is committed to an active Nondiscrimination Program. PUSD prohibits discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and bullying based on actual or perceived race, color, ancestry, national origin, nationality, immigration status, ethnicity, ethnic group identification, age, religion, marital or parental status, physical or mental disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or gender expression or association with a person or a group with one or more of these actual or perceived characteristics. For more information, please contact: Title IX/Equity Compliance Officer, James Jimenez, Associate Superintendent of Personnel support Services, Poway Unified School District, 15250 Avenue of Science, San Diego, CA 92128, 1-858-521-2800, extension 2121, jjimenez@powayusd.com. For students, you may contact Title IX Coordinator/504 Coordinator Jamie Dayhoff, Director of Attendance and Discipline, Poway Unified School District, 1-858-521-2840, jdayhoff@powayusd.com.

Turtleback Mission: We empower each other to create, communicate, collaborate, and think critically in a community where character counts.

Email: lmaguire@powayusd.com
Website: https://turtleback.powayusd.com/
Location: 15855 Turtleback Road, San Diego, CA 92127
Phone: 858-673-5514