Hawk Updates

December

17th: 5th Grade Band Concert. 9am on the blacktop

18th: CAPES Foundation Meeting. 5:30 pm

20th: Community Gathering

20th: 4th Grade Winter Musical

23rd - Jan. 3: District Recess

January

6th: First Day of School after Winter Break

13th: VAPA Vision

15th: CAPES Board Meeting at 5:30 pm

16th: Dining for Dollars at The Kebab Shop

Click HERE for the School Calendar.

Chaparral Student Council will be collecting new, plain socks for families in need. Socks of all sizes are needed! There will be several drop boxes around school from December 9th-20th. Thank you!

Our Community Gathering is back! Please join us on Friday, December 20th at 9am, for our last Community Gathering of 2024.

We will have our Lost and Found on the blacktop that day so that parents can take a look. All items left after Friday will be donated!

Parents! This Winter Break we will be donating all clothes, water bottles and any other personal items left in our Lost and Found.

On Friday, 12/20, we will have our Lost and Found items at our Community Gathering for anyone to take one last look.

We have quite a few pairs of glasses that need to find their way back to their home! If any of these glasses belong to you, please stop by the office.

Thank you to all who donated gifts to the PUSD Giving Tree this year. Along with other schools' PTAs and Foundations like Chaparral's CAPES, this program helped to support over 400 families with students in Poway Unified School District. Your generosity will make a huge impact in our local community this holiday season!

All-

As we enter into the last week of school of 2024, I want to take a moment to wish you all a joyful and peaceful holiday season. Whether your family is celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, another holiday, or simply enjoying the winter break without any specific traditions, I hope this time is filled with warmth, connection, and rest for everyone.

As we prepare for the break, I want to share a personal goal my wife and I have set for my own family: drastically reducing our screen time. Like many families, we’ve fallen into the habit of turning to devices for entertainment (adults too!), and while technology has its benefits, it’s also easy to lose track of how much time we spend online.

Platforms like YouTube can be wonderful resources, but they also require careful monitoring. It doesn’t take much for children to find their way to channels with inappropriate language and topics for young viewers.

This winter break, we are challenging our family—and I invite yours to join us—to unplug and reconnect in meaningful ways. Here’s how we’re planning to do it:

• Set boundaries: We’ll establish clear limits on screen time each day - and hold to those limits!
• Replace tech with creativity: We’re planning activities like family game nights, we bought jigsaw puzzles, and we even are planning to do a winter hike or walks along the beach.
• Stay intentional: It's not always easy, but my wife and I will plan activities for each day. We don't need to monitor or always run these activities for our kids, but we have found that providing them with ideas and having playdates with friends goes along ways when avoiding tech.

I know this won’t be easy, but I’m excited to see how we can find the joy in unplugging. If you decide to join the challenge, I’d love to hear how it goes for your family!

Thank you to everyone for such a wonderful first half of the school year. Enjoy this holiday season and we look forward to seeing you and your kiddos when we return from break.

Aaron Little

Please come join us and enjoy the musical skills of our 5th Grade Band.

Wednesday, December 17th at 9am on the blacktop.

The Chaparral Office will be closed throughout Winter Break.

We will reopen January 6th, 2025.

Parents-

We’d like to remind you that when students are checked out early, we wait until the parent or guardian arrives at the school before calling them out of class. This allows students to remain engaged in their learning for as long as possible, minimizing missed instruction time.

Additionally, please remember to bring ID!

Thank you for your understanding and patience when picking up your student.

It takes a lot to ensure our kids are getting the best experiences and education. If you or someone you know wishes to donate to a teacher's classroom or the overall school, one way you can do so is through the follow site: CLASSROOM SUPPLIES - ONLINE DONATION PROGRAM

"What's this 'Second Step' I keep hearing about?" Great question! Second Step is a longstanding program at Chaparral and throughout our district. It forms the foundation of our Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) curriculum, which is designed to help students from Transitional Kindergarten (TK) through all grade levels develop vital social and emotional skills.

Second Step lessons guide students in building empathy, learning strategies to self-regulate and calm down, solving problems effectively, and understanding bullying prevention, along with many other important life skills.

At Chaparral, we have a dedicated SEL team: Ms. Siebel teaches our youngest learners in TK through 2nd grade, and Mr. Hicks works with students in grades 3 and up. Together, they equip students with the tools they need to confidently navigate social and emotional challenges, fostering a positive, inclusive learning environment where all students can flourish.

2024/2025 School Year Birthday Marquee Signups are now open!

Complete the form from the link provided below if you would like your child's name (first name and last initial) to appear on the Chaparral Marquees during the week of his/her birthday. To secure your marquee reservation, please make a $25 donation to CAPES after submitting the form.

Note--Each marquee has only two (2) available sign-ups per week. If a week is not listed, it has reached the maximum capacity of reservations. Holiday weeks have not been included. This form is ONLY for the 2024/2025 school year. Please do not submit a response for a future school year.

Your child's birthday message (ex. Happy Birthday Lizzie B.) will appear at some point during the week and will stay up for a minimum of 1 day.

Please note that our CAPES volunteers may need at least one (1) week of advance notice to honor birthday marquee reservations.

Click the link HERE to sign up today!

We are looking for any parent who may be interested in helping with the 24-25 Yearbook!

If you are interested, please reach out to Will Smith at chaparralcapes@gmail.com.

Thank you!

PUSD provides breakfast and lunch to all students free of charge pursuant to the California Universal Meals Program. Free meals are available to all families, regardless of their free or reduced-price meal eligibility status. Breakfast service will begin at 8:25 am and end at 8:40 am. Students will report directly to the playground after eating breakfast. Students not eating breakfast need to arrive when the playground opens at 8:25 am.

Meal program details are provided on the Food and Nutrition Department website at PUSD Food and Nutrition. Families are still encouraged to submit a school meal application for free and reduced-priced meal benefits because this information may be used for other programs such as Federal and State funding for your school, reduced registration fees for academic tests, free or discounted fees for bus passes, ESS childcare, and athletic programs, discounted rates for internet service and many more! The application can be found online at https://www.myschoolapps.com/ . Applications must be submitted on an annual basis.

In order to Volunteer on campus, PUSD's Volunteer Requirements must be met and the following documentation needs to be submitted to the office:

1) Volunteer Application & Megan's Law clearance form + picture ID (signed annually)

2) TB clearance/negative result from a health care provider (Good for 4 years)

3) Code of Conduct form (signed annually)

4) Code of Confidentiality (signed annually)

Note--the district office needs at least 2 weeks to process and clear volunteers once all forms/documents are submitted; therefore, please submit the volunteer paperwork as soon as you are able.

Please help us keep the parking lot safe and the drop off and pick up in our front lot running smoothly.

We ask of everyone:

1. Do not park in the parking lot. You may see open spots, especially in the morning, but those are reserved for our staff. If parents fill those spots our staff has a hard time getting onto campus and getting prepared for your students.

2. Please pull forward. Whenever possible, before picking up or dropping off always pull as far forward as possible.

3. Stay in your cars. To keep everything running smoothly, please stay in your cars while in line for the drop off and pick up. If your child needs help, please just roll the passenger side window down and ask one of our staff and they will assist.

4. Stay back from the gates if you are picking up your students in person. It is very helpful if parents stay back from all gates before they open. Additionally, we ask they all parents, even those in grades 1-5, who use the front gates to not go beyond the TK/K gate. Your students will meet you there.

Thank you in advance for helping us keep drop off and dismissal running smoothly by following these guidelines. We are a large school and we need everyone's help in keep kids safe.

Obviously, the best environment for any student to learn is the school environment. Whenever possible, families are strongly encouraged to avoid taking vacations and other trips that results in their students missing extended periods of time from school.

However, when these trips are unavoidable, parents can request an OCIS contract. Details of OCIS contracts can be found below.

Off Campus Independent Study (OCIS) Contracts

This contract allows the student to complete work that he/she would be doing if they were in class and helps the school to continue to receive funding from the state. The student needs to work with his/her teachers closely to submit the assignments.

The threshold for implementing an OCIS contract is limited to a minimum of 3 days through a maximum of 14 school days. The 14-school day limit for OCIS contracts is cumulative for the entire school year.

At least 5 school days of notice is required to set up an OCIS Contract.

*A family who plans to keep their student out of school beyond the 20 days must enroll their child in Poway Home Education Program (PHEP: TK through 8th grade)

Please refer to the PUSD website for more information and contact the student’s counselor.