The Dolphin Whistle

Dear Parents,

Tonight (Thursday, Sept. 3rd) there is an important parent session on using the Toolbox tools. These are the new emotion tools we are teaching your children here at school and it is important that you learn about them as well. The training is today from 4:00 - 5:00 p.m. Here is the link.

There are a couple of items that need your support to help your child and their class to be successful. Please be sure that your child has a flat surface to sit up and do their schoolwork, facing their computer screen. It is important that their "school" area is different than their play area. Secondly, please be mindful as much as possible of the noise level in the home. When your child goes off mute to participate in class, the rest of the class is unable to hear them if the background noise is too much.

We appreciate your support as we all work through distance learning together.

See you at the training tonight!

Ms. Lambert

Theresa Lambert

Principal Mariano Castro Elementary

cell number (831)206-9522

In the next two weeks each student in every grade will be taking the iReady assessment in Reading and Math. They will be taking it with their teacher on the computer. Please help your child to stay on task, however it is very important that parents are not helping their child with the content of the test. Students will take this assessment three times this year and you will see their results and their progress! There is a flyer below that also talks about this virtual assessment. Please let me know if you have any questions about this assessment.

We have a vacancy on School Site Council and also on the English Learner Advisory Committee. These are two very important committees required by California law and it is important that parents have a voice on these two committees. There are 5 parents on the School Site Council that work with 5 staff members about the goals, actions, and budget of the school plan. The English Learner Advisory Council works with the goals and actions that support the success of all students learning a second language.

Please contact me by Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2020 if you would like more information about these two important committees.

This school year's application deadline for free or reduced meals is September 21, 2020. Just as in the past, you will need to reapply annually. No citizenship information is collected during the application process. Please go to the following website to apply online today: http://www.ezmealapp.com If you need help, please call Castro Facilitator, Kristen Calderon 408-404-8166.

We are serving breakfast and lunch each day for Castro families. Beginning Monday, August 17th, come to the school M-F between 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. to pick up the meals.

Monday, September 7, 2020- Labor Day (No School)

Thursday, September 10,2020- Principal's Coffee, 3:30p.m. - 4:30p.m.

Friday, September 18,2020 - ELAC and Annual Title 1 Meeting, 9:00 a.m. - 10:00a.m.

It’s important to know that school attendance during distance learning is mandatory. If your student will be absent, please report it by calling or emailing us as soon as possible. If your child is having difficulty with distance learning, please let us know. We want to help.

Changes to attendance monitoring beginning Sept 8:

• Elementary teachers will check in with students at the beginning of the day. Attendance will be taken at the end of the day every day, including Wednesdays. For middle school students, attendance is taken every period of the day, including Wednesdays.
• Students will no longer get a separate participation grade in Google Classroom. Attendance and participation scores are now combined and can be viewed by parents in Powerschool under “attendance history.”
• If you don’t report your student’s absence, your school will be calling you to determine the reason for the absence.

For more information about attendance, please see https://www.mvwsd.org/attendance

A public hearing will be held in order to comply with Ed Code section 60119 on September 17, 2020 to detail the extent to which text books and instructional materials were provided to all students, including English Learners.

The definition of “sufficient textbooks or instructional materials” means that each pupil has textbooks or instructional materials, or both to use in class and to take home in each of the following subjects:
• Mathematics
• Science
• History/Social Science
• Language Arts
The public hearing on September 17, 2020 at 7:00pm will be held during the regular meeting of the Board of Trustees. To view details about accessing the meeting either online or by phone, please click on the September 17 agenda link on this webpage: https://www.mvwsd.org/about/board_of_trustees/board_meetings

MVWSD provides a tool that allows parents to be aware of their students' online activities and to help keep them safe on their school-issued devices. Securly allows you to see what choices your student is making online while at home so that you will be alerted to potential issues and can guide your student. Please note: Securly is for school-issued devices only. Check your email for these weekly reports, and you may also download the Securly app. For more information, please see https://www.mvwsd.org/technology.

Join us on Wednesday, September 9 from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. for our next Parent University event: Increasing Student Engagement with Literacy from Home.

MVWSD Instructional Coaches Karen Gordon and Natalie Gallagher will share several resourceful strategies for supporting reading, writing, listening, and speaking at home during distance learning:

• Easy activities to boost your child's reading engagement

• Creative ways to encourage and support writing using four text types (expository/informative, narrative, opinion, argumentative)

• Fostering listening skills to be able to extract key information

• Cultivating speaking skills using academic vocabulary

• Tips to prepare your child for ELPAC testing

Register here

SELPA 1 CAC and the Learning Challenge Committee are your groups for special education and broader learning challenge needs. We are ALL having learning challenges right now, and CAC and LCC are here to help. If you have questions about learning challenges and special education

needs, email selpa1cacinfo@gmail.com or check out www.selpa1cac.org

Our events for September:

August 31, 9 am- General Parent/Community Meeting with Special Ed. Directors & Staff, Zoom at 9:00 am for LCC and 9:30 am for CAC. We will be planning for the year, discussing upcoming programs and discussing distance learning and learning challenges. For our agenda, please join our Google group, https://groups.google.com/g/selpa1cac. For the Zoom link for this meeting, email selpa1cacinfo@gmail.com.

September 8, 10 am - Let’s Talk - IEP/504 support group. Have questions about the process to get help for your child? Have an IEP but are not sure how to make changes? Need to vent? This is your confidential group. Please contact selpa1cacinf@gmail.com for the Zoom link for this meeting.

Also on September 8, 10 am - Parent Chat - Support for parents of teens with mental health challenges. A great place for help and support for challenges with your teens. Please contact trudy.palmer@me.com for Google Meet invite.

MVEF raises money to provide all MVWSD students with an educational experience beyond what is possible with public funding. We hope you saw the MVEF brochure with your school supplies or watched the video during Back to School. Please see the website at https://www.mvef.org/ for more information and to donate online. Please consider joining our team of volunteers or emailing us with any questions at contact@mvef.org. Thank you for your support!

Did you miss the latest Parent University event? Do you want to review the materials that were presented? Videos and materials are now in English and Spanish on the Parent University website at http://www.mvwsd.org/parent/parent_university
Latest uploads: Mental Health Resources and Distance Learning Support

You can change the life of a student!

Come learn about volunteer opportunities to Mentor high school students and Tutor students in grades K-8 in our Mountain View and Los Altos schools.

Becoming a Mentor or Tutor will add joy to your life and help a student in our local community to a brighter future!

There is no obligation to sign up as a volunteer. You're welcome to just come and learn more about they we do.

Please note: Mentor Tutor programs are currently remote and will remain so until students are back in school and the school district permits volunteers in the classroom

All volunteers must be high school graduates.

Date: Thursday, September 10th

Time: 5:00 - 6:00 pm

Location: Online via Zoom (URL provided upon registration)

Register: REGISTER ONLINE

Questions: programs@mentortutorconnection.org

Information: MentorTutorConnection.org

Stuck on how to use Google Classroom? Wondering how to best support your student in Distance Learning? This summer, we’ve been at work on a new Parent U resources page full of tips for navigating the tech and procedures of the new school year.

These resources are designed by and curated by MVWSD teachers to be most useful for our parents.

Technology How-To Videos (on Chromebooks, SeeSaw, i-Ready, Clever, Zoom and more)

Supporting Distance Learning (Tips and resources)

Mental Health Tips (Managing anxiety and stress at home)

All are available in English and Spanish at https://www.mvwsd.org/parentu.

Mountain View is a beautifully diverse place where hundreds of languages are spoken. In some instances, children from households where a non-English language is spoken need additional help at school to become fluent in English. To make sure that we identify all such children, all public school districts in California are required to do an initial language assessment called the Initial ELPAC. (English Learner Performance Assessment of California).

A letter was sent out last week to all families with children who meet the criteria for the Initial ELPAC. The letter describes the rationale and details for the assessment and invites families to follow up with any questions they may have. Additionally, the following link is a helpful resource for parents/guardians to understand the test better and to help prepare their children.

A Parent Guide to Understanding ELPAC Initial English (also contains information about the Summative ELPAC, which is a similar test at the end of the school year.)

We understand that the beginning of the school year is a busy time, especially under these extraordinary circumstances. Based on current guidance from the California Department of Education, the Initial ELPAC this fall will be administered remotely. Details to come. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to Claudia Navarrete via email at cnavarrete@mvwsd.org.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarianoCastroElem
School website (Programs, absence reporting and more): https://castro.mvwsd.org
Text alerts (emergencies, school closure): Text "Y"or "YES" to 68453 using the cell phone number that the District has on record
PowerSchool (Enrollment confirmation, payments, electives and more): ps.mvwsd.org/public
Updates on academics, FAQs, health and safety during COVID-19: https://mvwsd.org/returntolearn