Principal’s Message:
Hello Golden Owls,
Last week, we held Parent-Teacher Conferences. During this time, parents and teachers had a chance to communicate about each student's progress, goals, and discuss next steps for the rest of the school year. While teachers and parents do this at the individual student level, our staff also works together to reflect and plan steps for both the whole class and small group.
Similarly, we analyze and review data at the site level and review our school Site Plan for alignment. At our most recent School Site Council meeting, I shared the results from our D2 iReady report, and we checked in. I will be doing a similar review at our next ELAC and Principal’s Coffee. Please join me to catch up with what our school is doing to support students.
ELAC Meeting January 27, 2022, 6:00- 7:00 PM Click here to register
Principal’s Coffee, January 28, 2022, 8:30-9:30PM Click here to register
Guidance for upgrading your mask
Please send your student to school in a well-fitting, quality face mask. Public health officials recommend upgrading from fabric masks. Upgraded masks include double masking (surgical mask + cloth mask), fitted medical masks (surgical masks) and respirator masks (N95s, KN95s or KF94s).
Please see “Choosing Your Mask” here for more guidance: https://www.cdph.ca.gov/.../Get-the-Most-out-of-Masking.aspx
In Partnership,
Principal Vern Taylor
Events Calendar
19th - Principal Office Hours - Virtual, 4:00pm - 5:00pm - Register Here
20th - MVWSD Board of Trustees Meeting, 6:00pm - 10:00pm
21st - Superintendent Community Check-in, 3:30pm - 4:30pm - Register Here
26th - Principal Office Hours - Virtual, 4:00pm - 5:00pm - Register Here
26th - ELAC Meeting, 6:00pm - 7:00pm - Register Here
28th - Principals Coffee, 8:30am - 9:30am - Register Here
2nd - Principal Office Hours - Virtual, 4:00pm - 5:00pm - Register Here
9th - Principal Office Hours - Virtual, 4:00pm - 5:00pm -Register Here
In this Newsletter
School News:
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Golden Ticket Winners
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We need your HELP!
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Morning Drop-off
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Please upload your child’s completed vaccine card
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Principal’s Virtual Office Hours
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Coach’s Corner - Fun at Home: Science buddies, Little Bins for activities. Also, Science News for students
District News:
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MVWSD Wellness Parenting Tip: Improving Your or Your Child's Mood
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COVID booster now available for individuals 12+
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Preschool information meetings: Jan. 12 and Jan. 26
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Parent University: Managing Stress and Fostering Resiliency
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Open Enrollment for all MVWSD students starts in January
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Inclusive Fun Fair - Summer Camp and Recreation opportunities for students with learning challenges
PTA News:
Golden Ticket Winners - Week of 1/17/2021
Keily D. RM: 1 Meher D. RM: 11
Frida O. RM: 2 Prisha V. RM: 13
Hunter S. RM: 3 Pravara D. RM: 14
Alivia R. RM: 5 Dj M. RM: 15
Miroslava G. RM: 6 Soraya P. RM: 16
Ishkirat S. RM: 10 Jazzy S. RM: 17
Sarah G. RM: 9 Mrs. Chavez RM: 5
The Vargas Way - Be Safe, Be Respectful, Be Responsible, Be an Upstander.
What are Golden Tickets?
Students earn Golden Tickets from teachers and staff when they are following the Vargas Way. What is
The Vargas Way? Click here for an in depth view.
We need your HELP!
Want to join the Vargas family? We need more yard duty personnel. If you are interested, please click here for more information.
Please upload your child’s completed vaccine card
Many of our younger students are getting their 2nd COVID vaccine shot this week. When your child's vaccine card has their second shot listed, please upload a copy to Powerschool. Vaccine cards will be referred to in the case of a positive COVID exposure for your student, and MVWSD needs accurate data for decisions about COVID protocols. Click here for a video that shows you how to upload documents: https://vimeo.com/606954357.Thank you in advance for uploading your documents now!
Principal’s Virtual Office Hours
Join me on Wednesday for our informal Principal Office Hours (virtual) from 4pm - 5:00pm. Feel free to drop in if you have any questions or if you just want to chat. For office hours, there is no formal agenda, it is a time for you to stop in to say hello, and for us to get to know each other better! I look forward to meeting you!
Register in advance for this meeting.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
Coach’s Corner -Fun at Home: Science buddies, Little Bins for activities. Also, Science News for students
Does your student love science? If so, there are some fantastic resources for completing science activities at home!
One excellent resource is Little Bins for Little Hands, an online STEAM activity hub filled with experiments to try at home! Many of these challenges incorporate art, sensory bins, and building with easily accessible materials. They also have experiments broken up by “season” and many festive STEAM projects to try around the holidays. Try some experiments at home for some major fun!
Another wonderful STEAM site is Science Buddies! This site includes a more in-depth, step-by-step process for science experiments that can be completed at home. Projects are broken up by grade level and subject. This site also includes project key questions, a materials list, and key terms/concepts.
Last but not least, sometimes students just want to read about the Science concepts they love. One online platform for this is Science News for Students, which hosts a wide range of age-appropriate science articles for students to explore!
District News
MVWSD Wellness Parenting Tip: Improving Your or Your Child's Mood
Stressful events influence our thoughts (words or images that pop into our mind), feelings (our emotions), and actions (what we do or say). For example, if your childcare falls through, then you might think, "my day is ruined;" you might feel frustrated; and you might act short-tempered with your child, partner, or colleagues. Doing enjoyable activities can prevent stressful events from ruining our day.
To improve your (or your child's) mood:
1) Track your mood throughout the day (e.g., rate how you feel each morning, afternoon, and evening from 1 = unhappy to 5 = happy).
2) Create a list of activities that you enjoy doing.
3) Schedule one or more of these activities.
4) Do the scheduled activity.
5) Compare your mood before and after doing the activity.
Watch this video to learn more about how doing fun activities can make you (or your child) feel better: http://mvw.sd/4V8V1
COVID booster now available for individuals 12+
The CDC has now approved boosters for children ages 12 to 15. Boosters provide an additional layer of protection against COVID-19, including the Omicron variant. Also, if you received the Pfizer vaccines as your initial COVID-19 vaccine series, you can now get a booster 5 months after your second dose instead of 6 months. You can schedule your vaccine appointment at: www.sccFreeVax.org.
Preschool information meetings: Jan. 12 and Jan. 26
The award-winning MVWSD Preschool Program is currently accepting applications for full- and part-day for the 2022-23 school year.
All 4-year-olds residing in the Castro School boundaries are now eligible for FREE, part-day state preschool at Latham.
Our preschool offers age-appropriate early math, language, literacy and science inquiry instruction, as well as social-emotional development in either part-day and full-day classes.
*** Join us for an info meeting January 26 at 3:30 pm (English) at Zoom link: http://mvw.sd/PK126 ***
Children who will be 3- or 4-years old at any time during the school year are eligible. Priority enrollment is for children who will be 4 years old by Sept. 1. Full day is 8 a.m.- 3 p.m., part-day is 3 hrs in the morning or afternoon.
Now accepting applications for full- and part-day spaces. Enrollment appointments begin in March. For more info go to www.mvwsd.org/preschool or call 650-526-3560.
Parent University: Managing Stress and Fostering Resiliency
Date: 1/19/22 Registration Link: http://mvw.sd/pu011922
Does hearing about stress make you feel stressed out? Let’s face this universal phenomenon together. This presentation will:
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Identify common stressors and the effects of stress
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Explore tips for stress management for oneself
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Provide tips on how to support our kids with stress management
To submit questions prior to the event, please click here. We will do our best to address your question during the session.
Board meeting Preview: Jan. 20
The Board of Trustees will meet on Thursday, Jan. 20 at 6 p.m. Some of the meeting’s topics include:
For meeting details and agenda, please click here: https://www.mvwsd.org/trustees.
Superintendent's Community Check In on Friday, Jan. 21
Please join us for our Community Check-In with Dr. Ayindé Rudolph on Friday, Jan 21 at 3:30 p.m. Bring your questions. Spanish interpretation will be provided. Click here to register: http://mvw.sd/CC121. Please see this webpage for upcoming meeting dates and for video recordings of past meetings. https://www.mvwsd.org/about/communications/news___events/connecting_with_the_community
Open Enrollment for all MVWSD students starts in January
For CURRENT students in transitional kindergarten-7th grade: Parents will be asked by email to confirm enrollment from January 24-28.
For NEW students: Open Enrollment is from January 10 through Feb. 4, 2022 online. You can register your child for the 2022-23 school year when online registration opens here: www.mvwsd.org/register
Please visit www.mvwsd.org/register for more information.
Inclusive Fun Fair - Summer Camp and Recreation opportunities for students with learning challenges. Sponsored by SELPA 1 CAC (www.selpa1cac.org) Flier here
Tuesday, January 25 7-8:30 PM on Zoom
Learn more about local summer camp and recreational opportunities from our panel, including:
Via West and Camp Altitude, The Friendship Circle, Camp EDMO, Camp Tuolumne Trails, Learning Play with Chaia May, Special Olympics Nor. Cal., Animal Assisted Happiness. Camp Harmon, Quest Therapeutic Camps and more!
Register:https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYsdeCprDMoHNQmNm2AxCpcukE3IRu-YdIZ
Please take our Survey! MVEF wants your input on our funding priorities
MVEF wants to know your thoughts about our stretch goal, the programs that we usually fund, and areas where MVEF could potentially fund programs in the future for all MVWSD students. Our stretch goal is if we can exceed our fundraising goal by $ 300,000 in the 2021-22 school year, we will improve learning for all middle school students by funding an additional English language arts teacher for each middle school in the school year. 2022-23
Please take a moment to complete this survey.
PTA News
Readathon Planning Committee
We are starting to plan for our annual Readathon (dates to be announced soon). This is our main PTA fundraiser to fund our programs (teacher reimbursements,teacher appreciation, student enrichment, community events etc…) If you are interested in helping with the planning to make this a successful fundraiser and fun event for the students please reach out to us!
[email protected]
Project Cornerstone: Become an ABC Reader
By volunteering just 2 to 3 hours per month, our Asset Building Champions build relationships with young people by reading selected books and leading classroom activities and discussions with a focus on respect, tolerance, peaceful conflict resolution, caring and friendship. Children learn what to do if they encounter bully behaviors and how to become an UPstander.
For more information, email: [email protected]
Spirit Wear
It’s sweater weather! Check out our selection of long sleeves and hoodies for winter! Also adult and childrens cloth face masks available. Place your order online and pick it up on designated days at the office.
https://www.javargaspta.org/ja-vargas-store
Shannon Lundin, and the Executive Board
[email protected]