Principal’s Message:
Hello Golden Owls,
In the upcoming weeks, the Vargas teachers and I will be collaborating to create class lists for the next school year. Decisions we make with regard to your child’s future placement reflect our best professional judgment as to where individual children will be most successful. When grouping students, we strive to create a positive learning environment for all students and consider factors such as gender, academics, and special needs.
If there is additional information that you feel would be helpful for us to know, please fill out this survey by April 29th. Please note that we are NOT accepting requests for specific teachers.
PTA Needs Your Help:
The Vargas PTA is still seeking a couple more people to serve on the executive board for next school year. Serving on the PTA Board is a great way to get involved, meet new friends and make a difference at Vargas! If you are interested, please contact [email protected]. Please note that there is no prior experience necessary and training will be provided. We know everyone is busy, but we depend on parents like you to keep the PTA running!
CAASPP Testing (Repeated information)
Vargas 3-5 grade students will start their practice tests this week. Just a reminder students will start their official test next week. Students will test in ELA on April 26-29, Math on May 3-5, and our 5th grade students will test science May 10-13; 4th and 5th graders will test before AM recess, while the 3rd graders will test after AM recess. Please avoid scheduling appointments during these times.
Below are some tips you may find useful to help prepare your child for the CAASPP assessment:
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Explain to your child that it is important to do his/her best.
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Provide positive reinforcement and encourage your child each day.
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Keep the test in perspective. We want students to do their best, but please make sure they understand that it is only one test. Remind them that if they are doing their best, you are proud.
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Make sure your child gets an ample, normal amount of sleep the night before the test
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Make sure to arrive on time each day.
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Eat a nice, healthy breakfast.
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Keep a positive attitude about testing around your child. Remind them that this is a time to show what they know.
In Partnership,
Principal Vern Taylor
Events Calendar
20 - Principal Office Hours - Virtual, 4:00pm - 5:00pm - Register Here
25 - CAASPP Testing Starts
27 - Principal Office Hours - Virtual, 4:00pm - 5:00pm - Register Here
29 - Principals Coffee, 8:30am - 9:30am
4 - Principal Office Hours - Virtual, 4:00pm - 5:00pm - Register Here
5 - MVWSD Board of Trustees Meeting, 6:00pm - 10:00pm -
6 - Superintendent Community Check-in, 3:30pm - 4:30pm
11 - Principal Office Hours - Virtual, 4:00pm - 5:00pm - Register Here
18 - Principal Office Hours - Virtual, 4:00pm - 5:00pm - Register Here
18 - SSC Meeting - Virtual, 5:00pm - 6:00pm
19 - MVWSD Board of Trustees Meeting, 6:00pm - 10:00pm -
20 - Children’s Discovery Museum Field Trip
20 - Superintendent Community Check-in, 3:30pm - 4:30pm
25 - Marine Science Institute Field Trip
25 - Principal Office Hours - Virtual, 4:00pm - 5:00pm - Register Here
26 - Family Science Night, MUR, 5:30pm - 7:00pm
27 - End of Trimester - Minimum Day - Dismissal at 11:50am
27 - Principals Coffee, 8:30am - 9:30am
30 - Memorial Day Holiday - No School
1 - Principal Office Hours - Virtual, 4:00pm - 5:00pm - Register Here
2 - MVWSD Board of Trustees Meeting, 6:00pm - 10:00pm -
3 - Last Day of School - Minimum Day - Dismissal at 11:50am
3 - Superintendent Community Check-in, 3:30pm - 4:30pm
In this Newsletter
School News:
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Golden Ticket Winners
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MVWSD Celebrates Its Reclassified Students!
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Lost and Found
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Parent University: Preparing for Middle School
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Coaches Corner: Recipes from Books
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Principal’s Virtual Office Hours
Flyer:
District News:
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Suicide Prevention 101 Webinar for Parents - Flyer
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Please share your thoughts: Safety ThoughtExchange beginning April 20
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April Better Together Infographic - Flyer
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Health and Wellness Tip: Changing Your Thoughts
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COVID masking
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MV Public Library: Intro to Game Design Workshop - Flyer
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City of MV Earth Day Celebration - Flyer
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MVPAL Youth Extravaganza 2022 - Flyer
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Día de los Niños with MV Public Library - Flyer
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MVLA Speech & Debate Summer Camp - Flyer
PTA News:
Golden Ticket Winners - Week of 4/18/2022
Alondra L. RM: 1 Ada D. RM: 9
Sahasra D. RM: 3 Howie B. RM: 10
Vivienne P. RM: 4 Israel R. RM: 10
Andrew C. RM: 5 Aylin G. RM: 11
Taylor W. RM: 5 Javier S. RM: 13
Philip H. RM: 6 Rajvir D. RM: 14
Josh J. RM: 8 Stephani A. RM: 17
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.
MVWSD Celebrates Its Reclassified Students!
It's time for our annual celebration of former English Learner students who have successfully reclassified as English Proficient this school year! We are extremely proud of all the students as well as all of the families, teachers, and school staff who have supported them along the way. Families of newly reclassified students should have received email invitations and formal paper invitations this week to the event to take place at Crittenden the evening of April 28. If you have any questions, or believe you should have received an invitation but didn't, please contact your child's school or Leticia Corcoran at [email protected] or (650) 526-3500 x1121. Congratulations!
Lost & Found
Is your child missing a sweater/jacket, lunch box, water bottle, and or umbrella? Our lost and found rack is overflowing with many items. Please take a moment at morning drop off or afternoon pick-up to look through it, the lost & found rack is located by the school office entrance. All items not claimed by Friday, April 29th at 3:30pm will be donated.
Parent University: Preparing for Middle School
Date and Time: April 27, 2022, 5:30pm Registration Link: http://mvw.sd/pu042722
Nervous about middle school? We get it! Change can be daunting, but it can also lead to amazing new experiences. Join us to learn how to support your children as they prepare for the next stage in their academic and social lives. We will feature a panel of staff and students from Crittenden and Graham who will offer lots of wisdom and details about grades six, seven, and eight. See you there!
To submit your questions prior to the event, go to mvw.sd/questions.
Coaches Corner: Act Out Your Favorite Book!
It’s time to do some acting!
Your student can recreate their favorite chapter or short book! . They can even create scene directions for the characters. If you have a younger student, you can read a chapter of a book aloud for them while they act it out!
If your student is interested, they could even create brand new scenarios and scenes based on the book! Using the characters and setting from their favorite book, have your student write a “bonus scene” from their imagination!
Principal’s Virtual Office Hours
Join me for our informal Principal Office Hours (virtual) today 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.
District News
Suicide Prevention 101 Webinar for Parents - Flyer
Register for the upcoming free webinar and Facebook Live event: Suicide Prevention 101 for Parents: Recognizing Signs and What to Do in English on April 20, 2022 from 5 p.m. to 6.30 p.m. This free webinar will provide information about suicide prevention for parents, including warning signs for suicide, how to have a conversation with their teen, actions to take if their teen is having a suicidal thoughts, and resources. The webinar is provided in partnership with the California Department of Education, the California Mental Health Services Authority, the Directing Change Program, and Teen Line. English meeting zoom information is here.
Please share your thoughts: Safety ThoughtExchange beginning April 20
As our community is still reeling from the recent student tragedy, many of us are asking the question of “how can we make school commutes safer for our students?” The Mountain View Whisman School District is looking to focus and record these organic conversations in an online exchange of ideas, with the goal of involving all of the organizations and people who have a role in making our community safer.
On April 20, please look in your email for a link to a ThoughtExchange about safety. Middle school students will also be participating. Your participation is confidential. Please share and come back often to rate new ideas until the exchange closes on May 4.
April Better Together Infographic - Flyer
This April, we herald in Autism Acceptance Month and celebrate our neurodiverse community. MVWSD is a district that aims to provide an identity-affirming, empowering space for all of our students. We strive to challenge biases and champion change that makes our world more equitable, accessible, and just. Check out this month's infographic for ideas and resources to spark a conversation about autism acceptance and about the gifts our neurodiverse people bring to our community. Please see the graphics attached to this newsletter, or visit https://www.mvwsd.org/bettertogetherMVWSD.
Health and Wellness Tip: Changing Your Thoughts
Everyone has upsetting thoughts from time to time, which can make us feel angry, sad, or frustrated. This is normal! It is often our emotions that drive these upsetting thoughts, not the facts of the situation. By catching our upsetting thoughts, checking the facts, and changing our thoughts based on those facts, we can start to have more helpful thoughts and improve our mood.
Watch this video and learn more about how to change upsetting thoughts to be more helpful.
To change your upsetting thoughts:
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Catch it. When you feel upset, pause and ask yourself, “What words or phrases are running through my mind right now?”
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Check it. Consider whether the thought you are having is helpful or not.
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Change it. If you are having an unhelpful thought, consider other ways of looking at the situation. Reframe your thought to one that is more helpful.
Catching, checking, and changing your thoughts takes practice. By noticing your unhelpful thoughts and reframing them based on facts, you can improve your mood.
COVID masking
Both outdoor and indoor masking is strongly recommended (but no longer required) for students and staff in our schools and offices. However, there are times that masks are still very highly recommended.
MV Public Library: Intro to Game Design Workshop - Flyer
Want to create animations, stories and games? Learn the basics of Scratch, a block-based programming language, at this MVPL workshop with Pixelators Education on Thursday, April 21 4-5 p.m. on Zoom. Workshop recommended for programming beginners in grades 1-3. Parent/guardian assistance welcome. Register in advance at: https://mountainview.libcal.com/event/8915612.
City of MV Earth Day Celebration - Flyer
The City is hosting an Earth Day Celebration on Saturday, April 23rd at the Mountain View Senior Center from 11am-3pm. The event will have food trucks, activities for kids, electric vehicles that folks can do a free test drive in, and sustainability booths and presentations throughout the day. Anyone who is interested is welcome to attend!
MVPAL Youth Extravaganza 2022 - Flyer
Join the MV Police Activities League on Friday, April 22 from 4 pm to 7:30 pm at Rengstorff Park for a family night of fun promoting health and mental wellness for youth of all ages. The event is free for local Mountain View youth and families. A picnic dinner will be provided!
Día de los Niños with MV Public Library - Flyer
Día de los Niños/Día de los libros (Day of the Children/Day of the Books) will be celebrated with a performance from Raices de Mexico, a Mexican folkloric dance company that will perform regional dances from Mexico, on Saturday, April 30 from 11-11:45 a.m. in Pioneer Park. The event is open to all ages, and no registration is required. Click here for more information.
MVLA Speech & Debate Summer Camp - Flyer
Registration is open for MVLA’s Speech and Debate Summer Camp, which is being held at Mountain View High School from June 20–24 and June 27–July 1 for students entering grades 3-9. The camp is taught by the team’s varsity level debaters and speakers, and there are options for focusing on general speaking skills or preparation for competition. Free and discounted options are available for families with need. For more information and digital registration: mvlasdcamp.org. For paper registration options, scholarships, and questions: contact [email protected] or (925) 315-5514.
PTA News
Read-A-Thon
Our 3rd annual Read-A-Thon has concluded and we are so proud of our Golden Owls! Together our students read 225,935 minutes and raised nearly $20,000! The Read-A-Thon committee is in the process of sorting prizes and raffle awards, which will be distributed soon. Thank you Golden Owl community, you rock!
Earth Day Campus Cleanup Sunday 4/24
Join us on Sunday 4/24 from 2-5:00PM as we help to clean up the Vargas campus in honor of Earth Day. Be sure to bring some water. This will be a fun activity to do with your family and a great way to meet other families as well! Contact Aslıhan ([email protected]) with any questions.
Dine out @ Amici's Tuesday 4/26
Stop by Amici's Pizzeria (790 Castro St, Mountain View) anytime between 11:30AM and 9PM on Tuesday, April 26th. Amici's will donate 25% of all proceeds to the PTA/5th grade promotion fund. Be sure to mention VARGAS school for the funds to count. Note: only eligible for dine-in or pickup orders (not doordash, delivery services).
PTA Elections
Our PTA Executive Board elections are coming up and we have two positions to fill; secretary and treasurer. We have other positions listed in this document, but without a secretary and a treasurer we cannot have a PTA next year.
These volunteer positions take only a few hours a month Secretary (~2 hours per month) Treasurer (4-6 hours per month) but make a big impact on our school!
Our PTA funds and facilitates many programs and events like incoming kinder play dates, project cornerstone, school assemblies, classroom stipends, teacher appreciation and community events. We cannot do this work without an executive board.
Please reach out to myself or a nominating committee member this week if you would consider volunteering for next year's PTA.
Shannon Lundin [email protected]
Nominating committee:Lara Gill [email protected], Imelda Chin, Sukie Grewal,
Franziska Romanovsky, Anna Du
Jose Antonio Vargas PTA
[email protected]
Konstella
Konstella is our main communication tool. The PTA will post information about meetings, events and volunteer opportunities. You will also be able to communicate with other families from your child's classroom.
Use this link to register: https://www.konstella.com/cd/XGJHYL
Shannon Lundin, and the Executive Board
[email protected]