Principal’s Message:

Dear Parents, Guardians, and Families,

 

Winter viruses are on the rise. As the weather gets colder, and we spend more time indoors, we need to keep up our guard against germs. As a reminder, our District requires masking for everyone at large indoor events, such as holiday concerts.

These simple steps will help prevent severe illness and hospitalization from the flu, COVID-19, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). 

Five tips to help prevent winter viruses:

• Get vaccinated, boosted and treated

• Stay home if you are sick and test for COVID

• Wear a mask in indoor public spaces to reduce spread

• Wash your hands

• Cover your cough or sneeze

Additionally, MVWSD is sending home free COVID tests for every student and staff member before winter break so that you can test before returning to school in January. Please see the details below. Stay well!

Please use your free COVID test after winter break

MVWSD is providing at-home COVID-19 testing kits for free to families and staff members so that you may test before returning to campus after the winter break. A box containing one test will be sent home with each student this week so that you can test on Jan. 9 before students return to school on Tuesday, Jan. 10.  Please see this letter for what to do after testing. Thank you for participating in this safety measure to help ensure all of our students and staff stay healthy. 

In Partnership, 

Principal Vern Taylor

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Events Calendar

December

 

January 2023

 

 

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In this Newsletter

School News:

• Golden Ticket Winners

• Next year’s district calendar is available now!

• Lost & Found

• After school Enrichment Classes

• December Celebrations

• Ability Awareness

• Principal’s Virtual Office Hours

Flyers:

• 2023-2024 School Year Calendar - Link here

 

District News:

• Open Enrollment for 2023-24 starts in January

• Better Together: Exploring Differences - Flyer

• The View Teen Center: December - Flyer

• Health and Wellness Parenting Tip: Instructions

• Parent U SEL Recording Available

• Available now: Updated COVID boosters for ages 5+

PTA News:

• PTA Parent Coffee - December 16th

• Holiday Lunch for Teachers and Staff

• Nominating Committee

• Shop with Amazon Smile

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Golden Ticket Winners 12/8/2022
Joel G.           RM: 1         Morgan W.      RM: 10
Jorge V.         RM: 2         Aaria M.          RM: 11
Eric M.          RM: 3         Eliana T.          RM: 13
Valentina S.   RM: 4         Jefferson B.     RM: 14
Leyla B.         RM: 5         Vani S.             RM: 15
Tyson W.        RM: 6         Precious D.      RM: 16
Bryanna Z.     RM: 8         Kian S.             RM: 17     
Mayuka M.    RM: 9         Ms. Winsor      RM: 14        

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School News

 

Next year’s district calendar is available now!

The 2023-24 district calendar is now available online here. 

Lost & Found 

Our Lost and Found Rack is seeing nice sweaters, water bottles, lunch boxes that miss their owner. If items are not claimed by Wednesday, December 12th they will be donated. 

 

Our Lost and Found Rack can be found in the following places:

• Morning: during drop-off - Located by the main gate (in between the main office and MUR)

• Afternoon: 

  • Kinder Pick-up - Located in the blacktop

  • Upper grades: Located by the main office

After school Enrichment Classes

We will begin signups for after school enrichment this Friday. Please look out for more details in the Friday message. If you have questions, please join me at today’s Principal’s office hours (Click here) OR Friday’s Principal’s Coffee (click here). 

Just a reminder that our intent is to offer these classes without an individual fee to students. We are looking to collectively raise $15,000 to ensure a significant number and variety of classes are offered. If you are able to donate for after school enrichment classes, please fill out this form and bring it to the front office, along with your donation, and our front office staff will provide you with a receipt. If you are planning to donate through a company match, please inform the front office so we can count that towards our anticipated total.  Please note, a donation will not be required to enroll in any of our offered classes. 

December Celebrations

Over the months of November and December, many of our classrooms have been engaged in learning about the different traditions that are celebrated by different groups of people across the world. We have a diverse community, and it is great to see all of our students learning about the different holidays and celebrations that exist around this time including, Santa Lucia (December 13), Las Posadas (December 16-24), Hanukkah (December 18-26), Christmas (December 25), and Kwanzaa (December 26-January 1). 

If you want to know more info about some holidays our students have been learning about, click here to see a presentation prepared by our Kindergarten team.

Ability Awareness

This week, we are celebrating disabilities awareness week at school. I encourage you to continue this learning at home through conversations with your child. Please feel free to use the information below to guide you in your conversation. 

Tiffany Carlson writes about how she experiences disability awareness by offering parents of young children some advice on how to answer questions related to disability. She writes, "Instead of putting a “sad story” spin on disability whenever they inquire about someone, say something along the lines of, “The world is full of people who are different.” That is vital to the conversation around disability awareness. To read the whole story, click here.

(Repeat) Principal’s Virtual Office Hours

I will again be hosting Principal Office Hours virtually on Wednesdays from 4pm -5pm. 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. 

 

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District News

Open Enrollment for 2023-24 starts in January

In January, the Mountain View Whisman School District will be opening student enrollment for next fall. 

 

For CURRENT students in transitional kindergarten-7th grade: Parents will be asked by email to confirm enrollment from January 24 to February 10.

 

For families enrolling NEW students: Please check www.mvwsd.org/register for details about virtual school information meetings held in January, how to locate your neighborhood school, how to explore school options and the four steps to register during the enrollment period held January 24 to February 10. 

Better Together: Exploring Differences - Flyer

The View Teen Center is a free facility in Mountain View (263 Escuela Ave) for all Mountain View and Los Altos 6th - 12th grade students. The center is open Monday through Friday: 3:30 - 7 p.m. and Saturday: 1 - 6 p.m, and features a game room, makerspace, kitchen, computer/study room, outdoor area, and much more! See attached flyer for details about upcoming December events and programs or visit their webpage for more information.

The View Teen Center: December - Flyer

The View Teen Center is a free facility in Mountain View (263 Escuela Ave) for all Mountain View and Los Altos 6th - 12th grade students. The center is open Monday through Friday: 3:30 - 7 p.m. and Saturday: 1 - 6 p.m, and features a game room, makerspace, kitchen, computer/study room, outdoor area, and much more! See attached flyer for details about upcoming December events and programs or visit their webpage for more information.

Health and Wellness Parenting Tip: Instructions

We give our kids dozens of instructions each day: Get ready for school. Wash your hands before you eat. Do your homework. Sometimes our kids follow our instructions, and sometimes they do not. One way to increase follow through is to give effective instructions. For example, making eye contact with your child and gently telling them to turn off the TV is likely to be more effective than yelling at them from another room.

To provide effective instructions:

Think about a few things that you would like your child to do and try using these tips to provide effective instructions.

Instead of saying… Say….

“Don’t bother me.” “Please work on your homework.”

“TURN OFF THE TV!!” “Please turn off the TV.”

“I told you to stop playing video games.” “If you don’t stop playing video games in the next 5 

minutes, then you won’t be able to play tomorrow.”

These tips came directly from the free, online Everyday Parenting program created by parenting expert, Dr. Kazdin.

To learn more parenting tips click here. 

Parent U SEL Recording Available

In case you missed it, recordings of the most recent Parent University event, “Social Emotional Learning at School and Home,” are available. English (https://vimeo.com/765795126) and Spanish (https://vimeo.com/765899241). Find recordings of past Parent U presentations at https://www.mvwsd.org/parentu.

Available now: Updated COVID boosters for ages 5+

The updated COVID-19 booster is now available for everyone ages 5+! #GetBoosted to keep yourself and your family safer with the most protective doses yet. Find updated boosters for ages 5+ at http://www.sccfreevax.org, your pharmacy, or healthcare provider.

 

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PTA News

 

PTA Parent Coffee - December 16th

On Friday, December 16th, 8am to 9am join us after drop-off for a PTA parent coffee at Chetwood Park (345 Flower Ln, Mountain View). Coffee and donuts will be provided. Stay and chat or grab a cup and say a quick hello on your way to work!

 

Holiday Lunch for Teachers and Staff

Next Monday, the PTA will be providing a Holiday Lunch for our teachers and staff. We are looking for parents to provide additional supplies, like salads, drinks and desserts. Please see the link here to sign up: https://www.konstella.com/app/school/5d1164f5e4b0f5da8d2fb89c/signups/639655609b989b3a44fb021a

 

Nominating Committee

We are looking for five volunteers to form our Nominating Committee. This is an important part of our PTA Association with minimal time commitment. Committee members will help to find candidates for next year's board please contact [email protected]

 

Shop with Amazon Smile

One of the easiest ways to support our PTA is to shop through the “Jose Antonio Vargas Elementary PTA” portal at smile.amazon.com. Amazon will donate a percentage of each purchase you make. 

 

Shannon Lundin, and the Executive Board 

[email protected]