December 17, 2020

Hello Crittenden Families,

Hello Crittenden Families,

This will be my last Panther Blog of 2020, we will be on holiday break from December 18th until Tuesday, January 5th. Please remind your students that school resumes on a Tuesday and not Monday, as Monday will be a staff development day. 

This was the kind of year that everyone will be talking about for decades to come. We have all had to make some difficult adjustments to operate in this environment. Many of our families have suffered very difficult hardships that they continue to recover from. It has saddened me to see our community struggle, but I am so proud of how we have banded together and persevered through. Please know that our thoughts are with all of those who are struggling. You are all in our hearts and we are committed to do all that we can to serve our community. 

Check your email for a letter from Assistant Principal Colleen Walsh regarding how to sign up for our upcoming Parent Teacher Conferences. They will be held on the week of January 11th to the 14th, and will give you the opportunity to discuss your students' progress with their teachers. 

Our Executive Functioning Tip of the Week is: Skill: Working Memory:  

As discussed last week, working memory refers to how we hold on to and work with information that short-term memory stores. Another strategy to improve working memory is having your child teach you what they are learning. Being able to explain how to do something involves making sense of information and mentally filing it. Maybe your child is learning a skill, like how to dribble a basketball. Ask your child to teach you this skill. In addition, there are many matching games that can help kids work on visual memory, like the classic game Concentration (or Memory). You can also do things like give kids a magazine page and ask them to circle all instances of certain words or letters or take turns reciting the letters and numbers on a license plate and then saying them backwards. Simple card games like Crazy Eights, Uno, Go Fish, and War can also improve working memory because kids have to keep the rules of the game in mind in addition to remembering what cards they have and which ones other people have played.

Beginning in September, our students have been receiving lessons in social emotional learning that target the following personal and social skills: self-awareness, kindness, integrity, grit, and gratitude. We know that students are more successful in school when they have the skills to make sound choices about personal and social decisions. To that end, our teachers have been engaging students in activities that ask them to reflect, role play, journal, and discuss in order to help them develop these important social and emotional skills. For the remainder of the year the students will continue to receive weekly lessons on kindness, self-awareness, gratitude, grit, and integrity. This is to help develop these skills fully. One highlight of this work has been the schoolwide First Responder Letter Writing Campaign. Our Leadership students organized this campaign and invited all students and staff members to write a personal letter expressing gratitude to first responders. It has been inspiring and heartwarming to see so many of our students participate in this activity. We are so very proud of our Panthers. 

I close this year with hope and gratitude. Our staff, students, and parents, continuously remind me how strong our Crittenden community is. We have navigated through this year with kindness, perseverance, and patience. I’m confident that we will continue to push forward in the same way. Even though we may be apart we’ll get through this together.  I wish you all to have a healthy, safe,  and peaceful holiday break. 

 

 

Crittenden Panthers learning together, wherever we are. 

Mrs. Gomez

Principal

UPCOMING EVENTS:       

December 21-January 5

Holiday Break

 

January 11- 15

Parent/Teacher Conferences: minimum days for students all week. 

 

 

 

DISTRICT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Free children’s meals continue during the holidays

MVWSD free meals for children are available during the holidays. Meals will be available the weeks of December 21 and 28 at the Gabriela Mistral Elementary (505 Escuela Ave) location only on Monday and Tuesday from 11:30 a.m. -1 p.m.  On Monday, bags of Monday's and Tuesday's breakfasts and lunches are available. On Tuesday, meal bags for Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday are available. Regular meal service resumes on the week of Jan 4. Please note that facemasks are required when approaching the meal distribution area, and recipients must maintain 6-foot social distancing while waiting for meals.

Better Together: Together we can appreciate our abilities (flyers attached to Dec. 7 email)

In December, we are celebrating Abilities Awareness Month. To honor our commitments in moving towards equity and inclusion, help us bring the voices of people with diverse abilities into your classroom or homes, and create a learning environment that rejects ableism. From lessons on art, activism and physical disabilities to education about new developments in Universal Design, these resources will help you and your children embrace diverse abilities and understand the injustices people with disabilities often encounter. Together, we can appreciate our abilities and celebrate our common humanity. See the attached graphics or view them on https://www.mvwsd.org/bettertogethermvwsd

Tester and Interpreter/Translator positions available

Looking for a part-time job with a positive social impact? MVWSD is now hiring organized and friendly individuals to administer English Language proficiency assessments to the district’s K-8 English language learners. To find out more, click here: https://www.edjoin.org/Home/DistrictJobPosting/1310195

Can you speak or write in a language other than English? MVWSD is always looking for qualified interpreters and translators. If you enjoy helping families and children and are fluent in English and one of the languages below, click on https://www.mvwsd.org/jobs and then click on “Support Staff - Hourly”. We are currently looking for the following languages: Arabic, Cantonese, Farsi, French, German, Korean, Mandarin, Tagalog, Vietnamese.

MVWSD’s award-winning Preschool (flyer attached to Dec. 7 email)

Is now enrolling for full-day and part-day for the 2021-22 school year. Information meetings will be held in January. Please see the attached flyer or https://www.mvwsd.org/preschool for more information. 

Recording: Virtual i-Ready parent workshop

Are you curious about the i-Ready platform and how you can support your student at home? Please view this recording of the session that provides parents with an overview of i-Ready and answers their frequently asked questions about how i-Ready elevates instruction. https://vimeo.com/490839110

TK and choice schools’ meetings are this week. Open Enrollment for all MVWSD students starts in January

School and District information meetings are coming up in December. Please visit www.mvwsd.org/register for a list of these events and for login information.

 

•  If your child turns 5 years old between September 2 – December 2, 2021, he/she may qualify for transitional kindergarten. TK info night is December 16 at 5:00 p.m online.

 

•  If you are interested in the District's choice schools, information nights are: 

• Gabriela Mistral: Dual Spanish/English Immersion: December 15 at 6 pm
• Stevenson: Parent Child Teacher: December 16 at 6 pm
• Choice schools will also have information at the elementary schools’ info nights (6 p.m. Dec. 9).

For CURRENT students in transitional kindergarten-7th grade: Parents will be asked by email to confirm enrollment from January 18- 22.

For NEW students:  Open Enrollment is from January 11 through Feb. 5, 2021 online. You can register your child for the 2021-22 school year when online registration opens here:  www.mvwsd.org/register 

Save the date! 

Parent workshop:  How to Build Academic Language with Kate Kinsella 

Virtual presentation on January 27 at 6:00 pm

Hosted by Huff, Landels and Jose Antonio Vargas elementary schools

Register: http://mvw.sd/kate

Presenter Kate Kinsella, Ed.D. will talk about: 

• After school conversation tips to use with children to encourage thoughtful responses
• Strategies to help increase students' academic language and listening skills

 

Kate Kinsella, Ed.D., is a teacher educator at San Francisco State University and a highly sought after speaker and consultant to school districts throughout the United States regarding development of academic language and literacy across the K-12 subject areas. Her 25-year teaching career focus has been equipping children from diverse backgrounds with the communication, reading, and writing skills to be career and college ready. 

 

For more information, please visit http://drkatekinsella.com/about-us/

 

CSA food distributions  (flyers sent by email on Dec. 14)

Community Services Agency (CSA) will have three additional food distributions that families throughout Mountain View are welcome to come and pick up. Please see attached flyers in Spanish and English for details. 

Getting Ready for the ELPAC information session: Jan. 12

The English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC) is administered every year to our English Learner (EL) students. To learn more about this assessment, the role it plays in the education of every EL, and how to help your child prepare, please join for the following meeting: 

•  January 12

5:00-5:30 in English: https://zoom.us/j/93307939185

5:30-6:00 in Spanish: https://zoom.us/j/93709174683

MVEF news: Double Your Donation with the December Challenge Grant! 

Throughout December, every dollar donated will be matched dollar for dollar up to $47,000, through our December Challenge Grant.  The December Challenge Grant has been made possible by generous MVEF donors who are challenging you to join them in supporting MVEF. Donate today to get your donation matched by this challenge! 

If your company has a matching gift program, you can even triple your impact by donating this month! 

Every dollar donated makes a difference and allows the district-wide programs to be funded which is especially important now, during remote learning.  It takes donations of every size for us to reach our annual goal of $800,000 together.   https://www.mvef.org/donate

CHAC offers free mental health support to parents and students (flyers attached to Dec. 11 email to secretaries)

For parents: CHAC, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing affordable and accessible mental health services, supports parents in several ways. Please see the attached flyers for more information.

For students: PLUGGED IN - Social and Emotional Learning Skills Programs

CHAC is excited to offer two new Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Skills Programs to 3rd and 5th grade students.  Both programs are a fun and enriching way to help students navigate the unique challenges they face in these extraordinary times.

1) CHAC's Weekly Virtual Group meetings focus on social interaction between participants.  Through collaborative lessons and fun activities students will learn emotion regulation skills, problem solving skills as well as healthy coping and self-care skills. 

2) CHAC's Independent SEL Curriculum teaches students essential social and emotional learning skills through entertaining video lessons and a variety of fun activities that students complete independently. 

The parents who request the PLUGGED IN Independent Curriculum will have it emailed to them immediately.  

The parents who would like their child to join a PLUGGED IN virtual group, will be contacted about scheduling options and asked to complete an online permission slip.  Groups are expected to start in early January. 

Click here to learn more about PLUGGED IN- CHAC’s new SEL Programs: https://www.chacmv.org/social-emotional-learning

Parenting in a pandemic: Free 6th district PTA speaker series

Wednesday, December 16, 7 PM. Teaching self regulation. Inclusion collaborative.

Cost: free. For more information and to reserve your seat visit www.capta6.org/parenting_in_a_pandemic/

MVLA Speakers series presents “Middle School Matters” with Phyllis Fagell (flyers attached to Dec. 11 email)

Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021 - 7:00 - 9:00pm | Live Online 

Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor and Certified Professional School Counselor Phyllis Fagell helps parents use the middle school years as a low-stakes training ground to teach kids the key skills they’ll need to thrive now and in the future, including making good friend choices, negotiating conflict, regulating their own emotions, acting as their own advocates, and more. To answer parents’ most common questions and struggles with middle school-aged children, she combines her professional and personal expertise with stories and advice from prominent psychologists, doctors, parents, educators, school professionals, and middle schoolers themselves.

Audience:  Parents of kids grades 4 - 8

Register:  To register for this free event at https://mvla2020-21-phyllisfagell.eventbrite.com

Books:   https://www.booksinc.net/book/9780738235080

Video Available!  

Michael Reichert  – How to Raise a Boy - Event Recording from 11/17/2020

Dr. Reichert has graciously allowed us to share the How to Raise a Boy recording with parents, teachers, and other caretakers of children and teens (K - 12) within our community.  The recording will be available until December 17th. The link is https://youtu.be/K7aAVmHSd2Y

 

Video Available!  

Marc Brackett  – Permission to Feel - Event Recording from 10/29/2020

Dr. Brackett has graciously allowed us to share the Permission to Feel recording with parents, teachers, and other caretakers of children and teens (K - 12) within our community.  The recording will be available through December 10th. The link is https://youtu.be/dyGMXo8iH0s