The Dolphin Whistle
November 1, 2017, Issue 12
REMINDER: Tomorrow Thursday 11/2 & Friday 11/3 are minimum days.
MESSAGE FROM PRINCIPAL LAMBERT
Dear Mariano Castro Parents,
We have many opportunities for parents to be involved at Castro. There is a new opportunity for parents to attend a training that will be terrific in helping you to support your child in their education. FEI ( Family Engagement Institute by Foothill College) will be starting a 4 week parent workshop, called strong start, on Thursdays at Castro from 6:00pm - 8:00p.m. with childcare and snacks provided. Please see the flyer in this Whistle for information on how to sign up. Don't miss this terrific opportunity!
Best Regards,
Theresa Lambert
Principal Mariano Castro Elementary
Teach Your Child the Good Habit of Being On Time
Please Respect the Neighbors
When dropping off or picking up your child, please do not park in the driveways of the houses and apartments near the school. Those are private property and we have received complaints about parents parking in those driveways while waiting for their child. Thank you in advance for helping us to keep good relations with our neighbors!
Foothill College Strong Start Program
Foothill College is coming to Mariano Castro to provide parents and families free college classes. Become a Foothill College student free of charge and receive your student ID and all college student benefits. Our first class, Strong Start, will help you learn techniques to communicate effectively with your student and strengthen school partnerships. Classes begin Nov. 9th at 6:00PM in our Staff Lounge and are offered in English and Spanish. See you all there!
Its the Turkey Trot - Thursday, November 2, 2017
After School Classes for Winter
Nov 6-9: Afterschool Lottery requests
It's time to request which afterschool classes your child would like to attend for the winter quarter. We have a new signup process available at http://mistral-pta.org/asp. The top corner contains a pair of buttons "Parent Sign Up" (for first time users) and "Parent Login" (for returning parents). The sign up process will gather contact details, your children's info and interests. You can return at any time in the future to update any of the info - especially changes to the lottery requests- by using the Login.
Project CornerStone
Upcoming Reader Training:
When: Thursday, Nov. 2nd
8:30 am or 6:30 pm
Where: Teacher's Lounge
Book: BIG
Translation, Childcare, and snacks provided.
We still need Spanish Speaking Readers.
Reading in a class is a simple way to make a big difference.
Contact: Sarah shmchphie@gmail.com or Dana palmerdana@gmail.com
Reminder: No book in December, we will have a holiday breakfast and social Thursday, Dec. 7th at 8:30 am in the teacher's lounge, no evening meeting.
Calendar of Upcoming Events
11/1 Wednesday - School Site Council (SSC) 5:00pm 6:30pm Staff Lounge
11/2 Thursday - CA/MI WAlk or Bike to School Day 7:45am
11/2 Thursday - Project Cornerstone meeting 8:30am & 6:30pm Staff Lounge
11/3 Friday - End of First Trimester minimum day, dismissal is 11:55am
11/4 Saturday - English Classes (ESL) for adults 9:30am - 12:00pm MUR
11/6 - 11/9 5th Grade Science Camp
11/7 Tuesday - PIQE 6:00pm - 8:00pm MUR
11/9 Thursday - MI/CA Chess Club Orientation Info Night 5:30pm - 8:00pm MUR
11/10 No School Veterans Day
11/13 Monday - Field Trip: Youth Science 8:30am - 1:30pm RM's 11 & 15
11/13 Monday - Field Trip: De Anza College Planetarium 9:00am - 12:00pm RM's 9 & 13
11/14 Tuesday - ELAC Meeting 6:00pm - 7:30pm MUR
11/15 Wednesday - Field Trip: Deer Hollow Farm 8:40am - 12:45pm RM's 10 & 14
11/15 Wednesday - PTA Association Meeting 6:30pm -7:30pm MUR
11/16 Thursday - Personal Success Assembly 8:00am MUR
11/17 Friday - Field Trip: California Museum & Capital Building 7:00am - 6:00pm
RM's 12 & 16
11/18 Saturday - English Classes (ESL) for adults 9:30am - 12:00pm MUR
11/22 thru 11/24 Thanksgiving Holiday
11/29 Wednesday - Field Trip: Children's Discovery Museum 8:50am - 12:55pm
RM's 112 & 113
11/29 Wednesday - District Kinder Night 5:00pm - 8:00pm MUR
FROM THE PTA
Dear Castro and Mistral parents, teachers, and community,
We hope you all enjoyed the 2017 Walkathon with your children, students, family and friends. It was wonderful to see the students walk, to encourage them to do their best, to spend time with friends, to make new friends, to volunteer, and to eat delicious food.
The WAT is our ultimate community event because we all participate! We are most successful when we work together donating our time, talents and materials. In our shared community every family helps. That was clearly evident at our October 6th WAT event.
We thank the committee leads that helped to make this whole event happen. Please join us in thanking these hard working parents who were involved in planning the WAT for many weeks; and for some parents, many months before. This includes:
WAT Co-Chairs – Trish Gilbert & Agnes Charrel-Berthillier and Trudy Wilson
Field and Logistics – Anthony Arriola
Publicity – Trish Gilbert and Trudy Wilson
Food – Cecia Morales and William Buitron
Registration – Laiza Bromberg and Suzanne Strohmaier
Volunteer Coordinators –William Buitron, Lizbeth Velasco, and many others
Lap Prizes – Peggy Prendergast and Trish Gilbert
Bake Sale – Gina Reyes, Nelly Gomez, Lizbeth Velasco
Course/Lap Management – Anthony Arriola
Spirit Wear – April Murphy and Trudy Wilson
Finance – Tim Downey and Martha Flores
Photos – Joel Lachter
We also send a big thank you to everyone in our shared community who:
· Donated baked goods, drinks, food ingredients, and sourced extra items
· Helped set up the field, lap prizes, prepared food and fruit
· Tirelessly cooked food, sold food, and baked goods that we all enjoyed
· Managed ticket sales, spirit wear, volunteer coordination, check out
· Handed out lap prizes, marked shirts and provided a safe environment to our students
· Captured our magical day through hundreds of photographs
· And most of all…after a full day of WAT, stayed late to clean up our school
We send a giant thank you to our fearless Finance Teams who will work hard to count the pledge donations coming in, and for the volunteers who will thank the businesses and vendors, and other parents that were involved in supporting our WAT. We also thank those post-production volunteers who will reward our students for their laps walked with a commemorative prize. So again families – THANK YOU for everything you do to support all of our children, friends, and community.
FROM THE DISTRICT
Executive Functioning with John Brentar, Morrissey Compton
Executive functioning is the ability to plan, organize and complete tasks. Success in school requires good executive functioning skills like working memory, cognitive flexibility and inhibitory control. Children with learning challenges often have problems with executive functioning skills, but there are techniques that can help train everyone to enhance these skills. Every student can benefit by improving memory, organizational skills, and learning how to make better choices. Join John Brentar, PhD from the Morrissey-Compton Educational Center for a great night learning about executive functioning.
Wed. Nov 15 18, 2017, 7–9 PM, Santa Rita Elementary
Let's Talk
(Temporary location due to Holiday!) A chance to ask questions and share ideas, resources, and support with other parents of students with IEPs, 504s, learning differences, mental health challenges, etc. All are welcome, participants must respect confidentiality.
Mon. Nov 13, 2017, 10am-12pm, In Front of Whole Foods, 4800 El Camino Real, Los Altos
Parent Chat
Are you concerned about the emotional well being of your child? Come to Parent Chat, peer to peer support for parents of teens. Hosted by the Mental Health Subcommittee of SELPA 1 CAC.
Tue. Nov 14, 2017, 7PM-8:30PM, Los Altos Library
Want text messages from the District? Opt in!
MVWSD has the capability to send text messages, but we are required to ask you first to opt-in before receiving text messages from the District. MVWSD would send you texts infrequently, for the purpose of notifying you of emergencies or with important, time-sensitive information.
Here’s how to opt in. You can subscribe or unsubscribe to receive text messages from the District at any time by texting one of the short codes listed below to 68453 using the cell phone number that the District has on record.
Opt-in: "Y", "YES", "OPTIN", "OPT IN", and "SUBSCRIBE" are all acceptable keywords for subscribing to SMS text messaging.
Opt-out: "END", "CANCEL", "OPT OUT", "OPTOUT", "STOP", "QUIT", and "UNSUBSCRIBE" will cancel SMS messages to the recipient.
You may have received a text message and opted in when this service was first added in 2015 or when your cell phone number was added to our system.
In order to receive messages from the District you need to opt-in from the number that is listed as the cell contact number in our student information system. If you need to update this number, please contact your school.
MV Parent U: “Being an 'Askable Adult'--Talking to your child about sexuality” Nov. 8
Mountain View Parent U presents “Being an 'Askable Adult'--Talking to your child about sexuality” on Wednesday, Nov. 8, from 6:30- 8 p.m. at the Crittenden Middle School MUR.
Presented by Health Connected, a Bay Area health education leader, parents will learn the why, what, how and when of talking with your kids about sexual health. Join us for a fun and interactive workshop that will inspire and assist trusted adults to engage their children in open and honest conversation.
The session is appropriate for adults with children of any age, and definitely relevant for adults with children approaching puberty through their teen years.
Doors open at 6 p.m. Come early to connect with resources!
Provided:
Interpretation (Spanish support)
Child care
Transportation (Bus departs from Castro Elementary and Graham Middle at 6 p.m. and returns at 8:30 p.m.)