DC Echoes: Edition 1, Volume 2
Friday August 26, 2022
Action Items
Order Deer Canyon Spirit Wear
Donate to the Fuel Your Foundation campaign
Search if your employer does donation matching
Select Deer Canyon Foundation as your Amazon Smile Charity
Click HERE to join the PTA today!
- Counseling Opt-Out Notification: if you would like to opt-out of counseling services at Deer Canyon, please fill out the attachment and email it to cmacdougall@powayusd.com.
Principal's Message
Greetings Deer Canyon Families!
We have successfully navigated our way through our first full week of school! Many thanks to our staff and families for attending last night’s Back To School Night presentations. I hope you found them informative and an opportunity to set the stage for success this year.
A few reminders as we launch into our next full week of school:
Hallways for morning arrival are one direction. The ‘lazy river’ effect helps all of our children find their way to class feeling safe and confident.
Students joining us for breakfast may enter campus at 8:30am. The playgrounds open at 8:35am.
Students may continue to enjoy lunch at the covered lunch tables or picnicking on the grass. If your child brings a beach towel, please be sure the towel is clearly labeled with their name.
We love our four-legged friends, however, dogs are not allowed on school grounds. Please keep your furry friends on the far side of the driveway, on the sidewalk.
During morning drop off and afternoon pick up, please do not park your vehicles in the driveway. You may pull up and wait in your car, but families should not park and exit the vehicle. You may park in front of the school on Russet Leaf Lane or in our parking lot.
School begins daily at 8:55am. Students should be on campus no later than 8:40am to avoid being late to class. Our playgrounds are open daily at 8:35am. A great rule of thumb is to plan to arrive on campus by 8:40am each day. We know mornings can be busy. Ensuring students arrive at school on time, or even early, assists them in building this important life skill.
School Pictures are Wednesday, August 31, 2022. Classes will be scheduled individually, and stations will be sanitized between each student.
First Friday is Friday, September 2, 2022. We hope our families will join us on the blacktop. Families may enter campus for this event through the ESS gate at 8:55am. First Friday will begin at 9:00am.
We are off to a great start and are looking forward to a wonderful school year. As always, please reach out with any questions or wonderings. You can reach me via email at tworthington@powayusd.com or 858-484-6064 x 3205.
Sincerely,
Terry Worthington
Principal
NEW at Deer Canyon for 2022-2023
Breakfast Gates Open Daily at 8:30am
Playgrounds Open Daily at 8:35am
School Begins Daily at 8:55am
Grades 1-5 and Preschool Dismiss Thursdays at 1:35pm.
Grades 1-5 Dismiss Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday at 3:15pm
Preschoolers Dismiss Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday at 1:55pm
TK Dismisses at 1:25pm Every Day
Kindergarten KID Days Dismiss at 1:25pm until September 23rd.
Starting September 26, 2022, Kindergarten Students Dismiss at 3:15pm on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and 1:35pm on Thursday.
Breakfast and Lunch are free for all students. Families qualifying for Free and Reduced Lunch should still complete the form for access to additional resources.
DC Foundation
Your Deer Canyon Foundation started the year off with:
Funding $97,000 in staff salaries: STEAM, PE, Choir, and 3 general instruction aides for multi-age classes (added one new aide for 22/23 combo class)
Provided $11,890 in supply grants and mini-grant opportunities to teachers and staff, a 20% increase from 21/22
Paid for the school copy contract for $2,000
15 new P.E. balls were delivered last week, adding to the 15 soccer balls, 10 basketballs, and 48 hula hoops delivered in May
We are happy to hear STEAM Lab, starting again 9/22, will be available for grades TK-5 for 13 weeks!
Fuel Your Foundation Fundraiser Going on Now!
From now through September 2nd, your DC Foundation invites all families to help invest in our students by supporting their essential enrichment programs and instructor salaries (PE, STEAM, Choir and Art Adventures), Classroom Aide salaries, and other critical resources that are not funded by public dollars. As of halfway through our first week, we are happy to announce that we have families committed to donating $3,200, along with an additional $1,100 expected in Company Matching. Thank you to those families who have helped to kick us off to reach about 5% of our annual goal of $92,600!
We invite all Families to donate at our “Champion” level of $200 total per student for the year. Meeting our annual goal enables us to cover established expenses for the year, while enabling us to fulfill special projects that may arise during the year. Past examples include Innovation Lab furniture, TK/K Playground Turf, new laminator machine, Buddy Bench, new Water Color supplies, Running Club rewards and technology, and more.
All donors will be entered into an opportunity drawing! Donations of all sizes are tax deductible and sincerely appreciated. Please see the flyer below and in your student’s Friday folder today for more information.
Thank you for fueling our students’ enriched education!
Mileage Club Update
Credit to our donors, the Foundation is able to purchase new technology to enhance the student favorite, running club. Each student will still receive a lanyard that now includes a barcode that will be scannable for each lap, all tracked digitally, drastically reducing the administrative labor from our front office staff. Foundation is supporting the school in purchasing incentives to celebrate students earning those laps. Mileage Club is an experience for 1st -5th graders during their recess time.
Jenell Bukky Lanski
President 2021-2023
Deer Canyon Elementary Foundation
Email: deercanyonfoundation@gmail.com
Website: http://www.deercanyonfoundation.org
Welcome Back from PTA
We would love for you to join us for our first PTA Association meeting of the year on Friday, September 9th at 9:00 AM. Our meetings for this year will be held in person and will also have a virtual option as well. It’s a great way to find out what is going on in school and find out how you can get involved.
Friday September 9th at 9am
In person: Meet at 8:55 in Room 14
Virtual:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86566304614?pwd=TWxwdk83VzRGZ0p2NVk5eEsxc3lSUT09
Meeting ID: 865 6630 4614
Passcode: DCESPTA
By Phone: 1 669 900 6833
Questions? Contact Heather Hall, PTA President at president@deercanyonpta.org
Heather Hall
President, Deer Canyon PTA
Volunteering at DC
What makes Deer Canyon such a special place are the teachers, staff, and family volunteers.
Volunteering comes in many forms: chaperoning a field trip, attending meetings, helping at class events, serving as a room parent or art docent, or being a chair or committee member for a student or family program. Sometimes it can be an hour a week or an hour a month. Identifying one hour to give back to your student’s school makes a difference. During Back to School Night, you'll learn even more ways to volunteer in your student's classroom and for campus wide efforts.
Volunteers are welcome on campus and in classrooms. New for 2022-2023 is volunteers will not need to turn in a verification of COVID Vaccine or Negative COVID test to the school office in order to volunteer. As always, if someone is not feeling well or has symptoms, they should remain at home.
The volunteer website is up to date with necessary requirements: https://www.powayusd.com/en-US/Community/Volunteer
It only takes 3 forms to complete and a negative TB test to become a volunteer on campus. Copies of necessary volunteer forms are in the front office. Volunteer paperwork can be submitted to Michelle Boeckman (mboeckman@powayusd.com).
Learn more here: https://www.powayusd.com/en-US/Community/Volunteer.
PTA Membership
Support the programs and community events that make DCES such a special place! Help make it a great year! If you have already joined...thank you! Our first drawing will be held on Monday, August 29th for a Broken Yolk prize pack ($40 gift card and Broken Yolk wear!)
Ms. Hobbs' 4/5 class is currently in the lead with the most memberships! Close behind we have a three-way tie between Mrs. Welty's 1/2 combo class, Mrs. Castro's 3rd grade class and Mrs. Regardie's 4th grade class! There is still time to help your class win a popsicle party!
Still need to join? It's easy with online registration! Click here to register in time to be entered into the first drawing!!
Courtney Huff
Deer Canyon PTA Membership VP
membership@deercanyonpta.org
DC Leaders
Apply for DC Leaders NOW!
DC LEADERS is a leadership opportunity for 4th and 5th graders only! DC LEADERS will promote positivity, good character, and kindness around Deer Canyon throughout this 2022-2023 school year.
Mrs. MacDougall is looking for a team of motivated, helpful, do-gooders. Leaders must be hard-working, responsible, and a role model for peers academically and behaviorally. See below for some of the responsibilities DC LEADERS will tackle this year.
Planning and attending Meetings
Positivity Announcements and Messaging
Character Counts support and activities
No Place for Hate support and activities
Red Ribbon Week, Start with Hello Week, and Random Acts of Kindness week support
Recycling pick up
Gate Greeting
Facilitating the recess Game Cart
Spirit Day selection and promotion
Parking patrol duties
And so much more!!
Electronic applications are available at the link below.
Paper copy applications will be available for pickup and return outside of Room 22. Your child may choose to apply electronically OR by paper. The deadline to apply is September 2nd at 3pm.
DC Leaders 2022-2023 Application
Carla MacDougall
School Counselor
First Lego League Jr: Grades 1-3
Super Powered: Information Meeting
Wednesday, September 7
7:00 pm, Zoom Link to Follow
Does your child like building with Lego? What about working with other kids to solve problems? Are they interested in learning simple programming? Come check out First Lego League Jr. at Deer Canyon!
First Lego League Jr. is a parent-run extracurricular activity for 1st – 3rd grade students. This year is SUPERPOWERED season where children will learn about different types of energy sources, storage, distribution methods, and ways in which energy is consumed. Working together in teams of 4-6, students will design a solution to the challenge and create a presentation about it.
No specialized knowledge is required to participate in or lead a team.
Please reach out to Preeti Chopra (LegoLeague@deercanyonpta.org) to join this year’s Jr. FLL program. Join the parent information meeting on Sep 7th to learn more.
More information about First Lego League Jr:
https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/flljr/challenge-and-season
DC Dining - Panda Express
Come join us at the next DC Dining Event! From 10am-9:30pm, 20% of all proceeds will be donated back to Deer Canyon. Have fun and support our school at the same time!
Mon, Aug 29, 2022, 10:11 PM
Panda Express, Carmel Mountain Road, San Diego, CA, USA
RSVPs are enabled for this event.
Choir
To the parents and guardians of all 3rd, 4th and 5th graders, is your student interested in joining the Deer Canyon Choir?
Choir is an optional vocal and musical theatre program open to all 3rd, 4th and 5th graders. Rehearsals are Thursdays after school from 1.40pm-2.30pm in the MPR, starting September 1st.
Please click here to complete and submit a signup sheet or use the following QR Code
DC Math Club
Do you love good math puzzles? How about challenging math word problems? The PTA is proud to sponsor the Deer Canyon Math Club! Deer Canyon students entering 3rd-5th grade are invited to join.
The club is run by parent volunteers, and we all need to help. There are weekly coaching sessions and frequent contests. Math Club students will participate in 3 national or international math contests throughout the year. We celebrate effort, improvement, and success! Use THIS LINK to sign up for volunteer slots to teach weekly classes for beginners and experienced students. Parents are required to sign up for two time slots.
The registration link will be sent to your email upon your signup. Signup Genius opens now, and Registration opens Thursday, Sept. 1st.
Lesson plans/slides for each class are prepared by previous head coach Sarah Sagi and are ready for your use. Coaching sessions begin September 26th. Due to COVID- 19, we will continue with virtual sessions taught live on ZOOM. If you want to start early with some practice scrimmages (once a week) please email the head coach
~Jing Zhang,
DCPTA Math Club Coach
Health Office Supplies Needed
The health office is in need of fresh supplies! If possible, please donate:
1) Gel Ice packs
2) Bandages Large and small (only)
3) Baggies all sizes
4) Skittles candy
5) Kleenex
Thank you!
Judy Andrews
Health Technician
858-484-6064 ext 3203
Bike Policy
Students in 3rd through 5th grade may ride their bikes to school with parent permission. Children must wear a helmet, provide a lock for the bicycle, and follow safety rules/laws. Bikes must be walked once on school grounds. No rollerblades, razors, scooters, or skateboards are allowed on campus.
Please click here to complete a permission form. This form must be completed and on file with the office for students who wish to ride their bikes to school.
Upcoming Foundation Events
Art Adventures
Art Adventures is funded and coordinated by your Deer Canyon Foundation. Art docents are parent & family volunteers who donate their time to bring art monthly to the classrooms. Training and supplies all provided. Want to volunteer in your student’s class this year? Consider being an art docent! Email deercanyonart@gmail.com to share your interest.
DC Dining
Each month there is an opportunity for families to have a meal together while supporting local businesses and the Deer Canyon Foundation. Next DC Dining is August 29 at Panda Express in Carmel Mountain. Have a business suggestion for a DC Dining? Email us at deercanyonfoundation@gmail.com.
DC Spirit Wear
Wear Your Deer Canyon Spirit Wear Every Friday!
Order your Deer Canyon spirit wear today! Variety of options for youth and adults & can be delivered FREE to your student’s class!