Deer Canyon Echoes
January 19, 2024
To Do
Save the Date
January
- 1/21 - DC Dining @ Chipotle in 4S Ranch
- 1/22 - Art lesson (K-2nd) @ 3:30 pm
- 1/23 - Auditions for the Winter Music Recital @ 3:15 pm
- 1/25 - Art lesson (3rd-5th) @1:45 pm
- 1/26 - Family Picnic at lunch
- 1/29 - Pro Grow Day (no school/no ESS for students)
February
- 2/5 to 2/9 - Book Fair
2/6 - Book Fair Night @ 5 pm
- 2/7 - DCPSO meeting @ 5 pm
- 2/8 - Morning with Books @ 8 am
- 2/19 to 2/23 - District Recess (school closed)
March
- 3/1 - Talent Show @ 6 pm
- 3/11 - Pro Grow Day (no school for students)
Principal's Message đ
Good evening, Deer Canyon families,
This week went by in a flash! Time flies when youâre having funâŚand learning lotsâŚand have a day off of school! Though it was a short week, it was jam-packed. This week, we hosted Talent Show auditions (performances and emcees), participated in a "Duck, Cover, and Hold Drill," and continued our iReady diagnostics.
As a reminder, the purpose of the second iReady diagnostic is to measure student growth, so lessons can be recalibrated, and we can best plan for and support each student for the remainder of the year.
To review and reiterate school expectations as we transition back to school from Winter Break, Mrs. Macdougall and I visited TK and Kindergarten classrooms on Tuesday to revisit our playground expectations. We discussed what Deer Canyon school expectations look, sound, and feel like on the playground: be kind to yourself, be kind to others, and be kind to the environment. Finally, classes participating in the GLES program began their study of Mandarin and Chinese culture with our amazing teacher, Lin Laoshi!
Iâll prepare for next week by grabbing a meal at Chipotle during our DC Dining event on Sunday night. I hope to see you there! Next week at school, campus will be bustling with after-school activities, including free art sessions and Winter Music Recital auditions. We are currently at capacity for our art sessions, but donât worry, weâre hoping to offer more opportunities in the near future!
Our Equity Committee will be attending another PUSD Equity Committee Team meeting on Wednesday, and I will be attending additional meetings focused on supporting chronic absenteeism and the upcoming 2024-25 enrollment season.
We are excited to host our first Family Picnic of the school year this Friday, January 26! If possible, please join us at your studentâs lunch time to eat alongside them and their friends. Itâs a great opportunity to see life through your studentâs eyes and engage in joyful play! Since Friday is an XP day, our lunch schedule is a smidge altered for upper grades.
TK/Kindergarten 11-11:40am
1st Grade 11:10-11:50am
2nd Grade 11:20-12pm
3rd Grade 11:30-12:10pm
4th Grade 11:45-12:25pm
5th Grade 11:45-12:25pm
Parents/Guardians, if you plan to purchase food alongside your student, please bring a check for $6.25 per adult meal. No cash is accepted. We will send a ConnectEd on Wednesday with a reminder and instructions for accessing campus.
Finally, next week brings some change at Deer Canyon! Ms. Lupita, our Health Technician, will begin her journey through nursing school; please join me in wishing her the best of luck. Ms. Lupita showed our students and staff the utmost warmth and care. Whether students were stopping by to show off the items on their lunch tray or to request an ice pack to soothe a mystery injury, Ms. Lupita made each student feel like the most important person during their time in her office. We will miss her greatly! Please join me in extending the warmest welcome to our new Health Technician, Miral Kanafani. Miral was on campus for cross-training today and will hit the ground running Monday morning! (Bio and introduction to come next week)
TK-4th Grade Families:
Each year at this time, DCES begins the task of planning for the 2024-25 school year (wild, right?!). Accurate projections of our enrollment are critical for effective planning.
In order to help determine accurate projected enrollment numbers for the 2024-25 school year, please complete this Google survey by January 28 to let us know if your student plans to return to Deer Canyon next school year. This will provide us with the number of returning students as well as those who will be leaving Deer Canyon, and will ensure that your child(ren) is enrolled correctly in the 2024-2025 school year.
Please complete one form for each student in your household. Please also be sure that you do not double-up your submissions if your student lives in multiple households.
You will receive a confirmation email with a copy of your responses, for your records. I will send another reminder before the survey is due (January 28).
Current 5th-grade families do not need to complete this form because they will be automatically enrolled in 6th-grade at their school of residence.
This is NOT continuing student registration. Continuing student registration will take place March 1-31 for ALL students enrolled in PUSD for the 2024-2025 school year.
Visit PUSD Continuing Student Registration for more information.
Speaking of 2024-25 enrollment, please be aware of and mark the following dates on your calendar:
Transfer Requests - beginning February 1 at 8 am, we will accept transfer requests for students who live in the Poway Unified boundaries and would like to attend a different Poway school. This includes incoming siblings of current students, as well as students who have not yet enrolled. Transfer requests can be made on the Poway Unified website. The transfer window closes March 31 at 5 pm.
Continuing Student Registration - from March 1 - March 31, all parents whose current students will continue in Poway Unified for the â24-â25 school year need to complete online continuing registration. Look for more information coming soon.
New Student Enrollment - beginning April 1 at 8:00 am, new student enrollment opens on the Poway Unified website. We are excited to welcome our new students!
More details can be found on the Poway Unified website at www.powayusd.com.
Families of students served through Special Education: Deer Canyonâs Parent Ambassador(s)
In PUSD, we offer a wonderful resource for families of students served through Special Education: the PUSD Parent Ambassadors program. At Deer Canyon, parent volunteer representatives whose child(ren) access special education services through PUSD are available as mentors to guide and support parents of children with IEPs or those exploring special education options. Drawing from their own experiences, they offer invaluable insights and advice to encourage collaboration among parents and school staff on behalf of students.
Community is important to us here at Deer Canyon and our parent ambassadors want to connect with you on whatever level you need: general camaraderie, answering questions, or sharing their own experiences. Sometimes, simply connecting with another person through a shared experience can be powerful. Please do not hesitate to reach out to PUSD's parent ambassadors, Michael Matsuda and Stacy Zhang, using THIS FORM.
Positive Attendance Incentives
We have some positive attendance data to celebrate, Deer Canyon! Today, we had music at lunch to recognize student and family efforts to attend school regularly. While our attendance rate was slightly below last yearâs rate at this time, I am proud to see that our chronic absenteeism rate has decreased! Each new day is a new opportunity to continue our improvement, and I look forward to more celebrations ahead.
This week, over half of student absences were due to illness. While we navigate a tricky time of winter colds, flu, and the like, please take care of yourself and your family. Ensuring that your student gets ample sleep, consumes nutritious meals, and practices good personal hygiene (like handwashing) is important to keep not only your family healthy, but others, as well. DC staff will continue to utilize available resources to promote airflow, handwashing, and overall health. Thank you for the part you play in keeping our community safe and healthy!
As long as your child is healthy, please encourage and emphasize the importance of positive attendance while school is in session. Every day of school is an important opportunity for students to learn as well as to connect to their peers and teachers. The student experience in the classroom cannot be replicated and is vital to student progress and development (both academically and social-emotionally).
Currently, with 95 school days having passed, any student with 10 or more absences (10% of school days) is defined by the State to be âchronically absent.â Deer Canyon will continue to work with families to address and support chronic absenteeism. Our School Plan for Student Achievement details a goal of 5% chronic absenteeism, and we will continue action steps to make progress toward this goal.
I wish everyone a wonderful weekend and look forward to a full week of school next week! I hope to see you on Friday at our Family Picnic. As a reminder, we have no school on Monday, January 29; please plan accordingly!
Katie Bendix
Principal
Upcoming Events
DC Dining: Sunday, Jan. 21
Mark your calendars for DC Dining on Sunday, Jan. 21, at Chipotle in 4S Ranch.
2024 Book Fair - Coming Soon!
The annual Book Fair will be held February 5-9, and the MPR will be filled with our children's favorite books from Scholastic.
This is a great shopping experience for kiddos and a perfect opportunity for you to expand
your home, class and school libraries.
Hours:
- Mon, Tue, Wed, Fri: 8:30 am to 3:30 pm
- Thu: 8:30 am to 2 pm
Special Family Events:
- Family Book Night: Tuesday 2/6 @5-7pm. Enjoy shopping, cookies and milk, and a Choir performance
- Morning with Books: Thursday, 2/8, @8-9am. We'll serve coffee, juice and yummy muffins.
eWallet:
Scholastic offers a âcash-free digital paymentâ system for the Book Fair and for online purchases on the Scholastic website. This is a hassle-free and convenient way for your child to shop at the Book Fair. Any remaining money in your account can be carried over to next yearâs Book Fair or for use online, anytime. Click eWallet for setup and more details!
Volunteers needed!
This is one of the favorite events for our awesome volunteers! You donât have to be a
district-approved volunteer and the jobs are very simple. Join us and letâs help our
students to shop! Please sign up.
If you're wondering when your child's class will visit the Book Fair, click here.
Teacher Wish Lists:
You can purchase a book for your child's classroom by viewing our teachers' wish lists at the Book Fair. Come in, find paper slips with book titles from your teacher, and send a book or two to the classroom with love!
Questions: Please email Maha at melmeniawy@powayusd.com or Kumiko at kumiko_ijichi@hotmail.com.
Important Updates
New Student ESS Enrollment for 2024-25 School Year
A separate application is now required for all new students enrolling in the Extended Student Services (ESS) program.
Effective for the 2024-25 school year, new applications to the ESS program will be centrally managed by the PUSD District Office's Before/After School Department through a single application and interest list.
Information on how to apply for ESS for the upcoming school year will be available on the ESS webpage starting on January 19.
Submitting an application for ESS does not guarantee participation in the program. It is anticipated that demand for ESS will exceed program capacity at most schools. Should a site be determined near capacity for ESS enrollment, a lottery process may be necessary to determine new student placement.
Students in Grades TK-4 participating in the ESS program during the current 2023-24 school year will be considered continuing students and will not need to re-apply. Continuing students will receive continuing registration information directly from the ESS Site Supervisor by January 19.
Students in Grades TK-4 currently on an ESS waitlist for the program must apply as a new student to the program for the 2024-25 school year.
Get Your DCES Yearbooks
Hold on tight to those Deer Canyon memories!
It's not too late to order a Deer Canyon yearbook â and you get two free custom pages! You can purchase the yearbook now (price: $25.06) and submit the pages by April 18.
Questions: Contact the yearbook committee at deercanyonyearbook@gmail.com.
How to Purchase:
- Visit the TreeRing website
- Enter the DCES passcode: 1015490278194159
Seeking: Pictures for the DCES Yearbook
Do you have pictures to share for our DCES Yearbook? If so, please upload them via TreeRing.com or directly from your phone using the app. We'd love to have them!
Instructions:
Show Your School Spirit with DCES Spirit Wear
Make Friday mornings a little easier by ordering Spirit Wear!
Our Spirit Wear shop is open and taking orders. Choose from a variety of options: tie-dye T-shirts (perfect for FUNky Fridays), cartoon T-shirts (perfect for kids â and adults!), school logo T-shirts, hoodies (perfect for the cold weather), zip-up jackets and more.
Orders are placed online and can be delivered to DCES for free.
Questions: Please contact Razan Lin rbattikha@gmail.com