Principal's Newsletter
January 25, 2021
Principal's Message
Dear Adelante Selby Spanish Immersion families,
I hope everyone is well and staying safe. Recently, many of our students and families have reacted to and commented about current political events with the storming of the Capitol and the Inauguration Ceremony of President Biden and Vice President Harris. These current events around government and democracy are very teachable moments for our students. Personally, I was transfixed by the reading of Amanda Gorman's inspirational Inauguration poem, "The Hill We Climb".
I want to congratulate and thank Vilma Leiva, our Office Manager, for a wonderful career and for over 30 years of service to the Redwood City School District. Vilma's last day is officially this coming Friday. I wish her the best of luck in her retirement and she already knows that I will greatly miss her! We want to welcome our new Office Manager Jessenia Linares. Jessenia is bilingual in English and Spanish and has experience working at Henry Ford and Clifford schools.
We were informed last week by Superintendent Baker that all district staff that wants it will receive the COVID 19 vaccine soon(we do not have a definitive date yet, but know we have been prioritized to get the vaccine). This may mean that more of our teachers will want to return to in person teaching on site prior to the end of the school year. We will keep you informed if there are any changes to your current schedule as soon as we know.
It has been great seeing students who have returned to campus these last two weeks. Although they have to keep their masks on and social/physically distance in the classroom, they have been happy to be here. We now have three HUBs and five Hybrid Option 3/AM Teacher classes for in person learning here at school. The HUBs are similar to the five REACH Pods we have had going already where students remain with their teachers on the iPad or Chromebook with Distance Learning, but they are here at the school in a supportive classroom environment with a teacher. The five Hybrid Option 3/AM teacher classes can have up to 14 students attending from 8:00-11:30 or 11:45 and the rest of the students are taught virtually in the afternoon between 12:30-3:00. There is still asynchronous work for both the AM/PM groups in order to meet the instructional minutes requirements. The teachers will also be experimenting with teaching the whole class simultaneously for a portion of the morning(both the distance learners and in class students at the same time). We are discovering that a number of families who had indicated they wanted to send their child(ren) back for in-person learning on the parent survey have changed their minds now due to the recent spike in COVID 19 cases. If your child is in one of the teachers classes that have returned with the Hybrid Option 3 schedule and you are interested in sending your child back to school, please email me. A new safety protocol (beyond the 4 Safety Pillars I have described in previous newsletters)for these classes is regular COVID-19 testing every two weeks for both the students and staff.
Students will be finishing up the i-Ready assessments this week(1st and 2nd grades have until February 5th). It is important that students try their best and that parents are mindful not to give them help so that the results are accurate. The assessment results are used by teachers to plan next steps, help group students, and provide support for individual students. i-Ready automatically assigns lessons to students based on the results of the assessment once completed. Teachers may also assign specific skills to work on related to what they have been teaching in class. Students can access the assignments via Clever and i-Ready recommends 45 minutes of weekly practice in order to improve in Language Arts or Math. The assignments are somewhat similar to RAZkids or Dreambox in that they are very engaging. Here are i-Ready Parent Videos in English and Spanish. Here is a Student Video about taking i-Ready.
Please enjoy dancing along with Danny G as he has shared some of his You Tube Videos here:
ABC Warm Up (TK, K, 1st, 2nd grade)
ABC Warm Up(3rd, 4th 5th grade)
It is important that all families please visit the Unidos WebPage and take a few minutes to fill out the Membership Toolkit. Unidos supports a number of important programs at our school as well as coordinating volunteer efforts. They also provide communication to our community on a regular basis and need families updated information in the toolkit to do so. Unidos has set up this great link on explaining the process of reserving and checking out Library books. Parent volunteers have also set up a sign up page on the link if you can not come to the school to pick up the books and they will schedule a time to deliver the books to you(contact free of course!).
The School Photos Day with LifeTouch has to rescheduled until the San Mateo County is out of the Purple COVID-19 category. We will keep you informed of the dates and the plan as soon as we are able to do so.
A reminder that the district has set up an informational resource for parents and the community on the district web page called the Roadmap to Reopening of Schools.The district has also included a Parent's Guide to Distance Learning and in Spanish: Guía de Aprendizaje a Distancia para Padres to help support families.
Student breakfast and lunch drive through pickup here is now on Wednesdays 3:30-4:30, or at Roosevelt, Henry Ford or Taft from 3:30-4:30Learn more here
Office Hours
Our school office is open to the public on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from 8:00am-4:00pm. Please call to make an appointment if you need help. All staff and visitors to campus must:
- wear a mask
- use hand disinfectant when entering the office
- have your temperature taken in the office at the kiosk so we can screen you
- complete the visitor Wellness Screening From using the QR code in the office
- keep 6 feet of social distancing at all times
Please note that the school playgrounds(including play structures and swings) and field are closed. The general public should not be on the school campus.
Please send me an email of a photo of your child learning at home or a screen shot of their project and I will try to include it in upcoming newsletters.
Please visit our school website , Adelante Selby Facebook Page and our PTO/Unidos webpage and social media accounts: unidospto.org, Facebook and Instagram for more information.
Regards,
Director Warren
Read Aloud: Jessica and Charlotte dressed up in Unicornio PJs to read about Unicornios!
5th grade "Letter to My Future Self" Maestra Jeannette's classes
5th grade España Presentations: Maestro Ignacio's classes
2nd grade Assignments in SeeSaw: Maestras Cinthya and Vanessa
Adding with 2 digits.
Adding with two digits.
Sentence patterning chart
1st grade Native American Dioramas: Maestras Ana y Nuria
Important January/February Dates
- January 28: Second Harvest Food Distribution, 3:00pm
- January 29th: New Parent(TK or Kinder) Orientation Meeting, 10:00am: Join Zoom Meeting https://rcsdk8-net.zoom.us/j/83462949549?pwd=L1E5NWlWR2hRcHUwbWwrSjZtMnl5dz09 Meeting ID: 834 6294 9549 Passcode: Warren
- January 29: Student Council sponsored Spirit Day: Bring your Pet/Stuffed Animal to Class
- February 2: Unidos PTO Parent Meeting 7:00pm
- February 9: Super Minimum Day 11:45 AM dismissal
- February 10: Library Book distribution 8:30-11:30-12:30-3:00pm use Library drive through
- February 11: Second Harvest Food Distribution 3:00-5:00pm
- February 15-19: February Break: No classes for Students
- February 22: ELAC meeting 4:00pm
- February 24: Site Council meeting 3:00pm
- February 25: Second Harvest Food Distribution: 3:00-5:00pm