Monthly Newsletter- December
It’s hard to believe it is already December and we are entering the holiday season and the end of the 2023 year.
The Wildcat Run was a huge success! As a community, we have raised over $27,500 for our school! We couldn’t have done it without each Wildcat, their parents and families that donated and spread the word, and the amazing parents and staff that helped organize this event. We also want to thank all of the parents and family members that showed up to help set up, scan laps and cheer our Wildcats on!
We wanted to give a special thank you to Mrs. Lam, Mrs. Chamberlain, Mrs. Martin & Ms. Thomson for all of the time and energy you spent on making this event a success!
Keep Reading Over Winter Break
In a few weeks we will all be enjoying time with family and friends over winter break. During the break, try to continue to read for 20 minutes or more each day with your child(ren). Reading is a powerful tool for building your child’s academic skills.
Importance of School Attendance
Being in school everyday means your child won't miss out on valuable learning and social experiences. When possible, please try to schedule appointments and family trips outside of school hours.
We want to help remove any barriers to school attendance. Please reach out if we can help connect your family with needed resources or services.
We hope each one of you has a safe and joyful winter break and takes time to enjoy your family!
Events This Month 📅
Friday, 12/1: Friday Flag @ 8:45 am ; Principal Coffee @ 9:00-9:30 am
Tuesday, 12/12: X-ploration
Wednesday, 12/13: PAWs Meeting @ 6:30 pm at Crafted Culture in Sabre Springs
Thursday, 12/14: Squeo Field Trip Kumeyaay Center; 1:30-2:15 Student Council Meeting (Rm 17)
Friday, 12/15: 9:45- Winter Band Concert (5th Grade)
Monday, 12/18- Friday 12/22: Holiday Shop (MPR)
Monday, 12/18- Friday 12/22:Holiday Spirit Week
- Monday- Merry Monday Morning: Wear Holiday or comfy PJs
- Tuesday- Sweater Weather: Wear an ugly holiday sweater
- Wednesday- Winter Wonderland Wednesday: Dress in white and wear hats & scarves
- Thursday - Holiday Hair Don’t Care: Wear festive hat, headband or hair style
- Friday - Festive Friday: Wear your most festive holiday look.
Monday, 12/25- Friday 1/5: Winter Break- NO SCHOOL
Tips for Supporting Your Student at Home
Math
Math is a subject that elicits strong feelings in people, whether positive or negative, and these feelings are often transferred to our children indirectly. Keeping a positive, open and curious mindset towards math is important for your child's success, regardless of your own feelings towards it. Below you can find two evidence based strategies from the Institute of Educational Sciences to help your child learn to love math.
Two Strategies to Help Your Child Learn to Love Math
Math for Primary Students: Subitize it!
Do you know what subitizing is? Subitizing is the mathematical ability to look at a small set of objects and instantly know how many there are without counting them. This skill is extremely important to building strong number sense, which is a foundation of mathematical success. How can you practice this at home with your child? Grab a dice! Roll the dice with your child and have them say how many dots they see, and how they see it. For example, if the dice shows 5 dots, they may answer five. Giving follow up questions like, "How do you know it's 5?" or "How do you see 5?" challenge your child to look at groupings of objects differently.
Math for Upper Grade Students: Finding Compatible Numbers
Compatible numbers in math are the numbers that are easy to add, subtract, multiply, or divide mentally. They are close in value to the actual numbers, which makes estimating the answer and computing problems easier. It is important to note that this strategy gives students approximate answers that are easy to compute, but are not exact solutions. Below is an example of how compatible numbers make calculations easier:
Kate wants to buy a hoverboard and a safety helmet. The price of the hoverboard is $244$244 and the price of the safety helmet is $38 $38. Kate has only $275$275 in hand. She wants to know if she has enough money to buy both items. Using compatible numbers, Kate can estimate the total cost mentally without actually adding 244 and 38.
244 + 38 = ?
240 + 40 = 280
Now she knows she needs more money to buy the helmet and the hoverboard.
This can also be used in subtraction, multiplication and division. Below are visual examples of utilizing this strategy. Click the link below to find more information on compatible numbers and resources to support your child with this strategy on Splash Math.
Helping Children Cope Effectively With Mistakes
The means by which children understand or respond to mistakes is an integral feature of a growth mindset. Children must learn to attribute mistakes to factors that can be changed, especially in situations in which they are capable of succeeding.
It can be helpful to think about how we would answer the following question:
When my child makes a mistake or when something doesn’t go right, how does he react and handle the situation? This is one of the most effective ways of assessing self-confidence and the presence of a growth mindset, by examining how our child perceives and copes with the mistakes and setbacks that are a natural part of life.
To help children cope with mistakes, parents can serve as models by being open about mistakes they make. In fact, a fun activity at the dinner table can be for everyone to go around the table and share about a mistake they made that day and what they learned from it. All of this helps to normalize mistakes and helps children learn to value mistakes as learning opportunities. It’s important to note that children are very perceptive and therefore, if we proclaim to value mistakes but then react to our child’s mistakes as though they are problematic or harmful our child will develop more of a fixed mindset and a fear of failure.
With that in mind, we want to monitor the language we use with children. Think of the messages we send to kids when we say the following:
Look, you didn’t make any mistakes!
Wow, you did that so quickly!
When a child hears these messages she begins to say to herself, “If you think I’m smart when I’m fast and perfect, I better not try anything too hard.”
In contrast, if we allow our child to struggle with a task and if we are patient and coach our child through setbacks, our child quickly learns that we value challenge and improvement over an easy win. Research shows that not only will this approach help our child learn more but it also helps children become happier and more confident individuals.
Wildcat Library News 📚
Need a Holiday Gift Idea?
Pomerado Birthday Book Club
Celebrate your child’s birthday by joining our Pomerado Birthday Book Club and donate a book to our school library in their name! Each child who participates will have their name inscribed on a bookplate inside their donated book.
Please contact Mrs. Comstock for more information or complete this form: https://tinyurl.com/2dap5dky
Parents And Wildcats (PAWs) 🐾
Pomerado Giving Tree 2023
Pomerado has adopted two families in our district community this year for the annual Giving Tree Program. You can sign up by taking a tag from the holiday tree in the front office, via the website or QR code. Gifts should be new items, unwrapped and labeled with Family ID and recipient. All gifts should be delivered to the front office by Monday, December 11th.
Holiday Shop December 18-22
The annual holiday shop is back! It's a chance for your student/s to shop for presents with great price-points for family and friends during the week of December 18-22. Look for more information coming home with your child. A sign-up sheet to volunteer will also be posted soon.
Career Week Survey
PAWs is bringing Career Day back to Pomerado in January. We need help from our Wildcat families to make this event happen! Save the January 24th date and please be on the lookout for the Career Day Questionnaire so we can hear about your family's exciting career(s) and start planning a great experience for our Wildcats.
Wildcat Run Thank You
We wanted to say thank you to all of you for your help making our first Wildcat Run and fundraiser so successful! A special shout-out to our key volunteers who made it all possible, Andrea Rodriguez- Chamberlin, Suzette Lam, Ginny Dixon, Amy Hill-Johnson and the entire PAWs team.
December PAWs Meeting (in-person)
Hope to see you at our monthly PAWs meeting on December 13th at 6:30pm at Crafted Culture in Sabre Springs!
thank you,
Your PAWs team
Message from Student Council
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ADDRESS:
Pomerado Elementary School
12321 9th Street, Poway, CA 92082
(858) 748-1320
24 HOUR ATTENDANCE HOTLINE:
(858) 679-2604