PTMS Weekly Parent Newsletter
March 29, 2024
Table of Contents
I. Coming Up (calendar items in the coming week or so)
II. Message from the Principal
III. Message from the Assistant Principal
- From the Attendance Office
IV. Counseling Corner
- Information on Wellness and Suicide Prevention
V. ASB and Student Announcements
- Heritage Night
VI. Department News
- Learning Commons
- PE
- Science - SD Science Fair Award Winners announced!
- Yearbook
VII. Clubs (periodic information on extracurricular activities)
- Book Club
- eSports Club
- Math League
VIII. Multilingual Corner (includes information on ELAC other community resources)
IX. Special Education Sessions and Events (parenting classes, family events, informational sessions)
X. Community Events
- Opportunities/Events involving district high schools
XI. Other Important Items (links to the PTMS Family Handbook, Boys & Girls Club, Webstore, etc.)
I. Coming Up
April 1-5 - Spring Break - No School/Campus Closed
April 8 - Modified Bell Schedule - Schoolwide Viewing of the Solar Eclipse (using provided solar eclipse glasses) - watch for more information early next week on Parent Square
April 12
- 8:45 a.m. - Special Principal's Coffee - Health Ed Curriculum - MPR
- 12:20 p.m. - Trailblazer Awards - LC/B Bldg Corridor
April 18 - Heritage Night - 5:30-7:00 p.m. - MPR
II. Message from the Principal
Happy Friday Wolfpack Families,
As we enter our Spring Break, I hope that it brings you and your family the opportunity to rest, recharge, and spend time with those you love. We began our week on Monday morning with our concert band, led by Mr. Chris Johnson, giving a surprise performance to our entire staff. They played beautifully and our staff was really impressed. Today, we had a really fun Friday as our ASB capped the week with a Beach-themed day that included fun lunch-time games.
A reminder that when we return on Monday, April 8, we will have a school-wide observation and mini-lesson on the solar eclipse. A huge shout-out to our science team who created a wonderful lesson about the eclipse, and really emphasized how we can safely participate. All students will get a pair of safety glasses and if for any reason you wish to opt your student out of the activity, you can do so by filling out this form.
On April 12, I will be hosting a Principal's Coffee from 8:45 - 10:00 to share information about our district health curriculum that our science teachers will teach in late April and early May. You can find more information about the curriculum including the lessons that are taught by clicking here.
For those of you who celebrate, I wish you a "Happy Easter". Whether your plans over break involve traveling or staying local, I hope that you and your loved ones have a wonderful week off. When we return, we will continue to engage in learning, habit-building, and finding joy within the school experience.
Until then, have a wonderful break.
In gratitude,
Scott Wild, Ed.D.
PrincipalIII. From the Assistant Principal
CAASPP Testing
This year students will be participating in the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP). After Spring Break, students will take the Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments in Mathematics. Additional information can be found by clicking on the link HERE.
PTMS Testing Schedule:
Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments for Math in Math classes (April 9-12)
Students will NOT be able to use wireless headphones. Students should bring their own WIRED headphones or earbuds if they have them.
STAR Testing
This year, all students will participate in the Renaissance Star Reading and Star Math academic universal screening tests to measure student’s learning and growth over the school year. The Star tests help our schools and teachers evaluate student performance and progress over time in order to provide the necessary student support.
Star Reading and Star Math are both short (30 minute), low stakes, computer adaptive, academic assessments. Star assessments help teachers better understand what students know and can do in the areas of reading and math. As a student takes the test, the software selects items based on the student’s responses. If the student answers correctly, the next item will be more difficult. If the student answers incorrectly, the next item will be less difficult. By adjusting the difficulty of the items based on a student's responses, the assessment is an accurate way to help teachers identify what skills students are ready to learn. Teachers use this information to guide their instruction.
Scores will be posted by the district in Aeries once they are available.
Spring STAR Testing Dates
STAR Reading: Monday, 4/15 in English classes
STAR Math: Thursday, 4/18 through Friday, 4/19 in Math classes (check with math teacher for which day)
If you have questions please email Assistant Principal Dr. Stephanie Hake (stephanie.hake@sduhsd.net) or Lisa Graciano (lisa.graciano@sduhsd.net).
From the Attendance Office
~ Keep hopping into school every day and on time.
IV. Counseling Corner
All schools will be closed during spring recess and staff will not be available during this time. We hope that you enjoy this time with your family and that our students are able to unplug and take a break.
The 3rd Quarter progress reports are available to view in Aeries. To view your child’s progress report, click on “Grades” or when using the Aeries app, click on “Report Cards”.
SDUHSD Summer School will be held at La Costa Canyon High School and available to students needing English or math remediation, a math bridge course, or ELD (English Language Development). Course offerings are listed here. More information to come after Spring Break.
Some of our students got creative this week in the Wellness Center, finishing painting the clay pots they had previously made during our Wellness Week. If you get one as a gift this spring break, we hope you enjoy them as much as the students enjoyed making them!
Lisa Curry, Counselor (A-Ma) lisa.curry@sduhsd.net
Carsen Anderson, Counselor (Mc-Z and ML Students) carsen.anderson@sduhsd.net
Samantha Eels-Taylor, Student Support Facilitator samantha.eelstaylor@sduhsd.net
Is Your Student Going to a Private School Next School Year?
If you and your student are thinking of applying to a Private School for next year. Please fill out the link below for each school.
Mental Health & Wellness
Mental Health & Wellness Resources for Students, Staff, and School Community.
Click on the QR code to discover your PTMS Support Staff.
Free Mental Health Webinar Series
See below
Suicide Prevention QPR Training
See below
V. ASB and Student Announcements
You can check them out on the Students tab of our website under "Student Announcements" for a running post of each week's student announcements.
Heritage Night - April 18 - 5:30-7:00 p.m.
Pacific Trails Middle School and the PTSA are hosting our second annual Heritage Night!
Please join us to celebrate our diverse community! We are looking for volunteers to host booths representing cultures from across the globe with performances, traditional attire, cultural games, music, and more!
This event can only happen with your participation, so please sign up to help however you can! Once you sign up, keep an eye out for emails from PTMS and the PTSA to coordinate.
More information about hosting a booth or performing.
Thank you and see you there!
VI. Department News
Learning Commons News
Please click here to see everything that the Learning Commons has been up to so far this year.
From the PE Department
Please follow us on Instagram to see what your student is up to during PE class.
Self-Defense - 8th Grade
We will be teaching our 8th-grade Self-Defense Unit on Mondays during our physical education classes. To participate, we do need this parent permission slip filled out. If you have any questions, please contact your child's PE teacher.
Science Dept. - Greater San Diego Science & Engineering Fair - Junior Division
Last week, some of our students entered the Greater San Diego Science & Engineering Fair with Science teacher, Mrs. Mareth, serving as their Advisor.
Congratulations to the following Award Winning Wolves:
Grand Award Winners: Life Sciences
- Yaalini Kathiravan and Arunchalam Vinayagam for their Early Detection of Scalp and Facial Diseases Using Selfies and Artificial Intelligence in the Computational Biology and Bioinformatics category.
- Steven Chen for his Synthesizing Living Materials for Coral Reef Regeneration in the Earth and Environmental Science category.
Grand Award Winners: Physical Sciences
- Declan Henckels and Guhan Senthill for their Smart Walker in the Engineering: Electrical, Mechanical, and Robotics category.
Way to go, Wolves!
VII. Clubs
~ Club activity will be posted here throughout the year. To get a list of all Clubs currently active, please check the Activities page on our website.
VIII. Multilingual Learner Corner
We want to extend a huge congratulations to qualifying multilingual learner students on their achievement of reclassifying and reaching a level of English proficiency! Qualifying families will be sent an invite to attend the event. All multilingual learner students and their families are invited to attend, even if they aren't reclassifying just yet, for the purpose of building community and meeting others who may have similar school experiences. If you have questions, please contact Dr. Stephanie Hake at stephanie.hake@sduhsd.net for more information. Thank you!
All MLL families are invited to our spring Multilingual learner night! We will celebrate reclassification and welcome our elementary families into our district. New families will also have the opportunity to attend their first ELAC Meeting with their child's future school site. Event details are below with the flyer links.
Event Name: SDUHSD Spring Multilingual Learner Night
Event Date: Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Time: 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Location: Earl Warren Middle School (155 Stevens Ave)
Flyer: In English, Spanish, and Chinese - it can also be translated into any other language by right clicking the document, selecting the three vertical dots at the top, and choosing a new language.
IX. Special Education Sessions and Events
For a list of Special Education Informational Sessions and Family Events, please click here.
For meetings, trainings, workshops, and more from the North Coastal Consortium for Special Education, please click here.
X. Community Events
XI. Other Important Items
- Boys & Girls Club - Seasonal sports information/registration.
- PTMS Live Calendar of Campus Events and 2023-24 Instructional Calendar.
- PTMS Student Vehicle Permit - Register your bike/e-bike/scooter/skateboard with PTMS. Complete this form and turn in to the office.
- PTMS Webstore - PE clothes/Limited Series Clothing
- PTMS Yearbook. - Order today!
- San Dieguito Alliance for a Drug-Free Youth - complete the Parent Pledge here.
- San Dieguito Boys & Girls Club - click the link to the left for 2023-24 athletic schedules.
- SDUHSD - Employment Opportunities. To view a list of openings and to apply, please click https://www.edjoin.org/sandieguito or you can call Susan Gray at 760 753-6491 x5543.
This newsletter has also been posted to our website under "Parent Communications."
Deadline to submit articles for publication is Thursdays.