Deer Canyon Echoes
April 5, 2024
To Do
- New Student Enrollment is open
- Sign up for Junior Choir (Kindergarten and 1st grade only)
- Order your DCES Yearbook by April 18.
- Order DCES Spirit Wear.
Save the Date
April
- 4/8 to 4/12 No School - Spring Break
- 4/15 to 4/19 - Career Café for students
- 4/19 - STEAM Night @ 5:30 pm
- 4/26 - DC Dining: Chuck E. Cheese, 3 to 9 pm
SAVE THE DATE! 5th Grade Promotion will be held on Wednesday, June 5, at 9 am.
Principal's Message 📚
Good evening, Deer Canyon Families!
This week was one for the books! Many staff and families came together for Family Heritage Night on Friday. It was a packed house and so incredible to celebrate, appreciate, and learn about the many beautiful cultures and backgrounds of our Deer Canyon families! If you weren’t able to make it, check out THIS VIDEO compiled by Keri Welty.
We continued to celebrate Read-a-Thon milestones with a crazy flamingo-riding principal on Monday, class parties Tuesday and Thursday, and the Glow Party today (a little rain can’t crash our party; we are flexible and creative!)! We had our Westview Ambassadors on campus for a playdate on Wednesday, and on Thursday our Kindergarteners performed songs and poems for their families at our first-ever Spring Fling! Thanks to Ms. Taylor and Mrs. Fitz for giving the whole school a sneak peek of the show on Wednesday afternoon; you rocked it!
I’m wishing you all a wonderful Spring Break, filled with joy and relaxation. Take this time to connect with loved ones and have some fun! I can’t wait to see your students next Monday and head into the home stretch of the school year.
IMPORTANT UPDATE FOR THE 2024-25 SCHOOL YEAR: SCHOOL START TIME!
Parents, for the 2024-25 school year Deer Canyon’s start and end times will be earlier by 10 minutes to align with the other Poway Unified elementary schools.
Beginning on the first day of school — August 21, 2024 — our start time will be 8:45 am every day. School will dismiss at 3:05 pm on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. On Time Banking Thursdays, school will dismiss at 1:25.
While this shift seems small on paper, we understand that families plan around the school schedule and we wanted to ensure you had this information as soon as possible.
Upcoming Field Trips and Volunteers
All chaperones for field trips must be cleared volunteers. Each year, volunteer status needs to be renewed via a new application.
If a chaperone will be alone at any time with a small group of students, they must have Level 2 clearance. If the field trip allows for the entire class(es) to be together at all times, Level 1 clearance is acceptable. For more, visit PUSD Volunteer Information. Visit the Front Office for a volunteer application. Unsure if you are already cleared as a volunteer? Contact mboeckman@powayusd.com.
New Student Enrollment
New student enrollment is now open.
CAASPP Testing Begins May 6 (5th Grade) and May 13 (3rd & 4th Grade)
Please review the robust CAASPP Parent Notification letter, including details about each assessment, how you can support your student during testing, and your parent rights.
CAASPP Testing at Deer Canyon will take place at the start of the school day, so we can provide a campus wide “quiet time.” Based on CAASPP guidelines and our strategic planning, active testing time is estimated to be 45-60 minutes each day, with up to two hours of quiet time daily for students to engage in the assessment. Each test does not have a time limit, so we will support students with extended time through the remainder of each week (no testing on Thursdays). Our testing schedule will be as follows:
Monday and Tuesday, May 6 and 7: CAST Testing (5th Grade only)
Make-up or extended time needs will be provided throughout the remainder of the week; No testing on Thursdays.
Monday and Tuesday, May 13 and 14: Math Testing (all 3rd-5th Grade)
Make-up or extended time needs will be provided throughout the remainder of the week; No testing on Thursdays.
Monday-Wednesday, May 20-22: ELA Testing (all 3rd-5th Grade)
Make-up or extended time needs will be provided throughout the remainder of the week No testing on Thursdays.
Families of students served through Special Education
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 the PUSD parent ambassadors with students at Deer Canyon, Michael Matsuda and Stacy Zhang, using THIS FORM.
Have a wonderful weekend, Deer Canyon!
Katie Bendix
Principal
Updates from the PSO
Junior Choir - Kindergarten and First Grade
Calling all Kindergarten and First Graders!
Deer Canyon is proud to announce we will offer a Junior Choir this spring. Rehearsals will be Fridays from 8:10 am to 8:40 am. from April 19-May 24.
The link to sign up for our K-1 Jr Choir is here! Please fill out this form by Tuesday, April 16, if your child would like to participate.
Upcoming Events
STEAM Night: April 19
Deer Canyon is excited to announce STEAM Night on Friday, April 19, from 5:30-7:30 pm.
Join us in exploring science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics through engaging hands-on activities. We welcome students and families for a night of science and fun!
Want to help with STEAM Night? We need volunteers! We need parents to help with set up, clean up, and run the welcome table during the event. Please contact Jamie Harris at Jaharris@powayusd.com.
Counselor's Corner
Career Cafe is Coming!
Deer Canyon will be hosting our first-ever Career Cafe on April 15-19. Students will have an opportunity to have lunch in room 22 while learning about different career paths.
Do you have a career you’d like to share with our students? Mrs. MacDougall is inviting you to share a short 10-15 minute presentation or Q&A with our TK-5th grade students. Please plan on committing to one day that week from 11 am-12:30pm.
Please email Mrs. MacDougall directly for additional details at cmacdougall@powayusd.com.
Important Updates
Get Your DCES Yearbook - Deadline is April 18
Hold on tight to those Deer Canyon memories!
Have you ordered this year's yearbook? If not, it is not too late!!
Deadline to purchase the yearbook and customize the 2 free-custom pages is Thursday, 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 — 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