The Davis Download
Thursday, January 14, 2021
Principal's Post
Dear Davis Ducks,
I was fortunate growing up that I had a mom who read to me. She loved reading and instilled her same love of reading in both my sister and me. My love for reading carried over into my classroom when I was a teacher and has continued on as a principal.
Books have been a powerful teaching tool that have helped me as a mother of two young children and as an elementary school educator. Books can serve as both mirrors and windows into other people’s lives. The various reading experiences can provide many learning opportunities for students of all ages, teaching readers about people who are similar and different to them. As a result, empathy, compassion, and understanding of one another’s differences can develop and be applied.
Over the past few years we have spent time as a staff, along with our parent community, in diversifying our library and classroom libraries. Various resources have been shared with parents on a regular basis highlighting diverse book lists for all age levels. Our classroom teachers have continued to eloquently introduce fictional and nonfictional characters to our students while guiding them in connections to their lives and current events.
Our hybrid instructional model has changed some of our instructional practices, but it has not changed our focus on teaching, building, and supporting diversity, inclusivity, and empathy for all. My daily responsibilities as a school leader have changed some this year, but my passion for teaching students through books has not. Recently I began sharing my love for teaching through reading with pre-recorded videos that I push out to teachers to share with their classes.
As a reminder, I’m including some of my favorite apps and websites to support our children’s reading. If you have questions, want to brainstorm, or share resources, please reach out to me at cflores@nmusd.us.
Libby - Borrow and read ebooks and audiobooks from your local public library for FREE!
Epic! - Free ebooks and audiobooks for ages of all levels.
Brightly - Raise Kids Who Love to Read
Diverse Book Lists - Organized by WeNeedDiverseBooks.org
Thank you for your continued support and partnership. If there is anything our team or I can do to support you and your family, please contact me.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Flores,
Principal
Shout Out for the Davis Health Office
Our teachers and staff continue to be thorough in implementing the many safety procedures across the campus. I appreciate everyone’s efforts, but this week I want to give a special “Shout Out” to our health office including our Nurse, Audrey Scott, and Health Assistant, Ginger Castillo. They have been diligently working to support our families and staff under challenging circumstances. Their attention to detail, consistent communication, and trusted advice have all been incredibly helpful.
I also appreciate your help at home. Your communication, questions, and erring on the side of caution, when in doubt have helped all of us. We have to remain vigilant and collaborative in our efforts. Please continue to reference the symptom decision tree if there are any questions about your child’s health or that of a family member. If there are any concerns about a possible exposure or you are awaiting COVID test results, please keep your child home and give us a call to walk through the process. We understand there is a lot of information and the process can be overwhelming. The health office and I are here to help answer questions. Give us a call or email Nurse Scott at ascott@nmusd.us or myself (cflores@nmusd.us) with questions or concerns.
Don't forget, if there is a staff member that you have observed going “above and beyond” that you would like to give a “Shout Out,” please help me to recognize them by completing this quick and easy form.
No School on Monday, January 18 - Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
2021-22 Davis Enrollment Information
2021-22 Davis Magnet School Application
The online application window for the 2021-22 school year is quickly approaching. The online application window will be open from February 10 to March 15, 2021. Current Davis students in grades Kindergarten through 6th grade DO NOT need to reapply. Any siblings who are NOT currently apart of our Davis K-6 classes MUST apply. Any of our current Davis preschool students MUST apply. Please carefully read through the 2021-22 Application Guidelines and call our front office (714)-424-7930 with any questions.
Kindergarten Round-Up
NMUSD parents, who are interested in sending their incoming kindergartener to Davis in the fall of 2021, are invited to our upcoming virtual Kindergarten Round-Up scheduled for Wednesday, January 27 from 12-1 p.m. via Zoom ID: 929-6281-5878. Mrs. Flores and the current kindergarten teachers will host a Zoom meeting to share the many wonderful educational opportunities offered at Davis. Additionally, parents will receive tips to help prepare their child for kindergarten. Spanish interpretation will be available during the Round-Up meeting. Current Davis Ducks, show your #davisduckspride and help us spread the word with friends, neighbors, and family members. All application details are available on the Davis Magnet School website.
Please call our office at 714-424-7930 with any questions or concerns.
EUREKA! Our 4th Graders Found Gold!
Parent and Family Resources
This month’s #BuildingResilience Social-Emotional Learning focus is Building Community, that highlights different ways to stay connected during these unique times. An additional section of the website is dedicated to Social-Emotional Resources that are organized by topic and range from Anxiety and Stress Management to Conflict Resolution to Social Skills and much more. Another available resource is the NMUSD SAIL (Social-Emotional Assistance, Intervention, and Learning) Newsletter. Self-confidence and motivation are the focus points with links to 2021 Resolutions, Motivational SEL Read Aloud, Kindness Calendar, and much more. I hope you will spend time reading through it.
COVID Family Resources
Recently I have received some questions from parents about how to talk to their children about COVID. It can be challenging navigating those conversations, no matter the child's age. I'm including a few resources that were provided by NMUSD Behavior Specialist, Amy Becker, to help guide those conversations.
Communicating with your Child about Coronavirus
Sesame Street - Caring for Each Other
Care Solace Mental Health Services
NMUSD has partnered with Care Solace to support our community's mental health. NMUSD students, staff members, and their families can use Care Solace to quickly find verified mental health, behavioral health, and substance use treatment options matched to their needs regardless of circumstances or insurance coverage.
Care Solace's team is available 24/7 and can support you in any language. Information is attached or you may visit https://caresolace.com/site/nmusd/ for more details.
Student Achievement Partners is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving student achievement. As mentioned on their website, “Our central priority is to significantly impact literacy and mathematics outcomes for K-12 students nationally, with a particular focus on accelerating academic progress for students who face barriers of racism or poverty. We serve as an advisor to educators around the nation as they align content and instruction to academic standards in literacy and mathematics.” Student Achievement Partners collaborated with Seek Common Ground to create grade level specific Family Guides. The purpose of the Family Guides is to help families prioritize their student’s learning with various activities and resources. The guides are currently available in both English and Spanish for grades K-5, with 6th grade coming soon. This is a wonderful resource to reference as a follow-up for our first trimester report cards.
NMUSD COVID-19 Dashboard Information
Information will continued to be shared about the NMUSD COVID-19 Dashboard. The Dashboard lists all the school sites in NMUSD and shows the total school population (students + staff and teachers). In addition, it includes the number of COVID-19 positive cases identified in the past 14 days, as well as the percentage of the school population that the positive cases represent. The Dashboard is updated daily.
In the event of a positive case in our school, as appropriate and under the direction of the OCHCA, the school nurse, myself, or District staff will notify any staff or students who are considered to be a close contact (less than 6 feet apart for more than 15 minutes) with a COVID-19 positive person.
Each case is unique and in some cases, while uncommon, notification to low risk contacts MAY be necessary, based on the direction from the OCHCA. If you do not receive notification regarding a COVID-19 case, we do not believe your child has been exposed. Due to privacy laws, we cannot provide names or any other information about the people who test positive or those who have been in close contact. Please see page 18-21 of the NMUSD School Reopening Plan for additional information.
I am including the information shared during last week's issue of the Davis Download as a reminder of our procedures.
- If there is a positive case with a Davis student or staff member, will we be notified? If the case involves your student, you will be notified. Our protocol does not include notifying the entire school community.
- How do you decide who to notify and when to do it? We work with the Orange County Health Care Agency (OCHCA). When we receive notification of a positive result, we immediately provide OCHCA detailed information about the case. After we provide OCHCA with information, their experts determine who, if anyone, is considered to have been in close contact with the individual with the positive result. Anyone in close contact is considered high risk. Anyone not in close contact is considered low risk. The information an individual receives may be dependent on their risk level (high or low). Their experts provide us with letters, detailing the risk and next steps needed, to send to affected families and/or staff members.
- What determines close contact? Per the CDC, close contact is 15 or more minutes spent closer than 6' from the individual with a positive test result.
- If my student has been in close contact with a person who has tested positive OR I believe my student may have COVID-19, what is the protocol? Parents/Guardians need to immediately contact our School Nurse, Audrey Scott (ascott@nmusd.us) or me (cflores@nmusd.us). The student will need to stay home. I will notify the appropriate departments and agencies to determine next steps. Nurse Scott will connect with the family and be the main point of contact. Nurse Scott will also monitor the student until the student is able to return to school. ALL student information in this process is kept confidential.
Our ventilation systems, Plexiglas barriers, site cleaning procedures, and current practices around distancing, hand washing, and face coverings are all designed to create the safest learning environment possible. We are extremely grateful for our parent community who keep students home if they have a hint of possible COVID symptoms and who communicate if there's a potential for COVID in the home. Our teachers and staff members support our efforts by engaging in daily passive and active screenings and stay home if there’s any trace of a symptom that might be COVID-related. We are making this work because we are working together.
As we move through the next few months of colder weather, let’s continue to look out for one another by remaining both vigilant and communicative. As always, please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.
Health and Safety Reminders
Thank you for your help in consistently reviewing these procedures and expectations with your children. We are continuing to review as a staff, and with our students. Your support and cooperation are greatly appreciated.
Cloth masks are required to be worn by all children and adults while on campus. The mask should hook around the ears and must cover the nose and mouth.
Proper hygiene consists of washing our hands with soap and water for 20 seconds. Hand sanitizer is available and utilized across our campus.
Practice social distancing in the hallways, classrooms, and bathrooms.
Stay home when feeling sick or displaying symptoms. Please continue to reference the Student Symptom Decision Tree.
Communicate with our health office with any questions or concerns. Nurse Audrey Scott may be reached at ascott@nmusd.us and our Health Assistant may be contacted at gcastillo@nmusd.us. Feel free to call our front office at 714-424-7930, in which they may transfer you to our health office. Don’t forget to call our attendance line at 714-424-4762 if your child is absent for any reason.
All details may be found on our website.
In addition to health and safety procedures, please remember the importance of parking lot safety procedures. Our new procedures have been running smoothly, while keeping everyone safe and distant. Please help us maintain our safe and efficient procedures by doing the following:
Hands-free phone use only.
Pay attention.
Move forward.
Adults are to stay in their car.
Drive slowly.
Be patient.
Our school operations have been smooth, successful, and safe. We appreciate your cooperation so that we can continue to operate in this same manner.
Our 5th Graders had the Opportunity to "Go for the Glory!"
ClassLink Implementation
Newport Mesa Unified School District (NMUSD) has entered Phase II of our ClassLink implementation, a single sign-on platform that allows teachers and students to use one username and password to access everything they need. Single sign-on is an essential tool for productive learning, and ClassLink will serve as your child’s homebase for education, whether it’s in the classroom or at home.
ClassLink will provide access to all applications and information needed for student learning, such as Google Drive, Classroom, Seesaw, Schoology, School Loop, IXL, Renaissance Learning, WeVideo, Zoom, McGraw-Hill, Bridges, Illustrative Math, Illuminate, Lexia and many other programs being used in the classroom.
ClassLink is a safe and secure way to ensure your child has access to everything needed for learning. ClassLink does not collect or share personal student information. Read more about ClassLink’s privacy here. If you have questions, visit NMUSD ClassLink FAQ, contact your teacher or email ClassLink directly: helpdesk@classlink.com.
Parent Organizations' Updates
We are grateful for the strong, positive support from our parent community. If you are not already involved, I encourage you to find a way that meets your availability to connect with one, or all, of our parent organizations. Thank you SO much to the parent leaders who are already involved and contributing to our community.
PTA:
PTA Announcements:
- Yearbook Cover Contest! Flyers will be going home soon with all the details and rules! Any Davis Student: PreK-6th Grade can enter their artwork. One entry per student. The winning artwork will be our 20/21 Yearbook Cover and that student will receive a free yearbook! All entries are due by Thursday January 28th. Winners will be announced in February.
- Spirit Wear Pop-Up Shop! Two dates to shop: Monday Jan 18th and Saturday Jan 23rd - 9am-Noon, mark your calendars! We will be selling Davis shirts, long-sleeve shirts, sweatshirts, hats and more! Cash, Check and Credit Cards accepted. Meet us in the Davis Back Parking Lot on Presidio Square (between Gate 3 and TeWinkle baseball fields) look for the Davis EZ-Ups! Next pop-ups will be March/April.
- If you haven’t already, join the PTA here!
PTA Fundraisers: Davis PTA pays for Walkthroughs, Assemblies, Field Trips, Art Masters, classroom supplies and so much more! Help us raise monies for Davis so we can continue to provide these great resources. Here’s 3 ways you can help us fundraise:
- Yogurtland Wednesday’s! Swing by Yogurtland at Harbor/Baker and get a cool treat! Tell the cashier you’re with Davis – and our school will receive a kickback. Promo is every Wednesday. Tell your friends and neighbors too, every cool treat for Davis helps Davis Magnet!
- Amazon! Amazon shoppers – Go to Smile.Amazon.com and select “Davis PTA” as your Charity Group to support. Then shop like normal! Amazon will donate a 1% back to Davis on any items purchased through ‘Amazon Smile’ that are marked ‘eligible for donation’. Easy way to help support Davis while online shopping with Amazon! Know of an avid Amazon shopper? Let them know too, every penny raised supports Davis Magnet School.
- Box Tops for Education – look in your home for any clip-able Box Tops. {Can’t be expired: 2020 is ok, but 2019, 2018, 2017 won’t be credited anymore} Clip them out and place in a ziplock baggie: label the baggie with student name, teacher, grade and number of box tops. (Families can list all their students on one baggie) Turn the labeled baggie into the office before Friday Feb 12th! Prizes for our top 3 Students/Families that turn in Box Tops! You can also download the Box Top App! Scan receipts and collect points for Davis electronically. Have family and friends collect box tops for you too, clip-able and the app, the more that collect the better!
Foundation:
- Stay tuned and be on the lookout next week for information to support and get involved with our community through the Davis Magnet School Education Foundation. We rely heavily on our school's foundation and appreciate the community support to assist our staff and students. I encourage you to visit their website to learn how you can make a difference and get involved.
School Site Council:
- We met as a committee on December 8 to review our school's Single Plan for Student Achievement. Our next meeting is February 2. Thank you to our parents and staff for serving on this important committee.
English Learner Advisory Council (ELAC)
- Our next meeting is January 14 at 8:30 a.m. The meeting is an opportunity for parents of our English Language Learners to collaborate, advise, and learn about topics pertaining uniquely to the needs of parents of English Learners.
Stay Connected
Catch a glimpse of what's going on around campus by staying connected.
Daily flag deck videos accessible here.
Follow us on social media:
Davis Magnet School
Email: cflores@nmusd.us
Website: https://davismagnet.nmusd.us/
Location: 1050 Arlington Drive, Costa Mesa, CA, USA
Phone: 714-424-7930
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DavisMagnetSchoolDucks/
Twitter: @DavisMagnet