PCA HAPPENINGS

✦ PCA Turkey Trot - November 10th-18th

✦ Notice of Public Hearing: 2020-2021 Budget Overview for Parents

✦ Art Contest hosted by San Diego Unified School District in association with San Diego Zoo Global

✦ High School Hangouts with Celebrity Top Chef Brian Malarkey

✦ November Workshops

✦ Middle School Spelling Bee

✦ Discovery Day: November and December

PARENT RESOURCES

✦ Spanish Speaking Families - Apartar Le Fecha

✦ Outstanding Direct Instruction (ODI)

✦ Grade Level Tips on Fun Ways to Fill the Learning Gaps This Week Third Grade

✦ Social-Emotional Support

HIGH SCHOOL

✦ Using Your Curriculum and Course Outlines in High School

✦ Edgenuity Extras

✦ Virtual College Fair

✦ College Admissions Essay Bootcamp!

✦ Counseling Info. Sessions

✦ Important Dates for 2021 Graduates

The Challenge

Nature itself is a work of art! SDUSD and San Diego Zoo Global are challenging you to capture “Nature in your Neighborhood” by featuring a plant or animal from where you live. Pieces can be done in any two- or three-dimensional visual arts media, whether watercolor, clay, photography, computer-generated art, mixed media, or something else.

Go for a walk, look out your window, or do a quick internet search to find a local plant or animal that you find beautiful (or interesting!), and create an original work of art featuring that species! If the species is endangered, even better.

MORE CHALLENGE INFO

Submission & Voting

Final artwork submission date: November 23rd

Winning artwork will be displayed at the San Diego Zoo during the month of January 2021.
Students will submit their artwork by November 23rd, then SDUSD will share copies of artwork with San Diego Zoo Global’s judging panel (no student contact info will be shared).

Encourage your friends and family to visit the San Diego Zoo website and vote until Monday, December 14, 2020.

MORE SUBMISSION INFO

The Prize

The top 3 artists in each age group (K-2, 3-5, and 6-12, based on fall 2020) will receive an annual membership to the San Diego Zoo and San Diego Zoo Safari Park and 4, single-day passes. Winners will be announced on Thursday, December 17th, 2020!

MORE PRIZE INFO

s your child in the 5th grade or higher?

Did your child score in the red on the STAR360?

Would your child benefit from small group instruction?

If you answered yes to those questions, your child may be eligible for Outstanding Direct Instruction (ODI) in math or reading.

ODI is a live, on-line, small group program offered by our Student Services department.

In reading, we will focus on comprehension and vocabulary development strategies and skills. In math, classes include multiplication up through multi-step problems. The commitment is for 4 weeks, 2 times per week for 45 minutes per class. Classes are conducted on Mondays - Thursdays. ODI is free for enrolled, eligible students.

Reach out to your HST today!

DID YOU KNOW?? Researchers are finding that children and adolescents are experiencing higher levels of anxiety and depression during this time of COVID-19. Join Miss Joy and Miss Rachel on 11/9 and 11/16 for Mindset Mondays sessions where November's topic is Nagging Nerves: Tools For Anxiety. We will be helping students identify what anxiety feels like in our bodies and equipping them with tools to manage it.

Mindset Monday Webinar Dates/Times
Monday, November 9th - Part 1

Monday, November 16th - Part 2

10:00am - TK-5th grade

1:00pm - 6th-12th grade

ZOOM LINK

Additional “Nagging Nerves” Resources

TK-5th Grade Resources:

• The Imagine Neighborhood” Podcast (for young children) designed to help children and grown-ups grow their social-emotional skills (covers topics like pandemic with imaginative stories that kids can relate to).

• “What to Do When You Worry Too Much” by Dawn Huebner - 30 minute read-a-loud book on anxiety for children to listen to with their parents. Children will learn great tips including setting aside a “worry time” and creating a “worry box”.

• Zoom-Out Cards - Help your child shift perspective with these fun facts.

• Worry Coping Cards - Print these to have on hand when your child needs a strategy to calm their anxieties.

6th-12th Grade:

• Fight Flight Freeze – Anxiety Explained For Teens - Watch this video developed by Anxiety Canada to learn how anxiety keeps us alive, and how worries in your head affect what you feel in your body.

• Social Anxiety Safety Behaviors Worksheet - In social situations, safety behaviors are subtle actions people take to avoid anxiety. For example, someone who is anxious about socializing at a party might focus on their phone to discourage others from approaching. Although safety behaviors provide temporary relief, they make anxiety worse in the long-run. The Social Anxiety Safety Behaviors worksheet teaches the basics of avoidance, and how safety behaviors fill the same role.

• Worry Exploration Questions - When people worry, they tend to imagine the worst thing that could possibly happen. In reality, these worries may never come true. What could happen isn’t the same as what will happen. In the Worry Exploration Questions worksheet, students are asked to consider their worry versus reality.

• Study tips for Anxiety - Study skills help to reduce test anxiety, improve focus, and increase motivation to do well on tests. Good study habits are important for all students, but they are particularly beneficial for those with test anxiety.

Zoom-Out Cards - Help your child shift perspective with these fun facts.