The Flores Flyer
February 2, 2023 Volume 5, Issue 7
Principal's Post
Dear Davis Ducks,
This week we celebrated the 100th Day of School! I can’t believe it! We have 80 days left to to inspire, mentor, and support our students' growth academically, behaviorally, and socially-emotionally. I'm thrilled at the progress demonstrated, thus far, but we aren't done YET! Thank you for your continued partnership and commitment to our team as we do everything we can to ensure these next 80 days are successful for all of our students.
Currently all of our students are participating in a variety of mid-year assessments. Our team will spend time over the next month examining student data, celebrating the progress and outlining a plan to support further growth. In March, all parents will be invited to meet with their child(ren)’s teacher to discuss the progress and strategies to assist further growth academically, behaviorally, and socially-emotionally. Teachers will send out specific schedules, but plan to meet during the week of March 11. Visit our website for the students’ modified schedule.
We are leading into our PTA’s 1st Annual Davis Duck Dash at the time of publication, having already met our goal of $30,000!!! This is unbelievable and a first for our community. Thank you to our PTA for organizing, specifically to Peggy Levin and Sarah Orendorff, for taking the lead. The event would not have been possible without the generous donations by families, friends, business, and community members. THANK YOU! The money raised will pay for field trips, Walk Through History programs, along with enrichment activities and assemblies for students. I hope to see many of our families on our campus cheering their Duck on as they run on February 3.
I encourage you to spend time reading through this month’s newsletter. Within it you will find pictures and information celebrating the many opportunities provided on our campus. Additionally, I hope the resources are helpful. If there are ideas, requests, or feedback for future publications, please don’t hesitate to share ideas.
Thank you for your continued trust and support. This community continues to give me enormous #davisduckspride!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Flores,
Principal
#davisduckspride
#ThinkFeelThrive
On-line Application for 2023-24 Opens February 9 - March 15
Application Guidelines
Current K-6 Davis Magnet School (DMS) students do NOT need to reapply.
Current Davis PRESCHOOL students MUST apply.
Students attending DMS must provide their own transportation to and from school.
Acceptance into DMS is determined via lottery, not on a first-come, first-served basis. When the number of applicants at a particular grade level exceeds the number of seats available, a lottery process is used.
Applications must be submitted between February 9 - March 15, 2023.
Siblings of current and continuing DMS students receive priority but must apply.
Applications are only for students attending K-6. Davis Magnet School does not offer TK. For TK information please contact our Early Learning Offices at 714-424-8978.
The Davis Magnet School website has a link on the right side outlining all application details. The online application requires a Parent SchoolMint account. Directions are posted on-line and the front office staff is available to answer questions or to provide assistance to parents/guardians.
All applications must be submitted within the application window between February 9, 2023 to March 15, 2023. There are NO exceptions.
First Annual Davis Duck Dash is Friday, February 3
Our school-wide Davis Duck Dash jog-a-thon is THIS FRIDAY, February 3rd. We've had a great week of FUNdraising for our students and hope you can join us to cheer them on for the main event.
We're so grateful for the many community businesses whose donations helped make this event possible. We would like to give a special shout-out to our Platinum Sponsors: Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Precision Optical, Wealth Coast, and Argyle Payments.
Running Schedule for Friday, February 3, 2023:
8:30 to 9:30 a.m.: 3rd and 4th Grades
9:30 to 10:30 a.m.: 5th and 6th Grades
10:30 to 11:00 a.m.: Preschool and Kindergarten
11:00 to 12:00 p.m.: 1st and 2nd Grades
PAL Student Leadership Field Trip
Congratulations Davis Robo Ducks!
Our students have been THRIVING for 100 Days!
Staff Shout Out
Our Staff Shout Out form is back! The Davis Team is full of many amazing staff members who do a lot to help our students #ThinkFeelThrive. This quick and easy form is one way to express gratitude for Davis team members. Mrs. Flores will monitor the form and relay the message of appreciation via email. Thank you, in advance, for completing this form and showing your appreciation by giving a “Staff Shout Out.”
6th Grade Walk Through Ancient Civilization
5th Grade Walk Through the American Revolution
Upcoming Events
Visit our website for complete schedules and details. Make it easy on yourself by clicking on the big grey button on the bottom of the website calendar to "Add this calendar to your phone or tablet." Don't forget to add the NMUSD calendar and activities are a part of your family calendar.
- February 2 - Lunch Art
- February 3 - 1st Annual Davis Ducks Dash Jog-a-thon. Read above for complete schedule.
- February 7 - PTA Dineout Night at Mountain Mike's Pizza on 17th St. Be sure to tell them you're with Davis!
- February 9 - Online Application for the 2023-24 year opens.
- February 10 - Davis Family BINGO Night hosted by our PTA
- February 14 - Happy Valentine's Day!
- February 14 - 4th Grade Walk Through California History Programs.
- February 14 - Costa Mesa Zone Band Concert at CMHS.
- February 14-15 - 6th Grade Medical Residency Day
- February 15 - Thrivers Parent Book Club Meeting with Mrs. Flores. RSVP here.
- February 15 - Gala Planning Meeting at 5:30 in Room 3.
- February 16 - 4th Grade Walk Through California History Program.
- February 17 - Random Acts of Kindness Day.
- February 17 - Shout Out Awards at Flag Deck.
- February 17 - Room Parent Gala Basket Planning Meeting immediately following Flag Deck in Room 3.
- February 20 - 24 - President's Week - NO School for all PreK-6th Grade students.
- February 27 - Welcome back to school!
- February 27 - 2nd Grade Field Trip to OCC Aquarium.
- March 2 - Read Across America Day.
- March 3 - Spring Dance - Country Western Theme. Yeehaw!!
- March 6-10 - Kindness Week led by the PAL Student Leaders
All Aboard!!!! Important Information for our Gala Planning Committee and Room Parents!
The planning details for our upcoming April 22nd Gala, "A Nautical Night," is off to a great start. Thank you to all who joined the Foundation Board Members for the first planning meeting.
The second planning meeting is on Tuesday, February 15th at 5:30 p.m. in room 3. Thank you to everyone for your time and support.
A quick Room Parent Meeting is scheduled for Friday, February 17 immediately following flag deck to discuss auction items and baskets. The meeting will be in room 3.
For anyone unable to make these meetings, please email Gala Chairs, Taylor Uffelman (tayyy@yahoo.cpm) or Carey Delzer (careykathrynscott@yahoo.com).
Kindergarten Fun on the Farm
Think ~ Feel ~ Thrive
THINK
Our students are continuing to learn more about the visual tools called Thinking Maps. Thinking Maps build critical thinking, problem solving, comprehension, and communication. Here is a one minute video that summarizes the potential use of Thinking Maps in the classroom. This month's Thinking Map is a Brace Map designed to identify parts of a whole.FEEL
Featured tools from our district adopted Social-Emotional Learning Curriculum, RULER, include the Mood Meter and the Meta Moment. As described by the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, "The Meta-Moment is a tool for building the space between stimulus and response—from when we experience an emotion to how we respond to that emotion, so that we make better choices when we express and manage our emotions.”
Meta Moment Poster outlining the four steps.
Our school counselor, Heather Ozgur, presented at a recent PTA meeting. She shared valuable resources that parents may use at home with their families.
RULER Overview for Families - November 29 PTA Presentation
THRIVE
Our students are thriving in many ways. At the conclusion of the first trimester, students were encouraged by Mrs. Flores to celebrate their accomplishments from the first trimester and then to establish goals moving into the second trimester. We practice a growth mindset, by frequently using the word, "yet." "I can't do it yet." 'I don't know how to...yet."
Thrivers Parent Book Club
Thanks to our amazing parent community, our Thrivers Book Club is Thriving! Each month I will include a summary of the topics discussed, along with an RSVP form for the upcoming meeting.
Discussion Guide for Thrivers Introduction
Discussion Guide for Thrivers Chapter 1: Self-Confidence
Discussion Guide for Thrivers Chapter 2: Empathy
Discussion Guide for Thrivers Chapter 3: Self-Control
Our February 15th meeting will focus on Integrity, the fourth of seven teachable character traits that Dr. Borba's research attributes to support Strivers transitioning to THRIVERS.
Thank you in advance for completing the RSVP form. Please don't let resources be an excuse not to attend. Books may be provided for anyone who needs assistance. Feel free to email me at cflores@nmusd.us with any questions or concerns.
Thank you for your participation and support. I enjoy collaborating with our Thrivers Parents and am looking forward to our next meeting.
Safety Update
Safety is always our top priority at Davis Magnet School. Safety encompasses multiple components. This past month we have covered the following topics to teach and reinforce safe practices.
All teachers and staff participated in a districtwide safety training introducing Standard Response Protocols from an organization called iloveyouguys.org. This will be implemented across all NMUSD campuses. The common and direct language will be taught in an age-appropriate way to all students, along with new visible signage that will be posted in every classroom.
Changes to our facilities, including the entrance and access to our office are on the horizon. This is part of a master plan within NMUSD to modify the lobby access points and visibility. More details to follow in the coming months.
Davis will be one of two school campuses in NMUSD to pilot a crisis alerting system called Centegix. The study is scheduled to begin in March. Once staff are trained using this pilot crisis alerting system, more information will be shared with the community.
Safety Drills
Our school joined other schools across the State of California on October 20 for the Great Shakeout. This designated time allowed for staff to discuss and review emergency preparedness roles and responsibilities.
During this drill, students were assigned the following "homework:"
- Memorize your parent(s) cell phone numbers.
- Memorize your home address.
- Memorize the grade level and/or teacher name of any sibling.
These basic facts can help during any kind of emergency.
Internet Safety
As a reminder, the following internet safety tips were shared and discussed with students in September.
Morning chromebook use on the blacktop is limited to educational games. No youtube. No cell phones.
Never share your password or personal information.
Do not download anything without permission.
If you get an odd message/picture from someone, report it right away to your teacher or parent.
Digital Citizenship Parenting Resources from Commonsensemedia.org may be accessed here.
Congratulations January Shout Out Award Recipients!
We are proud of our students and the work they do in developing as positive contributing citizens to our community. Congratulations to our most recent recipients of 'Shout Out' Awards!
Grade Level of the Month: 3rd Grade
Third grade has been busy and productive! In math we’ve working really hard on mastering our math facts in multiplication and division and exploring fraction concepts through lots of hands on learning experiences. We are excited for the return of Measurement Day! We are also hard at work learning the writing process through ‘thinking maps’, and becoming excellent readers of both fiction and nonfiction texts. We are super excited to begin some research projects in the next few months and ending the year with our favorite tradition of reading the time honored classic novel, Charlotte’s Web.
Get Ready to Run!
Thank you to the coaches who continue to dedicate their time and efforts to support our student-athletes. We have two fun races coming up this spring including the Newport-Mesa Spirit Run that financially supports schools in our district, including Davis. The final race of the school year is the Kids Run the OC on May 6.
Race details and registration links for the Spirit Run may be found here.
Save the dates for Spring:
- March 12, 2023 - NMUSD Spirit Run
- May 6, 2023 - Kids Run the OC
For more information, please follow @davisrunclub on Instagram and check the Davis Parents Facebook page.
Davis Music Program
For any questions regarding the Davis Music Program, please visit the music website that houses the details for our band, choir, and instructional music program at Davis. Band and Choir families should reference this site for schedule information and updates.
GoGuardian Parent App
GoGuardian is a tool used within classrooms across NMUSD to monitor students' online activity during class when using their district-issued chromebook. This tool is very helpful to teachers during the school day and for the first time this feature will be offered to parents.
Davis Magnet School is the first school in NMUSD to pilot the GoGuardian Parent app. We are thrilled at the opportunity to offer this to our parent community and appreciate your feedback over the next couple of months.
GoGuardian Parent is a mobile app designed to provide parents/guardians insight and control over their student's online activity when on school-managed devices and accounts.
The GoGuardian Parent app provides an overview of your children's online activity on NMUSD Chromebooks - including apps, extensions, docs, and sites your student visited. It also provides you with an additional set of internet controls that you can set for out-of-school hours.
There is a lot of information to ensure proper set-up. Please spend time reading through this document to access this app on your child's school-issued chromebook.
December 12th – GoGuardian Parent App will be enabled for Davis parents.
December 12-23 – NMUSD Ed Tech supports parents to ensure they have successfully logged into the App
December 23rd – January 8 – disable in school hours for GoGuardian so parents have control over Chromebooks
January – Ed Tech and Davis Staff monitors the pilot.
We Love Our Volunteers!
We greatly depend on our volunteers and hope that you will consider volunteering on our campus. There are multiple opportunities to get involved and make a difference.
All volunteers must do the following:
All details involved in NMUSD’s volunteer process may be found on the District’s website.
Parent Organizations Information
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.
Foundation:
The Davis Magnet School Education Foundation provides important financial support for our students and staff. We are grateful for all of our donations as they have made a significant difference across our campus. Donations directly impacted our students with the following:
- Hourly Support Teacher
- Instructional Assistant
- Software utilized by all students in grades K-6
- New stage microphones in our MPR
- Murals across our campus
- STEM Bins
- STEAM Lab materials
- Assemblies
- Field Trips
- Robotics equipment
- Guest Speakers such as University Professors who lead our 4th & 6th grade students in eyeball and heart dissections
- Science materials
- Art supplies for classroom projects
- Create-A-Skate Project Materials
- Book sets for novel studies and book clubs
- Library books
- Gardening supplies
- Playground games and equipment
PTA:
Davis PTA is run by volunteering parents and grandparents. We organize and host fundraiser events throughout the school year to raise monies for Davis Magnet School. Davis PTA uses those monies to help support, fund and host many programs & events like:
- Field Trips for all grade levels
- Classroom Supplies for all classes
- Art Masters for all grade levels
- Assemblies for all grade levels
- Band/Choir/Music Supports for all grades
- Walk-throughs - 4th, 5th & 6th Grade
- Library Needs & Support
- Campus Beautification
- Reflections Art Program
- Eco/Recycling Team
- School Garden
- Science Needs & support
- Technology support
- Enrichment programs
- Book Fairs (Fall & Spring)
- Halloween Trunk or Treat
- Roller Skating Nights
- Staff Appreciation Week
- Family Craft Night
- Family Movie Nights
- Family Spring Dance
- Family Dine-Outs
- 6th Grade Promotion
- Red Ribbon Week
- School Musical
- Talent Show
- And so much more!
If you’re interested in joining our PTA Board, or helping at events or programs next year, let us know! Flyers with volunteer opportunities and info will also be sent home the first week of school.
PTA’s Website: www.DavisMagnetPTA.com
PTA’s Email: DavisMagnetSchoolPTA@gmail.com
PTA’s Instagram: DavisMagnetPTA
The generous donations help to enrich and support the education of all of our students. Thank you for your continued support. You make a difference by supporting both our Foundation and PTA.
School Site Council
School Site Council (SSC) is an important committee required of every public school. The committees' two priorities are reviewing and providing feedback on our School Plan Student Achievement and the Comprehensive Safety Plan. The committee consists of five parents, four teachers, one Classified Staff Member and the principal. The SSC meets five times throughout the school year to review data and provide feedback. Our SSC consists of Davis parents, Christine Reynolds Diaz, Despina Cressa, Iris Berkeley, Jeannie Kim, and Sara Mooney. The teacher representatives are Mrs. Steiner, Ms. Lemoine, and Mrs. Ivey. Yvette Miranda serves as the Classified Staff Member Representative.
Parking Lot Reminders
When our campus was built, it was not designed to be a commuter school. Bussing was the primary mode of transportation. Fast forward to today where bussing is only available for the 38 students in our ABA preschool program, leaving 572 PreK to 6th grade students to their own transportation. We have a lot of students to keep safe and every adult who enters our parking lots contributes to the safety of our students. Thank you for your cooperation, mindfulness, patience, and modeling of responsible and respectful behavior in all three of our parking lots. We want everyone to arrive and leave safely. You can help us by cooperating with the follow guidelines.
Do not call your child across the street/lot. Meet your child on the sidewalk of the school building and cross together using the crosswalk at Gates 1, 2, and 3.
Names should be placed on the placards within the windshields of cars at Gates 1, 2, and 3.
Continue to pull forward so that we may load as many children into their cars as quickly as possible. Students at Gate 3, should enter their cars once car is within the yellow painted curb. Stopping in the middle only slows the entire process for everyone else.
During dismissal, enter Gate 2 from the middle turn lane on Arlington.
When exiting Gate 1 at dismissal, turn right.
Dogs are not allowed on all public school campuses. Please leave your furry family member home when picking up your Davis Duck.
Below are the slides that were sent to all parents/guardians in August.
The Davis Magnet School Five Core Values
At Davis Magnet School, we have Five Core Values while also expecting our students to demonstrate integrity, leadership, and responsibility. Every day students will be provided opportunities to learn and model these values. As adults, we frequently have conversations about modeling, teaching, and supporting the Core Values. Consistent and clear communication is important. Every classroom contains a Behavior Matrix that is regularly referenced. Set your child up for success by reviewing the matrix and brainstorm what these expectations look like and sound like on our campus.
Davis Magnet School
Instagram @davis_magnet_school
Facebook @facebook.com/DavisMagnetSchoolDucks
Twitter @DavisMagnet
Email: cflores@nmusd.us
Website: http://davismagnet.nmusd.us/
Location: 1050 Arlington Drive, Costa Mesa, CA, USA
Phone: (714)424-7930
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DavisMagnetSchoolDucks/
Twitter: @DavisMagnet