Quetzal News
Gabriela Mistral's News March 24, 2021
Ms. O's Message
Dear Quetzal Families,
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! We appreciate your continued support and patience as we Returned to Learn. This week has been amazing, and I can’t express how exciting it is to see our students at school learning, playing, and enjoying their snacks breaks in a safe manner. We have been fine tuning some of the processes on a daily basis, and we are very fortunate to have an amazing classified and certificated staff who are willing to troubleshoot and adapt to last minute changes.
This week, our students are learning and working on character and positive character traits. Help us at home talking about positive and negative character traits. We want to specially learn and talk about inclusion and the great value of a diverse community. Gabriela Mistral is an inclusive community that not only condemns acts of terror, violence, and racial discrimination, but celebrates the diversity within our community. To all of our Asian and Asian-American families, please know that you are welcome, wanted, and cherished at Mistral.
We continue to need your help during arrival and dismissal time. Please make sure that you complete the health screening survey every morning by 7:45am. If you could do this at an earlier time, that would be even better. In the event you do not receive the text or email by then, you can always use the link that has been provided for each of your children. Please also have your car tags on your rearview mirror as you come pick your children up. This will expedite the dismissal process. If you haven’t received one yet, reach out to your teacher or the office. We will make sure you have one as soon as possible.
As we transition our third through fifth graders back to school, do know that if you want your child to bike or walk to school, you need to send an email to his/her teacher authorizing them to do this. This is very important for us to ensure the safety of our students. Help us remind your child about the importance of wearing a mask at all times, watching their distance, and washing their hands.
Our search for a PTA and School Site Council President continues. I would love to hear from some leaders in our community who would like to be part of our leadership committees. Leading either of of our amazing stakeholders groups have many perks:
We have returning parent volunteers already in every position on the board for next year (including an experienced VP)
No experience necessary. This executive board is committed to supporting and training the new president.
With a full board, the time commitment is not overwhelming and likely many meetings will continue on Zoom.
Being bilingual isn't necessary. We have interpretation and translation in place to make parent leadership accessible to everyone.
You'll be supported by and collaborate with a positive, proactive and knowledgeable school administration!
Please join us this week at our Cafecito on Tuesday and our Parenting workshop with Dr. Bunge (Spanish-Passcode Bunge) and Dr. Park (English) on Wednesday. Have a great rest of your week!
Stay safe and healthy!
Ms. Olaciregui
Upcoming Events
March 26, 2021
- School Spirit Day - Heroes Day
March 29, 2021
- 3rd, 4th and 5th Grade " Roomies" - Return to Campus
- 3rd, 4th and 5th Grade "Zoomies" - Asynchronous Day
March 30, 2021
- Cafecito with Ms. O: 6:00pm - 7:00pm (Zoom Link)
March 31, 2021
April 7, 2021
- Picture Day 1:30pm - 6:00pm MUR
April 12 - April 16, 2021
SPRING BREAK - NO SCHOOL
April 21, 2021
- PTA General Meeting 6:00pm - 7:00pm
April 23, 2021
- Spirit Day - Backwards Day
District News
Resilience Pause Series starts March 29
The 30-minute, online Community Resiliency Model Resilience Pause sessions for adults (parents and staff members) are scheduled during this transition in our school year to assist participants with building resilience throughout return to in-person instruction. Participants can learn strategies on Mondays and build habits towards resilience during the week. These sessions are designed to teach life-long habits that help us to self-regulate during stressful moments.
March 29, 4pm: Tracking Sensations
April 5, 4pm: Grounding
April 19, 4pm: Resourcing
April 26, 4pm: “Help Now!” A Reactive Strategy
Sessions can be drop-in or attended in a series. To join: http://mvw.sd/HAjbz
Cafecito: March 24
MVWSD will be hosting an informal meeting for Spanish-speaking parents with Dr. Ayindé Rudolph on Wednesday, March 24 at 5:30 p.m. on Zoom. Interpretation will be provided. Please register in advance for this meeting here: http://mvw.sd/zIHrd.
Student meals
If your student is returning to campus tomorrow, you might be wondering about lunch. Due to federal funding, MVWSD is able to provide free breakfast, snacks and lunches to students on campus daily. Breakfast and snacks are cold. Lunches will be hot. Students will be able to pick up lunches at their classrooms. Menus and nutritional analysis are posted at https://www.mvwsd.org/nutrition. A count of those taking school lunch will be taken at the beginning of the school day. Students may bring their own self-contained lunches, if desired. MVWSD continues to provide free grab and go meals at each school (Stevenson and Theuerkauf are combined) during lunchtime for students who continue in distance learning and for young children in the community.
Parent University: A Conversation with Haben Girma, the Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law
Date and Time: April 8, 2021, 6:00-7:00 p.m. Registration Link: http://mvw.sd/X85Z0
Haben Girma is a human rights lawyer and an advocate for disability justice. She was the first Deafblind person to graduate from Harvard Law School. As a community, we are all tasked with resisting ableism, racism and other forms of oppression. We face the choice to accept oppression or advocate for justice. Come and be inspired by Haben, who has received the Helen Keller Achievement Award, a spot on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, and TIME100 Talks.
President Bill Clinton, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Chancellor Angela Merkel have all honored Haben. President Obama named her a White House Champion of Change. Haben believes disability is an opportunity for innovation, and she teaches organizations the importance of choosing inclusion.
To submit questions prior to the event, please click here. We will do our best to address your question during the session.
In case you missed it: Parent University videos and materials are available online
Check out mvwsd.org/parentu for English and Spanish recordings on topics such as wellness, mental health, supporting your child’s literacy and math at home, our special education team, the impact of drugs and other substances on adolescents, and many more.
Registration Open for Afterschool/Care Programs
The District’s partners who provide parent-paid afterschool care and distance learning support are opening registration for the rest of this school year.
Afterschool care
Right at School has opened registration for their afterschool programs and asynchronous support on Wednesdays. Please follow the links below to access programs for each school site, including asynchronous support on Wednesdays located at Crittenden.
YMCA is also providing aftercare at school sites. Contact Ecafterschool@ymcasv.org for more information and availability.
MVEF Gala Feedback and Fund a Need
Thank you to the many who joined us at the first ever Virtual Gala Trivia Night. We want to know your thoughts about the event. If you attended the Virtual Gala, please go here and fill out this survey to share your thoughts with us: https://tinyurl.com/MVEFgalasurvey
If you haven't had a chance to donate to Fund a Need, please donate here: https://www.mvef.org/donatetogala. Every gift helps MVEF meet our fundraising goal of $800,000 this school year. If your donation went through, we automatically sent you a receipt, but we are happy to double check your donation status for you.
Your Donations to MVEF at Work!
MVEF is proud to fund both (New!) sessions of the Rhythm and Moves Optional fitness classes at the elementary schools. We are also funding CSMA music and art, TechSmart, Living Classroom, and environmental education programs at the elementary level.
MVEF funds the Middle School Elective wheel including apps, music books, art supplies, robotics and TechSmart at both of the middle schools.
Thank you to all our Mountain View Educational Foundation donors for your support during this school year of remote learning! If you haven't donated yet this year, there is still time to donate to support the MVWSD schools right now. https://www.mvef.org/donate
Women’s History Month
In the month of March, we are celebrating Women’s History. BetterTogether recognizes the people, movements, and ideas that challenge expectations and gender stereotypes that negatively affect us all. From women’s suffrage to the gender equality movements of modern day, it has become clear that when we all fight gender inequality, we all win. Celebrate this month by having meaningful conversations with your students, your children, and your fellow s(heroes). In addition to the infographic, this month we will also be highlighting amazing women from our organization and learning about the s(heroes) that have inspired their own commitment to gender equality.
For a closer look at this month’s infographic, click on the attached flyers or visit https://www.mvwsd.org/bettertogetherMVWSD.
CAC Parent Education Event - Mental Health for the Whole Family - with Thierry Kolpin, Ph.D Wednesday. March 31, 7PM - 8:30 PM.
Join us for a much needed discussion of mental health and mindfulness for the whole family. After the year we’ve all experienced, we all need to learn techniques to evaluate and improve our mental health and that of our families. Professor Thierry Kolpin of Brandman University will discuss the challenges we are facing and how every member of the family can improve their mental health. Special attention will be paid to the additional challenges in families of students with learning challenges. Prof. Kolpin is an Assoc. Professor at Brandman University and specializes in school counseling and mindfulness in counseling. Email selpa1cacinfo@gmail.com for the link to the event.
*presentation at event will be recorded and available at www.selpa1cac.org, Q&A will not be recorded to protect personal information
PTA News
Mistral Read-at-thon
The Mistral Read-a-thon ends on March 26! Be sure to log your child’s minutes on Friday evening at https://mistral-pta.org/2021-read-a-thon-lectura-ton/.
Mistral PTA is looking for fresh leadership
for the 2021-22 school year!
We need program volunteers and a President.
All positions on the PTA executive board are filled with returning members, except President. Please consider joining this experienced team! Our school and community require parent involvement to be great. For more information about this opportunity visit https://mistral-pta.org.
Questions? Contact Dara Tynefield dtynefield@gmail.com
While this last year has been different, next Fall will need the same parent participation we have had in the past to make our school successful and our community thrive! If the president job isn’t your thing, but you are interested in helping, there will be many ways (big and small) to be involved. Even if you have no idea what you need to do, we are here to help! Volunteer today to make sure all our PTA programs can happen.