Monte Vista TK-8 Community News

1) We had over 100 students show up for Seussical Jr. Grades 1-8 musical auditions. It was amazing to see so many eager and talented students!

2) We continued to recruit and prepare for the Fall session of after school enrichment clubs. We have some awesome clubs in store for our blue jays.

3) Our morning meetings continued this week for all grade levels, focusing on our character trait of the month of Kindness. We also celebrated College Wear Spirit Day and had many staff and students announce their colleges of interest or past attendance.

4) Our Grades 6-8 Soccer and Volleyball teams continued to practice diligently, preparing for their first games after Labor Day weekend!

5) Grade levels continued to dig into their first quarter inquiry arcs as well as their adopted curriculum across the subjects. They also kicked off their plan-do-study-act cycles with prebriefing around a chosen math lesson and how it uses GLEAM (grade level thinking and standards, engagement, affirmation, and meaningfulness).Then, they will go out and teach it and debrief afterwards.

6) Dr. Ashby and Ms. Wessel began their goal setting sessions with teachers for the school year.

7) More than 100 grades 4-7 students applied for Soul Patrol (recess safety and community norming) and many applied for Student Culture team and the upcoming Student Council as well.

8) Dr. Ashby and Ms. Wessel sent an invite for first meetings to all the parents who want to commit to School Site Vision Council and English Language Advisory Council.

9) We had a very busy and successful Pizza My Heart Dining Out Night. Several families came out, and Dr. Ashby got to waiter tables for most of the evening!

10) Our very own Blue Jay Mascot represented at the Back to School Monterey Bay FC Cardinale stadium event, which also had some Monte Vista families present as well.

Looking forward to an amazing 26'-27' school year. Days 19-23, here we go!

Jay jay, chirp chirp!

FRIDAY, SEPT. 4 | Lost & Found Last Call
Our Lost & Found is already overflowing! Check the racks and the photos below for anything that belongs to your family. Items marked for "Last Call" need to be picked up by Friday, Sept. 4. Anything with the last call sticker that is still unclaimed after the deadline will be donated.

THANK YOU, BLUE JAY FAMILIES! | Monterey Bay FC Game
Thanks to everyone who joined us for Monterey Bay FC’s Back to School Night! We saw a ton of familiar Blue Jay faces, and hopefully the five Monte Vista families who won tickets at our PTO meeting had a great time! And a special shoutout to our Treasurer Nichole Landers, who helped arrange for our Jay Jay to be present for the mascot competition! We hope at least a few Blue Jays made it home with one of those bobbleheads, too!

COMING UP | Book Fair & Read-a-Thon
Our Book Fair runs September 28–October 2. We’ll need volunteers to help set up and run the fair, so if you’re able, please carve out an hour or two that week to help us keep the shop open for students!
Our Read-a-Thon runs September 28–October 9 and is the PTO’s biggest fundraiser of the year! Get ready to cheer on your reader and help them line up a few sponsors. More details coming soon!

CALLING ALL CRAFTERS | Start Making for the Winter Shop!
Knit? Sew? Crochet? Make jewelry? Paint? Love to craft? We want your creations for the Winter Shop! Last year, donated handmade items generated more than $1,800 in Winter Shop sales. Your creations don't need to be holiday-themed, and the PTO can even help reimburse the cost of supplies. Check out the flyer for more info.

**No school on Monday, September 7th, in observance of Labor Day Holiday

1) Families received notifications regarding whether or not child is in the Seussical Jr. Musical cast. Students casted begin rehearsals this Wednesday, September 2nd, 1PM-3PM. Students not casted will get priority placement in the Fall Music Theatre Club and are also encouraged to come audition for Peter Pan Jr. in late March.

2) On Wednesday, September 2nd, we will have a meeting in person and via zoom to talk about music in Grades 6-8, our Music Parent Council, concert schedules, chaperones and field trips! Please bring your questions about anything to do with the music department.

3) 8th grade Outdoor Science School money for participants is due this Wednesday, September 2nd. It can be cash, check, or money order. Registration papers should already be turned in.

5th grade Outdoor Science School online registration for all students and chaperones should be completed by Thursday, September 3rd. You can register right HERE...this includes those who started registering but have not finished it yet. A directions sheet is also further below in the fliers section of this newsletter.

Regular past correspondence emails about Outdoor Science School

8th grade follow up email

5th grade follow up email

4) Parent and Student Leadership Opportunities. This week, we will be continuing to send out correspondence to students about Grades 3-6 Student Council and Grades 7-8 Leadership Positions and Council. Applications for Grades 4-7 Soul Patrol (recess volunteer trained support) are past due but can be turned in August 31st. We will have a special meeting for all applicants on Monday, August 31st, at 12PM. Applications for Grades 4-8 School Culture Team were also sent out and are due back by Tuesday, September 1st.

Dr. Ashby sent out a voting poll for all School Site Vision Council Members, and our highest voted meeting is Thursday, September 10th 3:30-4:30PM. This will be our first monthly meeting date of the school year. Calendar invites will be sent out.

5) We are down to our last TEN students to confirm annual registration. Texts/emails will be sent out to help us wrap it up for our school this week. We will also get $1000 for having everyone registered. Yay!

MAIN ENROLLMENT/CONFIRMATION LANDING PAGE

ENROLLMENT

CONFIRM REGISTRATION

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From Coach Brandi Hobson (PE teacher and athletic director):

Hi everyone! Here is the schedule and important information for this week’s volleyball and soccer activities. Please make sure your scholar knows which group they are reporting to.

Parent Square Message for the Week with MORE details click HERE

• Varsity: Coach Sara Tooker
• JV: Coach Tyrone

• JV: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday — 2:30–4:00 PM
• JV: Wednesday — 1:00–4:00 PM
• Varsity: Monday–Friday — 4:00–6:00ish PM

GIRLS SOCCER

Parent Square Message for the Week with MORE details click HERE

Meet the Coach:

Rosa Ramirez-Aviles

Practice This Week

• Tuesday: 2:30–3:30 PM
• Thursday: 2:30–3:30 PM

BOYS JV SOCCER

Parent Square Message for the Week with MORE details click HERE

Meet the Coach:

Lindsay Gamino

Practice This Week

• Tuesday: 2:45–4:00 PM
• Thursday: 2:45–4:00 PM

BOYS VARSITY SOCCER

Parent Square Message for the Week with MORE details click HERE

Meet the Coach:

Juan Aviles

Practice This Week

• Tuesday: 2:30–3:45 PM
• Thursday: 2:30–3:45 PM

September 2nd- Seussical Jr. Musical rehearsals begin (Mondays-2:30-3:45PM, Wednesdays, 1-3PM, and Fridays, 2:30-3:45PM)

September 7th- Labor Day holiday, No School

September 8th- Fall Clubs Forms go out to students and parents (priority turn-in as soon as possible from this date but definitely by September 15th if you want get child/children into desired club(s) + cub confirmation emails sent out early the week of September 28th

September 9th- Fall Picture Day Grades TK-8

September 10th- School Site Vision Council Meeting (calendar invites sent to parents & staff)

September 14th-18th- Outdoor Science School 8th grade at Camp Ocean Pines, Cambria, CA

September 24th- English Language Advisory Council Meeting 6PM-6:30PM (calendar invite coming)

September 28th-October 2nd- Outdoor Science School 5th grade at Mt. Hermon, Santa Cruz, CA

September 28th-October 9th- Annual Monte Vista TK-8 Read-A-Thon & Scholastic Book Fair

October 5th-9th- FALL BREAK (no school)

October 12th- Return from Fall Break (turning in Read-A-Thon logs and donations during this week)

October 23rd- Trunk or Treat Halloween Family Event at Monte Vista

No Staff September birthdays!

The fourth week of school was a hit and miss with daily attendance. We started the week just below 95%, but then we climbed at or above 96% on Tuesday and Wednesday and then fell below again on Thursday. Mondays and Fridays seemed to be a pattern of lower attendance. For those families who had students out, please turn in the independent study packets the day they return to school after the absence (a new state requirement). Otherwise you have to recover through Saturday Academy or a future after school tutoring attendance recovery program.

Our Chronic Absenteeism rate is at an all-time low of 17.9%, which is above our goal of 7%. Our average daily attendance rate is also at an all-time low of 95.7%, which is well below our goal of 97% for this school year.

Our percentage bands for attendance took some major dips. Satisfactory level was at 62% (466 students--100 students less than last week--ouch). 150 students in the yellow at risk area (increase of 45 students from last week)--ouch, 106 students in the orange moderate chronic (increase of 50 students from last week--ouch), 26 students in the light red (about the same as last week), severe chronic area, and 2 students in extreme chronic (same as last week). Anyone who stays in moderate, light red, or dark red areas (moderate, severe, or extreme chronic) is considered to have chronic absenteeism. We will work with these families to make sure independent study packets are turned in the first day they return to school after the absence(s). Otherwise, they will have to do Saturday Academy or possible after school tutoring attendance recovery (latter program is still pending based on staffing).

We will continue in the 26-27 school year to be more consistently hitting above 96% average attendance rate (climbing to 97%) and then upping our goal to get no more than 7% chronic absenteeism since we made our goal of below 10% this last school year with 8%---YAY!