Wednesday April 15, 2020
Core value of the month: Responsibility
PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE
Dear Monta Loma Families,
Distance Learning Plan:
April 13 through 17 teachers and staff will continue to provide resources and lessons as they did before spring break. They will also be working to distribute students’ materials and participating in professional development and preparation for the implementation of our Distance Learning Plan.
April 20 through June 5
Beginning April 20, classroom teachers will provide two lessons per subject per week: Math, English Language Arts, Social Studies, and English Language Development. These may include live lessons, video-recorded lessons, and links to lessons prepared by others. Teachers will continue to include additional resources as well as assignments in student workbooks. Students will receive feedback from their teachers to maximize learning; however, students will not be graded on their assignments.
Teachers and classrooms will have two weekly check-ins via Zoom on Tuesdays and Thursdays. They will communicate schedules with you. Teachers will contact by phone any students who do not have Internet access.
Teachers will continue to have office hours to answer questions. Teachers will also check in with students and send out personal messages twice per week.
In order to give teachers time with their own families as well as preserve the opportunity for families to pick up lunch at Mistral, teachers will not be available from 11:30 to 1:00 daily. Students will have lessons to complete on Fridays, but that day will be reserved for professional development and collaboration for teachers.
STEAM teachers will continue providing lessons and our PE teachers will be conducting live PE lessons twice per week. Your child’s teacher will include the Zoom link for PE in the Monday posting on Google Classroom.
Our school librarian, Mrs. Turner, will be providing read-alouds for grades K-2 as well as book clubs for grades 3-5.
Our Distance Learning Plan was developed from the innovation, collaboration, and trial and error of our amazing teachers and families. We have taken the best of what has been working in our individual virtual classrooms and formalized it in our Distance Learning Plan so that every student in our district can continue to learn and grow.
Google Classroom
Your child’s weekly assignments will be posted on Google Classroom. Many Monta Loma students have already been using Google Classroom through Clever. Here is information about how to download the Google Classroom App that will make mobile access easier, both for parents and for students, to view lesson videos on mobile devices, if preferred. In addition, beginning 4/20, we will post each classroom’s weekly agenda/learning plan and school announcements on a schoolwide Distance Learning Dashboard.
Chromebooks and WiFi
Chromebooks are currently available for families with no devices in the home. Families will be notified by the Technology department when their Chromebook is ready to be picked up. If you have issues with the Chromebook, please refer to this help sheet for How to fix basic Chromebook issues (includes Spanish). For more complicated issues, please contact MVWSD Technology at 650-526-3252 or [email protected].
By April 20, outdoor wifi in the parking lots at Monta Loma, Crittenden, Graham, Landels, and Mistral will be available for student use. Families will be able to park in the lot to access wifi.
As we continue on this unprecedented journey, we appreciate the outpouring of positivity from our community. Thank you for your continued support as we work to provide the best educational opportunities to our students during this difficult time.
In partnership,
Gloria
CALENDAR
PTA NEWS
We Miss You!
How are you doing? We hope you're well. We are all adjusting to our new normal as well as we can. We know this has been a difficult and worrying time for our community, but we hope things are going as well as can be expected given our circumstances.
Due to the school closure, Monta Loma PTA won't be holding our Walk-A-Thon and Raffle this spring. We have collected some great raffle items and look forward to having a wonderful raffle and community event in the Fall.
We miss seeing your kiddos and gathering with you all. We look forward to the time when we will be together again.
In the meantime, take very good care of each other.
Please Consider Joining PTA Board 2020-2021
While we were not able to hold our Board Elections on March 27 as previously planned, we will be holding Board Elections at our Association Meeting on Friday, May 22 at 8:45am via Zoom. We'll share the Zoom link prior to the meeting.
We hope that you will consider joining us next year as we come back to campus and joyfully plan community-building and fundraising events to enrich the lives of our kiddos, their amazing teachers, and all of you wonderful families.
Check out our website for more information about positions Get Involved
In particular, we are seeking candidates for President, Hospitality, Fundraising, WAT and Fall Festival Chairs. I have offered to continue to serve on the Board to support our new leader in whatever way I can.
Feel free to reach out to me through UpToUs or at [email protected].
NEWS FROM THE DISTRICT OFFICE
Middle School electives selection coming soon
It is the time of year when our incoming middle school students choose their electives for next year. As we enter the third year of the new inclusive middle school schedule, our middle schools are currently working to provide quality offerings that we hope will pique students’ interests and a great complement to our core academics.
Parents will receive an email on April 24 with course descriptions and selection directions. All 5th-7th graders will preference their course electives online through Powerschool on April 29-May 8, 2020.
Make sure you’re counted! The U.S. Census is coming up
It’s crucial that we all participate, because an accurate count of residents is important for funding our community’s public resources, planning for the future, and for our voice in government. We all want to make sure that Mountain View gets the funding, services, and business support we need.
Here's how the Census works (video)
Responses are confidential and by law, your personal information cannot be shared. You can respond to the U.S. Census online or by mail. Look for your postcard this week. To learn more, visit 2020census.gov.
Flyers/Events
MVWSD 2019-20 calendar
**MVWSD 2020-21 Calendar**