Important Dates to Remember
May 29 Check backpacks for summer learning menu + work log
May 30 Spirit Day - Wear Landels gear/colors
May 30 5th Grade Promotion and Clap Out - 10:45am - 12:10pm MUR & blacktop
May 31 Spirit Day - Sports Day
May 31 Last Day of School – Minimum Day
May 31 Report Cards sent home electronically
Aug 13 First Day of 24-25 School Year - Minimum Day
Roar Recognitions
Casandra. – Room 13
Christopher D. – Room 13
Ellie C. – Room 12
Finley F. – Room 11
Gabe M. – Room 10
Kaylie H. – Room 14
Matteo P. – Room 7
Prisha M. – Room 18
Ruby M. – Room 11
Ruby S. – Room 11
Simon B. – Room 18
Sofia L-P. – Room 1
Summer S. – Room 11
Landels News
Dear Landels Families,
It’s been an amazing year! Here are some of the highlights from the school year. I also want to take this opportunity to share some of our successes and look back on all that we have accomplished.
Academics
We continued providing targeted reading intervention and explicit language instruction (~200 minutes per week) for all our struggling readers and English language learners while providing extension for students at or above grade level. These efforts yielded amazing results. The results from the D3 Reading and Math assessments show significant improvement from the beginning of the year (see attached). I am incredibly proud of the remarkable growth and perseverance demonstrated by our students. I also want to express my deep appreciation for the exceptional staff at our school, whose unwavering dedication and passion for student success have not gone unnoticed. Together, we have achieved great things!
Volunteers
We expanded our volunteer program, bringing more adults on campus to support academics, SEL, and school events and activities. Our community is stronger and our hearts are fuller thanks to the efforts of our wonderful volunteers.
Community Building
Our PTA and Ms. Bea led the charge in bringing more events to Landels this year. On-campus events included 2 Family Science Nights, Diwali, a Math Festival, Lunar New Year, Landels Fiesta, Multicultural Festival, 2 Book Fairs, Walk-a-Thon, Winter Holiday Fair, Family Campout and several ice cream parties. These events would not have been possible without your support and generosity. The PTA was able to raise $50k+ from the walk-a-thon alone, which provided funding for Playworks, many assemblies and field trips, much-needed classroom and school supplies, and 1 free book from the Book Fair for every student at Landels.
We will continue to build on our successes and reflect on our areas of growth as we plan for 24-25. Thank you for all your support!
Important reminders for our last week
· Wednesday, May 29th - Check your child’s backpack for the Summer Learning Menu + Work Log
· Friday, May 31st - Last Day of School Minimum Day - Dismissal at 12:10pm
Check out:
· Please return your child’s Chromebook if you are a 2nd grader, 4th grader or will not be returning to MVWSD next school year.
· 2024-2025 School Year: If your child will not be returning to MVWSD next school year, please contact Ms. Ann at [email protected] or by calling 650-526-3520 to request the student withdrawal form that needs to be filled out and turned in.
School Site Council Elections
Thank you to the parents that nominated themselves to serve on Landels School Site Council. Eve Young and Rachel Burstein will continue to serve for 1 more year as part of their 2-year term. Please take some time to vote for new School Site Council nominees using the following form. New members will serve a 2-year term. In order to limit individuals to 1 vote, you will need to sign in via google although your email address will not be collected. You may vote for as many individuals as you like. You can also vote in person if you wish. Voting will end on 6/4 @ 11:59pm. Elected members will be announced in the Landels Latest in August.
Thank you and have a wonderful summer!
Pieter Dolmans
Staffing Updates
We bid a fond farewell to Mr. Ruggio as he pursues new life adventures. Thank you for everything you have done to support our students. We will miss you next year!
While Mrs. Wooten and Ms. Jocey will no longer be at Landels, they will continue to work at different locations within the district! Mrs. Wooten will be a reading intervention teacher and Ms. Jocey will be the ARIS at Monta Loma. Thank you for all your hard work and dedication and good luck in your new roles!
Landels will also have some familiar faces in new places. We’re excited to have Ms. Lau and Mrs. Risano move to Kindergarten, Ms. Stevenson move to 1st grade, Ms. Haley move to 2nd grade, and Ms. Lynch and Ms. Son move to 3rd grade. We know they will do great work!
Based on our enrollment, we are currently planning on the following classroom configurations for next school year:
· Three Kinder classes
· Three 1st Grade classes
· Three 2nd Grade classes
· Four 3rd Grade classes
· Two 4th Grade classes
· One 5th Grade class
· One 4/5 combo class
· One SDC class
Enrollment continues through the summer so it is possible that these projections can change. I will continue to monitor enrollment and staffing throughout the summer.
Summer Learning Menu
Summer is just around the corner, which means lots of outdoor play, family time, and daily academic practice! We know from brain research and our own lived experiences that skills that are not practiced, or periodically reviewed, can be forgotten. Students have worked so hard this year to learn and grow. We want to make sure they maintain these skills over the summer! We know that convincing students to do daily academic practice may be tricky, so we’re helping with an optional Summer Learning Menu: Menu and Work Log
· Students can complete i-Ready Reading or Math, Zearn Math, or Khan Academy lessons. The self-paced i-Ready lessons are tailored to students’ individual levels, based on their third trimester diagnostic assessments.
· Students can read. Daily reading is the most effective way to become a better reader. We read by reading the words, reading the pictures, retelling familiar texts, and listening to others read. We also read a variety of text types: picture books, novels, newspapers, magazines, blogs, graphic novels, comic books, etc.
· Students can complete Math Fluency Activities. Students can play a math fluency card game with a deck of cards, practice with some flashcards, or complete a math learning game on i-Ready.
· Students can complete STEAM or Profile of a Graduate challenges. Students can complete these challenges on their own, with a friend, or with their families!
Please see “How to access summer learning on home devices” here: https://www.mvwsd.org/summer. Students in grades K-2 will receive their printed Clever badge (QR Code) from their teacher by Wednesday, May 29.
Thanks for supporting your children with maintaining their skills over the summer!
Office Reminders
* Medicine – If your child has medicine in the nurse’s office, please make sure to pick it up from the office before school is out.
* Lost & Found – Is your child missing a sweater/jacket, lunch box, water bottle or umbrella? Our lost and found cart is overflowing with many items. Please take a moment after school or on the weekend to check out the lost & found cart located beside Room 6. Any leftover items will be donated 5.31.24.
MVWSD News
The Board of Trustees will meet on Thursday, May 30 at 5:30 p.m.
Some of the topics include:
· Recognition of staff members’ years of service, retirements and Teacher and Classified Employee of the Year
· Public Hearing: 2024-25 Local Control Accountability Plan
· Public Hearing: 2024-25 Budget Adoption, Overview and May Revise
· California Dashboard - Local Indicators 2023-24
· First Reading of Resolution of Parcel Tax Election
· Health & Wellness Annual Report
· Considerations for Heritage/Awareness Months
· ReImagining Castro Plan of Action
For meeting details and agenda, please click here: https://www.mvwsd.org/trustees.
MVWSD Summer Learning
Click here - mvwsd.org/summer - for a handy list of resources for students to practice their academic skills this summer.
Free Meals All Summer- Grab and Go
Free meals provided by MVWSD and Second Harvest Food Bank are available to everyone throughout the summer at these locations. No questions. No age limit. No IDs required.
· Rengstorff Park - June 6- July 26 from 11:30 AM-12:45 PM. (No Meals June 19 & July 4)
· Castro Elementary - June 6 - 28 from 11:30 AM -12:30 pm. (No meal pick on June 19). Meal pick up in front of Mistral Elementary School, 505 Escuela Ave
Turning in this Year’s Volunteer Badges; and How to Apply to be a Regular Volunteer Next Year
Parents, we are so grateful for your volunteering this year! It has been a great year, and we are looking forward to next year already. But first …
· Please turn in your volunteer badges to the front office between now and the end of the school year. This year’s badge will not work for next year.
For all of the details and documentation requirements to get yourself set up as a frequent volunteer for the 2024-25 school year, please see mvwsd.org/volunteers. MVWSD will begin accepting volunteer applications for 2024-25 on August 1. Please look for an email this summer with more details about training and applying to volunteer next year. Thank you
i-Ready Diagnostic 3 Assessments and Student Reports
Your child took the end of year i-Ready Math and Reading diagnostic assessments during the week of May 13th, 2024. Parents can access their children’s i-Ready Reading and Mathematics score via their Powerschool Parent Portal starting at 4 pm on May 31. Parents will have access to three reports for their child - For Families Report, Common Core State Standards Report (CCSS), and the Diagnostic Growth Report. Steps to access your child's i-Ready Reports on Powerschool are linked here. To learn more about how to read the reports, please click here. Please contact your child’s school office if you have any trouble accessing reports.
Mental Health Month
All month we’ve been exploring #WhereToStart when it comes to taking care of your mental health. Life can be challenging, but every day shouldn’t feel hard or out of your control. If it does, there is help.
One free, anonymous, quick and easy way to check for symptoms of a mental health condition is by taking a confidential mental health screener offered by Mental Health for America at mhascreening.org.
While a screener doesn’t take the place of therapy or an evaluation from a mental health professional, your results can be a great way to start a conversation with your primary care provider, a trusted friend, or a family member about your mental health.
Once the screening is completed, MHA will share resources and tips to try on your own, ways to connect with others or find a provider, and ideas about how to address any symptoms.
It’s always a good time to start working on your mental health!
Big THANK YOU to all MVEF donors supporting our MVWSD students with art, music, science, reduced English Language Arts (ELA) class sizes, and more programs!
As we approach the end of the school year 2023-24, MVEF wanted to take a moment to reflect and thank every single donor and community member who believes in our mission to create a well-rounded education for every single student in our district.
With your donations, you helped 4,577 students to enrich their education in one or the other way: with art & music (TK-5), hands-on science (TK-6), field trips (4-5), reduced class sizes in ELA, sports, clubs & activities (6-8). For a more detailed overview of our programs, please visit here.
Let’s celebrate another school year with so many great opportunities thanks to your donations! We have almost reached our goal to raise $1.2MM for all the above programs. If you still wish to contribute to reach our goal, please visit here.
PTA News
See you next year!
Thank you to everyone who participated and supported the PTA this year. Please see this flyer for a summary of all the things we accomplished. We can’t wait for next year!
2024-2025 Executive PTA Board
President: Christina Wu Ly
VP: Samantha Perkins
Treasurer: Katarina Ling
Secretary: Yasmine Klarin
Financial Secretary: Julia Wilkowski
Financial Reviewer: Alicia Romo
Historian: Anjali Koppal
Parliamentarian: Luis Cheng-Guajardo
PTA wants your feedback!
We welcome feedback, suggestions, and ideas to make next year even better than this one!
· Fill out our post-event survey for any event you attended this year
· Fill out our funding survey to help us prioritize what to fund next year
· Email Christina Wu Ly at [email protected]
Summer Play Dates
Mark your calendars for the three PTA-hosted summer play dates! All incoming and current families are invited.
· Saturday, June 29, 2pm
· Friday, July 19, 6pm
· Sunday, August 11, 10am
Summer Session: Landels Kids Dance Classes
Just because school is out doesn't mean we can't play with our Landels friends!
Sign up here to hear about Summer Session dance classes.
· Kids will learn dances from around the world including Ireland, Germany, Brazil, Mexico, Korea, India, and more!
· Students of all grades, genders and nationalities are welcome to join.
· There is no cost to participate, classes will be taught by parent volunteers, each class is drop in, no need to attend them all.
· Sign up here!
Summer Session: Landels PARENTS Dance Classes
· Do you ever get bored sitting on the sidelines, doomscrolling on your phone, while your kid gets to take a fun class?
· Wish you had time for a workout, but seem to always be shuttling the kids around instead?
· Want to get to know more parents at Landels?
Look no further!
Sign up here to hear about Summer Session dance classes for PARENTS. Classes will be outdoors on the Landels blacktop, just for fun and fitness. If you want, your kids can play on the playground while we meet. There is no cost to participate, classes will be taught by parent volunteers, so sign up here!
Landels Multicultural Festival - now in September!
If you are struggling to slog through Maycember and absolutely cannot think about one more thing, you can stop reading this section now. We totally understand. Every parent should be congratulated for making it through the barrage of end of year events. You are absolutely not required to think about anything but enjoying summer!
Still reading?
Okay then:
· We want to make the end of the year less crazy by shifting the Landels Multicultural Festival to September, 2024.
· Not only will this decrease the pile up of fun but overwhelming things next spring.
· This will also place the event early in the school year so new families can get to know other families at Landels.
· So! You don’t have to do anything right now, but put in the back of your head that in August we will be getting those tri-folds ready. We would love to see your culture represented at the festival!
Flyers
2023-2024 MVWSD Calendar
2024-2025 MVWSD Calendar
Summer Play Dates
Landels PTA Retrospective 23/24