district news

COVID VACCINES FOR TEACHERS AND STAFF - How YOU can help! 

Please help us advocate for the health and safety needs of your children's teachers and staff by emailing Assembly member Marc Berman and CA State Senator Josh Becker requesting that CA prioritize ALL school staff (teachers, preschool staff, school nurses, office staff, custodians, yard duty, bus drivers, administration, etc.) for the vaccine AND ensure the process for accessing the vaccine is CLEAR. Let them know how grateful you are to have schools open and that the CA government needs to prioritize these heroes when distributing the vaccine. The decisions are happening NOW, so time is of the essence.

PLAYWORKS

Our Portola Valley Schools Foundation has funded a grant for Ormondale and Corte Madera students in grades TK-5 for Playworks.  Playworks helps schools make the most of recess through on-site staffing, consultative support, professional development, and free resources.   Playworks recognizes that play and recess look different from school to school and that recess matters especially now as we are schooling children through a global pandemic where everything about school has changed. This program helps to develop skills of empowerment in the children and sustains a positive educational culture for everyone starting at recess. In addition to teaching the children fun new socially distant games at recess, Coach Mark will also work with each class during "Game Time" when he will teach various games to the children and their teachers that can be played in the classroom as brain breaks or outside for recess and/or PE. 

We are really lucky to have this program at Ormondale and Corte Madera for the remainder of the school year. Coach Mark is looking forward to teaching all of our students new, fun and exciting games to play at recess. Our PVVA students will also have access to the fun games that Coach Mark will be teaching as each teacher has access to a virtual library of Playworks activities.

Important Change to Bianchini's Participation in eScrip

Bianchini's changed the way eScrip contributions are processed. In order for our schools to receive an eScrip contribution from Bianchini's, you must make sure the phone number you use for Bianchini's reward program is also registered with eScrip here https://secure.escrip.com/sla/card-add.jsp?cardtype=80&mid=bianchinisrc  

Not signed up for eScrip? Please consider signing up today! Simply shop at participating eScrip retailers, like Bianchini's and Portola Valley Garage, and a percentage of your purchases will go to our schools. Your purchase will not be affected, you will still get the benefit of your reward points, and your purchase information will not be shared. Sign up here and select Portola Valley School District PTO for your donations: https://secure.escrip.com/signup/index.jsp 

Wish Lists

Thank you to all who have donated!

Please see the wish lists below to help our classrooms with some additional needs as many of our children return to in person learning:

Ormondale (https://ormondale-return-to-school-donations.cheddarup.com)

Corte Madera (https://cms-return-to-school-wishlist.cheddarup.com)

PARENT EDUCATION

The Art of the Possible: Raising Resilient Children and Teens

Leah Weiss, PhD, MSW, Founder, Skylyte

Wednesday, January 27, 2021, 5:30pm – 6:30pm

Register: https://leahweiss2021smcoe.eventbrite.com 

How is it possible to raise resilient children and teens, especially in such turbulent, uncertain times? 

In this special event hosted by San Mateo County Office of Education (SMCOE), Leah Weiss, PhD, an international authority in resilience and compassion, will share her expertise on the four "Pillars of Resilience."

Dr. Weiss is a researcher, lecturer, consultant, entrepreneur, and author. She is a lecturer at Stanford Graduate School of Business, and a founding faculty member of Stanford’s “Compassion Cultivation Program,” conceived by the Dalai Lama.

Parents, caregivers, students, educators, mental health professionals, and community members welcome! Free admission. Simultaneous Spanish interpretation will be provided.

Questions? Contact Charlene Margot, MA, Co-Founder and CEO, The Parent Venture (The Parent Education Series), at [email protected], or Sheléne Peterson at [email protected]. 

Digital Media and COVID-19: What Has Changed, What Hasn't, What's Next 

David Kleeman, Strategist, Analyst, Speaker & Author, SVP, Dubit

Thursday, January 28, 2021, 5:00pm – 6:00pm 

Register: https://davidkleeman2021ma.eventbrite.com 

Strategist, analyst, author, and speaker, David Kleeman, SVP at Dubit, has been a global thought leader in children’s and youth media for 25+ years.

In this live (virtual) event, Kleeman will explore the impact of COVID-19 on kids’ media, best practices in playful learning, and the integration of child/adolescent development and research across media, technology, and games.

Parents, students, educators, clinicians, and community members welcome! Free admission. This presentation is sponsored by M-A PTA, SUHSD, Sequoia Healthcare District, Peninsula Health Care District, and The Parent Venture.

Questions? Contact Charlene Margot, MA, Co-Founder and CEO, The Parent Venture (The Parent Education Series), at [email protected]. 

Common Ground Speaker Series - FUTURE READY KIDS

Raising the Bar on Critical Thinking

​Featuring Colin Seale in conversation with Ralph Wales, Head of St. Matthew’s Episcopal School

Tues Feb, 9, 7pm–8:15pm PST

Online Zoom Webinar:  Register to Attend  (Registration closes at 5pm the day of the event) 

Colin Seale, educator, attorney and author of Thinking Like a Lawyer: A Framework for Teaching Critical Thinking to All Students, will cover powerful, but practical, strategies parents and educators can use to activate kids' critical thinking skills to best prepare them for a 21st century future. Seale shares how critical inquiry will empower our children to become engaged students and involved citizens, leaders and innovators.

For event registration and details, and the Winter/Spring Season Lineup visit the Common Ground website.

As a reminder, videos of prior Common Ground events are available on a password protected page on the Common Ground’s website.  Please contact Anne Fazioli-Khiari ([email protected]) or Teri Wolf ([email protected]) for access.

ORMONDALE News

PARENT/TEACHER CONFERENCE WEEK

Week of February 1st: Parent/Teacher Conference Week. All conferences will be held virtually.  Your child's teacher will reach out to schedule your conference. Please note that we will have minimum days during Parent/Teacher Conference Week. See below for the dismissal schedule: 

• TK/Kindergarten: unchanged 
• 1st grade: 11:30 am
• 2nd grade: 11:40 am
• 3rd grade: 11:50 am

BAG DONATION

If you have extra paper or plastic grocery bags you would like to donate to the school please bring them in and leave them on the table outside the office.  Only bags with handles please.

TK/KINDERGARTEN REGISTRATION

We will begin registration for TK/Kindergarten for the fall of 2021 starting on Wednesday, February 3 for Kindergarten and Friday, February 5 for TK. Registration orientations will be held virtually on those dates at 9:00am and information will be on our school website. Please pass this information along to any friends and neighbors who have age eligible children.

corte madera news

middle school report cards

Middle School 1st Semester grades were finalized last week by teachers. Report cards will be mailed home. 

4/5 Report Cards are being finalized this week and will be mailed home at the end of January. 

If your child is applying to a private school, transcripts and report cards will be uploaded into Ravenna in the next two weeks. 

ART TO REMEMBER PTO FUNDRAISER

This may not be a traditional year but we can still commemorate it with beautiful keepsake items customized with your child’s art! Corte Madera will once again work with Art to Remember; this year the program is online only. 

How it works: If your child is on campus, he or she will bring home a piece of paper to create their art at home. If your child is in PVVA, please use any paper that you have at home. Stumped for ideas? Check out: https://arttoremember.com/about/resources/lesson-plans/ Once the masterpiece is created, snap a picture and head over to the CMS portal, search for your child’s name and upload the photo. You can then shop! Order what you like - don’t forget grandparents - and the products will be shipped to your house. Maybe it’s too much for your child to create a new piece of art or for you to lead another project at home? No problem! Find that beautiful artwork created in past years and upload a photo of that one. 

Ms. Horgan has also offered to upload the art. If you’d prefer this, please drop off or send the artwork with your child to school by February 5th. The final date to upload artwork is February 12th. 

Here’s the link to the Corte Madera Portal: https://arttoremember.com/school/l56xae 

Please contact Erin Sanders with any questions: [email protected]

CMS YEARBOOK ORDERS

Remember to buy your yearbook for this unique and exciting year! You can purchase your copy HERE  Use the code 7530. Books are $40.00 until January 15 and $45.00 after that. Dedications (called "Ads" on the Herff Jones site) for 1/8 page are $35.00 and dedications for 1/4 page (8th grade only) are $55.00. Dedications are ordered on the same website. All orders are due no later than March 16.

Foundation news

Thank you for your support!

We’re humbled. We’re grateful. And frankly, we’re relieved.

We didn’t know what to expect from the PV Schools Foundation Annual Campaign this year. With the bruising challenges of the past 12 months, we worried we'd fall short of what the District needs from us to support its operating budget. But many of our families, neighbors and local businesses opened their hearts and wallets – some more than ever before  -- to ensure that our children continue to receive an exemplary education in the face of unprecedented hurdles.

Thanks to the generous gifts of so many in our community, our intrepid Annual Campaign Leads Linda Kamran and Heather Cunningham, and our faithful grade captains, we raised more than $900,000.

That amount ensures the District will continue to offer enhanced Math and Science curriculum, Art, Music, PE, counselors and more; as well as a long list of needs caused by a global pandemic that has shuttered other, less fortunate schools than ours.

This would not have been possible without the support of the Foundation. That’s US. That’s YOU.

So from the bottom of our hearts, we thank you.

Sincerely,

Aimee Armsby and Wendy Keefe, PVSF Co-Presidents

community news

All community news is posted on the pto website 

HERE ARE THIS WEEK'S HIGHLIGHTS!   

For details, click the orange Community News button below and scroll through the listings.

• WHEELCHAIR AND WALKER SHORTAGE 
  
• SANGINI'S WINTER DANCE CLASSES
• PORTOLA VALLEY THEATER CONSERVATORY WINTER CLASSES 

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