SCC Weekly Newsletter: Sept. 23 - 29, 2019
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Upcoming Events
(click on event name for calendar details)
Monday, Sept. 23
Tuesday, Sept. 24
Tues. Sept. 24 - Fri. Sept. 27
Wednesday, Sept. 25
Thursday, Sept. 26
Wednesday, Oct. 9
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Highlights in this Issue
•
Director's Spotlight
:
Being in the Zone
•
Office News
: School Picture Day THIS Tuesday
•
Board of Directors: BOD Town Hall & Special Election THIS WEEK
•
Chili Cook-Off
: Donate Now &
New
Venue/Timing Details
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Volunteer
:
Chicken Run & Hot Lunch REALLY Needs Thursday Volunteers!
•
PRT
:
Almost There! Please Make Your Voluntary Contributions By This Friday 9/27!
•
Dancing Under the Stars
: Thank You & Party Recap
•
Parent Ed
:
Removing the Stigma From Mental Illness, Social Media, Kids Under Pressure &
Motherload
Screening
•
SCEF
: TOWN Raffle & Matching Donations
•
SCSD/Community Events
:
SCSD Intramural Middle School Sports & More
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IMPORTANT REMINDERS:
•
Picture Day
is THIS Tuesday, Sept. 24
•
Emergency Kits
are due THIS Friday, Sept. 27
•
BOD Special Election THIS Week.
See BOD Section Below for Details.
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Director's Spotlight On... Being in the Zone
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Levels of anxiety in our learners and parents are noticeably higher today than they were five years ago. There is more worry around what our children are learning and how they are progressing. Parents are far more involved in their child’s academic life than ever before. I realize that this comes from a place of wanting to support your child and help them to be successful. To that end, I want to share a conceptual framework that may help you support your child more successfully and bring down the anxiety levels around learning.
As educators, we look at our classroom time as divided into two zones: The
Improvement Zone and the
Performance Zone
.
In general, we spend much more time in the Improvement Zone. It is here where the
learners should feel free to make–and learn from–mistakes. This is a time where stakes are low and they have the time and space to reflect and experiment with ideas and their acquisition of concepts.
In comparison, the Performance Zone is where we ask
learners to show what they already know or have learned. This is not the time when they want to be making a lot of mistakes. Not all assessments fall into the Performance Zone, however. (Next week I will talk about the different types of assessments that we use.)
More and more, children seem to be viewing all learning time as Performance Zone time. If they are unable to understand the task/activity right away, they get anxious and feel like they aren’t “smart." If the work is at the appropriate level, they shouldn’t necessarily know how to do something right away. They
should have to work–and sometimes struggle–to understand and work through the ideas. Just because they don’t get it immediately, does not mean they won’t understand it after engaging in the lessons, activities, and discussions. Productive struggle is an integral part of learning!
As parents, you can help diffuse some of this anxiety by not making homework time feel like Performance Zone time. I know that parents are curious about what their children know and are able to do, but please resist the desire to “quiz” your child or ask them to show you how they… (fill in the blank). Your child will be less likely to ask for your help if they feel you are measuring them. Being on the side as a support, asking open-ended questions, and normalizing their productive struggle is the best ways to support them in their learning.
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School Picture Day Tuesday 9/24
This year we will be partnering with a new photography studio,
StillLight Studios, for our school portraits. Please visit their portfolio to get a sense of the artistic professionalism that drew us to use them! Pictures will be done ALL in one day, and will be run without much intervention from us. We could use a few volunteers to help shuttle kids and keep them behaving appropriately in line, if you're able to volunteer for a shift, please use the
SignUp link.
More information about picture day can be found in the flyer
here.
"You Wanna Be Where Everybody Knows Your Name.."
(We're getting there, but not quite yet!) When you remember, please try to use your learner's first AND last name when coming into the office, emailing, or calling. As Miriam gets to know everyone, it will be SO helpful for her to not have to cross-reference all of our learners with similar first names to find their specific family. If you could please be mindful of that when communicating with the office (at least for a while!), we'd really appreciate it! Thanks in advance!
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Board of Directors Update
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The Board of Directors is holding a special election this week to fill two (2) seats for terms ending on June 30, 2020. There are five (5) candidates running for the two (2) available seats: Jack Bourla, Sunil James, Katie Kelleher, Carolyn Davies Lynch, and Melissa Riccio. Candidate statements may be found
here.
The community is encouraged to attend a
Town Hall on Monday, September 23rd at 7pm in room 302, where each candidate will provide a brief statement, followed by a Board-led Q&A. At the end of the Town Hall, all candidates have the option to opt out of the election process.
Voting opens at 8am on Tuesday, September 24th and closes at 9am on Friday, September 27th.
Please note that we are moving to an electronic voting system via Google Forms. The process is as follows:
1.
Each family will be invited to complete an e-ballot through Google Forms, including staff or administrators with children at SCC. Please note there is only one vote per group of children in a family. Multiple children at the school or a multi-household situation does not merit additional ballots.
2.
The form will ask for the first and last name of the family’s oldest child attending SCC. This will only be used to check for duplicate votes per family, and the team tallying votes will not see how a family voted.
3. Votes will be tallied after 9am on Friday, September 27th by a team, including at least one BOD, one community and one staff member. Results will be announced in an email to the entire community that afternoon.
Should you have any questions about the Board or the new e-voting process, please contact
board@scclc.net. We hope that each family will take time to participate in this election.
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The 12th Annual Chili Cook-Off
Sunday, October 20, 2019 4pm-7pm
Devil's Canyon Brewing Company
The Chili Cook-Off is now less than one month away, and we still need half of the chili cook teams to step forward by designating a leader and volunteering.
Volunteer now for this and any role and help make it a fun time and event to remember.
Here is some of what's new this year:
- Sunday afternoon instead of Friday evening
- First time at Devil's Canyon
- Professional chili tasting is back!
- Live band thanks to SCC's very own John Rethans (thanks, John and the band!)
- When you donate, be sure to RSVP the number of folks in your party
- No more drink tickets: Donate once through CheddarUp, and you can purchase wine and beer for $7 each
Many have asked why the changed venue and timing. We outgrew Twin Pines in terms of its ability to handle both increasing numbers and keeping kids safe. After careful research, we agreed that Devil's Canyon's larger size, vast indoor area, permanent beer and wine bar, and stage made CCO more comfortable. They have a secure fence around the entire perimeter, and daylight hours (we wrap at sunset) keeps the kids safe and sound. Devil's Canyon is a solid supporter of local nonprofits and enables us to stay local in the City of Good Living.
The Cowboy Committee thanks you and can't wait to see this shindig get started!
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Volunteer Help Wanted
- This Tuesday (Sept. 24th) at 4:00, a few of us will be installing the chicken run roof and we could use a few extra hands. We have the design and supplies; we just need help. If you are available, please contact Melissa May.
- Hot Lunch REALLY needs a Thursday volunteer! Can you help? Click here for info.
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Volunteer Jobs Still in Need
Still seeking help with Library, Hot Lunch, & more. See
here
for more information.
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PRT Voluntary Contributions
Thank you for all your contributions to date!
We are at 88% of our goal.
If you have not already, please take a minute to make your voluntary contributions by clicking the button below. Thank you!
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Well well well!
Another fabulous Evening of Dancing Under the Stars raised over $15,000. Thanks to all the 150 guests who purchased tickets, ate, drank, danced and made merry--and made all our hard work worthwhile! Thanks to all guests, Co-Hosts, Sponsors, and volunteers.
Big shouts out to:
- Melanie Roth & Matt Levin for treating the crowds to Pliny the Elder thanks to a generous donation from Refuge!
- Melissa Riccio, Greg Walker, and Conrad May were huge. Moving furniture, signage, welcome swag, decor, flowers, all with unflappable patience.
- Melanie Roth & Melanie Tsonas presented beautiful and bountiful Cheese & Dessert tables with the help of many volunteer bakers.
- Roberta Marks oversaw the catering. Stacy Emory passed food admirably with few mishaps!
- Brooke Baggett & Kate Brown marshalled the troops to keep thirst quenched at the bar.
- Juan Martin Carballo and Adriana Brea concocted cocktails with charisma.
- Josh Saffren provided supplies, support, and super helpful guidance.
- And Jacki Yahn and Chris Weeldreyer sponsored the rockin' band, Voodoo Jukebox (featuring Chris on drums) !
That's a wrap!
Co-Hosts & Sponsors: Adriana Brea & Martin Carballo, Kate Brown, Michele Chase Kashap & Christopher Kashap, Line 39 Wines, Roberta & Andrew Marks, Liz & Art Min, Karen Molinari & Mike Evert, Regan & Rajiv Parikh, Melissa & Michael Riccio, Kira Sabot & Brian Thomas, Heather Saffren-Bloom & Josh Saffren, Katherine & Justin Sherman, The Refuge, Melanie Tsonas & Matt Ekstrom, Lauren & Michael Velasco, Voodoo Jukebox, Jacki Yahn & Chris Weeldreyer
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Mental health issues are still taboo in our communities⏤many people believe that having a mental health issue is a sign of weakness, so you can just “toughen up." Dr. Stephen Hinshaw, UC Berkeley Professor, talks about
humanizing
mental health issues in order to move from stigma to compassion in this
great article. If your family is struggling with mental health issues, ask for help. Our community is full of resources.
Here’s a place to get you started.
In order to support each other, we are collecting recommendations for child psychologists, therapists, parent coaches, or other professionals. If you have had a positive experience with mental health providers, please share your recommendations
here. We’ll be sharing the file with everybody.
Coming up this week, you can learn about teen transitions (Wed), the impact of social media (Thurs), kids under pressure by Challenge Success and screening of the movie Motherload (Fri). For details and more parent edu events, click on the button below. Happy Parenting!
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ChoiceLunch options include Jamba Juice and New York Pizza, plus several new entree and salad options!
Please note that
we need to get our volumes up so we can continue to enjoy hot lunch! If we don’t get our volumes up this year, ChoiceLunch may decide to drop SCC as a customer next year. Please click below to order:
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TOWN Raffle
You have a chance to participate in the Evening at TOWN by joining in the
TOWN Raffle
. The winner will choose from a grand prize of (1) 7-night accommodations at a luxury resort in Mexico or (2) a beautiful diamond necklace donated by Geoffrey’s Diamonds and Goldsmith. Only 200 tickets will be sold. If you would like to purchase raffle tickets send an email to
raffle@scefkids.org noting how many you would like and which item you would choose if you are the lucky winner. Tickets are $50; 3 for $125 or 6 for $250.
DO YOU WORK FOR A MATCHMAKER?
Many employers are willing to support the causes which are important to you. Take advantage of your company’s workplace giving program by applying for a matching gift. Immediately assess your eligibility and gain access to detailed information about your employer’s corporate giving program by searching our database of companies with matching gift programs at
doublethedonation.com/scef.
Here is a partial list of the top companies who supported SCEF last year via Workplace Giving:
- Google
- An Anonymous Hardware/Software company in Santa Clara County
- Genentech Oracle Wells Fargo – gift must be made in September!!!
- Gilead Sciences
- LinkedIn
- Electronic Arts
- Adobe
- Salesforce
- Pfizer
- Intel
- Amgen
- And 60+ others
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Greater San Carlos Community Information
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- SCSD Middle School Intramural Sports & more below:
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- The weight is over and the blanket is amazing! Korah and Christine would like to thank Michelle Belanger for making a weighted lap blanket for learners.
- The 6th grade learners and Katie want to appreciate Chun Huang, Nan Iyer, and Allison Davis for taking the time to cover the language arts journals. You are appreciated.
- Room 213 would like to thank Christine Levenson, Jennifer Fung, and Katherine Sherman for covering the learners' notebooks.
- A big Thank You to the DeBono Family for being the Room 212 weekly towel washers this year!
- A big Thank You to Lucila Azevedo and Julia Povzner for wrapping the Room 212 notebooks in contact paper to protect them for the school year!
- Thank you Damon and Michelle Belanger for putting together a bookcase and fixing a leg on a table. It is much appreciated and the classroom looks better than ever!
- We appreciate Juan Sandoval for drilling several countertop holes that have made a HUGE difference in the utility of our staff kitchen space! Thanks Juan!
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