AUGUST 18, 2021

ISSUE 01

THE PRINCIPAL'S CORNER

Welcome Back, Falcons!

Dear Parents and Students,

Welcome to the 2021-2022 school year! It is hard to believe that we are entering the THIRD school year impacted by COVID, and while we may be exhausted by the pandemic and the associated protocols, we are not going to let COVID dictate our students’ experiences! There are some key protocol distinctions this year, so please review the Important COVID Protocol Updates for 2021-22, and then make sure to look for Dr. Grey’s emails on these topics as the year progresses. This year, our sense of community will be coming back - stronger than ever! I am thrilled and honored to be part of this community, and look forward to working with you and with our staff in support of our students.

A great deal of the success of our students is due to the partnership created between the home and the school, so I invite you to explore the new school website (still adding content) and the new PTA website. You will be able to learn more about our school, stay connected and informed, and become an active participant in the education of your child. Our teachers and students are creating classroom environments where innovation flourishes as we engage and empower our students to be critical thinkers and active citizens. Flora Vista’s paired focus on Science and Civics (honored three times by the state of California) provides for myriad ways our teachers can continue to create those opportunities.

This year, our PTA has once again committed to funding the school supplies that have historically been asked of parents, as well as much of the ongoing costs throughout the year. As a result, there is no “School Supply List”! Thank you, Flora Vista PTA!!! (If there is a unique need and/or something requiring student preference, the teacher will provide that info.) Another recent change to keep in mind is the work of our districtwide Health & Wellness Committee, creating Board policies supporting the health and safety of students and adults. As part of that effort, classrooms have one day each month in which all birthdays are celebrated for that month, and ideas for healthy celebrations are encouraged.

Our school, PTA, and Foundation work together in order to make great things happen for our students, but we cannot do the work we do without your financial support, for it is only through your generosity that many of our programs and consultant positions exist. EVERY child benefits from these programs and the instruction provided by these consultants, so we humbly ask that you please help support the Falcon Fund (info coming soon!) to ensure that this rich range of programs is in place for our students. With your support, we can bring out every child’s full potential!

THANK YOU for being part of this incredible Flora Vista Community!

Chris Juarez

Principal

Flora Vista Elementary

Back to School Night

We are excited to offer an in-person Back to School Night on August 26, 2021. We recognize this requires careful planning of safety measures. We are asking for your cooperation and understanding to ensure it is a success.

First, there will be a virtual option open to everyone. Next, there will be two sessions for in person Back to School presentations. To limit the number of adults in the classroom at a given time, we are allowing only one adult per household. A student with two households would have two adults. Other household members are welcome to participate in the virtual option. The teacher will assign times to balance numbers. No children can attend this event as this is specifically an opportunity for the parents or guardians to hear about the curriculum, procedures and expectations for the year. Masks must be worn by adults indoors.

Please be on the lookout for RSVP information from your child’s teacher for one of these times:

Grades K-3:
In-Person Session One: 5:00p-5:20p
In-Person Session Two: 5:20p-5:40p
Virtual Session (Zoom): 5:40p-6:00p

Grades 4-6:
In-Person Session One: 6:00p-6:20p
In-Person Session Two: 6:20p-6:40p
Virtual Session (Zoom): 6:40p-7:00p

SPIRIT WEAR

Attention Falcons!

Every Friday until Halloween will be Spirit Day! Wear all your Falcon Gear, vintage or brand new. Let's show our Falcon Pride.

FLORA VISTA STORE

PTA President's Welcome

Dear Flora Vista Families, Teachers and Staff,

On behalf of your Flora Vista PTA we wanted to welcome everyone back to school this fall. For all of our new students, incoming kindergarten class and returning families from cloud campus a special welcome to you.

We're excited to be returning to a full schedule this year and the ability to hold many of our events in person as safely as possible. Aside from social events the most important thing our PTA does is support our students, Teachers and staff. We're paying for school supplies for all students, purchasing software and supplies for classrooms, funding field trips, grade level mini grants and providing funds for teachers and staff helping with their individual needs. This is where much of our budget is allocated.

Having navigated our challenging previous year, I'm heartened that our community was able to persevere. I look back to our Talent Shows, Drive Thru events, Book Fair, Flora Vista Reads, Inclusion in Action, Teacher & Staff Appreciation, Virtual events, Jog-A-Thon (among many others) and we're proud of what we were able to accomplish under difficult circumstances.

We're going to take what we learned last year and apply our knowledge to better promote inclusion and participation in all our programs going forward. Using Zoom to allow a greater amount of people to participate in PTA Meetings and events is just one small example. Streamlining our communication will be a high priority for our PTA this year! Please take a moment to browse our new Flora Vista PTA website, www.fvpta.org. It's now a useful tool for anyone to access information and links for Flora Vista, the EUSD District and beyond.

IMPORTANT: We need ALL families, parents, caregivers to SIGN UP or RENEW your MEMBERSHIP TOOLKIT account. Here's the specifics:

• Membership Toolkit – This is a home base for our “Store” which allows you to buy Spirit Wear, Yearbooks and more throughout the year. This is also the hub for our Falcon Fund Donation Drive and will be where you make your donations to the PTA/EEF Falcon Fund.

• New to Flora Vista – Go to https://fvpta.membershiptoolkit.com/. Click on the Register/Login Icon and follow the prompts.

• Returning Families – Go to https://fvpta.membershiptoolkit.com/. You will see a prompt that says NOTICE – Your personal information is out of date and needs to be updated. Please take a moment to review it here. Follow the prompts to update your information.

Membership Toolkit will also prompt you to sign up for our E News. A vital way to keep up on all things at Flora Vista, published every Wednesday.

Consider Donating to our Flora Vista Falcon Fund. These monies help fund all our programs and along with our partners at EEF pay for a significant portion of our Enrichment and Intervention Staff.

Visit fvpta.org or https://fvpta.membershiptoolkit.com/ and hit donate for options. Our current "ask" is $350 per student, however any amount is welcome! $25.00 secures a PTA Membership.

At this time we want to acknowledge the 2020/2021 PTA Board, volunteers and our partners at EEF, for all their hard work. We also want to welcome Ally Hanlon as our new Flora Vista Encinitas Education Fund (EEF) President as well.

Lastly, we're going to keep our theme and mission statement intact from last year. These are important words to us and our aspirations for our community at Flora Vista:

Flora Vista PTA Connected by Learning, Equity, Kindness
Falcons Fly Together

Thank you for your time, please contact us directly at president@fvpta.org or Jeff directly at 619-318-5028 with any questions or concerns.

Kind Regards,

Jeff Ladman and Jane Tasker, Flora Vista PTA Co-Presidents
and Our entire PTA Board for 2021/2022

The Great Summer Library Book Share/Return

As students begin the school year, we are eager to hear their summer stories. Perhaps they found a great book to read. If they would like to share it with the Flora Vista Community, check out the "The Great Summer Library Book Share/Return"https://bit.ly/3CSI1TK This link leads to information of how students can share something they read via Flipgrid with the rest of the school.

Thank you to 2nd grader Henry for being the first to share! Also, for those that have already returned books to the library from summer, thank you so much!

The media center is open for recess and lunch every day with a modified schedule for Mondays and Fridays.
Monday lunch hours: 11:40 - 1:00
Friday lunch hours: 11:35 - 12:05

Come in, meet our new Library Media Aide, Ms. Sarah Wilson, and cozy up with a book.

THANKS FLASH

I'm sure most of you saw Flash The Falcon at school Tuesday Morning. Our school mascot has a lot of great moves!

SUBJECT: Weekly News Updates