Cheetah Chatter, April 3, 2020

April 3, 2020

Monday - Friday ~ Breakfast and lunch available to youth 18 or younger from 11:30 a.m to 1:00 p.m at Gabriela Mistral Elementary, 505 Escuela Ave. 

April 6 - 10 ~ Spring Break 

Core Value of the Month: Responsibility 

From the Principal's Desk
 

Hello Theuerkauf Families, 

My hope is that this message continues to find you, your family, and all of us in our school community well. These are certainly unprecedented, evolving, and complex times for us all. One of my friend’s recently shared some words that touched and resonated with me. Please allow me to share them - We (all of us) are currently going through a collective traumatic experience. Trauma is often thought of as “too much, too fast” - which is exactly what is happening. Things are changing by the day, by the hour. Of course, you’re exhausted. Of course, you’re afraid. Ofcourse, you're overwhelmed. Of course, you aren’t as productive, feeling foggy, or wondering how you can possibly go through so many waves of emotions all in the same day. This all makes so much sense in the context of our current circumstances. So, please be gentle with yourself. Give yourself grace. You are doing the best you know, no matter how you are managing this completely new experience. 

You may have already heard Governor Newsom’s message in the news and most likely seen the message from Superintendent Rudolph (as well as Santa Clara County) on school closure being extended for the remainder of this school year. Please see Superintendent Rudolph’s message here: Superintendent's Message, April 1, 2020. We understand that this is tough news to hear but also know this is the right thing to do for the health of our entire school community and beyond. This extended school closure news may surface questions for many of us and while we do not have the answers here and now, please know that our district staff as well as school staff are working together to make sure we can provide academic support for all our students during the current challenging circumstances. I’m in awe of how much our staff is doing and innovating for our students. Teachers that may have never done a google hangout or zoom meeting before, are now ‘Zooming’ every week with their students. Wait a second, is “Zooming” a verb now, much like ‘“Googling” a word? At our ‘virtual’ weekly staff and collaboration meetings, teachers have been sharing their ideas and online resources that they find for all to benefit from. These challenging times are deepening our practices and pedagogies, are widening our skills, and offering our staff the opportunity to reimagine every aspect of how to use their time for teaching and how to use

their time for themselves and their families. Like they say, a staff that learns together, grows together! That's the true Theuerkauf spirit that we won’t let go of even when we are interacting virtually! #GoTeamTheuerkauf 

In the flow of things, new roll-outs, and navigating the circumstances, it seems like I may have lost track of days of the week. It totally slipped my mind that next week, April 6th through the 10th is Spring Break. Over the next week (April 6-10), I encourage you to take this time to relax and just enjoy the fun things you do with your child(ren). Teachers and staff will be off as well. We look forward to connecting with you again on April 12th.

On behalf of our staff and I, a BIG note of appreciation for all your parents and guardians. These past few days we have got many notes of appreciation for our team from our parent community. I have been sharing the comments with our staff. We are so appreciative of your patience and support as we charter these online flexible learning lands. I most certainly miss seeing our students on campus together - playing, learning, having fun. This week I joined numerous classrooms across grade levels in their Google Hangout, Zoom meetings and got to see our Theurkauf Cheetahs sharing their work, asking questions on content areas, sharing artwork, responding to questions for the day, teachers doing read-alouds, etc. It is sheer joy seeing students interact with one another and with their teacher on a virtual platform! Students are still practicing their turn taking/ collaboration skills, enhancing their tech skills (for sure!), and engaging in academic content, all while staying safe at home with their loved ones. There is so much to be grateful for! 

Keeping my faith strong for us all and sending positive energies for all to stay safe and healthy. Together, we will get through this. We are here for you and are thinking about you.

Your Principal,

- Ms. Swati Dagar

School News

Emotional, logistics support resources for families

Our School Community Engagement Facilitators have teamed up to provide a list of resources for families.  Sheltering in place and not being in our regular routines of work and school can be hard on our emotional and mental health, in addition to making access to meals, rent payments and other typical activities more difficult

Click here for info about help with meals, rent, legal issues, emotional support and more. (Spanish)

Click here for a Letter from CHAC about services and tele-health appointments during school closure.

 

From the City: Sign up to get regular COVID-19 updates

The City of Mountain View’s strategic communications team is offering regular updates about COVID-19 response and resources. Residents may text 'MVCOVID' to 22828 to have the digest sent right to their emails every day. Here is the link to the latest issue. The City’s COVID-19 response and resources webpage is www.mountainview.gov/covid

 

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.

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