Hidden Valley Hawk Talk Newsletter, Issue #2
Monday, September 11th, 2023
Sep 13
Walk and Roll to School Day, Orange & Blue Day
Sep 15
Deadline to Opt-in to Non-teacher classroom and PTO Communications
Sep 18
Fun Run campaign begins!
Sep 25
NO School - Yom Kippur
Oct 13
Hidden Valley Fun Run
Hawk Families,
It has been another great week at Hidden Valley! Meeting our Hawk Buddies, a YES popsicle party, engaging science activities, developing math concepts, learning about emotions, and our favorite community event, Boots & BBQ!
Each Wednesday we alternate between a Hawk Assembly where school-wide themes are introduced and/or reiterated and time spent with our Buddy Classes. The buddy relationship can positively impact social skills more than any lesson plan. A great example is regulating emotions. Buddies could choose from a list of games to play together or with another pair of buddies. The older students can model and discuss aloud how they react when they get frustrated or sad during the game. This week was an introduction to our new buddies. Students interviewed their new buddy to find out likes and dislikes, favorite colors, and share a riddle, joke, or story. These conversational skills help your children develop connections and relationships. Students who feel connected at school are significantly less likely to experience health risks related to sexual health, substance use, violence, and mental health as they get older. Here's to Hawk Buddies!
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School Counselor Introduction, Sally Carrington
Ms. Carrington has shared with each class how everyone has connected emotions, thoughts, and actions. In future classroom lessons she will share strategies to use helpful self-talk and how to take a growth mindset; and how these skills promote positive group dynamics. Students will learn about:
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recognizing their own and others’ emotions
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how situations influence their thoughts and emotions
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how emotions, thoughts, and actions work together
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emotional regulation and supporting strategies
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using a growth mindset and flexible thinking
There were lots of cowpokes around our campus Friday, but …
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DID YOU KNOW??? Looking back at historical accuracies, it is estimated that 1 in 4 cowboys was black? Want to learn more? Check out this article from the Smithsonian Magazine.
In Community Together,
Kristi
Wow! What a wonderful night at Boots & BBQ! Thank you so much to the B&B team, helmed this year by Anna Welch! Thank you to every single volunteer that helped in the planning and execution of this fun social event. We had famous Hog Island oysters, delicious pulled pork smoked by Yo Yoshida and Justin Welch, fun games, and great music. Most importantly, we had a chance to build up our Hidden Valley community, which is one of the most wonderful parts about our fantastic school!
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The PTO has a few pressing volunteer needs to fill ASAP!
Kindergarten families! Did you know that Hidden Valley staffs lunchtime yard duty with parent volunteers in order to give our fabulous teachers a much-needed lunch break? WE NEED YOU!
This is a fun way to interact with the kindergarteners outside of the classroom. A kindergarten yard duty shift is from 11:45 - 12:30, which consists of supervision on the play structure and upper blacktop for 30 minutes and a 15 minute eating period.
We are ideally looking for two parents each day, with a commitment to a weekly time slot for the remainder of the year. With the exception of one Friday slot, ALL volunteer positions remain open. If you can’t commit to a weekly position, you can join our substitute team, which is contacted on an as-needed basis to cover absences of our regular volunteers.
Interested? Email the PTO at hiddenvalleyhawksPTO@gmail.com!
Do you know how to sync the Hidden Valley calendar with your own calendar?
Please see below to learn how.
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Sync the school calendar with your:
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Thank you for attending Boots and BBQ!
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Walk and Roll Wednesdays start this Wednesday, September 13th! Bring your old scanner tag (they work forever!) or sign up for a new one (in your student’s blue folder, and soon to be available on the PTO website) and promote green ways to school. You can walk, bike, carpool, park and walk or take the bus! This promotes better air quality and highlights safe streets.
We need parent volunteers to keep this program going! It is easy - 15 minutes on Wednesday mornings. Use this Sign Up Genius to sign up for one slot or 20 slots! It is easy and fun. THE KIDS LOVE IT. Please contact the PTO (hiddenvalleyhawksPTO@gmail.com) if this interests you!
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THE YES POPSICLE SOCIAL WAS SUPER COOL
Thank you to the HV community for helping us blow away our Back to School Night Giving Campaign goal. We currently have more than 70 families participating in donating to YES! We had a super cool popsicle social to celebrate with all HV students on 9/07. Thanks to this community for all your support!
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SAVE THE DATE FOR YES!
YES Bake Sale @ Live On The Ave Friday, September 22nd 5:30 pm
HV parent, Victoria George & the High Lonesome band, will be performing. White Hill students will be selling baked goods with proceeds being donated to the YES Foundation.
The popular YES event is coming back!
Save the date for the Creekside Tommy Breeze YES Collab - Tuesday, September 26 - 5:00 -7:30 PM
Creekside will be donating 10% of proceeds, Amy's will be selling shakes and Tommy Breeze will be sewing YES patches on hats. Come and customize your ideal head topper and support arts and music education.
HOW TO SET UP YOUR MONTHLY DONATION
If you start your monthly YES donation for one child in September, payments are only $90 a month for the remainder of the school year. Click on the monthly credit card donation button and set up donation today!
Put your best foot forward this fall! EVERY WEDNESDAY is Walk and Roll to School Day. Join thousands in Marin who WALK, (PARK AND WALK), BIKE, CARPOOL, or BUS to school. EVERY STEP YOU TAKE, even if it's once per week, even if you walk a few blocks to school, helps reduce traffic and invigorates your student for a day of learning. Students are invited to come to the Safe Routes to Schools welcome table on the morning of September 13th to receive a prize for walking and rolling to school.
BUDDY UP is a contest to get students to walk (park and walk), bike, carpool, or ride the bus together. Now through October 31, sign up your group of two or more students from neighboring families to travel to or from school together. Tell us your success story! Habits are more likely to stick when families support each other. There’s safety in numbers and groups are more easily seen by drivers. Best of all, friendships and fun memories are formed! There will be a $50 award for 5 winning groups. Notifications will be sent out in early November.
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Every week we will have a question of the week spanning varied subjects sometime including the content within the newsletter. The first one to respond gets a callout next week.
Week 2 Question:
Which American Olympian holds the record for most overall medals won over their lifetime?
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1) Simone Biles
2) Michael Phelps
3) Jenny Thompson
4) Ryan Lochte
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Please post your answers here
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Last week's quickest responder was:
Liz Kolcun
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The answer was:
Sherlock Holmes
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Congratulations, Liz!
