Best School Garden essay by a fifth grader
April 11-15: Spring Break, NO SCHOOL for Students & Teachers
REMINDER! Re-enrollment for School Year 2022-2023: Starts This Week on April 1
Health & SafetyCovid-19 Protocol Updates - Effective March 18
Changes in our Weekly Asymptomatic Covid-19 Testing
Early Dismissals Reminder
REMINDER! Dismissal - Calle Ocho Campus
Weekly Covid Dashboard
Weekly Class Status
Events & ActivitiesFamily/Caregiver Collaboration: Engagement Conversations - There is Still Time to Register! March 30
Materials: Coffee with Principal Jenn, Calle Ocho Campus March 25
Communications, Information & QuestionsNEW! Teacher & Staff Appreciation Collection
Extended Day ProgramNEW! Extended Day Unit 4 Program Schedules are Now Available!
Extended Day Program Payments Due on the 10 of Each Month
Extended Day Program Partnerships
Student & Family SupportsCity-wide School Behavioral Health Services Survey - Last Week!
Community AnnouncementsGarden Market - J.F. Cook Campus
NEW! Earth Day is Just Around the Corner: Celebrate by Learning How to Compost at Home!
Celebrating Earth Day! Calle Ocho Campus
Gee's Bend Quilting (with artist Angelique Scott) Extended Deadline
School Calendar and Upcoming EventsACADEMICS
April 11-15: Spring Break, NO SCHOOL for Students & Teachers
Starts This Week on April 1
All families will receive an email with re-enrollment instructions on April 1, 2022. Please complete all of the necessary paperwork to secure your child’s space at Mundo Verde PCS. For a list of acceptable documentation as Proof of DC Residency please click here in Spanish / English. Siblings of current students accepted for a new space will be able to be included in the same re-enrollment form. If you do not know if your child’s sibling application was accepted please check your application in MySchoolDC.
Enrollment Office Hours coming soon! If you have specific questions or need to contact us regarding the re-enrollment process, please call our front desk (202) 750-7060 or (202) 803-8967 or email admissions@mundoverdepcs.org. We are available Monday to Friday from 9:00am to 3:30pm for any questions or concerns.
HEALTH & SAFETY
Effective March 18
To read Additional Covid-19 Protocol Updates shared with Families on March 18, click here.
Effective March 21 our Covid-19 testing partner Mobile Covid Testing, LLC has halted weekly asymptomatic Covid-19 testing for our community, until further notice. We will continue doing weekly random saliva based testing for at least 20% of our unvaccinated population per the DC law. Rapid tests continue to go home weekly with PreK students and staff until further notice.
We regularly review our multilayered approach to health and safety and adapt them as conditions change and evolve.
If your child needs to be released from school early, please email attendance@mundoverdepcs.org or call the front desk to indicate what time they need to leave. Early dismissal is not permitted within 15 minutes of the first dismissal block (12:45pm on Wednesday or 2:45pm all other days). Authorized individuals must sign the student out at the front desk.
For more information about dismissal, please read the Attendance and Truancy section of the Family Handbook in English / Spanish that can be found in the right column on Family Portal.
Reminders:
Dismissal Blocks:
Dismissal locations:
Please follow these guidelines to support a smooth and safe dismissal routine:
You are permitted onto the patio at the start of your child’s dismissal block (but not before).
Please wait until your child is lined up in their dismissal line before attempting to pick them up.
Please stay behind the yellow line when picking up your child.
Keep interactions with the teachers brief during dismissal. At dismissal, the primary responsibility of the teacher is to ensure students are being picked up by authorized adults.
For up-to-date information and statistics on how we are containing the spread of Covid-19, visit the Health & Safety section on the website.
EVENTS & ACTIVITIES
There is Still Time to Register!
March 30, 5:30-7:00pm
Through creation and development of a number of groups, families, and caregivers have been working hard to expand connections across our community. These efforts encompass the recent initiative to reinvigorate PADRES as well as the ongoing work of classroom liaisons to keep families connected and informed. Related specifically to equity, the Parents & Caregivers of Black Students has been meeting regularly, as have campus-focused equity teams at Calle Ocho (Comunidad) and J.F. Cook (Juntos). With the support of our partner Kindred.
To support and enrich communication both among these groups and with the school, we invite everyone to four upcoming “Engagement Conversations”. Please join us to explore and design effective ways of collaborating that build on the momentum these groups have already generated. By working together, we can ensure that robust discussion is not only diverse and inclusive, but also generative of actionable steps the school can implement to more effectively serve its students and meet the needs of families and caregivers.
Wednesday, March 30, 5:30-7:00pm
REGISTER IN THIS LINK
If you have questions or suggestions, please contact either Cristina Faz (cfaz@mundoverdepcs.org).
March 25
Thank you to those families who were able to join us on Friday. Please find the link to the recording and the presentation from the Coffee with the Calle Ocho Principal on Friday, March 25 below:
COMMUNICATIONS, INFORMATION & QUESTIONS
Teacher Appreciation will be celebrated nationwide the week of May 2-6! Mundo Verde families have an annual tradition of collecting funds to organize gifts and activities for teachers and staff across the school during Teacher and Staff Appreciation Week. The collection offers caregivers a centralized fund from which to coordinate school-wide efforts, rather than individual classroom efforts, to ensure equity across campuses. This tradition helps ensure we reach all full-time and part-time classroom and non-classroom-based teachers (art, music, cooking, gardening, PE), along with non-instructional staff members like those covering the front desk, working in the kitchen, managing campus operations, providing support across the network, crews cleaning our school, and many other roles that serve students every day outside the classroom. We recognize that each family has unique circumstances and may not be able to contribute to the fund every year. For those who can and wish to participate, the collection will be open March 28 through April 24. Non-Tax-Deductible Contribution can be made via this PayPal link or by scanning the QR code.
In addition to the Teacher and Staff Collection Fund, please be on the lookout for information from your Classroom Liaisons about other activities being organized that week!
EXTENDED DAY PROGRAM
Unit 4 will run from April 8 - Jun 21. Students will explore this guiding question: How can plastic bottles be recycled?
To see the Unit 4 schedules, click on the following links:
We remind families enrolled in the Extended Day program that payments for the program services are due on the 10th of each month. Payments are made via your Infinite Campus Parent Portal.
For more detailed instructions please click here in English and Spanish.
At J.F. Cook Campus, we are partnering with Speak Spanish in DC and will be running two programs: “Art with Heart” and “Spanish Storytelling”. In “Art with Heart” students will create art that focuses on self-awareness, social awareness, empathy, compassion and gratitude. In “Spanish Storytelling” students will explore language and culture simultaneously through circle read alouds.
The Double Dutch partnership has been canceled due to scheduling conflicts.
STUDENT & FAMILY SUPPORT
Last Week!
The Department of Behavioral Health (DBH) has partnered with Child Trends, a nonprofit research organization, to learn about school behavioral health (SBH) services and supports at all public and public charter schools in DC for families of students 5 and older. These surveys will provide Mundo Verde with information on student, family, and staff perceptions of school behavioral health services (SBH). The school will receive a report that can be used to help inform our School Strengthening Workplans and to monitor delivery of school behavioral health (SBH) services. Your feedback matters, help us complete the parent survey HERE (survey available in English, Spanish, and Amharic).
COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS
J.F. Cook Campus
Our Garden Market is back at J.F. Cook Campus Tuesdays from 3:30-4:30pm! Join us to purchase healthy food from local growers and producers. Run by Ms. Carissa, our Sustainability Manager, this is also a learning opportunity for our fifth grade Garden Market interns. Please come by to support them and our school!
This week's menu includes yogurt, golden beets, watermelon radishes, butterhead lettuce, sweet potatoes, individually wrapped apple pies made by youth entrepreneurs, and more! Plus Chef Dot will whip up something yummy in the Mundo Verde kitchen for us to try!
The Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) is offering online home composting workshops for DC residents as part of the DC Department of Public Works' Home Composting Program. These live webinars will cover what you need to know to start hot composting outside! (Each webinar is the same; sign up for only one).
Attendees will qualify for a rebate of up to $75 for the purchase of a home composting bin. Please note that you must be a resident of DC to participate.
Calle Ocho Campus
The 52nd anniversary of Earth Day is April 22 and Mundo Verde will be celebrating throughout the month of April. Comunidad is organizing a number of different events to celebrate and protect our planet. Keep an eye out in future weeks for a full calendar, but for starters we hope you’ll join us for:
Riverbank Clean Up at Oxon Cove Park - Saturday, April 2, 10:00am-12:00pm
Oxon Cove Park in Prince George’s County is a national historic site that includes a living farm museum operated by the National Park Service. We’ll be helping clean up the nearby river bank along the cove to improve the health of the Potomac River. Recently known as "trash island," the Oxon Cove's banks are lined with an enormous amount of plastic trash. The plastics break down over time and harmful chemicals enter the water, affecting fish and other aquatic life, and the quality of drinking water.
Although many environmental issues can seem so big that we feel we cannot make a difference, this is an opportunity for Mundo Verde families to be a part of the solution through this fun clean-up day, which will be led by a park ranger. Wear appropriate clothing and feel free to bring a bagged lunch, as we will end the morning with a picnic lunch at the park. The schedule is:
10:00-10:15 Gather in the parking lot
10:15-10:30 Hike to Oxon Cove (3/4 mile)
10:30-12:00 Trash pickup at Oxon Cove
12:00 Optional picnic lunch
We want to thank everyone who joined us for our final event planned for Black History Month. We had over 60 attendees and kids seemed engaged and eager to show off their work! We are aware that connection challenges may have prevented some from hearing or seeing the instructions clearly. The artist has thus graciously created a short instructional video for everyone or families who were not able to join us, or would like to re-make their artwork, this is a great opportunity to continue the project.
Link to Short Demonstration Video
Also, we are extending our deadline to drop off squares (in the box located at the front desk) to Friday, April 1 at 8:30am. Once all of the squares are collected, they will be used to assemble our version of Gee's Bend Quilt which will be displayed at Mundo Verde's campus.
Upcoming Events:
Mar 30 - Engagement Conversations
Apr 1 - Re-enrollment for SY22-23 Starts
Apr 8 - Coffee Principal J.F. Cook Campus
Apr 11-14 - Spring Break, NO SCHOOL for Students and Staff
Apr 15 - Holiday, SCHOOL CLOSED
Apr 21 - Board Meeting