We hope you will join us for our enrollment tour for 2026-27 incoming families this Friday, January 16th at 3:00pm.
We will start with a presentation at 3:00 in our Multi-Use room (the cafeteria with all the windows). The presentation will be followed by a campus and classroom tour of our TK and kindergartens.
Open enrollment itself is only open to incoming TK families; however, we welcome all new incoming families to join us!
See you soon!
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Dear Castlemont Families,
Welcome back! I hope your winter break was filled with rest, relaxation, and wonderful memories with your children. It will be such a joy to see our hallways filled with energy and smiling faces again tomorrow morning. There is something truly special about the "fresh start" that January brings to a school building.
Our January fresh start includes our annual PBIS (Positive Behavior Incentive System) re-boot. We will revisit and re-teach our positive expectations with specific focus on areas of improvement that our behavioral data indicates are needed at each grade level; for example, in kindergarten we will re-teach the expectations for safe play on the slides while in fourth grade we will re-visit the good sportsmanship expectations during soccer games. We will be holding the PBIS assemblies throughout this week.
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School Site Council -- Your Vote Matters
It is extremely important to us that we stay connected with you, our school community, and part of this connection is made through our School Site Council. We are opening voting today for three additional representatives for our School Site Council. Please take a moment to open the ballot link and vote. Voting closes Sunday, January 11th.
CASTLEMONT SCHOOL SITE COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVE BALLOT
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PDSAs
As we jump into the second half of the year, our teachers are hard at work using PDSA cycles (Plan, Do, Study, Act) to help our students grow. Just like a scientist uses the scientific method to test an idea, our teachers are:
Planning new ways to help students learn.
Trying those ideas out in the classroom.
Studying the results to see what’s working.
Adjusting their lessons to make sure every child succeeds.
We are committed to this "continuous improvement" approach to ensure this semester is even better than the last!
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Our School Play is Back!
More exciting January news-- After much planning, writing, and ongoing fundraising, the Castlemont school play is back for a third year! A HUGE thank you to Ms. Sandee Medlin for giving us this opportunity again. Ms. Medlin wrote numreous grants requests (two of which have been granted, so far!), wrote the play and the original score, and has been deeply involved in promoting and fundraising. I would also like to give a shout-out to our small but mighty group of parent “boosters” without whom we would not be able to move forward! Please see the calendar for audition dates.
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Good News About Attendance!
We continue to carefully track our overall and grade level attendance data. Why? Because being at school is the most important component of being a successful student. The good news is that we are showing an improvement in attendance over last year. Keep up the good work!
I know I will be heading to bed on time tonight after enjoying some late-night movie watching over our break. Getting back into our routines will be important for all of us, especially for our children.
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🗓️ Important Dates for January
Please mark your calendars for these upcoming events and school closure date:
Monday, January 5: Students return to school (Welcome back!)
Thursday, January 8: Home and School Club Meeting @ 8:00 pm (via Zoom)
Friday, January 9: Ocean Adventures Assembly
January 12- 28: DIBELS and iReady Testing Window
Tuesday, January 13: South Winchester BBQ Dining Day.
Monday, January 19: No School in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Tuesday, January 20: Castlemont School Play Auditions
Thursday, January 22: Castlemont School Play Auditions
We are so grateful for your partnership and look forward to a fantastic month of learning ahead. As always, my door (and email inbox) are open if you have any questions or concerns.
Warmly,
Kristen Kimoto Delarosa, Principal
Hello Castlemont Families,
December 15th -19th is Spirit Week! Please see attachment with our Spirit Week daily theme.
Thank you
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Hola familias de Castlemont,
¡La semana del 15 al 19 de diciembre, es la Semana de Espíritu Escolar! Consulte el archivo adjunto con el tema diario de la Semana.
Gracias
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On behalf of Castlemont Teachers, we would like to express our sincere gratitude for your participation in our first teacher-sponsored fundraiser of the year. It was so memorable watching families dress up in creative costumes, dance & sing along, and have a wicked good time together at our Halloween Dance last Friday evening. We are so grateful for our wonderful community, and are appreciative of the generosity from money spent on donations, ticket sales, and concessions. We were able to raise around $4300 in profit from this event which will all go back to classrooms to support student learning. A big shout out to our HSC for helping us with cash processing, our office staff for help with communications and logistics, and our awesome local community partners- Happy Donuts and The Pizza Guys for providing treats and discounted pricing. Please think of them for your next meal or event! If you ordered photos, they will be sent home with your child in labeled bags this week.
Thank you again for your enthusiastic support, as events like this are what make our school community so amazing!
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Take a look at the photo accompanying this story and you will see the pure joy of students being led in a game of "Ghost Busters" by our Junior Coaches. Junior Coaches are a select group of 4th and 5th grade students. Students must apply to be part of the program and are trained in how to facilitate a wide variety of games for other students at recess. Junior Coaches are given weekly recess assignments and also meet weekly with our Positive Behavior Incentive Systems (PBIS) /Safety and Support Coordinator, Miss Julie. We are incredibly proud of our student leaders!
Hello Castlemont Families,
Can you believe it is almost October? Yesterday’s morning thunderstorms, A.K.A. “False Fall” has me ready for our next season. In this next season, we have plenty of great things coming up at Castlemont for both students and our families, but first I would like to give you an update about the latest regarding our districtwide Continual Improvement implementation.
For our students, Continual Improvement means having more voice and involvement in their own learning. Students engage in setting goals, reflecting on the strategies that work for them, and sharing their feedback.
The first tangible evidence you see of this work is in each classroom’s mission statement.This is our second year of working with mission statements, and every class has created their own. Our next step this year is to keep them “alive” by revisiting them and updating them as needed throughout the year. In Mrs. Bell and my office, for example, we have a copy of each class’s mission statement, and we use them a reflective tool with students.
You will also see evidence of “Plus/Deltas” not only in classrooms, but in the meetings and events that you attend at Castlemont. The plus part of this tool is for each participant to share what went well or what was helpful. The delta portion provides a space to give feedback and suggestions for improvement. The plusses are uplifting to read, but it’s the deltas that give us the opportunity to grow and improve.
In the next newsletter, I will share another integral part of our Continual Improvement, the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle.
As far as what’s coming up in the next month, we have quite nice list:
9/27 This Saturday--Garden Familia Work Party 9:00-11:00am
10/4 Charleston Wrap Fundraiser ends
10/6 - 10/10 Conference Week *Minimum Days* -- Dismissal at 12:30/12:35
10/9 Home and School Club Meeting 8:15-9:15pm via Zoom
10/13 No School for Students (Staff PD Day)
10/17 Halloween Dance 6:00-8:00pm
10/23 Erik’s Deli Cafe Dine out Day
10/31 Halloween Parade OR Autumn Leaf Art 8:30-9:00am
11/7 Jog-a-thon
I encourage all families to do two things to help keep informed about school news, activities, and resources:
Follow the Castlemont Instagram page: castlemontelementary
Bookmark and check in on our Home and School Club website: https://sites.google.com/view/castlemont-hsc
I hope you all have a great Friday and a rejuvenating weekend.
Sincerely yours,
Kristen Kimoto Delarosa, Principal
Our School Site Council is a representative group of parent/guardians, teachers, and staff members that meets four times a year to review budgetary items, approve our School Safety Plan, and provide input into our Local Control Accountability Plan.
We are currently looking for three Castlemont parents/guardians to serve as representatives, One of our representatives should be a parent/guardian who can represent the interests of our English Language Learner students.
Absolutely no experience is necessary!
Time Commitment -- One hour 4 times per school year. (One additional meeting is possible)
Where do we meet? You are welcome to join the principal in her office OR join meetings via Zoom.
What time? All meetings are held from 3:00-4:00 pm, typically on Tuesdays.
What do I need to do next? Fill out this form and you will be put on the ballot. We will open the online election on September 24th.
Will there be snacks? If you join Kristen in her office, there will be treats.
Get your students smiles ready for Fall Picture Day! It will be Monday, September 22nd.
Generations School Photography will send your child's proof via email 2 weeks after picture day. All ordering is done online and they will be shipped to your home address. See flyer below for details.
Thank you
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Hola padres de Castlemont,
¡Prepare las sonrisas de sus estudiantes para el día de la fotografía escolar de Primavera! Será el lunes 22 de septiembre.
La fotografía escolar de Generations enviará la prueba de su hijo por correo electrónico 2 semanas después del día de la fotografía. Todos los pedidos se realizan en línea y se enviarán a su domicilio. Consulte el folleto a continuación para ver más detalles.
Gracias
Join us this afternoon, Friday, August 22nd for our annual Back to School Family Picnic. This event is a casual get-together of our families and staff that provides an unstructured time for our students to play and families to meet. This event is free and all are welcome.
Simply bring a blanket or folding chairs out our field from 4:00-6:00 pm. Many families bring a picnic snack or dinner, and we provide free popsicles to all children in attendance. Our Home and School Club will be there with some items to purchase. We hope to see you there!
