Math - Summer Program 2022
Welcome Message from Kristin Scotchmer, Executive Director
Checklist to Get Ready For the New School Year
AcademicsWelcome Letter from Teachers & Class Lists
For New Families - Infinite Campus Parent Portal Sign Up
Events & ActivitiesWelcome Back! Meet and Greet - Save the Date! Monday, August 22
Future Playdates
Communications, Information & QuestionsThe Family Portal In The School Website Is Your Resource - OJO! NEW Password
Contact Information / Emergency Contact Update & Authorized Pick Up
School Communications
Health & SafetyCovid-19 Policy For SY22-23
Medical and Dental Forms - MUST be Submitted Via Email by August 24
No Shots No School - Take Action Now!
School ServicesUniforms - Available on August 8
School Supplies
How to Order School Meals
Free and Reduced Meals (FARM) - Everyone Should Complete the Form!
Special Meals and Allergies
Transportation - Kids Ride Free (KRF) Program
Shuttle Bus Service Under Review
Extended Day Program Registration
School Calendar and Upcoming EventsSY22-23 School Calendar
Welcome Message from Kristin Scotchmer, Executive Director
To read the Welcome Message from Executive Director, click here: bit.ly/MVEDMsg080822
Checklist to Get Ready For the New School Year
To facilitate the access to forms, fees, instructions, and make sure your family is ready for the new school year 2022-23, you can find a checklist in the Family Portal for viewing and to get a printable version here. Please keep in mind this checklist will continue being updated daily until the new school year starts.
The Family Portal now has a NEW password, please use: crew
ACADEMICS
We know many families are eager to learn who their child’s teacher will be as well as other families in the class. All families will receive a welcome letter from their child’s teacher by Friday, August 19, 2022. Class lists will be published to the website the evening of Monday, August 22.
The Infinite Campus parent portal allows families to pay for meals and other school services, re-enroll next school year, retrieve the attendance record of their students, and more. New families should have received on Friday, August 5, an email with their username and password to sign up for the parent portal in Infinite Campus. If you haven’t received your credentials, please send an email to platforms@mundoverdepcs.org.
EVENTS & ACTIVITIES
Save the Date! Monday, August 22
Mundo Verde will host a casual “meet and greet” on each campus during the afternoon of Monday, August 22. This is a time for families to meet teachers, meet classmates, receive free T-shirts, finalize enrollment, sign up for meals, and more! It will be held outside, with brief classroom tours available for new families (a sign-up link for indoor tours will be shared soon). It is a time for students and families to meet and mingle with each other as well.
Please find the schedule per grade below:
Times are the following for both the J.F. Cook and Calle Ocho campuses:
PK3, PK4 & Kinder new families - 1:00-2:00pm
PK3, PK4 & Kinder returning families - 2:00-3:00pm
1st-5th grade new families - 3:00-4:00pm
1st-5th grade returning families - 4:00-5:00pm
For those families that are unable to join us, class lists will be published to the website the evening of Monday August 22.
Because social/emotional development is the critical underpinning for academic progress, as we come back to school, it’s important to have time to connect with old friends and meet new ones, too! Our family groups at each campus have been organizing playdates at different DC parks throughout the summer.
JF Cook Campus (All Grades)
August 14, 10:00am Kennedy Rec Center (Splash Park & Playground)
Calle Ocho Campus
Tuesday (all grades), August 16 from 4:00pm to 7:00pm- Michigan Park Community Playground 1200 Varnum St. NE
COMMUNICATIONS, INFORMATION & QUESTIONS
OJO! NEW Password
Our website is your source for information and is being updated throughout the summer.
You can find the Family Portal on the top bar of the school website.
The Family Portal has now a NEW password, please use: crew
In the unlikely event of an emergency, it is essential that we have multiple ways of reaching parents and caregivers for every enrolled student. If your contact information changes at any time, please be sure to update the school immediately.
All contact information and emergency/authorized pick-up information MUST be updated through the Parent Portal on Infinite Campus. After requesting any change, we will review them for accuracy. Once it's been reviewed, you will receive a message through the parent portal confirming the change has been made. Please allow five business days to process your requests.
To find the instructions to update your information in Infinite Campus, please visit the Family Portal here (NEW password: crew)
Starting the new school year, the school will launch ParentSquare (English & Spanish), a new communication platform that will allow families, teachers, and staff to be in touch with each other. ParentSquare is a single platform that unifies all school-home communications. As soon as the platform is ready for families, in the next few weeks, you will receive a welcome letter with more details.
Whatsapp Groups have been a great tool for families this past year since this was the only tool families had to keep in contact with other families in the same grade and campus. We listened to your feedback and needs, and are excited that ParentSquare will be a tool with more features for our school community to be connected!
HEALTH & SAFETY
To ensure that we do not face a surge of Covid cases at the start of the new school year – coming back together after many have had the wonderful opportunity to travel and be with friends and family – we request that everyone mask inside all Mundo Verde buildings. Masking and testing at the outset will let us establish baseline indicators for the school community that we can then compare with community tracking in the District.
Every week, our Health and Safety team will compare school-based community indicators with data from the District’s community assessments.
Please consult the website and watch for further announcements in the update for details of how we will manage the risks to our community in the approaching school year.
MUST be Submitted Via Email by August 24
Ensuring the health and safety of everyone in our school community is our top priority, especially today. Families are a critical part of our integrated safety system – to protect yourself, your family, and our community. The health and dental forms, including very important immunization records, are an important layer for school safety.
These forms MUST be submitted by email the first day of the school year, August 24:
J.F. Cook Campus CookHealth@mundoverdepcs.org
Calle Ocho Campus C8Health@mundoverdepcs.org
OJO! New Families: If you sent your Medical and Dental Forms to admissions@mundoverdepcs.org as part of the enrollment process, you do not need to send the forms again. They will be shared internally to your child’s campus.
To find the Medical and Dental Forms, please go to the Checklist in the school Family Portal here (NEW password: crew)
Take Action Now!
In order to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, it is vital that all students are fully immunized before entering school. Immunizations are the best defense against some of the most common and sometimes deadly infectious diseases. The District of Columbia implemented regulation stating that all students MUST have up to date immunization certification on file with the school within the first 20 school days or they will not be allowed to attend school. Make appointments with your health care providers and provide the proper documentation. See here for a list of required immunizations.
SCHOOL SERVICES
Available on August 8
Although what we look like and what we wear doesn’t tell us about who we are inside, school spirit is something to celebrate. Show that you are part of the Mundo Verde community and show-off our rainbow of school colors!
Place your T-Shirt orders on the Infinite Campus School Store! Opens on August 8 - click here. There is a cap of 6 shirts per order per month.
Free T-shirts!
As needed, families can also receive one free t-shirt at each campus on August 22 as well as one extra by filling out a FARM application at the front desk or in advance via Infinite Campus. There will also be a donation station to select used t-shirts, and/or drop off any outgrown uniforms.
To find the fees and the How To guide for details on how to purchase t-shirts, visit the Family Portal here (NEW password: crew)
Like preparing our community gardens before planting, preparing to learn is an important skill. And having the needed tools is also an important part of developing self-reliance and is often exciting, a tangible marker that the school year is upcoming.
To help ensure all students can make the most effective use of their time during outdoor play and learning, please make sure your child/ren has the following items:
For the first day of school: water bottle, raincoat, and rain boots
For the first day of November: winter coat, snow boots, gloves or mittens, winter hat
To ensure the comfort and safety of your child, please also bring or have your child wear:
Close-toed shoes/ tennis shoes to walk to the park
Sweaters / layers for inside and outside
PreK and Kinder Families
While every student is unique and special, our littlest learners have some special needs in common. We ask that you come prepared on the first day of school with the supplies listed below. On ALL supplies, please write first and last name in permanent marker.
Extra clothing (Mundo Verde shirt, pants, underwear) in a ziplock bag
A fitted crib sheet, pillow, and blanket (PreK Only)
Regular sized backpack- at least 12” wide x 6” deep x 15” high (Kinder Only - PreK may use smaller backpacks)
Mundo Verde is committed to serving healthy meals to children that contain plenty of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. The school meal program aims to improve the diet and health of students, helps to mitigate childhood obesity, models healthy eating to support the development of lifelong healthy eating patterns, encourages variety and exposure to new foods, and supports healthy choices while accommodating cultural food preferences and special dietary needs. Mundo Verde offers breakfast, lunch, and a snack each day for students.
We truly appreciate your help in registering your child with meals. This helps ensure the kitchen team has adequate numbers to prepare and serve healthy food to each student every day. Meal orders can be placed in the School Store, inside the Infinite Campus Parent Portal, beginning Aug 8. By signing up for meals, you agree to receive meals for the entire school year (unless you cancel the service). Written instructions on how to order meals, add funds to your Infinite Campus account, and guidelines for bringing food to school, are available in the Family Portal here (NEW password: crew)
This school year, breakfast will continue to be free for all DC students. There is a fee for lunch: $4.85 at J.F. Cook Campus and $4.50 at Calle Ocho Campus. This fee applies to all families unless you qualify for free and/or reduced meal (FARM). A fee for daytime snack is automatically applied for full pay families at $20/month, and families who qualify for FARM are offered daytime snack at no charge.
Students can bring additional snacks and lunch from home. All food brought into the school must comply with the Mundo Verde Wellness Policy (English / Spanish). If you need a meal for only one day due to a forgotten lunch, please call the front desk to request one.
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email Jack Leng, Food Program Manager, at meals@mundoverdepcs.org.
Everyone Should Complete the Form!
Hunger in America is an injustice and affront to human dignity. We may not be able to vanquish hunger in America, but it has no place at our school.
To participate in the national program to provide free or reduced-price meals to all children who need it, families must complete a FARM application. Families who do not need this support are also required to complete the opt-out form. ALL FAMILIES must complete one or the other FARM application.
To find the instructions to complete your FARM application in your Infinite Campus Parent Portal account and the FARM Application Opt-Out Form, please visit the Family Portal here (NEW password: crew)
The school has a record of each student’s allergies that were submitted as part of enrollment; families do not need to re-submit these. If you aren’t sure whether your child’s allergies are up to date, email Jack Leng, Food Program Manager, at meals@mundoverdepcs.org.
Special meals and milk (vegetarian, Lactaid, etc.) can be selected as an option when you place your meal order in the school store.
Kids Ride Free (KRF) Program
The KRF program allows students to ride for free on Metrobus, the DC Circulator, and Metrorail within the District. To be eligible, students must meet the following three criteria:
Be a resident of the District of Columbia,
Be ages 5 through 21, and
Be enrolled in an elementary or secondary public, private, charter or parochial school located within the District; or a ward of DC through the Foster Care System.
Complete this form to request an SY22-23 KRF SmarTrip card for your child, an initial supply of SY22-23 KRF SmarTrip cards will be delivered to schools in August for School ID Administrators to assign to students, upon request.
OJO! The SY21-22 KRF SmarTrip cards are valid only through September 30, 2022.
For more information on the program please visit the District Department of Transportation website, or send an email to Office Managers:
J.F. Cook Campus - Iris Rojas at irojas@mundoverdepcs.org
Calle Ocho Campus - Indigo Ferdinand at, iferdinand@mundoverdepcs.org.
While we understand that some families are active users of the Mundo Verde bus, the vast majority of students find their way to campus in other ways. Because prices have increased significantly, and it takes precious time away from operations that are critical for everyone, we are not able to continue this service at the start of the year. The school is committed to exploring other options and new vendors that would let us bring back this service later in the year.
Many of our learners and their caregivers need a little extra time to transition from school to home and we make valuable use of that time through our Extended Day Program. Anticipating that some additional families will participate in Extended Day, we nonetheless expect to be able to accommodate all interested families.
First Day of Extended Day Program: August, 29, 2022
To find the registration form and fees, please visit the Family Portal here (NEW password: crew)
Upcoming Events:
Aug 14: Playdate J.F Cook (All grades)
Aug 16: Playdate Calle Ocho (All grades)
Aug 22: Meet and Greet
Aug 22: T-Shirts PickUp
Aug 24: First Day of School for grades Kinder through 5th
Aug 24: First Day of School for PreK3 (No School for PreK4)
Aug 25: First Day of School for PreK4 (No School for PreK3)
Aug 26: PreK3 & PreK4 combined
Aug 29: First Day Extended Day Program
Sep 5: Holiday, School Closed