“America on Main Street” Volunteers Needed

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Dear Volunteer,

Your participation as a volunteer in previous El Cajon events has been greatly appreciated! We are now looking forward to our NEW event, America on Main Street, taking place on Saturday, June 14, 2014. We would love for you to join us again; please see the attached Volunteer Interest Form for more information. If you are interested, please fill out the attached form and return to:

Julie Alon
200 Civic Center Way El Cajon, CA 92020
OR jalon@cityofelcajon.us

Please respond before May 2, 2014 or at your earliest convenience. If you have any questions please feel free to call me directly at 619/441-1676. My contact information is also listed below. Thank you again and I hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely,

Julie Alon
City of El Cajon
Kennedy Recreation Center

Volunteer Interest Form

Letter from El Cajon Police Department to CVUSD Child Nutrition Services

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During Spring Break Mark Mendoza and Child Nutrition hosted leaders of the El Cajon Police Department for collaboration, cooking class, and healthy dining.  Below is a note from Captain Jeff Arvan.  We are very proud of our Child Nutrition Team and glad to be partners with ECPD.

 

Mark,

I just wanted to say thanks again for taking the time to facilitate our staff meeting yesterday.  It was a great success and everyone really enjoyed your tour, input on quality assurance and not to mention the food!  The Chief wanted me to specifically pass along his appreciation to you and your staff for allowing us this opportunity.

Thanks again,
Jeff

Captain J.D. Arvan

El Cajon Police Department

CVMS Receives Classroom of the Future Award

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Cajon Valley Middle School learned Thursday that they received the very prestigious Classroom of the Future Award for 2014.  Only four schools in all of San Diego County receive this award.  Congratulations students and staff on leading San Diego County in excellence and innovation.

Here are the top 5 benefits to winning an Innovation in Education Award:

1.CASH: CFF donates $5,000 to the school or district for the inspire, innovate and achieve awards. CFF donates $10,000 for the impact award, the best of the best.

2.RECOGNITION: The CFF web site will list this year’s innovative programs as well recognition in a U-T San Diego ad.

3.VIDEO PROFILE: CFF creates a brief, 2-3 minute, video profile that documents each award. The video appears during the awards program at our CFF annual event and remains archived on the CFF web site.

4.SATISFACTION: The process of preparing a substantial and convincing nomination will provide you with a sense of satisfaction andpride in your program.

5.TROPHY: CFF presents a crystal vase trophy suitable for a display case that recognizes the program and its school or district.

Naranca Mustangs made a difference in the world!!!!!

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Naranca Elementary School in association with the American Heart Association trained with jump ropes during the month of March in an effort to strengthen their own hearts and raise money for the A.H.A. On Wednesday, March 3rd all students were challenged to see how many times they could jump rope in 20 minutes. The students raised an amazing $1,300. One hundred percent of the profits was donated to the American Heart Association to support children who are in need of heart surgeries and to educate others about a heart healthy life style.

The teachers, parents and staff are incredibly proud of all our students for taking the time to show kindness and empathy as they support those in need. Thank you Naranca Mustangs for making a difference.

Michael Serban, Principal

 

6th Grade FAME Performance @ Flying Hills Elementary School

The FAME (Fine Arts Magnet Education) Program was established in 1985. The tradition of producing a Broadway styled musical theatre production began in 1991.  The 2014 production of Disney’s The Little Mermaid Jr. marked the 24th season.  The sixth grade students at Flying Hills make up the cast and crew of these productions. Directed by Laura Geraci and with Art Direction by Cynthia Stolis, the students experience a full spectrum of Theatre Arts. ​

My Awesome Class!!!

I am so excited about the use of ed tech because I think it will totally level the playing field of learning for my students. So far, my kids have totally embraced to the use of digital devices and the integration of ed tech into our daily schedule. I use blended learning in my room daily during ELA and Math, but on Fridays, we REALLY have fun!

Fridays are our Digital Learning Days. In addition to the regular blended learning rotations, we have been doing the following for the past month or so since our Chromebooks have arrived.

Here’s what a typical Friday looks like:

1. We post our Weekly Reflections on Edmodo. This is what we posted this past week.

2. We look up interesting science or social studies topics relating our current units of study on Wonderopolis, WatchKnowLearn.org or PowerMy Learning.org. Or we look up news articles of interest onYoungzine.org (the past week, we have been following news about the missing MH airplane; this week, we read about the mudslides in Washington and the Ebola outbreak in Africa.)

3. We are currently working on a Defined Stem type performance task project that my students came up with themselves after we finished our first project. For this, we are working in groups. This is ongoing and might take us till the end of the year.

Here’s the “mission” (that’s what we decided to call our projects):

My students have decided the upper grades playground is boring because it has no equipment so they are redesigning it. They have even spoken to Amanda our principal about it and she hypothetically “gave” them a budget of $5000.

So far, the three project groups have come up with 3 areas: an outdoor trampoline area, a treehouse/climbing structure with a zip line and a large swing and slide combo for older students. They are currently at the stage of researching the playground equipment to use to complete the 3 areas.

4. I have also just added a student-driven learning time called “Genius Time”,  I got the idea from a pair of teachers on Edmodo who posted about their district’s Da Vinci Day activities. The students are given time to look up ANY TOPIC that interests them ( within reason and approved by the teacher). This gives them a chance to learn about something that they really interests them and which they want to know about, not just what we as educators feel they need to know. I think this is very powerful as the students learn to be independent learners and gain a deeper understanding that they can “power” their own learning and teach themselves. The students are then given the opportunity to share what they have learned with their peers in a short presentation. So far this week, we have looked up tsunamis, the solar system, blue whales, interesting bunnies, “how to” videos on drawing different things, the Titanic, clouds, etc…

Cheers!

Celine O’Hara
SDC/NSH (3/4/5)
Magnolia Elementary
Email: oharac@cajonvalley.net