Fun, learning, and the holiday spirit are alive and well at Bostonia Elementary. The staff enjoyed our annual holiday breakfast together (a 40+ year tradition), and all across the school students were engaged in their own celebrations of the season. There were sing-a-longs, with parents and student alike enjoying holiday favorites like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Ice cream cone Christmas trees, and graham cracker gingerbread houses took shape, under the hands of little architects from preschool to 5th grade. Kindergartners graphed the most popular piece of a gingerbread man to nibble first (the head was the clear winner). Students performed Reader’s Theater, and presented research reports on topic like Arctic animals and Christmas traditions around the world, showing off their newly acquired ChromeBook skills. Even Santa made an appearance to enjoy the festivities. As we head off to a long awaited break, we have a lot to be thankful for. On behalf of the staff and families of Bostonia Elementary, Happy Holidays Cajon Valley!

Kirk Hoeben, Principal
Bostonia Elementary School

Along with several other CVUSD Schools, Cajon Valley Middle School reaches 100% participation. What a gift to our students to expose them to a universal language and a glimpse at Computer Science. Looking forward to more posts and stories about Cajon Valley Kids and Coding… Special thanks to Liz Loether from CVMS for assisting in this district wide venture!

This year at Los Coches Creek Middle School, we had the opportunity to do things differently concerning anti-bullying week. We have an amazing ASB this year who are brave enough to share their personal stories. They decided that they wanted to create a video, alongside the assembly, to express to the students how bullying has impacted their own lives. We worked for two weeks discussing and creating the video and the information to be presented at the assembly. There are some stories individuals did not feel comfortable sharing on the Internet, so the video has been altered to respect their wishes. Students ask that their names not be shared as well. As the ASB advisor, I am extremely proud of each and every one of them for the work they contributed.

~Toni Ferland~

Math/Science/ASB Educator

LCCMS, Rm 609

619-938-8600

http://www.cajonvalley.net/webpages/tferland/

At Chase Avenue, teachers and students are embracing the wonderful opportunity that CCCS and a Blended Learning Environment bring to today’s classroom. Over the last five months, our students have participated in engaging lessons that incorporate technology to differentiate instruction based on student needs, the development of challenging and exciting projects, and constant learning that promotes creativity and inspires students to push themselves to higher levels of learning.​

Izela Jacobo, Principal
Chase Elementary School

With Christmas right around the corner, I thought my class would enjoy getting into the holiday spirit. On December 1st, Anza Elementary received a very special delivery from Santa in the North Pole! Mrs. Knight kindly delivered the package to its recipients – Ms. Rasameetham’s second graders in Room 20. ​The package contained the Elf on the Shelf book, which we promptly read. Shortly after, my students noticed an elf sitting up high on a shelf. Watching them of course.

Over the last couple of weeks, Candy Cane (the name voted on by the students) has been making special visits to our class. She watches the students’ behavior and reports back to the North Pole. When she returns she has a message for the class from Santa, along with a Christmas book. The students are thrilled each morning to find her!

Candy Cane may have a job to do, but that doesn’t stop her from getting into a little mischief herself. Here’s what she’s been up to!

Linda Gudino and Ms. Rasameetham
Office Manager & Teacher, Anza Elementary School

Meridian Elementary staff members recently participated in the first ever Meridian “EdCamp”! Our staff members, serving as teacher leaders, provided professional development on topics generated by the staff. Jessica Martinez taught us all about Hapara, Richard Coleman walked us through the many ways to use Google Classroom and Google Docs, Ronnie Peterson shared the variety of ways he uses Edmodo including playlists and the Edmodo quiz feature, and Loren Johnson led the charge with the Nexus Tablets elaborating on the many instructional applications the tablets offer.

In addition, we hosted Josh from ST Math and Christine from Imagine Learning English, two fabulous support programs for our students. Teachers and support staff self-selected two of the six topics, attending two one-hour sessions during our collaboration meeting. It was exciting to see differentiated professional development in a small group setting in which teachers were able to ask questions, investigate components of the technology, and learn from and alongside staff members they often don’t see. Way to go, Meridian Staff!!! Your time, effort, and energy are a huge benefit to our program and students!

Michelle Hayes, Principal
Meridian Elementary School

The Elks Lodge 1812 invest in their communities through many programs, including activities that benefit our youngest learners. Since 1984, the ELKs have arrived at Sevick School en masse from the North Pole with Santa and Mrs. Claus. The group spends the entire day at our school bringing a bit of holiday joy to our students. As Santa’s helpers, the ELKS Lodge members purchase a personalized gift for each student at Sevick School.
Words cannot describe the excitement on the children’s faces and the delight of the parents as they watch Santa give each child special attention and a gift selected just for them.
Click below for more pictures…
Sevick

Ginny Pinkerton, Principal
Sevick School

Here’s a short 5 minute inspirational video to warm your heart during the rain this weekend. Please share with students when we return on Monday if you have the time. Would love to hear about the stories like this that go on in our schools every day… I know there are heroes every day right here in Cajon Valley… Please share your stories as they come.

David Miyashiro, Superintendent

Avocado School gave a warm welcome to new CVUSD Governing Board member Jo Alegria during her first “official” school site visit on Friday, December 12th. Despite the rainy day conditions, staff and students’ holiday spirits were high. Avocado has traditionally been a school that fosters students’ creativity, both in music and in visual arts. We are excited to expand our knowledge and use of digital resources and promote students’ creative capacity. Throughout the day students were engaged in a variety of collaborative experiences; including researching, close reading, and using Moby Max to tackle challenging vocabulary. Both teachers and students enjoyed the opportunity to learn computer science through The Hour of Code. We had 100% participation. Go Gators!

Gail Boone

Principal Avocado School

As a follow up to the popular Summer Blended Learning Academy, Ed Services launched the 3-Day Job-Embedded Professional Development program. The program idea is a spin-off from the Summer Blended Learning Academy, which was designed to increase teacher confidence in creating blended learning environments and provide teachers with first hand experience in a classroom with 1:1 mobile devices. The 3-Day Job-Embedded PD program groups grade level or content area teachers together in a 1:1 blended learning environment. The three-person team includes an experienced lead teacher and two partner teachers.
For two-consecutive days, both partner teachers spend the day in the lead teacher’s classroom learning about our digital curriculum, online resources, and ideas for designing performance tasks, inquiry lessons, or problem-based learning. Partner teachers have choice on how they spend the third day. They can return to the lead teacher’s classroom, or they can request that the lead teacher come to their classroom to support them in implementing their own blended learning model. We currently have 30 teachers participating in the program and we look forward to increasing that number throughout the year.

Below are the comments from the first few groups of teachers.

“We just finished the first two days. It was a fabulous experience. I cannot express how valuable it was.”

“It was great to see how I can embed Go Math into Google classroom, and create playlists for students.”

She (lead teacher) had such amazing ideas and insights into how to use different apps.

Carmen Restrepo, Ed.D.
Coordinator of Educational Technology
Twitter handle: @Carmen_Restrepo