For Red Ribbon Week, local Superheroes from The El Cajon Police Department and Heartland Fire & Rescue helped the children of Cajon Valley say “no to drugs” and make healthy choices.  The students had lots of fun learning about the very important work our police officers and firefighters do every day to make our community safe.  This video is part 1 of 2.  Thank you to the police officers and firefighters for collaborating with the students of Cajon Valley to learn about these very important jobs while making a fun video for all of the students to enjoy.  Student body presidents from each of our schools will come together to deliver letters to ECPD and Heartland Fire.  Thank you to Karen Minshew and our school counselors for orchestrating!

David Miyashiro, Superintendent

Thanks to Dr. Miyashiro, Board Member Suzanne Mullins, and Assistant Principal Lesly Ezop for visiting Madison School and enjoying the humor of Crazy Hair Day.  The Madison PTA always finds very creative ways to celebrate making good choices during Red Ribbon Week.  We “socked it to drugs” with crazy socks, we “followed our dreams” in our PJs, and we “used our heads” with our wacky hair.  

Despite the crazy coiffures, Madison students were busy learning how to read, developing their presentation skills, writing, solving math problems in multiple ways, summarizing texts with emojis, creating projects, giving and responding to feedback, and working on their Ted Talks.  This is all made possible through frequent and thoughtful collaboration by an amazing faculty of dedicated teachers.  

October is both a fun and productive time of year at Madison!

Christine Sphar, Principal

Madison Elementary School

Hillsdale Club Live’s Red Ribbon Week pep rally!  Club Live is the middle school component of Friday Night Live and is sponsored by the TUPE grant.  Our mission is to encourage kids to lead a healthy life, develop leadership skills and to say no to tobacco and other drugs. Some of the games Huskies played included: Knock Down Drugs, Ring Around A Successful Life and Build A Wall Against drugs.  Students also took a trivia quiz to test their knowledge about why we celebrate Red Ribbon Week.  Music was provided by docents from the County Office of Education’s Friday Night Live/Club Live Alliance.

Melanie Ellis

Hillsdale Middle School

Team CAL Berkeley English teacher

HMS Retrospection adviser

ellis@cajonvalley.net

On October 27th, the very first cohort of CV Google Goorus finished five weeks of intensive study and exposure to all things Google.  During this time, they analyzed DOK levels, SAMR, and Blended Learning along with the Google Tools and skills necessary to become a Level One Google Certified Educator.  Strong bonds were made between teachers at many different school sites and they are committed to keeping those relationships and collaboration going in the future.  We would like to congratulate (once again) these hard-working, dedicated,empowered teachers!  It was an incredibly positive experience and we enjoyed the journey with you!

Here’s to our new CV Google Goorus!

Bethany Schwappach, Kathy Gligo, Jenn Petraglia, and Liz Loether

Students at W.D. Hall had a great time participating in Red Ribbon Week and honoring local first responders this week. Not only did students take part in Cajon Valley’s letter writing campaign, but the broadcast team at Hall also thought of a special way to honor local heroes. Instead of having students film the broadcast this week, SDFD Captain Francel and SDPD Officer Albright came into the studio to record the news! They did a great job highlighting all the exciting things happening at Hall and students were thrilled to have the chance to “coach” them through a broadcast. During the broadcast, we presented Captain Francel and Officer Albright with W.D. Hall shirts to commemorate the experience and thank them for their service. Our broadcast team is excited to share this special episode!”

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W.D. Hall Broadcast Team

Courtney Kolerich 

Fifth Grade Teacher 

W.D. Hall Elementary School

Crest teachers have departmentalized for Math and ELA. Students in grades two through five have two core teachers, one for ELA/History, and one for Math/Science. This shift allows teachers to bring their passion and content expertise to multiple grades. In collaboration with Rios, Jamacha, Rancho SD, and the Language Academy, we hired a Music and PE teacher. Every other Friday, students experience Music and PE from qualified credentialed teachers. While students are engaged in Music and PE, teachers meet in teams to collaborate and review achievement data. On alternate Fridays students receive an hour of art instruction from our art docent. We use the curriculum Meet the Masters to provide students with a quality program as they learn about the life and techniques of art masters such as Picasso, Van Gogh, O’Keeffe and Matisse. We are very thankful to have these wonderful programs, teachers and opportunities come to Crest Elementary.

Carmen Restrepo, Ed.D., Principal

Crest Elementary School

Dr. Joseph Johnson, the Dean of the SDSU Department of Education, and thirteen professors from the teacher and administrative credentialing programs came to Naranca to see CVUSD’s grass roots effort to change the face of education through Blended/Personalized Learning, Visible Learning, a Growth Mindset Philosophy and the integration of both CTC Reading and Writing. We welcomed the team from SDSU with a breakfast and a short presentation from our teachers. The team from SDSU was able to visit almost every classroom and spend quality time talking to students and seeing targeted small group instruction in action. We then were able to release every teacher to meet with our visitors thanks to the coordinated support from EL Cajon Parks and Recreation and the amazing staff from our very own Extended Day Program. A huge thank you goes out to those incredibly student centered organizations. Together with our Superintendent and Board Members along with both the SDSU professors and Naranca Teachers, we were able to enjoy a lunch together and discuss teaching strategies, form connections and develop lasting professional relationships. Naranca was honored and pleased to host Dr. Johnson and his phenomenal team of professionals as we travel together on this amazing journey we call education.  Click here to see Dean Johnson’s letter to CVUSD and Naranca miyashiro-10-19-16-naranca-visit

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Michael Serban – Principal

Cajon Valley Union School District

Naranca Elementary School

1030 Naranca Ave. El Cajon, CA 92021

W- 619-588-3087 F – 619-441-6176

serbanm@cajonvalley.net

CVUSD District partners, Barnes & Noble and El Cajon Subaru hosted the Subaru Loves Learning on Saturday, September 24, 2016 from 11:00am-3:00pm at the Grossmont Barnes and Noble. The day was filled with face painting, balloon animals, maker area and raffle prizes.  Barnes and Noble donated 800 books to the District and El Cajon Subaru raised $4,200 to our TEDxKids@ElCajon event. Thank you to our partners for supporting the children of our district.

We asked for volunteers to help read at the event and the response was overwhelming with wonderful staff from across the District who volunteered to read.  A big thank you to the readers: Casie Martinez (Personnel), Cheri Boulanger (Vista Grande)Celine O’Hara (Lexington), Tennille Perkins (Meridian), Steven Bailey (Emerald), Lynn Peterman (Cajon Valley MS), Stori Wadley (Greenfield/Los Coches MS), Courtney Kolerich (WD Hall), Tamara Otero (Board President), Kathy Skube (Jamacha), Debra Davis (Meridian, Rios, Crest), Elizabeth Groff (Greenfield MS), Emeri Keffer (Avocado) and David Miyashiro (Superintendent).

Naomie Rodrigues, Executive Assistant to the Superintendent

The Triple P – Positive Parenting Program (Triple P) is a world-renowned, evidence-based parenting program that is being made available to families at each of the District’s 12 California State Preschool school elementary sites. Triple P strengthens communication and relationships among families by teaching practical, scientifically proven parenting strategies. This “tool kit” of proven strategies helps parents strengthen relationships with their children, promote their children’s development and prevent or manage common parenting challenges.  These photos show the first of the 3 Triple P workshops being provided for the Johnson State Preschool families. Parents who attend the series receive a certificate of completion and are entered into a raffle for a variety of useful household supplies.  Each workshop always starts with parents sitting down with their children to share a meal, then the children engage in activities with staff while their parents attend the workshop.  There were 12 parents and 11 children in attendance on October 6th,  with a very positive response to the workshop from our parents.

Ginny Pinkerton

Principal, Sevick School

Area Coordinator, State Preschool