Happy, engaged, respectful, and hard working students are certainly the product of a staff committed to excellence. Wasn’t able to catch everyone in action, but this short montage of “a day in the life” at Montgomery Middle School shows why students are reaching such high levels of success. Thank you Montgomery Team for putting the “happy” in Friday! Congratulations on your progress towards IB (International Baccalaureate). Very impressive.
Students at Montgomery Middle School in Mrs. Ward’s class first spent 3 days taking a “Walking Tour of Florence.” Students visited 7 sites in Florence and participated in activities to learn about achievements, artists, and daily life during the Renaissance. For example, they visited the Duomo di Santa Maria del Fiore, learned about how Brunelleschi designed the cathedral’s dome, and then created a human dome to understand and feel how each part supported weight. Some other activities included sculpting an eyeball after Michelangelo’s “Statue of David”, deciphering Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks, interpreting Machiavelli quotes, and shopping at the Mercato Nuovo.
Today students completed a processing activity where students designed and wrote a postcard sharing information about their experience. We did it “Michelangelo style” under the desk’s “ceilings.” This was to simulate how it might have felt painting the Sistine Chapel. It was a great week full of lots of experiences, fun, and learning!
Jamacha 5th graders culminated their study of the early days of America with Colonial Days. They experienced life as a colonial child by making fry bread, playing typical colonial games, making toys such as sock dolls and corn husk animals, and doing chores with their tin-can lanterns and homemade candles. The afternoon culminated in student-led presentations about one of our original colonies.
Kathryn D. Skube, Ed.D.
Principal, Jamacha Elementary School
The First Annual CVUSD Honor Band performance was a tremendous success! With only four rehearsals, the students and Music Directors worked hard to prepare for the performance. The students learned and performed six pieces of music with different directors leading each of these pieces of musical literature.
It was very apparent from the response of the audience (standing ovation) and the student’s smiles and feelings of self-satisfaction that this performance not only a success, but an inspiration for future musical endeavors.
Thank you so much to our fabulous Directors!
Karen Sheldon, Cajon Valley Middle School
Teresa Spencer, Emerald Middle School
Joan Knoernschild, Greenfield Middle School
Spencer Caldwell, Hillsdale Middle School
Casey Hernandez, Hillsdale Middle School
Carl Reed, HIllsdale Middle School
Wayne Kitt, Los Coches Creek Middle School
Robert Bush, Avocado, Fuerte, Jamacha, Rancho San Diego, and Vista Grande Elementary Schools
Students at Magnolia Elementary receive recognition for perfect attendance, academic achievement, and exemplary behavior. Mrs. Jennifer Grondeck-Wagner (interim principal for Amanda Silva), awards this months stars. Congratulations students!
Three San Diego County schools have been chosen to receive nearly $200,000 in professional development training from Collaboration: Teachers and Artists, or CoTA, a nonprofit professional development organization that pairs teaching artists with elementary school teachers to make the arts an ongoing aspect of elementary school education.
Flying Hills Elementary School is the first East County school to be selected as one of the group’s collaborators. Since CoTA’s inception in 1998, National City has had four of its schools involved, Chula Vista nine and the San Diego Unified 10.
Click here to read the full story in the Union Tribune
http://m.utsandiego.com/news/2014/mar/24/flying-hills-elementary-arts-funding/
Thursday after school, Los Coches Creek held it’s annual Dodge Ball Tournament. Talk about intensity!!! Congratulations to all who participated. Love the uniforms, school spirit, and athleticism. Also pictured here are the 8th graders getting ready for their trip to the East Coast. Be safe, have fun, and learn lots!
Jamacha students celebrated Read Across America and Dr. Seuss’s birthday through cross-age reading activities in our beautiful ampitheater.
Kathryn D. Skube, Ed.D.
Principal, Jamacha Elementary School
Swish! Zoom! Dodge! Stretch. Breathe… Students at Bostonia and Madison spend quality time every other week with coaches from the City of El Cajon’s REC Department shooting hoops, kicking soccer balls, and playing dodgeball. Hearts pump, muscles flex, and sweat pours. But that’s not all! Every week students also stretch, relax, and center themselves in yoga class. Both Bostonia and Madison now have dedicated yoga rooms, complete with yoga teachers! Ms. Genevieve (Bostonia) and Ms. Stephanie (Madison) help students control their breathing, learn poses, increase their flexibility, focus their minds, and improve their overall health and fitness.
Bostonia and Madison thank the City of El Cajon’s REC Department for helping us give students something exciting to look forward to and teachers time to collaborate. Both schools also thank the Sonima Foundation for funding the grant that made all this health and fitness possible!
What are our next steps? We will be adding “The Patch” obstacle course to our REC days, building core strength and balance! Ready, set, let’s go!
Principal Christine Sphar, Madison Elementary
Principal Kirk Hoeben, Bostonia Elementary
Thank you Principal Keith Himaka, Student Ambassadors, and Blossom Valley Team for a preview of your California Distinguished School Visit. Congratulations on your nomination! This is well-deserved.
