Friday, March 31, 2017

Congrats to our School and District Teachers of the Year!

School Site Teachers of the Year

Eucalyptus Hills - Tessa Green

Tessa Green is a strong leader and an excellent teacher. She maintains a friendly, positive, and professional demeanor at all times. She is always willing to look at new ways of doing her job and is constantly striving to be innovative and that fact is reflected in her students' academic and behavioral successes. Not only does Tessa serve on numerous committees, she also provides 1:1 coaching and ongoing mentoring before/after school and during her lunch break to support our new teachers. Tessa embodies and tirelessly promotes the schoolwide belief that we are all responsible for the success and well being of every student at Eucalyptus Hills.

Lakeside Farms - Lina Cortes

Lina Cortes has dedicated many years to serve the needs of the students, teachers, and parents of Lakeside. She spends many hours working behind the scenes with our English Language Learners and their parents. Not only is she always a positive role model, but she also is highly involved in empowering families, students, and teachers. You can find Lina at most events, or serving on multiple committees because she always goes above and beyond for the school. Lina engages her students by making curriculum attainable. She carefully prepares lessons, brings in speakers, plans field trips, offers tactile and kinesthetic learning experiences, and shares music and art with the students. She empowers students by finding resources that meet the needs of every student.

Lakeside Middle School - Karen Saake

Karen Saake is a resource teacher at LMS. She is looked upon as a leader across the campus. She works very closely with the general education teachers to ensure that every one of her students experience success. When she is in a general education course providing support for her students, she is truly a team player, working closely with the teacher as a true partner to ensure success of all students. Across the campus, staff look to Karen for advice on the unique situations that arise in special education. Karen will never give up on a student and often takes on the most challenging cases. She truly owns her students and works to ensure their success in all areas.

Lakeview - Shawn Williams

Shawn Williams is an exemplary educator. Staff and students alike excel under her leadership. She has a strong knowledge of curriculum content and she works consistently and collaboratively with her colleagues in an effort to improve teaching and learning. Shawn has an unsurpassed dedication to her craft. She is a model for Teaching for Mastery and she utilizes multiple measures to ensure that her students are learning and progressing towards mastery of grade level standards. Walking into Shawn's classroom, students are excited about their learning and actively engaged in student discourse. Although she is a seasoned teacher, she constantly strives to learn and grow professionally. Staff and students alike benefit from the knowledge and expertise she shares.

Lemon Crest - Heather Taft


Heather Taft is the true embodiment of what it means to believe in every one of her students and expect them to succeed no matter their capabilities. When you ask anybody about Heather, student or colleague, the first thing they will tell you is how much she cares about them and wants to see them fulfill their potential. Heather will do whatever it takes to provide the environment and instruction to make that happen. No matter what student challenges Heather has been faced with, she has approached each case individually with grace, dedication, and compassion. Heather has been involved with every innovative initiative that the district has offered. She devotes herself to staying on the cutting edge with the intention of always doing what's best for our students.

Riverview - Alejandra Morales


Alejandra Morales goes above and beyond the call of duty for her students, parents, and colleagues and anyone else who works with her. She is a loving and conscientious teacher who always puts kids first. She never has a negative thing to say and is always up building everyone around her. She has sustained an excellence in her teaching, has a passion for her profession, and an innate ability to connect with students. She is always willing to take on new challenges and learn new things. Her vast knowledge of teaching is a benefit for her students.

Tierra del Sol Middle - Dahlia Rinck


Dahlia Rinck is a great 8th grade team leader. She connects with every student, and encourages and believes in each of them every day. She is a champion of design thinking, and works tirelessly with her team to create cross-curricular projects that engage students. Her knack for securing grants has resulted in awesome additions added to our science and technology initiatives, such as a 3D printer and a Salk Lab visit to learn about DNA. Dahlia designs her lessons to promote the 4 C's - communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity, and the results have shown! Not only have her English test scores grown 18% in one year, but students are also able to design an annual memorial project for the school because they have developed the skillset to do so.

Winter Gardens - Jodi Stein


Jodi Stein is an excellent teacher. She supports other teachers on campus with professional learning. She is a teacher-leader of PBIS and Learning Headquarters. In addition, she is a fantastic teammate for the Mandarin team. She has sustained an excellence in instruction, innovative instructional strategies, and a passion for her profession. She is an amazing teacher with so much compassion for her students, as well as teaching. She always goes above and beyond in everything she does for her students, co-workers, and everyone around her. She has an incredible dedication to the Mandarin program and support of new teachers.

District Teacher of the Year
Suzy Bass, Lindo Park




Suzy is a tireless advocate for Lakeside students, families, and the community. She coordinates many responsibilities with humility and grace while also providing an exceptional learning environment for her students. Suzy's classroom is marked by active, engaged students. She works closely with her grade level teammates to gather data, review student progress and plan lessons and strategies to increase all students' achievement. And her students LOVE Ms. Bass. She provides an environment promoting trust and achievement; all students in her classroom recognize this. Suzy is a bedrock member of the Lindo Park PTA. Not only does she spend countless hours working closely with the PTA, but she also organizes the annual Run for the Arts, a districtwide fundraiser that has hundreds of participants. As if that wasn't enough, Suzy also organizes and co-hosts the 4th and 5th grade Science Club. This eight week course prepares students to compete in the County's Elementary Science Field Day. And finally, Suzy is a trusted colleague and friend to many of the staff at Lindo Park. She is a great listener and is always ready to help a teacher in need. Suzy does it all and she is still ready to go!







Tuesday, March 28, 2017

When Tech and Ed meet in a Third Grade Classroom

Guest Blog Post by Beth Sandford, Lemon Crest teacher
New to Lakeside but not new to teaching, a teacher for twenty years, the most noticeable difference  I saw when I arrived in Lakeside was how teachers support teachers, and how Ed and Tech merge in the classroom in the most wonderful way!

~Beth Sandford






Learning About Our Community
Thanks to Sandy Patterson and Kay Little who helped our class connect with Miss Edna, a life long resident of Lakeside. She shared with us memories of the Lakeside Inn, the flood of 1916, the Railroad, and the Lakeside Raceway. Skype allowed us to connect with community members and learn about how our community has changed. To see the Twitter post, click HERE


Breakout EDU
You may have heard about Breakout Rooms, but have you heard about Breakout EDU? In Breakout EDU, players work collaboratively to solve a series of critical thinking puzzles in order to open a locked box. My class read the BFG in the fall as part of the Global Read Aloud Challenge. Then we helped Sophie save all the Fizzwizard dreams in our first Breakout EDU challenge. The class had to work together to solve problems that would help them unlock a series of locks. Inside we found a Thank You from Sophie and BFG bookmarks.


Seesaw
Student creation and learning on the iPads is mindblowing! Students have the ability to show deeper understanding of concepts by using apps like Shadow Puppet, Telagami, Book Creator, iMovie, Pic Collage, Popplet, and Explain Everything. The difficulty is having a way for students to share their projects with classmates and family in a safe and meaningful way. My class uses Seesaw, a digital portfolio, to share work with each other and with family. 
Click HERE to see examples of how you can use Seesaw in your classroom.

Donor's Choose Flexible Seating


My classroom also had a project funded through Donor's Choose for flexible seating. We have designed a learning space in our classroom where students can work at a cafe table, s small writing table the floor or using stability balls. My first year in Lakeside has been filled with gratitude for the amazing teachers I work with at Lemon Crest, the talented Tech department (Laura, Kay and Sandy) and my students who are at the very core of every decision I make in my classroom each day!



Friday, March 17, 2017

NGSS in China

By Guest Author - Priscilla Barcellos, Lakeview Kindergarten Teacher

When I was told that I would be teaching a lesson to a group of kindergarteners in China, I immediately thought about doing an NGSS lesson. I had been working really hard with a team of teachers on developing and teaching a Forces and Motion unit for IDEAS 2.0 and wanted to showcase this very revolutionary style of teaching science to Chinese teachers. I also know how much my own students were engaged in the same lessons and knew that the Chinese students would enjoy the experience.


I chose a lesson called “Crash It, Move It” in which students use a ramp to move a ball that then crashes into a wooden block. Students compare two different balls to see which one had the stronger force on the block. The balls have significantly different masses (lighter and heavier). I knew that with the potential language barrier, this lesson was very visual and tactile which helps all students learn no matter the circumstances.


I began the lesson with a group of 20 five-year-olds and a room full of Chinese teachers and principals. I knew little about the group that I was teaching, but was informed that these students have been learning English from an English-speaking teacher for a small portion of each day. My “Engage” part of the lesson sequence was asking them to somehow make the block move. One student came up and pushed the block with her finger. Another pushed it too, but I pointed out that you can also pull it in the opposite direction. I drew arrows on the whiteboard showing a push and a pull on a block. I then introduced the two balls and explained that they could use other objects to push the block. I spent quite a few minutes modeling how to conduct the investigation, especially because there were a lot of steps, they were so young, and they knew very little English.  I even explained how to take turns and collaborate. I had a few students come up and show the class how to roll the ball and mark with a colored sticker where the block stopped. We did a few examples and then had each group go to their tables where the ramps and recording board were already set up for them.


It was now time to “Explore.” The students had a lot of fun rolling the ball and watching the block move forward. They then correctly took the colored sticker and placed it under where the block stopped. We had a few adults help make sure they were understanding the directions and it seemed that they did. They were even taking turns and helping each other.


Finally, we came back to the front and reviewed the recording boards to “Explain” their thinking. We looked at all five of recording sheets and then we talked about the words “farther” and “closer.”  The students could not really explain in words what they learned, but when I used my arms to show farther, they said “yes!” when referring to the pink ball’s impact on the block. I then put my arms up like I was strong and they agreed that the pink ball had a stronger force. I also made the motion for heavier and made the connection between how heavy the ball was and the strength of the force.

Still unsure if they understood the concept, I asked the principal to ask in Mandarin what they learned and it was clear to her based on their response that they understood. The experience was so exciting and the teachers were so attentive the whole time as I taught. After the lesson, I answered a few questions and explained how the new NGSS standards have revolutionized science in school.

  

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

TdS STEAM TEAM Supports Community Event



The TdS STEAM Team supported the Biocom event on March 11th at the Community Center. Thanks to our guest bloggers, Tori Fain and Alexis Morris (students) who took time to describe the event. Newsletter