$20,000 in grants to University City schools by local supporters

Teachers from all five University City public schools received grants from a pool of $20,000 raised by the neighborhood's school-support organization, EdUCate!

The organization commits at least one-third of its donations to teachers each year.

The Teacher Grant committee carefully considers and scores all grant applications on the basis of several factors, including the number of students the grant will impact, its educational value, the longevity of the project, its practicality, innovation, collaboration and cost effectiveness.

"This program directly impacts our children, so please consider supporting these grants through a tax-deductible donation through any one of our giving programs: Honor a Teacher, Dollar a Day, Oktoberfest and Taste of the Triangle. We appreciate your donations!" the group said in its latest newsletter.

Teachers receiving donations include: Tara Astacio, Nikki Botts, Melissa Carian, James Cope, Brandon Corenman,Kelly Dudley, Tricia Eads, Janet Engebretsen, Sonia Gomez-Neri, Lisa Gordon, Gail Hall, Nicole Harris, Coretta Hazelton, Susanna Holcomb, Tara Howell, Marie Juergens, Karen McKelvey, Jeanette Monastero, Teem Osborne, Melinda Prietto, Maureen Quessenberry, Mary Ricci, Craig Sacchetti, Kimberly Sharman, Suwanna Siegler, Ellie Vandiver, Lisa Wood.

EdUCate! is a nonprofit foundation established in 1993 to provide supplemental funds for all five of the University City Public Schools: Curie Elementary, Doyle Elementary, Spreckels Elementary, Standley Middle, and University City High Schools. Since its founding, it has distributed more than $1.3 million to the five University City public schools, raised primarily through its many events and programs.

For more information on the organization, visit its website.

Longfellow History Teacher Goes Back in Time on the East Coast

Longfellow Middle School History teacher Kimberly de Berzunza spent three weeks this Summer living and breathing part of her U.S. History curriculum on the steamy east coast.

De Berzunza was one of 80 teachers selected from around the nation to spend a week in Old Deerfield, Massachusetts, studying the 1704 French and Indian Raid on the frontier outpost village in a workshop entitled “Living on the Edge of Empire.” Hosted by the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association as one of 21 competitive National Endowment for the Humanities Landmarks of American History and Culture Workshops, de Berzunza learned first-hand about the violent capture of 112 English colonists, before creating a lesson plan using a variety of primary sources for students to consider different perspectives on the event.

De Berzunza also visited President Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, outside Charlottesville, Virginia, as one of 13 Barringer Research Fellows selected from around the nation and Great Britain to research and write curriculum related to Jefferson. De Berzunza spent two weeks at Monticello and the nearby Jefferson Library studying Jefferson’s attitudes and policies toward American Indians, and writing three lesson plans for the Monticello Classroom website.

Students were required to analyze historical primary and secondary sources to consider how Jefferson’s attitudes and philosophy influenced his policies.
While in the area, de Berzunza also stopped in at the Shenandoah National Forest, the University of Virginia’s Special Collections Library, the homes of presidents James Monroe and James Madison and Chief Justice John Marshall, and the White House of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia.
De Berzunza looks forward to bringing these new experiences and understandings to her Longfellow students in meaningful and exciting ways. de Berzunza may be reached at kdeberzunza@sandi.net.

$1,000 teacher grants go to Miller, Johnson elementary schools

Teachers at Miller and Johnson elementary schools have received grants from the California Retired Teachers Association Division 4.

Three teachers at Miller Elementary in Tierrasanta received grants. Third grade teacher Kim Berry received $200 for a field trip to the Del Mar Fairgrounds as a culmination of the Plant, Grow, Eat program. Constantina Savage, grades 2-3, has been granted $200 for a field trip to Mission Trails Regional Park as part of the study of California Native Americans. Theresa Culver, grade 4, received $100 for the purchase of interesting, reading level appropriate materials.

The third grade team at Johnson Elementary in Emerald Hills, represented by Michelle Denise Bryant, received $500 for a technology and engineering workshop at Legoland.

The California Retired Teachers Association is an advocacy and support group for teachers – retired, current and future. Annually, more than $500,000 in grants are awarded by the association. For more information, go to http://calrta.org/

14 Teachers Selected for Science, Technology, Engineering, Math Program

Science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) will be the focus for 18 district teachers over the next five years as they'll be part of the prestigious Noyce Master Teacher Fellowship at UC San Diego.

The teachers are: Theodore Meckstroth, Bell Middle School; Julie Garcia, Innovation Middle School; Patricia Huntington, Farb Middle School; Erica Heinzman and Maitrayee Sahi, Kearny High School of International Business; Olivia Allison, Lewis Middle School, Anna Weaver at Mann Middle School, Caroline Morse at Montgomery Middle School, Joseph Hyun at Morse High School; Lori Pina, Shelley Rannikko and Kimberly Frank, Standley Middle School; Margaret Atkisson and Maureen Quessenberry at University City High School.

Teachers from two district charter schools have also been selected: Julia Gordon and Jade Mohr from High Tech High, and Shea Phillips and Alexandra Martinez at The Preuss School UCSD

This professional development program is sponsored by the UC San Diego Department of Education Studies and the Division of Physical Sciences. Supported through a $3.2 million grant from the Robert Noyce Foundation and the National Science Foundation, the program supports 42 teachers from across the county for five years of professional development.

Master Teacher Fellows will receive salary supplements of $10,000 per year, iPad tablets for mobile computing, up to six graduate units for summer institutes, up to eight graduate units for online courses, and classroom mini-grants to support change and growth within their own classrooms.

The Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program seeks to encourage talented science, technology, engineering and mathematics majors and professionals to become K-12 mathematics and science teachers. The Noyce Scholarship Track provides funds to institutions of higher education to support scholarships, stipends and academic programs for undergraduate STEM majors and post-baccalaureate students holding STEM degrees who earn a teaching credential and commit to teaching in high-need K-12 school districts.

 

The NSF Teaching Fellowship/Master Teaching Fellowship Track supports STEM professionals who enroll as NSF Teaching Fellows in master’s degree programs leading to teacher certification by providing academic courses, professional development, and salary supplements while they are fulfilling a four-year teaching commitment in a high need school district. This track also supports the development of NSF Master Teaching Fellows by providing professional development and salary supplements for exemplary mathematics and science teachers to become Master Teachers in high-need school districts.
 

For more information on the UCSD program, contact Dr. Chris Halter at 858-534-8186.

$100 Walmart Gift Cards For Lindbergh Schweitzer Elementary Teachers

Derrick Walz, left, and Jennifer Taylor of Walmart, with Principal Deanne Rohde.

Walmart representatives Derrick Walz and Jennifer Taylor presented Lindbergh Schweitzer Principal Deanne Rohde with ten $100 Walmart gift cards on November 7.

Each grade-level team (K–6), teachers of students with orthopedic impairments, SAI teachers, and the SEEC team will receive one gift card to spend on instructional supplies.

Walmart’s campaign “You Make a Difference, We’d Like to Help” supports teachers and thanks them for their “commitment to educating the students of today and building leaders of tomorrow.”

"Lindbergh Schweitzer students will greatly benefit from this most generous gift," said Rohde. "Thank you, Walmart!"
For more information, please contact Julie Harris at jharris2@sandi.net or at (858) 496-8400.