Muirlands Middle School's music teacher is county's "Inspirational Teacher"

IN THE NEWS: Growing program in La Jolla and sharing love of music with students is Inspirational Teacher Michael Fiedler's mission. See story from NBC 7 and San Diego County Office of Education»

Mock 'Shark Tank' tests business skills of Mission Bay High students

From GPS pet trackers, counting basketballs and Powdered toe pad for ballerinas, Mission Bay High School business students created some interesting products during their Business 100 classes this year.

But before completing the class, they had to sell their new inventions to a room full of sharks.

With a lesson based on the Shark Tank television show, the students had to "sell" their products to investors. On the ABC television show, aspiring entrepreneurs, franchise and features businesspersons pitch to a panel of potential investors. Like the show, students presented their products or services and hoped for mock financial assistance with their businesses in exchange for equity.

 

This year’s inventions include:

• Find my Pet: LED and GPS enabled dog collar to track pet day and night;
• Ispraya: basketball that keeps track of how many shots made/missed;
• OnCore: a training sleeve that goes on baseball bats and tracks where the ball hits the bat;
• Sole Savers: indoor shoe grip spray to help traction for all indoor athletes;
• Quick Button Fix: a temporary fix for losing a button on clothes;
• Full Tilt Coolers: sports cooler with an internal slant so tilting the cooler when near empty is no longer necessary;
• Culinary Stick: a universal wooden spatula stick with replaceable cooking heads;
• Abrupt Bearings: water and sand resistant skateboard bearings;
• Sports Tech: laser sensors for marking perimeters of sports playing fields;
• D&I Innovations (Product: PowderPuffs): Powdered toe pad for ballerinas;
• The Changeable Brim: universal hat with changeable brims;
• Travelr: phone application that enables users to find any form of public transportation and taxis

Students began the Shark Tank project by assuming the role of an entrepreneur tasked with devising a proprietary, practical invention that can be a product or service. They spent months developing a business plan for their invention while, along the way, learning important business concepts from the course outline such as starting and operating a small business, human resources, finances, accounting, and marketing. The class included instruction in economics, business ethics, leadership, management, the role of government in business, and developing a career plan.

At the project's completion, students created a prototype and pitched their invention to real business owners, just like on the show. In developing their inventions, students learned about the importance of legally protecting their company via a patent, and protecting their logo and tagline with a trademark. They learned the costs associated with leasing a space to conduct business operations. Additionally, they used Common Core staples of critical thinking and problem solving to determine their cost of goods sold, distribution methods, marketing tactics and total start-up funds that would be required to launch their businesses. Skills learned in English class were reinforced, in that each Shark Tank assignment was accepted only if there were no spelling, grammar or punctuation errors.

Business 100 is a Career Technical Education course in the Business and Finance Industry Sector supported by the Office of College, Career & Technical Education. For more information, contact David West, CCTE Teacher, at dwest@sandi.net.

PE teacher Jill Schenk at SD High is Inspirational Teacher

IN THE NEWS:  Moving and motivating students is Jill Schenk's goal, NBC 7's Rory Devine reports, and her students and colleagues at San Diego High School say it's hard to have a bad day when she's around. Watch video from NBC 7»

Well schooled in giving back; Education changed teacher's life, now he's returning the favor

IN THE NEWS: Juan Martin Sajche, a teacher at Morse High School in San Diego, returns to Guatemala each summer to be a volunteer teacher at a school he helped found. Read more from UT San Diego»

UC High's ArtsTECH ends year with exhibition

ArtsTECH Academy students from University City High School celebrated the end of their school year with an art exhibit and performances at Barrio Logan's Woodbury School of Architecture.

Receiving the honor for the evening was student Natalie Eddy, who is the recipient of this year's Chris Gannon Memorial Scholarship. The grant is given in the memory of parent and program volunteer, the late Chris Gannon. It was funded by ArtsTECH teacher John Middleton.

Also honored were retiring teachers Lauriel Adsit and Belinda Brown. Adsit is a longtime art teacher and a co-founder of ArtsTECH. Brown is also an ArtsTECH co-founder, is program coordinator and a theater teacher. Middleton will also be leaving the academy this year, as he is taking an administrator position within the district.

Woodbury University is involved with ArtsTECH through its administrative director, Debra Abel, who is a member of the program's advisory board.

Find out more about ArtsTECH at University City High School by visiting its website.

Lafayette students, community create mural in memory of favorite student

IN THE NEWS: 60-foot artwork created by the Lafayette Elementary School students and community is a lasting legacy of their late classmate, Yusra Nasir. Watch story from Fox 5 San Diego»

Serra High counselor says goodbye after 43 years

Serra High counselor Susan Skinner was one of more than 700 employees who retired last week. Skinner spent 43 years with the San Diego Unified School District. Watch story from NBC 7»

Jones Elementary salutes military families

Students, parents and staff at John Paul Jones Elementary School held a Parent Appreciation Day-Military Families Recognition as school's "Spotlight" event for May.

Dedicated to the parents of family members who are currently serving in one of the branches of our military service and family members who had previously served, parents and family members who served in Desert Storm and Enduring Freedom conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan were honored for their service. Grandfathers and uncles who served in the Vietnam War were also honored by the students and staff.

The fifth grade students marched into the assembly area carrying a total of 50 flags of the United States.

"It was an extremely proud day at John Paul Jones Elementary school." said Mike George, a retired San Diego Unified principal who presided over the ceremony. "All Jones Elementary students and staff are proud of the service are parents and family members complete."

The school's Partner In Education is the U.S.S. John Paul Jones DD 53 that was out to sea on the day of the appreciation event.

Contact Principal Rita Powell for more information at (858) 496-8140.

Gage Elementary students' artwork flying high at Lindbergh Field

Student artwork from Gage Elementary School in San Carlos has been selected for display at the San Diego International Airport's Commuter Terminal.

ArtReach Teaching Artist Jack White created this lesson that allows students to create a contour map of the face. The result is both a science project and a self-portrait. Fourth and fifth graders at Gage learned about the development and utility of the contour map while also exploring self-portraiture. This is one of a series of ArtReach workshops in development that focus on the juncture of science and art.

The Portrait Maps created during the lesson used photographs of their faces to create 3-D self-portraits. Portraits created by 26 students are on display at the Commuter Terminal at the airport now through August. The exhibit is pre-security so anyone can enter and enjoy the art.

Gage Elementary students have worked with ArtReach Teaching Artists since 2010. ArtReach has helped students create original art in a variety of media from paint to pastels to collage and more.

Find out more about Gage Elementary by visiting its website.

It's Ballet Folklorico de Escuela Longfellow performing at Pacific Beach Middle School

It was a memorable Ballet Folklorico performance as elementary students from Longfellow K-8 in Clairemont performed for middle school students at Pacific Beach Middle School, part of Pacific Beach Middle School's Cinco de Mayo celebration.


With boys and girls aged 7-14 performing, these students are part of a tradition and program that has been running for more than a decade at Longfellow, a Spanish-language immersion magnet school.

"Thank you to Gloria Cota, parent and Ballet Folklorico volunteer for setting up the event," said Ernest Remillard, Pacific Beach Middle School Principal.

Escuela Longfellow Ballet Folklorico is a parent-volunteer enrichment program that brings the Mexican and Spanish cultures to the students, who are learning the language through Longfellow's Spanish-language immersion program. It's been a part of the school's fabric for more than 12 years, with Vivana Enrique from Muevete Dance Studio as the instructor.

"I have had the privilege to coordinate this program at our school with amazing parent volunteers for the last ten years," said Cota. "Parents Christine Pilger and Valerie Gordon, Cherisa Archuleta, Carla Valdovinos and Myra Woodberry are also volunteers. We are overseen by our on site Resource Teacher Josie Ramirez."

The diversity of the school is definitely portrayed in the dance group that ranges in ages from 6-13 (grades 1-8).

"We have dancers in our group that started in kindergarten and are now at middle school age," said Cota. "We started with a group of 19 students and have grown into 48 students and have added an extra day to accommodate the demand."

Public performances are scheduled after each eight-week practice section.

"Each session always portrays a different region with different costumes and cultural awareness of that region," she said. "We perform at our school functions, Dia de los Muertos for the fall session, Cesar Chavez assemblies, spring open house and the year-end Multicultural Festival. The core group that performs at outside the school functions is our advanced group that has been dancing together for the last 4-8 years together.

"Other performances include Mesa College Festival of Colors, UCSD and we have been invited to perform at next year's Latino Film Festival."

For more information on the program, contact Longfellow K-8 Principal Diana Sanchez at (619) 276-4206.

Meet the Whitman Strings, a very special group of young violinists

IN THE NEWS: Hearing-impaired students and hearing students come together for love of music at Whitman Elementary School in Clairemont. San Diego 6 and Wake Up San Diego's Renee Kohn spent a morning at the school. There was also a special surprise. Watch video»

Benchley/Weinberger, Sherman elementary schools win video awards

The student produced videos "So You Want to Make an iVIE" received a "Grand Recognition" for Benchley/Weinberger Elementary and Sherman Elementary's "Food Fight" topped its category as San Diego County's student video competition "The Ivie Awards" handed out its 2014 trophies.


Benchley/Weinberger's video was awarded top honors in the competition, which is sponsored by the San Diego County Office of Education. "So You Want to Make an IVIE," was produced by students working with teacher Kathy Aufsesser and media lab instructor Kathy Bouman. The video gives a humorous yet factual and interesting look at how to create a video. Participating students were Ethan L., Ryan S., Josh B., Jacob C., Hunter H., Jasmine L., Gianna B.

“Aside from the obvious issue of creatively teaching to the standards I feel these videos reach kids with different learning strengths and styles,” Aufsesser told the San Diego County Office of Education at the program's awards ceremony on May 6. “Perhaps the largest benefit to the students is the tremendous boost in enthusiasm for learning they exhibit.”

Winner of the top award in the Grade 3-5 Language Arts -- History category was "Food Fight," Sherman Elementary students' take on nutrition. It starred students Edwin, Xihtlally, Stephanie, Kelly.

"It's a really good experience for the students, just being able to see all of their hard work pay off in the end," Lito De los Reyes told the San Diego County Office of Education. She's the teacher at Sherman Academy who has helped students prepare videos for the competition for the past four years. "It's really fun for them to dress up and go down the red carpet and answer questions about their video. It makes them feel more important and adds weight to what they did."

The Innovative Video in Education (iVIE) program is an annual k-12 student video competition that has drawn thousands of participating students from every grade level across San Diego County for more than a decade. Throughout the school year, teachers and students use video as a project-based learning tool in the classroom, ultimately creating videos that ignite imagination and inspire student confidence while integrating state content standards.

Since 2001, iVIE has grown into a major video competition with more than 300 videos submitted this year in categories ranging from math, science and language arts to documentary and public service announcement. Entries are judged by media professionals and educators. Judges select winners in each category at different grade levels, as well as three "Grand Recognition" winners. This year, there was also a "People's Choice" award picked by viewers at the iVIE Festival, where all of the nominees were shown in April.

iVIE is sponsored by the San Diego County Office of Education, San Diego County Credit Union, Sony, Unified Port of San Diego, San Diego Computer-Using Educators, and The City of San Diego's Environmental Services Department.

• Visit the IVIE website»
• "So You Want to Make an iVIE," Benchley/Weinberger Elementary»
• "Cowles Mountain," Benchley/Weinberger Elementary»
• "Food Fight," Sherman Elementary»
• "Sleep: It's the Right Thing to Do," Sherman Elementary»

Patrick Henry High School might be the toughest golf course in town

IN THE NEWS: The Henry Cluster STEMM Foundation, an organization dedicated to enriching science, technology, engineering, math, and music and arts education in the eleven schools of the Patrick Henry Cluster, is excited to host the 2014 Henry Cluster Mini Golf Challenge. Teams of students from kindergarten through twelfth grade have been working hard all year to design and build mini golf holes, and they’ve been having a pretty good time doing it. Read more from Mission Times Courier»

Mira Mesa High scholars have a soft spot for kids at Ronald McDonald House

Some of Mira Mesa High's top scholars had a soft spot for kids... working to collect enough money to buy more than 100 brand new pillows for the kids at the Ronald McDonald House.

The students are members of the Mira Mesa High California Scholarship Federation (CSF) club, with donations and help coming from fellow students, staff, and the Mira Mesa community.

“Every child should have a pillow to sleep on at night," said CSF President, Kristine Lee. "The second we heard the Ronald McDonald House Charities had 102 children without pillows, we got right to work,”

Mira Mesa High students worked directly with the volunteer coordinator at the San Diego Ronald McDonald House Charities to identify their greatest area of need. Lee and her team then went back to Mira Mesa High and ran a very successful marketing campaign and drive to collect pillows.

The MMHS Pillow Drive came to a successful conclusion when Charles E. Day, CEO of the San Diego Ronald McDonald House Charities, met students from the CSF club at the Mira Mesa Big Lots to pick up 102 pillows that the CSF club had raised money to purchase for children in need.

For more information on the program, contact Stacey Seiders, Mira Mesa High ASB advisor, at (858) 566-2262 ext. 4412.

Council Member Emerald honors Crawford New Arrivals Center

San Diego City Council Member Marti Emerald has honored Crawford High School's New Arrivals Center with a proclamation that declared May 16, 2014 "Crawford High School New Arrival Center Day" in the City of San Diego.

The recognition was accepted by the school, as well as special recognition for teachers Gwen Osgard, Skye Cooke-Pinon and Viraj Ward, during special performances by students reflecting the nearly 40 languages and more than 30 countries represented at the Mid-City campus. Students from the New Arrival Center celebrated their many cultures in a performance that included singing, dancing and poetry recitals in more than 10 languages. Parents, community members, staff and Emerald attended the afternoon performance entitled “The Big Celebration.”

Located in the Mid-City area of San Diego, Crawford High School is one of the most diverse high schools in San Diego, with more than 37 languages from 33 countries. The New Arrival Center, now in its sixth year, is a program that was specifically designed to assist the unique needs of English Language Learners as they make the transition from their home countries to the academic demands of high school.

Students are given a year in a self-contained classroom to not only acquire English in an accelerated course of instruction, but to learn about American cultures and customs as well.
During the celebration, Emerald presented the New Arrival teachers with the proclamation to acknowledge the efforts of both the center’s teachers and its goals.

Emerald said that “immigrants are the backbone of the strength and diversity of the United States “and they often “face immeasurable traumas and obstacles when they arrive to the United States.” She extended the Council’s “appreciation of the service, value and contributions” of the New Arrival Center at Crawford.

For more information on the New Arrival Center, contact Principal Ana Marie Alvarez at (619) 362-3700.

Jefferson Elementary celebrates a century of getting the next generation off to a great start

North Park's Jefferson Elementary School is marking more than a century of educating the next generation of San Diegans with a series of events May 28.

The school, located at 3770 Utah St., opened in 1908, 1912 or 1913, depending on the sources, with the site growing to 2.75 acres over the years. It was rebuilt in 1961, expanded over the years and celebrated a makeover earlier this year that included a 21st century entrance.

Events will begin at 4:30 p.m. with an alumni reunion, followed by the centennial celebration at 5:30 p.m. and open house at 6:30 p.m. Today, the school, named for President Thomas Jefferson, is a STEAM magnet and International Baccalaureate World School. View invitation»

Writer Andy Hinds in the Uptown News profiled the school recently. Read more»

Morse High students celebrate completion of financial literacy course

Certification in financial literacy was presented to 118 Morse High School students through their Foundations in Information Technology course in early May. The students participated in lessons from the Financial Genius Program from Everfi. Topics included credit scores, taxes, insurance, credit cards, investing, mortgages, savings, and 401Ks. The program at Morse was sponsored by US Bank.

“Grasping even the most basic lessons will allow our students to make good choices before making important monetary decision," said Barbara Adams, CCTE teacher. "If turn, this careful planning may help them avoid personal debt and improve their chances of achieving financial security. We don’t want them to have to learn the hard way.”

For more information on Everfi’s Financial Literacy program, please visit http://www.everfi.com/everfi.

American Heritage Powwow Draws Diverse Crowd in Downtown San Diego

IN THE NEWS: Surrounded by tall commercial buildings and a busy downtown scene, more than 1,000 people attended the American Indian Heritage Pow Wow, a two-day event in San Diego’s Balboa Park on May 10-11. The intertribal exhibition pow wow, a type becoming rare these days because of the popularity of larger competition pow wows, was organized by the American Indian Heritage Committee, the San Diego Unified School District’s Title VII Indian Education Program and San Diego American Indian Health Center. Read more from Indian Country Today Media Network» 

Burbank Elementary becomes part of Presidential arts program

Grammy winner Jason Mraz will be working with Burbank Elementary School now that it has been selected as one of ten schools statewide to participate in the Turnaround Arts CA, a signature affiliate program of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities.

Over the next two years, Burbank Elementary will be working with the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities and Turnaround Arts CA to ensure that the arts are an available avenue to success for all students. The school will also have Mraz as its artist mentor, who will work with superintendents and principals to maximize support and awareness for their efforts.

Superintendent Cindy Marten and Principal Rachel Messineo accepted the award at a White House ceremony.

San Diego Unified is nationally known for its commitment to arts in schools, having been named one of America's Best Music Communities two years in a row and being honored by the Kennedy Center in 2011.

Turnaround Arts is a public-private partnership launched by the White House in 2012 designed to help failing schools develop and implement high quality arts education that will be used specifically to effectively address and turnaround the pervasive and persistent problems found in high-poverty, chronically underperforming schools. By using the arts as a strategic tool in failing schools’ turnaround efforts, students are engaged while they learn 21st century skills critical to their success.

“Through Turnaround Arts CA we hope to expand our successes in and out of the classroom by adding more opportunities for our students, families, and teachers to learn through dance, art, drama, and music,” says Burbank Principal Rachel Messineo. “The arts are a proven way to boost student achievement, keep kids interested in school, and help schools connect with their communities. We are thrilled to have been chosen to participate in this cutting-edge program.”

It has been proven that by placing the arts as the heart and soul of a school, leadership is provided with powerful tools in professional learning, curriculum development, improving school climate and culture, as well as increasing student and parent engagement ultimately contributes to improved academic achievement and successful turnaround of a failing school.

There is a growing body of research that demonstrates the positive effect of arts engagement on students. This is particularly important in a state like California where the arts play a significant role in the “creative economy.”

“This isn’t about bringing painting or music lessons to an already failing school and hoping for new and improved outcomes,” says Dr. James Catterall, Professor Emeritus, UCLA and Director of the Centers for Research on Creativity. “This is about the arts as ways of thinking, problem solving, and creative design.”

For more information on Turnaround Arts, please go to http://turnaroundarts.pcah.gov/

Symphony taps La Jolla High sophomore as 'Hot Shot'

Hazel Friedman, a sophomore at La Jolla High School, has been named a San Diego Symphony 2014 Hot Shots, one of the winners of the Young Artist Concerto Competition.
A pianist, Hazel will be performing the fifth piano concerto by French composer Camille Saint-Saëns with the San Diego Symphony at Copley Symphony Hall in its 2014-2015 season.
Each year, the San Diego Symphony holds its “Hot Shots” Young Artists Concerto Competition for young pianists and instrumentalists of exceptional talent. Applicants are judged on their technical excellence, musicality and artistry, as well as stage presence. Those who apply can be no more than age 18 and play piano, saxophone, harp or classical guitar.
For more information, contact Adrienne Valencia, Director of Education and Outreach at the San Diego Symphony, 619-615-3911.