Principal`s Pad

CASITA PTA
CALENDAR
Items may be subject to change.
Oct. 19 - PTA Board, 7 p.m.
Oct. 23 - Fall Harvest Dance
Oct. 27-30 - Wellness/Red Ribbon Casita Center for Technology, Science and Math
http://cas.vistausd.org/
Week
Oct. 30 - Parade of Costumes
Nov. 9 - Minimum Day / PTA
Board, 8:30 a.m.
Nov. 10 - Minimum Day / ParentInnovative workspaces, PTA
Teacher Conferences
funds and staff development
Nov. 11 - Veterans Day Holiday
The 2015-16 school year is off to a busy
Nov. 12 - Minimum Day / Parentstart. Over the summer, we extended our innoTeacher Conferences
vative workspaces. Through a grant from the
Nov. 13 - Minimum Day / ParentFish and Wild Life Services, new stairs were
Teacher Conferences
built in the Habitat. Medronics closed in CarlsNov. 19 - VUSD Board Meeting, 7
bad and donated lab tables, chairs and a variety
p.m.
of equipment to our Maker Spaces. PTA fundNov. 20 - Sports Fan Day
ed new Hokie stools, which are used in the
Nov. 23-27 - Thanksgiving / AuLanguage Lab and DREAMS (design, research,
tumn Break
engineering, arts, math and science) lab.
Dec. 1 - Del Norte Holiday lunchTeachers continued their professional learneon, 11 a.m.
ing: 19 teachers participated in a workshop on
Dec. 7 - PTA Board, 7 p.m.
Personal Learning at Qualcomm., 3 teachers
Dec. 10 - VUSD Board meeting, 7
attended a Writers Institute at Columbia Unip.m.
versity in NYC, 4 teachers participated in a
Dec. 11 - Unit Meeting / IB Event
Next Generation Science Institute, and all of
Dec. 14 -16 - Elf-gram presale
our teachers are moving toward a strengthsDec. 18 - Pajama Day / Elf-gram
based education model.
delivery
Our IBPYP consultant visited last week for
Dec. 21-Jan. 4 - Winter Break
Jan. 5 - Back to School / Del Norte our coaching session. Teachers are working
very hard to write, teach and assess a rigorous
Meeting
and meaningful curriculum that meets the InterJan. 11 - PTA Board, 8:30 a.m.
national Baccalaureate standards. Casita stuJan. 14 - VUSD Board Meeting, 7
dents are learning to be internationally minded
p.m.
Principal’s Pad
Newsletter—Page 1
October 2015
by acquiring
the traits of an
IB Learner.
They are learning through
inquiry and
what they are
learning is inspiring them
into action.
Test scores
Results from
the new California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress
(CAASPP) are public. California gave a test
created by the Smarter Balanced Assessment
Consortium (SBAC). This tested college and
career readiness. Being a new and more rigorous test, only 40% of students were anticipated
to meet or exceed standards. In VUSD elementary schools, Casita students were the top performers, with 66.31% meeting or exceeding
standards in English Language Arts compared
to 36% in VUSD and 54.83% in math compared to 30% in VUSD. When parents, students
and staff work together, amazing things can
happen. I look forward to another successful
school year.
Meet Casita’s community liaison: Jessica Gutierrez
C
asita has added a new staff position this year to better serve its
school community.
Jessica Gutierrez started as community
liaison in August. Her role is to help identify needs and serve as a link between parents, teachers and the community.
The Vista Unified School District introduced
community liaisons at some
schools last year
as a pilot project,
expanding the
program to most
sites this fall.
Most mornings,
Gutierrez can be seen out in front of the
school, greeting parents and students before the morning bell. It's a way for her to
better get to know the families she's here
to serve.
“One of the biggest things we want to
bring to the parents are skills — whether
it’s tech training or cyber-security for their
kids — and resources,” says Gutierrez.
“We want them to be able to come to us if
they need specific resources, such as housing or food assistance or any other resources where we could refer them to the
appropriate agency.”
Gutierrez says she enjoys working with
people to find solutions to challenges they
may be facing. It's a trait that served her
well in her previous jobs as administrative
support at Olive Elementary School and as
an account manager for an insurance firm.
And while she is still getting acquainted
with Casita's families and teaching staff,
Gutierrez has already lined up several projects: She is organizing a community resource closet stocked with food and supplies for families in need, and already
launched Parent Technology Workshops
on computer basics, typing 101, email use,
parent portal questions, internet research
and open computer lab time.
"The goal is to get to know the families,"
says Gutierrez. "We're reaching out to the
community, letting them know we're here.
It's limitless - it's really what we make it."
Gutierrez is located in Room 18, and can
be reached at 724-8442, Ext. 50145.
Casita Center for Technology, Science and Math
http://cas.vistausd.org/
Newsletter—Page 2
October 2015
Cracking the <Code>: A summer success
Donations sought
for Dreams Lab
Exciting things are happening
in the new Dreams Lab, and donations help keep it a flourishing
center of creativity for our students. Consider donating:
Alternative Seating
Bean bags
Seat cushions
Bean Bag Chairs
Yoga Balls
Wiggle Cushions
Bungee Chairs
Large Pillows
Stools
Tools
Soldering iron
Soldering stand with brass
sponge
Any power tools
Screwdrivers
Hammers
Measuring tape
Small glue guns
Materials
Small glue gun sticks
Toilet paper rolls
Ziploc bags (any size)
Foil
Egg cartons
String
LED lights
Buzzards
3v coin batteries
Paper towels
Pipe cleaners
Packing tape
Painters tape
Cardstock
Skewers
Safety equipment
Goggles/safety glasses
Gloves for glue gun use
Helping hands with alligator clips
This summer, 82 Casita students accepted
the challenge of taking part in the school's
first Cracking the <Code> Summer Camp.
The online coding program kicked off
with a two-day launch party in June featuring hands-on coding orientation and robotics. Then, for the next several weeks, students worked from home at weekly coding
challenges.
It added up to a lot of code: STEM Coordinator Jenny Anderson, who led the coding camp with IB/STEM Research teacher
Mireya Spacher, reports that current 1st
graders wrote 11,682 lines of code; 2nd
graders wrote 16,222 lines of code; 3rd
graders wrote 10,532 lines of code; 4th
graders wrote 12,929 lines of code; and 5th
graders wrote 9,506 lines of code. That’s
60,871 lines of code from Casita students
this summer!
One first grader completed two courses
and a first grader completed three courses.
Coding helps students utilize critical
thinking skills and encourages creativity.
Next year, Anderson hopes to get more
students involved, with more ways to help
students meet their coding goals in the coding world and the possibility of adding textbased programs such as HTML/CSS or
JavaScript.
Casita to host
Family Harvest
Moon Glow Dance
Dust off those dancing shoes: Casita will
host a Family Harvest Moon Glow Dance
on Friday, Oct. 23.
The Family Harvest Moon Glow Dance
will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. in the multipurpose room. Presale tickets will be
available before and after school starting
Oct. 20 for just $2, a savings of $1 off the
parent or guardian must plan to attend and
admission price at the door.
As this is designed to be a family event, a remain with their child during the dance.
Keeping your trick-or-treaters safe
Halloween can be a fun time to
dress up in costumes, attend parties
and enjoy fall festivities. Here are a
few tips to keep these celebrations
safe and fun:
Plan a healthy snack before
attending a party or a night of
trick-or-treating. This will reduce the temptation to snack
on the trick-or-treat trail.
Make sure children are supervised and have flashlights and
reflective costumes.
Watch out for candles and
open flames.
Be sure to celebrate in a neighborhood that you know and
inspect treats before anyone
eats them.
Remember to set curfews and
guidelines for older children.Take a look at more
health and safety information
online at capta.org.
Newsletter—Page 3
October 2015
Casita Center for Technology, Science and Math
http://cas.vistausd.org/
Schoolyard Habitat Campout:
An evening of family fun and fund-raising
Casita's second annual Schoolyard Habitat Campout, an overnight event where
families camped out on the school’s field,
took place from 5 p.m. Friday, Sept. 25 to
9 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 26, with proceeds
benefiting the schoolyard habitat.
Families were able to take part in a
flashlight scavenger hunt in the garden,
stargaze through telescopes set up on the
field, and take an evening hike in the habitat with biologist Katy Kughen. A guest
speaker representing The Raptor Institute,
a La Mesa-based non-profit, presented a
program featuring a red-tailed hawk, a
barn owl and other feathered friends in
the multi-purpose room, and families
were also able to purchase s’mores in the
cafeteria.
Attendance almost doubled that of last
year, with about 150 people taking part,
says Magnet Specialist and science teacher Gail Cerelli, committee lead for the
habitat.
An on-going restoration project, the
habitat is used as an outdoor classroom,
providing a chance to participate in outdoor education such as citizen science,
watershed education, wildlife observation, Native American studies, art in nature, and a variety of other activities. Casita's outdoor classrooms — its botanical
garden, pollinator garden and the habitat
— play an integral
role in helping students learn and appreciate nature.
This year's campout raised more
than $1,100, with
the final total likely
to be even higher,
since t-shirts are
still available for
A nocturnal visitor in Casita’s Habitat, visiting guests from The sale. Those funds
Raptor Institute and camping fun! will be put to good
use, as they will
fund habitat maintenance and improvements.
"We have plans this year to add interpretive signage to the habitat, along with
plants labels,” says Cerelli. “We have a
grant for part of this, but our PTA and
campout profits will help with this as
well.”
In addition, the funds raised from the
campout will help pay for ongoing
maintenance and supplies, additional gardening tools and gloves for students.
Cerelli said it would also be used to purchase more Coastal Sage Scrub for the
habitat and milkweed for the pollinator
garden.
Plans for next year include more games,
and possibly a short movie.
Last year's campout raised more than
$800, which paid for irrigation repairs
and cleanup of the lower habitat area.
Recent grants funded removal of about 20
invasive palm trees and installation of
new stairs and made possible the installation of a remote sensor camera. Students
can now chart nighttime wildlife using
data captured by that camera. Raccoons,
coyotes, skunks, bunnies and domestic
cats are just a few of the animals students
have seen so far.
Casita Center for Technology, Science and Math
http://cas.vistausd.org/
Keep those Box Tops coming!
Welcome back to school, parents! My name is Anne Emfinger and I’m thrilled to be the Box Tops for Education™ Coordinator for Casita.
Clipping Box Tops is an easy way for you to help our school
earn cash. Last school year, we earned $995.30 and used the
money to pay for field trips, educational assemblies, and supplies and improvements for Casita. Box Tops are each worth
10¢ and they quickly add up to real cash for our school. So if
you turn in 50 Box Tops, you have earned our school $5! Just
imagine if everybody did this -- we could make close to $3,000
a year.
And all those tiny clippings really have added up over the
years: Casita's Lifetime Box Tops earnings for our school is
$10,664.00!
Box Tops is one of America's largest school earnings loyalty
program, with more than 80,000 K-8 schools participating.
It's easy to help: Just look for pink Box Tops on products, clip
them, and send them to school.
Find Box Tops on hundreds of different products, from snack
items and frozen foods to paper products, produce, school
supplies and more. There's a list of participating products on
the Box Tops website, www.boxtops4education.com, where
you can also learn more about the program, become a member and a supporter of our school and see our school earnings
compared to other local schools.
Be sure to look for occasional store promotions
where stores give you extra
Box Tops at checkout! So
keep clipping Casita and
thank you for your support.
A little care goes a long
way in preparing your Box
Tops: Please cut out the Box
Top image from each package, making sure to clip them down
to the smallest possible size. Follow those little pair of scissors
along the little dotted lines and that way our school saves money by reducing the cost of the mailings. Turn your clipped Box
Tops into your teacher and please check that the little expiration date on the Box Top has not expired; we do not get credit
for expired Box Tops nor do we earn cash with Box Tops
where the expiration date has been ripped off.
Each teacher has an envelope for box tops their students
turn in. The class with the most Box Tops will receive a $20 gift
card toward classroom supplies, plus students get a recess
with the Imaginarium Play Equipment! We have three contests
this school year. Our first contest ends Friday, Oct. 16.
This school year, our school’s earnings goal is $1,000.
I hope you’re excited for everything we can do this year with
Box Tops! If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to
contact me at casitaPTA@gmail.com, or on our Facebook
page, Friends of Casita. I’m here to make our school’s Box
Tops for Education program a huge success this year. Thanks
for your help!
Newsletter—Page 4
October 2015
A Writers’ Workshop for teachers
This summer, three
teachers from Casita took
part in a prestigious New
York writing institute.
Joining more than 1,200
teachers from across the
United States, kindergarten teacher Lisa Boyle,
fourth-grade teacher Luke
Jackson Perez and thirdgrade teacher Natasha
Seabrook attended the
Teacher's College Summer Institute for Writing at
Columbia University.
The main focus of the
Lucy Calkins' Writing
Workshop is to "teach the
writer, not the writing," with
emphasis on the writing
process.
For a week, teachers became "students.”, taking
part in classes, large keynote sessions, smaller
workshops and intimate
small group classes.
"The program is all about
giving children choice, and
helping them find their
voice as a writer. I am no
longer giving students topics to write about, but trying to open doors for them
to express themselves,"
said Perez. "At Casita, this
means that I have set a
writing 'time' where stu-
dents are given the freedom to write about what
interests them, for an audience of their choice. Kids
have writer's journals that
they feel ownership over. It
has put the fun back into
teaching writing."
"This program has inspired me to continue writing some stories that I
have not thought about or
touched since high
school," said Perez. "It has
ignited a passion for storytelling, and made me pass
that passion on to my students."
Boyle said she learned
from both institute peers
and the workshop trainers.
"Every day, we were privileged to listen to keynote
speakers that were published authors themselves," said Boyle. "I was
inspired every day, all
throughout each section of
the day! It was absolutely
an incredible experience."
Perez can't wait to see
the program at work: "If
this program has inspired
me to become a writer
again, I am excited to find
out how it inspires my students. Getting kids motivated is the hard part.”