POUSD Staff Blog -- April 2013

Upcoming Events

April 1 -- 8:00 - 2:50 pm -- Voluntary PD Day
April 3 -- 7:00 pm -- Governing Board Meeting (Room 24)
April 4 -- 12:00 - 3:00 pm -- Certificated Negotiations
April 10 -- 3:00-4:00 pm -- District Faculty Meeting (Jack London)
April 11 -- NWP Shadow Day
April 12 -- 6:30 - 7:30 pm -- Olivet Variety Show
April 16 -- Site Faculty Meetings
April 17 -- 3:30-5:30 pm -- PD Series: CCSS Math Instructional Shifts
April 18 -- POCS Open House
April 22-May 3rd -- STAR Testing
April 24 -- 3:15 -4:15 pm (Im) PACT -- Room 24
April 30 -- 6:30 pm Piner-Olivet Educational Foundation (Room 24)
April - May -- Physical Fitness Testing (Grades 5, 7, 9)
June 7 -- Senior Graduation (NWP)

Open House Events
April 18 -- POCS
May 9 -- Olivet
May 16 -- Jack London and Schaefer
May 30 -- Northwest Prep (Student Exhibition Night)

PD Opportunities

Below you will find a few professional development opportunities that will be offered at SCOE. To find out more about the workshop sessions, click on the titles below. There are no fees for any of the workshops. If you are interested in attending any of the sessions, please let your site administrator know.

• 4/10/13 -- 1:00-3:30 pm -- iPad Symposium (Curricular Focus) @ SCOE
  
• 4/25/13 --  4:00-5:30 pm -- iPad Apps: Favorite Math Apps @ SCOE
  
• 5/9/13 -- 4:00-5:30 pm -- iPad Clinic: Q&A about Your iPad @ SCOE
  

Professional Development Day

On April 1st, we held a professional development day for staff, "Common Core Extravangza." The morning session focused on an overview of the Common Core State Standards for ELA and the gradual release of responsibility instructional model. The afternoon breakout sessions provided staff with an opportunity to learn more about 21st Century Learning tools (Edmodo and Google Apps), meeting the needs of EL students within the Common Core and Lexia. You can access the presentation slides, handouts and helpful links by clicking here. You can find more information about how to sign-up for and access Edmodo here.

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Staff Recognition

The Heart of Excellent Award has been given to teachers who have gone above and beyond to make their schools better places for students and their colleagues. This year the following teachers have been recognized for their outstanding commitment and service: Deborah Berry (POCS), Gary Jordan (POCS), Geri Brown (Olivet), Pamell Gallagher (Olivet), Tawnya Martin (Schaefer) and Liana Zavala (Jack London).

The Helping Hand of Excellence Award has been given to classified staff who have demonstrated commitment to serving their school communities. At our March board meeting, the following classified staff members were recognized: Tom Gerbremicael (Jack London/POCS), Shelley Mederios (Jack London/POCS), Azura Leon (Olivet), Crystal Herrell (Olivet), Nancy Wood (Schaefer), and Cathy Manno (District Office).

POCS Mural Project

This year POCS students have been working on another amazing mural project, coordinated by Deborah Berry and with the guidance of local artist, Mary Linnea Vaughn. Here are just a few of samples of the students' work in progress. They hope to complete the project and unveil the murals in May. Stay tuned.

Public Schools Week -- May 3rd - May 8th

Public Schools Week will be happening at Coddingtown Mall on May 3rd through May 8th. Each school site will have a section to display student work. We will make arrangements for set-up of the tables, display board and banners. Scott Gifford will be facilitating student musical performances. You can get updates on PSW at https://www.facebook.com/PublicSchoolsWeek.

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ieSonoma -- June 10th

ieSonoma is an emerging partnership between public and private educational institutions and the larger community devoted to exploring the research, theory, and practice of 21st Century teaching and learning for the purpose of transforming the way we prepare our youth for success in a rapidly changing world. 

On June 10th, ieSonoma will be hosting a half day session that will bring Sir Ken Robinson, an internationally recognized leader in the development of education, creativity and innovation as well as representatives from Sonoma State University and the local business community to discuss 21st Century Learning. If you would like to attend this event, please fill in the sign-up form here.

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