Honoring our Volunteers
Teresa Watson of
Valley High School
Teresa Watson was recognized as an Education Partner at the November 17, 2009, meeting of the Elk Grove Unified School District Board of Education.
Watson has been an active and dedicated volunteer at Valley High School since 1990 and can be found on campus almost every day. During lunchtime, she maintains the lunch lines and assists in the cafeteria. After lunch, Watson works in the main office, assisting the office staff with filing, answering phones and helping parents and students at the front desk. Watson also supports Valley's athletic events and volunteers at the snack bar during games. Additionally, Watson is involved in Valley's School Site Council, Superintendent's Parent Advisory Committee and the district's Categorical Advisory Committee.
Watson enjoys working with people of all ages - children, adolescents, adults and the elderly. When she is not at Valley, Watson volunteers her time at her church - assisting people with special needs, tutoring students and singing in the choir.
Teresa Watson has been married to Darrell Watson, Sr. for 29 years. Together, they have raised two biological children and 15 nieces and nephews. All but two - who are currently attending Valley - have graduated from Valley. Seven children have college degrees and the remaining children are either in college or the military.
|
|
EGUSD Holiday Closures
All district schools and offices will be closed Wednesday, November 25 through Friday, November 27 for Thanksgiving Break.
|
Healthy Start program and Christian Faith Church
help families for Thanksgiving
For the past four years, the Elk Grove Unified School District's Healthy Start program has worked with the Christian Faith Church to provide a complete Thanksgiving meal for families in need.
Healthy Start identifies the families and the Christian Faith Church and WinCo Foods provides the meals for the families, complete with a frozen turkey.
This year 224 families received Thanksgiving meals on November 21.
The goal of the four Healthy Start Family Centers, located in the Valley and Florin regions, is to improve educational, health and social outcomes for students and their families, using the school site as the hub for service coordination. The Healthy Start Family Centers work with students and families using a case management approach to provide referral and follow-up to schools, district programs, community service agencies and community resources.
|
Feickert Elementary students bake to help homeless
Special Education students at Ellen Feickert Elementary School are baking to feed the homeless this Thanksgiving.
For the past four years, these students have baked pumpkin pies to donate to Loaves and Fishes for their Thanksgiving meal to feed the homeless. This year, the participating classes also accepted pumpkin pie donations to help supplement the donation.
The pies were delivered to Loaves and Fishes on November 23.
|
Kindergarten Registration for 2010-2011 school year
The Elk Grove Unified School District will begin kindergarten registration for the 2010-2011 school year on December 3, 2009. Parents with children turning 5 years old by December 2, 2010 can register for kindergarten starting at 7:30 a.m. on December 3, 2009 at all elementary schools.
Numbered registration packets can be picked up beginning December 3, 2009, at all elementary sites. Packets must be returned by the first Monday in February in order for the number on the packet to be honored.
When the packet is completed, parents need to bring the following information to the office by the first Monday in February:
- Registration packet
- Child's immunization record
- Birth certificate
- Proof of residence in the form of a SMUD or PG&E utility bill, rental agreement or purchase papers for a home
The completed packet will be time-stamped and dated by school staff.
At year-round schools, parents with students already attending Elk Grove Unified elementary schools receive sibling priority registration for track assignments at the elementary school, so long as space is available and the packet is returned by the first Monday in February.
Kindergarten families registering their first child will have equal access based on date and time of registration. Although most families who turn in their registration materials by the first Monday in February are likely to get into their home school, EGUSD is not able to guarantee placement for every child at their home school.
Incoming kindergarteners must live within EGUSD boundaries. Click here to view district and school boundaries or call the Boundary Hot Line at (916) 686-7755. Parents seeking more information about the registration process can call the district's Elementary Education office at (916) 686-7704. | |
|
|
|
Welcome to eguNews, an EGUSD email newsletter published every two weeks. If you have questions about eguNews, you can email communication@egusd.net or call (916) 686-7732.
|
At the November 17, 2009, Board of Education meeting, the board approved a list of cuts for 2010-2011 in order to submit a balanced budget as part of the first interim budget report due to the Sacramento County Office of Education on December 15, 2009. The list of cuts is preliminary and another step in the budget process. The Board will be asked to adopt the first interim budget report, which will reflect these cuts, at the December 8 Board of Education meeting.
Based on the most current information available, EGUSD would need to make about $42 million in reductions from a $480 million general fund budget to balance the state required multi-year projections through 2010-2011. If there are no changes to the current state budget in the January Governor's Budget proposal, EGUSD will need to make an additional $5.2 million in cuts to balance the state required multi-year projections through 2011-2012. These cuts follow $40 million of cuts over the past two school years.
To view the Power Point presentation given at the board meeting and the list of identified reductions, click here. To read more about how the state's budget is impacting EGUSD, visit the Budget Watch webpage.
|
|
MYPAS Testing at Elk Grove Unified
From November through January elementary students throughout the Elk Grove Unified School District participate in the Mid-Year Progress Assessment of Standards (MYPAS). Students at the secondary level test at the mid-point of each of their respective courses.
MYPAS is a formal, standards-based assessment for English Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics, depending on grade level. Math tests include general mathematics for grades 2-6, Pre-Algebra, Algebra I, Geometry and Algebra II. The results from MYPAS testing are used to inform teachers of students' academic strengths and weaknesses. Teachers may use the information gathered through MYPAS testing to make mid-year changes in their instructional plans.
"The MYPAS concept was pilot tested at Charles Mack and Florin elementary schools in January 2006," said Christine Hikido, director of research and evaluation for the district. "MYPAS testing has been used throughout the district since the 2006-2007 school year."
Students in grades 2-11 all participate in MYPAS testing, although some students in grade 12 may be included if they are enrolled in a lower level course. Students complete each portion, ELA and math, in 60-90 minutes.
"MYPAS provides teachers with an additional tool to monitor their students' learning of grade-level standards," said Hikido. "MYPAS provides information about classroom and individual academic performance."
Teachers are not required to prepare their students specifically for MYPAS testing. Teachers align their teaching and learning outcomes to California content standards, as well as California Standards Tests (CST) and MYPAS blueprints. At the elementary school level, the ELA exam aligns closely to the CST exam blueprints. Math exams reflect the first six chapters of adopted textbooks. At the secondary level, ELA exams cover the first half of the specified textbook at each level. Math exams cover the units/chapters covered until mid-year, in consultation with the district's Math Steering Committee.
This successful program has provided solid information on student progress for teachers and requests have been made to expand the testing.
"Many staff members at school sites have requested that MYPAS tests be developed in other subject areas to provide a common measure for school-wide data analysis and discussions about student learning," said Hikido. "In the coming years, we would like to develop additional assessments or enhance our current online tool to support this area of need."
|
|
Culinary students "Wrap It Up"
at Florin High School
It's not every day that students are given the chance to create a featured item on the school lunch menu.
But that's exactly what ROP Culinary Arts students at Florin High School did at the Elk Grove Unified School District's first-ever Wrap-It-Up competition, held on November 13.
"The Wrap-It-Up competition was created to encourage our culinary students to make nutrition a priority in creating new recipes and to give them a chance to be recognized for their hard work," said Lisa Vorce, nutrition specialist for the district. "The competition is an excellent approach to opening the lines of communication between students and our Food and Nutrition Services Department to make them aware of healthy lunch choices."
Students were challenged to create a wrap that not only tastes great but also includes a serving of vegetables and meets Healthy Dining Guidelines for calories, fat, cholesterol and sodium. Two groups of Culinary Arts students created two wraps for judging: a Greek wrap - featuring chicken, feta cheese, roasted red bell peppers cucumbers, artichoke hearts, cucumber and yogurt sauce and Romaine lettuce in a sundried tomato tortilla; and a Thai Glazed Chicken wrap - which included chicken, carrots, cabbage, plum and oyster sauces, green onions, red bell peppers, basil, ginger and Romaine lettuce in a flour tortilla.
The winning group will have their wrap presented to Food and Nutrition Services to see if it meets nutritional standards and could be added to the lunch menu for purchase. Florin High School's varsity football team and coaches had the honor of serving as judges for the competition.
"We chose the football team because many of them are regular school lunch consumers," said Vorce. "The size of the team was also a plus because of the number of varying tastes from each player. It was a perfect sample size."
The wraps were judged on taste, filling ingredients, appearance, ease of eating and the Greek Wrap was judged on the taste of the sauce.
In the end, Florin students John Nunn, Pamay Bui, Rosa Garcia, Natalie Urteaga and Cathalina Phayboun came out on top for their Thai Glazed Chicken Wrap.
"Although the Thai Glazed Chicken Wrap won top honors, both wraps received very high scores," said Vorce. "The competition was well received by both the culinary students and our student judges. We hope to expand on the contest to make it a quarterly event in the future."
The judges also had a chance to sample November's featured Harvest of the Month item, which were pears. Judges were able to taste three different pear recipes - pears poached in cranberry, walnut-stuffed pears with maple glaze and Pear Sprinkle - a freshly sliced pear with a touch of cinnamon and spice. Food and Nutrition Services, with grant funding from Network for a Healthy California supports the Harvest of the Month program with monthly harvest taste testing and nutrition education activities during lunch at Florin High School.
|
|
Grandparents Day at Markofer
Hundreds of grandparents and parents of second grade students at Florence Markofer Elementary School packed the multipurpose room on November 20 as the students "honored the past and celebrated the present" with Markofer's 1st Annual Grateful for Grandparents Celebration.
The program began with students performing the "Grandparents' Rap," followed by two performances by groups of students - "A Second Chance" and "Sing for Grandma and Grandpa." Students recited the Pledge of Allegiance and sang a Pledge of Allegiance song. Peter Pan's "I Won't Grow Up" and Charlie Brown's "Happiness Is" were a hit with the grandparents in the audience. The students finished their formal presentation with a tender rendition of "God Bless the U.S.A."
After the presentation, students were able to visit with their grandparents and parents as they showed off tribute displays featuring favorite memories they shared with their grandparents.
"Our second grade teachers did a awesome job coordinating such a wonderful presentation," said Eric Murchison, principal at Markofer. "It is very important to recognize the role that grandparents play in the lives of our students. Judging from the smiles and heartfelt compliments about the presentation, I'd say that the grandparents in attendance were very appreciative."
Goody bags were given to all grandparents in attendance, featuring free sandwich coupons from Chick-fil-A and other treats gathered by the Markofer PTA.
| |
|
|
|
