Monday Morning Memo --- September 1, 2014

Upcoming Events:

MON. (9/1) LABOR DAY --- NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS & TEACHERS

TUES. (9/2) TEACHING & LEARNING ABOUND

9th Graders Go To The PAC During P.E./Sports Periods To Meet

Administrators And Learn About Various School Office Functions

WED. (9/3) LATE START WEDNESDAY (Check Full Schedule Here)

School Starts At 8:37am For Students

STAFF MEETING AT 7:30am In Room 500

Safety Presentation w/ Mr. Lopour & Mr. Vlasic

THUR. (9/4) Are You A Teacher That Needs To Access A Computer Lab?

Remember That If You Want To Check Out A Chromebook

Cart, Please Contact Marianne Schaeffer At The Front Desk (Dial 0)

FRI. (9/5) PEP RALLY 2014 --- Behind The PAC @ Lunch

Join Football, Cheer, Band, And Many More As We Kick Off The Year And Get Ready To Beat Paramount On Friday Night!!!

ATHLETICS: Fall Sports are about to get underway at Los Al, and that means the BEST STUDENT SECTION IN THE COUNTRY is getting ready to support our student athletes as they compete in Cross Country, Girls Volleyball, Girls Tennis, Boys Water Polo, Girls Golf, and Football. Speaking of football, this year's team has been featured in all sorts of Preseason polls to be one of the best in the county and we look forward to proving to everyone:

#LOSALROCKSATALLSPORTS

& On The Horizon...

9/8 --------------- PEACE WEEK --- Tentative Schedule Here

9/8 --------------- First PTSA Meeting Of The Year --- Room 500 @ 9am

9/17 ------------- Back To School Night --- Performing Arts Preview Starts @ 6pm

.............. Unlimited Possibilities!

Los Al's PATH TO SUCCESS:

Get Connected, Stay Involved, Plan Ahead, And Enjoy Yourself! Could It Get Any Easier?

All 3,200 of our Griffins received this sticker on the First Day Of School Wednesday. The idea behind this conversation starter for teachers & students is to communicate the possibilities and opportunities that exist for them during and after high school.

While we all pretty much start off as a wide-eyed, somewhat-nervous, hopefully-eager 9th grader, by the time we culminate our high school experience, the hope is that we've made the most of it --- meeting friends, gaining opportunities, and soaking up all there is from this shared 4-year experience.

That's all Los Al wants for its students. For them to be confident and knowledgeable about making the most of this incredible high school. From academics, to athletics, activities, to the arts, there's truly something for everyone on our campus... and if it doesn't exist yet, we'll build it.

Have a great school year everyone. I can only imagine how far we'll go together :)

The MAKE SOMETHING Project:

A Peer-To-Peer Teacher Recognition Project Sponsored By PTSA That Rewards Innovation

Build Ducks In The Classroom!

Teachers Spent Time With Legos This Week And Built 6-Piece Ducks As A Metaphor For Teaching Application & Ingenuity To All

A Los Alamitos High School teacher holds up duck she constructed during a school-wide activity during Monday's Professional Development. Here's the cool part... out of 125 teachers, and only 6 legos to work with, nobody built the same thing!

Asking people to build a duck is supposed to be easy, right? All they have to do, really, is construct some kind of model that they can reasonably argue has enough features of what we think a duck is supposed to have... and Voila!

"But what does this have to do with teaching and learning?" you may ask...

EVERYTHING. For years and years and years we've taught students CONTENT in classrooms. In terms of ducks, we've taught kids what they look like, where they live, their habits and norms, etc...

While this is still absolutely critical to the cycle of teaching and learning (students need to understand WHAT something is before they can analyze it, criticize it, or even make it better), just teaching THE WHAT in the 21st Century isn't enough. (After all, most of us have phones in our pocket that give us access to lots of WHAT material in just a matter of seconds.) We need to do more.

We need to build ducks. The process of creation and explanation, arguing and defending, is where real learning takes place. And if you could see just how many different ducks were built during our Professional Development on Monday --- all valid in their form and logic --- I hope you'd agree that it's one thing to teach someone the base knowledge they need to function and understand the world in which we live, it's quite another to task them to make contributions to this world, and allow them the space and time to develop their skills and ability to create, make, produce, and enhance.

Week 2, 2014-2015... IN THIS ISSUE:

Upcoming Events

Los Al's PATH TO SUCCESS

The MAKE SOMETHING Project

Build Ducks In The Classroom!

#ICEBUCKETCHALLENGE

Los Al's Band Preview Was A Smash Hit!

In The 21st Century, We Want Students Creating, Taking Action, And Embodying Character As They Prepare To Make Contributions To The World In Which They Live...

Now That's An #ICEBUCKETCHALLENGE!

Los Al Raises Over $3,000 And Lots Of Awareness In Support Of ALS Research

Students donated $1 each and got the chance to dump buckets of ice water on their first period teachers in an effort to raise money and awareness for ALS.

As the nation continues to be swept up by the #ALSICEBUCKETCHALLENGE that pervades our social media feeds, Los Alamitos High School decided to take up the cause as a schoolwide fundraiser to try and make a dent in the fight against this currently incurable disease.

By asking every Los Alamitos High School Griffin-student to contribute at least one dollar to The Orange County Chapter Of The ALS Association, the school was able to raise more than $3,200 overall, as well as increase awareness around the disease that has had a local impact on current families at Los Al and dozens of alumni over the years.

As Richard Catellanos, husband of Carolyn Castellanos who has ALS and is the parent of a Los Alamitos High School student, said at the Challenge Ceremony, "What's important about this Challenge is that we keep it going. We don't want this awareness campaign to just be a fad that fades away." And now that Los Al has called out three other local schools (Fountain Valley High School, Edison High School, Huntington Beach High School) and challenged them to raise money in their own #ICEBUCKETCHALLENGE, this social media phenomenon could gain some more legs and make another lap or two around the fundraising track.

Los Al's Band Preview Was A Smash Hit!

Check Out A Sneak Peak Below!!!

Listen to the cool sounds of the Los Alamitos High School Marching Band as they perform a medley of Daft Punk arrangements during their Fall Preview held August 22, 2014. (Thanks @mikejentes for the upload!)