Monday Morning Memo --- October 6, 2014
Upcoming Events:

 

MON. (10/6)   PTSA MEETING --- 9am In Room 500

 

TUES. (10/7)  UC Application & Essay Night --- 7pm In PAC

                       A representative from the UC system will present information 
                       regarding the UC application process and how to write a successful 
                       personal statement.

WED. (10/8)   LATE START WEDNESDAY  (Check Full Schedule Here)

                       PSAT Proctor Training In College & Career Center

                       English, Social Science, and Special Education Departments

 

                       All Other Teachers Are In Department Meetings

 

                       School Starts At 8:37am For Students

 

THUR. (10/9) TEACHING & LEARNING ABOUND!

 

FRI. (10/10)   NO SCHOOL ON MONDAY, OCTOBER 13TH FOR STUDENTS!

                      Enjoy The Three-Day Weekend :)

 

 

ATHLETICS:  What a week for Los Al Athletics as League Play started in some of our Fall Sports.  Your 3rd Ranked Los Alamitos Girls Tennis Team beat Corona Del Mar in an upset victory on the road this week.  Be sure to follow the Lady Griffins on Twitter @LOSALTENNIS for all of their updates throughout the Tennis Season.  In other sports news, Boys Water Polo picked up a solid victory, while Girls Volleyball and Football both lost tough ones that literally came down to the final play.  That's okay though, because it's a long season, and we consistently perform well in the ultra-competitive Sunset League.  Please continue to support X-Country, Girls Golf and all of our our Fall Sports as we prove 
    #LOSALROCKSATALLSPORTS


& On The Horizon...

10/13 ----------- No School For Students!  (Teachers Report To McCauliffe @ 8am)
10/14 ----------  Parent Ed Night (E-Cigarettes) @ Los Al, 7pm-8:30pm In PAC
10/16 ----------- Great California Shakeout Earthquake Drill
10/16-10/18 -- Choir Show, 7pm In PAC
10/20 ----------- School Site Council @ 5pm In Room 500
10/24 ----------- Homecoming Dance

.............. Unlimited Possibilities!
Care To Compete? 
Fostering A Classroom Ethos That Supports Competition Helps To Maximize Learning
Ms. Bright (top right corner) watches on as students in Ms. Fox's AP Calculus BC course compete against each other in an impossibly challenging classroom game!

Have you ever gone out to the park to shoot some hoops by yourself?  How'd you do?  Break a sweat?  Did you get better because of the time you spent practicing your jump shot?

Whether the answer to the questions above is YES or NO, the fact is that most people learn more about themselves when they compete and there are stakes involved than when they work individually and simply "shoot some hoops."  In fact, the research says that the stakes don't even have to be high for students to get more out of their learning than simply practicing alone.  Points, candy, homework passes, you name it... when students play games against each other for prizes and rewards, the results of learning are often maximized.

This makes sense when you think about it.  Most humans have the ability to push their limits with most of what they endeavor to try.  But when an external force puts pressure on achieving a particular outcome, it then becomes up to the individual to respond and deliver.  Because these impetuses are outside of one's individual control, they usually work to push thinking and application further than one can simply on their own.

For the classroom teacher, all this suggests is that we mix it up a little.  Personal bests aren't the only marker for achievement, and if we can create group of competition dynamics within the classroom setting that engage students and work to push their thinking, we'll likely get great results from this learning opportunities.
Evacuation Drills Are Important:
It's Because We Practice Evacuations That We Have "Muscle Memory" In Emergencies
Mr. Bone (all the way to the left) leads his class out to the Back Field using the new Evacuation Routes that were posted and communicated since the beginning of the school year.  Los Al is always updating and evolving our Emergency Protocols to be current to the latest research, and this year's Drill was a chance to test out these new routes as well as other Emergency Preparedness Procedures.

Muscle Memory is a real thing.  In the case of an emergency, we can only hope that the practice and exposure of what to do and where to go will be retained by the thousands and thousands stakeholders on campus.  But with all the variables in play, it's completely conceivable that plans may need to change.  

This is exactly why the "muscle memory" of Evacuation Drills is important.  Even if things don't go exactly as planned, evacuees have a general sense of where to go and what to do should a real emergency strike simply because they've done it before, and their brains and bodies are trained in the process.  

At Los Al, we're committed to student and teacher safety and look forward to continue practicing various emergency protocols and procedures throughout the year.
EdTech Highlight
by Dan & Brandon (The Tech Dudes)

Teaching and learning are changing.  Technology is making old practices better and making new opportunities possible.  You may have noticed that students at Los Alamitos High School are connecting to learning through technology on an increasing basis, this often means accessing information and producing work online.  In order to avoid possible challenges in this process, we recommend that you add Google's Chrome Browser to any device students are using for work at home.  Below are a list of links to download the browser for your specific needs:


 

Mac Download          PC (Windows) Download          iPad & iPhone Download

 

Using this browser will simplify students' learning processes when using technology and thereby help support greater success.

Week 7, 2014-2015... IN THIS ISSUE:
Upcoming Events
Care to Compete?
Evacuation Drills Are Important
EdTech Highlight by The Tech Dudes
State Of The District
LAEF After-School Classes
Teachers Watching Teachers Teach
Lunch On The Lawn
National Merit Scholarship Semi-Finalists!
 
Thank You To Everyone Who Came Out to Support Los Al's Drama Department In The First-Ever Mystery Dinner Experience At Los Alamitos High School!!!

#LOSALROCKSATALLARTS

Teachers Watching Teachers Teach:
At Los Al, We're Aligning The 6-12 Experience Through The Practice Of Close-Reading

With far-reaching impacts that have yet to be uncovered, this week's Professional Collaboration opportunity between middle and high school teachers in Los Al Unified changed the way we think about vertical alignment. 

For so long, educators across America spent the bulk of their time aligning content and curriculum so that students experienced learning in chronological, or some other orderly, sequence.  At Los Al, we're shifting this thinking by focusing our collaboration on practice.  And this week, we examined CLOSE-READING STRATEGIES as modeled by Dr. Coriaty in a fishbowl setting with students and teachers from Oak and McCauliffe.  Groundbreaking!!!

It was an incredible experience, and it's shifted the way we align middle and high school instruction for teachers and students!  Going forward, this will be our model!!!
Lunch On The Lawn:
Students Love To See Their Teachers Out & About In The Quad!!!
(From left to right) Ms. Lundblad, Ms. Davenport, Ms. Riekenerg, Ms. Hutchinson, and Ms. Bratcher take in the fun and sun in front of the PAC as they eat lunch on the lawn with students and take in a little California sunshine in the process :)

Everybody needs to eat.  And it's a well-known fact that in school settings, teachers do some of their best collaboration during lunchtime in the Teacher's Lounge with friends and colleagues.

But at Los Al we're fortunate in that so many teachers spend many of their lunches with kids.  From Lunch On The Lawn, to Club sponsorships, to simply having an open door during lunch, Los Al is unique in that almost all staff members spend tons of time working with, mentoring, and supporting the efforts of all of our students --- before school, during lunch, and beyond.

Thank you!  The time you spend with our students is precious, and they more than appreciate getting to "hang out" with the same people who teach, motivate, and inspire them every day :)
Congratulations To This Year's National Merit Scholarship Semi-Finalists!!!
Los Alamitos, Calif., October 2, 2014 - The Los Alamitos Unified School District is proud to announce four National Merit Semifinalists and nine National Merit Commended Students for 2014-2015. The Semi-finalists are students who scored in the top 1% of students who took the Preliminary SAT (PSAT) nationwide in fall 2013.  Commended students include those who placed among the top 5% of the more than 1.5 million students took this exam. 

Los Alamitos High School National Merit Scholarship Competition Semifinalists:

 

Reynaldo Barcelo

Joyce Kim

Jenny Lee

Joe Reid

 

Los Alamitos High School National Merit Scholarship Commended Students:

     

     Cheryl Bond

     Sierra Cleveland

     Brian Dizon

     Ryan Kato

     Ryan Kusch

     Tristan Larison

     Jordan Lotts

     Neel Ram

     Allison Tam

 

Please be sure to congratulate these students as they move on to represent Los Al as potential FINALISTS in the most prestigious Academic Scholarship opportunity in the United States of America.

 



Click The Picture Above To See And Hear The Sights 
And Sounds From CLUB WEEK At Los Al!!!


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Los Alamitos High School
3591 Cerritos Ave.
Los Alamitos, CA 90720   
(562) 799-4780