Internet Safety Tips
TIP: Consider using filtering or monitoring software for your computer. Filtering products that use whitelisting, which only allows a child access to a preapproved list of sites, are recommended for children in this age group. NetSmartz does not advocate using filters only; education is a key part of prevention. |
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Transitional Kindergarten and Kindergarten Registration at EGUSD
Transitional Kindergarten (TK) and Kindergarten registration for students who live within the boundaries of the Elk Grove Unified School District and will turn five years old on or before October 1, 2013, begins at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday, January 8, 2013.
For the second year in a row, families will also register for Transitional Kindergarten, a new grade level created through the passage of the 2010 Kindergarten Readiness Act (Senate Bill 1381). This new law changed the birth date for kindergarten eligibility and created a new grade level called TK to build a bridge between early learning and kindergarten using a modified curriculum that is age and developmentally appropriate. Transitional Kindergarten began in the 2012-2013 school year.
In the past, children, who turn five years old by December 2, would be eligible to enroll in kindergarten for the following school year. The new eligibility requirement changed kindergarten eligibility through the 2014-2015 school year. For the 2013-2014 school year, students must turn five years old on or before October 1, 2013.
The new eligibility requirement for Transitional Kindergarten will be phased in over three years. For the 2013-2014 school year, students who turn five years old between October 2 and December 2, 2013 are eligible to attend transitional kindergarten.
For kindergarten registration, parents with students already attending Elk Grove Unified schools receive sibling priority registration for track schedules at our year-round sites and this priority is only for the child's kindergarten year. Of the district's 39 elementary schools, 14 are on a traditional calendar, 13 are on a modified traditional calendar and 12 are on a year-round calendar. Kindergarten families registering their first child will have equal access to track schedules at our year-round sites based on the date and time of registration. Most families who turn in their registration materials by the February 4, 2013 deadline will get into their home school.
To register a student for kindergarten and transitional kindergarten, parents need to bring proof of residence in the form of a SMUD or PG&E bill, rental agreement, or purchase papers for a home. School office staff will give parents a packet, stamped and dated. Registration materials including the completed registration packet, the child's immunization record, birth certificate and proof of residence are due by February 4, 2013.
Incoming kindergartners must live within Elk Grove Unified School District boundaries. To view district and school boundaries, call the Boundary Hot Line at (916) 686-7755 or go to http://www.egusd.net/new_to_egusd/boundaries.cfm. Parents seeking more information about the registration process can call the district's PreK-6 Education office at (916) 686-7704.
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EGUSD launches new special education website
The Elk Grove Unified School District's (EGUSD) Special Education Department has launched a new website, located at http://blogs.egusd.net/specialed/.
The new website features easy navigation organized into five main sections: About Us, Staff, EGUSD Special Education Programs, Parent Information and Resources. The About Us section provides more information on the special education department, as well as the department mission statement and the Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA). The Staff section offers information about regional program specialists, cross regional program specialists and the coaching team.
The EGUSD Special Education programs section is extensive. This section covers occupational therapy, adapted physical education, physical therapy, workability and transition, positive behavioral supports, co-teaching and multiple strategies for academics and transition (MSAT).
The Parent Information section covers parents rights and the EGUSD Community Advisory Committee (CAC). The Resources section provides links to the California Department of Education, Sacramento County Office of Education, Common Core State Standards, Special EDge newsletter/California Services for Technical Assistance and Training (CalSTAT), Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Response to Instruction and Intervention (RTI2).
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Florin HS ROP culinary arts students volunteer at St. John's Shelter
ROP culinary arts students at Florin High School continued a ten year tradition on December 19 when they made their annual visit to St. John's Shelter. Over the years, Florin High students have cooked lunches and meals for people at the shelter and wrapped presents. This year, culinary students made over 400 cookies to decorate and share with the women and children served by St. John's. Eighteen students helped children decorate cookies with frosting and crushed candy canes. They also participated in a variety of fun activities, including playing basketball and riding bikes. Click here for more information at St. John's Shelter. |
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Welcome to eguNews, an EGUSD email newsletter published every two weeks. To subscribe to eguNews, click here. If you have questions about eguNews, you can email communication@egusd.net or call (916) 686-7732.
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Florin High School students participate in project with Gooru
It's not every day students have the opportunity to teach others around the world through their work. But that's exactly what Heidi Haugen's students at Florin High School are doing through their newest project with Gooru, a search engine for learning.
Florin students became involved in this project through Haugen's involvement on the California Teacher Advisory Council. Prasad Ram, founder of Gooru, spoke at one of the CTAC meetings and Haugen was fascinated by the possibilities of using Gooru to engage students in learning. Haugen decided to put the power of creating collections for learning in her Honors AG Biology students' hands, rather than her own in developing curricular learning collections for others to learn from. Her honors students tackled this project over their summer break.
Gooru gives teachers and students the opportunity to search for rich collections of multimedia resources, digital textbooks, videos, games and quizzes created by other educators in the Gooru community. Gooru is free of cost - and ads.
Florin students, either individually or with a partner, created their own collections based on different biological topics. Utilizing their textbook as well as resources found on the Internet, they were able to develop their collections. Students used Gooru to search for resources for developing their own resources, such as notes, assessments, activities and PDF files. They also met with the Gooru team to discuss what worked and didn't work with their collections, and to brainstorm ways to improve them for use and learning.
"This project gave my students the perfect chance to work on a variety of academic standards and strategies, including critical thinking, decision making, opportunities for collaboration with others and organizing and sequencing of learning materials," Haugen said. "The project also covered all biology content standards as well."
Haugen plans to extend the opportunity to create content for Gooru to her other classes as well.
"I have plans to have my applied general science students create collections at the end of the school year," Haugen said. "We have ideas on how to use Gooru to develop summary of learning collections, as well as perhaps even lab summary reports. We have been modifying our collections throughout the year and students are constantly evolving and refining their projects and collections."
Click here for more information about Gooru.
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CAAP expands to help students at Elitha Donner Elementary School
Every Monday afternoon, the school library at Elitha Donner Elementary School is transformed into a tutoring haven for 60 students, courtesy of the efforts of the Concerned African-American Parents (CAAP) of Donner.
"The CAAP program began last school year in an attempt to bring the community and parent support for African American children and parents that has been established at Laguna Creek High School to the elementary level," said Michelle Jenkins, principal at Donner. "The after-school academy is new to Elitha Donner Elementary School this school year. The academy is designed to provide our children with homework and academic support while establishing positive adult connections that will last through high school and beyond."
This program at Donner marks the first expansion of CAAP since it started at Laguna Creek High School (LCHS) in 2007. Since that time, CAAP has been a fixture at LCHS, providing a variety of programs to help enrich the lives of students.
"In an effort to eliminate the achievement gap, CAAP was started to help sustain and improve the academic achievement of African-American children," said John Taylor, one of the CAAP founders. "We saw a need to provide assistance in this area and a group of parents at LCHS - known as the 'Laguna Creek Nine' - answered the call to be a part of the solution. Now we've been able to expand to help students at another school in the district."
In the future, Taylor sees the expansion of CAAP to other schools in the district.
"Right now, we are collaborating with GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs) staff at Harriet Eddy Middle School to develop another CAAP group there with a bold goal of operation before the end of the 2012-2013 school year," Taylor said. "We also plan to continue to sustain our current programs, grow our volunteer pool and expand to more school campuses in the future. Our coordinated efforts with the Alpha Academy have also proven to be valuable, so we will aggressively seek other collaborative opportunities going forward."
CAAP is still recruiting volunteers to assist with after-school tutoring at Donner. For more information or to sign up to volunteer, contact Joyce Brown at (916) 470-0823.
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EGUSD students earning Golden State Seal Merit Diploma continues to increase
Elk Grove Unified School District graduating seniors have achieved yet another academic milestone. The total number of graduating seniors in the Elk Grove Unified School District who have earned the Golden State Seal Merit Diploma has continued to grow over the past ten years. This year, a total of 828 EGUSD students in the Class of 2013 have qualified to receive the Golden State Seal Merit Diploma in comparison to 753 seniors who earned this distinction in the Class of 2012.
Issued by the California Department of Education each spring, the Golden State Seal Merit Diploma was established in 1997 to provide recognition to public school graduates who have demonstrated mastery of the high school curriculum in English, history, mathematics and science. Students qualify for the diploma by achieving high scores on six California Standards Tests (CSTs).
Students earning the Golden State Seal of Merit will receive special recognition in the form of an official insignia on their high school diplomas and an insignia on their transcripts. In addition, each student will receive a certificate of recognition personally signed by the superintendent and a letter from the superintendent congratulating them on their accomplishment.
Click here to view a list of students who have earned this distinction.
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EGUSD students prove that "Kids Can"
make a difference
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Representatives from Elk Grove High School, the top high school in donations for the district last year
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This year, a total of 30 elementary schools, seven middle schools, seven high schools and five alternative schools from the Elk Grove Unified School District participated in the Kids Can Food Drive, with each school collecting between 250 to nearly 5,000 cans. For more than 20 years, the Kids Can Food Drive - sponsored by KCRA 3 - has spearheaded a Sacramento region-wide food drive to collect canned and non-perishable food items for individuals and families in need. "T.R. Smedberg Middle School collected 665 cans with one class collecting over 300 cans," said Misty Calderon, activities director at Smedberg. "The students that participated were happy to help those in need. We coordinated our collections with our spirit days including asking for breakfast items on 'Pajama Day' and kid-favorite foods on 'Throwback Day.'" Cans and other non-perishable food were donated to a variety of food banks and closets throughout the Sacramento area including: the Elk Grove Food Bank, Sacramento Food Bank, South Sacramento Food Bank, South Sacramento Interfaith Partnership and their emergency food closet. At Elk Grove High School, the student leaders from the class councils led the Kids Can effort on campus. Elk Grove also expanded the giving idea to the crisis and devastation brought on by Hurricane Sandy. "My students really learned the value of giving, even through small contributions," said Juanita Pietersen, activities director at Elk Grove High School. "We had to learn that if everyone contributes even a small amount we can have a significant impact. This went all the way from donating to gathering to counting, boxing and storing. It's a big job but if we all do a little we can accomplish a lot." Elementary schools in the district also participated in Kids Can this year. Elliott Ranch Elementary School created a competition between classes to see who could donate the most food with one winner for the primary grades and one winner for intermediate grades. The school also held a harvest dance where admission to the dance is one canned food. Overall, students and staff throughout the district enthusiastically participated in the Kids Can Food Drive and enjoyed helping others. "The students of Franklin High School were happy to get involved in the Kids Can Food Drive this year," said Bryan Kilby, activities director at Franklin. Students at Franklin collected over 1,500 cans. "We definitely look forward to participating again next year." Click here for more information about the Kids Can Food Drive. |
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