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Helping Our High School Students Prepare for College

Helping Our High School Students Prepare for College

As we complete another year of primarily remote learning, our high school students continue to thrive. Many of our graduating seniors have been accepted to four-year colleges with a full year of early learning college credits. These students showcase their talents by participating in college and career events at the school as they interview with board members for future careers and college goals.

Celebrate Achievement

This celebration of achievements prepares our students for the essential skills and educational requirements they will need to complete their college and career goals. As we consider next steps with all of our middle and high school students, we are striving to fully engage them in student led parent-teacher conferences throughout their school years. [Read more…]

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Building Resilliency Skills for Kids

Building Resiliency Skills for Kids

This past year our students have been learning remotely in Goggle classrooms. Each morning, our second graders spend an hour focusing on their social-emotional needs. Our school has adopted the FranklinCovey’s K-12 Leader in Me (see www.TheLeaderInMe.org) curriculum so support students’ personal growth based on Stephen R. Covey’s The Leader in Me book. The seven habits that we focus on with a variety of reflective activities include:

  1. Be proactive by taking responsibility for personal choices and behaviors.
  2. Begin with the end in mind by setting goals.
  3. Put first things first by achieving the most important things first.
  4. Think win-win so that everyone can win.
  5. Seek first to understand, then to be understood by learning to listen first and talk second.
  6. Synergize by having folks work together to achieve a better solution.
  7. Sharpen the saw to achieve balance in life.

[Read more…]

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Teaching Our Children About Their Cultures

Teaching Our Children About Their Cultures

My family celebrates Saint Patrick’s Day because we are primarily Irish. We wear green, enjoy a corned beef and cabbage dinner, and decorate the house with shamrocks, Leprechauns, and pots of god. We may listen to some Irish music and read Irish folklore. We also talk about what we value most about our family heritage.

Culturally Sensitive School Celebrations

During the winter months our students celebrate a variety of culturally sensitive holidays at school. These include Martin Luther King Junior Day, presidents’ holidays, and the Cesar Chavez holiday. Several also celebrate Chinese New Year, the Tet Festival, or Saint Patrick’s Day with their families. We write stories about favorite holidays and share details about how our families celebrate a specific holiday. Most students describe a special meal that was part of the celebration with culturally relevant foods and traditions. Many families typically invite relatives to these special meals and celebrations. [Read more…]

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Preparing Our Elementary Kids Return to School

Preparing Our Elementary Kids Return to School

It has been a year since many children in California and nationally have returned to a traditionally classroom since the COVID 19 pandemic. Many smaller elementary schools and school districts have successfully reopened their schools to students while enforcing clearly defined health and safety procedures.

Safe COVID Practices

Summarized below are best practices these schools use to ensure that their students are safe at school:

  1. The school continues to share with families what the staff has done to ensure safe learning for students. Classroom teachers and the school’s administrative staff provide regular updates.
  2. Students sit in socially distanced desks in classrooms.
  3. They wear masks at school.
  4. Students bring their own food and socially distance from others when eating lunch and snacks.
  5. They bring their own hand sanitizer or soap for regular handwashing.
  6. Many schools test students every two weeks to ensure they do not have COVID 19.
  7. Most students continue attending school online two to three times a week as part of a hybrid learning model to limit the number of students at a school site each day.

[Read more…]

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Friends, Silence Makes Us Complicit

Friends, Silence Makes Us Complicit

 

In May 2020, George Floyd was killed while in police custody. And while this senseless, callous act was committed between a police officer against a human being, to my great horror, another equally ugly and grievous act was being committed – an Asian police officer stood by and did nothing to stop George Floyd’s death. In response to this act, my cousin rightly pointed out that “it is not ok to stand silently by in quiet solidarity. Friends, silence makes us complicit.” Boy, oh boy, did that last statement hit me like a ton of bricks! It made me realize that for far too long, I had been silent. But as an Asian American, where do I start finding my voice as an ally? How should I start leaning into anti-racism? [Read more…]

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