The Week of March 30, 2015

March is marching on and before the week is out....April is upon us!

Welcome...


This week we have a few events to list:


Monday 3/30
Our annual Reclassification Ceremony will be held at Christopher High School from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm.  We will be honoring 32 of our students who have been reclassified from English Learners.

Tuesday 3/31
We will be having a Pass Port Event  "The Science of the Super Hero!" during 2nd period...
"9" stickers will get a student in the event.

We will be holding the Middle School's GATE Meeting from 6:30 to 8:00 pm.   This meeting is for our GATE families who have GATE students in the 5th grade and are coming to Brownell or are interested in attending our school's GATE program.

Wednesday 4/1
Board Member Fred Tovar will be visiting our campus from 9:00 to 12:00 pm.
Parent Club Meeting at 7:00 pm in the Library

Thursday 4/2
ELAC meeting  from 9:00 am to 10:30 am.

WoW Word of the Week!

con·clude  (kən-klo͞od′)

v. con·clud·ed, con·clud·ing, con·cludes

1. To bring to an end; close:

We concluded the rally with the national anthem 

2. To bring about (a final agreement or settlement):

It is time to finally conclude a peace treaty.

3. To arrive at (a conclusion, judgment, or opinion) by the process of reasoning:

The jury concluded that the defendant was innocent.

1. To come to an end; close:

The show concluded with a dance routine.

2. To come to a decision or agreement:

The committee concluded on a course of action.

That is all for now!  Mr. CL

How to get girls to like STEM: Heidi Olinger at TEDxBocaRaton

The Week of March 23, 2015

Hello Everyone!

• Well, our Gold Ribbon Validation Team representing the California Department of Education has come and gone... and we have been validated!  This means we are well on our way to a Gold Ribbon Schools designation.
• The team came through our school, visited classrooms, and showed particular interest in our Bear Den, Garden, Common Core Teaching, and our P.E. department's Conditioning and Fitness applications.  They like all we had to offer and said we will be highly recommended to receive the Gold Ribbon Award!
• 
  
• I want to publicly thank the following Parents who participated on the Parent Panel as well as the students who participated on the Student Panel!
• 
  
• Parent Panel
• Mr. Michael Joe
• Mrs. Kristin Mullen
• Ms. Louise Shields
• Mrs. Nhung Nguyen
• Mrs. Nereida Barron Torres
• Mrs. Maricela Tomasetti
• Mr. Mel Mukai
• Mrs. Mary Ann Mukai
• 
  
• Student Panel
• Lucas Bundros – 8th Grade
• Dominic Fortino – 8th Grade
• Lauren DeRosa – 7TH Grade
• Mia Ruelas – 7th Grade
• Benjamin Anderson – 6TH Grade
• Jacob Roseberry – 6th Grade
• 
  
• The next step in the process will take from two to four weeks, so somewhere mid April we will know our fate.  Thank you all for being Brownell Bruins!

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WoW Word of the Week!

similar

adjective sim·i·lar \ˈsi-mə-lər, ˈsim-lər\

: almost the same as someone or something else

1

:  having characteristics in common :  strictly comparable

2

:  alike in substance or essentials :  corresponding <no two animal habitats are exactly similar — W. H. Dowdeswell>

3

:  not differing in shape but only in size or position <similar triangles> <similarpolygons>

— sim·i·lar·ly adverb

Examples of SIMILAR

• Our cats are similar in size.
• You two look very similar to each other.
• They had similar experiences growing up, even though they came from vastly different backgrounds.
• We got remarkably similar results.
• I was going to say something similar.
• I would have reacted in a similar way if it had happened to me.

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Scholastic Book Fair  - March 23rd - 27th - Monday - Friday 8:00 am - 3:30 pm in the LIBRARY! Please support our Brownell Library.

8th Grade Promotion Dance - Tickets for Sale!

Promotion Dance tickets will be sold during 8th grade lunch on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

ATTENTION 8th Grade Parents: On April 2nd - Thursday @ 7PM - in the LIBRARY - You are invited to attend our second meeting to plan the upcoming PROMOTION DANCE!!! Your support is very important to us.

That is all for now!  Stay tuned!  Mr. CL 

The Week of Gold Ribbon!

Welcome back!

This Thursday we will be visited by a team from the County Office of Education and the State Department of Education.  There task? See the evidence of what we stated to be our school program and achievements.  If we can do it, and we can... we have a good shot at becoming designated as a California Gold Ribbon School!  Keep your fingers crossed!

A Big Congratulations to everyone involved in the School Play, "Trouble in Los Rios"!  I thoroughly enjoyed the play and the great energy that the actors gave to the audiance!  And a big thank you to the parents who helped put it together as well.  Thank you to our great Directors, Nicole Ashby and Marisa Visnaw! The playwright, Linda DeMare,  Mr. B. Allen Douglas the Pianist and everyone else!  Great work!

WoW 

Word of the Week!

individual

[in-duh-vij-oo-uh l]

noun

1.

a single human being, as distinguished from a group.

2.

a person:

A strange individual.

3.

a distinct, indivisible entity; a single thing, being, instance, or item.

4.

a group considered as a unit.

5.

Biology.

a single organism capable of independent existence.

a member of a compound organism or colony.

6.

Cards. a duplicate-bridge tournament in which each player plays the same number of hands in partnership with every other player, individual scores for each player being kept for each hand.

adjective

7.

single; particular; separate:

to number individual copies of a limited edition.

8.

intended for the use of one person only:

We will serve individual portions of a pizza.

9.

of, relating to, or characteristic of a particular person or thing:

We have individual tastes.

10.

distinguished by special, singular, or markedly personal characteristics; exhibiting unique or unusual qualities:

A highly individual style of painting.

11.

existing as a distinct, indivisible entity, or considered as such; discrete:

We have individual parts of a tea set.

12.

of which each is different or of a different design from the others:

A set of individual coffee cups.

Monday March 16th is a minimum day!

That's all for now!  Mr. CL

The Week of March 9, 2015

Hello!

Welcome back to School!  or at least the Parent Blog...

By now many of you have heard about the Eight Standards of Mathematical Practices. In Common Core Math some of the former California standards were moved to different grade levels in order to have "...mathematical progressions presented... that are coherent and based on evidence..."  This was a needed and big change but, I believe the most impactful change in Common Core Math is the establishing of the Eight Standards of Mathematical Practices. 

The practices certainly are not new to mathematicians, but they are new to the early teaching of math.  At the risk of sounding glib, we still have the same numbers, the same formulas, the same mathematical operations and mathematical vocabulary.  But what educators have now is a dramatic change in pedagogy.  How we teach and how children learn.  This is where the way we oldsters learned to do math can come in conflict a bit with the new pedagogy. Our goal is 21st century success and with that comes new ways of learning and teaching that reflect new research on learning and the brain as well as needs for success in the 21st century.   

Below I have a series of pictures that present the Eight Standards of Mathematical Practices.   It is presented in a fairly easy way to follow.  They are aimed at the 4-5 and 6 grade level.  What I believe you will find is that some of the main points of the practices are to understand math, understand how to persevere to get to a solution, or many solutions, and how to be precise in doing so.  These are values of learning that are essential if your student’s generation and those who follow are going to be able to solve many of our earth’s problems.   Enjoy!

Here is a diagram of how the 8 practices work together...

MATHEMATICAL PRACTICE #1

MATHEMATICAL PRACTICE #2

MATHEMATICAL PRACTICE #3

MATHEMATICAL PRACTICE #4

MATHEMATICAL PRACTICE #5

MATHEMATICAL PRACTICE #6

MATHEMATICAL PRACTICE #7

MATHEMATICAL PRACTICE #8

That is all for now!
Mr. CL 

The Week of March 2, 2015

And another month sneaks by...

Welcome to March!  It didn't exactly come in like a lion, but it was a bit chilly...

Spring is only 18 days away (if you are reading this on Sunday)...  There is a nice website for the spring equinox countdown at:  http://days.to/spring/2015 as well as other event count downs.. Summer is just 111 days away... in case you were wondering... 

 Last month we applied for the Gold Ribbon Schools Award of the State Of California, Department of Education.  This is the same as the Distinguished Schools Award but instead of qualifying initially by State scores, this year with the absence of State scores, the criteria is more open and but yet must be tied to actual practice and results in Common Core Standards and programs that support all students.  A school could apply more specifically in Physical Education, Nutrition or the Arts as well.  

Brownell applied under Educational student and teacher supports.  Or as we call it, "Whole Child Educational Supports"  
And the good news is......
We made it to the next round!   This will be a site visit from the County office of Education and State Education representatives.  This is a site visit to validate what we have stated in our application narrative.  We are truly honored to have even gotten this far.  Two other schools in the district were named as well:  The T. J. Owens Gilroy Early College Academy (GECA) and Christopher High School.   We aren't certain yet when our visitation will be scheduled but it will be before the end of March.   Keep your fingers crossed!

Grit:

Firmness of character

Determination or strength of Character 

"Leaving a high-flying job in consulting, Angela Lee Duckworth took a job teaching math to seventh graders in a New York public school. She quickly realized that IQ wasn't the only thing separating the successful students from those who struggled. Here, she explains her theory of 'grit' as a predictor of success." --TED  

COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS.MATH.PRACTICE.MP1 Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them:

Ganas

Resilience 

Indefatigability 

Tenacity 

When your student shows GRIT... give them the praise they truly deserve!

The WOW Word of the Week!

Theory

noun, 

plural theories.

1.

a coherent group of tested general propositions, commonly regarded as correct, that can be used as principles of explanation and prediction for a class of phenomena:

Such As:           Einstein's theory of relativity.

Synonyms: principle, law, doctrine

2.

Mathematics. a body of principles, theorems, or the like, belonging to one subject:

number theory.

3.

the branch of a science or art that deals with its principles or methods, as distinguished from its practice:

music theory.

4.

a particular conception or view of something to be done or of the method of doing it; a system of rules or principles:

Conflicting theories of how children best learn to read would fill up many books... and do...

5.

contemplation or speculation:

The theory that there is life on other planets is very fascinating to me!

6.

guess or conjecture:

My theory is that he never stops to think words have consequence and continues to embarrass himself with his inappropriate statements…

Parent Club Meeting this Wednesday the 4th 

Brownell Library 

@ 7:00 pm

That's all for now!  ~ Mr. CL