Tiger Tracks San Jose Christian School | March 9, 2015 This Week at SJCS See Sports Section for Practice Schedule —————
Monday
3/9
SJCS Spring Town Hall - 6:30pm SJCS Auditorium
Tuesday
3/10
Chess Wizards - 3:15pm | Rm 19 Snack Shack at the Boys Home Soccer Game!
Wednesday
3/11
No Events
Thursday Service Project Rally 8:40am - Middle School 9:15am - Elementary
Friday
3/12
3/13
Frozen Friday for Grades 1-8
Advanced Dates March 20
End of Quarter 3
March 23-27
Standardized Testing Week
March 23-27
Staff Appreciation Week
April 3- April 10
Easter Break - Watch for full details on Extended Care and Preschool availability.
Attendance Line (408) 371-4815
SPRING TOWN HALL! Tonight 6:30pm Our Annual Spring Town Hall is taking place this evening March 9, in the Auditorium at 6:30pm. All parents are encouraged to attend and hear an update from our administration. A few topics included on the agenda are: • Live Chat with our future Superintendent Jennifer Thompson • SJCS Accreditation Update • Parent Ambassador Program & Word of Mouth Marketing • Budget Update - impact and considerations for 2015-2016 • SJCS Service Projects - a cool new thing! • Upcoming Events - Save the dates and how to get involved • Curriculum changes for the future • Q&A Childcare will not be available for this event.
Tiger Stripes Reflections on Who We Are by: Bart Den Boer Love…Learn…Serve: Making It Come Alive This Is Not YOUR Math…. the second in a series of articles on mathematics education. This spring we at SJCS are piloting four different sets of mathematics curriculum materials throughout grades 1, 2, 3 and 6-8. All four sets use an approach in which the teacher guides students to investigate and develop strategies to find solutions to real-life math problems. So how does choosing math curriculum materials reflect on who we are? What does this have to do with our core value of offering exceptional education? Three words: collaboration, creativity, and responsibility; the three pillars of contemporary workplace expectation. If we are preparing our students to be in the world in order to transform that world for the Lord of creation, then we must be preparing our children to be excellent participants in its workplaces. Let’s get back to those three words. Math (or any) curriculum materials that expect collaboration are preparing our students for the Googles and Apples of the future. Education that encourages creativity and original thinking via identifying novel solutions for mathematical problems is getting our students ready for workplace challenges that do not even exist yet. Gone are the days of individual workers applying a uniform process on widget after widget. Finally, a classroom community built around its members holding each other responsible for its common good is a model for citizenship we all can get behind. It so important our students collaborate about math. Certainly creativity can be a goal in any subject area, but practicing collaboration and creativity within the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) areas contribute to developing these skills in the “hard sciences” as well. Our goal is to raise up accurate and efficient problem-solvers who are responsible, creative and collaborative mathematicians.
Tiger Tracks
Sports this week
Girls Volleyball:
The Lady Tigers went 1-2 this past week, improving their overall record to 4-4. After falling short in the first two games of the week, the girls came from behind to earn a big win against Baymonte on Thursday to keep them in the playoff hunt. Led by some timely serving the Tigers managed to take the match in three games. The girls will travel to Campbell Christian and Legacy Christian this week to finish out the season. Monday: Practice 3:15-5:00 Tuesday: SJCS @ Campbell Christian 3:30 Wednesday: Practice 3:15-5:00 Thursday: SJCS vs. Legacy @ Morgan Hill Rec. Center
Boys Soccer: The boys improved on their successful season by picking up three more wins last week. A good overall team effort led to a 4-1 win over Los Gatos Christian on Tuesday. On Wednesday the boys fought off a gritty Campbell Christian team to earn a 5-2 victory. Ryan C. led the way with three goals. To finish off the week, the Tigers notched at third victory against Baymonte by a score of 4-2. Three different Tigers tallied a goal as the boys improved their record to 7-0 on the season. The boys will host Campbell this Tuesday to close out the regular season. Stay tuned for a playoff schedule to be released soon! Monday: Practice 3:15-5:00 Tuesday: SJCS vs. Campbell Christian @ SJCS 3:30 Wednesday: Practice 3:15-5:00 Thursday: Practice 3:15-5:00
Friday Coffee Cart! Join the CPTA outside the school office this Friday for a hot cup of coffee and and a warm smile. We encourage you to take a moment to connect with other parents during this fun morning activity.
Scrip Orders Due Friday Please turn in your orders for Scrip by Thursday or make sure you place them online by that time. The orders will arrive by the middle of next week.
Love & Logic Classes Coming This year, SJCS will be offering a class on Love and Logic, a parenting and classroom management approach that helps children become responsible decisions makers and allows parents to stay calm and set enforceable limits for their kids. Registration forms are in the office.
Tiger Cubs|Preschool News! The Preschool is finishing up their winter music units. The students absolutely love music and are always looking forward to their class! This quarter, the Butterflies have been learning about rhythm instruments. They have been able to learn about the different instruments, how they are made, and have been able to play several. This Friday they will even make their own shakers. The Dragonflies and Fireflies have been learning about the orchestra. It is so impressive to see how much they know about these instruments! They have really enjoyed creating their own versions of several of these instruments. This Friday, the students will even take a mini-field trip to watch the 5th grade band play! A special thanks goes out to Mrs. Leonard for all that she does for the Preschool music program!
SJCS Launches Campus Wide Service Project! Feed My Starving Children Our whole-school service project will launch this Thursday! SJCS will be partnering with Food4Others to gather support and prepare meals for starving children all over the world. Phase 1 of the project will be gathering support--each child will be asked to fill mini M&M tubes with spare quarters, with which we will purchase the food. Each filled tube represents over two months of food for a starving child! Phase 2 of the project will be on May 4th, when 5th-8th graders will actually be packing the food we purchase--more than 20,000 meals! SJCS takes our Commitment to Serve seriously, and we have a tremendous opportunity to be the hands of Christ in our world. Please join us in this important work, and a special thank you goes to SJCS parents Ken Wright and Shari Johnson for organizing our project. Students will purchase their M&M tubes (they get to eat the candy) on Thursday after the assembly, so please send your child with $1 on Thursday. Please see the attached flyer for details, and feel free to email Mr. I with any questions.
Terra Nova Testing Week Is Coming Soon
Each year, the SJCS students in Grades 1-8 complete the Terra Nova standardized tests. The results of these tests give parents insights into the academic profile of their children, and they help our school analyze the effectiveness of our curriculum. Please make sure your children are present every day during the week of March 23-27 for the testing periods.
Tiger Tracks Teacher Tales
3rd Grade Biographies
Check this section each week for exciting stories about teachers doing great things in the classrooms of San Jose Christian School. Students in third grade have been learning to read, understand, and write biographies as they investigated the lives of famous historical figures. Over the course of the last week, students learned about the various parts of a biography and how to collect information from a variety of sources (timelines, pictures, captions, articles, etc.). They collected notes on a chosen historical character and wrote a five-paragraph report. The project culminated today with presentations. Students made a poster depicting their character (see pictures) and presented the notable accomplishments of their historical figure to the class. This project focused on two of our SJCS Throughlines: Creating Active Learners who take initiative and engage in self-directed learning, and training Effective Communicators who demonstrate high levels of skill in writing, speaking, and listening.