Principal's Message

February 2, 2012

Even though we have lived in our house for six years, we recently started getting a new magazine subscription for the previous owners - Fast Company. I LOVE it! The cover story for the February issue is The Secrets of Generation Flux, highlighting people from their 20s to their 60s and how they are transforming themselves and their careers.

Clearly we are in a time of flux around the world, with the pace of change and innovation increasing and the uncertainty and ambiguity of what the future may bring looming. However, this issue highlights what skills and attitudes will serve us now and into the future.Embrace change, actively add new skills to your personal toolkit, be open-minded and flexible. Similar to what Darwin proposed, those who adapt and change will be the ones who succeed, it proclaims.

What does this mean for our children? I think as the adults in their lives we must model these very qualities and attitudes as we embrace the now and the future. We must teach flexibility and make open-mindedness transparent and obvious to our kids. We must model life-long learning so our children see us adaptable, flexible thinkers and learners. With these skills and attitudes, they’ll be prepared to face whatever the future holds for them.

Here’s to learning, adapting, and changing!

Sandra

Sandra McGonagle | Principal | smcgonagle@santaritaschool.org
Follow Santa Rita on Twitter @SRBobcats

January 26, 2012

I was sipping my morning coffee a few Sundays ago as I flipped through the channel guide and came across an interview between Oprah and Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, a neuroanatomist who specializes in the brain. I was sucked into the discussion in seconds as she described waking up one morning and eventually understanding that she was having a stroke in the left hemisphere of her brain. What was so amazing was that her right side, the big picture side, was fully aware and watching it happen in awe.

While the right side of her brain was fully functioning during her recovery, her left side (language, logic, information, etc) had to be completely rebuilt and relearned. She says that during her time in recovery she came away with some amazing a-has. The one that spoke to me the most was that we must control the energy we bring to every situation andinteraction. As she sat in the hospital, unable to speak and understand any spoken language, she had to rely on people’s energy. She could feel it when people saw her as stupid or dismissive. She could also feel it when people treated her with respect and care and understanding. You can see some of the interview here, along with her TED talk.

When I work with children, mine and yours, I think of this constantly. I may be feeling grumpy, overwhelmed, or exhausted; however, I want them to feel that I respect and care and understand them each and every time we interact. Toni Morrison, the great author, asks do your eyes light up every time your child walks into the room? Each child deserves this - every time - yours and mine.

Here’s to bringing our positive energy and the light in our eyes!

January 19, 2012

Do you remember your days back in school when you had to do group work? If you were anything like me, you ended up doing most of the work yourself. I was completely untrusting of most of my peers (control freak - check) to meet my own high academic and quality work standards (perfectionist - check). I think this was a typical experience for many in school when it came to group work or group projects - you did it all, or maybe you let others do it all for you (slacker – check).

On Tuesday over at Almond School, our teachers participated in a terrific training based on Dr. Spencer Kagan’s work with cooperative learning. The focus for all K-6 teachers that day was to learn strategies and techniques to help increase student engagement and understanding. What was so very helpful, was the clear distinction that was made between traditional teaching, group work, and cooperative learning. It was also made clear that research supports cooperative learning. When students have a chance to participate, discuss, and work with their peers through frequent structured interactions, they learn more.

Our amazingly skilled trainer Christi explained that the key difference between group work and cooperative learning is PIES - Positive Interdependence (everyone benefits and learns), Individual Accountability (often lacking in group work), Equal Participation (in both time and frequency), and Simultaneous Interaction (increased per student participation). These principles form the foundation for active engagement with cooperative learning. It was truly a great training, and I look forward to seeing some of the strategies in action at Santa Rita School.

Here’s to engaging our students through cooperative learning!

January 12, 2012

I love it when teachers call to invite me to something great happening in the moment. I just returned from a classroom where the teacher was extending an Art Docent lesson on abstract painting. The kids were on fire with excitement and enthusiasm. They were all serious artists, clearly being taken over by their own creativity and drive to paint something memorable.

Often we focus our time, energy, and thoughts on the 3Rs - reading, writing, and arithmetic. However, the arts are also so very important. Daniel Pink, in his book A Whole New Mind, argues that right brained qualities like design, empathy, and inventiveness will be more important in future jobs than traditionally coveted left brained informational and analysis type qualities. Steve Jobs seemed to understand that intuitively. He was a master story teller who knew that the design quality of his products was equally important, if not more so, than their functionality.

We have amazing artists, musicians, dancers, singers, and actors among us at Santa Rita. I feel so fortunate to live in a community that supports the arts in our schools, because I see first hand how they touch the lives of our students.

Here’s to paying a little attention to the right side of our brains!

January 5, 2012

After a very relaxing and rejuvenating December Break, I am feeling excited and charged to tackle the remainder of the school year and start thinking about the next. It is amazing what a little rest and relaxation, family time, and a gluttony of food and drink will do for me!

My resolution - focus on the positive. There is nothing I can stand less than a whiner, complainer, and over-all boo-hooer.There are some people who just seem to love to be miserable and love to tell others about it, too. They bathe in it, breathe it, and it can be all consuming. I don’t want to be around it.

I am an avid reader of Seth Godin’s blog, and he churned out a terrific post earlier this week that screamed at me - The Chance of a Lifetime. Here’s just a quick part:

“You get to make a choice. You can remake that choice every day, in fact. It's never too late to choose optimism, to choose action, to choose excellence. The best thing is that it only takes a moment -- just one second -- to decide.

Before you finish this paragraph, you have the power to change everything that's to come. And you can do that by asking yourself (and your colleagues) the one question that every organization andevery individual needs to ask today: Why not be great?”

Here’s to being GREAT in 2012.

December 15, 2011

The greatest gift I have ever received was from my dad when I was just five years old. I got a phone call from Santa in early December, asking me what I wanted for Christmas and whether or not I had been a good girl. This gift kept on giving, as I received a phone call from Santa in early December for years. When we moved houses when I was nine, Santa called to celebrate the fact that we now had three fireplaces and so many ways for him to get in and deliver presents.

As I grew older and became a bit skeptical, Santa stuck to his questions and assured me that he was, indeed, THE Santa. I was certain it was my dad or my uncle or my dad's best friend. But each year, one of these great men would be at my house when Santa called, forcing me to come up with a new idea about who could be calling me. I always went along with the call to humor the Old Man. The look on my college roommate's face was priceless as I assured Santa I would be home for Christmas, and he didn't need to find a way into the dorm to deliver my gifts.

Santa knew all about my ever-changing life and followed me closely for almost twenty years. Toward the end of my college years, I was at home one day when my dad received a phone call. Dad walked out with tears streaming down his face to tell us that Santa had died. It turns out that MY Santa was an old coworker of my dad's who truly loved the spirit of the holiday season. He and my dad talked only once a year so that my dad could give him the updated scoop. I never had the chance to meet him face to face, but he had a tremendous impact on my life and taught me so much about giving. Now,when my ten year old asks me with skepticism about Santa, I have no problemlooking him straight in the eye and saying, "Mom believes in Santa.”

Whether you celebrate Christmas, will enjoy Hanukkah later this month, or simply take the next few weeks as a well deserved Winter break, always remember that sometimes the greatest gifts in life don’t come in a box.

Here’s to a restful December vacation, filled with family, friends, joy, and peace!

December 8, 2011

The focus in my home this month is about giving to others. It is something that is dear to my heart and a value that I want to instill in my boys as they grow into productive members of their larger community. As a family we choose a few things each week as a way to give to others. This week the boys will be purchasing a Razor scooter for a boy named Carlos through the Family Giving Tree. I also want my boys to understand that small things matter too, and we don’t need anything in return to make us feel good about giving.

I was so proud to see that while we were raking up our leaves this past weekend, my little one went into our neighbor’s yard to rake her leaves. “Hey, Mom! I’m going to do this for Paula.” Success! Here at Santa Rita, I was so very excited to hear that our food drive donation to CSA has been one of the largest donations so far this year. I know the Golden Can contest is motivating and exciting, as is the lure of a Popsicle party for the class who donates the most. However, I hope our students also understand the importance of giving to their greater community, from the greatest donation to the smallest gesture. Giving simply makes us feel good and helps others at the same time.

The research that the folks from Project Cornerstone and the Search Institute have conducted shows that community service or service to others is an extremely important developmental asset. An article from Palo Alto Online did a great job of explaining its importance. Its crux is that “service to others is the gateway to a whole host of positive relationships, opportunities, values and skills that youth need to thrive.”

Here’s to serving others!

December 1, 2011

If you’ve ever been in my office before, you will notice a large butterfly poster adorning my back wall. It is a beautiful reminder to me that we must ask more of our students. It’s called A Blooming Butterfly, named after the work of Benjamin Bloom. More than 50 years ago Bloom and his team of educators came up with a taxonomy for classifying the type of learning we ask students to do. From basic remembering and understanding, all the way to evaluating and creating. The higher on the list, the more critical the thinking needs to be. Memorizing important facts may be useful at times, but requires little thinking, only remembering. When we ask our students to create a product or evaluate an idea, this requires more in-depth thought.

Creating
Evaluating
Analyzing
Applying
Understanding
Remembering

When I was a teacher, this taxonomy was a frequent part of my lesson design. I used it as a way to push myself to make sure that I was asking for more higher level skills from my students. It was also a great tool to help me deal with the many levels of learners in my classroom, from struggling learners to the most gifted. Differentiation and meeting the needs of all learners is one of the greatest challenges of a teacher, and we need tools to help us do this important job. At our next staff meeting, we’ll be working with Bloom’s Taxonomy and ways it can help us better meet the needs of all students at Santa Rita School.

Here’s to Blooming learners!

November 22, 2011

I wanted to take this time to thank you for allowing your children to learn at Santa Rita School. I am amazed each and every day by their curiosity, their humor, their dedication, and their caring. They are amazing little (and not so little) people. I came across a quote this morning that I love, and it sums up my views on learning in a very precise way.

Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.
~ William Butler Yeats

I believe in the importance of igniting a passion for learning and risk taking in our students. It is my hope that every student leaves Santa Rita with a love of learning and a passion for something special. I also want students to understand that learning should not always be easy and that failure helps us grow and learn too.

I do hope that you all enjoy your Thanksgiving holiday break with your friends and family.

Here’s to lighting that fire!

November 17, 2011

It’s that time of year again - Parent/Teacher conferences. I had my own last week and found one particular site helpful when my husband and I were preparing for both conferences. It comes from Discovery Education, and it has six suggestions for parents on what to come prepared to discuss. There were a few elements that stood out for me.

The first was to talk to your child about the conference. They suggest that you ask something like, “We are going to meet with your teacher tomorrow; what will she tell me?” That is a great question and one that any child should be able to answer to some degree. Another suggestion that I found extremely helpful was to share important information about your child with the teacher. As parents, we have valuable information about our kids that is helpful to teachers, and this may also include any new health information and changes or crises happening within the family.

I think the most important part of a conference is being able to voice any concerns you may be having about how your child is progressing at school, either academically, socially, or emotionally. The goal is to work as a team, parents and teachers, for the success of your child. When we work as a team, we can accomplish anything.

Here’s to successful parent teacher conferences!

November 10, 2010

I am excited to be able to share with you one outcomes of the recent district Educational Blueprint meeting, where Trustees, Administrators, Teachers, Parents, and Community Members came together to discuss learning in the Los Altos School District. One of our greatest tasks of the 10/25 meeting was to create a vision for the district - what do we want to be in five or so years? After a lengthy and very heartfelt discussion, we decided on the following:

The Los Altos School District will be a leader in revolutionizing learning for all students.

When we finally came to consensus on this, there was clear excitement that we got it right. The Board adopted this new vision at the Board Meeting Monday night. I’m sure we will be having lengthy discussions as a district and as a school about what revolutionizing actually means, but the direction came from what do our students deserve today as learners. They want a voice. They want choice. They want to think, create, and produce something of value. They want to be engaged and interested in their learning. They want to learn together. I get tremendously excited when I think about what school can be for students each and every day - and we are working toward that vision at Santa Rita School.

Here’s to revolutionizing learning for all students!

November 3, 2100

I read an interesting blog post yesterday from Will Richardson, an author and educator passionate about teaching and learning. It was titled Lifelong Unlearning and refers to Duke professor Cathy Davidson’s new book about brain science and its effects on learning. I haven’t yet read this book, but I was fascinated by the notion of unlearning.

Davidson states that, "Unlearning is required when the world or your circumstances in that world have changed so completely that your old habits now hold you back. You can't just resolve to change. You need to break a pattern, to free yourself from old ways before you can adopt the new." The world is moving at a break-neck speed, even in the often slow moving field of education.

Richardson talks about how both educators and students need to be able to learn, unlearn, and relearn and be “adept and agile unlearners.” We want children who are flexible thinkers and able to adapt to anything that life throws their way. I certainly want that for my own boys. What spoke to me the most in this post was the concept of knowledge as a verb and not a noun. That learning must be a process; one that is never complete and is always evolving. Making change is frequently difficult and often emotional, but unlearning outdated habits and practices is vital to keep us moving forward in the learning process.

Here’s to encouraging our students to be lifelong unlearners!

October 27, 2011

Now that school has been in session for some time now, I am noticing that some kids have a plan for successful learning and others don’t. Apparently, I have one of each. This became very evident at my home last week. Things have gotten off to an unusually good start this year. The boys are now in 3rd and 5th grades and have been coming home from daycare with completed homework. My husband and I often look at each other and whisper who are these kids? Unusual behavior for sure, but it never lasts, does it?

I received an email from my oldest son’s teacher last week letting me know that he never turned in his in-class book report. She was concerned because he was such a careful student and this was out of his norm. To me this was part of his norm - clearly she’s still in the honeymoon phase. When I asked him why he didn’t turn in his in-class report, his caveman-like answer said something to the effect that he didn’t finish it. My response was So what’s your plan?

There was no plan. He had time to work in class and just about everyone else was able to complete it, but he did not. So it’s been sitting. In his desk. For a week. We discussed the options and made a plan. He would work at recess and lunch until it’s done. What blew my mind was that he never thought for one minute how he could finish this after his time in class was up. Many kids naturally think to bring work home or work at recess, but certainly some need help creating a plan. Hopefully we’ve added this concept of planning for success to his learning toolkit, and he’ll remember to pull it out the next time he needs it.

Here’s to all kids having a plan for successful learning!

October 19, 2011

I am excited to share a new student learning opportunity with you that will begin on Monday. As a district, one of our Blueprint goals is to meet the individual needs of all students. As a staff, we are constantly looking at ways we can do a better job of this. With this in mind, we have developed LEAP time for all 1st through 5th graders. LEAP stands for Language, Explorations, and Projects - a 30 minute daily time where students will be grouped according to their needs.

Our English Language Learner students will spend time in small groups learning with their LEAP teachers. Many of our teachers were trained last year in the Systematic English Language Development program and will use this great curriculum to better meet the needs of our students still learning English. Our special education resource students and therapeutic special day students not needing English language instruction will spend time in small groups getting the academic or social/behavioral support they need. All other students in grades one through five will be grouped and spend time with their LEAP teachers going above and beyond the traditional curriculum.

After lunch on Monday, students will meet their LEAP teachers, do some get-to-know-you activities, and learn about the initial plan for their LEAP time. The groups will be flexible and may rotate through several LEAP teachers throughout the year. If you want to learn more, I’ll be discussing LEAP at tomorrow’s PTA meeting.

Here’s to better meeting the needs of all students!

October 13, 2011

In light of the events last week that prompted several of our schools to go into a precautionary lockdown, I felt it would be beneficial to give a brief overview of the safety policies and procedures we have in place should we need them.

Office Sign-In - Please make sure that you sign in at the office whenever you are on campus. We ask that you wear a badge (even if we all know you by name!) and that you ask other adults on campus to do the same. We all need to work together to make sure that we know who is on school property at all times.

Fire Drill - We are required to hold a fire drill each month of the school year. If you are on campus during that time, please be sure that you evacuate to the blacktop along with the students and staff.

Earthquake Drill - We hold a yearly duck and cover earthquake drill. This year we are participating in the Great Shake Out on 10/20 and will be doing a mid-sized drill including evacuation, search and rescue, and some student release to practice our process.

Code Blue - aka shelter in place or lockdown - In this situation, we ask teachers to lock the doors and close the blinds of all classrooms. Students and staff remain in the classroom. There is no threat of imminent danger at this time, but there may be some activity in the neighborhood where the police ask us to shelter in place or I determine this is the right thing to do. We will be practicing this drill sometime this year.

Code Red - In this heightened situation, there may be imminent danger to our students and staff. Teachers barricade the classroom doors and get all children behind an indoor barricade. The police would be on the scene asap and take over the school. We will be practicing this drill sometime this year.

In any emergency event, we will be updating our phone message, if possible, and will be emailing and/or tweeting (@SRbobacts) updated information as frequently as possible. Please always remain calm and follow the directions given for parents in these instances. I have 540 students and close to 50 staff members to keep calm, safe, and secure during an emergency – a big job that I take very seriously.

I will be going into more detail next Friday at the PTA meeting, specifically focusing on the role that parents can play during an emergency.

Here’s to working together to keep our students and staff safe!

October 6, 2011

On Tuesday during the minimum day afternoon time, teachers across the district were discussing assessment and learning, with the big focus on meeting individual student needs and providing feedback and interventions in a timely and targeted manner. All very important to the learning process for student success!

Just yesterday morning, I read a clever blog post from my favorite math blogger, Dan Meyer, entitled Five Lessons on Teaching from Angry Birds That Have Nothing Whatsoever to Do With Parabolas. I don’t know about you, but I have recovered (thankfully) from a pretty severe case of AngryBirditis where I was unable to stop playing for hours on end. For that reason, this post really tickled me. However, the five lessons Dan points out are spot on:

1. Make it easy to start the task.
2. Show, don’t tell.
3. Give useful and immediate feedback.
4. Make it easy to recover from failure.
5. Complicate the task gradually.

  

Ideas behind video games can be applied to learning in so many interesting ways, especially the feedback and gradual release of complexity that comes with a game like Angry Birds. This is where teaching is an art form - making sure that every student within the classroom is being appropriately challenged and supported so that quality learning is taking place. This is what we strive to do each and every day at Santa Rita School.

Here’s to great learning for all!

September 29, 2011

I couldn’t help but think of Oprah this week when the same topic kept coming at me from every possible angle. She refers to it as whispers. Those whispers were telling me to focus on failure. Not failure as in my own failure, but the actual topic of FAILURE. It started with a terrific article in the New York Times forwarded to me from several different parents (thanks!), What if the Secret to Success is Failure? It’s a great read that highlights traits needed to be successful students and adults. One of them is grit - do students have the grit to deal with the failure in their lives?

Days later, I received a great gift of a fortune cookie fortune from a parent who just knew I would love it (I did!). Failure is the tuition you pay for success. I AGREE! What I want for my children and yours is for them to understand that failure is a part of learning. Through failure and challenges our children learn extremely valuable skills in how to cope when things don’t go as planned. Throughout my career in education, I have witnessed dozens and dozens of emotional melt-downs when children don’t do well on a test, lose a game, don’t make a team, or struggle learning a new concept. Instead of persevering, retrying, fixing an error, or asking for help, some kids simply melt. I’m not sure if they know what else to do.

So the question I ask myself as a parent is, am I allowing opportunities for my boys to fail or struggle or am I trying to fix everything for them so they don’t suffer the consequences? I am certainly guilty of being a fixer at times (I’m sure I’m not alone), but this is a topic we talk about as a family, frequently, at the dinner table - what skills do they have to cope? At school, it is a great topic for conversation in the classroom. As we expand on our Project Cornerstone ABC book program, we will be focusing on specific skills to help our students deal with everyday problems. Please make sure you are reading the Project Cornerstone monthly theme letter that is sent home from your teacher. It focuses on the skills and topics of discussion and provides some great language to use with kids as they learn these important life skills.

Here’s to failure and success!

September 22, 2011

This week I have been meeting with each teacher to go over her yearly teaching goals. It’s always an exciting time to see what she is striving for this year, what training she feels she needs, and how I can support her in attaining her goals. In one conversation yesterday, a teacher shared with me that she had an a-ha moment last week while participating in an iPad webinar. The instructor made a statement that just adding technology to what we are already doing in the classroom is a waste of time - technology can allow us to go deeper and richer in learning. YES!

As a staff we have been talking about incorporating more technology into classroom learning and how technology allows us to take our students above and beyond what we can do with traditional classroom materials and tools. From Kinders manipulating letters and sounds with their interactive white boards to 6th graders blogging about their learning to the entire world, the focus is always on the learning, not the technology.

That’s the way good learning should be. Technology is simply a newer learning tool with the ability to transform learning as we know it. As we move beyond word processing and PowerPoint presentations and get into robust online tools and programs, students will be able to take their learning a great step further. Just as the iPod has transformed the way the world accesses and listens to music or the DVR has changed the way we watch TV, so too will technology change the way students learn. One small step at a time.

Here’s to taking small steps along the journey of learning!

September 15, 2011

Last year I shared with you my “new school year” message of the ship metaphor - learning is a journey, not a destination, with doldrums and discovery along the way. This year, we continued that theme in a new way. I shared a wonderful video called "Above and Beyond” with the staff from the Partnership for 21st Century Skills and artists at FableVision.

This clever video highlights the level to which learning can go when we allow students to collaborate and think creatively. Clearly what was demonstrated by these two cartoon learners was much more rich than their peers who simply followed the standard directions. This continues to be a theme of discussion at Santa Rita - are we allowing every opportunity to our students to go above and beyond.

On a related note, I wanted to share with you some exciting news. Santa Rita will be hosting a group of 20 MAJOR educational reporters on Tuesday as they visit our school as a model of blended learning in the classroom. Sal Khan will be speaking to them, along with our Superintendent Jeff Baier, and they will be visiting the 6th grade classrooms to see blended learning in action. This is an exciting opportunity for our school and district, and we are so proud to serve as a wonderful model of learning.

Here’s to going above and beyond!

September 8, 2011

I am intrigued by the 20% time Google is known for, with its roots coming from 3M and other innovative companies. In case you don’t know, Google allows each employee to use 20% of his/her time on a project of personal interest. One can be an engineer and give public tours of the Googleplex one day a week or work on a new project idea - it’s by choice. 3M claims that Masking Tape and Post-its were invented using this choice time, and Gmail came about this way as well. The belief in this 20% system comes from the fact that these companies feel their employees are more motivated and productive in their regular work when they are also allowed to work on a special project of interest and innovation.

This premise makes me wonder what would happen if students were allowed to run 20% of their own learning time. Right now, I know my oldest would love to spend time studying the intricacies of Harry Potter - he is hooked! In the process he could investigate the magical science and compare it to our modern science, write some great opinion pieces on the characters and on-going plot, or sketch and design the entire Harry Potter world using the images in his head and the facts in the books. He could certainly learn many skills and concepts through this Harry Potter learning experience, including many of the required standards. I can tell you, his motivation would be through the roof!

All of the educational research that I’ve read indicates that by the time a student reaches middle school, choice is imperative in keeping students motivated to continue coming to school to learn. (It works for me as a learner, too!) For some, it may be Harry Potter, for others it may be baseball, trains, Greek myths, or butterflies. I know that this 20% is a far out idea, and our fantastic teachers work hard to teach the expansive curriculum already. But I do wonder if providing more choice in learning would help our kids stay motivated and be even more engaged in learning all year long. We’ll be having this conversation as a staff this year as we look into project based learning, technology integration, and the results of our Project Cornerstone student survey.

Here’s to thinking about more choice!

September 1, 2011

Just last week I received the latest copy of my college alumni newsletter from Cal Poly SLO. It highlighted the many accomplishments of current and former students, but it especially focused on the Cal Poly philosophy - Learn by Doing. While many of my friends were at college sitting in lecture halls with hundreds of other students, I was in a lab or out in the field putting my knowledge to work. It was the first time since elementary school that I truly enjoyed learning because I got to use and apply it in very meaningful and real ways. That’s why I loved an active classroom as a teacher and promote an active classroom as a principal - children learn more when they can DO.

On Tuesday I was lucky enough to sit through an overview training on the new Common Core State Standards - "The Common Core State Standards" provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them.” These new national standards will supposedly take effect in the 2014-2015 school year, with new assessments to replace the STAR test that same school year. What I love about the new standards, besides being much more consistent K-12 and streamlined, is the fact that they focus on college and carer preparedness for all students in the 21st century - there is a focus on DOING.

I’m still learning about the new standards, but I see an emphasis on informational text reading in all grades and all subjects, more focus on expository and opinion writing, much talk of precise communication and using available digital tools, and lots of emphasis on collaborative classrooms and group working skills. In math, I almost jumped out of my seat when I saw an emphasis on mathematical practice to go along with traditional math content skills, including “make sense of problems and persevere in solving them” and “construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others”. Hurray!

Fortunately, we have some time as a community, school, and district to prepare for the 2014-2015 switch to the new standards and assessments. As a staff, we will begin discussing the new Common Core State Standards and continue our efforts to look closely at our instructional practices to make sure we are meeting the needs of our 21st century students as we prepare them for college and careers.

Here’s to learning by doing!

August 25, 2011

My boys started their school on Monday - 3rd and 5th grades this year (time flies!). They were both very excited to get back to school, see their friends, and start learning. As a parent, I want to make sure I am doing everything I can to make this a successful year for both of them. I believe that in order to have a strong year academically, socially, and emotionally, they both need to have healthy minds and bodies.

A healthy mind is free of stress and ready to learn. Stress is inevitable, even for a small child, but I want to make sure my children (and yours) have a way to deal with their own stress. We breathe, we move, we laugh - all good ways to deal with it. A healthy mind is also creative and imaginative. We dream, we build, we color. A healthy mind understands that making mistakes is an important part of learning. We don’t beat ourselves up over getting something wrong, doing something wrong, or saying something wrong. A healthy mind is mindful. We pay attention to our thoughts, feelings, and attitudes.

A healthy body is just as important. We feed our bodies nutritious foods to help our minds learn better. We move our bodies as much as we can to help our minds learn better. This is especially important to me as a school leader. We provide many opportunities for your children to move throughout the school day through recess, lunch recess, and physical education. I am also cracking down on the food we provide at school. I have attached a brief overview of the student wellness policy as it relates to birthday celebrations, classroom parties and activities, and school/class rewards. Please take a few moments to read through it so we can work together for the benefit of our kids.

Here’s to a healthy mind and body!

August 18, 2011

There are so many reasons why I love the beginning of the school year - smiling children, new friends, a renewed and refreshed desire to learn. It’s also a great opportunity to make some changes around campus. One area that the staff has been discussing is rewards and recognition.

You’ve seen me write of Daniel Pink’s Drive before as a great synthesis on the science behind motivation. This summer I also came across two great blog postings, Hey You, Please Stop Bribing (My) Children and My Issue with Rewards, that spoke directly to me. After doing some research, the experts say that rewards work well when wanting a rote behavior to be established (think potty training with m&ms!). Those same rewards can actually have a negative effect when looking to establish deeper behaviors, such as being kind, empathetic, and caring. We want to foster a sense of intrinsic motivation for the students at Santa Rita as we continue to build a strong, caring school community.

After a lengthy discussion, we’ve decided to make a few changes to both the marble jar and student of the week. Students will now be verbally praised and recognized for contributing to their school and being a good Bobcat citizen; however, there will no longer be a marble jar incentive or reward. We all feel lucky to be at Santa Rita and should be happy to help care for our school and friends without expecting tangible rewards. As for student of the week, we have decided that we would like to use Friday Assembly time to build school community and work with Project Cornerstone to help build Developmental Assets. Students will continue to be recognized for their terrific achievements and accomplishments inside the classroom with their classmates and teachers. I hope you will support our changes and participate in our new activities (details to come) as we build strong relationships as a larger school community.

Here’s to teaching kids to look within for motivation!

August 10, 2011

On behalf of all of us, welcome to or welcome back to Santa Rita School for the 2011-2012 school year. We are eagerly anticipating your arrival and are looking forward to another wonderful year at Santa Rita!

We are a part of a great school district, and we continually strive to offer the best educational program possible. As you know, we are so successful because of you and your support through both the PTA and the Los Altos Education Foundation (LAEF). We are fortunate to maintain our upper and lower grade arts programs this year: "Starting Arts" for kindergarten through third grade students, and a selection of vocal and instrumental music and PE for upper grades, and even a special "cSTEM" (Science, Technology, Education & Mathematics) class for 6th grade that will focus on basic programming skills. Our library is open and we continue to enjoy the support of a technology aide! As before, we will remain in touch through our regular "green" weekly email, The Bobcat Tracker. It will keep you up-to-date on school activities.

Santa Rita’s "Back-to-School Packet" is available online again this year, where you can join the PTA, get a school directory, order t-shirts, contribute to the library and Santa Rita PTA, and sign up for volunteering at PTA events. Please go to: http://fs6.formsite.com/santarita/Back-to-School to complete your online forms by August 25th.

Please check the Back-to-School Checklist at http://www.santaritaschool.org/pdf/BTSParentChecklist2011.pdf to make sure you have completed everything necessary for a smooth start to the school year. Hopefully you were able to update your registration information using the new "InfoSnap" system (password sent to you by the district) and all of your contact information is current. For assistance with this, we will have a few computers available in the computer lab at the Back-to-School parent coffee at 8:30 a.m. on August 17th.

Over vacation a decision was made to move the K-3 Therapeutic Special Day Class (T-SDC) from Gardner-Bullis to Santa Rita. Please welcome Jennifer Ebrahimi – Jen will be the T-SDC teacher and work closely with the established T-SDC team. A new addition to that team is Amy Keezer, who will be the counselor providing therapy and social skills lessons to the students. It is a huge benefit to the T-SDC students and families to have both programs on one campus. Welcome, Jen and Amy and welcome to our new families!

In addition to Jen and Amy, please welcome Alicia Chapman. Alicia is our new 1st grade teacher who will be working closely with the 1st grade team. Alicia comes to us from Cupertino, where she just completed her student teaching experience with glowing reviews. Of course you already know that Kathy Day-Bobb will be joining us full-time this year in 5th grade. We are lucky to have her energy, creativity, and experience at Santa Rita. Welcome, Alicia and Kathy!

We are fortunate to have a new Clerk, Jayne Amsden. Jayne was the Science Aide at Springer last year and helped out a lot in their busy office as well. She will be a terrific addition to our fantastic office crew – Welcome, Jayne!

There are a few events happening in the next two weeks that we would like to call your attention to:

1. Back to School Coffee, Wednesday, August 17 at 8:30 a.m. The back to school coffee will be held in the Multi. Stop by for a chance to socialize with other parents and take a look at this year's volunteer opportunities.
2. New Family Orientation, Monday, August 22 at 6:30 p.m in the Multi. This evening is intended for new families to have an opportunity to learn more about Santa Rita, the PTA, and the Los Altos Education Foundation.
3. Back to School Bobcat Chase & Pancake Breakfast, Saturday, August 27, 2011, 8:00 am-12:00 pm. The 5th Annual Back-to-School Pancake Breakfast & Bobcat Chase Fun Run is at Santa Rita Elementary School. Join us at the track for Flap-jacks & Laps! Fun for the entire family. Races for each grade, teachers, and parents.

You will be receiving an email on Friday with your child’s teacher assignment. In addition, class lists will be posted on Friday at 4:00 pm in the office windows. Many hours were spent creating class assignments, taking great care to place children in class groupings that will foster successful learning for all.

My door is always open to you with any questions, comments, or concerns you may have. I am also easily reached by email at smcgonagle@santaritaschool.org.

Here’s to a terrific Bobcat school year!