Add Drop Deadline + -

Friday, March 2nd is the add/drop deadline for second semester courses. If you are considering dropping or adding a course, please contact me as soon as possible!

Job Workshop

Looking for a Job?
Free Job Workshop with
One Stop Career Center!


Friday Feb 24th @ 1:30-2:30
Visions PDC
4800 Manzanita Avenue,
Carmichael, CA 95608


Learn Job Search Techniques and Develop Employability Skills:

• Figure out what kind of career you would like to pursue
• Decide what to do after high school
• Learn about vocational training and other educational programs
• Find Job Openings
• Learn about programs for teens and youth
• Learn Interviewing Skills and Techniques
• Develop Job-Related Skills
• Create a Resume
• Receive Job Coaching/Career Counseling services

*This workshop is for Visions in Education students only.

Financial Aid Workshops

Counselors Luis Matta and Randy Nazareno are holding a Financial Aid Workshop for January 2012 and June 2012 Graduates in Fairfield (New Hope Church 1891 Woolner Avenue, Fairfield CA) on February 21st from 9:00 to 2:30 PM. It has limited seats and is by appointment only. If you are a graduating senior and need assistance in filling out the FAFSA please make an appointment at 916-971-5540.


Other Upcoming Financial Aid Workshops
February 23rd at Visions.

Cash 4 College/FAFSA WORKSHOPS
Solano Community College (February 22, 2012)
4000 Suisun Valley Road
4:00 to 8:00 PM

Fairfield Civic Center Library (February 28, 2012)
1150 Kentucky Street
6:15-8:15 PM

9-12 Field Trips for Second Semester Available for Sign-Up

Registration is now open for the  two (2) Field Trips sponsored by the 9-12 Academy.

Field Trip #1 The Exploratorium in San Francisco, Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Launchpad Event # 7565

Students will depart the Resource Center by bus to the Exploratorium in San Francisco to interact with an assortment of Hand's On Physical Science exhibits. Students should be at the RC at 8:00 am with a return time of 5pm. Snacks and Lunch is provided.

Field Trip #2 Sutter Buttes Hike, Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Launchpad Event # 7566

Students will depart the Resource Center by bus to the Sutter Buttes for an interpretative hike that features the fauna and flora of the world's smallest mountain range. Students should be dressed and have appropriate shoes for the hike. Students should be at the RC at 8:00 am with a return time of 5pm. Snacks and Lunch is provided.

Interested? Email me for more information or to sign up.

English Page Updates

I am working on updating the English page with the wonderful projects that were done last semester. I also have some great photos to put up. Take a look, but I am not done yet! I still have a bunch of work to post. If you did a project, or have a special photo you would like to post, let me know!

Semester 2!

Welcome to Semester 2! Grades are in, assignments are posted. Today begins 2nd semester. If you have any questions about your assignments, courses, or meeting dates and times, contact me as soon as you can so we can sort things out.

A few students have outstanding Master Agreements because we made changes in their courses. I will be sending MAs out in the mail today. If you get one, please sign and return as soon as possible. Thanks.

Beginning of Semester Reminder:

• All assigned work must be completed and ready to discuss/grade at our meetings in order to be accepted. 
• If you have an emergency or an illness that interferes with doing your work on time, have your parent or guardian contact me asap before our meeting. 
•  If you have questions about an assignment, or you do not know how to complete it, get help before the meeting.

Just Because

View of a sunset from inside a wave.

Have a photo, video, article or item that is interesting, unusual, or worth sharing? Email it to me and I'll post it in the Just Because post!

End of Semester 2

The last day of the semester is Thursday, January 26. Semester 2 begins on Tuesday, January 31.

Please make sure all of your LP5 work is complete and in my hands (or on my computer) by 5pm on Thursday.

Friday and Monday are teacher work days. You have off!

Community College Classes

Are you taking community college classes? If so, remember to:

• Let me know your schedule as soon as possible
• Keep all of your receipts, Visions may reimburse you for class fees and books
• Make sure you request an official transcript to be sent to Mr. Naz at Visions at the end of each college semester
• Remember that your Visions classes come first, you must keep your Visions grades up to be eligible to attend college courses while enrolled in high school

Never thought of this before? Interested? For more information about enrollment in community college courses while attending Visions, sign in to launchpad and then go to https://community.viedu.org/node/646. Or search for community college courses on VIE community.

Welcome Back!

I hope you had a relaxing break. I know I did. It can be hard to get back into the swing of things so take it slow and make sure you are working everyday. The semester is almost over and you will want to finish strong.

I have been busy today ordering books for semester 2 courses. I will be sending out an email copy of your Master Agreement this week so you can look over your planned courses and make any changes as soon as possible.

Check your grades and your progress, and make sure you know exactly what you need to do to get the grades you want this semester.

Let me know if there is anything I can do to help.

Important Upcoming Dates

Monday, January 16 - No school - Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Thursday, January 26 - Last day of LP5 and end of semester 1

Friday, January 27 - No school, teacher work day

Monday, January 30 - No school, teacher work day

Tuesday, January 31 - First day of semester 2, first day of LP6

UC Berkeley Visit

I am working on scheduling a group tour of the UC Berkeley Campus. Berkeley begins to accept tour reservations for Spring term on January 17.

If you are interested in the tour:
1) Email me any absolute times and days you can't come.
2) Email me if you will need transportation.
3) If you are taking college classes next semester, email me your schedule as soon as you have it

When we return from break, I will begin organizing.

Meanwhile, take a look at the UC Berkeley site to see what they offer in terms of campus tours and information.

UC Berkeley Visitor Information

Google Map - UC Berkeley Location

Have a wonderful, cozy, relaxing Winter Break!

Your vacation starts Friday, December 23rd, and your first day back to school will be on Monday, January 9th. When we return, there will be three weeks left in Semester One.

Google Docs

I love the way you are using Google Docs! It is a super way to share assignments with me.

It can get confusing though. So..

I have some guidelines I would like you to follow when submitting your assignments by Google Docs.

Please title your pages like this:
FirstNameLastInitial
Subject
Assignment #

Example:
TamsenB Eng4 #12

Also, please consolidate as much as you can from each assignment into one document. You can put many parts of an assignment in the same document. For example, if you are working on English, go ahead and put all of one assignment in one document and make subtitles for the sections.

This will make it much easier to grade and keep track of your work.

Thanks!

Welcome Back

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving. It can be difficult to start back up with work on these chilly dark days, but we must. Grab a cup of hot chocolate, settle in with your computer and your books and knock out a few assignments. Trust me, getting behind will not help :) You should be starting up with your LP4 work today. Your assignments are up in Launchpad and if you have any questions, give me a call. Remember to check your grades in Engrade regularly and contact me with questions. See you soon!

BTW...At our next meeting we will be deciding on the classes you will take for Spring semester and creating your Spring MAs. Give a thought to what you might like as electives so we can make sure you are getting the best from your year!

Book Fair and Student Pictures

Scholastic Book Fair
December 6 - 9, 2011
Tuesday - Thursday: 9:00 am – 4:00 pm
Friday: 9:00 am – 2:00 pm
Carmichael Resource Center
4762-A Manzanita Ave, Carmichael, CA 95608


Click here to see the flyer for the Book Fair!

Lifetouch Photography - Student Picture Opportunity
When: Thursday. December 8, 2011
Time: 10:00 am- Noon and 12:30 pm - 4:00 pm
Where: Main Visions Offices. Building A.
(Home School Orientation Room)

Once again, Lifetouch Photography will be on campus if you would like to have portraits taken of your student(s) and siblings. To purchase with a credit card, go online and purchase your picture package before coming to the school.

Bring your printed receipt for the photographer. Online purchasing gives you a much bigger selection of backgrounds to choose from to create the perfect picture package.

Visit www.mylifetouch.com and enter Visions picture day ID number CR011461Y0. Packages purchased the day of the photo shoot must be paid in cash or check. See linked order form for pricing.

You can also get student school pictures at the book fair from Lifetouch. Click here for the Lifetouch order form.

Word Squad

Visions Students,

The Word Squad, a new online publication of VIE student writing, is seeking student writing submissions. The Word Squad will be a digital publication that will showcase our student writers. We need your writing! We are looking for exemplary writing from any of the English 1, 2, or 3 major writing assignments. Your CT has a complete list of all of the categories for which we are seeking submissions. You can submit writing that you have already completed this school year or any upcoming assignments. You are encouraged to submit writing from more that one category.

During the 2011-2012 school year, we will collect writing submissions. In the spring, a group of teachers will decide which of these submissions will be published in our first edition of The Word Squad. Students whose writing has been chosen for publication will be notified before the end of this school year. In the fall of 2012, Visions in Education will launch The Word Squad with a celebration event that all published writers will be invited to.

Students whose work is selected for publication will receive a certificate of achievement, an invitation to our celebration event, entrance into a raffle for a chance to win a variety of prizes, and best of all...the pride that comes with being a published writer.

There are two easy steps to submitting your writing:

Step 1) Fill out information about yourself and your writing in this Google form. Be sure to read the information at the top of the form.

Step 2) Send your submission to thewordsquad@viedu.org. You can email your writing to this Word Squad email address or "Share" it with this email address through Google Docs.

Please include your name, category(writing assignment description), grade, and teacher's name on your writing.

That's it! Once your writing has been received, you will receive a confirmation email and a certificate of participation.

Come on....send us your writing. By next fall, you could be a published writer! We can't wait to read your work!

The Word Squad Staff

Student Work

Make sure to check out some great student work. Just click on the links to the pages under the Blog heading. I will keep adding things all year!

Upcoming Important Dates

• Friday, November 18 - Last Day of LP3
• Monday, November 21 through Friday, November 25 - Thanksgiving Break
• Monday, December 25 through Friday, January 6 - Winter Break

Student Work

I am so impressed with the quality of work I am seeing in the English projects and writing assignments! You are all doing such an amazing job. I will be sharing some student work on the blog next week. Make sure you came back to take a look!