Online Meetings

We are going to try something new this semester.


While we will still have meetings every two weeks, one will be face to face and one will be online. Our first meeting of the semester will be a face to face meeting during which I will schedule the next online meeting and walk you though getting into the online classroom. (We can also use Skype and or Google chat with Google Docs. My goal is to get everyone familiar and comfortable with using all of these tools.)

Utilizing these online resources will be a great way to increase convenience for meeting scheduling. I also believe that being comfortable using online meeting tools is a valuable skill to have.

We will use LP6 and LP7 as a trial period and see how it goes!

Final Semester Grades

I have finished calculating final semester grades. Please check Launchpad and Engrade to view. If you have ANY questions, or believe that any grade is in error, please contact me TODAY. Thank you!

Tomorrow we start fresh with semester two. Your assignments should be up in Launchpad now, and your ALEKS accounts active. Again, please let me know if you have any questions.

Congratulations on finishing up the first semester and let's get a great start on the new one!

Welcome Back!

I hope you had a wonderful Winter Break! It can be hard to adjust to being "back to school" after two weeks off, but it is time to get back to work :)

Today is the beginning of the last week of semester one. If we do not meet this week, make sure you check your assignment sheet and get all assigned work done by Friday.

Next Monday and Tuesday are teacher work days, so you do not have school. I have posted both the meeting schedule for this week and next below.

If you have any questions, just ask me!

Semester Grades

The end of the Fall semester is looming. It will be here before you know it!

Remember:

• Check grades often. They are typically most up to date immediately following student meetings.
• The last day to submit late work (for a D) is Monday, 1/6. This is the day following Winter Break. If we don't meet this week, make sure you submit your work digitally. Refer to your assignment sheet for what is due.

To check your current grades:

Go to www.engrade.com

Sign in:

User Name: Your Launchpad user name

Password: Your Launchpad user name

If you don't remember your Launchpad user name, or if you are a parent/guardian and don't know your student's Launchpad user name, email me and I can give it to you.
If you have any questions about grades, please let me know!

Happy Holidays!

I won't see many of you until after the New Year. 

Have A Wonderful Winter Break!

When we return on Monday, January 6, we will have one week to wrap up the semester and then on to Semester two.

Check out The Hour of Code

From Sal Khan, the founder of the Khan Academy...

When I first started Khan Academy I managed to pull the website together with some pretty rusty coding skills I had picked up in college. I realize now that I was one of the lucky ones - 90% of students don't get the opportunity to learn any type of computer coding while they're at school.

That's crazy when you consider how much of our lives require technology. This week over 5 million students will participate in the Hour of Code - and try out coding for the first time. Try it out - at the end of the hour, you'll have coded your very own greeting card to send to someone this holiday season.

Check out the Hour of Code

Check out the Hour of Code. If you can type, you can code. Coding may seem a little scary to some, but we’ve made a fun hour of coding that’ll have you building things in a snap.

What is the Hour of Code? Hour of Code is about getting millions of students to try computer science for just one hour during Computer Science Education Week, which starts today. At Khan Academy, we’ve custom made a tutorial for students that requires no prior experience and is good for grades 3 to 12 and beyond - anybody can learn.

The founders of Facebook, Microsoft, and Google all started their journeys with just one line of code. Our kids should all have the chance to create the technology of the future, not just use it. I can't wait to see what everyone makes!

Sal,
Founder of Khan Academy, lover of code

Visions Writing Workshop is coming to Benicia this Spring!

Interested in developing your writing skills? Tired of working on your own? Like to meet other Visions students who like to write?

Visions is offering a Spring Writing Workshop in Benicia this year.

Where: Northgate Christian Church, Benicia

When: Fridays, 9 am to noon (attendance mandatory)

Credits: 5 directed project credits on your transcript (counts as a class!)

For more information see the Visions Word Squad site:

http://wordsquad.blog.viedu.org/info/visions-writing-classes/

How to sign up:

Email me! I will fill out the form for you and add the course to your master agreement for Spring. 

Do it soon, don't delay :)

Next week is Thanksgiving week.
You are free to work over the break if you like; Launchpad will be up and if you have some work to make up, Thanksgiving break is a great time to do it.
I will be working on Monday and Tuesday so feel free to email me if you need to.
I will be unavailable Wednesday - Sunday.

Have a super Thanksgiving!

Visions 50's Themed Dance

JOIN US NOVEMBER 15th FOR OUR 50's THEMED DANCE!! 

Date: November 15, 2013
Time: 7:30pm - 10:00pm
Where: Christ Community Church (5025 Manzanita Ave. Carmichael CA)
Who: 9-12 grade Visions students
Cost: $12 (price includes use of photo booth)

Students interested in attending must RSVP CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP!

50's Sock Hop
Come dressed in poodle skirts and rolled up jeans.
Prize for best dressed!
Photo booth and refreshments will be provided.
Upon receipt of RSVP, a VIP Dance Pass will be sent to the student's email. Students will need to present the VIP Dance Pass at the door along with the ticket cost to be admitted to the dance.

Guests are permitted provided they are not older than 18 years and have submitted a completed guest dance bid to the office by the day of the dance.

Visions In Education
4800 Manzanita Way
Carmichael, CA 95608

Visions’ Annual Scholastic Book Fair Will Be December 9 – 13

Scholastic Book Fair 
Visions is hosting its annual Scholastic Book Fair for all its students from Monday, December 9th through Friday, December 13th, at the Carmichael Resource Center. 

When: 

Monday, December 9 through Thursday, December 12: 9:00 am – 4:00 pm 

Friday, December 13: 9:00 am – 2:00 pm 

All students may use student funds to purchase up to $50.00 (including tax) at the Scholastic Book Fair. Please learn more by viewing the Scholastic Book Fair flyer HERE.

Book Fair Location: 

Carmichael Resource Center

4762-A Manzanita Avenue 

Carmichael, CA 95608 

Some families complete two things while in Carmichael:

Lifetouch Student Portraits 
In addition, Lifetouch will be on campus on Thursday, December 12th to take school portraits of Visions students (and their siblings).

Lifetouch Student Pictures 

When:  

Thursday, December 12, 2013  9:30 am – Noon and 12:30 pm – 4:00 pm 

Lifetouch Student Portrait Location: 

Christ Community Church

5025 Manzanita Avenue 

Room M1 

Carmichael, CA 95608 

(1/4 mile from Visions Main Offices – same location as the enrichment classes) 

To purchase portraits with a credit card, please go online and purchase your picture package before coming to the school. Bring your printed receipt for the photographer. Online purchasing provides you a much bigger selection of backgrounds to choose from. Visit www.mylifetouch.com and enter Visions’ picture day ID number CR013461Y0. Packages purchased the day of the photo shoot must be paid in cash or by check. Please visit HERE for the Lifetouch flyer.

CAHSEE Tomorrow and Wednesday

November CAHSEE (11th and 12th Grade Only)

English: Tuesday, November 5

Math: Wednesday, November 6

Test begins at 9:30 a.m.

The test is un-timed and most students will be done in 2 to 3 hours.

Please make sure to bring a picture ID or have your parent/guardian sign you in.

Community Presbyterian-Vallejo 

2800 Georgia St., Vallejo, CA

Good Luck!
And remember:
Do the easy ones first.
Relax and take your time.
Use process of elimination for the questions you don't know.
If you don't know the answer, guess. You will have at least a 25% chance of getting it right!

Visions Changes for Next School Year (2014/2015)

As you have probably heard, Visions is changing to a new curriculum delivery model for next year. We will still have launchpad for keeping track of student information (that is called a SIS, student information system), but we will be moving to Pearson GradPoint for our learning management system (LMS).

All coursework will be on Gradpoint. As far as I know, there will be no textbooks or workbooks as all work will be completed online.

Each student will be provided with a Chromebook and internet access, if they don't already have it. (I'm not sure if you are getting the new HP ones on this link or the ones produced by Samsung that the CTs have this year. You can see mine and test it out at our meetings.)

If you would like to research Pearson GradPoint or see a course demo, Click here to visit their website.

Visions CTs have been provided with Chromebooks this year and are focusing our professional development days on learning GradPoint from teacher and student point of view.

I will provide more information as it comes.

State Testing For 2013/2014

With California adopting the Common Core State Standards (instead of the California State Standards that we currently have), and the Smarter Balanced Assessments (instead of the STAR testing we have been doing), there will be major changes in curriculum and testing starting this school year.

What does this mean for you?
STAR (Standardized Testing and Reporting):
All STAR tests are suspended this school year. EXCEPT for the science tests for grades 5, 8, & 10, as they are required by federal law.

SBAC (Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium):
The new Smarter Balanced Assessment will be held in the spring as a field test.

Grades 3-8 and 11 will take either the math or English test. Which test each school will give will be determined by the board of education and we have not been notified yet.

Scores will not be provided to students, parents, or schools as the goal of this testing round is to "test" the test to see how well it is created and to iron out any issues that may come up without students being penalized.

What this means for 9-12 students in a nutshell:

• 9th and 12th graders will not be testing this spring. 
• 10th graders will take the STAR science test. 
• 11th graders will take the SBAC field test in either math or English.

I will keep you apprised of information as it comes to me.

Meanwhile, here is a link to an EdSource article titled "What's Next for Standardized Testing in California?" that has some more in-depth information.

November CAHSEE

Are you taking the CAHSEE in November? The November administration of the CAHSEE is for 11th and 12th graders who have yet to pass one or both portions of the California High School Exit Exam.

If you are going to take it this November, your best chance of passing is to start preparing NOW. 

If you need to pass the English portion:

• Open the CDE released test questions. http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/hs/documents/ela08rtq.pdf
• You can print them out or view them on screen
• Spend 20 minutes EVERY DAY working through some English questions.
• Check your work. (The answers are at the end of each section.)
• Make sure you understand the correct answer and would answer the same type of question correctly if you see it on the test.
• If you aren't sure about the answer, make a note of it and we will go over it at our next meeting, or call me and we can go over it over the phone

If you need to pass the Math portion:

• Open the CDE released test questions. http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/hs/documents/math08rtq.pdf
• You can print them out or view them on screen
• Spend 20 minutes EVERY DAY working through some Math questions.
• Check your work. (The answers are at the end of each section.)
• Make sure you understand the correct answer and would answer the same type of question correctly if you see it on the test.
• If you aren't sure about the answer, make a note of it and we will go over it at our next meeting, or call me and we can go over it over the phone

November CAHSEE

English: Tuesday, November 5

Math: Wednesday, November 6

9:30 a.m.

Community Presbyterian-Vallejo 

2800 Georgia St., Vallejo, CA

You can also:
Go to one of the tutoring centers to get some help, call the homework hotline, or schedule an online tutoring session with me. 

High School Juniors - Apply for the FBI Teen Academy

What is the FBI Teen Academy? 
The FBI Teen Academy exposes high school juniors to the FBI’s careers, values, and priorities; introduces the types of cases the FBI investigates; improves awareness of the hidden dangers of social media, online communication and more; inspires a desire for physical fitness; and encourages maintenance of a healthy lifestyle free of crime, drugs, gangs and violence. After attending, students are better prepared to serve as role models in their academic and social communities. Empowered with greater awareness of the challenges that face our community as a whole, students are encouraged to openly share their experiences and gained knowledge with their peers, offering support and guidance to those who may be facing challenging issues.

When is the Teen Academy offered? 
The Sacramento FBI will host two FBI Teen Academies for high school juniors this year: Fall 2013 and Spring 2014. Please encourage all high school juniors to apply to attend the next class at our headquarters that will be held on Friday, November 22, 2013 from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.

How does a student apply for the Academy? 
Completed application packages with original signatures are accepted at Sacramento FBI headquarters by post or hand delivery during normal business hours (Monday through Friday, 8:15 a.m. – 5 p.m.) until the Friday, October 25, 2013, 4:30 p.m. deadline. Faxed, emailed and late applications will not be accepted.

An application package can be downloaded here. If you refer a student to the Sacramento FBI Teen Academy, please make sure that such is noted on the application.

Students, parents/guardians, and schools will receive email notification of the review panel’s decision no later than the close of business on Tuesday, November 12, 2013. Students selected for the class will also receive additional information regarding what to expect and how to prepare for the day within their congratulatory email.

Important! There are sections on the application that must be filled out by the student, a parent/guardian, and a school official. In addition, the student must submit a typed essay. Please see the application for full details and instructions.

Grades

LP2 ended on Friday and LP3 begins today. I will be calculating LP2 progress grades to enter into Launchpad this Friday.

To check your current grades:

Go to www.engrade.com

Sign in:
User Name: Your Launchpad user name
Password: Your Launchpad user name
If you don't remember your Launchpad user name, email me and I can give it to you. If you are a new student, your account may not be set up yet.

Shortly after the end of each LP, progress grades are also posted in Launchpad. Please note that these grades are a snapshot of your LP1 assignments at the time these grades are calculated, while your Engrade grade is the most up to date and current.

Remember: Only your final semester grade goes on your report card. Progress grades are not kept in your records, so if you are doing well, keep it up! If you are not doing as well as you would like, work harder, you have time to improve your grades :)

If you have any questions about your grades, please let me know!

Juniors and Seniors Get help with your College Applications!

Visions Students in grades 11-12 are invited to participate in a day of workshops to help you on your path towards acceptance at a Four-Year College or University. 

When: Thurs., Oct. 24, 2013, 9:15 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. 

Where: Northgate Christian Church, 2201 Lake Herman Rd., Benicia 

Space is limited: First come, first served, so 

 Please click here to SIGN UP TODAY! 

Please note: These are not the same workshops that were offered at our September event. 

9:30 - 11:30 CSU Application Workshop (12th grade) Counselors will be available to help you begin your application. Please bring your unofficial transcripts (community college and VIE) and laptop (if available)

9:30 - 10:30 How to Write a Personal Statement Essay (12th graders) Students will examine personal statements from students that were admitted to Stanford and UC Berkeley to identify key components of this essay.

10:30 - 11:30 Personal Statement Essay Review (12th graders) If you have started your personal statement and would like feedback or suggestions, CT Olivia Johnston will be available by appointment only. Please email Olivia to schedule your appointment.

12:00 - 2:30 UC Application Workshop (12th grade) Counselors will be available to help you begin your application. Please bring your unofficial transcripts (community college and VIE) and laptop (if available)

12:00 - 1:30 What to Do Your Junior Year to Prepare for College Admission (11th graders) Learn about the courses and activities you can participate in this year to enhance your college application.

Add Drop Deadline

The last day to add or drop classes for this semester is Friday, October 11. This is also the last day to order books, directed project supplies, and computers.

If you are considering switching classes, adding/dropping a class, or are still deciding on materials to order for a directed project, please keep that date in mind.

This is especially important if you have an elective or math class that you are struggling with and would like to change.

Assembly Bill 484

Governor Brown signed Assembly Bill 484 on Wednesday.

The bill, authored by Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla (D-Concord),  effectively cancels the STAR tests for English and Math for this year so that schools and districts have a chance to get ready for the upcoming Smarter Balanced Assessments.

According to an article at ABC:
(http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/state&id=9271193)

"California has been giving the STAR tests to all students in grades 2-11. Under the plan approved by Brown, only the science portion of the test would be given to fifth, eighth, and 10th graders next spring before being dropped altogether a year later."

While not much more information has been provided, it looks as if 2 - 11 graders will not be taking the STAR tests this year EXCEPT for the science test that is administered to grades 5, 8, and 10.

I will keep you posted as news develops.

You can view the actual text of the bill here.
http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB484

Are You Struggling?

Are you struggling to complete your work? Unhappy with your grades? 

I can help you, but before I step in, make sure you are doing all you can.

First:

Make sure you are working about 1 hour per day on each subject. Time yourself, set a schedule. Think about what you would be doing in a regular high school and create a class schedule for yourself.

Example Schedule:

8:00 - 8:50 - English

9:00 - 9:50 - Science

10:00 - 10:50 - History

10:50 - 11:00 - PE

11:00 - 11:50 - LUNCH

12:00 - 12:50 - Math

1:00 - 1:50 - Elective Class

+ approx. 1 hr. of homework give or take. 

Don't get bogged down in any one subject. 

If you can't complete an assignment after an honest 50 minutes worth of work, STOP, take a break and go to the next subject. 

Remember, I can see through Launchpad exactly when you sign on, and how much time you are keeping your assignments open. If you aren't signing in every day and attempting to work on each subject, there is not much I can do. 

Second:

Consider working at one of our tutoring centers. There are tutors and other students there that can help. Consider going to the library or a coffee shop to work. Sometimes just getting away from home can help.

Third:

Call the homework helpline if you get stuck on a problem. 

If you are doing ALL that, and you still are struggling, I can work with you one on one to help you succeed. We can set online tutoring appointments on Fridays, or you can come out to Livermore to the library for face to face sessions. I can also modify some of your assignments, if needed.