Architecture in Polynomials

Students in Ms. Vadais’ Math 3 classes at Mission Bay High School got to design a floor plan for their dream homes with a backyard pool, all while using polynomials. While students constructed 2- and 3-dimensional figures, they used polynomial expressions and equations to model maximum surface area and square footage of their dream house. Way to make higher-level math applicable to the real world, Bucs!

Focusing on Community Impact at Montgomery Middle STEAM Magnet

This year, Montgomery Middle STEAM Magnet students will be participating in cross-curricular projects focused on impacting their school and Linda Vista communities. Grade level teacher teams have been collaborating to map out their curriculum and student projects for this school year. Through Project Based Learning, students will design a real-world product and exhibit their learning to the community through school-wide showcases. The hope of Montgomery Middle teachers is that the thoughtful design of learning that they are engaging in will have a lasting impact on their students, the school and Linda Vista communities.

Healthy in Body, Mind and Spirit at Lincoln

Students need to be healthy in body, mind, and spirit in order to learn successfully. Lincoln High’s Wellness Center helps student learners engage the whole body experience in education. The Wellness Center recognizes the link between physical and emotional health and academic success, providing students with multitudes of opportunities, including communal art.

John Lewis Brings History to Life at Morse High School

In their U.S. history-social science and art classes, Morse juniors read March, a graphic memoir of Congressman John Lewis, a pivotal leader in the Civil Rights Movement and the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Morse art students used the graphic novel as an inspiration to create artwork and Morse juniors and seniors pre-registered or registered to vote, or took a pledge to do so when they become eligible.

The week included classroom visits from the Union Tribune and culminated in an assembly where the three authors of
  March, John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell, spoke to the students about their lives,
the graphic novel, and their individual paths, as well as how they came together to write
March and the other two books from the trilogy.

Morse students were incredibly attentive as they heard from several dignitaries including Trustee Dr. Sharon Whitehurst-Payne, Superintendent Cindy Marten, Secretary Alex Padilla who presented the authors with a certificate of Honor from the State of California, and Congresswoman Susan Davis. Additionally, Morse students presented the authors with a beautiful painting and cards inspired by March.

Tears were shed by many and inspiration was felt by all during this memorable event that is sure to stay with students as a highlight in their high school memories at Morse. Read more: Civil Rights Icon John Lewis Recounts Personal Experiences, Encourages Students to Vote in Visit to Morse High and in the San Diego Union Tribune: John Lewis urges students to vote and protect immigrant rights during Morse High visit

Supporting Healthy Habits

Millennial Tech Middle is supporting healthy habits by providing onsite dental care. Adolescents do not always prioritize caring for their teeth. Many consume candy and sugary drinks throughout the day which can cause cavities. Knowing that prompted MTM to partner with Cavity Prevention Program. September 24-26 nurses visited MTM and serviced 75 students. MTM students received free teeth cleaning, fluoride, x-rays, and sealants. The nurses are even able to share information with the student’s family dentist if additional care is needed. It is the hope of both the school and the nurses from Cavity Prevention Program that these services will decrease cavities and promote ongoing dental care. A big, white smile goes out to MTM!

Marshall Teacher Selected Music Educator of the Year

Thurgood Marshall Middle School’s band and orchestra director, Cameron Brown, has been selected by the California Music Educators' Association as Middle School Music Educator of the Year for the 2017-18 school year. Cameron will be official recognized at the awards gala in January 2019.

Congratulations, Cameron on earning this recognition and representing Thurgood Marshall Middle School!

Apprenticeship Career Expo

On Thursday September 27th, 180 students from CTE programs from Crawford, Lincoln, Morse, Hoover, Twain and San Diego High participated in Dr. Shirley Weber’s 79th Assembly District Vocational Training & Apprenticeship Programs Career Expo. The event was held at the San Diego Continuing Education –Educational Cultural Complex on Ocean View. Students were given a tour of the facility and their Vocational Training Programs. In addition, vendors from all the local Trades where there to showcase their apprenticeship training programs and many of the students participated in hands on activities.

Next level: 2018-19 athletes who will compete in college

San Diego Section high school athletes for 2018-19 headed to next level- Click Here for UT Article

Serra sets win record, earns field hockey title

Click here to read the article in the UT.

Click here for the story on KUSI.

Three Schools in San Diego Unified Named to 2018 List of America’s Healthiest Schools

Schools to be honored with national award for promoting healthy eating and physical activity.

Edison Elementary, Kimbrough Elementary and Rowan Elementary have made the Alliance for a Healthier Generation’s 2018 list of America’s Healthiest Schools by achieving the Bronze Award for making changes that promote healthier eating and physical activity for students and staff. They join Rosa Parks Elementary and Alice Birney Elementary schools, which received the America’s Healthiest Schools Bronze Award in 2017. These awards were granted by Alliance for a Healthier Generation’s Healthy Schools Program, an evidence-based national initiative to create healthier school environments where children can thrive. Healthier Generation recognizes schools that meet or exceed stringent standards set by its Healthy Schools Program for serving healthier meals and snacks, getting students moving more, offering high-quality physical and health education and empowering school leaders to become healthy role models. San Diego Unified School District formally launched a districtwide Wellness Initiative in Fall of 2016 to support the health and well-being of our district’s students, staff and families. These awards demonstrate our schools’ commitment to fostering the health of our students and staff. Aside from home, school is the place where kids spend most of their time, making healthy schools vital to preparing students for success. Studies show that healthy students perform better on tests, get better grades, attend school more often and behave better in class. Any school can sign up to receive the support of the Healthy Schools Program’s resources, tools, and national experts at no cost. To learn more about the Alliance for a Healthier Generation’s Healthy Schools Program, visit schools.healthiergeneration.org. To get involved in our district’s Wellness Initiative, please visit https://www.sandiegounified.org/health-and-wellness or contact Kate McDevitt, District Wellness Supervisor at wellness@sandi.netwellness@sandi.net.

FACES for the Future Lab Coat Ceremony

Rady Children’s Hospital FACES for the Future Program held their annual Lab Coat Ceremony on Wednesday, September 19th. Three of our district’s biomedical programs will be participating in 6 week rotations at the hospital that include 26 departments that range from supply chain to neonatal intensive care units. This year, 31 students from Kearny will be given the opportunity to join 19 students from Crawford and 62 students from Hoover. Rady Children’s Hospital launched the FACES program back in 2009, over the years the support of this program and the work-based experiences have impacted hundreds. We thank Rady Children’s Hospital for providing these incredible opportunities for our students.

Kearny DMD Senior Internships Connect to 21st Century Learning

Through the support of Kearny Digital Media and Design staff and Candice Fee, Youth Advocacy Program Manager, DMD has launched the fall senior internship experience. Seniors have been matched with an internship supervisor in an area of student interest and will be producing a media package for that organization. Students will use the production process to develop industry standard media products using the Adobe Suite skills they have been learning since their freshman year. In early 2019, after production, they will participate in a defense of learning where they will discuss connections they see between their experiences and the schoolwide learning outcomes--critical thinking, innovative thinking, civic engagement, and the production process, all leading to college and career readiness--that have been incorporated into their learning since freshman year.

Is Your Student Sharing Their Learning?

Has your student had the opportunity to share their learning with an authentic audience? When students share their learning with others, amazing things happen! According to the Share Your Learning, “when students share their learning with an authentic audience, we provide them with an opportunity to share their story, reflect on their growth, and engage in real dialogue with others about their learning and their futures.” Many San Diego Unified Teachers have joined a group of 300,000 other educators that have pledged to have students share their work publicly via the organization, Share Your Learning. Visit Share Your Learning to learn about the free resources teachers are using to set up student exhibitions, student presentations of learning, and student-led conferences.

Roadtrip Nation: Define Your Own Road in Life

College Board and Roadtrip Nation have partnered to give our students access to dynamic college and career exploration opportunities.  Through your student’s college board account, your student will be able to answer a few short questions about interests and be provided pages of successful (and sometimes famous!) people who share interests and how those success stories happened.  The stories are as powerful as they are empowering. For more information on this and other college and career planning tools, visit: https://parents.collegeboard.org/planning-for-college

Mira Mesa Students Experience Constitution Day

 History-social science teacher, Paul Tessaro, planned an amazing Constitution Day on September 17, 2018 for Mira Mesa High School U.S. History students. Students’ experiences varied according to which period they had their history-social science class, but the common thread was that students from several classes each period met representatives who work with or are part of the judicial or legislative branches of our government as laid out in the Articles of the Constitution. Guest speakers included: Ann Marie Council, Deputy City Attorney, Professor Kenneth Klein from Cal Western, Federal Judge Barbara Major, Representative Scott Peters. Peters explained his Constitutional duties as a Representative. He went over his weekly schedule, committee service, and answered questions from students such as, ““Have you met President Trump?” “Is it hard to run for election every 2 years?” “Is divisiveness or confusion more dangerous?” “What is your opinion on mental health and guns right now?” “Do you favor abolishment of Electoral College?” He concluded by explaining his committee service in Congress and the legislation he is currently working on regarding student loan interest rate reduction and civil rights for the LGBTQ community. Students were very interested in hearing how Congress members must spend time in their districts and in Washington D.C. and felt a little closer to understanding the role that the Constitution plays in all of their lives.

Making Reading Meaningful

Ms. Gately, at Lincoln High School, is doing great things in her classroom to engage students in readings that are culturally relevant. Providing materials that are relevant to students is a part of best teaching practices, and she is nailing it! Ms. Gately frequently uses current events to engage students’ learning in her 9th grade English class. Students happily annotated the article to demonstrate their understanding of structure in texts. Later they used the text to create a reverse outline. These 9th graders are taking learning to the next level. Keep up the good work Ms. Gately!

Mars in the Genius Lab

Students at De Portola are using the Genius Lab to investigate what is necessary for sustaining a community on Mars. When we do colonize some will feel more prepared than others. Mr. J’s students are going through the design thinking process to figure out the perfect multipurpose furniture and the ideal configuration of everything that you would need to have a successful colonization. Then they 3D print it on the Makerbot and get a to-scaled environment to truly put themselves in the pioneers shoes. In the future scientists say that 3D printers may be able to use dust on Mars to create habitats so the students are really experiencing a meta moment!

A Byte of Computer Science

The Education to Employment (E2E) lab at Kearny High School will be incubating new ideas this year incorporating computer science! New TK-12 student experiences will be developed with industry partners to provide students with engaging, hands-on and relevant opportunities to learn and apply computer science skills. Computer science is a present in all technology developed and used today such as app development, drones, and cybersecurity. To highlight the importance of CS as an important part of a student’s educational journey, the California Board of Education just approved California’s first Computer Science Standards. Stay tuned to find the exciting opportunities that will be available this year!

ECOLIFE Aquaponics in TK/K STEAM Schools

Did you know Aquaponics is a combination of hydroponics and aquaculture? ECOLIFE Conservation in Escondido generously donated 27 ECO-CYCLE Aquaponics kits to 17 schools who are participating in the TK/K STEAM program this year. Students in Ms. Powell’s Kindergarten class at Holmes Elementary (pictured), are learning to grow fresh herbs while enjoying live fish in their classroom! The ECO-CYCLE turns their aquarium into a productive garden. The self-sufficient ecosystem uses fish waste to naturally fertilize the plants above. Thank you ECOLIFE Conservation for partnering with San Diego Unified to bring this unique learning opportunity to our classrooms!

E.B. Scripps Students Embark on STEAM Journey

Third grade students at E.B. Scripps Elementary are taking a new challenge head-on in their MakerSpace. They will build and program a Piper computer.
Students working in teams of two use a blueprint to construct the case given the wooden pieces, nuts, bolts and screws. One student triumphantly declared, “We used a screwdriver correctly!” Once the casing is constructed, students will connect a Raspberry Pi (a credit card-sized computer “brain”) to input and output devices. Over the ten weeks, students will code the computer. Skills including collaboration, critical thinking, computational thinking and computer science are just a few students develop during the experience. The school and teachers are embarking on the STEAM journey together with their students to provide engaging, hands-on computer science projects. Thank you parents from the Scripps Community for coming together to support STEAM learning in our schools!

Save the Date: Positive School Climate Fair

The Integrated Youth Services Division will be hosting a Positive School Climate Fair on December 12, 2018 from 11:00Am to 2:00PM at the Jacobs Center. Mark your calendars and save the date as we foster cultures of collective care.

The Council of ASB Presidents Hold Their First Meeting of the Year

The San Diego Unified School District Council of ASB Presidents held their first meeting of the 2018-19 school year. The Council of ASB Presidents is made up of high school ASB Presidents, both comprehensive and atypical. At this meeting, the Council approved their constitution, held elections, discussed district initiatives and shared best practices from their own schools. Dan McAllister, County of San Diego Treasurer-Tax Collector, stopped by to offer his support to the students, their ASB programs and their schools. The Council will meet again in October.

La Jolla High School Students Participate in the Tangle in the Tank

The La Jolla High School Boys Water Polo Team took on the La Jolla High School Football Team for the annual "Tangle in the Tank" as they worked together to benefit breast cancer services and supports.

Click here for a video:
https://www.kusi.com/all-sports-report-wednesday-september-19-2018/

Padres Host the First Ever ASB Night

Over 300 Associated Student Body (ASB) students from across San Diego County attended the first ever Padres ASB Night at Petco Park. San Diego Unified School District was represented by Correia Middle School, Hoover High School, La Jolla High School, San Diego High School, and Scripps Ranch High School. The night began with a Q&A session with Padres leadership staff Matt Clark - Sr. Manager, Group Tickets & Hospitality, Carter Motley - Manager, Membership Sales, Chelsea Dill - Sr. Manager, Tourism and Corporate Events, Ian Graham - HR Generalist and Rocky Dudam - Manager, Marketing & Fan Development and ended with a Padres victory against the Giants

September 11 Through the Eyes of those who Lived It

This year, classrooms at the Met are focusing on inquiry based projects that push student thinking. On September 14, 2018, juniors at the San Diego Met High School spent the morning interviewing survivors of 9/11 in preparation for performing verbatim theatre projects. Each of the 8 visitors who came to campus had a unique first-hand experience. Visitors included a drummer who found himself working as an ironworker, a teacher who was teaching 11th grade US History just south of the Pentagon and a Brooklyn native who was in bootcamp on 9/11.

Students spent the morning interviewing their guest with an eye towards understanding the unique perspective of their interviewee. Students were also listening for impactful moments which could be developed into a performance piece for verbatim theater. In verbatim theater, a student will choose a 1-2 minute piece to memorize and perform. The goal of the project is to support students in building empathy and perspective through the lens of a first-hand experience. Students enjoyed the chance to get to hear what it was like on that day and many expressed surprise at just how different the US was before and after 9/11.


This unique experience, crafted with the help of their teachers, Brianna Matranga and Alicia Colby, afforded Met juniors the chance to get to live history through the eyes of those whose lives were deeply affected by the events of 9/11.

Join the 2018-19 Student Equity Ambassadors Today!

San Diego Unified School District is currently recruiting SDUSD Student Equity Ambassadors for the 2018-19 school year. Students can be nominated 3 different ways: 1. Self-nomination 2. Peer nomination 3. Principal, administration, and staff nomination Student Equity Ambassadors are students from schools districtwide, from various backgrounds, who are afforded an opportunity to assist and support San Diego Unified School District address issues of interest to students. They contribute to steps to make a difference in the district, on their campus and in their community. Student Equity Ambassadors help raise awareness about social, educational and cultural issues through a student lens. If you are interested or know a student who would be great, please email Sabrina at lee.sabrina513@gmail.com.

GRAMMY®-winning guitarist Laurence Juber to appear at Point Loma High School

On Friday, October 12 at 1:00 pm, Guitars in the Classroom will bring guitarist Laurence Juber to conduct a masterclass at Point Loma High School. 110 guitar students from Point Loma High School and Correia Middle School are slated to attend. Juber, who was lead guitarist for Paul McCartney’s Wings, has since become a celebrated international concert performer, recording artist and studio musician, and was recently named by Guitar Player magazine as one of the top 50 all-time acoustic guitarists. He is the founding artist associated with Guitars in the Classroom, an 18-year-old educational non-profit organization dedicated to creating access to musical learning for all students, which is now based in Mission Valley. This performance is being arranged and produced by Guitars in the Classroom in cooperation with SDUSD’s Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) Department. Drawing on his extensive knowledge of the instrument, Mr. Juber will perform his compositions and arrangements, and introduce the students to his perspective on the guitar’s long and storied history. Currently featured on the cover of the current issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine, he considers the guitar of great value in education, due to its unique combination of portability, affordability and capability of making a complete musical statement. This has stood the instrument in good stead for hundreds of years. As San Diego Unified’s flagship guitar programs, Point Loma High School and Correia Middle School offer multiple guitar courses during the academic school day, utilizing a five-course sequence for students in grades 6-12. Initially begun by SDUSD music teacher Marc Dwyer, the guitar program is now taught by SDUSD music educator Ina Soliz. Guitar students participate in local Point Loma events, as well as California Music Educator Association festivals.

Full STEAM Ahead with TK/K

Over 60 TK/K teachers began their summer at our 1st annual, week-long STEAM training in August. As part of our district-wide STEAM initiative, nearly 30 elementary, K-8 schools and Dual-language schools participated across SDUSD. 

Our teachers experienced the Next Generation Science Standards through learning activities led by our district Core Leadership Teachers with support from our Regional Director, Jill Grace. They engaged in the type of hands-on, inquiry-based, experiential learning model that they will be engaging in with their students. They learned how to tie in literacy through science instruction, how to create science notebooks, and how to excite their students with projects using technology in the classroom.

With access to new Chromebooks in all K classrooms this year, our Instructional Technology team led teachers through using Flipgrid, Google Sites and Google Drawing, Adobe Spark and Book Creator. These technology tools have been integrated into our curriculum and our goal is to give students experience over the year to acquire new skills that will allow them to share out and document their learning.
All teachers received a day of Project Lead the Way (PLTW) training that covered the lessons they will explore with their students during our 3rd unit of STEAM. Using the engineering design process, our TK/K students will have the chance to delve into real world practices to learn design, using literature-based modules where they create, for instance, a house that the big bad wolf can’t blow down. Teachers also experienced more in depth workshops on design thinking which will be a through-line in our curriculum.

With the support of VAPA, teachers had a chance to express themselves artistically by using a painting reflection exercise to close out the week that made use of a paintbrush they designed as part of their PLTW training.



Our partners also helped to make this initial training a success. Our LEGO® Education partners, Leanna Prater and Jeff Coe spent a couple of days training the teachers on modeling with LEGO® and play-based education. Teachers who signed up also received a free Aquaponics kit from EcoLife so students can explore how to care for plants and animals right in their classroom!



Our TK/K Teachers have since launched STEAM in their classrooms with great success! Our amazing teachers not only started a new year with a totally new class of students, but they are also exploring a new STEAM curriculum. They are committed to teaching 4 days a week for an hour of science-based inquiry, modeling with LEGO® Education products, and doing hands-on projects with every unit. For their first unit, students are wondering about living and nonliving things and going out on nature walks to discover and learn about how they might they care for the living and nonliving things in their classroom. Using Book Creator, Adobe Spark or Google Drawing, students will share their learning with their community. More on that to come!





We couldn’t be happier to start STEAMing ahead with our youngest learners so they may grow up wondering and exploring the world around them, and using their hands, minds and hearts to solve real world problems.