The Vine September 22, 2017 From the desk of Superintendent Chris Williams

Superintendent’s Advisory Board The Superintendent's Advisory Board held its first meeting this week. This group of PRHS students meets regularly with Mr. Williams and provides input and suggestions for improvements to the high school. Superintendent’s Advisory Board (in alphabetical order): Griffin Benado, Cody Buchholtz, Esther Cabello, Cade Casida, Sarah Clark, Gabriella Clayton, Emily Eras, Marissa Ezzell, Roxy Hancock, Morgan Harrington, Devin Hartley, Brooke Milder, Sofia Moses, Kaitlin Pressley, Torri Pugh, Katherine Reid, Gabriela Schuster, Lily Seebart, Aniah Weaks, Marshall Wiesner, and Carlos Zaragoza. Read more about the Superintendent’s Advisory Board: Paso Robles Daily News

Arte de Tiza Students and staff from Flamson Middle School and PRHS spent last Saturday creating chalk art for the annual Arte de Tiza in the Downtown City Park. From Flamson, Rachel Trombley took home 2nd place honors and Ka’alani Matthews earned the 1st place award. Over 25 PRHS students participated in the high school category. Taking home 1st place was Mateo Masia, who is currently in Advanced Placement Art. Daisy Ramirez won 2nd place and 3rd place went to Nadine Trudeau. Teachers Mr. and Mrs. Wilson worked together to complete their own original chalk square of a mermaid whose hair forms into a wave. Also joining in on the fun were their three kids who attend Pat Butler Elementary. They added to the Wilson ocean theme by drawing fish, an octopus, and a seahorse.

Great Coastal Cleanup The Wilderness Club and International Club from PRHS teamed up to help with the annual Great Coastal Cleanup by spending the morning of October 16 cleaning up Cayucos Beach. Students from two of the largest clubs at PRHS also slack-lined and followed the cleanup with a hike to the Harmony Headlands. It’s always great to see Bearcats giving back to their community!

Tech Crew Introducing the room 602 technology crew! These students in Mrs. Marziello’s class at Kermit King Elementary help other students who are having difficulty logging into iRead. They are the experts and help their classmates before they come to the teacher for help.

Cal Poly Soccer in Paso Robles We are excited once again to help bring collegiate-level soccer to Paso Robles! Cal Poly Men’s Soccer will be back at the Paso Robles Horse Park on Saturday, September 23. The game starts at 11 a.m. and is FREE. Cal Poly will be giving away free items and will host an autograph session after the game. Players will also be available for pictures. Come out and support Cal Poly Soccer!

Music Instruction Even our youngest students receive regular instruction in music, arts, and dance. Pictured here are transitional kindergarten students at the Arts Academy at Bauer Speck learning about music.

Around the Garden Alaura Fuentes, currently in 4th grade at Kermit King Elementary, was given a small cabbage plant last spring. She took the plant home and followed all the steps needed to grow this small plant into a giant 14-pound cabbage! She grew the plant in a wine barrel, watering it every day and giving it plant food. As it got larger, she covered it in chicken wire to keep it protected from any other critters. She even played Mozart music for it. Alaura says the hardest part was fighting the red ants that wanted to eat it. Congrats to Alaura on a job well done! Now she is planning to eat it - cabbage soup for months!

One Cool Earth and volunteer Gloria Wilson came to work in the Bauer garden at The Arts Academy at Bauer Speck last Friday. Kindergarten students from Mrs. Mihelic’s class planted lettuce and chive starts.

One Cool Earth Corner Big shout out and thank you to the Cal Poly Mustang’s Week of Welcome (WOW) that supports incoming freshman students with becoming involved in their new communities! They dedicated approximately 120 volunteer hours at Georgia Brown, San Gabriel, and Virginia Peterson elementary schools on September 13th. Not only did they weed, spread and maintain compost, build a spiral mountain, and meet hundreds of new people, but they also had fun! Volunteers are a HUGE part of successful school and community gardens. This month, Studios on the Park is offering Going, Going, Gone: Art in the Age of Extinction. This is a free and fun family event on Saturday, September

23rd from 1:00 - 2:30 p.m. This event includes a free screening of "The Man Who Planted Trees" at the Park Cinemas, followed by a special eco art project lead by One Cool Earth! All attendees of the movie and the art project workshop will be entered to win a handmade felt birdhouse! Looking for a fun and meaningful way to engage in your child’s school? Remember to check out One Cool Earth on Facebook to see when they’ll be hosting community garden workdays at your school: www.facebook.com/onecoolearth or www.onecoolearth.org. From planting to painting signs, there is an activity for everyone! Please contact our FoodCorps AmeriCorps Member, Danica Smith at danicas@onecoolearth.org for further opportunities and information.

Paso Robles Half Marathon The Paso Robles Half Marathon is coming up! In addition to the half marathon, there will also be a 5K, family mile, kids’ dash, and diaper dash. To prepare for the 5K, our own Jen Gaviola is once again organizing a PRJUSD Run Club. Anyone is invited to join! The run club meets Tuesdays and Thursdays at 4:15 at the district office. The club starts up on September 26! For more information, email Jen at jjgaviola@pasoschools.org. 100% of the race proceeds go to support students in Paso Robles Schools through the 4A Foundation. Discounts of $15 are being offered to all students and staff in PRJUSD for the half marathon and 5K. No code necessary! When you go to register, just scroll down to the discounted events and add to your cart. For more info about the race, go to www.pasohalf.com. To register now, go to: https://raceroster.com/events/2017/13672/paso-robles-half-marathon

Students Compete in Tough Mudder Physical education teacher, Ms. Kloeppel, organized 48 students from Flamson Middle School to participate in a tough mudder today in Los Osos! The students competed in groups of four and had to go through 30 different obstacles. The course took, on average, an hour and a half to complete. Lots of mud and great teamwork! Ms. Kloeppel said that there was a huge interest from students and that she expects to have an even larger group compete next year. Great job, Cougars!

CTE Promo Video Our Paso Robles High School students in Career Technical Education (CTE) courses are being featured in a video about career pathways. Did you know PRHS has 16 different career pathways for students to choose from? Many of those are dual enrollment courses with Cuesta College which means our students earn college credits while in high school. We can’t wait to see the finished product!

STEAM Lessons Students in all grade levels are exploring STEAM. In Mrs. Farrell’s 4th grade class at Winifred Pifer Elementary, students conducted an investigation in the transfer of energy. They worked in teams to demonstrate how energy can be used to create motion utilizing pennies. Students asked questions, investigated, argued from evidence, constructed an explanation, and then communicated their findings with the class. The lens at which they explored the science was through cause & effect, energy & matter, and stability and change.

Ms. Amato's classroom is using the microscopes in the lab as a follow-up to a mystery science lesson on the parts of a plant. They are observing, thinking, and wondering! Georgia Brown Elementary 1st graders tried their first engineering project of the year. Their challenge was to make a tower with 25 straws and three feet of tape that would hold a tennis ball. Mrs. Scheiffele's class at Virginia Peterson Elementary worked on an engineering challenge to see how tall teams could build a tower out of marshmallows & toothpicks!

ASES Farmers’ Market The ASES program has been partnering with the Food Bank for seven years. The Food Bank delivers fresh produce to each site once a month so the students can run their own farmers’ market. The students organize the fresh produce and pass out play money so their fellow classmates can shop for food and take it home. The Food Bank also provides a nutritious recipe

and tasting table along with fun games. This is one of the students’ favorite activities of the month. These are The Arts Academy at Bauer Speck ASES students running their own farmers’ market.

PRYDE Five PRYDE staff members, who work primarily with TK-1st grade, attended the Preschool Foundations & Frameworks training in SLO this week to expand or refresh their knowledge of skills and competencies of children through 60 months (5 years) of age. The staff were excited to improve and coordinate their unit-planning skills. Visual schedules aid children in knowing what comes next, allows them to answer their own questions about when an event will occur, and provide a sense of security in the consistency of the day. TK-1st graders check themselves in to start the day at Pat Butler. A cool cat helps keep them on track. This room has several visual tools to support student learning and behavior. Students at this grade level have

also worked on character development (bucket filling) and this is one fun art example of students choosing what fills a bucket!

Here is a creative time-telling support in our 2nd -5th grade Pat Butler PRYDE classrooms. Key times of the day (snack, homework, outdoor) have small clocks indicating what time those events occur. PRYDE 2nd - 5th grade classroom has our most creative Reader as Leaders system. In addition to a system for how many books are read, there is a spectacular golden ticket hidden in many books and reading during free choice could result in a small prize if students can provide staff with key information about the book.

Library News Winifred Pifer library applied for a STEM grant through Justin Vineyards and Winery and received $1000.00. Students love to come to the library before and after school to play with Legos, magnets, mazes and building kits.

Virginia Peterson Library Technician, Laura Neri, along with much appreciated volunteers, are currently processing large collections of books for classrooms. These classroom library sets include various genres and reading levels. Each teacher can expect several hundred books in each set to add to their classroom libraries.

Learning about Animals Students in animal anatomy and physiology classes at PRHS are busy! Students are currently learning to identify surgical tools, egg candling, cow eye dissections, fetal pig anatomy, owl pellet dissection, reading x-rays on the illuminator, and bandaging techniques on the classroom horse skeleton. A huge thank you to Dr. Melissa Patten of River Grove Veterinary Services for presenting to Mrs. Gardner's animal science classes! What an amazing opportunity for our students to learn about veterinary medicine.

Intramural Flag Football Intramural flag football began this week at Lewis Middle School. Students have the opportunity to play at lunch – one more activity to keep our students engaged in school! Flag football season began with the 6th graders first and will continue with 7th and 8th graders. A huge thanks to Mr. Bodenshot, Mr. Puhek, and Mr. Cole for being the referees.

Middle School Athletics Underway Athletics are underway at both middle schools. This week, Flamson Middle School took on Lewis Middle School in girls’ volleyball. Also competing in the fall are boys’ and girls’ cross country. Be sure to check out the district athletic calendar for game schedules which includes all elementary, middle, and high school athletic events: PRJUSD Athletics Calendar

Learning at Every Level Georgia Brown Elementary recently shared pictures of some great examples of learning that are happening every day! Mrs. Magnuson’s kindergarten class is setting goals with Jiji the ST Math penguin. Mrs. Tucker’s class created projects titled “The Best Part of Me.” Mrs. Cooper’s class is learning how to be leaders. Upper grade level students are learning about growth mindset. Lots of great learning at Georgia Brown!

Central Coast Writers Conference The 2017 Central Coast Writers Conference (http://cuesta.edu/communityprograms/writers-conference/index.html) promises to be a fantastic opportunity for teens and teachers, and everyone you know who loves to write, to learn from the best authors, agents, screenwriters, and publishers in the industry! Please refer to the informational flyer to the left or click on the link above for more information.

Welcome to PRJUSD Congratulations to the following staff members whose positions were recently approved by the Board of Trustees. Carly Moreno – Intervention Teacher

Carly Moreno is a teacher who is passionate about her craft and has over 20 years of experience in education. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in Liberal Studies from CSUS Stanislaus and a master’s degree in Teaching from Grand Canyon University. She began her career as a second grade teacher, but over the course of her career, she has taught many different grades including university courses. Carly is currently working as an Intervention teacher and adjunct professor. When she is not teaching, Carly loves spending time with her husband and three children. She is an avid reader and writer and is currently

working on publishing a book. Jessica Syreme – Education Specialist

Jessica Syrene credits her work as an instructional aide for severely handicapped students as the experience that led her to become a special education teacher. After a 3-month sabbatical in London where she held a voluntary positions as assistant to the Special Educational Needs Coordinator, she enrolled at Antioch University and earned her M.A. in Education. The focus of her thesis was on improving outcomes for students with emotional and behavioral difficulties. She moved to the United Kingdom to be

with her husband and spent the next three years working at St. John’s St. Clement’s School before returning to the Central Coast in 2016. Jessica is a very passionate educator who hopes to grow personally and professionally in Paso Robles.

Welcome In to PRHS Parents and community members are invited to attend the inaugural Welcome In to PRHS next Tuesday. Come tour the facilities, visit classrooms, and see the award-winning programs at PRHS. To RSVP, email Cherie Long at calong@pasoschools.org.