A Message from the Director – 

The good news of the week seems to be that it is possible to get off the state-county watch list and reach 14 days of consecutive no new cases of COVID.  San Diego County has reached that target.  The San Diego Schools are taking it slowly and not reopening right away, but it seems to be in sight.  Our county is still on the watch list, but I am certain with continued mask-wearing, hand washing, and social distancing we can get back on track before much longer.

Meanwhile, the state is considering ways that EL and special education students can come back to school in person in small groups of no more than 14.  I will be exploring things we could do with that permission.  Some of our special needs students could benefit from in-person tutoring and some of our EL students are already coming to school one at a time for EL testing.

So the moral of this is that things are starting to happen.  Meanwhile, I am convinced that the Tracy Learning Center schools are doing a great job with distance learning.  We have mastered the idea of synchronous online learning and are doing much more than many of the schools around us.  I believe that is the case because our staff is very dedicated to student success and they truly care about their students.  As the leader. I am very pleased with the staff’s continued effort.

Finally, I am also very pleased with the support we have from you as parents.  Distance learning does require a community effort.  It requires parental support as well as student and teacher support for lasting effectiveness.  Thank you so much for supporting your student’s learning.

Your Feedback is always appreciated.  We wanted to share the results of our last parent survey with you all.   Thank you to everyone that tool the time to fill out the survey, this information has been past on to our TLC Board to help us continually improve our Distance Learning and plan for the future.  We will be sending out more surveys next week for staff and students.  This is an important process and helps ensure everyone has a chance to contribute in our educational program

TLC July Distance Learning – Parent Survey

PCS

DCS

Discovery Charter Chatter (1)

DCS Leader Announcement Board:

Please Join us!

Discovery is looking for parents to become members of our School Improvement Committee for the 2020-21 school year. Committee members will join the Discovery Leads as we discuss our schools individual Action Plan. Our Action Plan discusses DCS’s actionable steps toward whole school improvement. We are looking for members to join our team and help us to continue to improve our school!

If you are interested in joining or for more information please email Ashley Cerezo acerezo@tracylc.net or Kathy Prescott at kprescott@tracylc.net

The SIC committee meets monthly! Our next meeting will be on September 29th a 4pm

Ms. Zaca’s Leadership Corner:

Welcome! Applications were sent out last Sunday and were due to Ms. Zaca by Friday, August 21st. Students who were accepted to leadership were contacted by Ms. Zaca on Saturday, August 22nd. As of right now, Leadership will be meeting once a week, from 1:00 pm-2:00 pm on google classroom every Tuesday. Students who were accepted into Leadership have been given the google classroom code and class info in their emails. Just a friendly reminder, Leadership is an elective in Discovery and not a graded class. Questions about leadership, please email Ms. Zaca at szaca@tracylc.net.

For our first Leadership event, we are having a raffle event with all 5th-8th grade students. Check out our weekly announcements videos to see what our raffle event is! The winning prize is a $25 Visa gift card! Good luck to all students!

Week 3 DCS Announcements

https://youtu.be/O1O6EolhL9o

Also, check out our Falcons of the Week! These students went above and beyond during our third week of school and the teachers could not be any more proud! Congratulations!

#3 Falcons of the Week

Mrs. Prescott’s Counseling Corner:

Hi everyone! Remember, I started a Google Classroom for counseling information and services: Discovery Counseling Corner. I’m offering drop-in counseling via Zoom every Monday and Friday from 1-2pm. The link is in my Google Classroom, code: qxe5cac. If there are students in the waiting room, sessions will be limited to 10 minutes and a one-on-one follow up appointment will be scheduled. To schedule time with me outside of these hours, please feel free to contact her via email at any time: kprescott@tracylc.net.

Last week, I shared a video about teens and digital drama. Who hasn’t heard about or experienced that?!? I know that while we’re all spending more time at home and not able to connect with our friends at school or in person, social media, texting, and other online activities are how we’re interacting with each other. What are you doing to make sure things stay positive? What are you doing when things turn negative or hurtful? How do you know how to walk away or tell an adult when someone has gone too far? Be sure to check out the video and share what you think. And check back on Monday for my newest topic!

***8th graders: Are you interested in joining the California Junior Scholarship Federation (CJSF)? Remember, the application can be found as a Form in my Google Classroom. All applications are due by Monday, August 31th, no later than 11:59pm! Our 1st meeting will be Wednesday, September 2nd, at 1pm. I’m looking forward to seeing what projects we come up with together.***

Study Club is Now Open

Need some help with homework or help with navigating your on-line classes, Study Club is now open on-line Monday – Thursday from 1-2 pm. It is set up through a Google Classroom – class code i4qa3ga. Click on the Meet link in the banner box to get help. Periodically, how-to videos and links will be posted to help you with Distance Learning.

A peek into our Virtual Learning Classes

Social Studies with Mr. Bird and Ms. Ferguson:

This week in Social Studies the students finished learning about the different Native American Regional groups. A fry bread recipe from one of the Native American tribes was posted in Google Classroom, please look under the “stream” section if you and your student are interested in making it! We would love to know how they turned out, feel free to share pictures with us!

The students also made digital totem poles this week! Here is an example of one of the totem poles:

Next week we will prepare for the unit test with a project and review games. The unit test will be on Thursday of next week, September 3rd.

If your child needs to locate the readings for this week and last to study they can find them in Google Classroom under the “Classwork” tab in the “Native Americans” section!

Science with Ms. Diaz and Mr. Dougherty

Greetings Scientists! What an exciting month in the lab!

This week: we took our first science test, covering the Scientific Method, sound, ways to earn (+) and (-) points and class expectations. This week has been the most interesting so far because 1) we did our first hands-on, making “singing straws” to HEAR the sound of science in action. Since we have the privilege of Mr. Dougherty’s expertise, we learned about the science in music. But the best part? Wait for it….wait for it…2) we learned that something as simple as figuring out “how to make your own instruments” has a real world application by watching the Landfill Harmonic. This talented group of students from Paraguya have the desire to play music, but due to circumstances, do not have the resources to buy nice instruments. Therefore, as a community, they collaborated with each other to take items from the local landfill to make instruments. That’s an awesome “design, science, engineering, music and environmental conservation” collaboration if I don’t say so myself (but I do).

Next week: we write-up our first lab report on the “singing straws” activity and then have the weekly quiz on Friday.

Exciting news: congratulations to our fellow 6th grade scientist, Nayomi Shih, who has been made an honorary member of the Behavioural Neuroscience Laboratory, led by Prof Andreas Heuer, at Lund University in Sweden. Click this link to see her profile: https://behavioural-neuroscience.com/team.html

Mission to Mars: The trip, rescheduled to November, is still a go, I repeat, is still a go. Over and out. If you have any questions please feel free to email me cdiaz@tracy.lc.net

Math with Mrs. Zuniga

Varsity: We learned about multiplying 2 x 2 digit numbers this week. The students also spent a class day learning how to submit their work through google forms and slides on our googleclassroom. We will be practicing multiplying much more next week and looking at 3 x 2 digit multiplication. Parents, please make sure students are practicing their multiplication facts at home as well!

Scholastic: We spent the week reviewing for our unit test. Our next unit will focus on all things decimals! This will start on Monday with an introduction to decimals before we dive into the four operations.

Honors: The students finished their second quiz of unit 1 this week. Next week we will move onto exponents!

Math with Mrs. Nijjar

All of my students took the Davis Test this week.

Varsity: Students this week learned about multiplying whole numbers using an area model and took the quiz for the same. In the coming weeks, students will be learning about different strategies to divide whole numbers.

Scholastic: Students this week learned about properties of addition and multiplication, and took the quiz for the same. In the coming weeks, students will be learning about place value and rounding whole numbers.

Honors: Students in this week learned about integer exponents and the laws associated with exponents. In the coming weeks, students will be learning about PEMDAS and solving algebraic equations.

Language Arts with Mr. Harding

This year’s Pentathlon topic is the Cold War. It has been somewhat refreshing to go back into history and see our greatest fears still not realized. As we read about the organizations and the individual spies that changed and maintained the balance of superpowers, we are learning how fear is generated and how it affects people.

This week, we studied Cold War era propaganda from both superpowers and noticed themes. We may have a project in the near future where the students must create propaganda to promote an agenda.

Language Arts with Ms. Rodieck

During Week 4 Scholastic and Honors started Sentence Diagramming!! This is a way to practice the parts of speech and learn how words can be used in a sentence. It will improve sentence structure and overall writing. We did not have a weekly quiz this week, instead it will be at the end of each Chapter in our Novel.

Next week all groups will continue to learn about Spies. We will be learning about the FBI units that were first involved in spy hunting. And we will learn about breaking early encryption codes.

Varsity will be split into smaller groups and we will be doing small group reading instruction on Ms. Murzi’s days to help the students with their decoding and fluency skills, in addition to comprehension. On the other days, we will continue to learn about Spies and work on our writing skills.

Science with Ms. Dominguez and Coach Williams:

During Week 4, 7th and 8th grade Science started the unit “What is Motion?”, and we began this unit with some math. During this first week of our new unit, students learned how to calculate for speed, velocity and acceleration. While the inclusion of math in science was a shock at first, I was very impressed to see how students asked questions and tackled the practice problems until they started to see and understand the consistent use of the speed formula in calculating for, not only, speed; but also velocity and acceleration.

Friday, we also started our egg drop challenge! This challenge involves two goals: the first is that the egg is prevented from breaking when it’s dropped onto the ground, and the second is to slow down the speed of the egg’s fall. But there’s a catch! There’s a limited list of supplies that students are allowed to use to create their egg drop “devices”, and they have an imaginary budget of $100 (each item on the list comes with a price tag). I’m so excited to see what everyone comes up with, and can’t wait to share their egg drop videos in class!

Social Studies with Ms. Zaca and Coach Penirian:

Welcome to Jeopardy!

Now entering the Official Kitchen Studio, are our hosts Ms. Zaca and Coach Penirian!

Week 4 is officially in the books! Students finished the week off by participating in our Jeopardy game on zoom. The game was our second review game of the week (the first being on Monday with Kahoots!) to help the students prepare for their Unit Test. Students on Thursday were asked to put their knowledge of the Declaration to the test. On Friday, students began Unit 2, the Constitution. This unit will cover all aspects of our Constitution in terms of the different branches in power, learn about our first constitution, the division of power between the federal government and states, and our bill of rights.

Congratulations to our student groups who won our Jeopardy game:

Scholastic: Chelby, RJ, Jillian, and Andre.

Honors: Justin, Emily, Ashlan, Isaiah.

Varsity: MichaelAngelo, Ismael, Osvaldo, Aiden, and Angelee.

Math with Mrs. Linarez and Ms. Losen

This week all students played Gimkit and I am happy to announce each class earned over $1,000,000! They all worked together to make this possible and each student had great practice while having fun. The UC Davis was also administered this week. Four honors students received perfect scores on their Unit One test!

What to look forward to next week!

Varsity 2 – We will be starting our next unit, Decimals. We will be focusing on the place value of decimals, rounding decimals, and comparing & ordering of decimals.

Scholastic 2 – We will be learning about scientific notation and operations with scientific notation. Hopefully by the end of the week we can take our Unit 1 test.

Honors 2 – We will be focusing on Linear Functions. Students will be able to write an equation in slope-intercept form, then graph the line. By the end of the week students should be able to write a linear equation given two points or one point and slope.

Math with Mr. Dhillon and Coach Levand

*All students will be taking the first UC Davis test next week.

Varsity: We completed lesson 2 ( Variables and Algebraic expression ) and we will have quiz 1 on Tuesday . We will be starting with lesson 3. We are practicing basic concepts of math on IXL everyday .

Scholastic: we have completed lesson 7 Combining Like Terms and lesson 8 Simplifying Expressions (Distribute/Combine).. And lesson 9 and will haveQuiz 3 and will start it lesson 10

Honors: we are doing the review of unit 1 and then take the test for unit 1 on Tuesday

Language Arts with Mrs. Cerezo

This week in Language Arts all classes completed and turned in their second round of introduction paragraphs. We discussed what went well and which areas needed more improvement. All also continued their work with reading comprehension by reading from our class novel Spies and reading academic articles (PSAT/Newsela).

Using Whiteboard.fi (as picture below) students were able to draw their own diagrams and post their results to their digital journal. This was a fantastic way to practice sentence structure for the whole class to see and participate in.

We had our second test on Friday and will continue to develop our writing skills! We will soon move on to studying body paragraphs!

Language Arts with Ms. Greene and Mrs. Polo

This week in Language Arts we focused highly on reading comprehension and understanding the key concepts of our book Spies. We practiced through writing summaries, stopping for understanding and reading EVERYDAY so the book is fresh in our minds.

Along with the focus on the book, we have also finished writing the second introduction paragraph and will swiftly be moving to writing body paragraphs in the coming weeks. Our first timed write went very well, this was done in class last week.

Look forward to some interesting videos on the Cold War!

MHS

MHS Back to School Night (Virtual Edition)

We will miss seeing all our students and parents but we still want to share some important information from all our MHS academic departments.  Please take some time to watch the following videos and feel free to email us with any questions or concerns.  Go Falcons!

Good Morning Falcons!  Here are your unity announcements for the Week of Aug 31st

MHS Counseling News

2020-2021-SENIOR-ACTIVITIES-Final2020-2021-College-Calendar-Dates

FALL DELTA COLLEGE EARLY START STUDENTS
Many of our Fall College Early Start students’ online Delta classes begin Monday 8/24!  If this applies to you (CES Forms were due and students registered in mid-June), make sure you log in and verify that you are enrolled in the class and check your start date.  Some students start Monday 8/24, others start Monday 9/28.  Students who start 8/24 should log into their Delta Email and Canvas accounts as soon as possible so they are ready to start their college class.  *Please note that all Fall Delta College classes will be conducted fully online.*

How to Log In To Canvas:  https://deltacollege.edu/academics/online-regional-education/students-how-login-canvas
Access Delta Student Email:  https://deltacollege.edu/student-services/delta-email

STAY TUNED RE: SPRING DELTA COLLEGE EARLY START
The next opportunity for students to take an online Delta College class is Spring 2021, beginning in January!  The process will begin with an informational Zoom meeting in late September which will be announced on the Charter Chatter and the school-wide MHS Info Google Classroom.  If your student is interested, make sure they are maintaining A’s and B’s in their high school classes and watch for announcements and deadlines.  For more information, please visit:  http://www.tracylearningcenter.com/counseling/college-and-carrer-planning/

CALIFORNIA SCHOLARSHIP FEDERATION (CSF) FALL APPLICATIONS DUE FRIDAY 8/28CSF is an honors society that recognizes outstanding academic achievement and encourages paying it forward by serving one’s community.  High school students must reapply each semester to maintain their membership in the club, and membership is based on the previous semester’s report card grades.  Students with mostly A’s in rigorous classes may qualify based on a point system outlined by the CSF State Office.  Online applications to join Millennium’s CSF Chapter are due Friday, August 28th.  Current 10th -12th graders may apply here: https://forms.gle/qV9mpUsmCEhHJ3Qu6Current 9th graders can qualify this Fall semester only if they were CJSF Honors Members in the 8th grade, and may apply here:  https://forms.gle/xmi91D7Lx5ipaF1f8  Otherwise, 9th graders are encouraged to apply during Spring Semester.

MHS COUNSELING OFFICE HOURSMHS Counselors are holding office hours four times a week through Zoom.  Students are encouraged to join our link when they have questions, concerns, or just to say hello to their Counselors.  A waiting room is enabled to ensure confidentiality.  Your student can find our schedule and Zoom link on the Schoolwide MHS Info Google Classroom page, GC Code:  iebvajt  Additionally, students are encouraged to reach out to us by emailing MHSCounseling@tracylc.net at any time during school hours to ask questions or make appointments to meet with us virtually.

WEEKLY WELLNESS TIPS:  Help Kids Balance Their Media LivesYour MHS Counselors would like to share a resource for students and families that addresses finding balance and awareness in these times of heavy screen use.  Check out this website with five suggestions to prompt behavior modifications and discussions for families:  https://www.commonsense.org/education/family-tips/6-12-media-balance-and-well-being

A Message from the Director

How to set kids up to thrive, despite the uncertainties

Note: Tracy Learning Center is completely distance learning at this time, but there are many good ideas in this article I thought were worth sharing.

There’s still a great deal of uncertainty surrounding school openings this fall. Remote learning, in-person classes, some of both? But even if you don’t know quite what school will look like this year, there are still things you can do to set your child up to succeed.

Set Boundaries

First, parents should be clear on what their role is. “Spring was a really quick pivot for parents, teachers and students,” says Laura Phillips, PsyD, a clinical neuropsychologist at the Child Mind Institute. “But teachers are now planning in a way they couldn’t before, and parents should be assured that they don’t have to be their child’s teacher this fall.”

Parents have enough on their plates and setting boundaries around remote learning will decrease stress and help ensure you have more bandwidth to support your child. “As a parent, your role is to assist your kids during remote learning by providing the right amount of support and structure, and to help them problem-solve,” says Dr. Philips. “It’s not your job to teach your kids.”

Communicate with teachers

One way you can begin to establish a partnership is by reaching out to your child’s teachers via email prior to the start of the school year to introduce yourself (and your child) and initiate a collaborative relationship.

“Some teachers will need to balance both live and remote teaching at the same time, and some will need to balance different groupings of kids, so approach them with an understanding that they will have a lot to manage,” Jodi Musoff, MA, MEd, an educational specialist at the Child Mind Institute, recommends. In that introductory email, include information about how your child handled distance learning this past spring and their academic strengths and weaknesses. You can also take the opportunity to ask questions.

If there’s anything going on at home that might affect your child’s learning this fall — something that’s certainly true of many kids these days! — now is a great chance to fill teachers in. “I really believe in more communication rather than less,” says Faith Hunter, lower school principal at Little Red School House in New York. If you’re stretched thin and juggling other responsibilities, if your child is having a hard time sharing a work space with siblings, if they’re struggling socially — whatever it is, knowing the context will make it easier for teachers to be sensitive to your child’s needs.

“Be patient and don’t expect to receive a response immediately,” advises Kenya Hameed, PsyD, a clinical neuropsychologist at Child Mind Institute. “Teachers may not start looking at these emails until they’re officially on the clock.” But by reaching out to them now, you’re getting a jump on the personal connection that will help your child thrive once fall arrives.

Get your child organized

Keeping supplies and information organized is a common challenge for kids of any age, especially with the switch to remote learning. This is particularly important for children who have ADHD, since their executive functioning challenges may make it difficult to manage multiple teachers, programs and websites.

“Help create some scaffolding for your children before school begins by making a list of the different platforms they’ll need to check to learn about upcoming meetings and assignments,” says Dr. Phillips. “When you don’t see your teachers in person, it’s easy to be unaware of what you have to do, so knowing where their assignments are posted will set them up for success.”

These details might seem secondary to the things your child is learning in school, but they’re actually a crucial foundation. “At a minimum, there are basic things that your child needs in order to show up and learn,” says Dr. Hameed. She recommends helping kids get a strong start by setting up an environment that helps facilitate schoolwork and making sure they’re comfortable using important tools (like tablets) before classes begin. Some examples of this could be:

• Working together to set up a quiet workspace and experimenting with what works best for your child — this could mean a separate room, designating a specific portion of a shared space, or a set of noise-cancelling headphones that makes it easier to focus. If your children are sharing a space, you can encourage them to personalize their area by decorating a presentation board or cardboard box to serve as a privacy screen.
• Designating spots to store writing utensils, paper, books, handouts and any other materials they need.
• Making sure you have a reliable internet connection.
• Checking to confirm that your child’s tablet or laptop is working and that they know how to use it.
• Taking some time to explore any websites or programs the school is using together so that your child feels comfortable navigating the tech on their own.
• Making a physical list of important passwords kids might need to remember and put it in a safe, accessible place.

Settle into routines

If your child is distance or hybrid learning, it’s helpful if you can create a routine that’s similar to what they would experience if they were attending school in person. “One of the most important things to ask teachers is for the flow of a typical day and the materials your child should have,” says Hunter. “It’ll allow you to really think about how you can encourage your child to gain the same independence that they would have in the classroom.”

For example, elementary school children may put their picture on an attendance chart when they arrive at school and then make sure their supplies are organized for the day. Next, there might be a morning meeting or a look ahead at the day’s schedule. You won’t be able to replicate these routines exactly, but talking to teachers can help you understand what kids would ordinarily expect, and brainstorm manageable ways to give them a similar sense of structure at home. This doesn’t have to be elaborate — it might just be a few reliable steps that kids can count on to make transitions easier.

Teachers typically spend the first six weeks of the school year building these essential routines so children can move comfortably through the day. Partnering with your child’s teachers to establish a similar framework at home means that, eventually, your child will be able to go through their day with less assistance from you. You’ll get some of your time back and they’ll gain more confidence — everyone benefits.

Ease anxiety about an unusual school year

Distance and hybrid learning models will make it much more difficult for your child to get to know their teachers and classmates this year. Think creatively about how you can help your child develop a connection with them, and don’t hesitate to ask the teacher what you both can do to build that bond.

For instance, children with social anxiety often visit their schools to meet their teachers and see their classrooms before the school year begins. Dr. Phillips suggests that parents consider asking if there are any similar opportunities for their children to see a real, live human prior to the first day of school, whether it’s over video chat or at a socially distant face-to-face meeting. Or, you could ask your child what they’d like their teacher to know about them and email it to the teacher, perhaps including some of their own questions for the teacher as well. Even just making introductory notes for your child to keep on hand can reduce anxiety around remote learning — that way, when it’s time for that icebreaker activity on the first day of class, they won’t have to think of what to say on the spot.

For children transitioning from elementary to middle school, moving to a larger campus and from one teacher to many (all with potentially different teaching styles and online systems) can be overwhelming under normal circumstances, so be sure to talk with your child ahead of time about what that might feel like.

The same goes for other big transitions, like moving up to high school or changing schools. “All transitions take a while to get used to, but they eventually even out,” says Julia Nunan-Saah, PhD, a clinical neuropsychologist at Child Mind Institute. “Set expectations, and let kids know it may take a month to get used to this new system. Remind them of their coping strategies for when there are bumps in the road and assure them that you’ll be there to help them get through it.”

Schedule family time

Separating school life and its stressors from family life will continue to be a challenge for those who are distance learning, but it’s important to create a distinction when you can.

If it’s manageable for your family, try to create a transitional period between schoolwork and home life to create a more positive atmosphere. Scheduling fun activities for evenings and weekends, like a game night or a hike, can also provide the relaxation and sense of connection that will help your child focus and learn during the school day.

Even just planning quick, regular check-ins with your child — over breakfast, for example — can make a big difference. That bit of planning gives your child confidence that you’re facing these new challenges together, and it provides a built-in time for them to come to you with any concerns as the school year goes on.

We had had several requests for additional resources so parents can help those students who struggle with some subjects.  One of the best is Khan Academy.  Their easy to follow video tutorials are great for students needing further help with almost any topic

PCS

DCS

DCS Leader Announcement Board:

Please Join us!

Discovery is looking for parents to become members of our School Improvement Committee for the 2020-21 school year. Committee members will join the Discovery Leads as we discuss our schools individual Action Plan. Our Action Plan discusses DCS’s actionable steps toward whole school improvement. We are looking for members to join our team and help us to continue to improve our school!

If you are interested in joining or for more information please email Ashley Cerezo acerezo@tracylc.net or Kathy Prescott at kprescott@tracylc.net

The SIC committee meets monthly! Our first meeting is August 25^th at 4pm.

Ms. Zaca’s Leadership Corner:

Welcome! Applications were sent out last Sunday and were due to Ms. Zaca by Friday, August 21st. Students who were accepted to leadership were contacted by Ms. Zaca on Saturday, August 22nd. As of right now, Leadership will be meeting once a week, from 1:00 pm-2:00 pm on google classroom every Tuesday. Students who were accepted into Leadership have been given the google classroom code and class info in their emails. Just a friendly reminder, Leadership is an elective in Discovery and not a graded class. Questions about leadership, please email Ms. Zaca at szaca@tracylc.net.

For our first Leadership event, we are having a raffle event with all 5th-8th grade students. Check out our weekly announcements videos to see what our raffle event is! The winning prize is a $25 Visa gift card! Good luck to all students!

Week 3 DCS Announcements

https://youtu.be/O1O6EolhL9o

Also, check out our Falcons of the Week! These students went above and beyond during our third week of school and the teachers could not be any more proud! Congratulations!

#3 Falcons of the Week

Mrs. Prescott’s Counseling Corner:

Mrs. Prescott has started a Google Classroom for counseling information and services: Discovery Counseling Corner. Mrs. Prescott has started offering drop-in counseling via Zoom every Monday and Friday from 1-2pm. The link is in her Google Classroom, code: qxe5cac. If there are students in the waiting room, sessions will be limited to 10 minutes and a one-on-one follow up appointment will be scheduled. To schedule time with Mrs. Prescott outside of these hours, please feel free to contact her via email at any time: kprescott@tracylc.net. Each week, she also will be adding fun, interesting, and useful information to help students and families with mind, body, and social emotional wellness. Make sure to join her Google Classroom and check in every week to see what’s new!

A peek into our Virtual Learning Classes

Social Studies with Mr. Bird and Ms. Ferguson:

This week in Social Studies the students began their unit on Native Americans! Each day the students learned about Native Americans from different regions across the U.S. including the Southwest Native Americans and Plains Native Americans. The students concluded this week with a short quiz relating to the topic!

If your child needs to locate the readings for this week they can find it in Google Classroom under the “Classwork” tab in the “Native Americans” section!

Next week we will be continuing our discussion on Native Americans from different regions of the United States with another short quiz to end the week.

The unit test for Native Americans will be during the week of August 31st if everything continues to go as planned!

Science with Ms. Diaz and Mr. Dougherty

In the last three weeks, we’ve gone over the Scientific Method, understanding the meaning and importance of each step. This week, we honed our distance learning skills by practicing submitting assignments in Google classroom, taking quizzes, making a slideshow, and playing Kahoot. Three weeks and 3 quizzes down, putting us that much closer to the long-awaited Labor Day weekend! Next week we will begin our first hand-on activities, exploring the ties between music and science.

Math with Mrs. Zuniga

*All students will be taking the first UC Davis test next week.

Varsity: Students took their second quiz this week on addition and subtraction word problems. Students are moving smoothly through our first unit and are ready to start our section on multiplication. I did let students know that their multiplication facts MUST be memorized, to help them better understand more difficult math concepts.

Scholastic: Students spent this week reviewing place value as well as going back to review multiplication and division with multi-digit numbers. Students will be taking their first unit test next week on Friday. We are finishing up our unit with rounding, comparing whole numbers, and powers of ten.

Honors: The students are working hard to remember the lessons from last year that we are reviewing at the moment. The students took their first quiz last week and did very well. The class is working on order of operations and algebraic expressions this week. Next week we will continue solving algebraic expressions and take our second quiz.

Math with Mrs. Nijjar

We spent these three weeks exploring math integrated technology and finding the best fit. Students have done an amazing job adjusting to distance learning along with getting to know their peers.

Varsity: Students learned about adding, subtracting, and multiplying multi-digit whole numbers. They put great efforts to take a quiz and show amazing results. In the coming weeks, students will be learning about dividing multi-digit whole numbers.

Scholastic: Students spent this week learning about properties of addition and multiplication, and multiplying/dividing multi-digit whole numbers. In the coming weeks, students will be learning more about place value, rounding, and comparing whole numbers.

Honors: Students learned about adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing integers along with solving algebraic equations. In the coming weeks, students will be learning about exponents, PEMDAS, and algebraic word problems.

Language Arts with Mr. Harding

This year’s Pentathlon topic is the Cold War. It has been somewhat refreshing to go back into history and see our greatest fears still not realized. As we read about the organizations and the individual spies that changed and maintained the balance of superpowers, we are learning how fear is generated and how it affects people.

This week, we studied Cold War era propaganda from both superpowers and noticed themes. We may have a project in the near future where the students must create propaganda to promote an agenda.

Language Arts with Ms. Rodieck

The big question this week was “How do writers use descriptive language to help their readers SEE the story?” This week we continued reading our novel Spies and learned about Elizabeth Bentley, an American who was a Societ Spy. We also worked on revising our Summer Shorts stories and adding descriptive details and reviewed adjectives. We continued to work on our computer skills while we learned (or reviewed) Subjects and Predicates.

Next week, Honors and Scholastic will start diagramming. Students will need to have 3-5 cards or a 3-5 spiral bound notebook like the picture. You can even use binder paper or blank paper and cut it into ¼ sheets. We will be using these to draw out the diagrams and then show them on screen. Having a notebook will keep their work together and organized.

Sally Girl helped me with some pictures of what an engaged on-line learner looks like..

Here, Sally is laying on her back, not even looking at the screen. She obviously is not not engaged with the lesson.

In this second picture, she is looking at her screen, engaged and listening to the lesson, ready to do what she needs to do next.

Science with Ms. Dominguez and Coach Williams:

This week, 7/8 Science completed our first unit! On Friday, students in Varsity, Scholastic and Honors participated in lots of review of Unit 1 content, and ended the week with the unit test.

Over the last three weeks, Coach Williams and I have enjoyed how the students have partnered with us in making the class sessions as productive and interactive as possible. This week they even helped me test out Kahoot!, and troubleshoot the issues that we had in the first trial run. I know this has been a strange and challenging start to the new school year, but I am so proud of how our students have met those challenges with positivity and determination.

Next week, we will start Unit 2 which focuses on force and motion!

Social Studies with Ms. Zaca and Coach Penirian:

Ahh!! We escaped!! This week ⅞ social studies students survived in our escape room! Continuing on with our study of the Declaration of Independence, students used their skills of problem-solving and knowledge of our DOI, to escape the 5 levels with their group members. This past few weeks of August, students dived into the history of our colonies, our declaration of independence, and the events that led to our Revolution and ultimate break up from Great Britain. Next week we will have our first Unit Test and student’s notebook check/cover pages will be due on Thursday, August 27th. Students have been working on their cover pages all unit long! Congratulations to our student groups who won the escape room:

Scholastic: Kyle Bordes, Sofie McCrary, Matthew Su,

Honors: Alex Castro, Darren Credo, Vida Lew, and Subhanna Osmani

Varsity: Shoutout to Luz Fonseca, Adrian Washburn, Andres Maurcio, MichaelAngelo Valenzuela, Kaydence Siufanua, and Saniyah Johnson for helping to carry our class to level 4!

Math with Mrs. Linarez and Ms. Losen

This week in 7/8 math with Mrs. Linarez and Ms. Losen, we reviewed quiz results and common mistakes and began learning new concepts. Varsity students learned about place value, Scholastic students learned about integers, and Honors students learned about inequalities. Next week, Varsity students will be taking a unit test on whole numbers and start the following unit on decimals. Scholastic students will be learning about integer exponents and properties of exponents. Honor students will learn about functions and linear functions.

Math with Mr. Dhillon and Coach Levand

*All students will be taking the first UC Davis test next week.

Varsity: We completed lesson 1 (Order of Operation and Properties of Number) and we will be starting with lesson 2 ( Variables and Algebraic expression ). We are practicing basic concepts of math on IXL everyday .

Scholastic: we have completed Quiz 2 of unit 1 and we will be doing lesson 7 Combining Like Terms and lesson 8 Simplifying Expressions (Distribute/Combine)..

Honors: we have completed lesson 5 and will take Quiz 2 next week and then we will review the unit 1 and then take the test for unit 1.

Language Arts with Mrs. Cerezo

Last week students worked on their second Persuasive-style introduction paragraph. We are working on perfecting our usage of the hook, background, and thesis statements. Students also took their first official test this week! This will become a more regular occurrence now that we are more comfortable with our Virtual format.

Here is a picture of one of the activities we worked on this week! A Padlet discussion of an article the students read:

This week students can expect to continue our work with building our vocabulary, we will have our first in-Zoom timed write and will begin working with programs such as NoRedInk and IXL. Test on Friday.

Language Arts with Ms. Greene and Mrs. Polo

This week in class we have started to read our book “Spies” after diving into the history of the Cold War, which gives us a lot of background on this adventurous book. Students also had their first test this week, which will now be done on a weekly basis.

Next week, students can look forward to beginning a new unit on verb tense, and for the first time during distance learning, we will have a timed write! Students should continue working on their introductions and reviewing what makes a good intro: hook, background information, and a strong thesis statement.

MHS

Good Morning Falcons!  Here is this week’s video unity:

Good morning TLC families. Across the Nation Zoom is having issues with logging in and accessing meetings. We understand this may cause some problems this morning for our students.

We are going to be very flexible with access and please be sure to check your Google Classroom Pages as teachers may provide alternative links to our virtual class meeting

A Message from the Director

PCS

Week 3, WOW!  We have to give a big thank you to all the parents who are helping us navigate this challenging way of learning.  Our staff is determined to make this time meaningful and valuable.  Online learning is difficult but we will continue to work on helping make sure this time is beneficial to your students.  Your feedback is appreciated and we hope you continue to work with us in making this time as meaningful as possible.

DCS

Good morning,

DCS Back to School Presentation

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1m6AzeT7UplL-bSzpY4FRfWrbZ5aGDuVa6HFtVo6kvck/edit?usp=sharing

DCS Falcon of the Week #2

MHS

We understand this may affect how students access their classes.  If you are able to use a cell phone to connect to Zoom, all you need is the Zoom app and the Google Classroom app.

We understand the challenges students face at home and please be assured we will help you work through any issues.

ClubStartUp_Distance2020

TLC Distance Learning Survey-

We need to hear from you.  Please take a moment and complete the following survey.  Results will help us continue to develop an online learning platform that helps keep our students engaged and learning

https://forms.gle/apzYek6EruhFLhC29

Celebrating our students does not stop with online learning.

Please join us in celebrating our DCS Falcon of the Week

A Message from the Director

Congratulations to all of us for a successful first week of school. Parents and students did a great job following directions and supporting the students.  We are here to help you when you find yourself confused.

Staff is doing a great job of creating opportunities for interactive and interesting ways to make distance learning more enjoyable.  We all know it is not as much fun as being in person, but it is working.

We appreciate all that everyone is doing to make our opening of school and our program possible.  It truly does take a whole village of staff, parents, and students to make it work.  Now more than ever we need to be a united partnership in the learning community.  If we all work together it will be a success.

Thank you for all you are doing.

– Virginia Stewart

Staff Spotlight –

Dyanne Holmes – MHS Science

https://www.ttownmedia.com/tracy_press/our_town/distant-but-not-disconnected/article_4d2bd9ae-d81c-11ea-a45c-f7851fe0e2e4.html

TLC Tech Team Updates –

We owe a huge thank you to all our parents for working with us through this difficult learning process.  Moving over 1200 students online was a huge task and despite all the planning and preparation, problems will come up.  We will keep working hard to do all we can to keep your students learning!  If you ever have a question or issue, email us at tlctech@tracylc.net

We had some confusion regarding the message TUSD sent out to all students.  The text and phone call about changes in usernames and passwords does not apply to Tracy Learning Center students.

All Primary, Discovery, and Millennium logins did not change.  Thank you.

But TLC’s first day of distance learning is in the books!  I want to thank all our parents and students for working so hard to get this new year started.

We did have some hiccups and areas we can improve but considering last month we thought we would be on campus, I think everyone did an admirable job.

Over the next few days, this will become more familiar and natural.  We will keep striving to provide a quality, meaningful education even when we cannot be on site.

Do not hesitate to contact us if you need help.  Teachers and tech support are happy to assist.

Hopefully, everyone has picked out there “first day of school” outfit (or at least what can be seen on your webcam) and got their supplies set up for our first day of classes.

Technology is an amazing tool that will allow users to do so much even from our own homes but it does have it’s issued and usually they happen at the worst time.

Here are a few tricks and reminders to hopefully take some of the stress away from this first day online.

• Update your computers – All devices have updates sent to them for safety and features.  Laptops, Desktops, Chromebooks and Ipads should be running the latest software to prevent issues with programs.
  • Laptops and Desktops – usually you can go to the start menu or finder and type in updates.  This will point you to update page and you can check to see what needs to be installed.  If it has been a while this can take a long time so I suggest doing it now rather than Monday morning.
  • Update Chrome browser – When in Google Chrome go to the 3 dots in the upper right.  Then settings followed by ‘About Chrome’ at the bottom of the menu.  This will show if you are updated or now and allow you to run the update.
  • For ipads or phones – update your apps through the app store and go to settings, general and software updates.
  • For Chromebooks – they “should” automatically update but just in case you can do this:

• Check for updates yourself

  1. Turn on your Chromebook.
  2. Connect your Chromebook to Wi-Fi.
  3. At the bottom right, select the time.
  4. Select Settings .
  5. At the bottom of the left panel, select About Chrome OS.
  6. Under “Google Chrome OS,” you’ll find which version of the Chrome operating system your Chromebook uses.
  7. Select Check for updates.
  8. If your Chromebook finds a software update, it will start to download automatically.

• Make sure your username and password work – Sometimes names are misspelled or password IDs were incorrectly entered.  If you cannot log in contact tlctech@tracylc.net and we can check your account and get you up and running.
  • When you email tlctech@tracylc.net please provide your student first and last name as well as their Student ID number and the school/homeroom.

• Go to classroom.google.com and enter your class codes –
  • PCS Students were entered into their class so they need to log on and accept the invite.
  • MHS class codes can be found on the tlccharterchatter.com page. Cross reference your periods with your schedule to find your class codes.
  • DCS codes were emailed to parents via AERIES.  IF you did not get an email (and it is not in your spam folder) let us know by emailing tlctech@tracylc.net.

We do not expect our parents or students to be tech support wizards and if you have any issues please contact our TLC tech at  tlctech@tracylc.net

They will be working with all staff and students to help with any issues.

Most importantly, DO NOT PANIC.  We fully understand things do not always work as they should but working with technology and the challenges to provides to part of the education process as well.  It is a skill students will need in the future just like Math and Science etc.

Take care TLC families and see you all Tomorrow.