Mark Highlights February 2018 issue 1

MARK Highlights

Manteca Unified School Board

the

Making a positive difference to each and every student daily. facebook.com/ proudtobemusd

February 2018, Issue 1

Wildcat Cafe see page 5

Contents

F E B R UA R Y 2 0 1 8 , ISSUE 1

MUSD School Board

At Our Schools

President Stephen J. Schluer, Area 6

Lathrop Elementary

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Vice President Bob Wallace, Area 7

Hal’s Toolkits

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Board Clerk Evelyn Moore, Area 5

McParland Staff Fundraiser

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Genius Hour

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Wildcat Cafe

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Nancy Teicheira, Area 4

Lathrop High School

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Sierra High

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MUSD Superintendents

Robotics at Weston Ranch

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Eric Duncan, Area 1 Kathy Howe, Area 2 Michael Seelye, Area 3

Superintendent Jason Messer Deputy Superintendents

Community Corner

Dr. Clark Burke

STEM Activities

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MELS Ultimate Valentine’s Project

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Roger Goatcher

Vision

LHS Eighth Grade Parent Night

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Performance by WRHS Drama Geeks

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Manteca Unified School District will ensure every school day is relevant, rigorous, and leads students to become productive and engaged members of a global society while residing in the central valley.

Fun Evening at MacGyver Night

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Mission

Community Outreach

Manteca Unified School District is committed to providing a safe environment where all students will thrive with the tools, resources and support needed to achieve their academic and personal potentials.

On the cover: Joseph Widmer students ready to work at the Wildcat Cafe to serve coffee and bagels to staff.

The Mark Highlights is published twice Superintendent’s Office: per month, on Community Outreach average. It is Manteca Unified School District a publication of the MUSD Superintendent’s Office Community Outreach team. Highlights content is contributed on a rotating basis by every school site in the district.

Highlights is intended to be a reflection of the

MUSD Vision and Mission, because above all, we value making a positive difference to each and every student daily.

The Mark Highlights Team are: Victoria Brunn Director and Executive Editor vbrunn@musd.net Lindsay Stayner Content Coordination and Editor lstayner@musd.net

Peter Gale Design, Reporting, and Editing Erica McCullough: Design & Photography Contributor Wendy King: Photography Contributor Community Outreach Interns Note to school site contributors: send photography at the highest resolution possible.

Use “actual size” when sending from a phone.

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Lathrop Elementary Submitted by: David Silveira, Principal

Literacy Night We had an awesome attendance at our family Literacy Night’s “Camp Read-A-Lot” last week! Thank you to our Warrior Team Time Intervention PLC, Staff, and our PTC for making it happen! Science Camp and our MUSCRAT Night were also well attended! Great educational experiences!

Collaborative Conversations Lathrop’s teachers are continuing the focus on math through collaborative conversations. They are comparing observations made during their first run at Performance Tasks across the campus. The work continues!

STEAM Night Lathrop’s STEAM Night is Our Open House! It’s going to be BIG! Join us for our STEAM Lab Ribbon Cutting,

Hal’s Toolkits Submitted by: Debbie Ruger, Principal

Brock Elliott put their Hal’s Toolkits to good use.

Mrs. Talavera’s Critical Thinking elective class perform a variety of challenges using the various materials in the kit.

A t O u r Scho o l s

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Robotics, Classroom Activities, Guest Speakers, Telescopes, and Food for the Whole Family! Come join us starting at 5:30 pm and ending after we’ve all seen the moon, planets and constellations!

Beautification Day On Saturday, April 21, 2018, Comcast California will be partnering with Lathrop Elementary for a campus clean-up and beautification day! It’s all part of Comcast Cares Day, the company’s annual day of service, when Comcast employees, families, and friends partner with local organizations nationwide on projects that benefit the communities where they live and work.

Comcast will be working on a variety of projects to clean, repair, and beautify 16 schools including Lathrop Elementary!

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A t O u r S ch ools

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McParland Staff Fundraiser Submitted by: Dale Borgeson, Principal The McParland Community is joining together to support Staff Members Ben and Staci Theiss.

Staci was recently diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer that has metastasized to her liver. They have decided that the best course of treatment is to go to the ‘Hope4Cancer’ clinic in Mexico. This clinic is not covered by their health coverage.

The following fundraisers have been established to assist in their expenses. Please support as you can.

Go Fund Me @ https://www.gofundme.com/ team-theiss Drive Thru Dinner February 12 Contact McParland School @ 209-858-7290 for more information.

Genius Hour Submitted by: Candace Espinola, Principal

Stella Brockman’s Jr. High teacher, Mrs. Hansen, is commended for her dedication and time in developing Genius Hour at Stella Brockman School.

She explained the program and student benefits of the program to the district superintendent, district officials, board

members and principals during a school site visit.

Eighth grade students: Julia Erdman, Nathan Azevedo, Ashley Beck and Kaila Gumucio gave their pitch for their Genius Hour project to our guests during their visit.

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A t O u r Scho o l s

Wildcat Cafe Submitted by: Kathy Brown-Synder, Principal

Once a week, students in Ms. Rose’s 6 – 8th grade Special Education class operate a coffee and bagel café for staff before the instructional day starts.

Students pair with Junior High leadership and train each afternoon on the various roles in the café.

The students gain

opportunities to hone a variety of academic skills in the areas of: writing, listening, math, problem solving, organization, and following directions.

They also develop job skills and social skills.

Leadership students also gain from this experience in the areas of service, understanding and developing a sense

Lathrop High School Submitted by: Greg Leland Principal

Lathrop High School is proud of the accomplishments of these 12 English Learners Students. They celebrated at their ELAC meeting, because they have reclassified.

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of community.

Ms. Rose’s students participate in the San Joaquin County Workability Program and have discussion about their future with respect to employment.

Mrs. Rose has given them an opportunity to gain practical, hands on experience in a safe and supportive atmosphere.

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Sierra High Submitted by: Anthony Champman, Vice Principal

Speech Contest at Linden High School Sierra High School Cooperative Marketing team place 1st High Team in the Delta Cal Sectional Speech Contest at Linden High School.

Amber Zarevich placed as 1st High Individual, Jackie Brown placed as 5th High Individual and Rose Sperbeck placed as 8th High Individual in that particular contest. My Best Informed Greenhand team placed 3rd High Team. Christy Limas placed as 2nd

Connecting with Culture

Hafley and Woodward schools.

Sierra High School hosted a concert with students from NiuLanShan, our sister school in Beijing, China.

They arrived Sunday night, the 4th, and leave the morning of February 8th.

Forty-two students were placed with host families from Sierra HS, Stella Brockman, Brock Elliott, Veritas, Neil

The concert on Monday night was a showcase of their skills and abilities.

Our choir also performed to show our friendship.

High Individual. In addition, Amber Zarevich placed as 3rd High Individual in the Prepared Speech Contest. She will be competing in the Regional Contest in March.

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A t O u r Scho o l s

Robotics at Weston Ranch Submitted by: Glifford Borden Teacher

With every competition they improved and made modifications.

We started our robotics classes in the of Spring 2017 with thirteen students.

This year we have 67 students taking robotics.

We formed an afterschool robotics club (Ranch Robotics, 51302A) in September, with the intention of competing in the VEX tournament.

The team met on a weekly basis to design, create, test, program and modify their competition robot.

With every competition,

they improved and made modifications to the robot and programming. The team consists of: Jesus Avalos, Horacio Castillo and Brandon JuarezZambrano. They have spent over 120 hours working on their robot.

San Joaquin Delta VEX League has 4 seeding competitions (Oct, Nov, Dec, Jan) and a championship competition (Feb).

Schools that compete in the league are from:

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Stockton, Lodi, Hayward, Olivehurst, Folsom, Tracy and Pittsburgh.

After the four seeding competitions we were ranked 11th. For the championship tournament, the top 8 seeds are Alliance captains and they choose another team to create their alliance.

We were chosen to form an alliance with a team from Folsom High School (ranked 7th). For the tournament we went 6-0-1 scoring an average of 73 points, with our average margin of victory of 34 points. Winning the tournament qualifies us to go to the state tournament in Vallejo, March 1-2.

Here is a link to the state tournament we will be going to: https:// www.robotevents.com/

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C o m mu n i ty C or n e r

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C o m mu n it y C o r n er

STEM Activities The French Camp Elementary After School Advantage Program (ASAP) generated excitement for science, technology, engineering, and math by hosting their very first STEM Night on Friday, February 2nd.

Students, families and community members enjoyed

an evening of interactive STEM activities.

Students of the After School Advantage Program were actively involved in the planning and facilitation of the event.

Students led activities including Lego Robotics, Marshmallow Towers, Osmos, Gumdrop Bridges, Marble Mazes & more!

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C o m mu n i ty C or n e r

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MELS Ultimate Valentine’s Project MELS Garage hosted make your own Ultimate Valentine’s Project classes. Parents and students worked together to learn the basics of soldering and took home a light up heart. The class was packed and everyone had a great time!

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LHS Eighth Grade Parent Night Submitted by: Jessika McCuaig Community Outreach Intern

“We have so much great stuff going on here!”

The 8th grade parent night is a place for incoming families to preview the selection of programs at Lathrop High School, and to also give them the opportunity to meet with faculty and ask questions.

Mrs. Martha Dent, Assistant Principal at LHS, said, “We have so much great stuff going on here! We want our incoming families to hit the ground running with us – to do what they already know they love, but to try something new, too.”

Although LHS has had parent nights in the past, this year was formatted to be a little different.

First, as parents were walking in, there was a presentation running on loop explaining block schedule,

expectations for incoming 9th graders, and gave an overall idea of how parents can support their child and get involved with the school.

on campus,” Mrs. Dent informed.

“Tables were staffed by teachers and coaches and students, who were all there to recruit and answer program questions.”

Then, JROTC students presented colors, and the choir sang the National Anthem.

The main reason LHS holds an eighth-grade parent night is to send several messages to parents and students, the main message being that everyone has opportunities to belong, that it is better if students are involved, and that students play a role too.

Before parents were excused to walk around and check out the stations, the academic and extracurricular programs gave oneminute presentations to persuade them to join their programs.

“Following the presentations, parents had about 30 minutes to peruse tables around the gym and the cafeteria—each table representing a sport or a program

“Students have a greater freedom here – and with that comes greater responsibility,” said Dent.

She, and all LHS staff, are here to provide a successful experience for incoming LHS students.

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C o m mu n i ty Ou tr e a ch

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Performance by WRHS Drama Geeks Submitted by: Judit Zamora

Community Outreach Intern

“Teamwork and effort were definitely main factors.”

Weston Ranch’s very own Drama Geeks put on a play to show elementary students and the entire community who wished to come see.

directing the play,” said Sanabria. “Teamwork and effort were definitely main factors. It was difficult at times but the experience itself was honorable.”

The play was called Rikki Tikki Tavi and was directed by one of their very own students, Melissa Sanabria, who is a senior at Weston Ranch High School.

The play was about a curious mongoose who went on adventure into the forest in search of one of his dearest friend’s stolen mirror. Rikki Tikki Tavi, the name of the mongoose, had to take on a few obstacles along the way.

“Mrs. Stogner taught me well yet there were many things I had to learn while

Throughout his journey, he had a few fellow enemies who either wanted to capture him or wanted him dead.

In the end, Rikki got his friend’s mirror back and returned to his homeland as the enemies faded away.

The drama class remains a favorite of those who participate, bringing their imagination to life in their performances.

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C o m mu n it y O u t r e ach

2017 Best in Show Artwork by Julia Telles

Manteca Unified School District

2018 District Art Show & Sale

April 23 4-7pm District Office 1st Floor

2017 Best in Sh Artwork by Julia Telles

Manteca Uni

2018 District A

April 23 4-7pm

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C o m mu n i ty Ou tr e a ch

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Fun Evening at

Story by: Peter Gale Photography by: Wendy King

We had to MacGyver our way through the task.

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C o m mu n it y O u t r e ach

MacGyver Night MacGyver was a show in the 80’s where the main hero could make anything out of a little wire, duct tape, and time. He inspired a generation with his can do attitude.

Following that spirit of innovation, MUSD held it’s third annual staff MacGyver night on Wednesday, February 7th.

After a shared meal, administrators, teachers, and staff members from all over the district were given their secret bag of parts. Their task, to work together in order to build a device that could launch a candied heart the furthest.

What did they have to work with? Some popsicle sticks, a few thumb tacks, some rubber bands, crazy glue, and a plastic spoon.

The countdown began and teams got to work, deciding quickly how to

create a catapult that would send their little candy heart flying through the air.

Each teams designs varied wildly as we were banned from using the internet to look up a design. Instead, we had to MacGyver our way through the task.

Each heart had a little number on it which determined the order we went in for launching when the time had run out.

Some flew high and bounced off the ceiling, not getting very far forward.

Some launched dramatically across the building.

When all had competed, it was team Potassium Chloride (KCI) who were victorious. Their team members were Kat Brown Snyder (principal of Joseph Widmer), Lisa Snyder (District Science Coordinator), and Christopher Courtney (Science department of Sierra High School).

Their names will be placed on the commemorative plaque that hangs in the district office.

Last year, the contest was to build the highest tower from dry spaghetti noodles and marshmallows. The year before, the contest was to create a vehicle out of various parts.

Regardless of the contest, you can be sure that next year staff members will be back to get their MacGyver on and see what they can create.

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A t O u r S ch ools

Photography by: Erica McCullough

MUSD 2018 Job Fair

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