Week 4

A special thanks to James and his mom for bringing Moon Cakes and other snacks on Wednesday. The Chinese Moon Festival is a traditional Chinese event that is celebrated during the full moon in September.

We had a great time on Friday at lunchtime. We got pizza and went to the park. I plan on doing that every other week just to break the monotony of going to the upper bay for lunch. During class council last week, we talked about ways to make lunch more enjoyable. I agreed to taking kids to the park once a week and having lunch in the commons on the off weeks. If any parents would like to help with this, I would appreciate the company!

One of my goals this year is to have all students using ACADEMIC LANGUAGE. Knowing and understanding the vocabulary of math and science will aid students in grasping the concepts.
Students will be quizzed weekly on new words related to the concepts being taught.
Week 1 Academic Language Quiz consisted of the following math terms:

• constant
• consecutive numbers
• symmetry
• translation
• reflection
• line of symmetry
• rotation
• tesselation

Our math class this past week looked more like an art class. Students made tesselations using equilateral triangles and symmetric designs they created. In science we talked about the two main concepts we will cover this year. Namely, Chemistry and Physics. We took a look at the scientific method by guessing how many marbles and what types of dividers in 7 sealed boxes. Using only observations from the outside of the box, students formed hypotheses stating what the inside of the box looked like.

UPCOMING EVENTS: Student-Led Conferences Oct 11-14 minimum days

week 2 and week 3

What a great year this is turning out to be! I can say with surety that this school year kicked off so much smoother than the last two years. I feel privileged to be a partof such a great endeavor. Students are getting into the routines of school and reconnecting with their friends as well as making new ones. We have six students in 8th grade and seven (and counting) in 7th grade who are new to IA this year. They have blended right in to our school culture.



Yesterday, during morning meeting, we reflected on what is different about our school compared to other schools we attended. Here are some of their responses:

• Teachers help me when I don't understand instead of make me feel dumb.


• Teachers actually listen to me and care about me.


• I like that we learn things "hands on" instead of reading about it in a book or memorize using flash cards.


• This school is open and inclusive - students decide.


• Kids are nicer.


• Teachers make kids feel comfortable.


• We have group work and collaborate.

The past two weeks were spent establishing our schedule, introducing our "Me project", and diving into math.

This year in math, all students will concentrate on five core concepts in order to perfect their algebraic thinking: 1) Equivalence 2) Patterns and Functions 3) Variables 4) Graphing and 5) Mathematical writing

For the past two weeks we have been looking at patterns and learning how to represent them on T-Charts. Some students have been able to turn their understanding of their charts into algebraic expressions. Ask your student about Leapfrog, Flying V or Pattern Blocks.

Thank you to those parents who came to back to school night last Thursday. Those of you who couldn't make it, please contact me. I am in need for volunteers to help me in and out of the class(especially a room parent). Also come sign up for a time slot for Student Led Conferences to be held the week of October 11 through Oct 14.

Lisa's Class Week 1 Update

ATTENTION! IA NEEDS STUDENTS! Although the 8th grade class and 3rd grade class are nearly full, some classes need more kids! Please let your friends and neighbors know about Innovations Academy. They can enroll immediately. Contact me if you have questions.
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We made it through the first week of school! I had a great time seeing old faces and getting to know new ones. I am sure this year will be another great one at Innovations Academy.

This week we spent most of our days with the seventh and eighth graders combined. Because Tony and I will both be seeing your students, we want to form a united front when it comes to classroom procedures, positive discipline and schoolwork expectations. We spent this week setting goals and expectations, finding out about each other, creating posters to promote a positive community and most of all, having fun!

Next week we will begin our first project and ease into "real" schoolwork! I will be assessing all students to place them into pre-algebra or algebra classes. Our first math unit will center around symmetry and patterns. We will kick off science learning about chemistry and chemical reactions.

Some reminders:

Kyle's birthday party is this Saturday at 6:30 at Corvette Diner

NO SCHOOL MONDAY! Happy Labor Day!

Please bring school supplies by Tuesday. Return any unfinished school paperwork to Donna.

School lunches begin Tuesday. You must pre-order a day ahead. Check out our school website for more information.

Back To School Night is Sept 16th

Have a safe and happy Labor Day weekend. I look forward to another great week next week.

2010-2011 Supply list

Hello Parents,
I hope you are having a great summer!

Here is the recommended Class Supply List (Don't panic if you don't have it all on the first day! This is a list of things used throughout the year)

I have already purchased 2 spiral notebooks(1 for math, 1 for science) per student. They were on sale for 6 cents each! Look for deals at Staples, Office Depot, Wal-Mart. Each week they have something different on sale.


· ONE large 3 inch binder(to be kept at school)

-Loose leaf notebook paper- College Rule preferred

· Dividers- 5 count

· Large durable pencil pouch or box

· Several #2 pencils

· Pencil sharpener with cover

· 2 blue or black pens

· 2 red correcting pens

· Highlighter (3 various colors)

· Thin colored markers

· Colored pencils-12 count

· Eraser

· Scissors

· Glue sticks

· One package lined Index Cards (3x5)

· Quad (Graph) paper

Day 6 Alcatraz and the Wharf / Day 7 Bus Tour and Bike Ride

(Notice the homeless guy in our group pic. He wouldn't move)

Day 7: This may be our last day posting. There is a rumor there is no cell or internet service at Big Sur. We will find out when we get there! We are loading up, doing a city bus tour and bike ride over the Golden Gate bridge. We should be on the road around 3:oo. Here are some pics from yesterday:



Day 6: Today we woke up early and made our way to the wharf by shuttling kids in one van. Yikes! The trip to Alcatraz was so fun. Much improved since I was a girl and took the tour. We watched a video about the origins of Alcatraz as a bird sanctuary, military base, prison, Indian land for 19 months and finally a national park. After that a ranger took us on a walking tour about the attempted escapes there by prisoners. Last we took an audio tour of the prison. It was narrated as if you were part of history, with the sounds of what it must have been like during that time. We got back on the ferry to drizzles so we decided to forego our bike ride til later and went back to the hotel. We left again for the wharf for dinner and a night tour bus(which ended up cancelling due to the weather) We ended up shopping for a few hours on the wharf, watching the sea lions on pier 39 and playing arcade games.

Day 5 Fairfield and San Francisco

Sorry no photos today. We are all tucked into our hotel rooms and my camera battery died. Will get em posted tomorrow. Today was all about relaxing. This morning we took off from Sacramento and hopefully left behind everyone's allergies. We had all been sneezing since we got there.

In Fairfield, we found the Jelly Belly factory. On day 1 of our trip, after driving for hours and hours I started imagining a place similar to McDonalds play place where you can play in the ballpit, except instead of the balls, it had Jelly Bellys. That would be my dream come true!
Anyway, we got to tour the factory and find out everything there is to know about Jelly Belly beans. They gave samples of everything including the gross ones like skunk scent and dog food. Lucas tricked me into eating what I thought was a peach one. Turned out it was barf flavor. Ick. We had a great time and left wired on sugar.

An hour or so later, we made it to our hotel in San Francisco. From the outside it doesn't look too great but the inside is pretty decent. The elevator looks as if it is the original. The hotel itself looks like it has been around for a hundred years. The only problem with this town is the parking. There is none. We did not add that into our budget and it looks like we will be spending about 25 per car per day and the same for the trailer. We are getting creative and having to shuttle kids in one car. Just adds to the adventure right?

We got our wharf passes for tomorrow and spent the evening near Union Station eating at Buca di Beppo (in the Pope room at a huge round table) and window shopping. Everyone is wiped out and refeuling for a fun day at the wharf tomorrow. First on the itinerary, Alcatraz Island.

Day 4 Capitol Building and Old Schoolhouse

Yes we went to school today too! An old schoolhouse

Today we spent the day in downtown Sacramento. The capitol building was fun to see. We had a tour guide who took us through the different floors of the building. We got to see a live session in the assembly chambers and see bills get passed. We went into the Senate chamber and saw where the governors office was. We learned a lot of history about the capitol building and California.

Later we went to an old schoolhouse from the 1800s. We all agreed it didn't sound fun. Kids were in the same room from first thru eighth grade. You had to sit at your desk with your hands folded in front of you. When you answered a question or were called on, you had to stand up, curtsy or bow and then speak. Teachers had switches and weren't afraid to use em! You would get 4 lashes if you played with someone of the opposite sex on the playground or climbed higher than three feet up a tree(1 lash per foot). A student would NEVER sass a teacher. Teachers had to get to school at seven to heat up the classroom with a wood stove so it was warm. Female teachers were not allowed to marry or frequent ice cream parlors!

We tried to go to Sutter's Fort today and remembered the reason we were going to go yesterday....It was closed today. Due to budget cuts of course!

Rai getting a lashing