Lincoln Cluster Schools Newsletter
October 2022
Hello Lincoln Cluster Families
Greetings Lincoln Cluster Families,
Your children, our students, are in wonderful care with our teachers, staff and principals welcoming each and everyone of our students with open arms and open hearts, each and every day as we create a sense of belonging and safety for each child that walks through our school doors. This year is about transitions. We are transitioning out of a pandemic and into an amazing school year filled with lots of learning and much needed laughter with our students and staff, as we rebuild, together as a community that supports and leans on one another as needed. We are also focused on the important transitions between elementary school and middle school, as well as middle school and high school. Knox and MTM have opened their doors to our 5th grade students in the Lincoln Cluster for campus visits and presentations. We have truly amazing programs and opportunities at our cluster schools, along with strategic community partnerships and responsive resources for our students and families. Knox and MTM are excited to showcase these programs to all 11 of our feeder elementary schools. Additionally, Knox and MTM are partnering with Lincoln High School to ensure the transition for our students from 8thto 9th grade is seamless, supported, and successful for each student. We deeply believe that each student has an important role to play in our community of schools, and their voice and ideas matter deeply, as well as the voices and ideas of our parents, family members, and people they trust deeply in their lives of influence. We will continue to grow stronger as a community, as we continue to strengthen our partnerships through both easy and tough conversations, as we solve problems together, and ideate and vision the VERY BEST for our students together. Have a blessed and beautiful October and holidays ahead.
Bruce Bivins
Area 1 Superintendent, SDUSD
Lincoln High School
Lincoln High School
Lincoln students are winning IN and OUT of the classroom. 9th Grade Students explored Careers, Culture and Continuing Education all available here in Southeast San Diego in an all-day field trip with lunch at Cesar Chavez Park. 10th and 11th grade Engineering Students participated in service learning and saw first-hand how engineering is used in wildlife and habitat conservation at the Tijuana River Estuary. Our football team continues a winning tradition and continues to send talented student-athletes to college. Girls tennis is having the most winning season in school history and golf and cross country are running strong. Seniors are busy with FAFSA workshops and meeting with college representatives as they complete applications. This year, class of 2023 Junior Achievement Fellowship students take winning to a new level learning through internships in the workplace. A BIG Thank You to a grant through Kaiser Permanente making it possible to take our JA Fellows on a shopping trip to build their professional wardrobe (pictured below). Recruiting for the class of 2024 JA Fellows has begun and students interested should click HERE to apply. Our goal is to expand and integrate the work-based learning opportunities into our Industry Themed Pathway Programs. Pathway Programs create a small school structure where teachers team with community and industry members to support students through project based learning that explores and creates solutions for real problems affecting our community. We aim to build on the natural strengths of our community and students as we celebrate their growth towards their next steps towards careers training and living out their values. Our current Career Themed Electives include: BioMedical Sciences, Computer Science, Engineering, Fire Protection Technology, and Media Arts Production as well as our Art, Music and Musical Theater Classes. As we move into our next steps of building out the Industry Themed Pathways to be available to all 10th-12th grade students next school year, it is imperative that we include input from not just our own Lincoln Students, Families and Staff, but also from future Hornets and families, alumni, community and employers in the Lincoln Cluster. We humbly ask that you invest two minutes of your time to share your input on the priorities for the Industry Themes for the integrated Pathways Programs using this SURVEY LINK. We would be honored for you to share this survey link with anyone invested in the growth and development of our Lincoln Students and community. Please watch for survey results and our next steps and opportunities for involvement in the next cluster newsletter!
Knox Middle School
Knox Middle
During October, we have had so many positive activities happening on campus. These include:
- Believe it! Achieve it! in PE
- Falloween door decorating in Advisory
- A pep rally hosted by ASB
- Staff vs Student Knockout Basketball
- All of our clubs are in full swing
- Hip Hop Pop Up dance program
- Saturday School
Knox is also very excited to announce our new partnership with Make Positive Movement.
Millennial Tech Middle
Millennial Tech Middle
Newsletter 2022 October
Throughout the month of October MTM art students have been working with a guest artist during Workshop Wednesdays creating multiple art projects such as still life sculptures, continuous contour art drawings with watercolors, and textile art such as weaving.
Also this month, staff and families will be participating in a cultural celebration on Thursday, October 27th, 2002 from 5 PM to 7 PM, inside our EarthLab. This event is to build community and to celebrate a traditional holiday that many of our students and families take part in at home and with their families. On the Day of the Dead (el Día de Los Muertos), The students in the 8th grade English classes wrote an acrostic poem about their loved ones and shared special memories to honor their families and friends. The art classes created painted skull banners and decorations. The sixth-grade math classes and Makers Lab made wooden lanterns with the maker glow forge. The MTM EarthLab students also created paper marigolds and butterflies to be placed around the Earthlab Mother oak tree. These lanterns, decorations, and creative poems will be displayed during the celebration.
Día de Los Muertos is a Mexican holiday where families welcome back the souls of their deceased relatives for a brief reunion that includes food, drink, and celebration. The roots of the Day of the Dead celebrated in contemporary Mexico and among those of Mexican heritage in the United States and around the world, go back some 3,000 years, to the rituals honoring the dead in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. The Aztecs and other Nahua people living in what is now central Mexico held a cyclical view of the universe and saw death as an integral, ever-present part of life.
Valencia Park Elementary School
Valencia Park Elementary
Horton Elementary School
Horton Elem. -
School spirit has been in full show this October at Horton with Red Ribbon Week. Every day during the week of October 24th, students dress to a theme to commit to being healthy and being drug and tobacco free and committed to a healthy lifestyle. Our spirit days include Pajama Day, Crazy Hair Day, Wacky Wednesday, Red Ribbon Day, Sports Day, and Storybook Character & Superhero Dress Up Day.
Horton was also recognized this month as one of 18 district schools to receive the Alliance for a Healthier Generation award for America's Healthiest Schools. The school was recognized for its focus on supporting the health and well-being of students, staff, and families, specifically in the areas of implementing a strong school wellness policy and student health services that focus on health screenings and mental health services. Part of our school wellness policy is supported by our partnership with Food Corps, who teaches our outdoor garden education program that emphasizes nutrition, science, and the environment. Students engage in planting, irrigating, and tending to our garden and cooking and nutrition classes. Research shows that garden-based instruction augments healthy food intake, boosts academic achievement and facilitates cognitive and emotional development. Experiential learning activities improve social emotional and behavioral skills and increase resilience against stress.
Webster Elementary School
Webster Elementary
Hello Lincoln Cluster Families, What a busy year we have had so far. We held our first of many “Character Education” Assemblies where we honor selected students for demonstrating the “Character Trait” of the month. September was “Respect” See picture. October is “Perseverance”. Our assembly will be on Nov. 3rd to honor the students selected for this “Character Trait”. All Character traits have a selected book that goes along with the Character Trait. Our teachers and students enjoy leading a collaborative conversation around each Character Trait. Students that earn this award are given a certificate, a Wise Owl sticker, and a voucher for one free meal at our neighborhood Sizzler. Congratulations to our first honorees of the year!
Webster is also getting ready for our first ever STEAM night. Wednesday, Nov. 9th from 5:00 to 6:00 on our campus. Teacher and students have been working hard to integrate our writing focus, our Arts focus and our STEAM focus all into one display. We are very excited to see what the children produce. In our lower grades, students are working as a whole group and in our upper grades; students are working on their own. In some classes, they are creating QR codes to go along with their display boards for a more interactive experience.
Webster also had a special guest form MTM. They stopped by to pump up our students for middle school and they brought their mascot Timmy. Webster students had a great time! See picture.
Here at Webster we are trying to do our best to get the word-out. Webster is a wonderful school. We are now on Twitter and Instagram. We have a multiyear grant to improve our STEAM instruction. We want everyone to learn about us. Please follow us and schedule a tour if you would like to see all the great things happening here.
Twitter @WebsterElemSD
Instagram websterelemsd
Encanto Elementary School
Encanto Elementary
Chollas-Mead Elementary School
Chollas-Mead Elem.
Masons of California and District Leaders Visit Chollas Mead
This month at Chollas Mead we were fortunate enough to have welcomed the Masons of California, Superintendent Jackson and Deputy Superintendent Bagula and SDUSD Board members to our Family Friday event on Friday, September 30. They acknowledged our parents and teachers for their contributions to Chollas Mead Dolphin success. After the parent meeting/assembly, our District leaders and Masons accompanied parents as they went into classrooms to see their children learn and read books that were donated by the Masons of California. It was a wonderful experience to have our families, leaders, and supporters come together.
We also hosted a costume giveaway for Chollas Mead families. A record number of parents volunteered to organize and distribute over 500 costumes to students so they can participate in Halloween fun. Overall parent involvement is increasing this school year – we are excited to see what we will be able to accomplish together.
Nye Elementary
Nye Elementary
Johnson Elementary School
Johnson Elem.
Back to School Night 2022 for the Johnson Tigers was a Roaring Success!
Many of our families came to campus to visit our information booths, do STEAM activities, and reacquaint themselves with the classroom teachers and other staff members.
We had a little fun and got some exercise before going to the classrooms by dancing on the blacktop with new and old line dances led by the Verlosity Dance Group.
Fun and Knowledge are a wonderful pairing!
We look forward to our next community event!
Chavez Elementary
Porter Elementary
Porter Elementary
Hello Lincoln Cluster families! We are excited to highlight some of the amazing things happening at Porter! We are in the midst of celebrating Red Ribbon Week! Students and staff are participating in Porter Spirit Days, and we also are focused on educating our students about the importance of being drug free. In November, our 5th grade students will begin participating in a flag football league hosted by AthLead. We have also partnered with Elevo to provide social emotional learning and physical education activities for our students. We are focused on providing additional extracurricular opportunities and social emotional learning to focus on the whole student. We are committed to creating strong relationships within our community to best support our students. Please reach out if you would like to collaborate with our team at Porter! Thank you for all of your support! Go Panthers!
Chavez Elementary
Back to School
Our Back to School night was in person and was a success! it was apparent that our school community missed that person interaction and we had an amazing outcome.
School Garden
In the learning garden…
TK, kindergarten, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade were all introduced to the garden and their first FoodCorps lesson this month! Students were able to explore what is growing, discover what a plant needs to grow, and partake in the cultivation and maintenance of their school garden.
Local Field Trip
Kinder students took a neighborhood field trip to one of our school's partners Northgate and received a VIP treatment.Elementary Institute of Science (EIS) Welcomes New Director
Welcome New EIS Executive Director Dr. Pedro Cevallos
The staff and Board of Directors at EIS are pleased to welcome Dr. Pedro Cevallos as our new Executive Director. After an extensive search, we are happy to bring on a new experienced leader who possesses the skills and passion to advance our mission of supporting youth with quality STEM learning. Pedro spent the last quarter century devoted to improving educational outcomes for underrepresented students and their families. He has taught students from grades 6 through college, co-founded his own nonprofit, and even worked in educational publishing. His focus for the last decade has been on nonprofit leadership. Pedro is the proud product of American public schools having earned his high school diploma from Miami-Dade County Public Schools, his B.S. from Florida International University in secondary education, his M.S. from Penn State in curriculum & instruction, and his doctorate from UCLA in educational leadership & entrepreneurship. Dr. Cevallos is an expert in scaling-up nonprofits and utilizing intersegmental partnerships to amplify collective impact.
Pedro looks forward to learning about the rich history of EIS and the culture of our organization. In order to truly live the southeastern San Diego experience, he moved into the Skyline Hills community where he lives just down the street from Morse High School. In his spare time, he is DJ and an avid adult gymnast.
So far, he has observed EIS classes, met with all staff, pitched in on curriculum development, helped plan and revise lesson plans, and immersed himself in all things EIS. Pedro shared, “my goal is to be a servant leader at EIS, sharing authority, placing the needs of the students and staff first, and being an instrument of professional development for the staff and board. I want to bring my expertise to EIS and learn from the 58 years this organization has been serving southeastern San Diego.”
EIS Executive Director Jim Stone, retired at the end of June this year. We are immensely grateful for his many years of service in helping EIS expand our programs and lead us through the tumult of the COVID-19 pandemic.
And we cannot forget our profound gratitude to Charlene Browne, Director of Development who was Activing Executive Director throughout this transition – supporting all staff through much of summer camp and the start of our fall programs.
Stay updated on Lincoln Cluster programs at EIS by subscribing to their newsletter https://eisca.org/newsletter and following EIS on social media @EISsandiego.