Elwin Elementary, with 392 students in transitional kindergarten through sixth grade, launched the new year Monday with a “walk and talk” before school to energize students and give them a chance to reconnect with friends.
“We started this a few years ago,” Principal Patricia Cubillo said. “It gives the students a chance to talk and to catch up before school begins.”
Later, students took a special writing assessment as part of a focus on writing skills for all grades. The assessment is the first step in a nine-week writing boot camp led in part by a new curriculum, technology and intervention coach.
The coach is part of a team helping to boost instructional rigor across the district – one of several key changes made by District leaders in 2017-18. Other changes include expanded offerings in engineering, new career technology programs and additional campus oversight that allows principals to focus more intently on classroom success.
“Writing is such a critical skill,” Cubillo said. “We want them to be fully ready when they leave here for middle school.”
At Sierra Vista Junior High, students were greeted by smiling staff as they picked up school schedules and explored the campus to find their classes.
More than 760 seventh- and eighth-graders attended a welcome rally to learn school policies and expectations, and to get pumped for the new good-behavior bingo system. Teachers and Sierra Vista Junior High’s Assistant Principal Alejandra Cervantes performed the cupid shuffle while students cheered and sang along.
“This was the first year that we’ve done a welcome back assembly – it was hectic putting everything together, but I think it’s completely worth it,” Sierra Vista Junior High Principal Lorena S. Chavira said. “This is going to be a great school year and we are all excited to get started.”
Baldwin Park High School’s concert band and cheer team kicked off the 2017-18 school year with a drumline and pom-pom-filled celebration to welcome new and returning students. More than 1,800 students are attending Baldwin Park High School.
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BPUSD_FIRST_1: Elwin Elementary students “walk and talk” before school to catch up with friends.
BPUSD_FIRST_2: Sixth-graders in Emma Rodarte’s Elwin Elementary class write about their summer for an assessment that will help instructors intensify instruction on written communication.