San Dimas High School
The San Dimas High School Saints Off
to a Great Start
There were many exciting events to begin the 2017-2018 school year. A highlight
was winning the Smudgepot football game 19-8 against rival, the Bonita
Bearcats! The first week of school began with a spirit week for Smudgepot that
had over 300 students and over 80 staff members participating. To promote
school spirit, staff and students are using a new mobile device app called “5
Star” that helps track participation and students can receive notifications
about school spirit points and activities. Many classes participated in
activities related to the solar eclipse that occurred on the first day of
school.
Photo 1: San Dimas
band students warm up for Smudgepot
Curriculum Preparation
San Dimas
math teachers received a new curriculum called CPM. It is an inquiry based math
learning program where students are assigned roles in groups to practice
solving real-life problems. Math teachers had several days of training and are
receiving ongoing support from District math coaches. Math courses offered this school year are:
Integrated
Math I Integrated Math II
Algebra
2 Advanced Math
AP Calculus AB AP Calculus BC
AP
Statistics
Social science teachers will receive training on writing
strategies to support the California English Language Arts (ELA) Standards.
San Dimas High School English department is off to a strong
start with both new faces and returning ones. Staff members continue to
collaborate on units and common assessments to improve student learning. The
department hopes to continue momentum from the 2016-17 surge in ELA test
scores.
San Dimas High School science teachers were accepted into
the Metropolitan Water District’s Solar Boat competition and will be looking
for team members and volunteers soon.
The social science department added a new AP Geography class
that is going great, and this adds to the growing list of college-level courses
offered at San Dimas High School.
Hands-on, practical, educational technology is increasingly
becoming a commonplace in social science. Digital lessons are developed to be
engaging, relevant, cross-curricular, and addresses the 4 Cs in order to help
our kids be career-college ready.
Personalized Learning Communities (PLC) & Digital
Collaboration (via Twitter & Google Classroom) have increased cohesiveness
and effectiveness.
The continued and increasing use of Common Core elements
blend English Language Arts historical skills: primary source writings,
photographs, raw data, graphs/charts, etc. They are evaluated for
reliability/legitimacy, analyzed, interpreted, and connected to our respective
historical content.
Photo 2: SDHS Teacher
Mrs. Luevand pictured left with science students on a lab.
The specialized services department has all graduation
requirement classes offered in a co-teaching setting: English at each grade level, Integrated Math
1, Integrated Math 2, Biology, US History, World History and
Government/Economics. Teachers collaborate through a quarterly “Think Tank” to
ensure student support and learning. Additional study skills classes are being
offered this year in the areas of English and math.
The third annual Smudgepin Bowling contest scheduled for
Friday, September 29, features students from the FAST and ASDI classes
competing against students from Bonita High School at Chaparral Lanes.
SDHS Media
Center Modernization
The modernization of the SDHS Media Center is in full swing
with the transformation of the Media Center into the focal center of campus
where students want to go to for resources, to collaborate, and create.
The modernization process will be in phases based upon three
designated spaces within the Media Center: A quiet/study zone, a collaboration
and community zone, and a Commons area. The Commons area is an appealing space
to welcome students with plenty of soft-seating, coffee tables, group tables,
and chairs to provide an area for study and a place for students to meet.
Changing the color scheme, purchasing a green screen, creating a giant
chalkboard on a wall, and putting together a giant magnet word wall will be
exciting additions to the new space.
Students
enrolled in the new elective, Student Technology and Innovation, are helping
with the modernization of the library. One of their first projects will be to
create a book display with reviews using virtual reality. A main goal this year
will be to explore different means of acquiring funding to make our vision a
reality.
Photo 3: SDHS Media Center - a blank slate waiting to
be transformed
