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Honor roll, spelling bees, teacher panel, drama, homework apps, Credo

Education Roundup

Sonoma High has reinstated its honor roll just in time for this past semester’s grades. The breakdown for the fall was as follows: 

• SVHS superintendent’s honor roll, weighted 4.0 grade point average and above: 95 students.

• SVHS principal’s honor roll, weighted 3.5-3.99: 222 students.

• SVHS Dragon honor roll, weighted 3.0-3.49: 231 students.

The names aren’t being publicly announced but are posted in the school library and office. Congrats to all 550 students honored.

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Sonoma had top 10 finishers in the Sonoma County Spelling Bee last week. Congratulations to all our local students chosen by their schools to compete. Sixth-grader Alyssa Schimm, from Adele Harrison, took sixth place overall (South County); fifth-grader Trevor Griggs-Demmin, from Prestwood, came in eighth place overall (North County); sixth-grader Layla McDermott, from Presentation School, came in eighth place overall (South County); and sixth-grader Will Larson, from Adele Harrison, came in 10th place overall (South County). There were more than 50 competitors in grades four to eight representing the top spellers in each region.

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The Sonoma Branch of the AAUW (American Association of University Women) along with the Sonoma Valley Woman’s Club, is hosting a panel discussion about public school education featuring some exceptional local teachers today (Feb. 28) at 7 p.m. at the Sonoma Valley Woman’s Club. The educators will talk about why they chose to teach, as well as their perspectives on public education today. For more information, call 938-8114.

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Sonoma High is holding a Festival Preview Concert on March 7 at 7 p.m. in the Little Theater. Members of the Madrigals, Concert Choir and Festival Band will present the music they will perform at the upcoming CMEA and Forum Festivals. Tickets are $5 (FREE for SVHS students) at the door.

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Holly Bennett is organizing another great Barn Sale on March 3, from 9 a.m. to  4 p.m. at 19671 Seventh St. E., with all proceeds going to benefit Sonoma Valley public schools. Please call Holly at 484-4747 to donate household items, books, furniture, etc.

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It is great news that the Sonoma Valley Regional Library will re-open back on West Napa Street on Tuesday, March 20. Their temporary home in Burlingame Hall will close on March 10 and for 10 days staff will prepare for the reopening at 10 a.m. on March 20. Book donations will be accepted from that day forward.

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Teacher Support Network (TSN) volunteers will be treated to brunch prepared by the Sonoma High Culinary Arts students on Thursday, March 1, at 11:30 a.m. The event is for active and interested program volunteers. The brunch, co-hosted by the Sonoma Valley Education Foundation, will include a guest speaker who will discuss the rewards of working with teens, touching on challenges, tools and techniques.    

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Gary Robinson’s Sonoma-based nonprofit, Synopsys Outreach Foundation, supports teachers and students developing science projects at K-12 public and private schools in California, including several in Sonoma County. It recently launched its fifth annual Sciberpalooza!, an online science fair for sixth graders. More information is at sciberpalooza.com. Another recent initiative is their Green-plus-1 Challenge, which awards 10 $2,000 grants to California K-8 teachers to develop or lead school-wide projects that have a positive and measurable impact on the environment. The deadline is April 16 (outreach-foundation.org/green).

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USA Today recently reviewed five great new iPhone apps to help students keep track of homework.

1. iStudiez Pro – Price: $2.99. Allows students to organize schedules, prioritize homework, receive notifications before assignments are due and track their GPA.

2. myHomework – Price: free. This app allows students to prioritize homework assignments and track them on a user-friendly calendar, color-coded by category (papers, test, homework).

3. Evernote – Price: free ($5 a month for premium service). Students can also collaborate by sharing notes. Instead of a jumbled mess of notes, Evernote organizes notes via a clear notebook sorting system.

4. School & Stuff, Grades and Timetables  – Price: $2.99: Parents can enter info about each child’s classes, grades and extracurricular activities, creating a family directory. Teachers can input assignments and grades.

5. TeacherPal – Price: Free. TeacherPal enables educators to organize students by grades, by attendance and by assignments. The app also captures extra information, such as parents’ email addresses and phone numbers.

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I don’t know why I had never picked it up before, but I absolutely loved the book “The Element,” by Ken Robinson. In a nutshell, we all need to discover the thing we are both good at and passionate about. If we make that our career, we are destined for happiness and greatness. It sounds so simple, but it can be very hard for children to figure this out on their own. Perhaps our most important job as parents is to help our kids figure out when they are “in their element.”

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Do you know a teen interested in architecture? There is a great website discoverdesign.org/ where students can learn about architecture, share design ideas, get feedback from accomplished professionals and connect with other high school students learning about architecture.

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Sassarini is planning a “Sip & Support Sassarini” event with the Valley Wine Shack on March 8. Ten percent of sales from the day are donated, no flyer necessary. Sonoma Market is donating snacks to be enjoyed while shopping.

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While I hate to send you out of town, the Santa Rosa Parks & Rec Spring/Summer catalog is almost 170 pages long. It offers every sports program and enrichment course possible for ages 1 to 100, at reasonable prices. If you didn’t get one in the mail, you can see what it offer at santarosa.com.

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Last weekend, Sonoma Charter’s eighth grade, directed by Dan Saski, staged the one-act production, “Teenage Nightmare,” a dramatic comedy about teenage life by Laura Toffenetti, with added material written by the students.  It was performed as a newscast, with scenes entitled: Shopping with Mom, The Date Scene, Dumb Things Parents Say, Babysitting Nightmare and commercials featuring products that teens would love to get their hands on. Congrats to all.

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News from Credo High School in Rohnert Park (where almost 40 percent of its students currently hail from the town of Sonoma). Last weekend, Credo staged its first musical theater production: “You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown.” Credo opened its doors to its pioneer freshman class in 2011 and is currently accepting applications for ninth- and tenth-graders for next fall. Credo is a tuition-free, college prep public charter school that offers a rigorous academic curriculum plus specialty subjects, including foreign languages (Spanish, Mandarin), visual arts (painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, photography), practical arts (media arts, blacksmithing, woodworking, bookbinding, ceramics) theater, music (choir, American music, orchestra) movement, dance and physical education, and biodynamic gardening and farming.

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Did you know that dairy is the #1 commodity in California? Last week was FFA week (Future Farmers of America) and Sonoma High ag students celebrated all week.

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