November 2017 Notables
Hello, Fall!
November is a special month: We will celebrate our country's veterans and Thanksgiving with family and friends, vote for local representatives,
and as always, stay busy here at Anacapa!

Please read below for important dates
and information coming up for November.

Enjoy!
Important November Dates:
  • November 1: SBCC College Fair, 6-8pm
  • November 2: Registration Deadline for December SAT
  • November 3: End of First Quarter; Early dismissal for teacher inservice; Work Study at 12:30; Registration Deadline for December ACT
  • November 4: SAT
  • November 5: Daylight Savings Ends
  • November 7: City of Santa Barbara General Municipal Election
  • November 10: Special AM Schedule for Veterans Day
  • November 14: Lions Vision & Hearing Screening, 8:30-10:30am
  • November 15: Parents start scheduling Parent Student Advisor conferences
  • November 16: Open House for prospective students, 5-6:30pm
  • November 17: Thanksgiving Potluck, 1:10-3:00pm
  • November 20: 24th Annual Family Math Fair, 7:30-9:00pm
  • November 21: Full day of school today
  • November 22-24: Thanksgiving Break
  • November 27: Classes Resume
  • November 30: Breakfast Club Parent Bonding
Looking Ahead: December
  • December 1: Secret Santa Drawing
  • December 2: December Dance; SAT
  • December 4: Canned Food Drive Begins
  • December 4-7: English ERB testing
  • December 6-7: Parent/Student/Advisor Conferences and Early Dismissal
  • December 9: ACT
  • December 15: PM Secret Santa Celebration
  • December 16: Winter Break Begins
autumn_leaves_rustle.jpg
A Warm Anacapa Welcome to Lindsey Powers!
Please help us in giving our new Executive Administrator, Lindsey, a warm welcome!

Born and raised in Santa Barbara, Lindsey moved to San Diego to attend San Diego State University, earning her B.A. in art history with an economics minor. Upon graduating Lindsey actively took up writing and editing for various environmental and financial blogs, eventually moving into the publishing industry. Over the past five years Lindsey has worked in both academic and environmental publishing, using her strong administrative and communication skills to help produce large scale publications in both print and digital formats.

Through her volunteer experiences at various museums and charitable organizations, Lindsey found a passion working in the non-profit community and joined the Anacapa School team in September 2017. She is excited to be working with such an amazing community, especially during such a dynamic and transformational time!

Though Lindsey will be focusing on school administration such as student report cards, transcripts, testing materials and notables, she will also be working in the front office most afternoons. Feel free to stop by and introduce yourself!
SBCC College Night at Earl Warren Showgrounds
November 1st, 6-8pm

This FREE event is an opportunity for Santa Barbara area students to meet with representatives from over 100 Colleges and Universities from around the nation, including the University of California and the California State University campuses. In addition, there are workshops available on a variety of topics.
Financial Aid / Scholarship / 4-Year Admissions Application / SBCC Promise Workshops

Session 1 at 6:15 p.m.
Session 2 at 7:15 p.m.

Earl Warren Showgrounds - Exhibit Building
3400 Calle Real 
Free Parking | Open to the Public


Early Dismissal on Friday, November 3rd

Students will be dismissed early and teachers will have an afternoon WASC in-service meeting on Friday, November 3rd. School will end for students at 12:25pm with work-study from 12:30 to approximately 1:00pm. Students who need to remain on campus due to family schedules are welcome to stay until their usual time pickup time.
Daylight Savings Time to End
Sunday, November 5th
It's that time of the year. Be sure to turn your clocks back an hour when you go to bed on Saturday, November 5th, because daylight savings time ends that Sunday! Enjoy your extra hour of sleep!
First Quarter Report Cards Coming This Month

Parents can expect to receive their student's first quarter report card in the mail toward the middle of November. Please be sure to set aside some family time to review these with your student. Thank you!

Students and their advisors will meet on Thursday, November 16th to review their first quarter grades and students' progress on the goals they set for themselves at the beginning of the school year.
Veterans Day
Saturday, November 11th
Extended Breakfast Club Friday,
November 10th with Steve Penner, Lt US NAVY

Anacapa has a long tradition of honoring veterans on this important day. Because Veterans Day falls on a Saturday this year, Anacapa will recognize this holiday on Friday, November 10th with a very special guest speaker during an extended Breakfast Club. Steve Penner, Lt US NAVY, Annapolis class, 71 Gunnery Officer on DD 951 USS Turner Joy, fired the last shot at the end of the Vietnam War. Steve is now a local attorney. Come join us to hear his story!
Vision & Hearing Screening
November 14th, 8:30-10:30am

Each year Anacapa invites screeners from the Lions Sight & Hearing Center at Cottage Hospital Eye Center to perform vision and hearing screening for all of our students. This important activity has been scheduled for Tuesday morning, November 14. Parental releases will be sent to families during the first week of November. Please return these forms to the office as soon as possible.
Open House
November 16th, 5:15 - 6:30pm

We'd love to have you help us find more great students like YOUR great students for the 2018-2019 school year - or maybe you know someone who might be interested in a mid-year admission for this year! As we move into the "admission season," we need everyone's focus on keeping the enrollment ball rolling! We are especially interested in students who want to look at our Upper School program and sixth grade families looking for the right school for seventh grade next year.

We will be hosting an Open House for prospective students and their families on Thursday evening, November 16. The event will begin with a short panel of guest speakers followed by an open campus period where student ambassadors and parent volunteers can chat with visitors, and faculty will lead various interest stations in the classrooms.

If you know students who might be a good match for Anacapa, please invite them to the Open House. There will be postcards available in the office for you to pickup. Or, better yet, bring them with you!

We look forward to seeing you there!
Thanksgiving Potluck
November 17th

The Anacapa Student Senate is planning the 17th annual, on-campus Thanksgiving potluck for students and teachers on the afternoon of Friday, November 17th. A very big THANK YOU to the Padden-Rubin family for roasting a turkey this year. We would love to have one more turkey for the event - Please contact the office if you are able to help!

We'd also like to ask everyone else to add to the festivities by providing a dish to share (dishes must be table ready - no cooking at the school, please!) . The student Senate has made the following food assignments by student last name:

OTHER Students (last name beginning with):
  • A-B: please bring a GREEN OR FRUIT SALAD
  • C: please bring a GREEN VEGGIE SIDE DISH (not a salad)
  • D-E: please bring STUFFING
  • G-O: please bring a POTATO DISH
  • P-ROD (Anthony): please bring 2 LOAVES OF FRENCH BREAD OR 18-24 ROLLS
  • RODRIGUEZ family: please bring FINGER-FOOD APPETIZERS
  • S-W: please bring A PIE
Math Fair
November 20th, 7:30 - 9:00pm

Families are invited to attend the 24th Annual Family Math Fair from 7:30-9:00pm on Monday, November 20. This is one of the most popular activities Anacapa has every year, and you won't want to miss it! Bring the whole family to enjoy the magic, mystery, and imagination involved in the world of math. We will have lots of interesting activities, prizes, surprise guests, and it is fun for all ages!

We need a few parent volunteers to stay after the Math Fair to help clean up, which usually goes very quickly. Please call the school office if you can lend a hand! (805) 965-0228. Thank you!
Thanksgiving Break
November 22 - November 24
Classes Resume November 27th

Although our Thanksgiving break will begin on Wednesday this year, we will have a full schedule of morning and afternoon classes on Monday and Tuesday that week, and students are expected to meet due dates and to complete their other academic responsibilities. Classes will end at our regular 3:00pm dismissal time on Tuesday, November 21, with Work/Study students completing their chores from 3:00 to about 3:30pm.

Our best wishes to everyone for a joyful Thanksgiving holiday weekend!
Parent Bonding
Thursday, November 30th

Join us for Breakfast Club on the morning of Thursday, November 30th, for our Quarter 2 Parent Bonding morning! Chat with other parents and teachers and enjoy some morning treats!
November Faculty Corner 
Hello from the Anacapa Math Classes!

Hello from our Math teacher, John! As many of you already know, Anacapa shifted to an integrated math approach where we now teach Integrated Math 1,2,3 and precalculus without a separate year of geometry sandwiched between algebra 1 and 2. We also teach calculus and statistics. This allows us to integrate many math topics over four years which helps students to develop a deeper understanding of the material and establish a firmer foundation in the fundamentals so that they are better prepared for their future studies and work life.

We’ve begun a great school year in math for all students. One of the joys of teaching at Anacapa is that as teachers we have the ability and the support of Gordon and Suzie to teach at a pace appropriate to the students in our classes. This offers a wonderful challenge that we as math teachers are always trying to meet. We group students of varying abilities and preparation in the same class which allows stronger students to work together with students who may need help, thereby allowing both types of students to learn valuable math and life lessons in the process. One of the best ways to solidify and internalize concepts and skills is to help someone else to understand them, so our advanced students actually benefit from the mixed levels of Anacapa classes. The challenge, of course, resides in trying to make sure that the stronger students are given the material they need to progress at a respectable pace while at the same time offering all students an opportunity to learn, including those students who sometimes struggle in math.

I’m happy to say that in my estimation all students in Integrated Math 1, 3, and 4 have had a solid first two months no matter what their prior preparation or experience with math. We’ve gone over fundamentals from pre-algebra as needed, such as fractions, exponents, orders of operations, powers of ten, and so forth, while moving ahead to more advanced concepts like functions, domain, range, linear relationships, positive and negative exponents, and more.

All the while, the students have been encouraged to work in groups and benefit from each others' abilities and contributions. The week of October 23, we spent two days collecting and analyzing data then representing the data in both graphic and tabular form, using these representations to make predictions and answer further questions. In this way the students gained a greater appreciation for some of the tools they’ve spent weeks working on.

Onward to Math 3/4! Here we also have a vibrant classroom situation where half the class has taken algebra 2 and half the class has not. As in Math 1 and 2, these students have spent most of their time studying functions but at a higher level. While also looking at domain and range, they have been using parent functions as a way to analyze functions and to consider transformation of these parent functions. They’ve also studied the composition of functions, and finding the inverse of a function. We have also begun the study of trigonometry, looking at the law of sines, the law of cosines, the sas formula for the area of a triangle, and radian measure of angles. Just as in the lower classes, all students have been supported to find and correct deficiencies in their prior understanding and abilities while at the same time moving ahead at a steady and respectable pace as they learn new and challenging material.
~ John

And a word from our Math and Calculus teacher Liggy! The stereotypical math class is one with a teacher lecturing to many students and the students taking notes. Thankfully, math classes at Anacapa are nothing like that. I am grateful to have small, intimate classes where teacher and students really get to know each other, and we can have conversations rather than lectures. 
 
In Math 2, the students are doing a great job adjusting to our new integrated text. We have studied topics like angles, similarity, and coordinate geometry - and in each topic the students are working at justifying their answers with air-tight mathematical logic. They are solving problems collaboratively and are explaining their mathematical reasoning to each other. I am very proud of their work so far.
 
I am also thrilled to teach my former geometry students again as calculus students. We are enjoying discussing the infinitely small, the infinitely large, and the always changing. We began with simple questions about velocity, and we built a precise definition of the derivative. We have expanded our view of the derivative as a function and have explored many interesting functions while doing so. In addition to discovering calculus principles for ourselves and applying those principles to interesting problems, we are celebrating calculus as a thing of beauty. Obviously, it is a joy. 
~ Liggy

Reminder!
We hope you’ll join us at Anacapa’s 24th Annual Math Fair on Monday, November 20th, from 7:30-9:00 pm. This event is a wonderful opportunity to do something different with your student and other Anacapa families, and we guarantee that the variety of math will be fun for everyone from the youngest siblings to grandparents. There will be puzzles, problem solving, math conversation, mystery guests (you will not want to miss!) and prizes like discounts on local coffee houses or flower bouquets just in time for Thanksgiving!! You will leave with a smile, some math successes and maybe a prize! Be there or be square!
Notables | Anacapa School | 805.965.0228| Fax: 805.8992758 | anacapa@anacapaschool.org