TUSD Weekly Update
Equity Task Force Book Project
Shellie Santos, Director of Curriculum and Instruction
The TUSD Equity Task Force has embarked on a new book project for the 2019-20 school year. Each trimester, teachers will introduce a new book or piece of literature to bring an awareness, appreciation, and respect for our diversity. Book titles were carefully selected and will be distributed each trimester. The first trimester book selection is, Teach Us Your Name by Huda Essa. During a staff meeting in October, a member of the Equity Task Force will read aloud the selected book, lead a discussion, and then each teacher will leave with a copy to read aloud to their students. Secondary teachers will have the same book available in the library and we are still working on the piece of literature for them to roll-out.

To assist teachers in leading meaningful discussions, bookmarks were created that have discussion questions and writing ideas:

Discussion Questions
  • Whose view of the world does this story portray? (Whose story is being told?) How do you know? How are they different?
  • How are the characters like you or someone you know? How are they different?
  • How is the setting of the story similar or different from your neighborhood or places you have visited?
  • Can you relate to the situation or problem in the story? How? If this situation happened at school, how could you/we handle it?

Writing Ideas
  • Use any discussion questions as a springboard for writing prompts.
  • Create prompts specific to your read aloud.
  • (Before reading) Pick a page from the story and ask students to talk about what they see and then write what they see.
  • Write a letter to a character from the story.
Walnut Kindness Challenge
Walnut Elementary Education Center
Walnut Elementary will be hosting many kindness challenges for our students and staff throughout the year. Our first challenge has just ended! 2nd grade challenged our school to help local animals in need by donating dog or cat food, volunteering time with animals at the shelter, or even adopting a forever pet! Many of our stories that we read aloud, or that our students read in our Wonders Reading Program involve dogs from animal shelters who need homes. We thought this would be a great opportunity to tie into a kindness challenge for our school! Early in September, our challenge began, and the generosity of our Walnut families and staff was amazing! Each time a student or staff member participated in this challenge, they got to add their name to our Kindness Tree, which is up in our school’s library. Dog and cat food was overflowing and our Kindness Tree is blossoming with names! Although, our Animal Kindness Challenge came to an end on September 24th, we will be rolling out a new Kindness Challenge for October. Second grade would like to thank all of our helpful Walnut students, families, and staff who have made a “paws”-itive difference!  
No Bully: Change Your Thinking
Gil Ogden, Director of Student Services
Changing the way we talk and think about student behavior and their “inner lives” is important for us as educators. All behavior has a function and is an expression of a need. Instead of thinking and speaking in terms of “good” and “bad” students, look at patterns of behaviors and think of the need behind the behavior. Some of the most difficult behaviors we see in our students stem from fear, lack of stability, and anxiety. Keeping this in mind and using strategies for how to deal with these behaviors and teach self-regulation skills is key. 
Secondary Trauma
Darrah Wilson, Student Support Clinician
Secondary Trauma goes by many names-Secondary Trauma Stress (STS), compassion fatigue, and vicarious trauma to name a few. It is something that many of us in helping professions, and especially in the education world, experience and see around us without even realizing it. It happens as a result of working with people who have experienced trauma themselves. We hear their stories and work with them day to day in their struggles. And in this, we sometimes find ourselves taking on their stories as our own… absorbing their emotions and struggles like a sponge. 

It is often the most empathetic educators- the ones who are the most in tune with their students- who find themselves in this difficult place. Some red flags include:
  • Withdrawal from others, especially outside of work
  • Irritability or quick to anger
  • Difficulty focusing / sustaining attention
  • Problems with diet (overeating or lack of appetite)
  • Problems with sleep
  • Persistent worrying / ruminating about certain students or issues
  • Feelings of numbness or detachment

If this describes you, there are steps you can take. Remember that your contribution is important and is appreciated. Whether you know it or not, you are making a difference in the life of each and every student. Lean on your peers. Take time to support each other with positive messages of encouragement, and steer away from getting caught up in venting. Learn about trauma and how TUSD is supporting trauma-informed schools. This includes social-emotional learning programs like TOOLBOX, an emphasis on strategies like Mindfulness, and increasing mental health supports for students. Reach out and connect to resources. This will look different for everyone- it might mean starting an exercise routine, or joining a friend for coffee on the weekend. It might mean using technology like Calm App (free for educators) or joining a Facebook group for educators to laugh at memes and share ideas. It might mean finding a professional to help, or joining a community group. Whatever the plan looks like for you, create one. Because when we want our students to take good care of themselves, we have to go first.

Please see Self-Care  for more information.
Cybersecurity Update
Robert Brogdon, Director of Technology Operations
The most common attack vector for Cybercriminals is to target users in order to gain access to internal resources that can be exploited. The Technology Services Department is working hard to improve software updates. We are rolling out Microsoft Software Center to all computers so we can better manage Windows and software updates.

Check out this link below to learn how you can avoid becoming a cyber victim. 5 Ways to be Cyber Secure at Work .
Digital Citizenship Week
Marshall Beyer, Coordinator of Educational Technology
Good digital citizens aren’t just born, they are taught! Digital Citizenship Week is next week, October 14-19. Check out our TUSD Digital Citizenship Week website for links to resources. The website can be found at bit.ly/tusddigcitweek2019 . The site is a curation of some resources provided by the great people over at Common Sense Media. On each page, you will find links to lessons and the grade level they are geared toward. Links will take you to an overview of the lesson, lesson plans, and resources to use during the lesson. Use these resources to help spread the word about the good choices good digital citizens make when online.
Tech in TUSD: Google Cast
Sitara Ali, Ed Tech Coach
What is It? An amazing feature and application that I’m going to highlight this week is Chromecast​,​ also known as Google Cast for Education! This feature allows you to replicate your entire screen, a single tab or even a specific document to another device. You can even have students share their screens with the entire class when they are invited by the teacher to do so! 

So What?  This feature allows a teacher to move away from their desk and walk around the room when they are presenting or displaying anything on their projector for students. Take your Chromebook with you while circulating the room, and control everything from your Chromebook screen! Google Cast for Education is free, and no hardware is required is get this going! 

Now What? For your desktop, ​the teacher sets up Cast for Education on their computer that’s connected to the classroom projector by visiting the chrome web store. ​All of our Chromebooks already have this cast feature built in. Click the 3-dots in the upper right hand corner of your Chromebook, and click cast! It will ask you to select a source/classroom, and you will select the classroom you made through Cast for Education via your desktop computer connected to the projector. There are ​ written directions​ with pictures to help you get started!
Student Rep to the School Board Reports
Aiden Cooke, Turlock High School
October 1, 2019 Board of Trustees Meeting
Activities
  • We are excited to premiere Turlock Today, our new video announcements. Big thanks to our Video Production class as they have been collaborating with our ASB officers to produce weekly segments the past few weeks. It is an engaging way for students to stay engaged and connected to THS!
  • We are preparing for Homecoming this week. The theme is Back to the Future! We have dress up days, float building, assembly and parade planning in full effect!
  • Our annual Dodgeball tournament will take place in the Louise Marchant gymnasium for the month of October. It has become an event students and staff look forward to! All students are eligible to participate.
  • THS Idol is in the 3rd week of competition. We started with 12 and are down to the top 8. Competition takes place every Wednesday during lunch in the Rally Court!  
Clubs
  • WildLink will be going on their annual Yosemite Wilderness Expedition this week where they spend a week backpacking in the Yosemite wilderness and completing service projects for Yosemite. 
  • Interact Club helped at the Denair Festival Fun Run, and they are excited to be partnering this year with a local cause—Letters to Santa. Students will be volunteering at a fundraising dinner to raise funds for Letters to Santa on October 25. Money raised will be used to purchase a turkey dinner, clothes, and Christmas gifts for children in our community. Students are very excited about this new opportunity! Also they will be painting blue and gold paw prints on people’s faces during the Homecoming Football Game for the Rotary Polio Plus charity. Money raised will be donated towards Rotary’s cause of eradicating Polio worldwide.
  • Catch talented Turlock High School photographers this October in the Turlock Library children’s entrance display! They will be featured all month. 
  • Turlock HOSA-Future Health Professionals had an amazing month giving inspirational decor and crafts to Emmanuel Cancer Center Teen group called Monkey Business. Students raised Suicide Prevention awareness with uplifting quotes during lunch letting others know that they MATTER and they are LOVED. During the month Turlock HOSA students met to plan events like a Las Casuelas Fundraiser to raise more awareness, American Red Cross Blood Drive with 46 donated bags saving 138 lives and practice vitals sign skills such as blood Pressure, pulse and respiration. 
  • Congratulations to the THS Speech and Debate team that brought home 21 1st and 2nd place finishes at the first tournament held at Bear Creek.
  • Auditions for the fall production, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time were held last week. The spring musical was announced at the Drama Club meeting on Friday....THS will be performing School of Rock!
Chuc Luu, Pitman High School
Activities
  • The Pitman Junior State of America hosted the NorCal Chapter Con at Pitman High School on September 21. Over 70 students from throughout the region, participated in debates, thought talks, and resolutions. The Turlock Journal and the Mayor of Turlock visited the event. 
Department Updates
  • The Career Center starting monthly student incentive giveaways. To enter, students must attend at least one Pride Time for that month. To win, students must be either following the Career Center page on Remind, Instagram, Twitter or be signed up to receive their newsletter. Giveaways include donations from local businesses and gift cards to local hot spots.
  • There are new scholarship opportunities including the American Heritage Local Essay Scholarship posted on our scholarship page under Counseling. 
  • 25 PHS Educational Psychology students have been placed as mentors with Medeiros, Earl and Walnut Elementary. Mentoring started this week.
Clubs
  • The Writing Center is now open on Mondays and Tuesdays during lunch. The program allows students to get help on writing assignments from their peers.
  • Art Club: The Art Club is painting the room numbers in the Pitman quad for fire dill evacuations. Creating four new murals for the Pitman library. Helping our drama department with stage backdrops. Creating art with elementary students at each site’s after school program.
  • FFA: 150 students attended the September FFA meeting which was an Ice Cream Social (Lulu’s donated ice cream) and amazing race games. Members learned all about the upcoming events and had a good time eating ice cream/meeting other members. Pitman took 8 students to a leadership retreat at Camp Sylvester where they got to learn more about FFA and enhance their leadership skills. Pitman FFA was awarded the Most Involved Chapter for the weekend. The Chapter Officer Team went to Gregori High School to learn more about leading the chapter to more fun and success this year. The Opening & Closing contest will take place at Orestimba High School in Newman on October 16. Pitman will be taking 42 students to compete in the contest. On October 11, Pitman will be helping the Stanislaus Farm Bureau at their annual AgEdventure where they host 3rd graders learn more about agriculture. Pitman FFA will help lead students around the different sessions and help increase Ag literacy in our community. Upperclassmen are looking forward to visiting MJC Senior Day and the Apprenticeship Expo to learn more about life after high school.
Upcoming Events
  • Homecoming: October 14-18. Pitman is planning a homecoming parade. Price Ford has donated cars for the nominees. Denair has allowed PHS to borrow their floats for our homecoming. Classes have started working on float prep this week. Students and staff are excited and eager to start a new tradition!
  • Pitman Drama Department will be selling tickets for their annual Dinner Theater at Angelini’s Restaurant "Holmes on the Range,” which will take place on October 7.
Athletic Director Sports Update
Mike Brown, Turlock High School AD
Football:  We played Downey high last week. Freshmen won a close one 14–12, JV beat Downey 25 – 7 and Varsity had a battle but scored a couple of late touchdowns and won 44–24.  
Girl’s Golf:  Results match 5: Pitman 255 Turlock 274. Results match 6: Gregori 244 Turlock 267
Tennis: Tennis went across town to Pitman to battle it out and lost to them 3-6. 
Volleyball: We played Downey on Monday and did a great job with a clean sweep. Varsity 3–0, JV 2–0, Freshmen 2–0. Great job, Lady Bulldogs. We played Pitman on Wednesday night and Varsity won 3-0, JV lost to Pitman 2-0 and Turlock Freshmen won 2 -1
Water Polo:  Water polo battled it out with Enochs and got a clean sweep. JV girls JV boys 18 -5, Varsity Girls Varsity Boys 13 – 6,  We took on Modesto High on Wednesday and got another clean sweep. JV girls 11- 3, JV boys 11-3, Varsity Girls 17–5 and Varsity boys finished the night off with 12–8 victory.  Great job!                                                                                                                     
Coming Up This Week for the Bulldogs:  Homecoming week against MOHI. 
Mon: Volleyball will be at Gregori battling it out for 1st place, Water polo is home against Downey @ 3:00.
Tues: Tennis is at Gregori @ 3:00, Golf is at Downey.
Wed: Volleyball is home against Enochs, Water Polo is at Pitman @ 3:00, Cross Country is at Donnelly Park.
Thurs: Freshmen football is against Modesto High @ Downey stadium. Tennis is at Enochs Highs, Golf is against cross town rival Pitman high.
Fri: Varsity/JV football is home against Modesto High for our homecoming game. Water polo is at the Western States tournament.  
Dave Walls, Pitman High School AD
Cross Country: Cross Country traveled to Angels Camp for the Frogtown Invitational. The Pride came away with 30 individual medalist on the day. Congratulations to the Sophomore Boys who took 1st, Varsity Girls who took 2nd, Frosh/Soph Girls - 2nd, and Frosh Boys - 2nd. Outstanding Individual top 15 finishes by Christian Balderdash and Ethan Robinson. The Pride and the Turlock Bulldogs host the CCAL #2 Center Meet on Wednesday at Donnelly Park.
Football: Varsity Football opened league play by hosting Enochs on Friday night. The Pride fell to the Eagles 26-13 in a hard fought game. The Pride fall to 0-1 in league play and travel to Gregori next Friday.
Girls Golf: Girls Golf went 1-1 on the week as the continue one of the best seasons in recent memory  The Lady Pride lost to Gregori on Tuesday 255-275 and pulled out the victory on Thursday 266-269 over the Downey Knights. The Pride were lead by Simone Samra, Isabelle Rodriguez and Monet Sayadian. The Pride are 4-4 in CCAL play and host to Enochs on Tuesday.
Girls Tennis: The Lady Pride went 1-0 on the week after an exciting 6-3 victory over crosstown rival Turlock Bulldogs. The Pride received great play from #1 single - Kat Hawley who scored a 6-2, 6-0 victory and sisters Anna and Chuc Luu who won #2 and #3 singles to set the tone for the day. The Pride are 6-4 on the season and host Modesto on Tuesday.
Volleyball: T he Lady Pride went 1-1 on the week. On Tuesday the Pride hosted crosstown rival Turlock HS in CCAL play and fell to the league leading Dogs 3-0. The Pride received outstanding play from Brionna Simson the night. On Thursday night the Lady Pride traveled to El Capitan HS to take on the Gauchos - the Pride took the night 3-1. Sophomore Alex Wright gave an outstanding all around effort on the night. The Pride are 12-12 on the year and 3-2 in CCAL play.
Water Polo: The Pride hosted Gregori on Tuesday and traveled to Downey on Thursday as they continued CCAL play. Varsity Boys fell to Gregori 14-7 and the Varsity Girls won an exciting come from behind victory 7-6 as Joelle Lok scored the winner with 2 seconds remaining in the match. On Thursday both the boys and girls came away with victories over Downey. The Lady Pride improved to 3-0 and the boys improved to 2-1in CCAL play. The Pride travel to Enochs on Monday and host Turlock on Wednesday.

Coming Up This Week for the Pride:
Mon:
Volleyball vs. Modesto (4:00, 5:00, 6:00 Pitman HS)
B-G WP @ Enochs (3:00, 4:00, 5:00, 6:00)
Tues:
Girl Golf vs. Enochs (Turlock CC 3:00PM)
Girls Tennis vs. Modesto HS (3:15 PM - Pitman)
Wed:
Cross Country vs. CCAL Center Meet #2 – Donnely Park, Turlock - 1:30PM
Volleyball @ Gregori (4:00, 5:00, 6:00 Gregory HS) 
B-G WP vs. Turlock (3:00, 4:00, 5:00, 6:00 Pitman HS)
Thurs:
Girl Golf vs. Turlock (Turlock CC 3:00PM)
Girls Tennis @ Gregori HS (3:15 PM - Gregori HS)
Frosh Football vs. Gregori (Joe Debely Stadium - 6:00 PM) 
Fri: 
GWP @ Western States Girls Water Polo Tournament - TBD
JV Football @ Gregori (Gregori HS - 5:00PM)
Varsity Football @ Gregori (Gregori HS - 7:00PM)
Sat:
GWP @ Western States Girls Water Polo Tournament - TBD
Cross Country @ Del Oro Invitational, Roseville - TBD
The "US" in TUSD
Meet Carol Coelho, Turlock Junior High School
How long have you worked in TUSD? This is my 36th year with Turlock Unified School District. I started out teaching Kindergarten for a few years and then a 5/6 combo class at Crowell School, when a couple of years of teaching passed and my 8th grade algebra teacher (Dick Schaff) came by and asked if I would come to the junior high and teach math, and here I still am happily teaching students math (with a few years of an administration stint in between).

What is your job title?   Mathematics Teacher 7th and 8th

Where did you work prior to TUSD? I taught 1st grade in King City. It was a great first year. Every afternoon the winds would blow very hard and then stop at sunset. While in Turlock one weekend I met my husband, and thus I returned to my hometown.

Any info you would like to share about your job?  I always tell my students that we never run out of math to learn, just days to learn the math. Routine is key to our success.

Things you are most proud of? When former students see me and tell me what a difference I have made in their lives (many share how they learned to be organized and responsible with their time and academic work).
Challenges? Having students understand how important it is to use the time we have today wisely, for we will never get it back.

Favorite memory/story? Not about the classroom but because of teaching, many years ago we had a TJHS women's softball team with Turlock City Recreation gather together by Susie Dudley. Surprisingly one year we were champions of our division. 

What are you reading? Just finished The Tenth Man by Graham Greene for book club at my church, and now The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy recommended to me by my daughter.

Any favorite shows you’re watching on TV? Poldark —I will be very sad when this final season ends.

Fave movies? The Sound of Music and an old Hayley Mills movie, Summer Magic . I never tire of singing along with the songs in either movie.

Anything surprising we may not know about you?  Apparently it is surprising to some that I have never have had a bowl of cereal or oatmeal....ever. And that I was voted class clown of my senior class at THS. I love to make people laugh.

Anything about your personal life you’d like to share? I have been married for 34 years and we have 3 daughters, 2 who have graduated from Wake Forest University and the youngest is a sophomore at Wake Forest (our youngest daughter has her oldest sister as one of her professors this semester at Wake). I have 2 grandchildren who live in North Carolina ages 3 and 2. I love the winter and summer breaks when they are able to come to California for an extended visit. I have over 50 roses in my yard. I love to garden, but not get my hands dirty! (thank goodness for gloves)
TUSD Schools Rock
Wakefield Elementary School
We’re visiting Wakefield Elementary School today! Here are some facts about their school:

Est. 1948
Principal: Luisa Salinas
Assistant Principal: Maribel Romero
39 Certificated Staff
53 Classified Staff
585 Students
School Mascot: Wildcat

Have a great year, Wildcats! 
October Character Trait
Seen on Social Media
Medeiros Elementary School
Who's coming to our carnival?
Turlock High School
And they’re off! 11 Turlock High School students are embarking on a 5 day WildLink/Yosemite Expedition this morning. Shout out to TUSD Science Instructional Coach Ryan Hollister who has spearheaded this once-in-a-lifetime experience for over a decade. Superintendent Dana Trevethan was a big supporter of WildLink when she was Principal at THS. Thank you to science teachers Brian Campbell and Kevin Testo for driving students today. We can’t wait to hear about their adventures! 
Turlock Junior High School
Alex Michael, owner of Untamed Fitness and Performance, visited the Turlock Junior High School Bridge Program today to talk about overcoming obstacles, perseverance, and working hard mentally and physically to become a healthy individual physically and emotionally, as well as a successful citizen in our community. This was a positive event where students were engaged, participated in dialogue, and interacted with one another in a positive manner. Shout out to Bridge instructor Aimee Peters-Hendrix for sharing this info with us! 
The 411
Share Your Awesome!

Marie Russell
Chief Communication Coordinator
mrussell@turlock.k12.ca.us
209.648.0968
@tusd_mrussell

We would love to have ALL staff help share our TUSD story to the world, but if that is not really your thing, just email Marie Russell for an opt-out form.