Part V, 2010 Staff Award Winners

Join us this summer as we spotlight our 2010 Staff Award winners each week. In our fifth post, we honor Hannelore Tweed.

Camas High School teacher Hannelore Tweed has left her mark on her students. In fact, two of her students initiated the nomination for this staff award. They write:

Upon entering Mrs. Tweed’s classroom, you will recognize her energy to teach and learn day in and day out. Her class is very comforting in that she has invaluable experience in the education system. She definitely knows what she is doing! Mrs. Tweed is approachable and makes it very easy to come after school and learn any concept that you may be struggling with—she is always there to help you and wants the best for you in her class.

Mrs. Tweed has the purest soul and heart I know. She shares this gift with all her students. She develops a special connection with each of her students, and that is why I will always remember her. Mrs. Tweed will forever hold a special place in my heart.

Free and Reduced Meal Information

Families who meet eligibility requirements can now complete the 2010-11 Free and Reduced Meal Application. Click here for the application.

Part IV, 2010 Staff Award Winners

Join us this summer as we spotlight our 2010 Staff Award winners each week. In our fourth post, we honor Brandy Reed.

Brandy Reed is the in-school suspension supervisor at Liberty Middle School and is an integral part of the Liberty team. While her responsibilities are specifially to supervise students who have been removed from class or assigned to lunch/after-school detention, she does far more. Her work ethic is exemplary; she arrives before her shift begins and works hard. What makes Brandy stand out however, are the things she does that are not part of her job description. She can be counted on to converse with the students positively and offers encouragement to them as she passes them in the hall.

Brandy brings a “can do” attitude to all that she does and has communicated to others the understanding that the success of the students is paramount. She works well with others. She works to ensure the students will have a positive learning experience even when not in their classroom, and she listens to the students so they feel supported—therefore strengthening their ability to learn.

Last Blast Fun Run

Join the CHS 2010 Cross Country Team for its first annual Fun Run on Saturday, September 4. It will be held at the Camas Meadows Golf Course, and preregistration is $25; registration is $35 the day of the event and includes a t-shirt. Participants may choose a half-mile marathon, a 6.5 mile run/walk, or a tot walk for our future Papermaker athletes.

Registration is available online at the Camas Educational Foundation website. For all event details, view the Last Blast Fun Run flyer.

Part III, 2010 Staff Award Winners

Join us this summer as we spotlight our 2010 Staff Award winners each week. In our third post, we honor Traci Kosaki.

At Skyridge Middle School, Traci Kosaki supports her students, colleagues and parents in numerous ways. Her primary assignment is to assist learning disabled, autistic, and behaviorally challenged students within the regular classroom setting. Traci not only helps students stay organized and on task, but also helps emotionally stressed students take time to become calm and successfully reenter the class lesson.

Traci has also been instrumental in many large projects each year including the Holiday Research Project, the Gingerbread House Geometry unit, the social studies Classroom-Based Assessment and the District Writing Assessment to name a few. Throughout these projects, Traci ensures students are utilizing all resources effectively and have access to technology devices referenced in their IEP’s. This year, she also created and laminated writing folders to help students organize their drafting and editing work through the writing process. The special education students used the folders all year and are now scoring 1-2 points higher on the district writing rubric.

Traci maintains a positive, friendly demeanor with everyone she encounters at Skyridge Middle School. She is warm, cheerful, and a joy to be around.

Kindergarten Academic Screening

The district is conducting a quick, 30-minute pre-assessment of early literacy and numeracy skills for all incoming Camas kindergarten students. Results will ensure students receive appropriate level of math and reading instruction on the very first day of school.

Screening assessments occur August 17 - 19, 2010, from 9 AM – 3 PM at Helen Baller Elementary. To schedule an appointment, contact Shanna Anderson or Gail Soohoo by e-mail or call 360-335-3000 (select option #5).

Doc Harris Stadium Construction

The replacement stadium designed by DOWA Architects and constructed by TEAM Construction is about 70% complete and is scheduled to be open for the first home football game of the fall season. The new stadium will seat 3,000 fans on the home side, with covered visitor bleachers for another 1,000 guests. A statue of the late Doc Harris will greet fans as they return to the new stadium.

CSD Summer Schedule

All schools offices are closed for the summer, but will re-open on August 23. Summer hours will be 8 AM-3 PM daily. Please note that all school building offices will be closed from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM for a district-wide, all staff meeting on September 2.

Back-to-school events occur during the last week of August, and the first day of school is September 7. Click here to view summer office hours and back to school information for all buildings in the district.

Part II, 2010 Staff Award Winners

Join us this summer as we spotlight our 2010 Staff Award winners each week. In our second post, we honor Maria Klein.

Maria Klein has worked in several capacities throughout the district for many years. Currently she divides her time between the ASB office and the Career and Technical Education office at CHS lending her support and expertise. Maria is always professional, friendly, and positive to students, staff, parents and the community in general. She is highly organized, always dependable, and is willing to do whatever is asked with a smile.

Maria also possesses excellent communication skills—every person who comes in contact with her feels understood and valued. Any task that she is assigned is completed in an exceptional manner. Maria is truly an incredible asset to Camas High School.

Part I, 2010 Staff Award Winners

Join us this summer as we spotlight our 2010 Staff Award winners each week. In our first post, we honor Dottie Chadwick.

Dottie Chadwick serves kindergarteners with Title I services at Grass Valley Elementary and has impacted many of our youngest learners at a crucial time—the beginning of their academic careers.

First and foremost, Dottie excites these youngsters! Her enthusiasm is downright contagious. She not only teaches content, but also devotes her time to encouraging students to become better people. Dottie takes the extra time it requires to explain her services to parents. These parents may be hearing their child is struggling to grasp reading for the first time, but her caring heart and optimistic demeanor immediately puts concerned parents at ease.

Dottie has designed her kindergarten support in a Reading Camp program. She meets with her “campers” daily keeping her interventions fresh, upbeat, and with the skills interwoven so discreetly, only a trained eye can see the depth of her instruction. The campers are captivated from the moment Dottie arrives with the result being that all kindergarteners want to be part of Reading Camp. Dottie takes pride in turning students on to learning and making them educationally successful—all while making it look easy.

Three Schools Honored for Achievement

Three Camas schools received statewide recognition this spring for profoundly affecting student learning. Liberty and Skyridge middle schools and Camas High School were among 174 schools statewide to be recognized with a prestigious 2009 Washington Achievement Award. In May, the awards were presented by the State Board of Education and the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. “It is simply amazing to have three Camas schools recognized with this honor,” said Superintendent Mike Nerland. “We’re so proud of how hard staff has worked to prove that great gains can be made for all students.”

Nerland said he was most impressed with the gains shown among students identified in the low-income category. The schools were all recognized in the “overall excellence” category. CHS also was honored for improvement in language arts.

The awards are given by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the State Board of Education based on student performance in statewide reading, writing, math and science tests, as well as the school’s extended graduation rate.

Camas School District Earns Energy Star for Superior Energy Efficiency

Liberty Middle School and Prune Hill Elementary are first schools in Camas to earn the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) prestigious Energy Star, the national symbol for superior energy efficiency and environmental protection. Commercial buildings and industrial plants that rate in the top 25 percent of facilities in the nation for energy efficiency may qualify for the Energy Star.

Commercial buildings that earn the Energy Star must use an average of 40 percent less energy than typical buildings and also release 35 percent less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. By following and implementing new energy policies, the District improved energy performance by managing energy strategically across our entire district and by making cost-effective improvements to its buildings. Camas School District conservation efforts have decreased utility cost for the district by 20% from last year.

The EPA’s national energy performance rating system provides a 1-100 scale that helps organizations assess how efficiently their buildings use energy relative to similar buildings nationwide. A building that scores a rating of 75 or higher is eligible for the Energy Star. Commercial Buildings that can earn the Energy Star include offices, bank branches, financial centers, retailers, courthouses, hospitals, hotels, K-12 schools, medical offices, supermarkets, dormitories, and warehouses.

Energy Star was introduced by EPA in 1992 as a voluntary, market-based partnership to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficiency. Today, the Energy Star label can be found on more than 50 different kinds of products, new homes and commercial and industrial buildings. Products and buildings that have earned the Energy Star designation prevent greenhouse gas emissions by meeting strict energy-efficiency specifications set by the government. In 2006, Americans, with the help of Energy Star, saved about $16 billion on their energy bills while reducing the greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those of 27 million vehicles.

Visit www.energystar.gov for more information about the Energy Star program.

Zebras Receive Green Award

On June 1, Grass Valley Elementary School attained Level One status in the Washington Green School program. To achieve certification, schools must earn a minimum of 100 points per level in a six-step process designed to take approximately one year. Under the leadership of the building Green Team and advised by Erin Rowland, Clark County Waste Reduction Specialist, staff and students conducted an Earth Day trash audit, earning points in the Recycling and Waste Reduction category. Washington Green Schools is organized into this and four additional environmental categories:

· Energy Efficiency

· Transportation & Outdoor Air Quality

· Toxics Reduction & Indoor Air Quality

· Water Quality & Conservation

With data from a Green Team waste and recycling assessment and the trash audit, staff agreed to make two lasting changes for the coming year: 1) develop and implement a plan to increase the percentage of recovery for a material already recycled at our school, and 2) develop a program to decrease the uneaten and unopened food in the garbage. With the help of classroom monitors, teachers and students aim to reclaim more clean paper for reuse and recycling. Also, our SOS (Save Our Scraps) cafeteria monitors plus a group of Eco Officer representatives from grades second through fifth can: encourage students to make better lunch choices, save leftover lunch for snacks, and take reasonable servings, going back for seconds instead if they choose.

To complete the certification process, schools must implement action in each of the other four environmental categories. At Grass Valley these include:

· Energy Efficiency: Improving school-wide strategies for turning off lights when adequate sunlight is available.

· Toxics Reduction & Indoor Air Quality: Making sure all air vents are unblocked to maintain healthier indoor air quality.

· Transportation & Outdoor Air Quality: Offer a bicycle safety workshop such as a bicycle rodeo.

· Water Quality & Conservation: Establish an environmental club that focuses on environmental issues and projects at your school.

Each year after attaining certification, schools can either renew at the current level, maintaining the same lasting changes, or build on those changes to advance to the next higher level. Currently in our district, Skyridge has also achieved Level One status. A representative from the WA Green School steering committee will present Grass Valley with a flag and certificate at the end-of-the-year assembly on June 17.

For more information on the Washington Green Schools program, visit: http://www.wagreenschools.org

Baller Bears Shine at Junior Rose Festival Parade

The combined jump rope, juggling, and tumbling teams from Helen Baller Elementary took first place in the Dance/Drill Juvenile Class yesterday at the 2010 Junior Rose Festival Parade in Portland.

PE Teacher Amy Wing said:

Our teams completely filled two city blocks, and I couldn’t have been more proud. Looking out at those kids while they walked along the parade with red cheeks and smiles ear to ear makes my job COMPLETELY worth the time! They feel so proud! We had 30 parent helpers and three amazing teachers assist, which made my job so much easier. The whole experience brings tears to my eyes every year and I feel like the luckiest teacher in the whole world. Thanks to teachers like Cheryl Richey who pass on traditions that can last forever, the families and kids at Helen Baller continue to create lifetime memories. GOOOOOO BALLER BEARS!!! We are so lucky to be in the Camas School District.

Camas Athletics 2009-2010 Year in Review

Camas had an awesome 2009-2010 athletic season! CHS Papermakers shined with high placements in state championships for baseball (2nd place!), boys and girls soccer, girls track, volleyball and golf. To read more about the Papermakers’ awesome winning season, Coaches of the Year and scholar athletic teams, please read the list below.

League Champions

Boys Golf

Boys Swim

Baseball

Boys Soccer

Girls Track

District Champions

Boys Golf

Volleyball

Girls Basketball

Boys Swim

Baseball

Girls Track

Bi-District Champions

Girls Track

State Placers

Boys Golf – 5th

Volleyball – 7th

Girls Soccer – 3rd

Boys Soccer – 3rd

Baseball – 2nd

Girls Track – 3rd

Student Athletes of the Year

Logan Grindy - Football

Daniel Snoey – Boys Golf

Kailee Esser – Girls Soccer

Stefani Sorenson – Volleyball

Melissa Williams – Girls Basketball

Justin Natyzak – Boys Swim

Nick Palodichuk – Boys Soccer

Stuart Jergenson – Boys Soccer

Megan Kelley – Girls Track

Taylor Williams - Baseball

All State Student Athletes

Kailee Esser – Girls Soccer

Stuart Jergenson – Football

Coaches of the Year

Mike Bemis – Boys Swim

Jennifer McDonnell - Gymnastics

Rolland Minder – Boys Soccer

Alisa Wise – Girls Track

Tom Wallenborn – Girls Golf

Joe Hallead - Baseball

Varsity Grade Point Averages Winter and Spring

Boys Cross Country – 3.62 (11)

Boys Golf – 3.46 (14)

Boys Tennis – 3.33 (10)

Football – 3.16 (47)

Girls Cross Country – 3.36 (11)

Girls Soccer – 3.69 (18)

Girls Swim – 3.71 (24)

Volleyball – 3.70 (10)

Boys Basketball – 3.33 (12)

Boys Swim – 3.43 (22)

Cheer – 3.18 (10)

Girls Basketball – 3.44 (10)

Gymnastics – 3.27 (14)

Wrestling – 3.28 (21)

Dance and Drill – 3.29 ((28)

Baseball – 3.34 (19)

Boys Soccer – 3.50 (18)

Boys Track and Field – 3.14

Girls Golf – 3.39 (9)

Girls Tennis – 3.82 (9)

Girls Track and Field – 3.67 (27)

Softball – 3.48 (12)