Innovation and Inspiration

Congratulations to the students, teachers, and administrators of Blackford! They had the largest percentage of students participate in the Cardboard Challenge this year. All of their 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students participated! With many of the TK - 2nd grade teachers participating as well! We really want to celebrate the Blackford teachers for being willing to try something new and truly fostering a culture of creativity and critical thinking. A special thank you to the Blackford teachers, Stacy Enfantino, Christina Rocci, Michelle Giraudo, Shanti Lipari, Tammy Bilbes, Anupama Gupta, May Liu, Nancy Cassell, Aimee Oani, Nancy Lopez, and Emily Salmon! The school received a Campbell Cardboard Challenge certificate to display in the office and the Blackford staff enjoyed well-deserved cardboard carafes of Starbucks Coffee!  Honorable mentions this year: All of the 4th and 5th graders at Lynhaven and Sherman Oaks participated this year! The 5th graders at Forest Hill raise

As part of our STEAM and College and Career programs, all of our 5th grade students are learning about entrepreneurship, financial literacy, and work-readiness skills! Junior Achievement of Northern California has been providing the curriculum and training volunteers from local businesses come into all of our 5th grade classrooms this fall.  Through hands-on classroom activities, this Common Core aligned program provides students with practical information about the our nation’s businesses and careers.  It also introduces the need for entrepreneurial and innovative thinking to meet the requirements of high-growth, high-demand careers.  This partnership is one way that our district is preparing our students for college and career success and to be globally competitive in the workplace. A big thank you to all of our volunteers from Bank of The West, eTrade, Union Bank, NASA, Microsoft, HSBC, PwC, and NetApp! In the spring, all of our 5th graders will go to local businesses

6th grade Rolling Hills teacher, Jill Garcia, had students start preparing for winter! In teams, students created model homes out of cardboard. They then discussed home features, like windows and doors, and how they increased or decreased home insulation. Finally, students used heat lamps and thermometers to measure and record the change in their home's temperature over time. In future lessons, students will be using recycled materials to solve the real-world problem of keeping our homes a comfortable temperature inside. This unit is one of the 12 free middle school engineering units available on: http://www.eie.org/engineering-everywhere/curriculum-units

Calling all 3rd - 6th Grade Campbell USD teachers! Sign up now for this great learning opportunity, just in time for the Hour of Code! http://pd.campbellusd.org