New Vista School » Programs

Links

Bill Greenfield — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 04:00:55 +0000

Cool Stuff

Famous Paintings
How well do you know your art? Select the correct artist for each of these GORGEOUS paintings that you get to see whilst playing the game, and for each correct response, contribute free rice to the United Nations World Food Program. How good does it get?? We love this game!
http://www.freerice.com/index.php?&t=394293273042&s=Famous%20Paintings

World Space Week
World Space Week, October 4-10 annually, is an ideal time for you to learn about space.
http://www.worldspaceweek.org

World Book at NASA for Students
Features in-depth entries on everything from astronauts to spacecraft to the wonders of our solar system and beyond.
http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/wbkids/index.html

Ghosts in the Castle
In this interactive tour of a castle, you can explore the inhabitants and the different sections to see what castle life was like; from National Geographic.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/features/97/castles/enter.html

Social Competency

Award Certificates
Select any of the certificate templates, and then enter your terms to print out certificates for the behavioral awards system for your child with this online award generator tool.
http://dyetub.com/certificates/

Transportation

OCTA

The website for our local public bus system. Plan trips, download routes, and more.

http://www.octa.net

Metrolink

Plan a trip on our regional light rail system

http://www.metrolinktrains.com/

Bicycle Safety Program
Through education, enforcement, outreach and legislation, NHTSA’s bicycle safety program goals are directed toward reducing bicycle injuries and fatalities. Bicycling is encouraged as an alternate mode of transportation to motor vehicle travel.
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/portal/site/nhtsa/
menuitem.810acaee50c651189ca8e410dba046a0/

How to Not Get Hit by Cars
Important lessons in Bicycle Safety
http://bicyclesafe.com/

Self Advocacy & Determination

Regional Center of Orange County

Website for our local regional center

http://www.rcocdd.com/

Orange County One Stop Center

Website for our local One Stop Center for receiving disability benefits and services.

http://www.oconestop.com/servicesDetail.cfm?serviceID=12

Independent Living

Department of Rehabilitation

Use this site to apply with the Dept. of Rehabilitation online.

https://www.dor.ca.gov/online/disclaimer.htm

SSI

Use this link to learn about SSI

http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/11000.html

SSDI

Info on applying for SSDI.

http://www.cms.hhs.gov/apps/firststep/content/ssdi-qa.html

Recreation/Leisure

Google Sketchup
How cool is this tool? Try building 3-D models (and even post them to Google Earth!) with this interactive sketching and modeling tool.

http://sketchup.google.com/

Employability

Fire Fighting
Students will engage in real firefighting scenarios to gauge how to address a fire, after learning more about actual forest fire and firefighting situations in this dramatic reenactment, with a tutorial included. They will need to make critical choices to successfully control and ultimately stop the fire. Audio greatly enhances this program for grades 5-12.
http://www.sciencetech.technomuses.ca/english/schoolzone/fireboss/index.html

An Excellent Back-To-School Night

Bill Greenfield — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 03:18:25 +0000

Back-to-school night was a success! Thank you everyone for showing up. It’s a pleasure working with your students. Have a great weekend,

Bill

Website of the Day:

Schoolhouse Rock

Remember Schoolhouse Rock from Saturday morning cartoons in the 70′s & 80′s?
Watch videos of the music, and read the words, for all of the Schoolhouse Rock songs….

http://www.schoolhouserock.tv

School-wide Assessment Program

admin — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 20:22:12 +0000

New Vista School
School-wide Assessment Tools
ACT Plan: The Plan program helps our 9th and 10th graders build a solid foundation for future academic and career success. It is a comprehensive guidance resource that will help our students measure their current academic development, explore career/training options, and make plans for the remaining years of high school and post-graduation years. The Plan can help students who are interest in college or who are interested in entering the workforce directly after high school. The Plan is a powerful predictor of success on the ACT. It focuses attention on both career preparation and improving academic achievement. The PLAN not only includes career subtests, but includes academic testing in English, math, reading, and science.
ACT Explore: The Explore will be used to assess our students in the 8th grade. Scores give information about your child’s knowledge, skills, interests, and plans. Students, parents, and teachers can use this information in order to develop a high school plan and begin thinking about college and work. The assessment includes a career inventory along with English, math, reading and science subtests.
Brigance Life Skills Inventory: The BLSI is an authentic assessment for developing transition goals. It will assist staff in determining your child’s present levels of performance and to monitor and report progress. It assess the following skill areas: speaking, listening, money, finance, functional writing, food, common signs, warning labels, clothing, health, telephone, travel, and transportation.
CAT/5: The California Achievement Test, 5th Edition, accurately measures achievement in reading, language, spelling, mathematics, study skills, science, and social studies. In the area of reading, the CAT/5 looks at word analysis, vocabulary, and comprehension. The spelling subtest provides feedback regarding vowel sounds, consonant sounds, and structural units. The language mechanics and language expression subtests work together to measure a broad range of language and writing skills. Test items measure the ability to apply standard usage and writing conventions and to develop effective sentences and paragraphs. In math, the CAT/5 assesses the ability to perform fundamental mathematics operations, apply mathematical concepts, and use a variety of problem-solving strategies. Study Skills measures how well students can carry out independent study using information-processing skills that they can apply across subject areas.
Science items sample knowledge of the natural world and assess inquiry skills. The Social Studies subtest measures understanding of various disciplines needed for a comprehensive global perspective: geography, economics, history, government, citizenship, sociology, and anthropology.
Career Assessment Inventory: The CAI compares your child’s occupational interests to those of individuals in specific careers. In using the assessment, we will be able to assist our students in developing a study and career plan.
KTEA II Brief: The KTEA-II Brief is an individually administered battery that gives you a flexible, thorough assessment of the key academic skills in reading, math, written language, and oral language.
Multiple Intelligences: This theory of human intelligence, developed by psychologist Howard Gardner, suggests there are at least seven ways that people have of perceiving and understanding the world. Gardner labels each of these ways a distinct “intelligence”–in other words, a set of skills allowing individuals to find and resolve genuine problems they face.
• Verbal-Linguistic–The ability to use words and language
• Logical-Mathematical–The capacity for inductive and deductive thinking and reasoning, as well as the use of numbers and the recognition of abstract patterns
• Visual-Spatial–The ability to visualize objects and spatial dimensions, and create internal images and pictures
• Body-Kinesthetic–The wisdom of the body and the ability to control physical motion
• Musical-Rhythmic–The ability to recognize tonal patterns and sounds, as well as a sensitivity to rhythms and beats
• Interpersonal–The capacity for person-to-person communications and relationships
• Intrapersonal–The spiritual, inner states of being, self-reflection, and awareness
Through the use of a Multiple Intelligence assessment, our staff will be better able to understand the modalities in which your child learns and designed their lessons to best serve your child.

Portfolios: Portfolios are collections of selected student work representing an array of performance. Throughout the school year, teachers will collect samples of your child’s work in order to determine if progress is being made. Student portfolios vary widely in content and purpose and even in who decides what goes into the portfolio. Each individual teacher will make a determination as to what items will be placed in the portfolio.

Social Behavior Assessment Inventory (SBAI): New Vista School uses the SBAI at the beginning and end of the school year to measure growth and progress of its students. The Social Behavior Assessment Inventory by Thomas M. Stephens and Kevin D. Arnold, is a teacher based rating instrument that measures the performance level of social behaviors exhibited by students in a classroom setting. The SBAI yields scores within four areas of social behaviors: Environmental Behaviors, Interpersonal Behaviors, Self-Related Behaviors, and Task-Related Behaviors. Information from the SBAI is used to identify areas where students may have social behavior deficits.
New Vista School
Student Assessment Schedule
Grades 6
Sept. – Multiple Intelligence Assessment
Sept./June – SBAI
April – CAT/5
Continual – Portfolios

Grade 7
Sept. – Multiple Intelligence Assessment
Sept./June – SBAI
April – CAT/5
Continual – Portfolios

Grade 8
Sept. – Multiple Intelligence Assessment
Sept./June – SBAI
October – ACT Explore
Continual – Portfolios

Grade 9
Sept. – Multiple Intelligence Assessment
Sept./June – SBAI
October – ACT Plan
Continual – Portfolios

Grade 10
Sept. – Multiple Intelligence Assessment
Sept./June – SBAI
October – ACT Plan
Grade 11
Sept. – Multiple Intelligence Assessment
Sept./June – SBAI
October – ACT
Continual – Portfolios

Grade 12
Sept. – Multiple Intelligence Assessment
Sept./June – SBAI
October – ACT
Continual – Portfolios

FAME (Grades 6 – 8)
Sept. – KTEA II Brief
Sept. – Multiple Intelligence Assessment
Sept./June – SBAI
Nov. – Brigance Functional Skills
Continual – Portfolios

HITS (Grades 9 – 12)
Sept. – KTEA II Brief
Sept. – Multiple Intelligence Assessment
Sept./June – SBAI
Nov. – Brigance Functional Skills
June: Career Assessment Inventory
Continual – Portfolios

Continual: Portfolios
June: Career Assessment Inventory