Lincoln Cluster Schools Newsletter

Greetings Lincoln Cluster Families, Students, Community Members and Staff,

It has been another exciting month for our Lincoln Cluster schools, as we continue to deepen our work around our focus of strong instructional practices that support early and accelerated literacy development for our students. Additionally, we have schools participating in our San Diego Enhanced Math project, that is redefining the way we do math, by focusing on math from an assets-based approach; meaning it is imperative for our educators to be looking at what the student can do, how are they processing mathematics, and how are they thinking like a mathematician. We want all of our students to be competent and confident in their mathematical literacy and have the ability to apply multiple and varied strategies as needed with ease. Lastly, I would like to give a BIG shout out to Knox and all the participating Lincoln Cluster schools for attending the 46th Annual MLK March this month. It was an incredible showing of community spirit and pride, reinforcing Dr. King’s messages and dreams for equality and freedom for ALL.

Stay strong and blessed,

Bruce R. Bivins

Area 1 Superintendent

Learning is something we, at Lincoln High School, do in community. January was a time to celebrate and exhibit learning with peers, staff, community members, industry professionals and families. The afternoon of Thursday, January 12th students from our Biomedical Sciences, Engineering and Media Arts Production Pathways exhibited the processes they used and final projects associated with problem solving for environmental, health, social justice issues through their respective industry themes. The Pathway Exhibitions were also designed to educate 9th grade students in their pathway options as they prepare to choose the Pathways for the next 3 years. A 9th grade parent meeting will be held THIS THURSDAY, January 26th at 5:30pm to share our Pathway options with families to support students in their decision.

Students in Ms. LaTonya Lockett’s Musical Theater class held evening exhibitions January, 19th, for family and friends lifting up the culture and voice of our students through film, dance, spoken word, student written screenplay readings and music. Seniors completing the Junior Achievement Fellowship Program held their exhibition January 20th with program mentors, internship providers, and families to showcase the lessons in financial literacy and transferable skills gained specifically through work-based learning. At Lincoln HS our students continue their learning after their school day with clubs and competitions. January 21st was the 9th annual Lincoln High School Hornets Mock Trial Scrimmage at California Western School of Law where 13 schools from around the county participated in preparation for the annual San Diego County Mock Trial Competition taking place in February. The Lincoln Steel Stingers Robotics team is preparing for their next tournament this weekend at Montgomery High School. Lastly, many thanks to Ms. Heather Potter and her team at Knox Middle School for continuing the Lincoln Cluster tradition of the MLK festivities and celebrating the rich culture of our community. For more information about Lincoln High School College & Career Pathways, classes or clubs, please contact Lori Williams, College & Career Pathway Coordinator at lwilliams7@sandi.net.

Knox Middle is proud to have hosted the 46th annual Dr. Martin Luther King March. Over 500 visiting students from Baker, Balboa, Nye, Porter, Valencia Park, Chavez, Lincoln, Morse, Lewis and Central joined our 500 Knox students for this incredible event. We are honored to celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The program for this year's event can be found here:

We are also very excited to announce that our Knox 6th grade students had the opportunity to take swim lessons at the new Jackie Robinson YMCA pool. Each student got 4 lessons and it was an incredible experience for them. During February and March, our 7th grade students will also get a chance to take lessons at the pool.

To learn more about events happening at Knox, follow us on Instagram: Knox_Middle

MTM supports Visual and Performing Arts in many ways. The students in 6th grade use their artistic skills across many disciplines including a focus on Climate Change and Action. Recently, the sixth grade students completed a project on climate change adaptation where they used their problem-solving, creativity and technology skills while using playgroundai.com to generate images of their imagined school in different biomes. The project was a great opportunity for the students to learn about climate change adaptation and develop important skills.

The sixth grade students completed a project on climate change adaptation where they used their problem-solving, creativity and technology skills while using Artificial Intelligence on playgroundai.com to generate images of their imagined school in different biomes. The project was a great opportunity for the students to learn about climate change adaptation and develop important AI prompting skills that will become ever more important in the future.

See the pictures below:

Tropical picture

Omari envisioned a world where MTM became a tropical rainforest.

Arctic picture

Eddie imagined a world where extreme temperatures altered the human body to adapt to the cold climate

Cloud World Picture

Daisy predicted a world where we lived high above the clouds and utilized flying technology to go about our day to day business

MLK March: Valencia Park’s 4th grade students were so excited and proud to participate in this year’s Martin Luther King Jr. march at Knox Middle School on January 13th! Thank you to the Knox team for putting it together. It was amazing seeing schools and community partners coming together to celebrate the vision of Martin Luther King Jr.

UTK-1st Grade Family Fun Night: In partnership with our SAY San Diego school-based program, we held a family fun night on January 19th for our youngest students and their families to encourage family engagement and have some fun together. The kids had a blast making crafts and getting new books from the San Diego Public Library!

Hello Lincoln Cluster Families, Happy New Year! We returned from winter break ready to go! We started the year off with a visit from our Area Superintendent and two special principals. We had the opportunity to visit selected classrooms and watch wonderful English Language Arts lessons. Webster is working to meet our goal of all students reading at grade level. This can only happen with the help of our families and the community.

We would also like to honor our 5th grade Safety Patrol and Gabriel H. for being selected as the Lt. Colonel for our Area. We are so proud of everyone in the running and for keeping our students safe as they come and go from school. Nice work Gabriel.

Next up is the Great California Kindness Challenge. All students will send a friend a “Kindness Gram” and the principal will be performing a read aloud in each classroom. A story titled “What Does It Mean To Be Kind”, by Rana DiOrio. It is a lovely story that helps students understand what kindness is.

All of us at Webster wish you a wonderful Lunar New Year! Year of the Rabbit.

The Encanto Elementary Foundation hosts fundraisers throughout the year to support extracurricular activities for students such as field trips, and to support the maintenance of our garden and pond.

On December 8th the Foundation hosted Holidays Around the World for students and families to come together for food, fun and festivities!

Students from all grade levels performed songs from around the globe to celebrate and honor our diverse population.

Our Ballet Folklorico came back to perform special dances after a three-year hiatus.

Students and families enjoyed food from various cultures such as chocolate caliente mexicano, pozole, popcorn and more.

At the end of the evening a very special visitor brought good cheer at Encanto so children - and adults - could get pictures with Santa!

Fun was had by one and all!

November and December were a joyous time for the students at Chollas Mead! Our 2nd grade students were on the local news because they wrote letters to Santa as part of the USPS Operation Santa, Toys 4 Tots provided gifts for every student, and the Urban Collaborative Project donated and delivered 10 bikes to some very excited kiddos. We are so grateful for all of our community partners and the opportunities they bring to the families at CME.

Future Engineers at work

Johnson students are Engineers! Students is grades UTK through grade five had the opportunity to build robots and create blueprints for how to build each one. A partner then took the blueprint to recreate the robot. Lots of critical thinking, along with the fun! This is part of an engineering unit that will build the skills needed for future careers in STEM!

Baker Elementary Selected to Host 2023 STEAM Conference for Girls!

Fourth - Ninth grade girls from across the district are invited to attend the 20th annual STEAM conference for girls, presented by the National Council of Negro Women, San Diego! The event is free and will take place on Saturday, March 18th! The conference provides a wide range of interactive workshops created by women to educate girls about careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics. Stay tuned for more information about how to register!

December was an exciting month at Horton Elementary. Horton’s School Site Safety Patrol has been working hard since September in its service to promote the safe crossing of elementary students to and from school and to maximize the safety of students at all times. During the month of December, Horton’s School Safety Patrol was recognized as the Top Squad in the Southeastern Division. Students were honored at a ceremony at Madison High School. Officer Allen of the SDPD Juvenile Services Team, Mr. Neil and Mr. Jimenez are the School Safety Patrol Coordinators and Advisors and attended the ceremony with students. School Safety Patrol jobs include crossing children and adults safely at their school locations, controlling pedestrian traffic, controlling vehicle traffic, and watching and reporting traffic violations. Not only does students’ participation in Safety Patrol help make Horton a safer place, it also fosters leadership skills that will carry with them into middle school, high school, college and beyond. We’re very proud of the work our School Safety Patrol does and for being recognized as the top squad in the Southeastern Division.

December also brought School Spirit Week back with activities such as Crazy Hair Day, Twin Day, Pajama Day, and other fun school spirit days. Our students participated in a Pajama Jam Jingle Jog where the entire school ran in their pajamas with jingle bells for exercise and fun. We also held a school wide performance for the first time since 2019! Classes prepared songs about winter and holidays around the world and performed them for the students, staff, and families. December was a month of celebration and school spirit at Horton.

Hello and Happy New Year!

We are almost at the halfway mark in the school year! Time is truly flying by! At Porter our students have been working incredibly hard in the classroom! Our students recently completed their soccer season and are preparing to begin our basketball season.

We are continuing to honor students once a month who demonstrate living the Porter Pride, Porter Way, or have shown academic growth! Our students are continuing to persevere and push themselves everyday.

We will have a community event in February. The topic will be STEM. At this event students and their families will be able to construct and code robots! As always please reach out to our front office if you would like to support our students in any way!

Take care!