December 17, 2023
In EUSD, every student is a Critical Thinker – an individual who asks questions with confidence and seeks to understand how the world works.
Nurturing these critical thinking skills are, of course, essential for the engaging and rigorous learning happening in our classrooms. It’s especially exciting to see our students embrace critical thinking as not only empowering, but also incredibly fun!
That’s exactly what was happening last week at Del Dios Academy of Arts and Sciences, as students gathered at the start of the school day to participate in a holiday relay race challenge. On Wednesday morning, all 6th-graders gathered in the courtyard to cheer on their school spirit houses – Metal, Sky, Fire, and Water – as representatives from each took on five quick activities related to winter holidays.
“This relay challenge was to introduce holidays around the world, and to expose our students to more than just Christmas,” Del Dios Principal Lisa Pitard said. “We learned about Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Las Posadas, and Shogatsu. The students had a blast living some of the examples of how these holidays are celebrated!”
Each house had five members volunteer to compete in the five challenges, organized in a relay format. Quick critical thinking was required as they raced through the stations that featured a Kwanzaa word search, dreidel spinning, kendama playing, concha eating, and Santa gift delivery. The positive rush of adrenaline among the competitors and supporters produced a jumbo dose of dopamine for everyone in the vicinity! The school and holiday spirit continued as 7th- and 8th-graders took on the holiday relay challenge later in the week.
Thanks to Pitard and her team, exciting challenge experiences happen in creative ways every few weeks. The Del Dios houses, which cross grade levels, were established several years ago to encourage school spirit and pride, and this year the team set out to build upon that idea. “The challenges were introduced to bring the whole school together and to tap into different modalities,” Pitard said. “Each month we have one or two challenges that are either school-wide or by grade level.”
The students have embraced this effort with great enthusiasm! A recent quiz-show challenge event was modeled after “Jeopardy!”; students had to work collaboratively to answer questions from all subjects and call in their answers. “This was such a hit that students are asking to have another one soon,” Pitard said. A long-term challenge currently underway has students setting astronomical goals: “Read to the Moon.” Students record their reading time; one minute of reading equals one mile, and the goal is to get a schoolwide 290,000 minutes of reading.
When critical thinking and fun come together for our students, the sky's the limit!
Here are this week’s updates and reminders.
Expanding athletics: The Expanded Learning Opportunities Program is excited to share that our district is partnering with the San Diego Legion professional rugby team to bring a flag rugby league to Escondido. A team will be established at every EUSD school, and students in 3rd through 8th grades are welcome to apply. Teams will be coached by San Diego Legion’s professional athletes. The rugby season is scheduled to kick off on January 17. Practices will be held after school every Wednesday and Friday, with most games on Saturday. The season concludes with a Sunday game on March 17. Students can join by completing the Winter Enrichment Class Interest Form at your school or using this link. Space is limited to 20 students per team. View this flyer for additional details.
Winter break: As a reminder, the 2023-2024 winter break is scheduled for Monday, December 25, through Friday, January 5. All EUSD schools will be closed. Monday, January 8, is a non-student day. School resumes on Tuesday, January 9. The District Office will be closed to the public Monday, December 25, through Friday, January 5.
School choice: Typically, EUSD students attend the schools that serve the neighborhood attendance areas in which they live. However, School Choice is an opportunity for families to apply for an intradistrict transfer for their child to attend a school other than their neighborhood school of residence, such as one of EUSD’s specialty schools: Quantum Academy, a project-based learning school of choice for grades 4 through 8; Limitless Learning Academy, a blended-learning school of choice in which students receive live instruction via Zoom and personalized academic supports; Conway Academy of Expeditionary Learning, which follows the expeditionary learning model, or EL Model; and Dual Language Immersion programs at Farr, Glen View, Lincoln, and Pioneer, with a pathway to continue at Mission Middle School. The School Choice application window for the 2024-2025 school year is open through Wednesday, January 31. Explore all of our schools online. School Choice details and application links can be found on our website.
– Luis Rankins-Ibarra, Superintendent of Schools