Robotics Team Advances

Congratulations to Mr. Sam Bartlett and our Robotics Team!  They competed this past weekend in the Heart of Texas Boosting Engineering, Science & Technology (BEST) Robotics Technical Competition, and took home first place.  This is an outstanding result especially considering we are in the first year of our Robotics program.  They now advance to the State competition in Dallas in two weeks.  Students from both the Middle School and High School make up the team, and they represented Lorena extremely well.  The picture on the left shows the team's trophy, t-shirt, plaque for best t-shirt design, and the official program for the competition.  You can find out more about our Robotics team by reading this post from earlier this year. 

Science, Technology and Engineering Success

Lorena High School science/physics teacher, Sam Bartlett, had a simple idea:  If you build it, they will come.  Last spring, with hopes of developing a local science club, Mr. Bartlett applied for and won a grant  from the Lorena Education Foundation to purchase parts and build a computer from scratch.   With his grant in hand, Mr. Bartlett then solicited students to form LSTEC (the Lorena Science Technology and Engineering Club).  Last week the students and Mr. Bartlett met after school to build their first computer, Leopard I.  With excitement in the air and an overall atmosphere of half business and half party, the students finally flipped the switch.  “There were cheers and high fives when we turned it on for the first time and it worked”, said Mr. Bartlett.  “I want to thank the Lorena Education foundation again for making this fantastic experience possible.”  He went on to explain the high school students will also form the Lorena High School BEST Robotics Team, using the computer to design and build a robot and then compete later this year in the Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology competition, or BEST Robotics.

LISD appreciates Mr. Bartlett, who, like so many other teachers in Lorena, strive to show students that science, math and technology can be fun, challenging and rewarding.  If you would like to help the Education Foundation make future grants like this possible, you can mail your donation to the Lorena Education Foundation, P. O. Box 39, Lorena, Texas 76655 or consider participating in our annual Golf Tournament Fundraiser on Friday, October 26th.  For more info about the tournament or the foundation, contact them at EducationFoundation@LorenaISD.net. 

New PowerSchool Accounts

Alert: If you used PowerSchool Parent Access in previous years, you will need to create a personal account this year!

New This Year! PowerSchool Parent Portal with Single Sign-On

In previous versions of the PowerSchool Parent Portal there was a separate username and password for each student requiring a parent to login multiple times if they had more than one student attending any LISD campus. This year we  have introduced the Parent Single Sign-On feature.

Single Sign-On offers a number of benefits, including:

• access to multiple students with one login
• a personalized account for each parent and guardian
• the ability for parents/guardians to retrieve their own login information

As always, you will still be able to securely view your child's up to the minute student attendance, grades, detailed assignment descriptions, school bulletins, and even personal messages from the teacher.

 

Parents:

 

Start by clicking on the LISD PowerSchool icon, then click on "Create an Account" the first time you login for the 2012-2013 school year.

Coming Soon! New Website for Lorena ISD

The Lorena ISD district and campus websites are in the process of a complete redesign to increase efficiency, making them more timely and useful. The overhaul of our website gives each school a clean and updated online look to replace a design that was already seven years old.
In July 2012, visitors will notice a few changes to the website including:

• School and District news distinctively displayed on each homepage
• Photos of LISD students displayed online 
• The addition of Apps to help you connect better with the schools

Here's a little preview of what's to come:

CScope Curriculum Parent Portal

The CScope Parent Portal is now available for public use! http://www.cscope.us/parentportal

What does the CScope Parent Portal provide?
The "What will my child learn" section on the left side of the screen is a great feature. It allows you to view the foundation documents for your child by grade and subject.All of the content that users will access is updated for school year 2011-12.

When selecting a content area, grade level, and grading cycle (6- or 9-weeks), users will be able to access the CSCOPE Unit numbers and titles, as well as the corresponding Concepts and Key Understandings for each Unit.

Student Portal - Access Your Student's State Standardized Test Scores Online

The State of Texas now provides a Student Portal of the Texas Assessment Management System.  This Portal provides students and parents access to scores from the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS), including TAKS-Modified (but not including TAKS-Alternate), and the Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System (TELPAS).

The assessment data in the Student Portal are reached through a Unique Access Code and the students' birth date as provided on the student's most recent Confidential Student Report.  Students who have lost their Confidential Student Report are instructed to contact their campus to retrieve their Unique Access Code.  This same code will be used to access State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) scores in the current 2011-2012 assessment year.

Specific features of the Student Portal include the following :

• viewing student assessment results over the course of a student's academic career
• comparing individual student TAKS assessment results to campus, district, and state averages (Comparisons are not available for exit level retests.)
• examining student performance on TAKS, including individual student scale scores and objective scores
• examining a student's TELPAS proficiency ratings, comprehension scores, and composite score/rating

The Student Portal can be accessed by entering http://www.TexasAssessment.com/Students  in a Web browser.  This will take users to the Families tab of the Texas Assessment website.  From that location, students and parents can click a link that will take them to the Student Portal login page. They are also able to view a guide to the Student Portal and access additional information about the TAKS and TELPAS assessments. Once students and parents have logged in, they will be able to examine test scores in detail, as well as access the guide and explanations of test scores.

For additional information about the Texas Assessment Management System, visit the Frequently Asked Questions page on the Texas Assessment website.

PowerSchool Service Interruption - Oct 7th 3pm

PowerSchool Gets a Facelift!

Over the weekend of October 7th, LISD staff will be working to upgrade the PowerSchool application.  When the upgrade is complete, you will see PowerSchool 7.0 has a beautiful new user interface. The new look is clean and uncluttered.  The look has changed, but the pages have remained the same.  So, you will not need any further instruction to access your student's information.

While our staff works to upgrade the database, the current PowerSchool application will not be available.  We hope to make this transition as quickly as possible. 

Thank you,
Jennifer Grimm
Technology Director
Lorena ISD

Johnny Can Spell Training for Parents (Kindergarten - Second Grade)

Have you ever wondered what language your child is speaking when he or she says,
"er  the /er/ of her"?  For help decoding phonograms, mark your calendar for Thursday night, October 6th!

Lorena Elementary School is proudly hosting a Johnny Can Spell training for parents. Alice Nine, author of our kindergarten through second grade phonics and spelling programs will be leading the event on October 6, 2011 from 5:30pm to 6:30pm.

What is Johnny Can Spell?
Johnny Can Spell is a systematic, explicit phonics program.  It presents the phonograms (the sound-symbol correspondences) initially in isolation but develops mastery through daily application in spelling, reading, and writing.

Learn more about phonogram sounds and daily phonics practice to help your child learn to read.

Free Community Event!

The Greater Waco Community Education Alliance is hosting a free community evening on meaningful parent involvement on Monday, October 3 at the new University High School. 

Ako Kambon is the featured speaker – he will inspire and challenge you! For more information call the Lorena ISD administration office or see the fliers on the website under “Parent Resources.”

Family Math Games Night

Tonight is the Family Math Games Night at the Lorena Elementary Cafeteria presented by the award winning teacher consultant group: box cars and one-eyed jacks!  The fun begins at 6:30!

Students will have the opportunity to practice a wide range of math skills by playing various games with cards and dice, and parents can learn many strategies to help their children strengthen math skills.  Skills that games help reinforce include: addition, substraction, probability, counting, place value, estimation, problem solving and many more!

If you haven't RSVP'd, there's still time!  Call Lottie Donahue at the Lorena ISD Admin Building!   857-3616