School News

Updated Fri, Oct 16th

October 13, 2015:

It was great to see so many of our students and parents walking or rolling to school last Wednesday, during the International Walk and Bike to School Day.  It was a huge success for the Castlemont community.
Remember these tips from the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration.
When crossing the street your child should always:

  • Cross at a corner or an intersection
  • Stop at the edge of parked cars, the curb, or other vehicles
  • Look LEFT-RIGHT-LEFT  for moving cars
  • Cross when clear, and keep looking left and right
  • Walk, don’t run or dart into the street
  • Look for signs that a car is about to move (rear lights, exhaust smoke, sound of motor, wheels turning)
  • Walk alertly; use your eyes and your ears to increase your safety. 
  • It’s also important to demonstrate the good behaviors you want your child to practice.

Updated Thu, Oct 15th

Dates: November 16– 20

Volunteer at our fall Book Fair — an exciting celebration of reading with hundreds of fun, engaging, affordable books for kids to discover. Join our volunteer team to:

  • Bring creative flair to signs and decorations
  • Secure community sponsorships
  • Help serve food and refreshments
  • Organize and put things in place
  • Offer a helping hand, set up, or pack up
  • Help shoppers of all ages find the perfect book

We appreciate your support in whatever form it takes!

Contact: Valerie Rountree
valerie.rountree [at] yahoo.com
408-849-5540 text/cell

Updated Tue, Oct 13th

Please mark your calendar…conference week is October 19-23. All students will be dismissed one hour early every day that week.
TK-3rd 1:30 Dismissal
4th-5th 1:35 Dismissal

Updated Tue, Oct 6th

Don’t forget: families have a three-day weekend coming up soon! We have a staff professional development day coming up on Monday, October 12.

Updated Tue, Oct 6th

Please take a moment to answer a short survey* about our school and district websites.

Campbell Union School District redesigned its school and district websites to be easier to use on all types of digital devices AND to make it easier for parents to find the information they seek most often. Your answers to survey will help us reach those expectations and to refine and improve our websites for those who use them. The survey closes October 16th.

* The link for English is: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/cusdwebsurvey.  
En Español: 
https://es.surveymonkey.com/r/encuestacusd 

Updated Fri, Oct 2nd

Thank you to all the families who supported the Applebee’s Flapjack Fundraiser and for making it a big success.   We raised a little over $1600 in profit, which will benefit many classrooms!  It was so nice to see over 240 people of our Castlemont community come together on a Saturday morning.   The teachers enjoyed serving breakfast and chatting with familiar faces, and meeting new ones.   We hope to host another breakfast in the spring.  Thanks again for your support!

Updated Tue, Oct 13th

 Sep. 28, 2015, Campbell Calif. — The community will celebrate 11 talented student authors at Campbell Union School District’s 13th Annual Rising Young Authors awards on October 14, 2015, at 7 p.m., at the Barnes & Noble Bookstore on Stevens Creek Blvd. The students will speak to the audience about their books and later autograph copies for fans who bring copies with them to the event.

Guest author Clara Lee, a former Campbell Middle School student and author of Cupcake Theory, will speak to the students about her experience as a student who later became a published author. She is holding a book signing of her own earlier in the day. Information about her book is at ww.cupcaketheorybook.com

The Rising Young Authors are a select group of students whose short stories, essays, research papers and poems were among the hundreds entered in the District’s annual Writing Faire. Judges review the entries for technical excellence, focus, structure, use of creative expression, vocabulary, word combinations, and originality in ideas and/or presentation of ideas. Only one author is chosen per school per year, in grades 3 through 7, from among the qualified entries. To view their works online, or to order your own copy, go to www.campbellusd.org/news/authors2015.

More than 100 parents, family members, teachers, elected officials and principals attend the annual awards and book-signing event. The award includes one professionally produced copy of his or her book for the school library and a personal copy to keep, a $20 gift certificate from the Assistance League of Los Gatos-Saratoga, a personal writer’s journal from Barnes & Noble, and a chance to win a Kindle e-reader from School Innovations & Achievement.  Barnes & Noble will also donate a portion of sales from that day to the school district to support library and/or writing programs.

The 2015 Rising Young Authors 

Representing                      Author’s Name                Grade - May 2015 Title of Written Work

Blackford School.................. Lily Anna Higareda....................... 3.............. Opinion Piece

Campbell Middle School........ Jett Felder.................................. 6.............. Poetry Collection

Capri School....................... Aidan H. Morales......................... 5.............. Battle Scar

Castlemont School............... Alyssa S. Lena........................... 3.............. I Am an Artist

Lynhaven School................. Jayden L.Mandler Sanders........... 4.............. Why Toys

Marshall Lane School........... Faith C. Gonia............................. 3.............. Folktale Genre

Monroe Middle School.......... Andres J. Sanchez...................... 7.............. The Black Blizzard

Rolling Hills Middle School..... Garrett J. Dickson........................ 6.............. Silk Road Diary

Rosemary School................ Brenda M. Andres Ruiz................ 3.............. All About Komodo Dragons

Sherman Oaks School.......... Nina C. Ruiz Garcia..................... 4.............. Milly the Monarch Butterfly

Village School...................... Talyn S. Hardy........................... 3.............. Fun Games to Play in the Car

Updated Mon, Oct 12th

This year’s CAASPP scores are better thought of as a starting point or baseline for the progress we expect students to make over time. We see these tests as an academic checkup. Similar to class assignments and report cards, they are just one measurement in a set of tools on student progress used to provide you and your child’s teacher(s) with information about your student’s work toward the high goals we have set.

Assessment results indicate our students performed well in some content areas and need more support in other content areas. We expect to see both individual and district student achievement growth in subsequent administrations of the CAASPP tests.

Once the official results are received, your child’s teacher(s) will use them to help set learning goals for his/her students this year. A copy of the results will also be sent to you in mid-October. 

If you have questions or concerns about the report, please call the school office to arrange a conference with your student’s teacher(s). 

Updated Fri, Oct 16th

Congratulations to our elected School Site Council parent/community representatives who will be serving for the next two years. The new SSC representatives are:

  • Eleanor Castillo Sumi
  • Miyuki One Bear
  • Andreea Singh
  • Kimberly Umali Davis
  • Sarah Williams Kingsley (elected last spring)

We are looking forward to working with the Governing Board this year.

Updated Mon, Sep 28th

Please take note of the No Parking signs along some of the streets surrounding the campus. Street sweeping is on the third Wednesday each month. The San Jose Parking Compliance officers do give tickets.