CSI Connect

We love Global Playday! It is celebrated each year, usually in early February. Here at CSI, we believe that play is an important component of learning. We know that children play to practice skills. Actually, adults often use play to practice and learn new skills as well. Think about team sports or learning a new hobby which is often done in social settings. During those times we try out possibilities, allow our creativity to emerge, and we build relationships. 

In the classroom, we often try to build in elements of play throughout our lessons. In our younger grades, it builds opportunities for students to practice their communication skills and grow their problem solving skills. This practice is extremely beneficial for collaboration, which is a key component of learning here at CSI. In our older grades, play happens during math and science exploration, through project work, and during our Innovation hours, giving students a chance to practice curiosity and discovery as they hone their questioning skills.

For the last five years, we have enjoyed participating in Global Playday which celebrates our kids! This is the day they can bring their favorite toy from home, share their favorite board game, or just use their imagination to create their own playworld. Play is woven in and out of the day and our teachers come ready to play alongside our students as they encourage them to solve their own differences and take ownership of their experience. We take reflective time at the end of the day to help students critically think through their struggles from the day and celebrate their successes.  These are sticky lessons that help students in their daily classroom interactions. This is why we play; so much fun and so much learning!

Over five years ago, CUSD set out to design a new TK-8 school program. Our design team explored many different directions for our school and we brainstormed many different names. We were drawn to design thinking and the idea that we wanted to empower our students to be creative problem solvers with strong empathy skills. While Innovation has at times been an overused buzz word, it does declare who we are and what our vision is for our students. So what exactly do we mean when we call ourselves "Campbell School of Innovation?"

If you look up the word innovation in the dictionary, it states, "Innovation can refer to something new, such as an invention, or the practice of developing and introducing new things."  Our world is chaotic and in a constant state of change at the moment and we know our students will need to be adaptable, empathetic, and strong critical thinkers.

Indeed.com has written a great piece around the importance of innovative thinking skills. 

"Innovative thinking is a creative thought process used to generate ideas and solutions. It is a complex task that involves finding new methods to approach problems or procedures. Innovative thinking produces results that change or challenge the status quo."

If you look at the many problems that our world and community are currently facing, this is the type of thinking that is needed. Combining innovative thinking with design thinking is a natural fit.  Part of innovating requires a human-centered approach to help develop a deep understanding of the challenge and the people that are needing a solution. 

The article offers some ideas for building an innovative mindset:

• Nurture your creativity - Here at CSI, we work to build students' creative confidence by offering many opportunities to create, make, and build. Creativity takes practice. Brainstorming requires many ideas and a constant push to move beyond the obvious. As we grow older, we lose some of our creative confidence and are less likely to take risks in this area. The more we can help students build this muscle, the more likely they are to engage with creative pursuits throughout their lifetime.
• Learn to use failure- We value the power of "yet." While learning is all about making mistakes, it is the reflection that follows that helps us move to mastering a skill or a concept. Understanding that failure offers an opportunity for practicing our creativity and resilience raises the comfort level of failing forward.
• Consider every idea- We often see students take their first idea or the loudest idea and run with it. What happens if we take a moment and not only listen to everyone, but let our ideas flow without judgment?  Innovation is about getting beyond the first idea or maybe even the first 50 ideas.  
• Widen your knowledge base - The more you know, the more you understand complexity. Many businesses look for people who are "T-shaped" thinkers and learners. These are people who know a little bit about a lot of things and a lot about one particular area. The purpose is having a deep understanding and mastered skill set in a certain area and also an awareness  and some knowledge of other things around you so you can make those innovative connections.
• Recognize innovation - We often walk through the world without really paying attention to what's around us. Stopping to recognize the many iterations of something, think of long distance communication, helps you appreciate the small innovations that have occured throughout its development. Looking to see how those innovations happen can help us understand and create our own innovations. 

CSI is and will be a continual work in progress That is a part of innovation. Education is a very large system that has become very path dependent.  Continually reflecting on our practice and adapting to students' needs will help us as educators look for ways to engage students in new ways and innovate our practices. Our goal is to model these practices for students and teach them skills and mindsets that will help them move through the "Age of Unpredictability" with empathy and success.

Resources:

https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-d... 

The Pack is Back!

We welcome you to CSI’s year five and (an almost) full campus!  There will be more information coming to you in the next couple of weeks, but here are a few things to get us started.

CSI Handbook (updated each year) - Most CSI information can be found in our CSI Handbook. Current Schedules, Core Practices, School Policies and more can be found here.

Start/End Times

Grades TK-3 - 8:10am - 2:10pm

Grades 4-5 - 8:00am - 2:20pm

Grades 6-8 - 8:00am - 2:15pm

Wednesdays are early release days and school will end one hour earlier - 1:10pm, 1:15pm, 1:20pm.

Conference Week runs October 3 - 7 and will also have a special schedule for the week, ending two hours early. (Full schedule is located in the CSI Handbook.)

TK and Kindergarten Orientation

August 11, 9:00 am -10:00 am 

We invite our TK and Kinder families to join us for a CSI tour and orientation. Come and learn more about our early years Wolfpack experience!

6th-8th Grade Orientation and Chromebooks

August 17, 3:30-5:00 pm: Uptown Schedule Pick Up and Orientation

We would like to invite both our new and returning 6th-8th grade students and families to Uptown Orientation!

• 3:30-4:00: 6th-8th grade student schedule pick up.  7th and 8th graders return their Chromebooks.

• 4:00-5:00: Uptown Orientation - meet your learning designers and tour the campus!

• Parents and students, please meet us in the Town Square (center of campus).  After picking up your schedule and meeting our learning designers, our students who are new to Uptown (and any returning students who would like to join in) will tour the campus while parents are invited to join us for some refreshments. Learn more about our Uptown program for 22-23 here.

Chromebook Info:

• All students will be receiving new Chromebooks as part of our Web to One middle school program. Students will be doing some training regarding online expectations and care of their Chromebooks and new machines will be issued to all students on Monday, August 22.

• Grade 7 and 8:  We will be collecting CSI assigned Chromebooks starting the week of August 15. You may drop it by our office or return it the first two days of school, Aug. 18 or 19. You must return your current Chromebook to receive a new one. 

Our front office is open between 7:30 am and 4:00 pm should you have questions.

We look forward to seeing all of our families on August 18th for our first day of school!

Wayfinding is the ability to navigate your way through the unknown. In days past, you had a stake in deciding where you were going, whether that was reading the stars, following a trail, or reading a map. Today we have become so used to pulling out our phones and finding our way using Google or Apple maps that we follow directions blindly and trust the AI that is pointing the way.

The last two years have taken us off course, offering a moment for us to stop and recalibrate our direction. We have come back to an unpredictable school year that had moments of uncertainty that often looked unrecognizable. Our students and families have had to navigate new rules, new relationships, and a new view of the world around them. There is no AI that can predict or give you accurate directions for these new times. We have had to learn from each other and from our wrong turns. 

Here at CSI, we have to refocus our attention and look to our north star, our vision for where we want to go. That requires some wayfinding and collaborating with our students and greater community to see and navigate the path ahead. While we know that hard work is involved, our community is ready to rally the Wolfpack and add to the foundation that we started building before being disrupted. We are ready to venture into the unknown, using our curiosity to uncover a world full of possibility as we grow together as Campbell School of Innovation, a place where everyone can find their way.