May 14th, Weekly News

Calendar 

Principal’s News

On May 5, we kicked off our first Principal Roundtable.  We had 24 parents participate who have students in grades 6th-8th. We appreciate the support, participation and engagement! We plan to continue this monthly and our second meeting will be on Friday, June 2. Our purpose is to build community, help with connecting to parents/caregivers, and look at ways to improve TL’s culture, climate, and sense of belonging for students, families, and staff.  At this next meeting we will continue our work, set a purpose for the group, and review data and the comments and feedback from the first meeting. If you missed the first meeting, see the slides attached to this news.

Students Time to Shine

May 18 is our Advanced Art Show for 7th and 8th grade students. On May 23 we will have Celebration of Learning at TL at 6:00 p.m. Classrooms will be open for families to visit. Students will be sharing their learning from the year. On May 24 is our 6th-8th grade Music Concert. We will work with the times and take a break for Celebration of Learning at Heather and Arundel, avoiding performances from 6:15-7:15 p.m.

Wellness, Mental Health, and Advisory

Each week students meet in Advisory. At the SCSD Board Meeting on Thursday, May 11 our two members of our Wellness Team presented all the work we are doing in SCSD to support students.  This is part of our Multi-Tiered Systems of Support, MTSS for academics and behavior. In middle school, we have weekly meetings during Advisory.  Attached to this week's news is a sample of the curriculum for the next few weeks in May.  Please note that teachers create and innovate to make this their own. It is not just sitting in a space clicking through slides.  Some teachers change the way they check in or sit in a circle. We have lowered our class size so each Advisory has 18-24 students and all teachers, even those without a classroom, have an Advisory class.

Time to Celebrate

At TL, we have more to celebrate.  For the first time in music history…there are 8 students in 8th grade who will be in Advanced Ensemble at Carlmont for the 2023-24 school year as Freshman!  Wow! Congratulations to: Shreya, Izzy, Soren, Maya, Varun, Ben, Piper, and David.  We look forward to celebrating the end of 8th grade.  Also want to acknowledge Ms. Tetreault and Mr. Kneebone for the guidance, collaboration, and teamwork with our Band, Orchestra, and Jazz Band.

Speech and Debate Program at TL wins a Kent Award! The J. Russell Kent Awards, sponsored by the San Mateo County School Boards Association, are designed to spotlight outstanding programs in our San Mateo County public schools. The award program provides an opportunity for districts to share their unique and innovative programs with other educational groups and to learn about other countywide efforts. 

Congratulations to our Speech and Debate Team and Mr. De for winning State Championships.  Here’s a recap from Mr. De: Alina, Talia, Calvin, and Neilson have closed out Parliamentary Debate at the State Tournament. This is truly a historic achievement for our school. For multiple students at Tierra Linda to win State Championships is absolutely incredible and I cannot be any more proud of them. Alina and Talia knocking out last year's State Champion Parli team in the semifinal round is something that I will never forget. 

This year they fought hard, learned from past experiences, and listened to everything I said. Together we evolved as a team. We never took shortcuts. I'm so glad that they have become fond of this activity, and I hope this is only the beginning of their long journey in debate.

-Mr. De

TLM PTA News