A National Blue Ribbon, A school

TIDINGS

from TAYLOR A monthly newsletter brought

to you by PFTSTA Publications.

August - September 2013

Upcoming Dates:

September 5

Building Dedication Ceremony

10 a.m.

September 6

High School Back to School

Dance

7 p.m. – 10 p.m.

September 9

Author Visit - Susan Cooper

(6th and 7th grades)

9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a. m.

September 11

Interim Reports Issued

September 19

Author Visit – Jenny Han and

Siobhan Vivian

(10th and 11th grades)

9 a.m. – 10 a.m.

College Visit

Tulane University

12:30 p.m.

Co-op Meeting

6:30 p. m. – 7:30 p. m.

September 27

College Visit

Villanova University

12:30 p.m. – 1:10 p.m.

September 29

NO AIDS Walk

Audubon Park

9 a.m.

From the Principal’s Pen

by Mrs. Jaime Zapico

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome back all of our returning Taylor students, parents, faculty and staff and, further, all of those new to the Taylor family! I know the summer flew by for many of our students, but we are anxious to get to work and hit the ground running in our new state of the art facility! I can’t thank enough all of the staff, parents, and students for the time and effort they gave this summer to get us moved and settled into the building on Churchill

Parkway. Also, I want to thank all of the parents and guardians of our Taylor Tigers for being so patient with us during this process. It seems like every day something comes into place, and it’s beginning to feel like home. I know there is still a lot of work to be done, but we have come a long way over the past couple of weeks.

I am looking forward to the school dedication ceremony on Thursday, September 5 at 10:00. I can’t wait to see Mrs. Taylor interact with the students. The last time she saw the school was in mid-July, and she was overwhelmed even then. We will have many elected officials and members of the business community attending the ceremony. Please look for pictures on our Facebook page and on our website in the upcoming days. All of you are welcome to attend, but please remember that there is limited seating.

As you can imagine, we have had many people calling about our annual Open House for prospective students. It is scheduled for Thursday, October 10 from 5:30 – 7:30. Flyers will be going home, and we will be offering yard signs to any of our Taylor families and extended families that would like to help us advertise this special event.

Believe it or not, we are almost halfway through the first quarter of the school year. Interim reports will be going home with the students on September 11. Remember that you can always check the status of your child’s progress at Taylor twenty-four hours a day by accessing ECHO at http://echo.newtechnetwork.org.

As always, if you have questions or need assistance, please do not hesitate to call or email me. I look forward to building relationships with all of you and having a productive and fulfilling school year!

Contact Us:

701 Churchill Parkway

Avondale, LA 70094

(504)-838-2249 – phone

(504)-436-0257 – fax

Principal – Jaime Zapico

jzapico@pftsta.jppss.k12.la.us

Questions – Kathy Guzman

kguzman@pftsta.jppss.k12.la.us

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PFTSTA Web-site

pftsta.com

PFTSTA is on Twitter

twitter.com/pftsta

Jefferson Parish Public

School System Web-site

www.jpschools.org

Counselor’s Corner

by Mrs. Jasmine Hernandez

This is a year that brings many changes to Patrick Taylor including our course

offerings for your children. The state of Louisiana began a new program this year

called Course Choice. These courses are delivered online in a virtual school.

Students in Spanish II and Civics are offered these courses by Smart Start

Education. Smart Start Education is a company based out of Connecticut. The

program was recently approved by Louisiana for use throughout the schools in the

state. It is an exciting addition to the Patrick Taylor course catalog, giving the school

the ability to provide classes we may otherwise not be able to provide. The three

online courses currently offered at Taylor include Spanish II, Civics, and AP

Psychology.

As with all new things,

sometimes there is a bit of a

learning curve to be able to use

these tools efficiently. To help

the students and teachers with

the transition, Smart Start

Education was kind enough to

provide us with some excellent

support. This week, the Senior

Director of Operations, Ms.

Michelle Sierau, visited us from

Connecticut, to help give our

students one-on-one training.

Ms. Sierau made herself

available to all the students currently enrolled in Spanish II and Civics and explained

how the virtual classrooms are set up by real life instructors. Smart Start Education

provided webcams to all students so they would be able to view the instructors

during their scheduled class, allowing for a greater level of interaction. Spanish II

students were also provided textbooks from Smart Start this week. All students

taking these courses are monitored by a member of the Patrick Taylor faculty who

can communicate with the teacher

of the on-line course.

Also, on Wednesday, Mrs. Emily

Smiley, the Louisiana Student

Advisor/Mentor from K12, came to

meet with our AP Psychology

students. Mrs. Smiley provided

blackboard training and explained

the AP Psychology syllabus.

Course Choice is proving itself to

be a great addition to the Patrick

Taylor course catalog and Smart Start Education is showing itself to be a great

partner. Our students are now able to experience a true virtual classroom as we

have never had before, giving them a greater experience using technology and

preparing them for their future in College. If you have any questions about these or

other programs, please do not hesitate to contact me by email:

jhernandez@pftsta.jppss.k12.la.us.

Taylor Tigers School-Wide Expectations

Be Respectful

Be Responsible

Be Safe

Thoughtfulness of others

Independence

Global thinking

Engagement in learning

Responsibility

Seriousness in using technology

Lines from the Librarian

by Ms. Elizabeth Kahn

PFTSTA Library—All Readers Welcome

It has been a bit of a process to get the library open this year. On Thursday, August

22nd, the library had its official grand opening. Both middle school and high school

students poured in to check out the new digs. As I told the students, the services

provided by the library won’t change much from the old school, but the new space

will allow us to be more flexible and hold lots of events in this huge, beautiful space.

6th graders check out books for the first time

The library website was created to keep everyone at PFTSTA up to date with library

events and offer an easy portal to links with all of our electronic resources. You can

visit the website here: www.pftstalibrary.com, or scan this QR code

on your smart phone and find the library here

Our first author visit of the year is September 3rd when Margaret

Peterson Haddix and Lisa McMann visit together to talk to 6th and 7th

grade. Then on September 9th, award winning author, Susan Cooper,

will be here to talk to 6th and 7th grade. To order a book by Ms. Cooper, visit this link

for the form: http://bit.ly/15wBGsQ. It is the wonderful owners of Octavia Books in

New Orleans, Tom Lowenberg and Judith Lafitte, who make these visits possible. By

purchasing signed books at the author events, we can show our support of the

bookstore.

BRiMS or Books Rule in Middle School met for the first time on August 29th. Twenty-

two students signed up to join this club which meets monthly. Watch the Paw Prints

for an announcement of which book we will read for September.

BRiMS

Here are some reminders about library policies: Books from the general collection

may be checked out for 2 weeks and renewed if needed. Late fines are 10¢ a day

not counting weekends and holidays. Students are responsible for paying for lost or

damaged books. Reference materials and magazines may be checked out overnight

only and late fines are 50¢ a day.

If you want the passwords to our databases, please email me at

ekahn@pftsta.jppss.k12.la.us or call me at school 838-2249.

News from 4H by Mrs. Lisa Valence

4H is a middle school club that focuses on serving our community. We meet monthly

during lunch to discuss upcoming projects. At our first meeting we elected our

officers for the 2013-2014 school year: President Marilyn Pati, Vice-President Jake

LeBlanc, Secretary Laura Smith, Reporter Mahree Houston, and Photographer Gavin

Mahl. Look to support their first drive for the needy in our community with a slightly

used or new blanket in early October.

SCHOOL COLORS, HEAD TO TOES…SHIRTS TUCKED

IN, SPIRIT SHOWS!

High School SGA News by Mrs. Katie Higgins

The high school student government association has been hard at work even before

school officially started! During the first week of June, the SGA executive board

attended the Louisiana Association of Student Council workshop. When asked about

her experience at LASC, Abrania Marrero, SGA president, said that she “was

exposed to a tremendous amount of leadership” and “accumulated a lot of creative

ideas on raising money and increasing school spirit.”

On August 8th, several students spent all day at school painting a “Welcome”

banner and helping teachers unpack their classrooms. On Saturday, August 24th,

fifty out of seventy-five SGA members attended our first ever SGA retreat. The

retreat was inspired by the LASC workshop the executive board attended in the

summer. It was completely planned and executed by them as well.

At the retreat, students learned how to be effective leaders, set goals for the school

year, participated in several team building activities and did lots of cheering. They

also painted class banners which will be displayed in the common area of the school

in a few weeks.

Finally, SGA hosted Back to School Week starting on August 26th. Each day featured

a different activity at lunch relating to this year’s theme. On Monday, students

watched a video produced by the SGA in regards to the theme. On Tuesday,

students played Avatar Trivia. On Wednesday, there were games in the lobby and

on Thursday, face painting. The week ended with a dress down day, pep rally, and

snoballs from Plum St!

Seniors show off their air- bending moves at the first pep rally in the new building.

The next big event will be the HS Back to School Dance on Friday, September 6th.

It’s been very busy for SGA, but they have already shown that because of their

efforts, the 2013-2014 school year will be a great one!

Seventh graders don their Avatar “flying bison” outfits before the pep rally.

Middle School SGA Welcomes New Members! by Mrs. Angela Guthrie

The Middle School Student Government Association recently held class-wide

elections for class representatives. Three students from each grade level were

elected by their peers to help represent their ideas and interests throughout the

year. Class representatives are expected to promote school spirit and be an example

to their peers in what it means to be a Taylor Tiger.

Congratulations to the following newly elected class representatives: 6th graders

Amaya Hill, Dillon Ramos, and Kamryn Roane; 7th graders Ayree Johnson, Domenic

Mesa, and Jada Woodard; and 8th graders Elizabeth Bundick, Devin Marque, and

Harrison Rosato. These students will already be busy in the coming weeks as they

begin to plan the first middle school dance of the year.

Parents and students should watch Paw Prints for upcoming information on the date

and time of this event. Congratulations again to all of our new members!

Key Club News

by Dillon Nguyen, Key Club Treasurer

On Saturday, August 24, the Key Club executive board attended

a training session sponsored by the Kiwanis, an international

service club that sponsors our Key Clubs. These members,

President Darla Nguyen, Vice President Paris Evans, and Treasurer Dillon Nguyen,

were invited to share their ideas with other Key Club executives from local schools

including L.W. Higgins, John Ehret, Thomas Jefferson, Archbishop Shaw, Landry-

Walker, Academy of Our Lady, Grace King, Mount Carmel, Cabrini, and Ecole

Classique.

Speakers came to the meeting and spoke with the students about how they could

lead their fellow Key Club members for the upcoming year. Mr. McCloskey, our

faculty advisor, and each member that attended went to different sessions and

learned about different ways to improve the club. Darla attended “Recruiting and

Retaining Members,” Paris attended “Project Eliminate,” and Dillon attended “Service

Projects.”

An example of a project discussed at this session is Project Eliminate, a project

dedicated to putting an end to neonatal tetanus by raising money for those less

fortunate but in need of the vaccine. This experience allowed this year’s Key Club

Executive Board to learn a lot from other Key Club leaders in the area.

If you’re interested, the Key Club always welcomes newcomers! Join us at our

meetings during high school lunch on Fridays in the music lab for some community

service fun! Come join us!

ALEKS Math Tutorial Program

by Mrs. Angela Guthrie

This year the Co-op will be providing every 6th through 8th grade student with a

seven month subscription to an online math tutorial program which will be utilized

as part of their weekly math homework routine. Assessment and Learning in

Knowledge Spaces, or ALEKS, is a program which determines student content

knowledge in his or her math course as well as what gaps in understanding need to

be addressed.

The program helps students to reinforce basic skills by using adaptive learning

technology to tailor a math learning program specifically to your child’s needs and

learning style. ALEKS has been used in the past at Taylor to help address student

weaknesses in math, and we have seen great improvement both on the

standardized tests and in the classroom in students who use the program

consistently.

Students will be expected to practice a minimum of two hours and achieve mastery

in five topics each week. The program is great for reinforcing math content

knowledge, even for students who do not usually struggle in mathematics. The

program will begin sometime in October. For more information, please contact your

child’s math teacher. Thank you for your support!

TALENTED IN THE ARTS?

by Mrs. Linda Patrick

Many students have expressed an interest in participating in the Talent Art programs

this year. Taylor has a large percentage of students involved in the Talented in the

Arts programs in Music, Theater, and Art. Most attend one session per week as

enrichment resource students; high school students may also take Talent Art as an

elective course.

All students interested in participating in these programs are encouraged to audition

for them. Visual art applicants submit approximately ten examples of their recent

artwork for screening. Please see the Talent teachers for details. Talent testing takes

place early in September and again in the Spring.

The arts are really a vital part of a good education, and are proven to better enable

achievement in other areas as well. With our now full time Talent Theater program

and our much-improved (!) facility, we are looking forward to a great year.

A Note from Maestro McCloskey

Hello Everyone!

Here we are at the end of another summer and looking forward to another fantastic

year. All of the students are supremely happy to have a space to call our own. I

invite everyone to come and check out the new music lab. It is a wonderful

environment for learning and creativity.

First, to all the sixth grade students wanting band, beginning band will be offered in

the spring semester. In the meantime, come by or stop me on campus and

introduce yourself. I would love to meet you all before next semester. In December,

I will send home information concerning beginning band. The most important thing

to know is that no experience is necessary.

For band members in grades 7-12, we will be practicing every Wednesday and

Thursday. We have a lot of work to do and a lot of music to make. During

September we have three performances, one of which is off campus.

On Saturday September 7, 2013 we will be participating in the Tulane Marching

Band Day in the Superdome. Look for pictures in the October newsletter.

Honor band auditions are in the beginning of December. Everyone interested in

auditioning must let me know soon. Now is the time to get your audition material

and start preparing. Twenty minutes practice a day between now and audition day

will get you there. Remember what that famous conductor Maestro Turtle Tortoise

said, “Slow and steady wins the race.” – I know that was pretty bad!

That’s all the news I have for now. Have a wonderful year, and I look forward to

seeing all students and parents around our new campus.

Sincerely,

John J. McCloskey

Band Director

PowerSkills

by Ms. Kelly Maher

The 2013-2014 PowerSkills class is an utter joy to teach. Students approach each

task with a positive attitude and boundless enthusiasm. So far, students have

successfully created and collaborated on several Google Docs and presentations.

They are also learning email etiquette and have successfully submitted assignments

via email attachment. In addition, students have been introduced to the library

databases and copyright laws and are using information and images gathered from

appropriate resources to create a timeline that illustrates a brief history of

computing using http://www.dipity.com/.

http://www.pftstalibrary.com

Students are also learning how computers work and creating videos to teach others.

Next we will be exploring the basics of Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint,

and Publisher) through various projects including a Stock Market Project in Excel.

Students can also look forward to a Current Events in Technology project and

computer programming using SCRATCH (http://scratch.mit.edu/ ), a programming

language created at MIT and geared specifically toward 8-13 year olds. Please

remember that your child’s assignments and grades are always accessible on Echo:

https://echo.newtechnetwork.org

Additional course information, resources, and attachments (including presentations

and videos used in class and project rubrics) are available on the PowerSkills web

site:

https://sites.google.com/a/pftsta.jppss.k12.la.us/powerskillsmaher/

Finally, don’t forget to bookmark the school web site:

http://www.pftsta.com/

6th and 7th Graders Are Ready for Service

by Mrs. Cheryl Bordelon

With funds from the Brown Foundation, sixth and seventh graders will extend what

they learn in their English classrooms to the community as they serve others.

Last year’s sixth and seventh graders worked with their English teachers to design

two service learning projects. The first is rooted in seventh graders’ yearly study of

the novel Ninth Ward by Jewel Parker Rhodes. Rhodes has been a frequent guest

speaker at Patrick F. Taylor, and she has developed a rapport with students and

Elizabeth Kahn.

For the past two years, students have visited the Ninth Ward to walk in the

footsteps of the book’s main character. One spot on the itinerary is Martin Luther

King, Jr., Elementary School and library. This year, seventh graders will do more

than just visit; they will become book buddies with children at the school and even

help the children write books of their own. Look for seventh graders and NJHS

holding collections for children’s books and other supplies that will get packed along

to take on the visits to the school.

Sixth graders will have a project of their own. As they read Flush, a novel about

water pollution, they will test local water for pollutants and learn about how water

pollution data is gathered from seniors in the Environmental Science class. In

addition, their project will have them research water pollutants and create an

annotated bibliography. From there, they will create presentations to show to fifth

grade students who will visit our campus.

Some lucky seventh graders will join Jaime Zapico and Cheryl Bordelon at a service

learning celebration on September 10, 2013. They will be served lunch as the school

receives checks for the grant funds.

ELA teachers are especially thankful for the help of Jaime Zapico, Lisa Valence,

Janell Simpson, Katie Higgins, and Elizabeth Kahn.

Spotlight on Science

by Dr. Janell Simpson

Sophomore chemistry students review the law of conservation of mass with the help

of a whiteboard illustration by Kirolos Abdelmalek (pictured).

AP Environmental Science students surveyed the area around the school as part of

their unit on ecosystem health. Ms. Dinah Maygarden of Pontchartrain Institute of

Environmental Education led the class on a hike to identify species of wetland plants

in our new neighborhood. Saraya Sibley is planning a project to identify the species

of trees around the perimeter of the school and compare those species with

undisturbed areas. Destiny Burnett will use spectroradiometry to quantify vegetation

health as part of a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Senior Project students are excited about working with mentors in the community for 20 hours while they

investigate a question about a career field. Pictured from left to right standing: Thomas Sostarics, Mary

Beth Oliver, Paris Evans, Kaylynn Tran, Stephen Torry; seated: Darla Nguyen, Jasmyn Hall, Imani Bell,

Micquel Downs.

Tidings from TechBytes by Ms. Kelly Maher

Online videos are a great resource for teaching and learning. They make lessons available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and allow students to fast forward and rewind material at their convenience. Now you can use Video Note to takes notes, while you are watching your videos.

Video Notes: http://www.videonot.es/

Video Notes allows you to load any YouTube video on the left side of your screen and take notes on the right. What makes it even more fantastic is that your notes are synced to your Google Drive, which allows you to collaborate with others and

also access them from multiple devices. Below are just a few examples of educational videos that are hosted on YouTube.

Coursera: https://www.coursera.org/

Khan Academy: https://www.khanacademy.org/

edX: https://www.edx.org/

Also be sure to check out: TedEd: http://ed.ted.com/ and

Udacity:https://www.udacity.com/

Let’s Get Physical!

by Mrs. Tracey Bourgeois

Ms. Bourgeois’ Physical Science class recently completed an experimental design

workshop focusing on research, lab skills, and the physics of paper airplanes.

Students began their project

by conducting research on the

physics of airplanes to

develop a testable hypothesis

in paper airplane

construction. Students then

designed an experiment

regarding their hypothesis

and carried out their

procedure. After analyzing

the results of their data,

students gave presentations

to their class on the results of

their experiment.

What’s Happening in Biology?! by Mrs. Katie Higgins

Mrs. Higgins’ Biology students cannot get enough of the beautiful science labs! The students

have participated in several lab activities since the first day of school. They spend a minimum of

two days a week in the lab, if not more. Some examples of labs completed thus far are “Is Yeast

Alive?”, “Egg-cellent Osmosis,” and the most recent lab they have participated in involved

investigating the effect of temperature and pH on enzyme activity. The students have also

begun researching their Independent Research Projects which will be due in late November.

Students must successfully complete the project in order to receive their honors credit.

Ellie Baudoin, Doanh Au, Michaela Brown, and Brandon Bui.

From the Athletics Department

Volleyball season has begun! Come see us bump, set, spike, and win! Our roster and

game schedule are below.

2013-14

PATRICK TAYLOR VOLLEYBALL ROSTER

Kristen Clement 8th

Kaylynn Tran Senior

Sarah Allred Junior

Courtney Cooper Junior

Destiny Burnett Junior

Alex Walsh Sophomore

Kiara Horton Sophomore

Ayree Johnson 7th

Hilary Keyes 8th

Melina Liriano Senior

Sydney Monix Junior

Rachelle Bold- Junior

Madison Pierce Sophomore

Imani Bell Senior

Jada Woodard 7th

Miquel Downs Senior

PATRICK TAYLOR

2013 VOLLEYBALL SCHEDULE

DATE OPPONENT PLACE TIME

Sept. 4 Riverdale Riverdale 4 pm

Sept. 5 Houma Christian Away 4 pm

Sept. 9 Ecole Ecole 4 pm

Sept. 11 Lutheran Lutheran 4:30 pm

Sept. 17 Ecole Ecole(H) 4 pm

Sept. 18 Riverdale Riverdale(H) 4 pm

Sept.19 Lutheran Lutheran(H) 4:30 pm

Sept. 24 S. Plaquemine S. Plaquemine 4 pm

Sept. 26 Country Day Country Day 4 pm*

Sept.27/28 Think Pink Tour Ridgewood TBA

Oct.1 Cres. City Cres. City(H) 4 pm*

Oct.3 St Martin St Martin 4:30 pm*

Oct. 8 Ridgewood Ridgewood(H) 4 pm*

Oct. 16 S. Plaquemine Ridgewood 4:30 pm*

Oct. 17 Cres. City Cres. City 4 pm*

Oct. 22 St Martin St. Martin(H) 4:30 pm

Oct. 24 Ridgewood Ridgewood 4 pm*

Oct. 28 Country day Coun. Day(H) 4 pm*