Inside this issue:

Language Arts 2

Social Studies 3

Foreign Language 4

Computer Science & PE 5

Mathematics 6

Science 8

2010 September

Dear PTS Orangevale Parents, I would like to congratulate all PTS - OV students for an excellent first three weeks of school. I would also like to send a warm thanks to all the parents that join PTS OV family in 2010 – 2011 academic year. Pa-rental support has been nothing less than impressive so far. There are a couple of issues I would like to address as soon as possible. 1. The before and after school drop off/ pick up system is neither ideal nor safe, so I propose the follow-ing solutions:

Drop off/pick up on Filbert Ave. is NOT permitted.

Several parents are organizing a drop off/pick up safety team that will monitor students crossing

the street.

Any student that leaves school on their own must submit a written letter from a parent/guardian

stating that their student can leave the campus.

Other Important Announcements

Information regarding ordering lunch from Revolution Foods went home with your student. If you’re

interested in purchasing lunch for your student, orders must be placed before 5 PM every Wednesday, in

order for your student to receive their lunch the following Monday. Lunch orders can be purchased up to

30 days in advance. Please contact Angie Kendall, School Secretary, if you do not have access to the

internet.

There is no supervision on PTS’ campus until 7:30 AM. Therefore, students cannot be on campus

before 7:30 AM. Students who arrive before 7:30 AM must wait outside the gate on Central Avenue.

Please make other arrangements for your student if their transportation home will be later than 15 min-

utes after their last period. REMINDER: Thursday is a shortened day. Students’ last period is

1:06 PM. Please be sure your student has arrangements to be picked by 1:15 PM on Thurs-

days.

After school clubs will begin on Monday, September 20th. If your student is enrolled in a club(s), they

will remain on campus until 4:00 PM on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays (there are no PTS’

clubs on Thursdays). Please make arrangements to have your student picked up on these days no later

than 4:15 PM. Students should be picked up on Central Avenue, as well.

In closing, I would like to thank all parent volunteers, and those who are interested in becoming volun-

teers with the Parent Task Force (PTS), who without your help and support PTS would not be the school

that it has become. Great Job PTS Family! Our API score is 825!

Sincerely,

Mr. Altun, Principal

Principal’s Address

Pts Times

Pacific Technology School OV 6550 Filbert Ave. Orangevale CA 95662

ov.ptscharter.org

PTS OV News Page 2 Language Arts & Creative Writing

Language Arts

Language Arts & Creative Writing

Welcome to the new school year. The lan-

guage arts department is pleased to have the honor

of working with such a wonderful group of stu-

dents this year at Pacific Technology Charter

School. This month we are focusing our study of

literature on the basic concept of plot. Parents and

families can have fun reinforcing the concept of

plot at home. Simply put plot is the series of

events n a story or play. One way to reinforce the concept of plot is to discuss books or

movies with your child. Ask your student to show you his or her elements of plot literary

terms. The definitions and terms will be more sophisticated for our 8th grade students and

more introductory for our sixth grade students. Talk about the terms to make sure that you

both understand them. Next, watch a movie or read a book together to see if you can la-

bel the events according to their definitions.

In addition to exploring the elements of plot this month, students have also started

to work on their spelling. Reviewing the spelling rules associated with each spelling les-

son at the beginning of the week will both help your student to do well on Friday’s spell-

In addition to exploring the elements of plot this month, students have also started

to work on their spelling. Reviewing the spelling rules associated with each spelling les-

son at the beginning of the week will both help your student to do well on Friday’s spell-

ing test and also to improve their overall spelling skills.

We appreciate your support in the classroom and look forward to a great year.

Creative Writing Club Creative Writing is considered to be any writing: fiction, poetry, or

non-fiction, that goes outside the bounds of normal forms of literature. We will explore

writing which includes short stories and poems. Students

will use their imagination and creativity to explore their

ideas through writing.

PTS OV News Page 3

PTS 8th graders have begun to study the early English colonies of

North America. They have examined the early failures of colonial

life as well as the success of cash crops.

Students enjoyed working collaboratively in small groups represent-

ing colonies. Their task was to design an infomercial outlining their

colonies’ benefits to potential immigrants wanting to come to the

New World.

We are now moving on to discuss the causes of the Revolutionary War. Students will analysis

the major events that led the thirteen colonies to seek independence from their mother coun-

US History Students analysis causes of American Revolution

Social Studies

The 7th graders have been vigorously study-

ing the fall of the Roman Empire for the first two

weeks of school. They just completed their first as-

sessment of the year and are moving on to study the

Rise of Islam in Arabia. My 7th graders are also

learning how to become organized by keeping a

two inch binder with several dividers and maintain-

ing a weekly calendar to keep track of their assign-

ments and homework.

Pacific Technology 7th graders have also learned

an effective way of taking notes. The Cornell Notes

system was developed at a ivy league school and is

taught to freshman as a tool for success in colleges

all over the country.

7th Graders Take on The Roman Empire

PTS OV News Page 4 Foreign Language

DISCOVER LANGUAGES,DISCOVER THE WORLD….

Good day,

My name is Ms. Saule and I teach Foreign Languages in PTS-OV—Turkish and Russian.

So, why we need to learn foreign languages?

Statistics show that :

Academic and cognitive benefits

Children who have studied languages tend to demonstrate greater cognitive development, creativity and divergent

thinking than monolingual children.

People who are competent in more than one language outscore those who are speakers of only one language on tests

of verbal and nonverbal intelligence.

Students whoa are learning another language show greater creativity at solving complex problems than their

monolingual peers.

Students who have the opportunity to study languages in elementary school surpass the national averages in reading,

writing and mathematics regardless of race, gender, or socio-economic status.

The longer students study languages other than English, the higher their standardized test scores in those subjects.

During the past several years, data from the Admissions Testing Program of the College Board definitely show a positive

correlation between SAT scores and the study of foreign languages.

In the “Profile of SAT and Achievement Test Takers’, the College Entrance Examination Board reported that students who

averaged 4 or more years of foreign language study scored higher on the verbal section of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT)

than

those who had studied 4 or more years in any other subject area.

While the results were the most impressive for the verbal scores, students who study foreign languages also outscored their

non-language peers in the math, physical sciences and social studies sections of the SAT exam

This data has been consistent with each group of test takers since 1984.

PTS OV News Page 5 Computer Science & Phys. Educa-

Computer Science & AMSP CS

Hi everybody,

Welcome to the Pacific Technology Charter School 2010-2011 school year. It’s

an honor have this page as Computer Science Department, so we have a chance

to make announcements and share our projects with you every month.

We did go through Computer Science syllabus, computer lab rules and safety in

the lab with our students first week of school year and Information Technology

(IT) concepts, so they demonstrate a sound understanding of the nature and op-

eration of technology systems last week. Students had a chance to see real com-

puter parts like memory device, DVD driver, monitor etc.

As Computer Science Department, we will offer you Advanced Computer Sci-

ence which includes training on Scratch Programming and C++ computer pro-

gramming language this year. Parents were notified as to whether they get to

participate according to students’ placement

test results.

Have a nice month!

Pacific Technology Charter School Computer Science Department

Physical Education & Clubs

The Pacific Technology School Physical Education Department would like to welcome the new

students for the 2010-2011 school year. At Pacific Technology School, we

feel that Physical Education is an essential part of the total educational process.

Through various physical activities, students are provided opportunities to de-

velop their physical, mental, and social skills. We will also have our Basket-

ball, Soccer and Rec. and fitness clubs starting the week of 9/20.

Main Objectives:

Give all students the opportunity to develop their physical skills and level of fitness to their full-

est potential

Make the activities we teach enjoyable so that students will want to participate in those activi-

ties throughout their lifetime

Instill in all students a desire to develop and maintain health and fitness habits

If the need arises for future clarification of any of the points in this letter, or the syllabus, please

feel free to contact me at 916-293-8611. I am looking forward to an enjoyable and educational

year.

PTS OV News Page 6

Ms. Bowen

Mathematics

Greetings everyone! I hope we will have a very successful year at Pacific Technology School. I am excited to be here and share my passion for mathematics with my students. In my teaching career, the most asked question was : why do I need this stuff? Well, here is why: Mathematics is a language shared by all human beings regardless of the culture, religion, or gender. Pi is still 3.14159..., regardless of what country you are in . Adding up the cost of a basket full of groceries involves the same math process regardless of whether the total is expressed in dollars, yen or rupees. With this universal language, all of us, no matter what our unit of exchange, are likely to arrive at math results the same way. All of us possess the ability to be “literate" in the shared language of math. The math literacy is called numeracy. With this language we can explain the mysteries of the universe or secrets of DNA. We can understand the forces of planetary motion; calculate the distance from any city of America to any city of India. We can save money for retirement. So math is not just for math majors. It is for all of us. It is not just calculating difficult equations. It is about making better decisions and, hopefully leading richer, fuller lives. Mrs.

Bowen: cbowen@ptscharter.org

After School Programs

Dear Parents, welcome to the new school year. The math

department is pleased to have you and your child at Pacific

Technology Charter School.

This month in Pre-Algebra we are focusing on Expressions and

Integers, and Solving Equations. We are also going to be working

on Rational Numbers.

In Algebra, after working on the basics, we will be moving over the

Chapter 7 which is on Polynomials.

Please have your child complete his/her homework and study on a

regular basis to build and strengthen their math skills. It’s important

to make sure they understand the concepts at a level where they can

teach it to someone else.

Pre-Algebra, Algebra-1 and AMSP-Mr. Ersoz (Mr. E)

We do offer tutoring programs for students who need help

with their math. For students who are ready to take the chal-

lenge, we have the AMSP (Advanced Math and Science Pro-

gram) Students were recently given some tests and parents were

notified as to whether they get to participate. All students can

find out how they did by contacting Mr. E in person or by email

at ersoz@ptscharter.org.

Page 7 PTS OV News

8th Grade Spanish & Spanish Club– Ms. Fells

In 6th Grade Social Studies we will be studying

Ancient Civilizations. We will study how

early humans migrated from Africa, and estab-

lished the first civilizations of Mesopotamia,

Egypt, Kush, the Hebrews, India, China,

Greece and Rome. Every month the students

will demonstrate their knowledge of these civi-

lizations with a project. The last month of the

school year they will use their research skills to

find out about one special person who has af-

fected history. They will write a report and a

short skit about that person. Then, they will

dress up as that person for the PTS History Fair. 6th Grade Social Studies Tutoring will be after

school on Wednesday. After school on Tuesday, I will have CJSF/Honor Society meetings. CJSF

is open to any student who would like help getting a scholarship to a California college, wants to

do service projects, and has no D’s or F’s.

Social Studies & Spanish

6th Grade Social Studies & CJSF Honor Society-Ms. Fells

In 8th Grade Spanish we will be learning about a differ-

ent topic every month. These topics include Numbers,

Calendar, Alphabet, Greetings, Shapes, Colors, Oppo-

sites, Animals, the Body, Clothes, Home, Family,

Weather, Food, Places, Professions, Transporta-

tion,Verbs, Sports, Nature, Math, School, Activities,

Holidays, and Science. Students will be graded on their

speaking, listening, reading, writing and their knowl-

edge of Spanish culture. Every assignment will have a

point value. Students will also be graded on their be-

havior and their effort. Spanish Tutoring will be after

school on Monday. Spanish Club will meet on Friday. It will be open to any student who is

interested in learning about Hispanic Food, Arts & Crafts.

Mr. Taymaz: Life Science and Physical Science

Dear Parents,

My name is Mr. Hakan Taymaz and I teach Life Science in 7th grade and Physical Science in 8th grade this

year. It is a privilege to be a member of the Pacific Technology School staff and am very much looking

forward to sharing an exciting and rewarding year with you and your child.

In 7th grade, we will focus on the study of Life Sciences which

aims to develop a fundamental understanding of biological sciences,

with an emphasis on molecular biology. We made an introduction

with the fundamentals of science, and we studied scientific method

and scientific thinking. This month, we are focusing on the Cell Biology

and learning the essential concepts about living things.

In 8th grade, we’ll concentrate on the study of Physical Sciences. We

started the semester by studying on the question ’How to think

Scientifically?’ Now, we’re working on the different types of

quantities, metric units and conversion of units, and the basic

concepts of units.

Please keep in mind that birds need two wings to fly.

You can be sure that we try to do our best as Pacific

Technology School teachers for your child to be successful.

If you help us and we work together, I believe that they

can achieve their highest potential in a much easier way. CONTACT INFORMATION:

Email: htaymaz@ptscharter.org

Thank you

Science Page 8