Orientation Is On The Way!

Many of our new students have now received their acceptance letters to attend Julia Landon this coming school year. We are very excited about this new group of students joining our program! All new students have been invited to attend a Spring Orientation on May 12th or May 14th. During this orientation parents will get lots of details on how to most easily help their child transition into the middle school setting. The students who attend this event will have time to hear about middle school, will spend some time talking with some of our current students and get to go on a scavenger hunt throughout the building!

If parents have questions about this event they should feel free to call our main office at 346-5650 and we will be happy to answer any questions you may have!

Again, welcome to our new students and we look forward to having you with us during our Spring Orientation!

Second Week of Tours Continues!

WOW!  Another great day of magnet recruitment tours today!  I met some great students from J. Allen Axson, Jax Beach, San Mateo, Holiday Hill, Hendricks Avenue and several private schools.  You all seem to be so excited about middle school!

I will note that seeing the locker rooms, cafeteria and gym seem to be really important to the students who I spoke with today.  Although, I will note that parents seemed more interested in the classrooms during the tours.  I hope that everyone saw all that they needed to see!  If for some reason you are reading my blog and still have questions make sure that you call the school and talk to Mr. Hafner ('The Bald Guy")!  He will be happy to help you out!

I also found that you enjoyed meeting our student ambassadors!   Aren't the students at Julia Landon FABULOUS!  I hope they were able to fill you in on all the really important details about being a middle school student!

As always, thanks for coming on the tour today!  Also, thanks for checking my blog!  If you get a chance make sure that you vote in the poll question for the week - you can find it off on the left hand side of my blog!  You may want to check out some of the other polls I have posted - they are all listed down the left side of the blog.  Also, I do a new blog post and question each week on Thursday evening, so be sure to check back throughout January and February on all of Julia Landon's recruitment activities!

Good luck finding a middle school!  Duval County Public Schools has lots of great options - make sure you check them all out!  

Campus Tours Begin!

WOW!!! We had a great first night of recruitment for the incoming class of 2009-2010. There were students from throughout Jacksonville who got an 'insiders view' of what it is like to be a student at Julia Landon College Prep! I will tell you that I was so impressed with the questions which these students asked. I can already tell that they are highly engaged learners who are ready for the middle school setting.
I hope each student and parent who attended the tour this evening enjoyed their experience with us! If you have any further questions I recommend that you give us a call at school and ask for Mr. Hafner ("The Bald Guy") and he will be happy to help you!
Thanks for coming on a tour! I hope to see you this coming school year! Oh, and don't forget to vote in the poll to the left! Be sure to check back over the next week to see how other students have voted!

Recruitment Activities are Coming!

As we conclude the holiday break I am starting to get very excited about upcoming recruitment activities! Being in a magnet program is an incredible experience, but one of my favorite parts of magnet schools is the recruitment period which takes place in January and February. It is always exciting to meet prospective students from throughout Jacksonville and to talk with them about our magnet program.

This year we are excited at Julia Landon to include Student Ambassadors within our recruitment activities. Students and parents who visit our school will get to talk with students from each grade level about their unique experiences at Julia Landon! Ms. Fenton and Mr. Manias are our fabulous Magnet Lead Teachers and I know you will enjoy meeting them!

So, if you are a parent or student and you are checking out our website to determine whether you want to take a tour of our school I encourage you to come by during one of our regularly scheduled tours. The dates and times for our tours can be found under the "Magnet" tab on our website! If you have further questions please do not hesitate to contact the school at 346-5650 and we will be happy to assist you.

6th Grade Survey for Math

Some of our sixth grade students are in the process of learning data analysis and usage of charts/graphs through survey analysis. In these classes students are divided into groups and are asked to develop a series of questions regarding a topic for which they would like to collect data. The students involved in this project then ask other students and classes to give responses to their questions. These responses are turned into charts and graphs for further analysis.

Several of the students who are working on this project in Ms. Hamlow's math class consulted with me about posting the questions on my blog for data collection. In response, I have created polls where the all sixth grade students can submit their responses to the questions posed in the projects. These polls can be found to the left of this blog entry.

All sixth grade students are encouraged to vote on this item! The polls will be opened until next Friday, December 19th!

Lots of Activities Happening This Week!

Wow!  The fall has definitely come to Jax!  I am certainly enjoying the weather and the routine which fall always brings to us in a middle school.  This week we have a number of fall items for students to take part in.

Our PTSA will be sponsoring two school dances.  On Wednesday the 6th grade Fall Dance will begin at 2:35 and end at 4:00.  On Thursday our 7th and 8th grade students will have their Fall Dance from 2:35 until 4:00.  All students must be picked up at 4:00 p.m.  Tickets are $5.00.

We also have Costume Day on Friday, October 31st!  Students have been given the guidelines which they must follow to participate in this activity.  Students who do not wish to participate in Costume Day may wear College Colors!

The students may also participate in our Early Out Football Game on Monday, November 3rd against Landmark.  Tickets are $3.00 for this event.  Students will be released at 1:10 p.m. from their classes to attend the football game.  All students will be dismissed for afternoon transportation at 2:35 p.m.  

Teachers Nominated for Teacher of The Year

We are fortunate at Julia Landon to have many wonderful teachers within our program! We have just recently begun the process for selecting our Teacher of the Year from this amazing teaching staff. The past few days we have taken nominations from our staff and we are pleased to announce the finalists! These finalists include:

Kathleen Flynn
Shirlee Kasztelan
Kristopher Beckstrom
John Manias
Kristie Putnal
AmyLee Sargeant Wells

Teachers voted during the faculty meeting this afternoon for the final selection of our Teacher of the Year. We will be announcing the winner at school tomorrow!

Compass Odyssey Available 24 - 7

Parents and students will remember from our spring orientation activities that we were planning to use Compass Odyssey as an enrichment program in mathematics and reading. Students have been going to the Compass Odyssey lab every two weeks as a part of their math instruction. We are now encouraging students to access Compass Odyssey from home. Information on how to access this program from home were sent home with students this past week. Additionally, we have posted this information under the "Parent/Student Information" tab on our school website.

For parents looking for an additional instructional tool to enhance the child's mathematics and reading skills we highly encourage you to have your child log onto Compass Odyssey. We would like to encourage parents to work out a routine schedule for logging on for usage of this program! If you have additional questions regarding this item please contact Reni Fenton through the main office (346-5650).

Teachers are Highlighted in the Daily Record

We are so excited that our teachers were recently featured in the "Daily Record"! The article referenced a number of our teachers painting paws down Bay Street to the stadium. This was done as a part of our partnership with the Downtown Chamber of Commerce. The photo above is taken from the newspaper.

The article highlights the work which the Downtown Chamber intends to do with our eighth grade students enrolled in the Leadership Elective. At the conclusion of this course each group of students will create a presentation regarding their leadership research project. These presentations will judged by members of the Downtown Chamber.

This is a tremendous partnership which we continue to be so excited about!

Faculty Paints Paws With The Downtown Chamber of Commerce!

This past Saturday a number of our faculty members participated in the Downtown Chamber of Commerce annual "Paint the Paws" event. This event is held at the start of each football season. Downtown Chamber of Commerce members secure the supplies and then paint the Jaguar Paws which line Bay Street downtown. The Jaguar Paws start several blocks from the Jacksonville Landing and end at the football stadium.

The Downtown Chamber of Commerce came on board as a Business Partner during the late part of the spring. They have graciously agreed to lend their talents and resources to various aspects of our program during this coming school year. This partnership was launched with members of the Chamber volunteering as door greeters during our Orientation!

Many of our faculty members decided to join the "Paint the Paws" event as a way to who our appreciation to the Downtown Chamber of Commerce for their support of our new program!

PASSAGES was a huge hit with almost 60 of our incoming 6th grade girls! Ms. Jones, Ms. Kimbrough and Ms. Parker had a FANTASTIC time working with these students! They spent four days of this past week learning all about life in middle school.

Some of their activities centered around getting organized for the new school year. They also talked about how to make new friends and what to expect on those first few days of school. There is no doubt that these students are incredibly well prepared for the first day of school!

One of the funniest activities was when the participants took a tour of the school and learned where the principal's office was located. We decided that everyone needed to see the inside of the office, so we decided to see if we could fit the almost 60 participants in my office at the same time! As it turns out you can fit that many 6th grade girls in my office! The picture above was taken by Mr. Hafner to document that we really did fit everyone inside!

I continue to grow excited about the opening of school! The teachers come back on Monday! I will post something about their activities next week. Hopefully, they won't try to all fit in my office at the same time!

The end of June and beginning of July have been very busy months for us at Julia Landon. We are busy receiving textbooks, cleaning the facilities, meeting with our new teaching staff, planning Orientation, and scheduling our new students! You should know that we have hired all but a few of our teaching positions. I have to tell you I am so excited about how our teams are shaping up for our incoming students! Wow are they going to work with some amazing educators!

I am also so excited about our incoming PTSA! We have had several meetings already. Our first meeting brought over 70 parents to the school to start the process of reconstituting our PTSA. During the second meeting we voted on an Executive Council. The picture above this was taken after our second PTSA meeting. (A special thanks to George Marsh for bringing his camera!) We are thrilled to announce our PTSA Officers for the 2008-2009 school year are:

President - Carol Hall

VP for Programs - Pam Witt

VP for Membership - Julie Howard

VP Ways and Means - Stephanie Walley

VP Communications - Cindy Hughes

Recording Secretary - Shelia Tukes-Ross

Corresponding Secretary - Anne Herkov

Treasurer - Pam Hall

We have a number of parent/student volunteer opportunities coming up in the next few weeks. I encourage each of you to visit our website for more information. You may also call Ron Hafner, Curriculum Integration Specialist, at 346-5650 for information.

I hope everyone is still enjoying their summer! I will continue to keep you updated on school happenings as we move closer to school opening!

Spring Celebration Activities

During the last few weeks we have been busy hosting a series of 'Spring Celebration' activities.  We began several weeks ago with our 6th grade students and we ended this evening with a special selection of our 7th and 8th grade students.  These activities have allowed us an opportunity to update parents on the program decisions which have been made during the time since magnet applications were due.  More importantly, it has been a great opportunity for students to get to know their classmates for the upcoming school year.

We continue to be excited about the staff who will be joining us!  We have truly been overwhelmed with the teacher applications for this program.  At this point we have hired all but two of our teaching positions.  I continue to be excited about the middle school teaching teams which are being created for our incoming students!  

During our 'Spring Celebrations' many parents indicated that they wanted to be involved with our PTSA during this coming school year.  We have set up a meeting for next Tuesday, June 3rd at 5:30 p.m.  This will be a great opportunity for our PTSA to set their goals for this coming school year!  Ms. Sara Bravo, Curriculum Director, has sent out invitations via email to all parents who indicated an interest in being a part of this parent group.

As our students transition into summer activities I ask that all parents encourage their children to read a minimum of thirty minutes each day.  At Julia Landon each student is required to complete two summer reading books.  Please see the link from our home page for additional information on this item.  Many parents have called asking what other books we would recommend for students to read over the summer.  We have now posted a recommended reading list for students to work from after they have completed their required summer reading books.

I hope everyone has a great last few days of school!  It is hard to believe, but in just a few months we will all be opening Julia Landon for the 2008 - 2009 school year!

Leadership In Our Community Begins Now!

Leadership within the community will be the major theme embedded within the 7th grade gifted and academically talented coursework for our new magnet program during the 2008 - 2009 school year. Michael Alexander, one of our assistant principals, has gotten a jump start on these theme by giving back to our community during several recent literacy events!

The first event which Mr. Alexander participated in was 'Real Men Read'. This event is hosted by Spring Park Elementary School each year. The purpose of this event is to bring in male leaders from our community to model the notion of lifelong literacy to the students who attend Spring Park. Mr. Alexander had the privilege of reading a book about recognizing colors with a group of Pre-K students. The picture above was taken while he was participating in this event.

Mr. Alexander also participated in a reading program entitled 'Celebrity Readers' at Paxon Middle School. During this event he read an autobiography of Jay Z to a group of 8th grade students. Mr. Alexander used this book to illustrate how Jay Z grew up in a challenging environment and has now established himself as an entrepreneur.

Mr. Alexander's participation in these activities just goes to show how 'Leadership In Our Community' is already becoming a central part of our work at Julia Landon College Preparatory and Leadership Development School!

Celbration Activities For May

Okay, so it has been another very busy week for us at Julia Landon! We continue to work towards getting things ready for our incoming students. We have 'Celebration' activities scheduled for the middle of May. This will be an opportunity for parents and students to be on campus and find out more details about next year's program. We have just finished putting together a mail out to parents about these activities. Please expect this information in your mailbox by Thursday or Friday of the last week of April. We have also posted the dates and times on our website!

We are trying to use the website as a means of continual communication with our magnet parents and students. Each Thursday we are updating our website with any new information which we believe will be helpful for our community. Last week we posted the 'Celebration' and Summer Orientation dates. This week we will be posting the summer reading lists.

We encourage you to continue to call if you have any questions regarding the new program! If I am not available, please ask for Ms. Fenton (Magnet Lead Teacher) or Mr. Hafner (Curriculum Integration Specialist) and they will be happy to assist you.

Have a great week!

Magnet Letters Are In The Mail!

WOW! What an incredible week this has been for Julia Landon! The letters for magnet acceptance to our program have gone out this week and the phones are ringing all the time!

We filled all openings for the 2008-2009 school year entirely with students who put us as their first choice. We do have waiting lists at all three grade levels. In total, we accepted 330 sixth grade students, 110 seventh grade students, and 110 eighth grade students.

You should expect to receive a mail out from us during the beginning of May. This mail out will include information about our Spring Celebration with students and parents, a calendar for the upcoming school year, and other general information.

Please note that our Spring Celebration will be held in the evening during the middle of May. Each grade level is scheduled for a specific evening. This will be an opportunity for parents to receive more detailed information about our program, volunteer opportunities, summer reading and summer orientation. While the parents are taking care of 'house keeping' items, our students will have an opportunity to meet their classmates and new members of our teaching staff.

We encourage our parents to call the school if they have any questions about this upcoming school year! You may call me directly with your questions. If I am not available, Ron Hafner (Curriculum Integration Specialist) and Reni Fenton (Magnet Lead Teacher) may also assist you.

I cannot begin to express to you how excited I am about the development of this new dedicated magnet program. I thank each of you for being willing to send your student to us for their middle grades experience. I look forward to working with each of you as we create this new program.

Our Last Evening Recruitment Tour!!!

Okay, so I am a bit late posting information to my blog tonight! We stayed late tonight answering questions from parents and students. After all the recruitment activities were over many of our new staff stayed to celebrate our last evening of recruitment! Wow - have we had a great time meeting so many amazing students during January and February!

I really enjoyed talking with the students and parents tonight! I had some great questions from students who currently attend Stockton Elementary and Holiday Hill. It appears students tonight were interested in what it was like to have lockers! In my group we talked about how students at Julia Landon will be able to go to their lockers at the start of school, before their lunch period, and before 6th period. We talked about the fact that students don't go to their locker after school, because we want to make sure that they are not late to their buses!

My group also had some discussion about the slushy machine in the cafeteria! Students continue to be excited about the snack bar line in the cafeteria! It seems that some of our prospective students are more interested in ice cream and pizza than choosing a well balanced meal from our hot lunch line!

I continue to be so appreciative of all the parents and students who have expressed an interest in our program at Julia Landon! I am so excited that we are creating a school that will encourage students to grow academically, while also developing their leadership skills. I continue to encourage parents to call us if they have any further questions! Also, don't forget to get those magnet applications in on time!!!

Have a great weekend!

Valentine's Day Recruiting!

We continued our recruiting this evening with a Valentine's Day Open House! We had some great students on our tour. I was particularly entertained by the number of students wearing red and pink for the holiday! I also had fun listening to the various activities they had done in their elementary schools today to celebrate the holiday.

The group this evening saw our program overview presentation and took a tour of our school. Once again, the television production studio was a big hit! It has become very clear that everyone wants to have this elective during their middle school experience at Julia Landon College Prep.

The students on my tour were particularly entertaining this evening! I especially liked the students from Jax Beach who reminded me about the "slushie machine" discussion during the Jax Beach 5th Grade Parent Information Night! It appears that middle school students are excited about having slushies during their middle school lunch.

I also had some students on my tour who I can tell are going to be great in the athletics program at the middle school level. In particular, I had some fun discussion about playing football at the middle school level with a few of the prospective applicants.

As always, I continue to appreciate the many students and parents who are considering our program. We hope that we have answered all the questions from the tours this evening, but if you have any additional questions please give us a call!

County Spelling Bee and More Recruiting Activities!

This week Julia Landon was excited to host the annual Duval County Oral Spelling Bee! Contestants from throughout the county came to our campus to be a part of this tremendous event. I was amazed with each of the students who participated!

We continued a good number of recruiting activities this past week. We were excited to speak at the Awards Assesmbly at Holiday Hill Elementary. What a great group of 5th graders they have at their school!

We were also excited about the students who came on our tour this past Thursday! Due to the Spelling Bee, we had to do our program overview in the gymnasium. The students and parents seemed to enjoy this venue. After the tours we even had some students who decided to shoot some hoops and see what it is like to play ball in a middle school gym!

We have two more evening tours left. They are at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, February 14th and Thursday, February 21st. Anyone who has not already checked out our new program is invited to come see what our new dedicated magnet program is all about!

On Thursday, February 14th I will be posting a new question for my blog. This week it will have to do with the types of clubs and extracurricular activities which students would like at the middle school level. Be sure to log back in on Thursday to cast your vote!

Planning For Our New Program Continues!

This week we had another great week meeting potential students for the new Julia Landon College Preparatory and Leadership Development School! We were fortunate to meet some wonderful parents and students during the Magnet Open House events sponsored by Susie Tolbert Elementary and San Jose Elementary.

We also hosted another evening Open House on our campus on Thursday evening. It was fun to see so many eager 5th grade students! They all seem so excited about making the transition to middle school. I had the good fortune to give one of the tours during our evening event! The students on our tour seemed to take particular interest in our television production studio and computer lab. There also seemed to be a good bit of interest in seeing what a middle school locker room looks like! The one area that we didn't include on the tour was the cafeteria. Several students did ask what it looks like after the tour, so I will be posting a picture on my blog during the next few days.

Our design team continues to make plans for our program next year. We met again this Friday morning. There was a good bit of discussion on how to shape the 7th grade leadership component. This portion of our program is entitled, "Leadership in the Community." Additionally, we began discussion on upcoming technology purchases. We continue to look towards Mac wireless laptops. I will continue to update my blog as we make those decisions!

School Tours Start!

During the week of January 14th we began tours for the Julia Landon College Preparatory and Leadership Development School. Tours were held on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. We were delighted to see such enthusiastic students, as well as their families each evening. Additionally, we were excited to be invited to participate in parent informational meetings at Hendricks Avenue Elementary, Holiday Hill Elementary, and Love Grove Elementary. We continue to enjoy sharing information about our program with perspective parents and students!



The tours at Julia Landon began with an overview of the program in our auditorium. We discussed the school's new mission, our transition from a neighborhood school to a dedicated magnet program, and other pertinent school information. The overview was followed by a school tour. Parents and students seemed so pleased with our recently renovated facilities. I think many students had a particular interest in our computer lab and television production studio. I can already tell that there are plenty of students who are ready to be involved with the technology/multimedia aspects of our magnet program.



I continue to be excited about the interest expressed in the "leadership" portion of our program. Parents and students have asked so many amazing questions about how this portion of the program will be implemented. Parents seem to be excited about having their child participate in Covey's "7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens." The students seem excited about the multimedia experience that will be incorporated into the 8th Grade Leadership Symposium.



The week of January 21st will be particularly busy for us at Julia Landon. We have an evening tour on our campus at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday evening. We will also be presenting information about our new magnet program at San Jose Elementary and Susie Tolbert Elementary!

Magnet Mania

Magnet Mania was a huge success for the new Julia Landon College Preparatory and Leadership Development School! Members of our administrative and teaching staff were on hand at the event to answer questions of perspective students. School brochures, tour dates, course of study information, and information about the history of Landon were given out as recruitment materials. We were impressed with the many questions posed by the potential students and parents. We continue to be thrilled with the interest in this new magnet program!