Author: Natalie Gowen

The Importance of Health Education and How Parents Can Help

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Private School Orinda

Although a college prep curriculum is focused on things like science, math, and foreign language, health education never stops being important. A comprehensive health education curriculum gives students the tools to care for themselves for life. Achieving academic success is closely tied to staying healthy, and students need the educational tools to prioritize their well-being to achieve good health. Here is a look at why your student’s health classes are as important as the rest of his or her schedule and how you can help to ensure that your child learns about how to lead a healthy lifestyle.

Why Health Education Matters
Health education is one of the most immediately applicable subjects your student will study. He or she can leave health class and use the information he or she learned there right away. In health class, students gain important knowledge about nutrition, first aid, disease prevention, and safety. They learn about mental health, the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse, and reproductive health and safety.

In health class, your student will learn about symptoms that they should report to you, how to eat a balanced diet so that he or she can make smart food choices, and why experimenting with drugs could put his or her future in jeopardy. These lessons aren’t just an investment in academic success but in life as well.

How Parents Can Help
You can help your student reap the rewards of health education by reiterating the importance of his or her health classes and by being an advocate in the school for including health education in the curriculum. You can also talk to your student about health issues on an ongoing basis at home to reinforce school lessons and to show him or her that you value a healthy lifestyle.

Orinda Academy offers a rich college prep curriculum at our private school in Orinda that includes health and physical education classes. Is our school the right fit for your child? Visit our campus or call (925) 254-7553 for more information.

How Orinda Academy Supports Student Success

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At Orinda Academy, we’re invested in the success of every student in our private college prep school. Every student gets the personalized attention he or she needs to succeed in the classroom at our school and beyond.

Watch this video to find out about the programs Orinda Academy has to help students excel. Our smaller class sizes allow us to cater to different learning styles, and our mentoring program helps students find the right courses, manage their academic requirements, and find a college that is the right fit for them.

To find out more about Orinda Academy and to see if it is the right choice for your child, call us to schedule a visit to our prep school campus in Orinda. Dial (925) 478-4504 to speak to an admissions representative.

A Quick Look at Assignment Scaffolding

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Assignment scaffolding can be a helpful way to break down large assignments so that they are more manageable for students. Scaffolding gives students with different learning styles a broad view of an assignment and splits it into manageable pieces so that students can determine the best way to approach the work. Using scaffolding in a college prep curriculum helps students develop the tools to tackle university-level work after graduation.

Assignment scaffolding is all about breaking work down into smaller steps. For instance, if a student has to write a research paper, the assignment may be scaffolded by breaking things into smaller goals, including a topic selection, research, thesis statement, first draft, revisions, and final drafts. Each step of the scaffold accomplishes one step of the project and creates a framework for the next stage.

We teach assignment scaffolding in our study skills class at Orinda Academy to give students in our college prep school the tools they need for academic success. For more information about our school in Orinda, please call (925) 478-4504.

A 10th Grader’s Checklist for College Planning

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If your child is in a college prep school, then you know college planning is no longer relegated to senior year. In fact, students start planning for college as early as 10th grade to ensure that they are on the right track to get into the school of their choice. What should your 10th grader be doing to get ready for college? Be sure to check these items off your list during sophomore year.

Visit College Campuses
It’s not too early to start visiting college campuses when your child is in the 10th grade. In fact, visiting a few colleges is a great way to help your child decide what kind of school is most appealing and to get inspired to pursue his or her college goals. You can arrange for official campus tours, or simply visit a few schools on your own to stroll the campus and check out the surrounding area on your own time.

Prepare for the SAT
In 10th grade, most students take the PSAT 10 or the PSAT/NMSQT. It doesn’t matter which of these tests your child takes, as the tests are the same but simply offered at different times of the year. Orinda Academy students in Grades 10 and 11 will take the PSAT on October 11. The PSAT will help your child prepare for taking the SAT. When the scores come in, go over them together and decide what kind of SAT prep classes could help him or her get ready to take that test in 11th grade.

Talk to a College Counselor
Encourage your student to set up a meeting with Melissa and Norm. They can help students make a short list of college choices and understand the admissions requirements for those schools. Melissa, Norm and Roger can also help students choose the right courses to create a competitive college application.

You can contact Orinda Academy's college counselor Melissa Masland at melissa@orindaacademy.org.

At Orinda Academy, smaller class sizes mean that every student gets the support they need for academic success. For more information about our college prep curriculum in Orinda, please call (925) 478-4504.

A Look Back at Our 2016-2017 Accomplishments!

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College Prep School Orinda

We’re heading toward the end of another incredible school year here at Orinda Academy, and we’re very proud of what our prep school students have achieved! The 2016-2017 school year started with a retreat to the redwoods, where our advisors and students bonded over s’mores. Later, our entire college prep school headed out to seeOthello at Cal Shakes. We’ve been busy with all-school meetings and advisory chats to talk about hot button issues like feminism, race, and religion.

Somewhere in the midst of our ever-popular winter concert, visit to the Oakland Museum, and Black History Month presentations, we managed to find the time to create a totally new country in our World Cultures/Environmental Science cross-curricular mashup. Our Environmental Science students have also been hard at work on an ongoing watershed restoration project, our physics students have been busy building rollercoasters, and our Spanish students built an altar forDia de los Muertos. On top of all those accomplishments, the house cat at our college prep school welcomed her kittens! We’re grateful to our incredible school community for coming together to help them all find loving homes.

When you join us at Orinda Academy, you’ll gain access to much more than just superior academics in Orinda; you’ll also become a member of a close-knit community. Call us today at (925) 478-4504 for more information.

Quick Tips for Succeeding Despite Dyslexia

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Private School Orinda

Dyslexia is a common learning disability that involves problems identifying speech sounds, which leads to difficulty reading. Dyslexia is not reflective of a student’s intelligence, but rather is simply a learning difference. Although dyslexia is a lifelong, incurable disorder, it is possible to overcome its challenges—especially with the positive support you’ll find at a private college prep school.

Take your time working on tests.
At the beginning of each school year, it’s helpful to sit down and chat with your teachers and our learning support coordinator, Mollie Mowat, about your dyslexia-related needs. Teachers tend to be very accommodating about giving students extra time to complete tests. You should have as much time as you need to fully understand and respond to the questions. Orinda Academy uses a modified block schedule to accommodate students who need extended test time.

Study your textbooks while listening to the audio recordings.
Whenever possible, request the audio recording of your textbooks. Orinda Academy has access to audiobooks through Learning Ally and you can ask Mollie Mowat (Learning Support Coordinator) for information on how to access the audiobooks. You can listen to the audio while you read along. This engages your visual and auditory senses, which helps reinforce the material. Before you begin reading novels or plays for your classes, consider watching the movie version, if available. The movie should give you a basic sense of the characters and plot, which will help you as you read the book. Just remember that the movie versions of books and plays often omit material or add other material that isn’t in the books.

Choose your course load carefully.
Talk to Roger Wise, Academic Dean and Mollie (Learning Support Coordinator) about your course load. Whenever possible, aim for a balanced mix of classes. In other words, try not to take too many reading and writing intensive classes in one semester. This is also a smart strategy to follow when you go to college.

Try using speech recognition software.
Speech recognition software isn’t perfect, but it’s a lot more accurate these days. You can use speech recognition software to brainstorm ideas and outlines for your research papers. You can also use the software to write papers. Just be sure to proofread them thoroughly, as speech recognition software is known to make mistakes.

At Orinda Academy, you’ll find a welcoming college prep school community in Orinda. We embrace innovative teaching strategies to accommodate all learning styles and learning differences. To find out what makes our private high school stand apart from the rest, call us at (925) 478-4504.

A Family’s Guide to Community Service

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Private School Orinda

If your child is attending a private school, he or she will likely be expected to participate in community service programs. Community service is arguably one of the most rewarding activities to do as a family. Spending time in service to others is fun, personally fulfilling, and teaches valuable lessons that build character—not to mention that community service helps others!

Organize a fundraiser.

Fundraisers are limitless in their versatility, and they’re a great way to bring together families from the college prep school. Your student can coordinate with other students to organize a bike ride, walk, or fun run to support a charitable organization. Other creative fundraiser ideas include:

  • Dance-a-thon
  • Recycling collection
  • Car wash
  • Crowdfunding
  • Cake sale
  • School-wide yard sale
  • Raffle

To host a raffle, students and their families can contact local businesses to request donated items for the raffle. To hold a school-wide yard sale, families can donate unneeded items and advertise the sale throughout the community.

Help the homeless.

There are countless ways to help the homeless in your community. Your family could organize a hygiene kit drive. Donated personal hygiene items can be assembled into gift baskets for delivery to the local shelter. Students can also host a shoe or coat drive.

Lend a hand to fight hunger.

Food pantries always need plenty of helping hands. Take the whole family to a local food pantry or regional food bank to spend a day sorting food for those in need.

Work with shelter animals.

Many shelter animals have been rescued from lives of neglect and abuse. They need lots of love and care, and shelter employees are often hard-pressed to give each animal the attention he or she deserves. Your family can volunteer to walk shelter dogs and cuddle with shelter cats.

Here at Orinda Academy, we take great pride in our school, students, and community. Our prep school in Orinda expects all of our students to complete 40 hours of community service prior to graduation, as we are firmly committed to compassionate, hands-on learning. If you have any questions about our curriculum or student life, you can call (925) 478-4504 to speak with a friendly staff member.

Get a Closer Look at Our International Program

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Orinda Academy is a unique, independent college prep school that welcomes students of all backgrounds, cultures, and nationalities. When you watch this video, you’ll hear our founder, Ron Graydon, talk about some of our school’s many strengths. You’ll also hear from some of our international students and from one of our teachers, who has previously lived and worked as a teacher in China.

Our international students discuss what they most enjoy about our college prep school, including our smaller class styles, outstanding student support, and welcoming learning environment.

At our private college prep school in Orinda, we’re pleased to welcome a diverse student body. You can call Orinda Academy at (925) 478-4504 if you would like to discuss admissions to our close-knit, supportive learning community.

Spotlight on Orinda Academy’s Student Support Services

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At Orinda Academy, we are committed to creating a successful learning environment for all students. We welcome different learning styles at our college prep school and work to ensure that every student has the tools he or she needs to reach his or her goals. Our extensive network of student support services help us maintain this promise to the families who choose our school for their children. In addition to smaller class sizes, a variety of electives, and personalized college counseling, here are some of the support services students can access at our school.

Learning Plan Support
Orinda Academy takes our responsibility to support students with learning plans seriously. The Learning Support Coordinator and the Dean of Students work together to manage learning plans and ensure that the staff has all of the information they need to accommodate each student’s plan. During our staff meetings, we also examine learning plans in depth and collaborate on ways we can consistently improve the support that students get for their learning plans. Students have seating options (exercise balls, wobble stools) and access to fidget toys, audiobooks, notes, scribes, graphical organizers and other accommodations.

Study Skills Class
Studying is a skill that is often expected but seldom taught in the classroom. Every ninth grader at Orinda must take a one-semester study skills classed to help them learn how to take notes, scaffold assignments, prepare for tests, and organize their time. The skills that students learn in this class can help them throughout the rest of their high school and college educations.

Extensive Faculty Engagement
Students don’t slip through the cracks at Orinda Academy. The teachers and counselors are involved in tracking student performances in all academic areas and monitoring assignments daily to prevent students from falling behind. Homework and assignments are posted on an easy-to-access portal so students and parents can see what work was assigned and when it is due. Progress reports are sent home every two weeks and there are regularly scheduled parent teacher conference to track progress. Faculty members are available on Tuesdays and Thursdays for office hours. When families need more support, Orinda can provide access to academic tutoring and family counseling sessions.

Discover the difference of Orinda Academy for yourself by arranging a visit to our campus and learning more about our academic programs in Orinda. Talk to a staff member today by calling (925) 478-4504.

Examining Our French Curriculum

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Private School Orinda

Kathryn Saxby, French Teacher

To help ensure that students in our preparatory school are competitive when they apply to colleges, foreign language is a major part of our curriculum. In addition to meeting state high school graduation and college admission requirements, learning another language builds confidence and helps students learn about different cultures. We offer French, Spanish, and American Sign Language at our college prep school. Here is a look at what students learn in our French curriculum.

Levels 1-2
In the beginning levels of French, students focus on vocabulary so that they read, speak, write, and understand short phrases and eventually longer paragraphs. Students also learn about different parts of speech and practice conversational skills. Learning about etiquette and culture in French-speaking countries is also part of the curriculum. These early levels of French also give students a chance to get used to language classes and the opportunity to get comfortable making the mistakes that are an invaluable part of the process of learning a language.

Levels 3-4
During levels 3-4 of French, students will build on the skills they developed in the first section and add a significant amount of new vocabulary and grammar knowledge. Students will learn the multiple verb tenses, practice with different types of pronouns, and learn to speak and write more fluently. In these classes, students will practice discussing things like hobbies and holidays and using practical skills, such as booking a hotel room.

Levels 5-6
These next levels of our French curriculum are focused on taking knowledge gained in previous courses and applying it at a higher, more precise level. Students will discuss current events, geography, and culture, and work on expressing themselves beyond basic phrase. They will also learn to incorporate idiomatic French expressions in their speech and writing to display more thorough grasp on the language.

Levels 7-8
The final levels of our French curriculum are focused largely on French literature as well as conversation and writing.

At Orinda Academy, our curriculum is rich and engaging, so our prep school students learn to love education while getting the tools they need to succeed. To see if our private school in Orinda could be right for your child, call (925) 478-4504 to learn more about our program and for information about enrollment.