The strength of the team is each member. The strength of each member is the team.
~Phil Jackson
Dear Charter Families,
We have had a week of school under our belts, the rhythm and routine of the school year is underway, mornings getting off and ready are smoother, and students and teachers alike are gaining excitement for the wonderful learning that is yet to come! Thank you for supporting your students learning by sending them off well slept, coming to classes on time, with a healthy breakfast and lunch (with protein) to help keep their brains and bodies alert.
Please continue reading to learn about: • special events • our mental health component • VAPA opportunities, • your students CAASPP scores • parking on campus, as well as • highlights from each of our programs. You will receive my (All) Charter News every two weeks. I limit my news emails to a couple of times a month, as the teachers of your student’s program will be emailing you (usually) every week.
All of our programs emphasize team building and collaboration skills during the first week of school. Each program has uniques events to help the students begin to feel safe and supported with their fellow classmates; use of hikes, field trips, collaborative games, potlucks, awareness of learning styles, as well as defining classroom norms together. Each program also has each student take benchmark assessments in Writing and Math to better help the teachers find out their strengths and areas for growth.
One of our traditions for the majority of the Charter’s programs is our annual Beach Day. This year, for the first time, the Nature Academy teachers, students, and many parents joined the event. What a great day it was! It was so fun to see the beach so full of happy families; with students often playing with students from various programs...and often with students younger or older than themselves. There was one 8th grade student who helped a young kindergartener fly a kite, another group of 5-7 students dug a large hole and allowed other students to play in it when they were done. I spoke to many parent groups who told me how much they enjoyed meeting new parents. There were a few parents that told me that they had good friends with children in one of our Charter program other than theirs and hadn’t known until they saw each other at this shared event!
Robin Bates, our Mental Health Counselor has already stepped into several of the middle school classes to start building her connections with the students. She taught them a breathing technique to counteract the busy mind, help calm them down, and focus their attention. Ask your students if they have learned about the figure 8 breathing strategy yet.
Thanks for all you do with and for your children.
~Rhonda
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Your Student’s CAASPP scores: Last years Student Score Reports (SSRs) are NOT going to be mailed out to the parents from the State. The District is in the process of making a webpage (thanks Vickie!) with instructions for how to access the SSRs electronically as they are now delivered from the State directly to our Student Information System.
Once the system is in place, I will get a webpage link to parents so they know how to find their student’s scores in PowerSchool.
Thank you for your patience as we get this new online system ready to share with you.
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STUDENT REGISTRATION: Thank you for your patience as we work through the glitches in the District online registration process. The IT department changed the process a bit, which will ultimately streamline the PowerSchool data system...though for many of you, especially those new to our Charter, this also caused many PowerSchool registration delays. If any of you have still not received a SnapCode or are still having difficulties completing our online registration, please contact Amy Kuo, our Data Specialist [email protected]
San Lorenzo Valley Unified District Parking: From our Director of Maintenance, Operations, and Transportation
Welcome new and returning parents alike. For the first week of school, many of you dropping off and picking up your children have probably noticed a stronger presence of staff to help ensure the parking lots continue to flow as smoothly as possible.
It has proven to be effective to monitor the parking lots and ensure only clearly marked parking spaces are used and only designated pick up and drop off lanes are used. As many of you are painfully aware, the result of vehicles parking in Red Zones or dropping off students in the Bus lanes or in the parking lot causes a gridlock.
All of the school sites greatly appreciate your participation when following the rules. We do however have a few folks that insist upon ignoring the rules. We have been speaking to many and leaving notes of clarification for others during the first week of school. Unfortunately, we have also had to issue a few tickets for some drivers that refused to move their vehicle when contacted by District staff.
These tickets are legitimate, meaning they are supported by law under California State Vehicle Codes. The most common ticket falls under Vehicle Code 21113. These tickets are reported to the Department of Motor Vehicles and will affect your vehicle registration renewal if the penalty is not paid. Tickets can range up to $275.00 so please help us avoid having to write them.
We hope that everyone can do their part and park only in clearly marked parking spaces, drop off or pick up in designated areas, avoid the bus lane and do not park in the red fire lanes. We will continue to provide better options including more signs, striping and help to minimize the lines of traffic.
Have a splendid school year. ~Dan Arndt
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PICTURE DAYS: Put your smiles on and brush your hair, Charter picture days are coming soon! More information will be sent closer to the picture dates.
- August 29th: Coast Redwood High School starting 10:00 am. at Fall Creek
- September 30th: Nature Academy 6-8 grade: (during PE period)
- October 3rd: Quail Hollow Homeschool, Quail Hollow Integrated Arts, Fall Creek Homeschool, Coast Redwood Middle School Picture Day: (time TBD)
- November 4th: Nature Academy 6-8 grade Picture retake day: (during PE period)
- November 12th: Picture retake day for all homeschool programs : (time TBD)
CAFETERIA NEWS: Student Nutrition Services has a NEW Online Payments/Family Portal through Titan School Solutions. Here you can create an account to make payments to your student’s online account and view student transactions.
Once you create your Titan account, it can be used for purchasing bus passes or tickets and students meals, as necessary.
Please visit https://family.titank12.com/F4PJ9Q to create your account.
Note: All account balances from last year have rolled over and you will be able to see the current balance when you create account for your student with Titan. This includes payments made through myschoolbuck and cash/check payments.
Thank you for your understanding of our transition to a new system as we know we will better serve our students. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact our office at (831) 335-5384 or [email protected].
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Application for free and reduced lunch can be found on the SLVUSD Nutrition Webpage: http://slvusdcafe.com/
From this link you can also learn more about the Free and Reduced Meal Program. Benefits of Qualifying for the Free & Reduced Meal Program include
- Free and Reduced Meals at School
- Discounted Services for Internet and PG&E
- Reduced or Waived Fees for Testing and College Applications
Santa Cruz County Fair: We encourage community engagement and the Fair has many ways for students to learn more about specialized crafts and trades. For years the County Fair has been a favorite of our families and we have had students enter the fair in various categories and receive awards.
2019 Fair Hours: Wednesday 9/11 to Friday 9/13 Noon to 11:00PM
Saturday 9/14 10AM to 11PM & Sunday 9/15 10AM to 10PM
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Performing Arts Opportunities for All Charter Students!: Mark Your Calendars. The following activities are After School Performing Arts opportunities available to All Students in Every Program of our charter:
Thrill the World! 2019 Rehearsals: When: Thursdays: Oct.3 and Oct. 11 and Fridays Oct. 17 and Oct. 25 from 3:00-4:00pm
Where: Multipurpose Room on the Quail Hollow Campus (up by the Charter Office)
No need to sign up ahead of time. Just show up.
This event was founded in 2006 in Toronto, and has now spread to six continents. Every October people in cities around the world dance to "Thriller" at exactly the same time. Preparation and counting down worldwide is part of the fun, but the feeling of being connected to others and dancing together as one is a Thrill like no other! This year the event will be held in Santa Cruz on Saturday, October 26, 2018 at the Louden Nelson Center lawn at 3pm sharp. There is also an option to perform in a flashmob on Halloween in Ben Lomond.
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All Charter Musical: Title still pending
Amber will have an informational meeting on Monday, Oct. 14 at 3pm for students and parents. The meeting will be held in the multipurpose room at the Quail Hollow Campus.
You will get a synopsis of the script, hear about characters and musical numbers, and get detailed info on the rehearsal schedule/requirements. *There are some new guidelines this year, so please make note of this meeting.
K-5 Auditions: 3-5: 30 pm, Tues./Wed., Oct. 22, 23
Middle School/High School Auditions: 3-5:30pm, Monday/Tues., Oct. 28, 29
All auditions are held in the multipurpose room on the Quail Hollow Campus
Rehearsals: 3-5: 30 pm, Mondays,Tuesdays, Thursdays, *beginning Nov. 4
Performance Week: January 21-26 *Please note that our rehearsal window is shorter than in past years, and our performance week is sooner. All January Rehearsals, beginning Monday, Jan. 6, are mandatory.
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What’s Going on in Our Charter School? ..little snippets of some of our programs.
CRHS: Students are meeting individually with the teacher of record ensuring that their course schedule is correct, accessing Schoology and fine-tuning their goals for each class. HEADWATERS OUTDOOR ADVENTURE TRIP: Students leave on Sunday, September 22 and arrive back to Felton on Thursday, September 26. Join Wade and Brian on this outdoor adventure you will never forget! There are several spots still available!
CRMS: This year we'll be narrowing project presentation topics for first semester to focus on a technology students find interesting from the historical time period traditionally studied at their grade-level. The second semester the kids will be able to choose freely (with parent and teacher approval)
- Wednesday, 9/11, 10 am-2pm Photography Field Trip, Start at CRMS Classroom • Thursday, September 12, 9:30-2 pm: Team Building at Mt Hermon Outdoor School • Friday, Sept. 13, 10:30-12:00: All Homeschool Charter Capture the Flag at Quail Hollow Ranch.
Nature Academy: 6th-grade students will be attending the Big Sur Jade Festival for a two-night camping excursion. They will be honing their Nature Awareness skills and journal drawing, as well as learning about the use of Jade through many of the ancient civilization they will be studying through the year. 7/8th-grade students are beginning various activities using Design Thinking. Ms. Doty also offered aa garden workday on Saturday, Aug. 24th from 8:00-11:00 a.m.
- Friday, August 30: 7-8th grade Ropes Course Field Trip
Quail Hollow Integrated Arts (QHIA): Students had a fantastic first week, getting to know each other through our work with the theme of Identity, Improv Games, Math, and STEM Challenges, and unstructured time during lunch/break. Our fall conferences are also underway
- Thursday, August 29: Field Trip to Santa Cruz Shakespeare • Friday, Sept. 13: All Homeschool Charter Capture the Flag at Quail Hollow Ranch
Quail Hollow Homeschool: One-one conferences have begun.
Fall Creek Homeschool: One-one conferences have begun.
- Friday, Sept. 13, 10:30-12:00: All Homeschool Charter Capture the Flag at Quail Hollow Ranch. • September 10, Fall Creek classes begin.
Mountain IS:
Dates to Remember: (Please refer to your program’s newsletter for greater detail regarding dates and details specific to your program’s Field Trips and class events.)
- August 29th: Coast Redwood High School pictures from 10-12 pm at the Fall Creek office.
- September 2: No School Labor Day
- September 5: Back to school night for Nature Academy 5:30 p.m. -7:30 p.m.
- September 30th: Picture Day: Nature Academy 6-8 grade: (during PE period)
- October 3th: Picture Day: Quail Hollow Homeschool, Quail Hollow Integrated Arts, Fall Creek Homeschool, Coast Redwood Middle School Picture Day: (time TBD)
- November 1: No School; Professional Development Day
- November 4th: Nature Academy 6-8 grade Picture retake day
- November 11: No School Veterans day
- November 12th: Picture retake day for all homeschool programs : (time TBD)
- November 25-29: No School Thanksgiving Break