“If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.”
-Martin Luther King
Dear Charter Families,
Congratulations to the Cast and Support Crew of our All Charter play, “Get Your Kicks on Route Yellow Bricks!” And a huge shout out to our teacher and director/choreographer extraordinaire Amber Walker. There were 65 students in the production with ages spanning 5-16, and representation from all of the SLV Charter programs. What a fabulous presentation! All of the students truly gave their all; from the 16 amazing lead characters to the colorful and energized munchkins. Everyone watching could definitely tell that the students loved what they were doing, rehearsed with dedication, and appreciated the collaboration with fellow cast members.
Thanks to Janinne Chadwick for adapting her script for us while maintaining the fun and witty story adaptation and songs. We also want to recognize Kylan in running the PAC, Lilly for her artwork, and the oh so many parents who helped support their students through all the rehearsals and presentations as well as the many backstage support, costumes and set creations for the production. If you didn’t have a chance to see the play this year, thankfully this is an annual event so we can look forward to next year, Rest up everyone and thanks for all your hard work!
Please read on for special events, including a special opportunity to learn more about the hazards of vaping.
~Rhonda
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Friendly Reminder: We have a rule that students are not to use their phones during school hours with us. IF they bring them to school, they are to be turned off and kept in their backpacks until after school. If there is an emergency, parents can always call our office(s) to reach their children. If a student has an urgent need to contact their parent/guardian, they can ask their teacher if they can use their cell phone to contact them. Recently I have seen several students with earbuds or AirPods in their ears during school hours. This too is not allowed, unless a part of an individual’s accommodation.
Please help us by reminding your students to leave these devices at home. I will be taking them, just as I would any smartphone if I see them being used during school hours. Parents can then come to our office and pick them up. Thank you for your help in this matter.
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The Importance of Nature: One of the elements that all of our programs make use of in varying degrees, is that we take students out in nature. Why go outside? Here are some of the reasons based on just a couple of the many articles out there on the subject.
“Recent studies have exposed the benefit—even necessity—of spending time outdoors, both for kids and adults. While it’s unclear how exactly the cognitive functioning and mood improvements occur, there are a few things we do know about why nature is good for kids’ minds.
- It builds confidence.
- It promotes creativity and imagination.
- It teaches responsibility.
- It provides different stimulation.
- It gets kids moving. Not only is exercise good for kids’ bodies, but it seems to make them more focused, which is especially beneficial for kids with ADHD.
- It makes them think.
- It reduces stress and fatigue.“
https://childmind.org/article/why-kids-need-to-spend-time-in-nature/
“How do green space and nature help kids learn? In a surprising variety of ways, we’re discovering. Nature improves children’s psychological and physical well-being, for sure—and that can impact learning. But it also seems to affect how they attend to and engage in the classroom, how much they can concentrate, and how well they get along with teachers and peers. Here is what we know so far.
- Nature restores children’s attention
- Nature relieves children’s stress
- Nature helps children develop more self-discipline
- Outdoor instruction makes students more engaged and interested
- Time outdoors may increase physical fitness
- Nature settings may promote social connection and creativity” https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/six_ways_nature_helps_children_learn
PARENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE: Important Parent Involvement: Next meeting will be February 18, at 10 am in the Fall Creek Charter Office: Topics will include: School Safety Plan, Annual Parent Survey, further discussion of move possibilities
We now have a strong group of parents that are consistently coming to these meetings. This means that our discussions and plans can more easily be deepened and synthesized. Thank you to Kristin Ghbeish, Thuy Nguyen, Chana Landi, Jacquie Spracklen, Kelly Bradford, Lee Dean, Lauren Reedy. Any of these parents are happy to share updates to fellow parents during the parent meetings at the various programs. We would still love to have a consistent representative for CRHS and QHHS.
These meetings are designed to ensure we have parent input into critical documents that are the backbone of the Charter. Yearly this committee gives input to our Local Control Accountability Plan (includes our school goals and funding) School Safety Plan, Annual Parent Survey, as well as our 5 year Charter Petition Renewal and Accreditation review
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SLVUSD Student Nutrition Services - TITAN
New for 2019/20 school year: Student Nutrition Services online payments can be made through Titan School Solutions. Please visit https://family.titank12.com/F4PJ9Q to create your account to make payments and view transactions. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact our office at (831) 335-5384 or [email protected].
IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM SLVUSD TRANSPORTATION
Current Riders with Semiannual Passes need to renew before January 31, 2020: Semiannual passes will be available at a cost of $116.00 round trip and $58.00 one way. Semi-annual passes expire at the end of the school semester. Students whose passes are not renewed 10 days after the pass expiration, may be denied transportation. The following link provides information to the Transportation Department website where passes can be purchased: SLV Bus Transportation Passes.
Parent Educational Opportunities: All SLV parents are invited to this information night about vaping. Please contact Danielle Winters for more information. [email protected]
______________________________________What’s Going on in Our Charter School? ..little snippets of some of our programs.
CRHS: Attention Seniors, if you are interested in attending Cabrillo, sign up now in the counseling office for the next Cabrillo Workshops, which start February 7th. Your yearbook committee is waiting patiently for your personal photo's in the areas noted below. We love to fill the yearbook with lots of school, and personal memories, so please send them in. 2020 Winter Formal Winter in Manhattan will be on Thursday, Jan. 30 at Bret Hall, Roaring Camp, from 7:30 PM - 10:00 PM. Tickets can be purchased at the Cougar Lawn each day at lunch now. To purchase ticket(s) you must complete the required permission slip from your supervising teacher, signed by your parent/guardian, and returned to your teacher for their signature.
CRMS: On-site classes will resume on Tuesday, January 28th. We had a math workshop for parents to help them understand the features of the ALEKS math program to better support their students. We are making plans for our upcoming ski trip in March. Research notes for individual presentations are due the 1st week of February.
Nature Academy: 6th- We are starting our photography elective. Thank you to Chet White, retired SLVMS photo teacher, for helping us with this elective. Your children have been working hard on their God/Goddess project. Your child is bringing home their essay after peer editing in class. Please help them with the Read-Through #5. 7&8th- Math: Students will continue working on their individualized ALEKS math and working on our Problem of the Month or other problem-solving tasks. History: We will be wrapping up our Mid-17th Century to Mid-18th Century (Pre-American Revolution) packet and then starting our Navigation Acts simulation. Science: Students researched a topic related to the moon and gave Moon Expert presentations this week. We will continue our lunar exploration next week with a unit that includes designing a mission to live and work on the moon. This unit addresses Newton's Laws of Motion, rocket design, microgravity, and astronaut protection. Language Arts: We will be starting in on our 5-paragraph personal experience persuasive essay process. Students will focus on finding and citing textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
Quail Hollow Integrated Arts (QHIA): We completed our two weeks of Independent Study! This week was all about VAPA, VAPA, VAPA! Half the sttudents had ceramics class with Jen Hennig; making pinch pots, while the other half did an in-depth study of Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech at the March for Jobs and Freedom. Students analyzed the entire speech as a work of literature, highlighting phrases that evoked imagery and spoke to them. We watched the footage of MLK Jr. giving the speech, and learned that much of it was improvised! Students chose their favorite line or portion of the speech and began creating an art piece from it.
Quail Hollow Homeschool: On-site classes will resume on Tuesday, January 28th. We are excited to welcome David Keuter to Quail Hollow Homeschool. Mr. K will be joining us in class and we all look forward to getting to know him better in the coming days.
Fall Creek Homeschool: On-site classes will resume on Tuesday, January 28th. We will be continuing to work on our weaving projects. Some kids will continue working on theirs in class and others will start a new one with some new techniques.
MtIS: On-site classes have resumed. We had a lovely get together at the beach to kick off our return to classes. We're seeing good communication, creative thinking and problem solving develop in our little crew as we co-construct ideas and large structures together. We introduced the various zones (polar, temperate, tropical, poles and equator) as an effect of how the sun hits the earth. This will lead to revisiting the biomes and eventually digging in deeper into the parts of the biome: air, water, sun, plants, animals (including people) on the planet. Our plan is to focus on the biomes of Asian continent in the coming months. Fun field trips ahead!
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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.)
- Friday, January 31: NO SCHOOL - Professional Development Day
- Monday, February 10: NO SCHOOL
- Monday, February 17: NO SCHOOL
- Monday, April 6-10: NO SCHOOL, Spring Break