Charter News
January 27, 2019
“Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential.”
― Winston S. Churchill
Dear Parents,
There will be No School this coming Friday, February 1, as our teachers will be participating in a Professional Development Day. Teachers will have time to learn new strategies that they can incorporate into their classroom activities with your students and get much needed time to collaborate and build curriculum units together.
Thank you for staying in touch with me and your child’s teacher(s) to help ensure they are learning and doing their best! It is a highlight of my job when I have the opportunity to talk with parents about ways we can work together to better support their child’s learning. Maintaining a consistent and sufficient level of support and encouragement is critical in order to ensure that they feel safe enough to ask for help. Helping your child learn how to ask for help is one of the most essential skills we can give them.
Kids are so anxious to grow up! However, very few students that I have known are able to stay current on their studies without at least some consistent support and/or reminders from their parents, teachers, and/or other caring adults and peers.
I think it is always important to remember that the rational part of your child’s brain isn't fully developed and won't be until age 25 or so.* Very few of us can do our jobs without help...even as adults. I often ask others to proofread my writing, especially if it will be read by many or if I an unsure for one reason or another (maybe it’s just a disorienting day). And heaven help me if I didn’t have various levels of reminders (online, timers, fellow staff members) to make sure all my work gets done on time!
Help your students to feel ok to ask for help. I am not saying to overly support them to the point of keeping them dependent, but do find the best way to scaffold them toward true self-reliance that includes thoroughly completing work and turning it in on time. Below are some articles you may enjoy.
~Rhonda
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A Message Regarding Managing Screen Time: How to foster mental focus in our kids—and ourselves from [email protected]
How do we achieve maximal mental focus in an overly wired and wireless world? This is the question that author Cal Newport addresses in his forthcoming book “Digital Minimalism.”
Newport argues that you should “radically reduce the time you spend online, focusing on a small number of activities chosen because they support things you deeply value, and then happily miss out on everything else.”
In today’s Tech Talk Tuesday I explore how to help our youth (and ourselves) prune one's digital life, getting it down to those technologies that truly help.
LEARN MORE: tech talk-tuesdays/how-to-foster-mental-focus-in-our-kids and-ourselves
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PARENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE: Please come: Wednesday, February 13th from 3:00-4:00 pm. I have updated our Comprehensive School Safety Plan and it is now in draft form, ready to be reviewed by parent and teacher representatives. It goes to the District Office for final approval at the end of this week. Please call or email me if you would like to review it before then.
There are not representatives from every program yet, but I trust that those that came once, can come again. I would like to hear from all programs when it comes time to prioritize and plan next year. If you would like to learn more, please feel free to contact me directly. [email protected]
The Parent Advisory Committee is a critical component to ensure that parent input has a consistent say in the development of our programs that make up the Charter school.
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COMING SOON - All Charter Play: Get your tickets now! It is guaranteed to sell out.
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What’s Going on in Our Charter School? ..little snippets of some of our programs.
CRHS: We are preparing our seniors for local college opportunities in regards to scholarships. In our meeting of the tribes, we have started guest speakers from our community businesses. Our first guest speaker was from the Law Enforcement field. We will be starting workshops for College and Career Readiness soon. The students will be participating in activities that will help them learn more about themselves and help them broaden their perspectives on college and career choices and prepare them for life during and beyond school.
CRMS: We will be resuming classroom work this week. As we move forward will be concentrating on fresh projects and fundraising for our upcoming trip to Headwaters.
Nature Academy: Our 6th graders will be finishing up their work on their god/goddess projects with oral presentations and dressing as their god/goddess to present. &th and 8th graders are getting excited about their Spring trip to the Catalina Islands. They are working on soil and watershed studies as well as an African unit that includes their own artistic rendition of a traditional African Mask.
Quail Hollow Integrated Arts (QHIA): January’s hands-on math and science day will feature Rube Goldberg contraptions. Students have been learning about simple and compound machines. We will share some history, watch some cool videos of contraptions in action, then have a team challenge! Students will work in groups creating a series of steps using all kinds of objects: ramps, pulleys, balls, dominoes, cards, balls, string...anything that can contribute to their machine.
Quail Hollow Homeschool: Classroom work will resume this week continuing our them of 180 days around the world. Our next stop will be South America on route to Europe! Students are beginning their research on their individual country reports.
Fall Creek Homeschool: We will be continuing our geology theme with an upcoming field trip to the Quail Hollow Quarry and Sandhills later in the spring. Students are continuing with the individual research on a Geological formation that they will share with the rest of the class.
Mountain IS: A big part of our focus has been the introduction to our play - which we will be performing on February 28th! We've read it through, created storyboards and began to map the various elements of the story as a way to reinforce literacy as well as familiarize ourselves with our play. Reviewing these elements can help us write our own stories in the future.
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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.)
- February 1st: No School-Teacher Professional Development Day
- February 11th: No School
- February 18th: No School
- March 12: Information Night: All Hybrid Homeschool Programs
- March 19: Information Night: Nature Academy
- April 1st-5th: No School-Spring Break
- May 7th: Coast Redwood High-Open House 5:30-7 PM
- May 27th: No School-- Memorial Day
- May 31st: Coast Redwood High Graduation Ceremony 12:30-2:00 PM