Connecting
~March 2004~
Oh
No, I Can’t Believe It’s March Already!
Sherri
Nelson, Director
Here we are already half way through the school year! It seems like time is passing more quickly. Maybe it’s because I am a year older! This school year has been incredible and filled with new and exciting challenges. I believe that we have improved our communication with our ESs and families this year. I am happy to report that nearly 400 families are signed up on the parent list serve. It is a great way to find out the happenings of our school. If you are not yet signed up email Marsha Silva at msilva@connectingwaters.org and let her know that you want to be part of the parent communications.
We
are continuing to move forward with our WASC accreditation process. So far we have had a meeting with teachers,
parents, students, and staff to discuss “what are students need to know upon
graduation”. In this process we were
reminded of our charter and the measurable pupil outcomes that your ES
identifies during each learning record meeting with you. Our charter states:
The measurable pupil outcomes, …, means
the extent
to which all pupils of the school demonstrate that they have attained the
skills, knowledge, and attitudes specified as goals in the school¹s
educational program aligned with California State Frameworks and Content
Standards. Students will demonstrate competency in seven (7) growth area
goals. The extent to which students achieve these goals is determined by
mastery of the student standards and by demonstrated proficiency on
STAR-specific assessments:
Student reads and writes effectively.
¬ Student reads actively and derives meaning from written media.
¬ Student reads extensively for a variety of purposes.
¬ Student writes using grammatically acceptable English.
¬ Student adjusts tone and style of writing for purpose and audience.
¬ Student supports statements using well-rounded facts, theory, and opinion
¬ Student separates fact from opinion.
¬ Student logically reaches conclusions based on sufficient evidence.
¬ Student clearly and succinctly states key points.
¬ Student organizes ideas in a variety of ways.
¬ Student demonstrates creativity through style, organization, and
development of content.
Student sufficiently understands and functions in the world around him.
¬ Student demonstrates involvement in his/her community.
¬ Student has knowledge of the reciprocal relationship between the
individual and his/her
environment.
¬ Student demonstrates various skills in seeking employment and/or college
admission.
¬ Student understands and demonstrates his/her role as an employee,
consumer, and financial manager.
¬ Student identifies and documents the effects of technology on his/her
environment.
¬ Student participates in physical activities that develop strength,
endurance, and personal fitness.
Student appreciates the history of mankind in all its diversity.
¬ Student shows his/her appreciation for history by identifying
relationships between past and present events or situations involving cause
and effect: people, events, or situations influencing an action or result.
¬ Student shows his/her appreciation for history by identifying
relationships between past and present events or situations involving
comparison: similarities and differences.
¬ Student shows his/her appreciation for history by identifying
relationships between past and present events or situations involving
classification: events and situations explained as political, economic,
social, and/or intellectual.
¬ Student shows his/her appreciation for history by identifying
relationships between past and present events or situations involving
anticipation of the future using evidence from the past and the present to
draw conclusion about the future.
¬ Student shows his/her appreciation for history by identifying
relationships between past and present events or situations involving
understanding of the extent of time.
¬ Student applies physical and cultural geography to his/her understanding
of societies.
Student comprehends the political process.
¬ Student understands the structures, operations, and
relationships of the
governments in the
Student applies mathematical principles and operations to solve problems.
¬ Student demonstrates knowledge of basic skills, conceptual understanding,
and problem solving with numbers and operations.
¬ Student demonstrates knowledge of basic skills, conceptual understanding,
and problem solving in geometry and measurement.
¬ Student demonstrates knowledge of basic skills, conceptual understanding,
and problem solving in functions and algebra.
¬ Student demonstrates knowledge of basic skills, conceptual understanding,
and problem solving in statistics and probability.
¬ Student solves problems that make significant demands in one or more of
these aspects of the solution process: problem formulation, problem
implementation, and problem conclusion.
¬ Student communicates his/her knowledge of basic skills, understanding of
concepts, and his/her ability to solve problems and understand mathematical
communication of others.
Student applies scientific concepts and skills to explain his world and
find solutions to its problems.
¬ Student observes, compares, orders, and categorizes characteristics and
behaviors.
¬ Student communicates ideas.
¬ Student relates factors of differing objects and events, and infers about
unknown or unseen processes.
¬ Student applies knowledge and thought processes to explain his/her world
and solve problems.
¬ Student shows a perception of the interrelationships among the scientific
themes (energy, interactions, patterns, and change) and their application to
the four spheres (lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, ecosphere).
¬ Student recognizes the effects of the sciences,
technologies, and
societies on one another and on the environment.
Student realizes his own unique educational interests, talents, and
abilities.
As
we continue the WASC self study process, we will be looking at what we can do
to better serve you and help your student(s) to achieve the above goals. One way that we will be helping the students to
achieve these goals is by developing small tests throughout the year to help
you and your student know if he is on target throughout the school. This will be part of our schoolwide
benchmark assessment plan. If you are
interested in being part of the schoolwide benchmark
assessment planning meeting on March 15, I encourage you to call me at the
So far the majority of our families have signed up to receive an Edusoft account which is also a tool to help your students achieve. I hope that you are finding this useful. We have provided a few extra training options which we hope have been helpful. This tool has been found to be user friendly and easy to use.
As we gear up for the last part of this school year, I want you to be encouraged that we are here to do whatever we can to aid you in the success of your children!
It’s that time of the year again. Testing time! This year however, we have a resource available to help prepare our students for the types of questions they will be tested on, while also preparing them for what form the standardized testing will take.
I have personally used Edusoft this year with my children to go through the standards one-by-one and to identify any areas that they may have weaknesses. I have made this a part of every school day for my children. I go to the Edusoft website and print an assessment for one of the standards at their individual grade level in either Math or Language Arts. I require them to complete one assessment each day. When they have finished the assessment I correct it with the provided answer key. By doing this I can see which standards they have mastered and which standards we need to address again or spend more time on. After we have addressed that standard by revisiting it or spending more time on it, I go back to the Edusoft website and develop another assessment to retest the standard. You can choose different questions each time you develop an assessment, so the child cannot memorize the answers.
The website is not difficult to use and adds only an additional 20 minutes to your child’s school day. As a parent and a former public school teacher, I have found Edusoft to be an invaluable tool for charting my child’s progress, as well as an additional accountability measure for me.
On Tuesday, March 2nd there will be an Edusoft Training in
Connecting Waters Charter School Waterford Office phone number -
(209) 874-9463
by Janet Marsh
For
information on current research in the field of reading development, check out
the
Here are some
common ideas about reading that have been recently researched and documented by
Joseph Torgesen concerning making improvement in
reading fluency.
“The top 5 myths about interventions for struggling readers :
To Become a Fluent Reader:
Implications for instruction:
The best way to
teach reading according to the current research findings is with one-on-one
instruction or no more than 1 – 3. We
are one step ahead in this process as most of our parents do teach reading
one-on-one to our students. What may be lacking if our students encounter
reading difficulties, according to this study, is total mastery of the 44
phonemic sounds from a good complete systematic phonics instruction program
prior to all other reading instruction.
The Center for
Improvement of Early Reading Development offers a publication dated June 2003
free on the internet, “Put Reading First” (http://www.nifl.gov/partnershipforreading/publications/PFRbooklet.pdf)
which summarizes in a very readable, well-organized format the results from
100,000 current reading studies. The publication analyzes reading studies in
the areas of phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and
comprehension, offers a concise definition of terms used in these areas, and
lists the key findings of the research studies. This is a good resource for our
ESs and one that can be easily shared with our
parents on how students learn to read.
[You may also call
800-228-8813 if you would like to request the pamphlet, “Put Reading First”.]
IDA
International
Dyslexia Association – Setting New Goals for Reading Intervention Workshop
–
Summary - By Marsha Silva
First Reader by Billy Collins (poet laureate of the
I can see them standing politely on the wide pages that
I was still learning to turn, Jane in a blue jumper, Dick with his crayon-brown
hair, playing with a ball or exploring the cosmos of the backyard, unaware they
are the first characters, the boy and girl who begin fiction.
Beyond the simple illustrations of their neighborhood,
the other protagonists were waiting in a huddle:
frightening Heathcliff,
frightened Pip, Nick Adams carrying a fishing rod, Emma Bovary riding into
But I would read about the perfect boy and his sister
even before I would read about Adam and Eve, garden and gate, and before I
heard the name Gutenberg, the type of their simple talk was moving into my
focusing eyes.
The whole message of Dr. Torgesen, in a nutshell, was that it takes more TIME to teach students to read! It is also an excellent idea to use a variety
of methods to address many issues, keep the interest of the student, and reach
the student as many ways as possible.
The student needs more time which would include longer periods of
learning and more practice. The reading process needs to become
automatic. Students need “scaffolded” instruction.
This is instruction that builds on a foundation. Sometimes
it is called spiraling instruction. Yes, your student is covering the same
material again this year! You thought
that it looked familiar didn’t you? It
is not just review, it is scaffolded
or spiraling instruction. There is a
foundation laid and then it is built upon day after day and year after year.
One easy suggestion for more
hands on practice is a program that many of you may be familiar with, it is
called READ, WRITE, and TYPE! It is a
CD-Rom that is available from several of our vendors that teaches the student
to type.
Another important note that
Dr. Torgesen mentioned is that the reading programs
that we do decide to try should be used with the “proven methodology” which
means, use it the way it was designed to work.
It is not always easy to follow the directions of a reading program but
he emphasized the importance of doing
it.
Dr. Torgesen
presented “The consensus view of most important instructional features”
Interventions are more effective when
they:
Provide systematic and explicit
instruction on whatever component skills are deficient: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary,
reading comprehension strategies
Provide a significant increase in intensity of
instruction
Provide ample opportunities for guided practice of new
skills
Provide systematic cueing of appropriate strategies in
context
Provide appropriate levels of scaffolding as children
learn to apply new skills
March
Interactive Videos
Is your child bored with running and tired of mundane exercise? Are you looking
for some exciting P.E. ideas for the Spring? Come
check out some of our Dance
Videos at the Ceres/Modesto Learning Center! It's easy to catch the groove with
these
interactive videos that teach kids popular dances such as: The Wild Wild West,
Mambo #5, Livin' La Vida Loca,
and The Hip Hop!
We also offer other interactive videos such as: Hand Jive, American Sign
Language, Bob Ross's Wet on Wet Art Workshop, and Gallary
Glass - learning easy
techniques of glass decorating.
Tutoring
If you find your child needing extra help in
subject, the C/MLC is pleased to offer several tutors that tutor on site
or may
even come to your home. Call the center at 541-1531 for more information and
details.
Support
It is not too late to support our center! If you find
that you have extra
Instructional Funding available, talk to your ES about donating it to our site.
Our site runs off of parent donations of instructional funding and we
appreciate all of you who have supported it this year!
Hours
M 9-2
T 11-4:30
W 9-2
Th 11-4:30
F 9-4:30
Cathy Moretto, Site Program Coordinator
Kim Davis & Kathrin Gardea,
Site Clerks
Closed Mondays
Tuesday- Thursday 9-4
Friday 10-3:30
209-239-7306
NEW CLASS- We have a new California History class for third through
fifth graders starting March 31. The class will run Wednesdays from 10-11 at
the
MATERIALS- Stop by and see what’s new at the center. Materials are
coming and going daily.
EDUSOFT- If you have not taken advantage of the wonderful testing
practice offered through our Edusoft Program, please
contact your ES for more information. Introducing practice tests to your child
will prove invaluable when STAR testing comes in March. We have a scanner
available at the site for you to scan in your student’s answers and create
testing record folders. Contact your ES or call the MLC for more information.
SCIENCE CAMP (Outdoor Education) Grades 5 & 6,
April 26-30 at Redwood Camp,
Manteca Learning Center Revised 2/20/04
Spring ‘04 Classes
Course Name Grades Dates Time Instructor Cost
TUESDAYS
Better Writing 5-7 8 Weeks 1-2:15 W. Arotca $7
(School Sponsored) 1/20-3/9
Better Writing 3-4 8 Weeks 2:30-3:30 W. Arotca $7
(School Sponsored) 1/20-3/9
HS Writing 7-11 1/6-5/18 11-12:00 T. Matranga $144
Zebra (Painting) 4-12 1/20-5/18 9-11:00 Timeless Treasures $220 PO
Call Michelle Dunwoody for availability 572-4425
Seascape (Painting) 4-12 1/20-5/18 11-1:00 Timeless Treasures $220 PO
Call Michelle Dunwoody for availability 572-4425
Floral (Painting) 4-12 1/20-5/18 1-2:00 Timeless Treasures $160 PO
Call Michelle Dunwoody for availability 572-4425
Landscape (Painting) 4-12 1/20-5/18 2-3:00 Timeless Treasures $160 PO
Call Michelle Dunwoody for availability 572-4425
WEDNESDAYS
Math 1-3 1-3 1/7-3/3 10-11:00 J. Sandberg $45
Intro To Illustration 2-4 1/14-5/18 9-10:00 P. Maness $125
California History 3-5 3/31-5/18 10-11:00 J. Sandberg $40
WEDNESDAY/THURSDAYS
Computer-Aided Illustration 9-12 1/14-5/19 10-11:00 P. Maness $200
THURSDAYS
Intermediate Illustration 5-8 1/15-5/19 9-10:00 P. Maness $125
Intro To Spanish 3-7 2/5-5/20 12:30-1:30 R. Gomez $85
Spanish 1- Standards 8-12 2/5-5/20 2-3:00 R. Gomez $85
FRIDAYS
Math 4-6 1/7-3/3 10-11:00 J. Sandberg
$45
Also Available Offsite
*Ice skating- Oak Park Ice Rink, Stockton, 937-8123. $6.50 per 2-hour session, includes lesson, skates, and ice time. Thursdays,
*Karate- Mitoses,
Also at Mitoses: Little Dragons, 4-6 year olds, $45 month, Wed. 5-6 p.m. &
Sat. 9-10 a.m.
*Cindy's
*Esteem Dance- In Ripon. Ballet & Jazz. Call for
prices & details. 599-2046
*Gymstars- Gymnastics, Cheerleading, Karate, &
Hip Hop Dance,
REQUIREMENT FOR 1ST GRADERS
Child Health and Disability
Prevention Program (CHDP) is a preventative health program serving
By law, all children entering
the first grade are required to have either
a certificate of a CHDP
health examination or a waiver on file at the school in which they enroll.
School health examinations must be completed within 18 months prior to or 90
days after 1st grade entry unless the parent or guardian signs a
waiver stating they do not want, or they are unable to obtain an examination
for their child.
If you have questions
regarding the CHDP requirements please call
Immunization
Update
Chickenpox (varicella)
vaccine is required by
kindergarten entry,
effective
given on or
after the first birthday.
DTaP
(diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus), Polio, Hepatitis B
and MMR
(measles,
mumps, rubella) immunizations are also required for school
entry.
You must show proof of
immunization, such as the yellow
Immunization
Record, to register your child. Check with your doctor
or clinic
about the shots needed for school.
7th Grade Immunization Requirements
There are now 7th grade
immunization requirements. Students entering
7th grade in both public and
private schools now need additional
shots. They
need 3 hepatitis B immunizations* and a second measles
(or MMR)
shot. A Td booster is recommended as well. The school will
ask to see
your child's Immunization Record as proof of immunization.
It takes a minimum of 4 months to
complete the series of three hepatitis B
shots. In order
for your child to enroll for the 7th grade he/she
must have
started the series. Please take a moment to review your childs
immunization record
and plan ahead.
* A 2-shot series of hepatitis B
vaccine for 11-15 year olds can meet
the
requirements depending on the vaccine your doctor provides. Check
with your
school.
The law allows permanent or
temporary medical exemptions. If exempted
for medical
reasons, a doctor's written statement is required. If
immunizations are
contrary to the religious or personal beliefs of
the parent,
a personal beliefs waiver needs to be signed. (On the
back of the
California School Immunization Record is a personal
beliefs waiver
to be signed by the parent. Make sure the student's
name,
address, and birthdate are written on the front of
the form and
that the
signature is in the personal beliefs box on the back.)
For further information, contact
your physician, school nurse or
local health
department. This information was provided by the
California Department of Health
Services, Immunization Branch, 2151
Connecting
Waters Senior Graduation Update
The high school graduation will be
The senior graduation information meeting was held February 17th at the Modesto/Ceres Learning Center. There were approximately 24 parents and students in attendance. All aspects of the graduation were covered.
We are making available the opportunity for one or more of the graduating students to give a short 3 to 5 minute speech or performance. All speeches must be submitted by April 2nd to the CWCS Waterford office. The CWCS parent council members will choose and approve the speech(s) that will be given during the graduation. Please notify Loie Varner at the CWCS Waterford Office (209-874-9463) by April 2nd if you wish to perform at the graduation. The graduation performance committee will choose and approve the performances for the graduation.
Order forms for the cap and gown unit and announcements have been sent to all those who are signed up to participate in the senior graduation. If you have not received these, please call the CWCS Waterford Office (209-874-9463). You must have a cap and gown ordered through the Academic Affairs form provided in order to participate in the graduation ceremony. You must personally order and pay for these items. Academic Affairs must receive your payment no later than April 9th, after this date your order will incur an additional $12 charge for special processing. Announcement orders and payment are due no later than March 1st. Announcements are optional.
There will be a digital presentation for the graduation. Each graduate will need to send three pictures, preferably a baby picture, a grade school picture, and a current picture to the CWCS Waterford office ATTN: Loie (see address below). Put your name and phone number on the back of each picture. We must receive these pictures no later than April 2nd. The pictures will be returned to the graduate during the ceremony practice time.
Leonard Photography will be at the graduation practice and during the graduation to take individual graduation pictures. A group graduation picture will also be taken, and may be added to a picture package which starts at $23. An order form will be sent to you in April.
Each graduating student is being ask to submit a 3 X 5 card that will be read by an while the student is receives their diploma. Ideas for things to write on the card are plans or goals for the future, thank yous, any special achievements you may have had during you high school years, etc. A 3 X 5 card will be mailed to all students signed up to participate in the graduation. The completed 3 X 5 card should be mailed to the CWCS Waterford office (see address below) by May 6th.
Connecting
Connecting Waters Eighth Graduation Update
The eighth grade graduation will be
The eighth grade graduation information meeting was held February 10th at the Modesto/Ceres Learning Center. There were approximately 20 parents and students in attendance. All aspects of the graduation were covered.
It was decided during the February 10th meeting that boys should wear dress pants and a shirt with a collar (ties and suit coats are optional) and girls should wear a modest dress or skirt & blouse.
There will be refreshments served immediately after the graduation. If you would like help with the refreshments please contact the CWCS Waterford office (209-874-9463).
We are making available the opportunity for one or more of the graduating students to give a short 3 to 5 minute performance. Please notify Loie Varner at the CWCS Waterford Office (209-874-9463) by April 2nd if you wish to perform at the graduation. The graduation performance committee will choose and approve the performances for the graduation.
Leonard Photography will be at the graduation practice and during the graduation to take individual graduation pictures. A group graduation picture will also be taken, and may be added to a picture package which starts at $23. An order form will be sent to you in April.
The parents of graduating student are being asked to submit a 3 X 5 card that will be read while the student receives their diploma. Ideas for things to write on the card are encouragements to the student, student’s achievements, special talents and abilities, etc. A 3 X 5 card will be mailed to all students signed up to participate in the graduation. The completed 3 X 5 card should be mailed to the CWCS Waterford office (see address below) by May 6th.
Connecting