Why I Tested My Children...
By Sherri Nelson
As many of you know, both of our dear children were reared on a non-classroom based education. We began teaching our children when they were born! Of course, their formal school type education began around age 5. It was a wonderful adventure and one that I have never regretted and highly recommend. During those early years we didn’t know anything about charter schools and they weren’t enrolled in a charter school until our oldest was in 5th grade and our youngest was in 3rd grade. Prior to that, we felt that it was important that our children learn the ‘skill’ of test taking since neither of us were good test takers! My husband and I agreed that we wanted them to learn and not be afraid of test taking since it was a part of life. We always felt that we wanted our children prepared for all phases of life. We never knew what tomorrow would hold. We just never knew if maybe one day I wouldn’t be able to teach the children in a non-classroom setting and they would need to be thrust into a traditional school setting. So although our schooling was that of a typical home schooler, I always prepared them for aspects of classroom schooling. Providing testing was one aspect of this preparation.
We had regular weekly assessments but I’m referring to the yearly ‘standardized testing’. Today, for us, it’s called STAR! I found that my children needed to learn to: pace themselves while taking the test, bubble in the correct circle, learn the art of choosing the best answer through elimination, and to just do their best! Although, I couldn’t be in the room with them while they tested, I could prep them at home and be their cheerleader and encourager.
Connecting Waters Parent Council chairman, Dave Harris, has listed his reasons why your children should test and why he tested his children:
1. To do your part to keep the school's charter so you can continue to have a
high degree of choice for schooling your children
2. To provide an additional experience for your children,
3. To provide evidence for those responsible for our school funds to show
"the powers that be" that the money is producing results,
4. To prevent the requirement for remedial courses when your children are
starting college,
5. To get prizes
6. To prove how good we are : )
I’ve found all of these to be excellent reasons and I can think of one more. Our children were each able to fund nearly half of their college tuition while attending a private school through their testing results. We’re really happy about this and happy that we provided them a testing foundation!
We appreciate all of your support and dedication to our school. I hope that some of the above ideas and reasons for testing will be helpful to those who are like me and are not fond of testing.
Assessment
Department
Dates
Star Writing Test (4th &
7th Grades Only) March 1st and March 2nd
Make-Up Day
Physical Fitness Test (5th, 7th
& 9th Grades Only) April 5-22nd-dates are dependent
upon the specific test site.
Star Multiple Choice Tests (2nd
through 11th Grades) April 5-22nd- dates are dependent
upon the specific test site.
Notes for Parents: Please make sure that your student
shows up on time to testing with a good breakfast and restful night sleep. Have your child bring school work or a
library book to read when they have completed the test. They need to make sure that they have a lunch
or substantial snack for each testing day.
Encourage your student to do each portion of the test as
instructed. If they don’t know an answer,
it is better for them to make an educated guess rather than leave the item
blank.
Frequently Asked Question:
What is STAR
testing?
STAR refers to the Standardized Testing and Reporting Program.
STAR is a
What happens
to our student’s test scores?
STAR test scores are sent directly to the parent/student when
received by the charter school and the scores will be put into the student’s
cumulative file. The parent can choose NOT to have the test scores placed in
the student’s cumulative file by selecting that option on the Student
Agreement.
STAR tests are scored by a state selected independent contractor.
Only aggregate school scores are sent to the state, not individual student
scores. These scores are used as part of
the criteria used by the state to derive our API scores.
Which tests
are used in the STAR program?
The STAR test consists of three components: An achievement test
chosen yearly, the California Content Standards Test, and the California
Writing Standards Test (for grades 4 and 7 only).
Who must take
the tests?
All students in grades 2 through 11 in
Do students
with limited English Proficiency have to take the STAR tests?
YES, all students must take the STAR test.
May any
student be tested a grade out-of-level?
No. Only special education students, with specific IEP statements,
may test out of their grade level. Your student will be tested according to the
grade level listed on your Student Agreement.
This may be
Where can I
find further information regarding STAR?
- For information about
Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR), visit the California Department
of Education's web site at: http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/sr/
- For information on
the California State Standards, and Curriculum Frameworks and
Instructional
Material, visit the following CDE link: http://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/
- For
information on CST and NCLB blueprints, visit the following CDE link:
http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/sr/blueprints.asp
Physical
Fitness Test (
PFT )
·
This is a
state-mandated test to be administered only to 5th, 7th, & 9th grade
students, annually, in
·
95% student participation is
required.
·
Students who are physically
unable to participate in
all elements of the test are expected to take as many as their
condition permits, the State offers no waivers.
·
We give this test in conjunction with
STAR testing. Check your specific STAR test site schedule for dates and times.
·
The following exercises will be assessed:
1)
one mile run/walk (if student cannot run total distance, walking is permitted).
2)
height and weight documented (data is put into a
formula to determine body fat percentage-care will be taken to respect
privacy).
3)
curl-up
4)
trunk lift
5)
push-up
6)
shoulder stretch
·
The estimated time for
finishing this test is an hour and a half.
·
Please remind your student to
wear appropriate clothing on the day of testing and bring water to drink.
GUIDANCE DEPARTMENT INFORMATION - March
Greetings from the Guidance Department! We are here to help you determine your future
academic and career goals. Contact
information:
Mary Halter
1-800-458-7050 ext.2
Becky Cote
10th grade families…
The Guidance
Department will be offering individual guidance counseling sessions for 10th
graders in March and April. We will be
calling you to schedule your meeting time/date. The goal of the meeting is to review your
child’s academic progress and to discuss post-high school career/college
planning. Look forward to seeing you
there!
SCHOLARSHIP INFORMATION
Hot tips for finding scholarships:
1) Check the monthly newsletter Guidance Department section.
2) Register for an online scholarship search service: www.fastweb.com www.xap.com www.wiredscholar.com www.brokescholar.com
3) Use a search engine to find scholarships specific to your needs: i.e. www.google.com "scholarships for athletes with asthma"
4) Check with parents' place of employment, credit unions, service clubs, etc. to see what scholarships may be available
DELTA COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS - For seniors and/or juniors who will be attending
MJC
SCHOLARSHIPS – For seniors and/or juniors who will
be attending MJC as new in-coming freshman by January 2006. Complete the online application by
Kohl's
Kids Who Care program
provides Kohl's an annual opportunity to recognize and reward kids who volunteer
in their communities. Open to all grades, ages 13 - 18. Any individual 21 or older may nominate a
student for this award and will be asked to write about the nominee's
volunteerism in their community. Awards will range from $50 at the store
level to $1,000 at the regional level. National awards are $5,000. Details and
applications are available at: http://www.kohlscorporation.com/CommunityRelations/Community02.htm Applications must be received by March 15.
Ayn Rand Essay Contest for 9th and 10th graders: based
on the novel "Anthem", prizes range from $30 to $2,000 cash. For
complete rules and to submit your essay online, go to: www.aynrand.org/contests . Application deadline is March 18.
Ayn Rand Essay Contest for 11th and 12 graders: based
on the novel "The Fountainhead", cash prizes range from $50 to
$10,000. For complete rules and to submit your essay online, go to: www.aynrand.org/contests . Application deadline is April 15.
AFL-CIO
California Labor Federation will award $2,000 scholarships
to seniors throughout
Young
Cancer Survivor Scholarship Program awards stipends of up to $5,000 per year to seniors or current college students
in need of financial aid. Eligibility requirements include: diagnosis before
age 18, demonstrated financial need, plans to attend a 2 or 4-year college in
National
Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) is offering $1,000
scholarships to a minimum of 300 students nationwide. Awards
are NOT based on financial need. Applicants must be seniors who will enroll in a 2 or
4-year college or vocational program in fall 2005 and
who demonstrate entrepreneurial spirit and initiative, such as starting a
business or participating in business-related clubs or activities. Applications
may be downloaded at www.NFIB.com/education . There is a nomination process as
well - see description at the NFIB website. Postmark deadline for application
packets is March 15.
AUHENG
of Lawrence Livermore Laboratory will award scholarships to seniors who will attend a public or
private 2 or 4-year college or vocational school in
fall 2005. Applicants must have a 2.5 minimum GPA and be a
Youth Opportunities Foundation will award scholarships up to
$500 to Latino high school seniors. Eligibility requirements are: 1) At least
one parent must be of Hispanic
origin. Applicants must be residents of California, but do NOT have to be U.S.
citizens 2) Academic excellence - must have completed UC A - G requirements,
must enroll as full-time college students in the fall, SAT score must be 1000 or
higher, Honors and AP courses are required. Minimum 3.8 GPA 3) Leadership -
participation in student government, yearbook, newspaper, school clubs,
athletics or community affairs
4)
Financial need - applicants must have demonstrated financial need. Example: top
income for a family of 4 = $60,000 year 5) Applications must be received at YOF no later than March 31.
Applicants can download application at: www.yoflatinoscholars.com
Jiffy
Lube and the Greater Stockton Chamber of Commerce's Business
Education Alliance (BEA) will award four $1,000
scholarships to local seniors. Minimum 3.0
GPA to apply. Four short essays, application
form, and a transcript is all it takes to apply for this scholarship. Download
an application at www.jiffylubeca.com or www.bea2003.com
Mail no later than April 15.
Gateway
to Success sponsored
by Chela Education Financing is
sponsoring ten $5,000 scholarships for
high school seniors. Submit your entry for this drawing at www.chelastudentloans.org . They will accept applications
through April 26. While you're
there, you'll also find information on financial aid and you can order your
free CD-Rom, "A Parent's Guide to Paying for College".
Outback
Steakhouse and Business Education Alliance offers the Down Under scholarship program for high
school seniors in our
area. Applicants should demonstrate the traits of hospitality, sharing,
fun and courage in their daily life. Minimum 2.5 GPA.
Download an application at: www.bea2003.com . Mail all required materials no
later than April 30.
Ahahui Kalakaua Hawaiian Club provides scholarships to
students who are residents of
United
Negro College Fund offers thousands of scholarships to African American college-bound
students. Eligibility requirements include minimum GPA of
2.5, demonstrated financial need and completion of the FAFSA. Go to http://www.uncf.org/scholarships/index.asp for applications and details.
Deadlines vary by program.
SUMMER PROGRAMS
InnerSpark –
The
Pre-College Program at the San Francisco
Art Institute is an intense, 5-week summer arts program for high school
students ages 16–18. Participants experience the atmosphere of college life
while earning up to 5 units of college credit. For more information on dates
& programs available, visit www.sfai.edu
COSMOS - California
UC DAVIS March 31, 2005 .
A Taste
of College at HARVARD UNIVERSITY for high
school students who have completed their senior, junior, or sophomore year. For more information and to apply online visit www.ssp.harvard.edu.
UNIVERSITY OF THE PACIFIC
(UOP) Summer Scholars Program for high school seniors
and juniors. Visit www.pacific.edu/cpce for
information and to download the application packet.
Pre-College Summer at Brown University Providence , RI
Summer Sessions 2005 at Washington University St. Louis , MO.
Summer
Leaders Seminar 2005 at West Point . Visit http://forms.admissions.usma.edu/AL
for more information.
Pre-College
Program at Barnard College
in New
York City
College Entrance Exam Test
Dates and Deadlines – Class of 06 and beyond
|
Test |
Test Date |
Registration |
Late Registration |
|
ACT |
|
March 4 |
March 18 |
|
SAT I & II |
|
March 25 |
Apr. 6 |
|
SAT I & II |
|
April 29 |
May 11 |
|
ACT |
|
May 6 |
May 20 |
For College Entrance…take the new SAT and/or the ACT (with optional
writing portion). Register – SAT - www.collegeboard.com , ACT
- www.actstudent.org
School Code 053706
SAT Preparation class
A small
investment of time and energy spent preparing for the SAT can yield great
rewards for your future. The course will
be held at
Thank you and Pie in the Sky or Face??!! By Marsha Silva
Thank you
to all who attended and helped with the PLS workshops and training last
week!!! We want to especially thank Glenna Miller, Linda Marty, Shanaz Shah, and Daneen Campa, ESs who had already been there the first half of the
day, for staying the rest of the day to help myself, the parents and the
students!!! We really needed you!! Thank you so much!!!
We want
to thank PLS for doing such a wonderful job teaching us about Learning
Styles! Also thank you to Mary Vinnedge,
school secretary for helping with the parents in the PLS room.
We give our
appreciation and thanks to our vendors NASCO, Power-Glide, and Douglas Jay
Enterprises (Character First) for teaching us so many new things!!! While PLS was training the parents about
learning styles, Blaine Washburn from Power-Glide was teaching the K-8th grade
students how to speak Spanish. Then Hazel and friends from NASCO taught
us about Gyotaku, Japanese Fish printing, each student
did a print and then if they so desired decorated it with chalk.
We even had time for them to come up and use the microphone to state
their name and show their print along with the creative chalk decoration on
it! Then came Margi Myers, Jared Myers, and Nicole Rowe to show
us what a Character First Assembly is
like!! They taught us about "Flexibility" and Mrs. Silva almost
got a pie
in the face!!! Someone else DID
get a pie in the face, if only you were there you
would know who it was!!
Make sure and
come to the Character First Assembly on March 7th, we will be looking for you!!
PMCT
- Personalized Monthly Curriculum Training
Thursday,
March 17th at the Ceres/Modesto Learning Center from 6:30 pm to
8:30pm Organizer and businesswoman Ronda Melendez from Everest Consulting will
give us a good solid hour and a half of training on organizing our time and
space. Seating will be limited so please
email msilva@connectingwaters.org
to let me know if you want us to sign you up.
Outline for Presentation
I.
Saving Sanity by Learning to Organize Your Home and Your Time
A. Introduction
and Overview : Items to be covered
1.Organizing
Boot Camp—Foundational Principles of Organizing
Anything
2. Tips
for Organizing a Child’s Room
3. Organizing
your Home-Education Area
4.Filing for
Personal and Home-education needs
a. Options in systematic filing
5. Time
Management-Learning to control your home so that it does
not control
you!
II. Organizing
Boot Camp—Foundational Principles of Organizing
Anything!
A. 12 Tips to organize any room or space.
B. Basic Tools
for the job
C. Tips
Specifically for Organizing a Child’s Room
1. Caution:
Their tools of choice may not be your own!
D. Organizing your
Home-Education Area
E. Filing for
Personal and Home-Education
1. Options in systematic filing and
explanation of each one.
III. Home
and Time Management- Eliminate Undue Stress: Techniques to
Control your home so that it does not control you and your loved
ones!!
A. Using a
Household Binder & the Computer to Manage your Home-Save more of your hard-earned
time and money!!
Meal Planning and Preparation—Basic Time Saving Principles for making meal times relaxing and gratifying for the whole family
Character Building
When: Monday, March 7th
Where: Ceres/Modesto Learning
Center
Ceres, CA
(209)-541-1531
Connecting Water’s students are learning
some great character traits every month.
In the month of February our students learned the trait of being
generous. They learned how to share with
others and not expect anything in return.
They also learned that it is good to give of their time and talents and
to praise others for their deeds and talents.
These are very important traits for children, especially in today’s
society that is full of self gratification.
Our charter school is very proud to present these tools to our parents
and students. We hope that these help
parents with the schooling process and help the students to become better
citizens to those around them.
Come to the
next assembly and learn about orderliness. You won’t want to miss this one!! All assemblies are held every first Monday of
the month.
Prizes are awarded to students who recite the “I will”
statements each month. These are the
texts that the students will be reciting for the month of March:
Generosity
Realizing that I am a trustee of all I have and using everything for
the best purposes.
- I will
share what I have with others.
- I will
recycle.
- I will
not expect anything in return for my generosity.
- I will
give of my time and talents.
- I will praise the good I see in others.
You may contact Daneen
Campa at dcampa@ieminc.org
for more information. You may also find
information on “Character First” under our vendor Douglas Jay Enterprises.
ARTS EDUCATION MONTH
MARCH
2005
WHEREAS, Arts Education, which includes dance, music, theatre, and
the visual arts, is an important part of basic education for all students,
kindergarten through grade twelve, to provide for balanced learning and to
develop the full potential of their minds; WHEREAS, through
well-planned instruction and activities in the arts, children develop initiative,
creative ability, self-expression, self-reflection, thinking skills,
discipline, a heightened appreciation of beauty, and cross-cultural
understanding; WHEREAS, experience in the arts develops insights and abilities
central to the experience of life, and the arts are collectively a most
important repository of culture; WHEREAS, many
national and state professional education associations hold celebrations in the
month of March focused on students' participation in the arts; WHEREAS, these celebrations give California schools a unique
opportunity to focus on the value of the arts for all students, to foster cross-cultural
understanding, to give recognition to the state's outstanding young artists, to
focus on careers in the arts available to California students, and to enhance
public support for this important part of our curriculum; and WHEREAS, the California State Board of Education states in its Arts Education Policy adopted in July 1989 that each student should receive a high
quality, comprehensive arts education program based on the adopted Visual and Performing Arts Framework for California
Public Schools, Kindergarten Through Grade Twelve; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED, that
the State Board of Education proclaims the month of March 2004 as Arts Education Month and encourages all educational communities to celebrate the
arts with meaningful student activities and programs that demonstrate learning
and understanding in the visual and performing arts; and be it further RESOLVED, that the State Board of Education directs that suitably
prepared copies of this Proclamation.
Accreditation
Visit in March
This month we will host the visit of WASC (Western
Association of Schools and Colleges) accreditation team to Connecting Waters.
The visit will take place
Sherri and I were pleased to finally meet the chairman of our visiting committee,
Mr. Ralph Vigil. Ralph is the project Coordinator for Dos Palos Oro-Loma Joint Unified School District in Dos Palos, CA. He
has a broad
experience with a variety of programs in education. We are pleased that he accepted
the chairmanship of our visiting committee.
We have finalized and sent the self study document which will be the basis of
our presentation to WASC. The sections of that document are available online at
http://www.connectingwaters.org/accreditation/finals.htm
I would like to personally thank all those of you who have participated in this
process. We are on the home stretch now of this phase of our school improvement
process. And now is the time that many of you can be useful in this process by
meeting with the visiting team in one of the following ways.
1) By accepting the invitation of your ESs to meet at one of the centers
during the visit or
2) Visiting one of the learning centers during the time that the visiting
team is scheduled to be there.
The visiting committee will be giving us their report on March 9th. The final
determination of our accreditation status will be made by the governing board
of WASC. We should know that determination no later than July 30 of this year.
Keep up the good work.
Gary Clark, Self Study Coordinator,
Connecting
Outdoor
To sign up for this, please have your ES sign you up in webfiles
(GEA #9429) and then e-mail me the following information:
Parent Name
Student Name(s) and Grade(s)
Home Phone Number
ES Name
Through your ES, I will send
you an enrollment packet with information and directions.
Cathy Moretto, cmoretto@ieminc.org
Ceres/Modesto Learning Center News March 2005
Inspiration for
You’re a
banker and an artist,
You’re a
sprinter and a florist.
You’re an
actor. You’re a juggler.
You’re a
queen.
You’re a
lawyer. You’re a manager.
You’re a
nurse, and you’re a counselor.
You do more by
Than most have ever seen.
You’re a
driver and a poet.
A politician
(don’t you know it!)
You’re a
botanist, a strategist,
And a judge.
You’re a
mother and a father.
You’re a
runner and a tightrope walker.
You’re a
soldier fighting
In the war on drugs.
You’re a
diplomat and an acrobat.
You’re a
farmer. You’re a friend.
You tell
stories. You mend fences.
You build
dreams.
You’re an
instructor and a trainer,
A communicator and demonstrator.
You’re a
teacher! You’re incredible!
You’re supreme!
From Hugs For Teachers by Martha McKee
Around the House Curriculum Ideas
Kitchen Chemistry<