Dear Parents,
We have completed our first round of benchmark testing! Many
have found them to be quite helpful and have used them as a mid term exam.
Others are using them as a means to know what areas need to be reviewed. However you use the exams, please
realize that they are a tool to help your student achieve.
Copies of the exams can still be obtained from the learning
centers or through your Edusoft account if you were
not quite ready for them during the testing window. Copies of the exams that are
obtained from the learning centers do not have answer
sheets (bubble answer
sheets). The answer sheets for your students can only be created through
your ES or parent Edusoft account. However,
answers to the test are provided
and the parent can correct the exam and
provide immediate feedback for your student.
These tests were created by
a team of teachers using the Edusoft's bank of
test questions. Some exams do not have all of the desired number of
test
questions per standard because they were not available in the test
bank. Some of the standards are not represented on the Benchmark exam but are
noted
as a standard that your student may be tested on in the spring. The
Benchmark test schedule
http://www.ieminc.org/handbook/test/cwbenchass/index.htm
will denote the standards that we desire to test for during each
test.
Along with covering these 'essential' standards that are
represented on the
Benchmark exams, we want the parents to teach their
students according to their
interests and talents. We do not want
these exams to stifle the student’s
creativity nor limit their choices!
In Your Service,
Sherri Nelson
Executive Director
Connecting
The
Missing Ingredient For Genuine
Success
by Doug Myers
In 1922
It’s clear from Terman’s own
writings that he expected these gifted children to succeed in life. How did they
do? Some became doctors, business executives, lawyers, actors, teachers,
scientists and engineers. They tended bar, drove trucks, raised families, and
worked as firefighters and police officers. They divorced, committed suicide,
and were alcoholics or homosexuals at about the same rate as the general
population. Others lacked motivation and files show that two of the 1,528
collected welfare checks. (Paddock p 21, LA Times
Magazine, 1995)
Most puzzling to Terman was the failure of some Termites to live up to their potential, after all, they were geniuses. About 30 years into his study Terman sought to identify the reasons for this “success” gap. For this study he chose the 100 most successful Termites, whom he labeled “A’s” and the least 100 successful whom he labeled “C’s”. Terman and an assistant “plotted their data and found that three qualities set the A’s apart: perseverance, self-confidence and the ability to set goals and achieve them.” (Paddock p 29, LA Times Magazine, 1995)
Termite brothers Edward and Arthur Dmytryk are classic examples of “A” and “C” geniuses. In the
1940’s and 50’s Edward was one of
Unfortunately, Arthur did not fare as well. As a teenager he stole a car and was sent to reform school. As a young adult he wrote short stories and attended college. Yet, he never finished his education and drifted from odd job to odd job the rest of his life. Arthur wound up cleaning swimming pools, honorable work, but one might expect more from a genius.
Brilliance and brains it seems does not guarantee success. Many Termites freely admit this. Shelley Smith, who flunked the seventh grade (Imagine that! A public school flunking a genius!) and the youngest of a trio of sibling Termites said of her genius, “It gave us the impression we did not have to do anything. It was conducive to laziness.” (Paddock p 28, LA Times Magazine, 1995)
Some Termites succeeded and others failed, the difference was… CHARACTER!
Thank you to Doug Myers for introducing us to the “Character First!” curriculum!
We had a nice group of parents and students join us for the September PMCT in Ceres.
Doug took us through some of the
“Reasons Why We Must
Teach Character”
- Best guarantee for a student’s future
success.
- Enables them to become better
learners.
- Moves them toward maturity.
- Makes teaching job easier.
- Makes them a valuable member of
society.
- Makes them a valued
employee.
He also told us about the Five Essential Character Qualities of attentiveness, obedience, truthfulness, gratefulness, and forgiveness. He gave us the definitions of each and the five “I wills” to go with each trait. Here is an example:
Obedience
Definition – Cheerfully carrying out the
direction and the wishes of those who are responsible for me.
I
will
- obey my authorities
immediately.
- have a cheerful attitude.
- complete all that I am expected to
do.
- not complain.
- go the “extra mile”.
Doug also told us “How to Train Children in Good Character”. It was very interesting and helpful. We asked a few questions and received lots of good information as you can tell. The Character First! Education program includes ideas about how to raise children with praise. Included in the binder are suggestions in how to catch your children showing good character and what to say to praise them.
When: Every
3rd Monday
Begins Monday, October 18th
Where: Ceres/Modesto
Learning Center
541-1531
Time: 2:30-3:30
pm
Who: Parents and
Students Grades k-8
What: An exciting action
packed hour that will bring to life the character qualities that you’ve taught
throughout the month! The
assemblies will include:
v Student Skits
Presented by Our Student Character Coaches
v Story
v Songs
v Memory
recitation
v Trading
cards
v Prizes from the
treasure chest
v Snacks
Throughout the year
your student will be learning about:
attentiveness, obedience, truthfulness, gratefulness, generosity,
orderliness, forgiveness, sincerity, and virtue
Accelerated Reader
Program
Connecting Waters is proud to offer our students the Accelerated Reader Program. Accelerated Reader is the world’s most popular reading management software. Used in nearly 60,000 schools, Accelerated Reader provides teachers and parents with an easy and effective way to monitor all forms of guided reading practice.
The Accelerated Reader program was
designed to:
v Get students excited about books. Accelerated Reader helps you focus attention on careful reading of books, which improves students’ critical-thinking skills and builds an intrinsic love of reading.
v Obtain reliable, objective information. Six different types of quizzes give you valuable data on students’ textbook reading, library book reading, literacy skills development, and more.
v
Help every student master standards.
Accelerated Reader helps
raise scores on state tests and ensure
mastery of standards
—research proves it!
v Keep each student challenged. Using Accelerated Reader, you can continuously guide students to appropriate books and curriculum. This means you can ensure that every student is challenged without being frustrated.
The Accelerated Reader program is now available to our parents through AR’s
web based system and at the Ceres/Modesto and the
See how Accelerated Reader aligns with your state standards: www.renlearn.com/fundingcenter/statestandards_map.asp
PROMOTE
A
fun idea from a parent – go to http://www.bookadventure.com/ to find
quizzes and prizes for reading books!!
Book
Adventure is a FREE reading motivation program for children in grades K-8.
Children create their own book lists from over 6,000 recommended titles, take
multiple choice quizzes on the books they've read offline, and earn points and
prizes for their literary successes.
(msilva@connectingwaters.org)
But Mom, I don’t know what to
read.
Did you know that the First Lady of the
http://www.whitehouse.gov/ choose First Lady at the top of the page, then choose Recommended Reading from the menu on the left side of the page. Or if it is easier for you, go to the link below:
ENJOY!!!
Remember to encourage
students to read books at their level and in areas of interest for
them.
If students don’t want to write let
them record their thoughts onto a cassette tape. Later you can always have them listen to
the tape and put the words onto paper.
As a former English
major I have spent 8 years of homeschooling looking for a
writing curriculum that works the way I want it to with my children. I've tried
numerous programs and had been disappointed with them all until I found IEW. It has
fulfilled all my personal requirements. It's broken down into easy-to-follow,
logical steps - it's very concrete. It teaches simple outlining and note-taking
first, a key skill in mental organization and preparing a coherent written work.
Then it progressively teaches the student to use their outlines to construct a
well-written paper, one paragraph at a time. By having very specific goals to
achieve it matches the mental process of writing - taking abstract ideas and
making them into a concrete written work.
I had always thought that writing should
be learned, not in isolation as a separate subject, but in the course of using
it to do actual writing about topics that interest the child. IEW is designed to
be incorporated with other school subjects,
particularly history, science and literature. Our family is mainly using it with
our world history studies this year. Each child is assigned to a particular
person or event from a history unit and writes about it at his or her own level.
The younger children are practicing their writing skills by making "key word"
outlines of paragraphs I have selected for them from their history texts (A
Child's History of the World by Hillyer is a
particularly helpful resource for this) and then orally narrating them to me or
an older sibling. My older children
are writing longer summaries from their outlines and learning the various
writing "dress-ups" to add to their compositions to improve the style of their
writing. The goal for each child is to gradually achieve writing independence,
choosing the source texts for their writing and then composing a well-written
essay, critique or narrative.
Since I'm using this program with seven
children at once, five of my own and two from another family, I have found it
helpful to make a checklist of skills for each child. I went through the IEW
syllabus and wrote down the skills to be taught including 1) types of writing
(note taking and outlines, summarizing from notes, summarizing a reference,
library research reports, essay writing, summarizing narrative stories, writing
from pictures, creative writing,
critiques); and each individual stylistic technique: Dress-Ups (clauses,
adjectives, verbs, etc.), Sentence Openers (prepositional, clausal, etc.),
Decorations (questions, alliteration, similes and metaphors, etc.), and Sentence
Styles (each form of repetition).
I teach these elements one at a time to
each child, or group of children, as they are ready. When they have mastered a
skill I check it off on their individual checklist so that I know what they've
done, what to grade them on, and what to
introduce them to next. It only takes a few minutes of my time once or twice a
week to get them started on a new element of writing and each child can progress
at his own pace. This is the first writing program that all
my children have enjoyed using, in fact I often hear them make comments such as,
"This is really fun!" They view it almost as a game and I have seen an immediate
improvement in their writing abilities and in
their willingness to write.
Assessment
Department
We want to let you know that we are taking care of this state mandated testing as quickly as possible. We have several ES's that are specially trained to be examiners for these identified students. The ES's are notifying their students that are identified so they will know what to expect when our examiners contact the families to set up a time and place to test their students. We certainly appreciate everyone's group effort in this process. Our big push is at the beginning of the school year. We will have ongoing students identified as we have new applicants throughout the year.
CELDT TESTING
What is the CELDT?
CELDT is a state mandated test that school districts are required to administer to students whose home language is not English. The purpose of CEDLT is to identify students who are English Learners in Kindergarten through grade 12, to monitor their progress in learning English, and to document their English proficiency.
Who must take the CELDT?
All
students whose home language is not English must take the test within 30
calendar days after they are enrolled in a
Where is the home language identified?
The
parent/guardian or adult student identifies their home language in the Language
Survey section of the Student Enrollment Application. If any of the following
three questions are answered with a language other than English, the CELDT test
must be administered.
1. What
language did your child first learn to speak?
2. Which
language does your child most frequently use at home?
3. Which
language do you most frequently speak to your child?
The dates for the
California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) are Feb 8th for the English
Language Arts (ELA) portion of the test and Feb 9th for the Math
portion of the test. Students planning on graduating anytime in 2006 must pass
both the ELA and Math portions of the test in order to receive a diploma. Ninth
grade students are not allowed to take the exam. Grades 10 and 11 will take the
exam this year.
Information on specific
test times and locations will be mailed to the parents as well as emailed to the
student’s ES by December 1st.
The make up dates of May
10th and 11th are only for those students who do not
attempt the test in February. Students may take one portion of the exam (either
ELA or Math) per test session if they are unable to attend both
days.
STANDARDIZED TESTING AND
REPORTING (STAR)
Please discuss ways to
help your student prepare for the upcoming STAR tests with your Education
Specialist. STAR is administered to students in grades
2-11.
Please check out the
Assessment link on the
All public schools have a
21 day test window in which to complete STAR testing. Student testing will occur
sometime within that test window. Your student will be assigned a test site
according to their geographical location. Specific test dates, times, and
locations will be mailed to parents as well as emailed to the student’s ES as
soon as it is available.
Because we are a publicly
funded school, our California Department of Education, as well as the Federal
Government, has mandated we achieve 95% student participation in the STAR
program.
GUIDANCE DEPARTMENT
INFORMATION
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
“UC/CSU Workshop and Application
Workshop”
Tuesday October 19 –
Tuesday November 2 – Ceres/Modesto Learning
Center
We will briefly
cover each campus in the CSU and UC system. At
College Fairs
Our local community colleges offer college fairs on the
following dates for high school students as well as community college
students. A college fair is
designed for students and parents to gather a great deal of information in a
short period of time. You will be
able to meet with and ask questions of college representatives. For more information, please call Mary
Halter at 1-800-458-7050 ext. 2.
FINANCIAL AID
AND SCHOLARSHIP INFORMATION
WHAT ARE THE SOURCES OF FINANCIAL
AID?
1. COLLEGES: Every college has a financial aid office
which helps students find grants, loans, scholarships and work study
programs.
2. STATE OF
3. LOANS: Request information from the Financial
Aid Office at the college you will attend.
4. MILITARY: The military services have opportunities
that range from ROTC to attendance at West Point,
5. FEDERAL GOVERNMENT: The Pell Grant program provides funds
for low income students.
6. SCHOLARSHIPS: National and local scholarships are
available to high school seniors each year. Resources for finding scholarships
include internet, library, and your local community college career center (most
have a program called
POPULAR FINANCIAL AID AND SCHOLARSHIP WEBSITES:
Commercial/Private
Fastweb
fastweb.monster.com
FinAid
finaid.org
National Association Student
Financial Aid
nasfaa.org
Nellie Mae
nelliemae.org
Sallie Mae
salliemae.org
Scholarships 101
scholarships101.com
Washington Mutual
wamu.com/edloans
Government
California Student Aid
Commission
csac.ca.gov
FAFSA
fafsa.ed.gov
Student Guide (Dept of Ed)
studentaid.ed.gov
Athletics
NAIA
naia.org
NCAA
ncaa.org
NCAA eligibility and online
application
ncaaclearinghouse.net
High School Seniors – Class of
2005
OCTOBER
Apply for CSU and UC online deadline
= November 30.
CSU – http://www.csumentor.com/ UC – www.ucop.edu/pathways
Contact
independent colleges and occupational career schools for admission materials and
financial aid application procedures.
NOVEMBER
November 30 is the application deadline for
CSU and UC.
Pick up the FAFSA and GPA Verification Form, if you’re
applying for a Cal Grant.
**Remember, do not file the FAFSA before
January 1.**
College Entrance Exam
Test Dates and Deadlines – Class of 2005
|
Test |
Test Date |
Registration |
Late Registration |
|
ACT |
Oct
23 |
Sept
17 |
Sept 18 – Oct
1 |
|
SAT I &
II |
Nov
6 |
Oct
1 |
Oct
13 |
|
SAT I &
II |
Dec
4 |
Oct
29 |
Nov
10 |
|
ACT |
Dec
11 |
Nov
5 |
Nov
6-18 |
To Register:
SAT – http://www.collegeboard.com/
ACT – http://www.act.org/
CLASS OF 2006 and beyond…
The class of 2006 will be the
first class to take the new SAT and/or the new ACT with writing for college
admissions. Here's the testing timeline:
October
2004 – Take the new PSAT for practice.
You can call your local high school counseling office to sign up or
Waterford
Fall
2004 (usually November) – Take the PLAN (practice ACT) test. You can call your local high school
counseling office to sign up, Waterford High will not
be offering the test.
Spring
2005 – Take the new SAT and/or the ACT (with optional writing
portion).
Register online – SAT -
www.collegeboard.com
, ACT - www.act.org
WHY IS THE SAT CHANGING? The SAT assesses student reasoning based on
knowledge and skills developed by the student in school coursework. The new SAT
will improve the alignment of the test with current curriculum and institutional
practices in high school and college. By including a third measure of skills --
writing, the new SAT will help colleges make better admissions and placement
decisions. In that way, the new SAT will reinforce the importance of writing
throughout a student's education.
Cathy Moretto, Site Program Coordinator
Shelley Benedetti and Heidi Bowman, Site
Clerks
Monday 9-3:30
Tuesday 9-3:30
Wednesday
9-2
Thursday 9-3:30
Friday 9-2:30
209-239-7306
955 W. Center,
#9
Computer Lab
Our
new computer is lab up and running. We will have a room with 6 intenet-connected computers for student/parent use during
open hours. Thank you,
Site
Support Thank you to those who have so generously supported the sites
this school year. Full support is only $110 per year for K-8 students and $155
per year for 9-12 grade students. This entitles you to unlimited use of the site
and checkout of materials during open hours. If you choose not to support the
site in this way, there is a $5 per student/per visit charge.
Manteca
Learning Center Fall ‘04 Classes Revised 9/20/04
Course Name Grades Dates Time
Instructor Cost
MONDAYS
*NEW* Algebra 1A Grades 8-12
9/13-12/20 9:30-11:30 J.Kaiser $170
TUESDAYS
HS Writing Grades 7-11
9/7-12/21 11-12:00 T. Matranga $144
Mother &
Baby Whale 4-12 9/7-12/21 11-1:00 Timeless Treasures $220 PO
(Oil) Call
Michelle Dunwoody for availability 572-4425
Landscape (Painting) 4-12
9/7-12/21 1-2:00 Timeless Treasures $160 PO
(Oil) Call Michelle Dunwoody for
availability 572-4425
WEDNESDAYS
*NEW* Math 1-3 Grades 1-3
10/27-12/15 9-10:00 J. Sandberg $45
Hands On Science Grades 1-3 10/27-12/15
10-11:00 J. Sandberg $45
Intro To Illustration Grades 2-4 9/8-12/15 9-10:00
P. Maness $98
THURSDAYS
Intermediate Illustration
Grades 5-8 9/9-12/16 9-10:00 P. Maness $98
Intro To Spanish Grades 3-7
9/9-12/16 12:30-1:30 R. Gomez $85
Spanish 1- Standards Grades 8-12 9/9-12/16
2-3:00 R. Gomez $85
Arts & Crafts Grades 3-6 9/9-12/16 12:30-1:30 S.
Bloudoff $105
Arts & Crafts Grades K-2
9/9-12/16 1:30-2:3 S. Bloudoff $105
Drama Grades
1-6 9/9-12/16 10-11:00 A. Whitlock $85
Note: Drama Classes held at Calvary
Church on Lathrop Rd. in Manteca
Drama Grades 7-12 9/9-12/16 11-12:00 A.
Whitlock $85
Note: Drama Classes held at Calvary Church on Lathrop Rd. in
Manteca
Also Available
Offsite
*NEW* Art of Dance, 833 Mellon Ave., Manteca, 823-9989. $38 month. Parent pays yearly $20 reg. fee. Tap, Ballet,
Jazz, Hiphop, Self-defense.
*NEW* Math tutoring at
*Science Camp (Outdoor
Education) Grade 6 Approx. $225. Details to Follow
*Ice skating- Oak Park
Ice Rink,
*Karate- Mitoses, Union
&
Also
at Mitoses: Little Dragons, 4-6 year olds, Wed.
*Cindy's
*Esteem Dance- In Ripon. Ballet & Jazz. Call for prices & details. 599-2046
*Gymstars- Gymnastics,
Cheerleading, Karate, & Hip Hop Dance,
*Janis Music- Music lessons. 138 W. Yosemite,
*Valley Tae Kwon Do, 150 Northgate Drive,
PO (Call for prices) Dave Tomasulo, 825-8825 Olympic
Training Facility
*Kindermusik with Miss Carla is a fun class for parent and child that provides a comprehensive introduction to music for students in Kindergarten through 2nd grade.
For more information, please contact Carla Shryock.
Email: carla30@inreach.com
Website:
www.kindermusikwithmisscarla.com
October Curriculum
Spotlight
If you have a new student who recently started Kindergarten,
the
Take
Home Literacy Backpacks
Bring home a backpack filled with books, games, and counters. These themed backpacks help develop counting skills, learning to sort, reading, and other skills that will help them succeed in Language and Math. Some of the backpack themes include: Friends, Sea Life, Fairytales, Space, Vacations, Dinosaurs, and Transportation.
Literacy Boxes
These boxes all feature hands on activities that help children read and write using ten vocabulary words. Boxes include hands-on vocabulary games for exciting themes such as: Bugs, Food, Wild Animals, and Farms.
Literacy Tips
When helping your child read at home, several strategies may be used
to aid in decoding unknown words.
1. Tell your child to look at the picture. You may tell your child the word is something that can be seen in the picture, if that is the case.
2. Tell your child to look for chunks in the word, such as it in sit, at in mat, or and and ing in standing.
3. Ask your child to get his/her mouth ready to say the word by shaping the mouth for the beginning letter.
4. Ask your child if the word looks like another word s/he knows. For example, “Does bed look like red?”.
5. Ask your child to go on and read to the end of the sentence. Often by reading the other words in context, the child can figure out the unknown word.
6. If the child says the wrong word while reading, ask questions like: Does it make sense? Does it sound right? Does it look right?
October Hours
The Ceres/Modesto Learning Center will be open:
Monday 9-2:30
Tuesday 9-4
Wednesday 9-3:30
Thursday 9-4
Friday
October Events at the Ceres/Modesto Learning
Center
October 26th Picture Retakes
CWCS Computer
Labs
High speed computer
labs are now available for use at the Ceres/Modesto and the
Connecting Waters is excited to be able to offer our students a quiet safe computer environment. Our computer labs are equipped with IBM computers, printer capabilities, high speed internet, internet cameras, filters for safety, and many computer program choices.
The computers may be used for projects, research papers, computer training, Edusoft, Accelerated Reader, and so much more.
Your student will need to sign in at the learning center before using the computers. No food or dinks are permitted around the computers. Students will not be allowed to add, delete, or alter programs already on the computers.
Come in to one of our learning centers soon and take advantage of this exciting new option for CWCS students!!!
School Pictures Make Ups!
School Pictures will be taken at two locations for your
convenience:
Tuesday, October 26th at the
209-541-1531
and
Thursday, October 28th at the
209-239-7306
Both locations are taking appointments between
Call today to make an appointment for your
student!
You may choose from their picture packages at your own
expense or take a picture for the yearbook and receive a free picture ID
card!
A full color
yearbook can be purchased at the time that your pictures are taken for
$25.00.
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