| September 2000 |
September 2000
Wow! It's hard to believe that anotherschool year has begun already. It has been an energy-charged amazingfirst 2 weeks at CLC. On Tuesday, September 5, we opened our doors to94 students, 37 of them new to our community. For the first timeever, we have 8th graders, most of whom have been here since thebeginning of CLC in 1998. We also have an entire new team of brightand eager 5th and 6th grade students lead by Theresa and Jalynn. And,not only have we added a new classroom space in the white building,but we were even able to convince our landlord to put in 2 huge newwindows upstairs that overlook Memorial Field. Life is good here atCLC! We are very excited to get our third year under way and arelooking forward to a wonderful year ahead.
This month's newsletter is full of information. I know it's a lot ofreading, but there's so much happening at the beginning of a newschool year. (They're not usually this lengthy, really!) Please readthrough the entire newsletter, so that you don't missanything.
FamilyPicnic
Our firstall-community event, a family picnic potluck, will be held onSunday, September 17 from 3-6 p.m. at the lower pavilion atHolmes-Foster Park (off of Westerly Pkwy. across from the CatholicChurch). Please bring place settings and drinks for your family, adish to share, and balls, frisbees, toys, etc. for play. So that wedon't have 90 bowls of macaroni salad, please follow thesesuggestions when deciding what dish to bring for the potluck: if yourlast name begins with A to F, bring a main dish; Gto R, bring a salad or side dish; and S to Z,please bring a dessert. This will be a greatopportunity to get to know one another (and start to connect thenames you hear your child talking about with the actual faces) , tomeet the new students, families and staff, and to just relax and havefun. Please plan on joining us for this informal gathering.
September Parent Meeting & BoardMeeting
Our firstparent meeting of this school year will be on Thursday, September28 at 7:00 in Mark's classroom on the second floor of the whiteclassroom building. The topic will be the CLC curriculum and ourfirst set of projects. This is an important meeting to attend,especially if you have questions about what your child will belearning this year. Students are welcome to come also, but theyusually end up in one of the classrooms working on the computers.(Surprise!) The monthly parent meeting is followed immediately by themonthly CLC board meeting. The board includes Dr. Josephine Pirrone,the administrative rep., Glenn Johnson, the faculty rep., LizKisenwether (children: Katie-team 1 and Matt-team 3), the parentrep., and Laurie Perman (Nate Ryan-team 2), the community-at-largerep., as well as, one student rep., selected from the studentgovernment. All community members are welcome to attend the boardmeeting and participate in discussion, however; the board members arethe only ones who can actually vote on agenda items.
ProjectBlocks
The core of theCLC curriculum is a series of interdisciplinary project blocks. Thisyear, each student will work through six projects, covering a widerange of topics and activities. Students in Teams 1 & 2 willcomplete all of the projects taught by Josephine and Mark; Team 3& 4 students will work with Theresa and Glenn. Over the course ofthree years at CLC, students will have worked on projects whichinclude the content knowledge in all of the "Knowlecules" (a list ofquestions compiled from typical middle school curricula). Ourcurriculum is not determined by grade level or traditional subjectarea (there is no 5th grade, or 7th grade science or social studiesfor example). We have established a three year cycle of major themesand are designing projects that fit into each of these areas while atthe same time integrating different subjects. Students who spend 4years at CLC will have a bonus experience of helping to create a moreindependent, in-depth final year. For a more detailed explanationof the curriculum, please attend this month's parent meeting.
Thursday "Specials"
Thursday is special at CLC because it's Specials Day! This year wehope they are more special than ever. MichelleRichards has joined our staffas our Phys. Ed. instructor. Michelle has several yearsexperience teaching elementary phys. ed., and is very excited to beworking with middle school students. She has a wonderful,individualized program planned for the students, and has already putout a bid for some real gym equipment. Her other part time job thisyear is teaching at the Nittany Valley Charter School. We hope thatMichelle will help us build our collaborative relationship with oursister charter school.
Dr. Wendy will continue to teach art, but this year sheis joined by Corey Whitesell. Corey holds a degree in TheatreArts, with a specialty in stage management. She is currently workingas the Technical Director for the State College Area High SchoolThespians, and this summer worked as the Apprentice Coordinator forthe State College Community Theatre at the Boal Barn. Together, Wendyand Corey are planning an exciting Integrated Arts Block.Students will meet for a two hour block to explore all of the artsand to plan and produce several performances and/or exhibitions.
The Thursday schedule looks a little different this year. Studentsstay with their pod through the special rotations, but the teams aremixed together. Teams 3 & 4 spend the morning in the Arts block,and then have an hour of Spanish and an hour of P.E. in theafternoon. The schedule is reversed for teams 1 & 2.
The first day of Specials was a bit hectic, but the kids seemed toenjoy themselves. Please ask about your son/daughter's personalfitness goals, and watch for announcements of our first artperformance.
Language Arts Workshop
Lisa Sharfstein will be organizing the Language Arts Workshop forTeams 1 and 2 this year. Some aspects of Workshop will remain thesame as last year: students will continue to choose their topics forwriting, they will publish and contribute to an online magazine, andthey will conference with teachers and peers to improve theirwriting. Other parts of Workshop will be different. The name changefrom Writing Workshop to Language Arts Workshop reflects the contentexpansion into reading, speaking and listening. Students willcontinue to choose their own books for reading, but in addition tothis, small groups of students will form book clubs in order to readand discuss books together. Also, they will push ourselves to exploredifferent genres in both reading and writing. A final focus for thisyear's Workshop will be on improving proofreading and editing skills.A lot of work and many rewards await in Language Arts Workshop!
CLC Computersat Home
One of ourcommitments at CLC is to provide each student/family with a computerin their home while the student is enrolled at CLC. With 96 students,that's a lot of computers! In the next week or so, all students (oldand new) will bring two forms home that parentsneed to sign. One is the Appropriate Internet Use Contract and theother is a Home Computer Agreement. Please note that this yearparents are being asked to take responsibility for arranging forservice of the home computer and transporting it to and fromKeynet/Computerland in Bellefonte, where all of our iMacs areserviced. (CLC will be responsible for the cost of service, unlessthere is evidence of misuse or abuse of the equipment, in which casethe family will be responsible for the associated cost of repair orreplacement.) Please read these forms carefully. review them withyour child, and return them to CLC promptly.
*New iMacs were ordered for Team 4 during the summer, but we have notreceived them yet. (We expect them by the beginning to middle ofOctober.)
If you do not already have Internet access at home, you will need toget it so that you and your child can effectively use the CLC iMac athome. If the monthly fee is cost prohibitive for your family, pleasecontact our office and we will provide you with assistance.
Attendance Policy/Absences
Students are required by Pennsylvania law to attend school until theage of 17. The nature of the CLC instructional program makes it verydifficult for students to "make up" the interactions and activitiesthat are a key component of the curriculum. Parents must ensure thattheir children attend school except in the case of illness, religiousholidays, or other urgent circumstances.
When it is necessary that a student be absent from school, parentsare requested to call the CLC office. We are required to consider allabsences from school unlawful until a written excuse listing thedates of and reason for the absence is received. This note may bee-mailed or sent with the student upon his/her return to school.The CLC faculty is committed to working with parents if an attendanceproblem develops. In the case of excessive absences, the CLC facultymay determine that legal measures are necessary. In such a case, CLCstaff will follow the procedures developed by the State College AreaSchool District to address unlawful absences.
Friday"Mail"
Every Fridayyour child will bring home a Friday "mail" envelope with importantinformation for you. Please get in the habit of asking your child forthe envelope if they do not remember to give it to you Fridayafternoon. (Not that they would forget, of course.) "Mail" mightinclude the monthly newsletter, forms you need to fill out andreturn, a letter from your child's teacher, or your child's weeklyreflection of their school week. Please check for "mail" everyweekend and send the envelope and any forms that need to be returnedback to school with your child on Monday. It's not uncommon for theseenvelopes to get misplaced, left on the bus, eaten by the dog, orintercepted by alien spacecrafts (just kidding), so please help usthis year to minimize the number of replacement envelopes used bykeeping a look out for them.
CLC Web Page
Our web site address is http://clccharter.org. Please getinto the habit of checking the site regularly. The site includeslinks to each teacher's home page so that you can check out what'shappening in school, as well as each student's home page which theyhave created themselves. There are also links to parent and boardmeetings, newsletters, the on-line student magazine, and much more.M.J. will also update the "Announcements" on the front page on aregular basis with important information that can't wait until thenext newsletter. Check it out!
CallingSchool/Calling Home
If you need toreach your child during school hours, please call the officenumber 861-7980. M.J. is in theoffice daily from 7:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Ifshe is unable to answer the phone, and it is not an emergency, pleaseleave a message and it will be delivered to your child as soon aspossible. If it is an emergency and no one answers the office phone,call the cell phone number 360-5060.If you are still unable to reach anyone, call one of the classroomnumbers. Theresa's room is 861-7996, Glenn's room is861-8095 and Mark's and Josephine's number is 861-8119.If it is not an emergency, please do not call the classroom whilestudents are in class. (Remember that you can email your child attheir CLC address during the day. They love getting mail!)
On the other side of this is the issue of students calling homeduring the day. Each classroom is equipped with a phone because webelieve it is an educational tool. Students can use the phone to getinformation, to do research, or to arrange for a guest speaker fortheir team, for example. The students also have the privilege ofusing the phone to call their parents when necessary. Our hope,though, was not to have a line of students waiting to use the phoneat 2:50 to call home and ask if they can stay after school or go homewith a friend while the buses are waiting for them. This isdisruptive to the class and not very practical. Please try to firm upafter school plans with your child in the morning. We know thatsometimes things come up and your child will need to call at the endof the day, but if we can avoid this as much as possible, it would begreatly appreciated.
Orderingschool lunches
If yourson/daughter plans to order milk or lunch through the school you needto purchase tickets from the State College School District. At theend of August, you should have received a packet from the SCADS FoodService Department that included meal purchase procedures, orderforms, a menu, and an application for the free/reduced lunch program.There are extra ticket order forms in each classroom, also. If youare confused about the procedure or did not receive the packet,please call our office (861-7980) and let M.J. know.
7th grade openings
We thought wewere starting this school year with full enrollment(96 Students), butbecause of two last minute withdrawls, we find ourselves with only 94students. As a result, we still have two spaces for 7th graders. Ifyou know of any 7th grade student that would be interested in comingto CLC this fall, please have their family contact our officeas soon as possible.
Second AnnualReport Presentation
On Monday, August 28, CLC presented its Annual Report to theBoard of the State College Area School District. Liz Kisenwether,CLC's parent representative and Katie and Matt's mom, made aneloquent presentation. Katie represented our students with grace andstyle. The written report is very impressive; we have created anamazing school in just 2 short years. Many thanks to Dr. Kyle Peckfor all his efforts in compiling the report and to all the staff whohelped in the process and attended the meeting. A special thanks toLiz, Lynn Parker Klees, and Lauri Perman for their activedemonstration of support for our program during the presentation.Theresa summed the experience up: "It gave me tingles! I am so proudto be part of this amazing group of people!" We will be schedulingmeetings with the Bellefonte and Bald Eagle Area School Boards soon -we'll keep you informed of dates.
A Big"Labor Week" Thanks
We wanted tothank the many students and families for volunteering during LaborWeek in August to help get the school ready for opening day. We hadhelp with everything from painting the stairwell, to wiring theclassrooms, to scrubbing the bathroom walls, to setting up desks,tables, chairs and computers, to shopping for supplies, to setting upthe library, and much more. We were amazed at how much wasaccomplished in one week. (Another reminder of what a wonderful,supportive community of folks we have here at CLC.) Thanks, again, toall who were able to help. If you are interested in volunteering atthe school throughout the year, there are plenty of opportunities.Tammy Gentzel (Tyler's mom, Team 3) is our parent volunteercoordinator. She will contact parents throughout the year withspecific volunteer needs. If you are interested in helping out,please contact Tammy or M.J.
Lost and Found
Please, please, please, put your son/daughter's name or initials ontheir lunch boxes, binders, books, sweatshirts and jackets. EveryThursday at our all school meeting, M.J. holds up dozens of itemsthat have been lost and not yet found. Amazingly, it's very commonfor the items to go unclaimed for weeks. We will bring the unclaimeditems to the monthly parent meeting and if they still are notclaimed, we will donate them to the St. Andrew's clothing drive or tothe Goodwill at the end of each month.
Water Bottles
The UBBC building is equipped with water fountains, but the whiteclassroom building only has a water cooler. Students are in the whitebuilding for lunch, phys. ed., and after school. To avoid wastinghundreds of plastic cups per month, we ask that all students have awater bottle with them at school. Please remember to put your child'sname on the bottle since they all tend to look alike.
Extended School Program (ESP)
Diane Lehman, our ESP coordinator, is still in the process ofworking out the schedule, staffing, and club activities for the afterschool program. If you have not done so already, please return theESP survey that was sent home concerning your child's after schoolneeds and interests. Diane will have a link up on our web site byearly next week explaining the program in more detail.
CLC Directory
We are still working on compiling the information from thebeginning-of-the-year forms we sent out. (If you have not returnedthem yet, please do so immediately.) Look for the directory in aFriday "mail" envelope in early October.
WishList
Have you heard the expression,"Be careful what you wish for because you may just get it" ? Well,we're counting on it! Wehave decided to try something new this year and include a "wish list"in our monthly newsletter. If you would like to donate any of theitems listed, please contact our office.
current news magazines (forclassroom & project research)
big throw pillows for the floor (or wedges)
plants for the classrooms
mouse pads
a non-electric floor sweeper
a mop
a really nice globe (this is a big item wish; we have a smallglobe)
glass aquariums in good repair (for the biology project)
emergency lunch supplies (peanut butter and jelly, instant oatmeal,crackers, etc.)
old T-shirts for art class (painting smocks)
*The last item on our wish list is a very important one: we need alawyer familiar with school law to act as our solicitor for theschool year, preferably pro bono. If you know of someone who fitsthis description, please let us know as soon aspossible>