Greetings from Glenn...
One of the challenges that faces the CLC right now is bringing the community together to help us evolve from the solid foundation we have created in the first 3 years. I have been encouraged by the level of parent involvement that I have seen connected to classrooms, in board committees, at the Community Advisory Council and at Parent Meetings. I can't tell you how important this involvement is. At CLC, our mission is focused on making a difference during these middle school years. Connecting teachers and students and parents will make this happen!

With this in mind, November is election month here at the CLC. According to the CLC By-laws, the term of the parent representative to our school board finishes with the end of the calendar year. CLC parents will elect a new parent representative in November who will take office in January. If you would like to be considered for this position, you need to write a short statement of introduction to the community and send it to M.J. as soon as possible. A group of parent volunteers will help to organize the election and information will be sent home later this month in the Friday folders.

Thank you,
Glenn

Team News and Updates
8th Graders have begun research on their topic for the historical investigations article to be published in their Working In America magazine. Next week they will start a week-long mentoring project with Team 5 students. The 8th graders will help them create commercials for various artifacts they have gathered or discovered during Team 5's Ag, Logging, and Mining Project.

Team 6's current project is called "Inventions." They have already examined some of our 21st century technology and created "User Guides" for the CLC community. Their step-by-step guides on how to use super disk drives, Fetch, the GPS, digital cameras, video cameras, search engines, palm pilots, scanners, the various CLC servers, and making web pages, and sending email are available in the Technology Guide folder on "CLC Shared."
They are now looking back at the turn of the 20th century and comparing/contrasting technology available to youngsters then and now. Students will also be looking at famous inventors/inventions and examining their special attributes. After delving into these concepts, they will become inventors themselves. We would be happy to hear of invention-related resources from the CLC community. Any patent lawyers or inventors out there? Team 6 would be happy to be inspired by you.
Look for our Inventions: From Gizmos to Gadgets museum displays during the next CLC Transition Week.

Team 5 has continued its practice of putting field experiences to good use.Our recent visit to Lock Haven's Heisey Museum, for example, inspired the building of miniature rafts (complete with wood dogs, chains, oars, watermelon, bows, pins, and lash poles) and the design of colorful posters highlighting the 1840-1860 Susquehanna West Branch rafting era. We'll soon combine Team Five's grasp of history with the 8th grade team's understanding of technology to fashion videos with ag. logging, and iron-making artifacts serving as the centerpieces. Following a careful look at youngsters' skills and interests, we're ready now to launch a Team 5 Writing Forum. Phase I will include journaling, word games, an optional Writers' Club (short stories, plays, lyrics, poetry) and the creation of multi-topic information cards (antique cars, animals of PA, Centre County history, sports, music, to name a few) to be shared through area businesses and museums.

Team 4 students are now with Katharine and Mike and are working on the Toys and Marketing Project. They are also well into their Independent Projects with rough drafts due on November 13 and final projects due November 20. We hope to hold an Exhibition Day on November 21 in the afternoon. In the past few weeks, Team 4 has expanded their room, thanks to the generosity of the staff. Things look great and the new setup seems to be serving us well. Come by to visit and take a look!

Students from Team 3 have started creating Inquiry Groups in order to study Ecology and Environment with Theresa and Andy. They will be submitting proposals for the project within the next week. We are encouraging kids to think about the bigger picture concerning environment and ecology and ask how their research can affect our daily lives. We would also like students to do field work as part of this project. If there are any parents with backgrounds or interest in caves, recycling, extinction, tornadoes, decomposition, or forests, we'll be looking forward to talking with you.

November Parent and Board Meetings - Thursday, Nov. 15, 7:00/8:00
This month's parent meeting will focus on our math program.

Community Advisory Council Meeting - Thursday, November 8, 7:30
Parents as volunteers will be the topic on the agenda for the Community Advisory Council meeting scheduled for this month. We plan to form committees to work on such things as the library, playground/recess, parent resource library, art block, classrooms, ESP, field trips, book fairs, and more. There are lots of ways to get involved and to help build our community!

Technology Workshops
Glenn will be holding technology workshops for any member of the community that would like to learn more about their CLC home computer. This is especially geared to new CLC parents who have questions about what to do with the computer now that it is home. A smorgasbord of topics will be discussed, including: connecting your iMac to the Internet, troubleshooting problems when they occur, and questions that you might have about specific applications we use here at school.

Mark your calendars! Thursday 11/8 from 6 - 7:30 and Saturday 11/10 from 10 to 12 noon.

Math Olympiad
Does your child enjoy working with numbers, puzzling through math challenges, learning problem solving strategies? Are you looking for stimulating activity for your child during the after school time?

Enclosed in your Friday Folder, you will find a flyer for the Math Olympiad program. The CLC Math Olympiad Club will be meeting on Mondays, from 3:15 to 4:15 beginning on November 5. Diane Lehman (Math Teacher, Office Helper) has been involved in the Math Olympiad program for several years as a homeschooler, and introduced the program to CLC last year. She and Sara Barley (Team 5 Assistant Teacher) will head up the club, working with participants on developing and using problem solving strategies. We would like to invite and encourage all students to attend the first meeting and get a feel for what Math Olympiad is all about. If you need more information, please feel free to call Diane in the office any day from 10:00 to 1:00.

Arts Block / Fitness Class Selection Process
I thought it might be helpful for you to understand the process for scheduling students into Fitness and Art courses. For the Fitness Block, the students are given 4 choices each 6 weeks and are asked to make a 1st choice and a 2nd choice selection. We then take 123 students' requests and try to honor them, keeping the size limits of the class in mind. If a student gets their second choice, we make every effort to give them their first choice the next time around. Tae Kwan Do, for example, has a size limit of 12 students/class. Once we give first priority to students who had their second choice last time, very few spaces are left available. At some point, all students will get their second choice. It can't really be helped. Art Block placement follows the same process, except that the students select their 1st, 2nd and 3rd choices from 6 possibilities. Beginning with the next 6-week block we will send home the selection sheet in a Friday folder so that parents can participate in their child's class selections.

Scholastic Book Fair
We will be holding a Scholastic Book Fair at the CLC from Nov. 27 through Nov. 30. Books will be on display throughout the week. Thursday, Nov. 29, will be a "Family Night" for parents and siblings to come in and make purchases. The books will also be available on Friday, Nov. 30, in the evening during the spaghetti dinner. This is a great opportunity for you to do some holiday shopping while also helping us to build the school library. We will send more detailed information home later in the month.

School Pictures
A reminder that pictures will be taken at school on Monday, November 12. An information packet was sent home in the Oct. 26 Friday folder. The order form and money need to be returned to CLC and given to the photographer on Nov. 12. If you have misplaced the order form, there are more available in the office.

SCASD School Board Elections
The CLC would like to take this opportunity to encourage all CLC parents to vote in the Nov. 6 elections. Specifically, there are several State College School Board seats up for grabs. All of the current members of the Board have been valuable supporters of The Centre Learning Community and we would hate to lose their knowledge of and commitment to our efforts.

Parent Communication/Friday Folders
Friday folders have been an effective way for most CLC parents to receive communication from the school. However, it is a constant struggle for teachers and staff to ensure that the folders not only get home to you, but are returned the following week in order to be sent home again. It can seem like a lot of effort for little progress. Please be sure to ask your child for the folder every Friday so that it can be returned on Monday. It is only 2 months into the school year and we have had to replace about a third of the folders because they have been lost or misplaced. Please help out with this by letting your child know how important it is to you that you receive this information in a timely manner.

Cold Weather Clothing
A reminder that the cold weather is on its way and CLC students need to be prepared. We will continue to go outside for recess, as well as for various class projects, and Fitness classes. Students will not be allowed to stay in because of a lack of proper clothing. Please help us by making sure your child wears warm clothes and brings a jacket, hat and gloves to school when appropriate. Also, with all of these additional items coming to school, our lost and found continues to grow. PLEASE put your child's name on his or her belongings and check the lost and found when you are in the building.

School Dance
Hearty congratulations to all of the eighth graders on a beautiful job with the Fall Dance! Everyone seemed to have a great time with a wide variety of activities. A special thank you to eighth grade parents, David Dunklebarger, hay ride tractor driver (as well as owner of the rig) and John Beard, magician. Both activities added immensely to the evening. The students worked incredibly hard, bringing in donations of food, drink, entertainment, chaperones and decorations. They then spent hours decorating, executing the program and cleaning up the building. On top of all that, they cleared over $200 for the trip fund. Way to go!

New CLC Students and Families
Our enrollment has increased to 123 students again with the addition of Chuck Beck to Team 3. Chuck is a 7th grader who has transferred from Park Forest Middle School. Welcome, Chuck and family, to the CLC community.

Openings Remain for Fall
Despite adding this new student, we are still short of full enrollment. A few openings remain in the 5th, 6th, and 7th grades. Remember - word of mouth has always been our best advertising! If you know of anyone interested in CLC for the 2001-2002 school year, please have them contact M.J. in our office as soon as possible.

Recognizing the CLC Staff Appreciation Lunch "chefs"!
Thanks to the following parents who have provided fabulous food over the past two months for the CLC Staff Appreciation Lunch (generally held on the first Friday of each Month).
October 5th Lunch: Kathy Black, Cynthia Beazell Krchnavy, Heidi Zimbler, Crystal Alexander, Claudia Moeck, and Jennifer Drum, plus Barbara Rhine (food on Sept. 14).
November 2nd lunch: Janine Guillard-McKinnon, Helga Stokes, Sandra Bergen, Kris Eng, Kathy Black and Leigh Ann Soles.
We are always looking for new chefs to cook for our wonderful teachers and staff. We also need volunteers to be in the classrooms from approximately 12 -1 p.m. on the Staff Lunch days so the teachers can enjoy the lunch hour...not just random chunks of time.
If you want to volunteer in either of these ways, please call Annie Lesieutre (237-3672 or ajl@kirkof.meche.psu.edu) or Liz Kisenwether (231-4095 or exk13@psu.edu). Bon Appetit!

Calendar

Nov. 6	State College School Board Elections
Nov. 8	Technology Workshop, 6-7:30 p.m.
Nov. 8	Community Advisory Council Meeting 7:30 p.m.
Nov. 10	Technology Workshop, 10-12 noon.
Nov. 15	Parent Meeting 7:00 p.m. / Board Meeting 8:00 p.m.
Nov. 22, 23, 26	Thanksgiving Vacation - NO SCHOOL
Nov. 27 -30	Scholastic Book Fair
Nov. 29	Scholastic Book Fair Family Night
Nov. 30	8th grade Spaghetti Dinner and Silent Auction