Happy Halloween!!!

Thanks to some awesome CLC parent support, this year's CLCHalloween Party was a great success. Students had fun bobbing forapples, dancing, and snacking on tons of food donated by CLC parents. Meanwhile, our parents had the chance to see some of their students'work in Mark's museum. A special thanks goes to Mark, Malena, Kyleand the rest of Big Pink Dog for providing us with great music. Also, the 4-H club did an amazing job with our Halloween decorations. Once again, thanks to all the parents involved with the party.

Technology Update

What's Sparky? Is it a new CLC mascot? No, it's the name of ournew server that contains all of the students home folders. Sparkyjust had new software installed on it, in hopes of avoiding thecomputer crashes that we have had in the past. So far, so good! What does this mean for our students? Basically, it means that ourstudents have a lot more space to store all their videos, pictures,and whatever else they are using for their projects. Our old serveris now completely dedicated to web pages and E-mail.

Visits Scheduled

On December 8, the State College School Board and Superintendentwill be visiting CLC from 10:30 to 12:00. We are planning on havingparents share their thoughts with the Board and Superintendent around11:30. If you are interested, and have not already E-mailed Brian,contact Brian via phone or E-mail. He will be in touch with youabout any further details.

Administrator

After much thought, the CLC staff has decided that there is a needfor a full time administrative person at CLC. The administrativeperson's duties would be similar to those of an office manager orexecutive secretary. Kyle would still be the Chief AdministrativeOfficer. At the moment our staff has a huge workload, and an officemanager would be a big help. We are currently working on a jobdescription for this person, and we hope to find a solution,internally or externally, in the near future.

Skiing Club 2000

Once again, we will be participating in the Tussey Mountain afterschool ski program. CLC will be going to the mountain on Mondaysfrom 4:00 to 7:00 beginning the first week that we return o school inJanuary. Students will be able to take a bus to the mountain, butthey must have their own transportation home from the mountain. Inorder for you child to participate, you must:

read through the information provided

select a ski package (as listed on page two of the whiteinformation sheet)

fill out the orange registration form

make a check out to Tussey Mountain for the appropriate amount ofmoney

return the registration form and check in an envelope to MarkToci

To receive the best rate, you must complete all of the informationand return that information plus a check to Mark by Friday, November19th by noon. You may still register for the program after thatdate, but you will not be able to take advantage of the specialprice. We will be turning all registration forms and checks into theTussey Mountain office. When we receive the ski passes, we willdistribute them to the students.

CLC students take on the Ark Challenge

CLC students have taken on a major service project. They haveaccepted the challenge presented by Heifer Project International toraise $5,000 to purchase an "ark". HPI is a is well respectedservice agency whose mission is to help end hunger and poverty. Byproviding food and income-producing livestock to farmers all over theworld, HPI helps communities build an economy based on sustainableagriculture. Donors "purchase" animals which are then sent wherethey are needed, along with workers who provide information andtraining. More information about HPI is available on their web site:http://www.heifer.org/.

The CLC student body, led by Katie Kisenwether and Jessi Lehman,have taken on the goal of earning $5,000 by January 3. Thiscontribution will allow HPI to fund: 2 flocks of chicks, 2 sheep, 2trios of rabbits, 2 beehives, 2 trios of guinea pigs, 2 llamas, 2camels, 2 goats, 2 oxen, 2 cows, 2 trios of ducks, 2 water buffalo, 2flocks of geese, 2 pigs, and 2 donkeys for families in South America,Asia, Africa, and the United States. We have contacted other smallschools to invite their participation. The initial response has beenvery positive; this may develop into a wonderful partnership.

We realize that this is a very ambitious goal, but the kids havegreat ideas for fund raisers and a wealth of enthusiasm. The firstfund raiser in the works is a coffee house scheduled for December 5. We hope you will come out and support our efforts. If you have anyquestions, or would like to volunteer to help, please contactJosephine. More information to follow!!

After School Policy Change

The after school program is making some policy changes to keep ourstudents safer. If your child will be leaving school without aparent (and does not do this on a regular basis), please contactBrian (with a note, phone call, or E-mail). Also, no students willbe allowed to leave the school and come back unless:

1. They leave with a parent.

2. They have a note written and signed by their parent(nothing over the phone, unless it is an emergency).

Future Parent Meetings

At our last parent meeting we decided to organize our futuremeetings in order to make the meetings more efficient. Starting thismonth we will have a main topic for each parent meeting. We willmake a 20 minute presentation on the topic at the beginning of theparent meeting, and then we will open up a discussion concerning thetopic. The schedule for the rest of the school year is below. Ifany changes are made to the schedule, they will be noted in futurenewsletters.

Meeting Date Main Topic / Issue

November 18 Math Curriculum - What is our math curriculum about? What can parents do at home?

December 16 Progress Report - What have the CLC students done sofar this year?

January 27 Learning I - Learning styles. How do students learn? What can we do to help?

February 24 Learning II - Types of learning tasks. Assessinglearning.

March 23 CLC and the Future - Where are we headed?

April 27 Preadolescent Development

May 25 Continuing Learning - What can we do to keep our studentslearning throughout the summer?

June 22, July 27, August 24 Only Board Meetings.