Charter Chatter
A weekly newsletter written to parents of the Tracy Learning Center
August 8, 2014 No.1
| Virginia Stewart |
It has been a wonderful start to the new school year. We have already had two back to school nights, one for Primary and one for DCS 5-6. We hope you have found these evenings to be informative. The parent turn out to both events has been fantastic. We all know that informed parents are supportive parents who can help at home. Partnerships between parents and school make for a successful student.
The best way to contact teachers is by way of e-mail. The teachers should respond within twenty four hours. If you e-mail and do not get a response, feel free to call the office or e-mail me. It is much better to ask about something right away than to wait until you are very concerned or angry.
The Charter Chatter is only one way we communicate with you. There are websites for each school and of course there is Aeries to check grades for 5-12 grades on a daily basis. We will all do what we can to keep you informed and a part of our team.
School Website: www.tracylc.net
Parent Aeries (check grades): https://sisweb.tusd.net/ParentPortal/LoginParent.aspx?page=default.aspx
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MHS Picture Day is Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2014
DCS and PHSA Picture Day is Wednesday, Aug, 27, 2014
Picture Order Forms coming home soon.
| PCS/DCS Lunch Menu Week Aug. 11- 15Mon. – PizzaTues. – Beef NachosWed – No meat spaghetti
Thurs. – Corn Dog (chicken) Fri. – Hamburger |
| Primary Charter |
This week in Beginning Phase, we have been busy learning about our new classroom environments, policies and procedures that keep us safe and allow us to learn, as well as our SWOs (School Wide Outcomes). In addition, all Kindergarten students have shown their teachers what they know and are ready to tackle a lot more learning next week! What a great week!
Reminder: All volunteer paperwork must be turned in for volunteer clearance. If you have any questions regarding clearance please contact your student’s teacher. 🙂
Phase 1 had a fantastic first week of school! The students had fun creating their classroom rules and making themed hats. They wrote about their first day of school and started their Monthly Student Portrait Journal. Graphing birthdays and favorites was also fun! They learned all about the SWO’s and how a Phase 1 student behave. Assessments went well and they are ready to start learning in their new groups next week. What an exciting first week they had!!
Phase 2 had an awesome first week of school! We are so proud of the maturity and enthusiasm we are seeing from the third and fourth graders. This week students got to know each other better through student interviews and some fun activities. All students have been assessed in language arts and math and we will begin our curriculum next week. Everyone is also excited to use their new pencil pouches and supplies. The teachers are happy to see how organized everyone is! We are also starting Accelerated Reader (AR) next week so start reading!
Don’t forget, Study Club starts on Monday! If you would like to sign up your child, please email their teacher and they will send home the registration form.
Calling all Primary parents! We will need parent volunteers this year to help with fundraising. If you are interested please email Mrs. Estes at jestes@tracylc.net
Please include your name, your child’s name and room number in your email. Thank you!!
Primary Art
We are off to a great start! The Kinders have been learning about what it means to be an Artist. The 1/2’s are reviewing their cutting and gluing skills, and learning about using Shapes in artworks. The 3/4’s made Self-portraits along with their goals for the school year. They also learned about the famous Artist, Claude Monet, and began an artwork in his style. Parents of 1-4, if you have not sent in an Art shirt for your child yet, please do so ASAP. We will begin painting next week.
DCS 5th/6th
Welcome to a new school year! We are very excited to have met this year’s DCS students. They came with much enthusiasm for school so our goal as teachers is to keep that positive energy going throughout the year. This year’s back to School Night for parents was Wednesday, August 6. If you were unable to attend and have questions about school please feel free to email a teacher. We will respond promptly.
Aeries:
Aeries is up and running. Visiting the site provides the most up to date information about your child’s grades in each class. Please see your child’s homeroom teacher in you are unable to access the site.
Homework Calendar:
Homework and special events for the year are posted on the DCS calendar link from at tracylc.net. This is an excellent resource for parents. We hope to see parents using the calendar this year.
Agendas:
All students have received agendas in their homeroom class. Agendas increase our home/school communication. Look for notes about grades, behavior, and due dates! If the agenda is lost during the school year please visit Connie in the office to purchase a replacement.
Supplies:
We appreciate the donations of pencils, paper towels, tissues, and glue sticks. The donations will definitely be used by our students in all classes. These are consumable supplies that need constant replenishing and we are so grateful for your help in providing them. If you have questions about supplies for a specific class please e-mail the teacher in charge of that class.
PHSA 7th and 8th
PHSA (Pre High School Academy) is off and running. The new seventh graders are transitioning and getting used to new teachers and outside hallways. The returning eighth graders should be the great examples of how to work in class and play outside. They are living up to that expectation. This week was one of setting ground rules, straightening out placements and schedules and getting used to the new routine.
We were pleased we had the general assembly meeting with you about SWOs, work, agendas and other details. When we have Back to School Night you will have a chance to meet each of your student’s teachers and hear more about the curriculum rather than the rules.
Begin checking Aeries, grades should be starting to show up. Check agendas and be sure no oranges are showing up on the calendar and if they are talk to your student about this. Your support will make for a more successful student. Be sure you are also checking backpacks and removing things that weight the backpack down that are not needed.
We look forward to seeing you at Back To School Night on August 20 at 6:00.
| MHS |
Community Service
We recently updated the community service board in the Counseling Office and we should be receiving notices of more events as the months go on so please stop by the counseling office or check the website for updates. If students or parents are unsure of how to get to the Community Service page please go to our website at www.tracylc.net. Then click on the link that shows Millennium High School. After you click on Millennium go to the pull down bar and scroll to Counseling. There you will see in Counseling drop down is the Community Service page.
College Info
Classes start the week of August 18th. Students who registered for a Delta college class that was not previously approved on their College Early Start form must complete a change of course form with the Counseling Office. Reimbursements for tuition cannot be approved if students are enrolled in courses not previously approved. For textbook ordering information, please visit www.deltacollege.edu
***Students can visit the Counseling Office to either advertise their books for sale or to see about purchasing used textbooks
Save the Date!!! September 10th and 11th – 3:00pm – 5:30pm
SAT/PSAT Prep classes through the ZAPS Learning Company will be back by popular demand. Signups are now available at www.zaps.com – Cost is $99 for the two day preparation workshop which includes test prep materials. This workshop is ideal for the senior student to help prepare one last time before the upcoming October 11th SAT test date.
Senior Info
Coming soon! Senior information packets with important information regarding graduation, senior portraits, dates and deadlines will be mailed the last week of August. Information will also be available on our website at www.tracylc.net in the Senior Scoop section of the Counseling/Guidance webpage.
***Please note that the Graduation Ceremony will be held on Saturday, May 23rd, 2015 at 10:00am at the St. Bernard’s Holy Family Center***
Junior ASVAB Testing
The Junior class will be participating in the ASVAB Military Aptitude test on Wednesday, August 13th.
The ASVAB is a great skills and aptitude test in helping students determine where their strengths are to prepare for the world of work. Interpretation of the test will be given in the Career Education classes in two weeks.
Other News
Counselors are excited to start this new school wide App called Remind 101. Remind 101 is a safe way for teachers to text message students and stay in touch with parents. We have a different code for each grade level. Counselors will be using this app for updates on community service events, senior email blasts, meetings, and much more!
How to sign up:
Please send a text message 747-233-0994 and enter the code for your grade level in the message box. Remember each grade level has their own code.
Seniors- @07fd0
Juniors-@cb9
Sophomores-@82d7d
Freshmen- @fab05
For other questions please visit their website at https://www.remind.com/
MHS Sports
Attention Falcon Fans!! This year MHS Athletics will be offering a Falcon Fan pass for the student body! Passes are available to MHS students for $30 which grants them admission into all home games throughout the year (excluding playoffs). The pass has also been created for PHSA students at the price of $20, but PHSA students must be accompanied by a supervising adult. Come out and support Falcon Athletics this season!!
Want to stay up to date on game schedules and scores? Check us out at http://www.MHSFalcons.com or follow us on Instagram: @Millennium_Athletics or on Twitter: @MHS_Falcons
MHS Teacher’s Comments
It has been a wonderful start to the new school year at MHS! The staff has been very excited about the way students have begun their academic year. In particular, the staff has commented about the maturity and eagerness to learn of our brand new falcons, the freshman class. They have shown an ability to pick up some of the cultural norms of the school while showing a real eagerness and willingness to learn in the classroom. The staff feels that this ease of transition can be attributed to the very large turnout we had during Falcon Flight School which was a huge success this year. Class schedules and changes have been finalized and adjusted this week by our counseling staff who have worked very hard to ensure that all students are in the right spots and on the pathway to success. Our Athletic programs have begun practices and we look forward to another year of very competitive and successful teams representing our school. A reminder that we will have Back to School night for MHS on Wednesday August 13 from 6 pm until 7:30 pm beginning in the Unity area. We will be using a different format this year for back to school night as each curriculum department will be located in one of five designated rooms. There will be five fifteen minute sessions to visit each room at your leisure and in any order you desire. All the designated rooms will be in a smaller contained area so parents will not have to travel all over campus to meet teachers and spend time trying to locate rooms. The hope is that this will make back to school night much more efficient and beneficial. Please remember to use the High School car line to drop off your students which is the basketball court areas with the entrance on Mae. If you are dropping off a sibling in the Discovery/Primary car line along with your high school student, remind the Falcon to walk down to the High School gate and not to enter the campus through the Primary or Discovery gates. Again, it has been a wonderful start to the year and we look forward to continuing the atmosphere established this week.
-Mr. Saldate