Charter Chatter
A weekly newsletter written to parents of the Tracy Learning Center
Feb. 13, 2015 No.25
Virginia’s Voice
Did you know that February is our open enrollment month? We accept applications for Kindergarten, and high school since these are the two grades that have significant openings. We have the room to take 66 Kindergarten students for next school year and we accept 140 students for our Freshmen class. Many of the Freshmen have been at DCS and want to continue with us for high school, but it is also a time to accept new students who have been waiting to get into Tracy Learning Center and others interested in our high school. Kindergarten usually has a public lottery since we receive many more applications than space. Please remind parents or friends about the importance of getting applications in to the office before the end of February.
Thank you to Donna Baker and the Crab Feed Committee for a sold out and wonderful Crab Feed experience.
Did you also know that research shows exercise improves student’s abilities to focus on tasks, and block out distractions? After exercise, pupils are more awake and engaged in learning. Both free play and structured exercise activities provide many benefits including interpersonal skills critical to social and emotional development. Exercise, sports, or physical activity is essential for academics as well as health.
| Misc. Announcements |
Illnesses
Just a reminder if your student is ill and unable to attend school please calls Kay Fagundes at (209)831-5240 or email kfagundes@tracylc.net . Students should not return to school until their symptoms subside and he/she is fever-free for at least 24 hrs. We have had so many sick children at school and the majority of these illnesses are highly contagious.
All TLC Schools
Attention All Talent Show Participants
Please remember to attend your scheduled rehearsal date next week. If you have any questions please contact the MHS Counseling Department at 209-627-8299.
Next School Holiday is Feb. 16, 2015 President’s Day
MHS Academic Decathlon Congratulations
Millennium High competed in the 34th Annual Academic Decathlon last Saturday, and it’s 32 member team brought home a school record 7 medals! The team also finished in 6th place overall and improved their total score by nearly 6,000 pts compared to last year.
We would like to recognize the following team members for bringing home medals in this year’s competition.
11th grader Joseph Gudino – SILVER medal in Varsity Art
10th grader Ian Balogh – GOLD medal in Scholastic Language and Literature
11th grader Amanda Garcia – BRONZE medal in Scholastic Language and Literature
10th grader Ian Balogh – SILVER medal in Scholastic Social Studies
11th grader Amy Wise – SILVER medal in Honors Speech
11th grader Darius Lovelace – SILVER medal in Varsity Speech
11th grader Spencer Skaggs – GOLD medal in Varsity Social Studies
Additionally, the entire team is proud to congratulate Jaime Chesbrough for winning a $20,000 scholarship to attend UOP! This is a $5000 per year renewable scholarship that was greatly deserved!
| PCS/DCS Lunch Menu Week Feb. 16 – 20
Mon. – Holiday Tues. – Pizza Wed – Baked Potato Bar Thurs. – Chicken Nuggets Fri. – Spaghetti Friday |
| Primary Charter |
This week in Initial Phase students were busy getting learning all about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln! Students loved learning that Abraham Lincoln is on the penny and five dollar bill and that George Washinton is on the quarter and the five dollar bill. Some of us even took virtual tours to the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument.
Thank you to those who attended and or supported our crab feed. This is our largest fund raiser of the year and the money goes directly to our school. Have a safe and happy Valentines Day! Don’t forget, no school on Monday, February 16, 2014.
This week the students in Phase One began poetry. The students have started to learn about different types of poems like acrostic and haiku. Next week they will continue to write more poems like diamante. They are having a blast writing poems and they are absolutely amazing! The teachers can’t wait to see what other poems they will write in the upcoming weeks.
For Social Studies this week they started to learn about economics. P1 learned all about the assembly line, food to table and production. P8 learned about businesses and were able to create a business in groups, complete with an advertisement poster. We will continue our economics unit in two weeks.
Both P1 and P8 had a small Valentine’s Day party where they got a special Valentine’s Day snack, decorated their bags for their Valentines and got to hand out all of their Valentines they brought in for the class. They also received their candy grams that were for sale through our very own Primary Charter Student Council. The students had a blast and really enjoyed handing out their Valentines to their friends.
Phase 2 students had a great time learning about rocks this week in science. We have even had some students on the lookout for the three different types of rocks all around them, even on the playground and at home! We are starting a short unit on poetry, just in time for Valentine’s Day. We are already proud of what our students remember from their previous poetry units. Their creativity is impressive. Thank you to everyone who brought in Valentine’s treats. Have a great 3 day weekend!
DCS 5th/6th
Star Student:
Congratulations to Paige Faaborg for receiving the Star Student Award for the Week of February 16, 2015. Paige always works hard and is kind and helpful to all those around her. The teachers appreciate her willingness to lend a hand and help anyone who needs help.
Social Studies:
Mrs. Wallace’s first two classes are busy getting ready for the next Wax Museum. All the monologues are memorized and the students are working on their acting skills.
The other four classes presented some really cool skits and project boards based on their research of various historical figures. Mrs. Wallace feels very fortunate to be a part of students really enjoying history.
Period 7 had an awesome Socratic Discussion about the Roman Empire the other day!!!
Science:
Students are getting ready for the Science Olympiad. Ms. Pelaez is looking forward to a great competition this year. There is always so much activity in the science room. Lots of labs and fun science stuff happening!!
Pentathlon:
Mrs. Beckner and Ms. T. are busy recruiting teams for this year’s competition. May will be here sooner than we think J
It is such a pleasure to see so much student interest in this year’s academic competitions.
Language Arts:
Mrs. Delgado’s classes have been working on character analysis, along with spelling and writing. Everyone is working hard to reach their AR goals.
In Ms. Rodieck’s classes they are talking about text structures, diagraming, and reading Dark Water Rising in preparation for academic pentathlon.
Have a great weekend!!!
PHSA 7th and 8th
Mrs. King’s Classes are currently working on Factoring by grouping
Mr. Warmerdam – Mexican – American War and the Texas Revolution
Mrs. Santiago – Distributive Property
Ms. Barrett – Just completed unit quiz on Radioactivity
Mrs. Sierra & Mrs. Saldana – The students are learning about Astronomy to go along with Every Soul A Star. Additionally, they are working on identifying literary devices and analyzing quotations in preparation for Academic Pentathlon.
Academic Pentathlon: The students have begun preparing for Pentathlon during lunch. Math, Science, Social Studies, and English preparation will occur each week during lunch time from now until the end of April.
PHSA boys basketball game tonight against Art Freiler
Science Olympiad: Our last parent/student meeting before the competition will be held on Tuesday March 3rd in Mrs. King’s room at 6pm. We will be passing outevent times, directions and t-shirts. Prior to that, we will still have two more open classroom times on Feb 19th and March 5th.
| MHS |
MHS Charter Chatter February 13, 2015
Community Service: Please remind all students to turn in any completed community service forms they have. All forms must be submitted to the counseling office so they can be uploaded to Aeries. Important deadlines regarding community service are:
- April 1st – to be considered for the Community Service Block Letter sponsored by the Breakfast Lions Club of Tracy. For more details or to check on your progress towards your Block Letter please contact Ms. A in the Counseling Office.
- May 1st – Deadline for seniors to submit their hours towards Graduation!!! NO EXCEPTIONS!!!
- June 26th – Deadline for 9th -11th to submit hours towards the 2014-2015 School Year
Pratt Institute – Any juniors or sophomores who are interested in art, design, fashion design, film, photography, writing, or architecture programs, may be interested in Pratt Institute’s residential summer precollege program. The program meets July 6- 31. (Students must be at least 16 to participate by the summer). The precollege program immerses students in an intensive studio experience, where they develop their drawing and painting skills, are introduced to the major of their choice (interior design, industrial design, fashion, etc.) and create a comprehensive art or writing portfolio in preparation for their college admissions application. They earn four college credits that are accepted by Pratt Institute and most art and design colleges and universities with art programs. Applicants to Pratt who participated in the precollege program are given special consideration. Application deadline is April 1, 2015. Please visit http://clicks.gotoextinguisher.com/trkr/?c=1756&g=5706&p=c09a2c435c404673dc096e80ef5286e1&u=bc9d8e95832fc85887edcc1733292e9c&q=&t=1 for more information.
Attention Junior Girls! The Distinguished Young Woman program (formerly Junior Miss) is now accepting applications for the 2015 program, which is scheduled to be held in the John Kimball High School on April 11, 2015 at 7:00 p.m. The young ladies must be a junior in high school this year, graduating in 2016 to be eligible. A minimum 3.0 GPA is recommended. Participants must be a student in Tracy Unified School District or live in the Tracy area. The parents/participants orientation will be held on February 16, 2015, 6:30pm at California Advantage Real Estate Located at 17 E. 6TH STREET in Tracy. This is the final opportunity to turn in applications to be in the program. Parents are expected to be at this orientation for information about the program and the expectations of their daughter. Any participant has the potential win up to $2,500.00 in local scholarships and then they will have the opportunity to advance to the State program and win up to an additional $20,000.00 in scholarships.
Attention current sophomores and Juniors: Join Decision Medicine this summer and explore the exciting world of medicine. Decision Medicine is a 2 week program that introduces students to the field of Medicine through personal mentoring opportunities and site visits with behind-the-scenes access to some of our regional hospitals, clinics and public health centers. Participants are challenged with real world decisions as they explore the many facets of a career as a physician. The program is limited to a small group of 24 participants each year for maximum impact. Throughout the program they will work in various team configurations, including a one-on-one mentoring opportunity with a local physician in their personal practice. This is a highly competitive free program. For more information please visit http://www.decisionmedicine.com/
Interact Club’s Purple Pinky Project – Let’s help our MHS Interact Club help eradicate Polio worldwide. Interact will be taking donations of $0.50 to help end Polio. Children who receive the polio vaccine have their pinky finger temporarily died purple to show they were vaccinated. This $0.50 donation will allow students to symbolically mark their pinky on a canvas representing the project and the child who will receive a vaccination.
ZAPS Test Prep Seminars – Juniors planning to take the SAT test this Spring should consider attending the next SAT Prep classes being offered at Millennium through ZAPS Learning Company. There is a two day SAT Prep seminar on Wednesday, February 25th and Thursday, February 26th from 3:00pm – 5:30pm. Cost is $99.
College Info
College bound seniors: We anticipate hearing about the acceptance letters. All students accepted to a college or university should let the Counselors know as soon as they are notified. Best of luck to all of those who applied!
Congratulations! To the following students who have been accepted to the following Universities:
Holy Names University
Garett Roe
Scholarship $13,000 per year for up to 4 years
Senior Info
SCHOLARSHIPS: There are many local scholarships available at this time for our college bound seniors. Visit the homepage of the MHS Counseling and select Financial Aid/ Scholarships page at www.tracylc.net or click on http://tracylc.net/financial-aid–scholarships.html for detailed information on where to obtain an application and how to apply for various scholarships.
Upcoming Events:
TLC’s Got Talent Show: Will be held at the Grand Theatre Center for the Arts 6:30pm. The proceeds from this event benefit the Class of 2015. Come support our student from all TLC schools in this great showcase of talent. Tickets are on sale now and available for purchase in the TLC front office, the Grand Theatre Box Office and online at www.atthegrand.org
Other News
COSMOS- California State Summer School for Mathematics and Science
Want to spend a month on a college campus exploring topics in STEM- Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics? Application period is from January 20th – February 20th, 2015. Dates for the program are late June to Early- August. For more information please visit www.ucop.edu/cosmos
Give Every Child A Chance
Tracy Learning Center has been approved as a new site for the strong and expanding tutoring/mentoring program Give Every Child a Chance! They are bringing a homework assistance group tutoring program to our school for 7th through 12th graders. The program is free for students who have a D or an F in any subject, an IEP, or a strong teacher recommendation. Math and Language Arts assistance will take place Monday-Thursday between 4:00-6:00pm in D-13, Mrs. Saldana’s room. For more information about GECAC, please see their website: www.gecac.net. For an application, please contact Ms. Moore at the MHS Counseling Office, or visit http://www.gecac.net/downloadsapplications.html and click “One on One Tutoring Application”. You may write in “Tracy Learning Center” as your site of choice. Turn in applications to Ms. Moore at MHS Counseling.
Give Every Child A Chance Volunteer Opportunity
Give Every Child A Chance is a tutoring/mentoring program that needs volunteer tutors! If you are interested in tutoring 7th-12th grade students here at Tracy Learning Center for two community service hours a week (which can go toward a block letter!).