Charter Chatter
A weekly newsletter written to parents of the TLC
Feb. 5, 2016 Vol. 24 No.24
| Virginia Stewart |
This is National Counselor Week. It is a great time to dedicate this Virginia Voice to praise our counselors. We have two high school counselors who serve many different roles for us that go beyond what regular school counselors usually do. I am very proud of the services they offer. Just think and thank them for things they do here:
Coordinate community service opportunities and track hours
Find internship opportunities and coordinate internships for all seniors
Support students as they work to achieve scholarship information
and win scholarships
Work with me to meet with each high school student to review progress
Mentor students who are not doing well academically
Support students with 504 plans (regardless of the grade level)
Counsel students with social issues or concerns
Coordinate efforts for PSAT and SAT testing
Coordinate work done on the standardized tests we use for math
Plan and implement the Falcon Flight School for Freshmen
I could continue to list things the counselors do, but this list helps all of us realize how vital they are to the work done in our schools. I am grateful for their support and help. I am also grateful for their assistant, Stephanie Arganbright. We could not be as successful without them.
| Misc. Announcements |
Next Holidays
Feb. 15, 2016
| PCS/DCS Lunch Menu Week Feb. 8 – 12
Mon. – Pizza Tues. – Hamburger Steak and Gravy Wed – Grilled Cheese Sandwich Thurs. – Chicken Parmesan Fri. – Cheese Raviolis
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T K
In Science we have been exploring the habitats of all the animals we learned about last week. We have gone on a safari, swam through the layers of the ocean, swung on vines in the rainforest, and braved the cold of the arctic. We even made a book to document our ‘journey’. Today we had special visitors come to our school. We had a petting zoo in our classroom! Ask your child what animals they got to see, learn about, and touch.
Primary Charter
In Initial phase this week, we are talking a lot about being a Positive Cooperator. At this age, students are exploring how to exist in social situations. We work hard to develop a community within our classroom that helps students learn how to work well with others, use their words, and personal awareness. We have many systems in place to help students learn how to become a Positive Cooperator. For instance, our Excellence Bowl system, recognizes students who demonstrate act of respect and kindness, our Gold Star is reserved for instances above and beyond common expectations, and one on one and class discussions help our students learn about this important character trait. Encourage your students to be a Positive cooperator in all aspect of their day and you will see a child who truly shines!
Phase 1 students had a great time visiting the other classrooms and getting a chance to see each other’s businesses. We saw some very creative work. We could tell the students put a lot of thought and hard work into creating and designing their business. Each class voted for their favorite one. We also received our Pen Pal letters and got to read them during Writer’s Workshop. Next week we will write back to our Pen Pals and answer some of their great questions. Some students made predictions about whether the groundhog will see its shadow. We were right!! Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow….spring is coming early! Many students are close to their AR Goals! Keep up the great work! Our new math fact testing went great. Continue to practice those facts each night. Have a great weekend!
Phase 2 students are becoming experts on history and government! We are reading and writing about American heroes and people who have made a difference in our country. Some groups are even reading about and discussing the Civil War. We are also learning about the constitution and presidents. Our students love that the books we read in language arts are the same things we are learning about in social studies. And we love seeing them get excited about it!
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Future Falcon shirts now on sale in the office for $13!!!
Discovery Charter
TDAP Vaccine
Just a reminder it is the law that all incoming 7th graders provide proof of receiving his/her TDAP Vaccine. Please get a jump on this and take your 6th grader in ASAP for this mandatory vaccine.
WASHINGTON DC TRIP 2017 – for 6th grade students entering 7th in the 2016-17 school year. Students interested in the 2017 trip to Washington DC should attend a meeting on Wednesday, February 10th at 5:15 in Mrs. Wallace’s room, D10. The meeting will explain everything about this very exciting and educational trip.
The DCS Girls Basketball team is roaring down the court. We have the most amazing, hard-working, dedicated, and supportive girls ever!!!
TIGER POINTS: LAST WEEKS “TOP 5” POINTS FOR EACH TIGER GROUP GO TO:
BENGALS: Loren Ponte TOP POINTS FOR THE WEEK WITH (310 points) Rayyan Saiyed (285 points) Montek Sethi (285 points) Vernon Real (235 points) and Bianca Vilaflor (230 points)
MALAYAN: Chilam Huynh (245 points) Aldric Alvis (230 points) Kyle Carlos (215 points) Ashleigh Garcia (210 points) and Michelle Engen (205 points)
SIBERIAN: Austin Chen (205 points), Emily Barrios (200 points) Mustafa Chaudhry (195 points) Julian Jfouf (185 points) and Abby Curran (180 points)
SUMATRAN: Shakeeba Sajadi (250 points) Hanh Trosien (245 points) Marianthe Tsirelas (205 points) Ellie Moffet (205 points) and Skyler Wubben (200 points)
CONGRATULATIONS TO A FANTASTIC WEEK!!!
SWO – Students received information on their new SWO project. LIFELONG LEARNER: College Research Project which is due February 19th. This portion of the SWO will be completed individually. Students must prepare a Google Slide presentation or PowerPoint presentation on a state college or university they would like to attend. The presentation will be used during a graded class presentation. The goal is to help students develop a life plan and research information about a future college they hope to attend. Please ask your child for a copy of the rubric.
DHSP
DHSP Charter Chatter:
It certainly was an exciting week! The Dens are vying for their next big outing. This time around the Den with the most points over 36,000 will get to go to a Stockton Ports game in May. If no Den is able to reach this goal an alternate outing will be offered.
Social Studies:
Students are well under way with their West African Empires Unit.
The focus is on the Empires of Ghana, Mali, Songhai, and Oyo. Everyone is learning lots of interesting things.
James, Chris, Christian, and Ashneel working on research and Mask project
Eliza, Hannah, and Natasha busy being creative:
Washington D.C. 2017!!! Start planning NOW!!!
It’s time to start planning for next years DC trip. Students will visit the Washington Monument, Arlington National Cemetery and the Holocaust Museum. What an opportunity to see our nations capital with classmates. There will be a parent informational meeting for current 6th and 7th grade students interested in the 2017 trip to Washington D.C. on Wednesday, February 10th at 5:15 in Mrs. Wallace’s room D10. Hope to see you there!!
English:
Mrs. Stewart’s English class has completed the PSAT8/9 and are looking forward to seeing the results. We are now on to beginning curriculum that matches some of the work done in AP English classes. One such topic is genre’s of non fiction and being able to identify them in pieces of writing. We are now exploring the genre of political cartoons. The class is doing well since we remain up to date on my current event topics. We maintain that good writing and reading improves when we are aware of world topics.
We are continuing our work in sentence syntax and are actually debating the syntax of words in complex sentences and diagramming. Finally Mrs. Stewart is impressed with the projects the students submitted regarding summaries and analysis by theme of the Jungle Books. She is grading that project now. Meanwhile, the students have begun reading, The Pearl by John Steinbeck.
Science:
Science is wrapping up electronics and will be dissecting old broken electronics next week…
Leadership is selling Valentine’s Grams Thursday, February 4 through Thursday, February 11th
$1 for candy hearts
$3 box of chocolates
$5 box of chocolates and a rose
Dance/Performance;
A new Exploration rotation began this week. Mrs. Wallace’s class is already into performing Dramatic Readings:
Moncure totally in character:
Natasha putting lots of expression into her Dramatic Reading:
If you do not want your student to have his/her photo published please notify Mrs. Wallace at dwallace@tracylc.net
DHSP teachers welcome parent communication, please contact us if you have questions, concerns, or ideas!
Mrs. U. at rulricksen@tracylc.net
Mrs. Dominguez at ddominguez@tracylc.net
Mrs. Saldana at asaldana@tracylc.net Mrs. Sierra at msierra@tracylc.net Mr. Compton at rcompton@tracylc.net Mrs. Wallace at dwallace@tracylc.net
Have a Fantastic Weekend!!!
| MHS |
Mrs. Stewart and the counseling staff have started to meet with students for their annual counseling review. Fast track classes and next year’s schedule will be planned. Parents of 10th grade students who are not able to attend the scheduled counseling review appointments will be mailed a copy of the learning plan for the 2016-2017 school year. Make sure to check in with your student to find out what was discussed during the meeting.
It is open enrollment month for TLC. We are currently in open enrollment for students that are entering transitional kindergarten, kindergarten, and 9th grade. All applicants must apply for admissions during the month of February.
The results from the PSAT have been returned to the students who participated in this test. Please visit the College Board website for additional information and resources. www.collegeboard.org If you or your student has any questions regarding the test please contact the counseling department.
College Info
College bound seniors: most colleges will be notifying applicants the status of their admission in early Spring by either mail or online via a student portal on the individual college web site. 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!
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 2016. 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
Community Service
Community Service: This is a reminder to 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 4th – 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 6th – Deadline for seniors to submit their hours towards Graduation!!! NO EXCEPTIONS!!!
- June 24th – Deadline for 9th -11th to submit hours towards the 2015-2016 School Year
| Organization | When | Where | Duties |
| Primary Homework Club | M-F 3:45pm-4:30pm | Primary | Help tutor students grade K-4 |
| Crab Feed | Saturday, February 6th, 2016
5pm-11pm |
St Bernard’s Holy Family Center | Servers needed for event
20 volunteers needed Nelia 510-468-6447 |
| Grand Foundation Opportunity | Time needed is a minimum of 4 hours per week but not to exceed 8 hours per week. | The Grand Foundation is a non-profit partner of the Grand Theatre has an ongoing community service opportunity that needs to be filled immediately. | Job duties include typing accuracy for data entry, research to collect data from the Internet, telephone and other miscellaneous office work. Students who are interested in marketing, promoting, advertising and communication through social media are ideal. Please contact Ms. Arganbright in the counseling office for more information.
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The Engineering Summer Academy at Penn (ESAP) welcomes highly motivated and talented students to explore Engineering at the college level. The Academy’s intensive, three-week programs combine sophisticated theory with hands-on practical experience in cutting edge technologies. Work with leading faculty, live on Penn’s historic campus, and connect with new friends from around the world. For more information please visit https://esap.seas.upenn.edu/
The California State Summer School for the Arts is a rigorous, preprofessional, month-long training program in the visual and performing arts, creative writing, animation and film for talented artists of high school age. CSSSA provides a supportive environment in which students hone acquired skills and explore new techniques and ideas for an intense and exciting learning experience. The California State Summer School for the Arts is a state agency funded through a unique public-private partnership. California residents enrolled in grades nine through twelve may apply to attend CSSSA. The admissions process is highly competitive. (Last session approximately one in three applicants in most departments were accepted). Students invited to the school are named California Arts Scholars. For more information please visit https://www.csssa.org/
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 19th – February 19th, 2016. Dates for the program are July 10- August 6. For more information please visit www.ucop.edu/cosmos