TLC Charter Chatter
A Message from Virginia Feb. 14, 2020
On Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020, at approximately 12:47pm we were advised to lock down our school due to a possible arrest taking place on the corner of Mae and Beverly. An overhead announcement was made and all students and staff were sent indoors. We were in direct communication with the Tracy Police Department throughout this ordeal. Our phone message machine’s greeting was changed immediately to give parents an update of our current situation. A Charter Chatter electronic message along with an Aeries text message were also sent out to all parents. We also updated our web page, facebook page and twitter sites. We also allowed students to contact their parents with their cell phones for added reassurance. Our lock down was released at 2:30pm by the Tracy Learning Center.
Parents, please remember to go to tlccharterchatter.com and make certain you are signed up to receive Charter Chatter updates and also be sure to contact the office at (209) 290-0511 with any primary phone number changes.
We feel this “lock down” was handled very well with the end result of the suspect being apprehended. The Tracy Police Department was extremely professional and reassuring and had excellent communication with the school and social media sites. We would also like to extend our appreciation to our parents for their patience and understanding during this somewhat stressful situation. As always, the safety of our students was our biggest focus.
Have a very good weekend and enjoy the extra day off on Monday.
Sincerely,
Tracy Learning Center Staff
| TK / Kindergarten Enrollment 2020/2021 SchoolYear |
Application for Transitional Kindergarten and Kindergarten 2020-2021
Must apply between February 2, 2020 thru February 28, 2020 between 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM. All applications MUST be turned in at 51 E. Beverly Place. No applications will be accepted at the Preschool location. Current student siblings must also apply.
Applications after February 28, 2020 at 4:00 PM will be placed on the waiting list AFTER the lottery process.
Transitional Kindergarten (TK)
Students born from September 2, 2015 to December 2, 2015
Kindergarten (K)
Students born from December 3, 2014 to September 1, 2015
Lottery
A lottery for both Transitional Kindergarten and Kindergarten will be on March 2, 2020 at 9:00 am in the Tracy Learning Center Gym at 51 E. Beverly Place.
Priority for Enrollment
- Board Members/Staff
- Siblings of Current Students
- Students that live in the TUSD boundaries
- All other students
Enrollment Numbers
Primary charter school will have 33 openings for Transitional Kindergarten and 30 openings for Kindergarten. These openings will be filled using the above priorities using a lottery to fill any openings after the siblings have applied. If we receive more sibling applications than open spots, the lottery will begin with the siblings, then all other students for the waiting list.
Next School Holiday
Monday, Feb. 17, 2020
| Personal/Family Days for Current and Future School Years |
VERY IMPORTANT Information for our current 2019/2020 school year beginning August 5, 2019, we have reduced personal/family days for students from 10 days down to 7 days. Allowing 7 days is still much higher than what the district schools allow and we feel 7 days is more beneficial for the school and for each students’ education.
| Donation Letters |
Donation letters have been sent out for the 2019 tax season. Please be sure when making donations you specify the person making the donation as well as the student the donation is being made for. If you have not received your letter, please email Barbra Ramirez at bramirez@tracylc.net. Many letters are ready but there is no address to send them to. Thank you so much for your time and patience.
Mother Son Masquerade Ball!!!
Thank you to those that attended the dance! Pictures will be sent home in next week’s Friday folders!
Lunch Menu Week of Feb. 17 – 21
Mon – Holiday
Tues – Pizza
Wed – Beef or Veggie Burger
Thurs – No Meat Spaghetti
Fri – Chicken Strips and Fries
Don’t forget to click the STAR after scanning and enter your student’s classroom number for credit.
Have you noticed?? Over Winter Break, Mr. Hepner and his team worked to get up our new Tracy Learning Center and Millennium pole flags, displaying a little more of that Falcon Pride for those passing by!
NOW HIRING: Fall 2020 Head Athletic Coaches-
Girls Volleyball (All levels): https://www.edjoin.org/Home/DistrictJobPosting/1275148
Primary Read-a-Thon final total! We raised $10,645! Thank you to everyone who donated. We are so proud of all the minutes that were read last week too! Congratulations to the winning class…P2! They enjoyed a donut party on Friday. Thank you again!
TLC Preschool: Art Show and Silent Auction!
TLC preschool will have its annual art show on February 21, 2020 6:30-8:00. More details to come home soon!
Our Art show is almost here! Students are still working hard to get their murals ready! This week we’ve been practicing tints and tone by adding black and white into primary colors! We hope you can come see our works of art!
Initial Phase
Important reminder: There is no school this Monday, February 17th for President’s Day!
P2 had a fun day celebrating Valentine’s day! We passed out Valentines, made a fun Valentine themed snack, made bracelets, and played Valentine bingo!
In honor of President’s Day, students started learning all about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln this week. We will continue our study about these two important presidents as well as important American symbols.
We hope everyone enjoys their long weekend!
This week in TK, we learned all about Presidents and US Symbols.
First, we learned all about some of the US Symbols that we have. The students created a quilt showing some of the symbols.
Then we learned about Abraham Lincoln. He has so many items dedicated to him…. The penny, the $5 bill and the Lincoln Memorial.
Next we learned about George Washington. He was our first president and is on our $1 bill and quarter.
Lastly, we completed a flip book about our US Symbols and our Presidents. We learned so much!
Phase One:
Phase One students had a great, busy, fun-filled week! Many students reached their AR Goals this period…some for the first time! Congratulations!! AR parties TBA next week.
The Grandparent Interviews were so very interesting. The students loved sharing facts and things they learned from their grandparents. It was so fun for them to realize how times change. Thank you for helping them with this project.
Thank you to all the parents and students who brought treats and wonderful gifts. Our Valentine’s Day was amazing. Students ate goodies, did crafts, and learned while having fun.
Remember Monday, February 17th is a holiday and there is no school. Have a great weekend!
Phase Two:
Wow, what a busy week! On Tuesday we had our first ever Phase 2 Spanish Spelling Bee! There were 3 representatives from each class and they all did an amazing job. Our students enjoyed watching the intense competition and cheering on their classmates. Congratulations to the first place winner…Santiago from P7!
Thank you to everyone who brought treats, cards, and goodies on Friday. We definitely earned a day of fun.
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Discovery Middle School 5-6
Upcoming ⅚ Dates:
February 17: NO SCHOOL – Presidents’ Day
Attention all DCS Parents: 2019-2020 Parent Survey (SURVEY UPDATED)
Attached you will find a Google Form Survey that we are hoping our DCS parents/guardians will fill out. As a team we are always looking for ways to improve our practices and assist our students. We have developed a survey to check in with you all to determine how we are doing and what areas can be improved. If you have a moment, please complete the short survey. If you have any additional questions or comments feel free to email Ashley Cerezo (7/8) acerezo@tracylc.net or Kathy Prescott (5/6) kprescott@tracylc.net
Top 5 Nest Point Earners:
Saker:
Amur:
Kestrel:
Peregrine:
Winner of Our Monthly Top Nest Point Drawing!!!
Mrs. Zuniga’s Math:
Varsity: The students took their first quiz for Unit 3. The students really took to understanding prime factorization, but we are working on really understanding the definitions and concepts of the words they are learning.
Scholastic: Our class has moved into fractions. The students created a fraction kit to help them visualize the problems. We played games to use our fraction kits and have practiced concepts such as equivalent and simplifying fractions.
Honors: Our class is chugging along with Unit 4. Students are making the connections between ratios and fractions. They are also learning about tables to figure out proportional and nonproportional relationships.
Mrs. Nijjar’s Math:
Varsity: Students started with Unit-4 and enjoyed making their own fraction kit. We spent this week learning about equivalent fractions and decomposing fractions. In the coming weeks, students will be learning about comparing fractions using a fraction bar and a number line.
Scholastic: This week started with learning about prime factorization, gcf, and lcm. In the coming weeks, students will be taking a quiz and will be learning about fractions.
Honors: Students learned to solve the word problems by using the slope formula, point-slope method, and the two-point strategy. Students participated in activities like “Word Problem Carousel” and ” Graph Match-up” to reinforce the concepts learned in Unit-4. In the coming weeks, students will be completing the unit by learning about scatter-plots and the best-fit line.
Ms. Rodieck’s Language Arts and Humanities:
This week we continued reading Frankenstien. The most important thing we learned is the monster is not Frankenstein; the doctor who created him is named Frankenstein.
Scholastic and Honors are continuing to read weekly articles about the health and wellness of our planet. Below are pictures of infographics created from this week’s article about bees in the almond groves.
Conferences are coming and you should be receiving the paper about it next week. That means we will be having a final coming up soon. We will have a review / study guide – part will be in class and part will be homework.
Language Arts with Mr. Harding:
We’re reading Frankenstein, but no one is scared of the “monster.” We’re making connections to Ancient Greek literary figures, Artificial Intelligence uses today, and what responsibilities we always have with new technology. We are discussing the balance of automation and freedom, and how our lives are impacted by technological improvements. Our little learners will be ruling the world in 2050. I imagine they will be as upset about losing some technology that has not been invented yet as I am about losing the third pedal in my car. As we are making connections across thousands of years of literature and ideas, I am not testing and quizzing heavily at this moment. However, we will be returning to sentence diagramming and grammar conventions in the coming weeks.
Social Studies with Mr. Bird and Mr. McCarthy:
This week in 5/6 social studies, our critical thinkers are learning all about the Golden Age of Athens. We are learning about the golden age with learning stations that simulate a walking tour of Athens. Students are discussing the following aspects of Greek culture: religion, sports, sculpture, architecture, drama, and philosophy.
Next week, we will create study guides and play review games to prepare for the next quiz. Please be sure to have students review their reading notes as well.
The quiz on the Golden Age of Athens will be on Thursday, February 20th. Our next lesson will be all about Alexander the Great!
Science with Ms. Diaz:
Greetings scientists! This week, Constellations Quiz A grades have been posted. Constellations Quiz B is being graded as we speak and will be posted thereafter. We ‘took off’ from our Solar Systems unit, finishing off with a test and submitting our moon research. Next week, we dive into studies about the Earth’s water and the water cycle. The top students from Trimester 1 were given their pizza lunch on Friday. Being a great class citizen is both rewarding AND filling 🙂
Last but not least, come one and come all to check out the DCS science blog site at: www.tlcdiscoverychannel.weebly.com. Read all about Facts About Smallpox (Subham Bhattarai) and the Four Scariest Sea Creatures (Isabella Richardson). Prepare to be SCIENCED!
Awesomely Interesting Announcements
- Please don’t forget to check Google classroom and/or the science class website regularly with your student
Google Classroom Hon/Scholastic code→ jp9wlua
Google Classroom Varsity code→ 8d4s9b
Science class website: https://diazdoesscience.weebly.com
Mission to Mars
- Mission to Mars final parent meeting–> Tuesday, March 31st @ 6pm
- Mandatory. If you cannot make it please be sure to contact me for the information
- Will discuss final details for trip departure and return
- Will collect the round-trip bus ride payment
Science Olympiad
- Competition March 14, 2020. McNair High school ~7am-4pm
Stay curious & keep exploring!!!
Discovery Middle School 7th-8th
- National School Choice Week!
Please watch the following video to celebrate with us!
- 78 Dance is 2/19/2020- make sure your student has turned in their permission slip!
- Parent Teacher Conferences take place the second week of March. Be on the lookout for invitations from your students homeroom teacher!
Winner of Amazon Gift Card in Nest Certificate Drawing (Jan):
School Improvement Committee Invitation!
The School Improvement Committee is a new aspect of our DCS team this year. This Committee is comprised of students, staff members, the DCS Team Leads, parents, Mrs. Woods, Mrs. Stewart, and a TLC Boardmember (Mr. Murray). We meet roughly once a month to discuss the DCS Action Plan and the overall progress of our school. We would love to welcome new members! If you are at all interested in joining or attending a meeting to find out more about DCS then please contact myself, acerezo@tracylc.net for more information.
Leadership:
Wednesday, February 19th, 7/8 will be having their Cupid’s Dash dance in the gym from 3:30-5:00 PM. Permission slips were already sent home and are due by Tuesday, February 18th. There is a $3 admission fee! Drinks and snacks will be provided, but any donations are welcomed!!
Attention all DCS Parents: 2019-2020 Parent Survey (SURVEY UPDATED)
Attached you will find a Google Form Survey that we are hoping our DCS parents/guardians will fill out. As a team we are always looking for ways to improve our practices and assist our students. We have developed a survey to check in with you all to determine how we are doing and what areas can be improved. If you have a moment, please complete the short survey. If you have any additional questions or comments feel free to email Ashley Cerezo (78) acerezo@tracylc.net or Kathy Prescott (56) kprescott@tracylc.net
Social Studies with Ms. Zaca:
Hope you’ve all had a wonderful January!
Students in all classes finished the unit on Renaissance and Reformation last week and have began examining the Scientific Revolution.
After learning about Leonardo da Vinci, Dante, Albert Duhrer, and Johannes Gutenberg, students moved onto the Reformation. Students looked at the events leading up to the Reformation and looked at different pictures that portrayed those events. Students discussed about the church’s selling of indulgences and why it angered the common Europeans at that time. They discussed why Martin Luther would post this 95 Theses to church doors and how the printing press helped spread his words to thousands of peasants across Europe.
Students also learned about King Henry VIII and how the catholic church’s reluctance to grant him a divorce from his wife led him to break away from the church and create the Anglican church. Did you know that King Henry VIII married six wives and executed those who did not bore him a son? The irony of all this is that his daughter becomes the future queen of England, who we all know as Queen Elizabeth the first!
Now that the trimester is close to ending, those in Ms. Zaca’s homeroom received parent teacher conference slips that are to be turned in by Friday, February 21st. An email was also be sent out to her homeroom parents about the topics they would like to be discussed at their parents teacher conference. Please fill out the survey to help make this a successful parent teacher conference!
7th and 8th Grade Science Charter Chatter
In the last several weeks, 7th and 8th grade science has been taking a closer look at something they interact with every single day: Water. We started by taking a look at the movie Disney’s Oceans where students were able to see just how vast the world’s oceans are and how much of the Earth’s surface is covered in water. Then we moved on to a slide show of our first set of notes, where we learned that out of the water there appears to be on Earth, we really can only use a shockingly small percentage of that water, that small percentage of water that we can use is replenished through the water cycle.
We have had the chance to do some really interesting and fun labs and projects during this unit. One of the first projects that students were assigned was to create a story of a drop of water traveling through the water cycle. Students had to create a comic book style booklet that follows a water drop as their main character through a storyline of their choice that included each part of the water cycle. The comic books that students turned in were absolutely hilarious and entertaining while still utilizing all of the key vocabulary from the first set of notes. I was really impressed by the creativity and hard work that students put into this assignment.
The final project for this unit will be for students to explore the water quality of various cities around the United States and around the world. In the Varsity and Scholastic classes, groups of students worked together to research what kind of water people have available to them in several pre-selected cities from around the United States. Students were able to draw from a deck of cards with the pre-selected cities’ names and states written on them. Once a group drew a card, they had to answer five questions about the water that is available as tap water to the residents of their city. These questions included what, if any, kind of water crises the city faces, where the city gets their water from, what kind of contaminants are commonly found in the city’s water, and what kind of water sanitation/purification process the city uses. In Honors, each group was given a short amount of time to research a city to be the focus of their water quality project. Before proceeding with their research on any given city, they had to be able to make a case for why they thought the city that had chosen would be an interesting topic for a water quality project. They will be wrapping up this project when we come back from the three day weekend, and each group will be presenting the information they researched through a slide show and verbal presentation. Each group will also have the opportunity to propose their ideas to improve the water in their city.
Millennium High School
YEARBOOK ORDERS and SENIOR DEDICATION AD ORDERS NOW OPEN!
Yearbooks are on sale now! Yearbooks are $75. Now is the perfect time to order a 2019-20 yearbook for your student. We look forward to yearbook delivery day, May 15th. Orders are open through April 11th. Click HERE to go to our convenient online order center! Or you may go to yearbookordercenter.com and enter code 21362. You may also pay by cash, check, or card in the front office or by contacting Miss Lamanna, blamanna@tracylc.net
Senior Dedication ads in the yearbook are available and can include photos alongside a personal message to your son, daughter, or teammate. There are a limited number of pages available, so act quickly. The deadline to place an ad is 3/15/20. Credit cards accepted! If you have any questions, please direct them to blamanna@tracylc.net.
THIS WEEK IN SPANISH….
Much has happened since our last chatter article. Students enrolled in Spanish 1 with Mrs. Amador have completed and presented in front of their peers their skit where they applied and demonstrated their conversational skills in a real life situation. Each group showcased their creativity and used many tools from their artistic toolbox to present their skits in their own unique medium. Some presented life, others created a short film, others creatively used voice over techniques using “Minecraft” characters.
Currently, the Spanish 1 class is exploring new grammar concepts and creating complete sentences in the present indicative tense and learning how to communicate information by asking and answering questions related to their school life and schedule. That includes talking about their schedule, study habits, and grades. They also learned how to tell time and to use compound verb tenses.
Spanish 2 students have also completed and presented in front of class their research project on Costa Rica during our unit related to traveling. The class best and most colorful work is proudly displayed on our classroom “Pride Wall”. They used critical thinking skills to answer questions in Spanish about the country’s food, people, politics, their flag and other interesting details. They also reflected on their final product and answered one of the essential questions for this unit, “Why is it important to learn about other people’s culture and traditions?”
These days, they have been learning to create sentences using more complex verb conjugations that include the present progressive, past preterit, and to use reflexive pronouns when conjugating reflexive verbs. They are learning many vocabulary words about body parts and learning health conditions that may help students who would want to pursue a career in the medical field to speak in Spanish to their patients. This vocabulary and expressions will also help students who would like to travel abroad and might need to explain an ailment to a health personnel.
Spanish 3 students also finished working on their 2nd project. They had to create a script and perform a skit using the restaurant and food vocabulary where they showcased artistic performance and production techniques in order to come up with an interesting story plot. Of course, they also showed their confidence and fluency in the Spanish language as they presented to their peers while being evaluated and sharing their “Wows & Wonders” with each other, after each presentation.
In the current unit, students are learning the imperfect verb tense and other complex grammar concepts towards expressing their thoughts and feelings through performing a bilingual monologue art piece in front of their peers. They are also learning popular songs in Spanish that we are planning to perform at a future school rally.
Spanish I
We are in the middle of our family unit. Students have learned all family members in Spanish. This week we focused on months, numbers, birthdays, and birth dates. Students learned possessive adjectives like mi, tu, su, nuestro/a to talk about their family members, and their birthdays. Next week we will be covering comparative phrases in Spanish. Students will be able to use these along with adjectives to compare their family members to one another. We will conclude the unit with a family book project, in which students will create their family tree in Spanish. They will also dedicate a page of their book to six different family members. The students will have fun making and sharing their book with the class!
Spanish II
We are finishing our unit about vacation, in which the class learned a lot of vocabulary related to being on vacation. During this unit, the students learned to conjugate –ar verbs in the preterit tense. They also learned the preterit conjugations for some irregular verbs. Now they can talk about what they did in the past. This week, the students wrote about their last vacation. They used their new conjugations to tell what they did, while they were on vacation. They enjoyed sharing what they wrote with their classmates!
Spanish III
We are currently covering informal commands in Spanish III. The class seems to understand them very well, even the irregular ones. This week, we played a game in which the students asked other classmates to do certain things, and those who asked had to perform the action requested. The class was very creative, and came up with very good commands for their classmates. The students had so much fun making each other sing, dance, laugh, run, act, and more while practicing Spanish commands. They also anonymously wrote a problem situation they were facing, and they gave each other appropriate advice to solve their problem. They are now ready to start learning negative informal commands next week!
Athletics
Interested in donating to the Athletics program to help complete furnishing of the weightroom and equipment purchases: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?token=JV4bGcCRYeBxsAoeIm9378Hq0cPdQ5v5cVuYxrIDCxod5qM0FM8eQcBKQ-YhqrA_hGj2tG&fromUL=true&country.x=US&locale.x=en_US
CCAA LEAGUE CHAMPIONS!!
Weekly Schedule (Girls & Boys Soccer, Girls & Boys Basketball):
**Playoff Brackets will be announced at CIFSJS.org the weekend of 2/14-2/15, and on Millennium Athletics social media! Stay tuned for schedules for 2/18 and 2/19!
Tuesday 2/18, Round 1 (Home Sites):
Girls Soccer @ Buckingham Charter (Time TBA)
Boys Soccer @ Rio Vista (Time TBA)
Girls Basketball (TBD)
Wednesday 2/19, Round 1 (Home Sites):
Boys Basketball (TBD)
Sports Scores:
Girls Basketball: Falcons 51, Venture 40
CONGRATULATIONS LADY FALCONS BASKETBALL ON SECURING THE CCAA LEAGUE TITLE!
Girls Soccer: Falcons 0, Venture 5
Varsity Boys Soccer: Falcons 2, Venture 1
Tiebreaker: Falcons 1, Venture 0
CONGRATULATIONS FALCONS SOCCER ON SECURING THE CCAA LEAGUE TITLE!
Varsity Boys Basketball: Falcons 44, Venture 78
JV Boys Basketball: Falcons 45, Venture 66
NOW HIRING: Fall 2020 Head Athletic Coaches-
Girls Volleyball (All levels): https://www.edjoin.org/Home/DistrictJobPosting/1275148
Interested in a future coaching position at Millennium? Submit your coaching resume/application here for consideration in future openings: https://www.edjoin.org/Home/DistrictJobPosting/1143376
Follow Millennium Athletics on Social Media:
-Instagram- @Millennium_Athletics
-Twitter- @MHS_Falcons
-Facebook- http://www.facebook.com/BalsamoPE
We appreciate your continued support! FALCON PRIDE!!
Upcoming Fundraisers for Athletics:
-Baseball, Softball, Track & Fieldl: eTeam Email fundraiser (ongoing)
COUNSELING, COLLEGE, AND COMMUNITY NEWS!!!
What an exciting week of fundraising! Thank you to all the staff and parents who attended the 9th Annual TLC’s Got Talent show! We sold a record number of tickets (316 total) and had the highest number of participants in the show. We have a great deal of talent on the TLC campus, especially our teachers! If anyone has pictures from the show, please send them to mhscounseling@tracylc.net Thank you!
Interact Club worked hard all week baking and prepping for their annual bake sale to the Tracy Sunrise Rotarian members at the Four Corner’s Restaurant – a staggering amount of $415 was raised. The auctioneer was our very own TLC Board President Mike Sousa! Stand by to see where the generous amount will be used for an international project.