SCC Weekly Newsletter: Sept. 9 - 15, 2019
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Upcoming Events
(click on event name for calendar details)
Tuesday, Sept. 10
Wednesday, Sept. 11
Thursday, Sept. 12
Saturday, Sept. 14
Thursday, Sept. 19
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Highlights in this Issue
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Director's Spotlight
: Curriculum Maps
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PRT
: Voluntary Contributions
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Office News
: Directory Update & Spirit Store Info
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Board of Directors: Town Hall & Election Postponed
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Volunteer
:
Library & Hot Lunch Help Needed. Signup.com Info
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Library Corner
:
Two Upcoming Author Visits
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Educare
: BTSN & Band Registration
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Dancing Under the Stars: Glowing Praise
from an SCC Parent
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Parent Ed
:
Getting Your Kids to Tell You About Their Day, Learn about Vaping, Girls Leadership
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SCSD/Community Events
: SCSD Board Vacancy, San Carlos STEM Fair, San Carlos Day of Service, and Chickens' Ball
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Director's Spotlight on... Curriculum Maps
At a recent evening meeting with middle school parents, curriculum-related questions were raised. When I mentioned our curriculum maps to parents, very few knew what I was referring to!
It has been four years since we opened our curriculum maps to the community, so I thought it would be helpful to reintroduce this resource.
The goal of our ongoing curriculum mapping efforts is to create a thoughtful, articulated, cohesive, and documented K-8 curriculum and to improve transparency in this area.
Curriculum mapping is a process that began with–but is not limited to–documenting our taught curriculum. These maps serve as the jumping off point from which we develop, analyze and align our curriculum. The process of mapping requires us to reflect on our practice: Are we doing what we say we are doing and are our learners understanding what we want them to? These maps provide the basis for our decisions about curriculum and instruction.
It is important for parents to understand that
the primary purpose of the maps is to be a tool for educators. As you browse the maps you will see that they are not all complete nor are all of the map components made public. Keep in mind that, just because information is missing, doesn’t mean we haven’t planned it or taught it. Additionally, we may not always do everything that is on a map and we may do things that aren’t on the map. Our curriculum is dynamic and keeping maps updated is another layer of responsibility for educators whose time is already extremely impacted.
As we bring in new educators, they use existing maps as a reference and resource. However, these maps are meant to be dynamic and will always be evolving. Conversations among educators are ongoing as we continue to improve our curriculum.
You can find our existing maps
here. Happy browsing!
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PRT Voluntary Contributions
The Parent Resource Team (PRT) is looking forward to another great year at SCC.
As our school's parent-run organization for supporting our educators and building community, the PRT relies on Voluntary Contributions from learner families. Your funds will support:
- Birthday, holiday and end of year gifts for our amazing educators, staff and crossing guards
- Class and grade level celebrations for our fabulous learners (Valentine's Tea, Writer's Celebration, Taco Truck, etc)
- The staff appreciation meals (BTSN, Learners Exhibition, Conference Week) and Staff Appreciation Week / Luncheon
- Social events for the community (varies by year)
Suggested voluntary contribution per learner is $65 and funds are collected via CheddarUp. eCheck payment is greatly preferred by PRT (lower fees). Credit card payment is 2nd choice. No matter how you contribute, all donations are appreciated!
There is no time like the present to start building communities through classroom and community celebrations and social events -
our stretch goal is to receive the voluntary contributions by Wednesday, September 18th.
Please note that if we have any surplus funds, the PRT may elect to donate the funds to a relevant PRT/Community need or choose to carry forward surplus funds to subsidize future PRT/Community needs. If at any time you have questions about the status of our funds, feel free to contact the PRT Leadership Team at
prt@scclc.net.
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Fourleaf Directory Offline
Fourleaf.com has shuttered, leaving our online directory without a home. We’re trying to find an alternative, but in the meantime please hold tight! Thanks for your patience.
Free Shipping Code for Charter Spirit Store
For a limited time, our merch store is offering FREE SHIPPING! If you haven't visited yet, we have lots of fun garments and accessories to help show your Charter Pride! Bumper stickers, t-shirts for the whole family, water bottles and more.
Free shipping code is: FREESHIP919 and it's only good through September 22nd so don't delay!
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Board of Directors Update
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Please Note: The BOD Town Hall and Election have been postponed. Further information will be available this week.
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Volunteer Help Wanted
If you can help with any of the following or have questions, please contact
Melissa May
.
- Library: Please let Emma, our librarian, know if you are available to help compile and mail the kids' thank yous following an author/illustrator visit to SCC. Upcoming visits are scheduled September 19 and 25.
- Hot Lunch (Learners): The hot lunch team invites 5th-8th grade learners to volunteer for hot lunch on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays between 12:40-1 pm. There are 2 volunteer spots each day; to sign-up, click here. Parents, when registering your learner, please use your email address and your learner’s name. If a learner is not signed up through SignUp.com, they cannot volunteer. Only learners who have signed up will be allowed to volunteer.
- Hot Lunch (Parent Volunteers): The hot lunch team is looking for a volunteer to help out on Thursdays from 11:50-1:05 pm, on a weekly or every other week basis. You’d earn double volunteer hours and $6.50 in ChoiceLunch credit. Please contact Akash Bijlani at (650) 248-9166 or acbijlani@icloud.com
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Volunteer Jobs Still in Need
Still seeking volunteers for weighted blankets, Chickens' Ball, and clean-up jobs. See
here
for more information.
SignUp.com
Charter will continue to use
SignUp.com
to organize our volunteer efforts across the entire campus. SignUp.com can be used for all classroom and school volunteer needs, parent teacher conferences, class parties, teams/committees, potlucks, Teacher Appreciation, etc. Please click
here to read about how to SignUp.com is used at SCC.
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Children's book illustrator
Rafael Lopez visits kindergarteners, first-graders and second-graders on Thursday, September 19 in honor of
Hispanic Heritage Month. Thank you San Carlos Public Library for sponsoring this wonderful event.
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Third- through sixth-graders welcome author Robin Stevenson Wednesday, September 25 for an assembly showcasing her newest book,
Kid Activists: True Tales of Childhood from Champions of Change. Thank you to The Reading Bug for bringing yet another great author to our school. Please use the following link by September 17 if you would like to buy an autographed copy of the book.
https://www.thereadingbug.com/visit/stevenson925
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Fall After-School Enrichments
Educare Enrichment classes start this week! Be sure to fill out your Flex Plan calendars today if you need accompanying Educare!
Educare After Hours PJ Party for BTSN K/4 & 5-8
Back-to-School Nights are Tuesday (K-4) and Thursday (5-8) this week! Educare will be open from 6:30pm - 8:00pm for child care (out-of-diapers siblings are welcome). Register for K-4 and 5-8 in advance to make the check-in process smoother and save money. Prices go up at the door. For more information, click
here.
SCC Band I and Band II Music Program
Registration is now open. All levels are welcome to learners in 5th through 8th grade. Band II begins September 23rd and Band I begins September 26th. For more information about the program and to register, click
here.
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Glowing praise from an SCC parent:
If you haven't attended in the past, or participated in volunteering for this event, I will share with my lovely community that it is my favorite.
In such a very, very pleasant environment, our own Burton Park is transformed with dozens of strands of lights, delicious nosh circling around and free flowing beer & wine, as well as a delightful signature cocktail to put some shake and wag in your tail.
Boogie down on the dance floor with your pals to the live band, or perhaps you would rather lounge in the adirondack chairs and take in the sweetness of the night air and great conversation. Well worth it.
If you haven't already, go BUY your tickets or SIGN UP to help out, or buy EDUCATOR tickets, or allllll of the above. Hope to see you there, come say 'Hi Brooke.' I am on early cocktail bartending, service with a smile ;)
CHEERS,
Brooke
(after buying a ticket for an educator, send a follow-up email to
christopher_kashap@yahoo.com to let him know if you want to treat a specific educator/staff.)
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We have spots for everyone, and this is a great way to retire volunteer hours. There are spots for setting up, taking down, helping manage chili and pies, kitchen support, welcome greeters, donation takers, etc.
Remember that the CCO is Charter's one and only chance to raise 100% of its exclusive funding. We can't get to our $100,000 limit without your efforts to pull off the single biggest whoopin' and whippin' hoedown of the year. Yee-hawww! <ahem>
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How many times have you asked your child,
‘How was school today?’ and got a
‘good’ without any more details? After 7 hours being in school, you would think they have something to share, right?
If you want to get more information about your child’s day, try changing the question. For example, saying something like,
‘Tell me about a conversation you had with a friend today that made you excited.' For other suggestions, check out this
article from instructional coach and author Elena Aguilar, published in Edutopia.
Coming up this Wednesday, you can learn about vaping. Also, Brittan Acres is hosting several
Girls Leadership workshops in September; check out the details
here. And for other parent education events, click on the button below. Happy Parenting!
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Join the SCSD Musical - Footloose
Kick off your Sunday shoes! It's time to register for the annual SCSD musical! All students in grades 4-8 are invited to join the cast of FOOTLOOSE. No experience is necessary and everyone who registers will be cast. Students in grades 6-8 must attend a short, simple audition in order to be assigned roles. Students in grades 4 and 5 will be members of the ensemble and do not audition.
Auditions: September 18-20
Rehearsals begin in October
Performances: January 22-26
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Greater San Carlos Community Information
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- Learn about SCSD Board Vacancy, San Carlos STEM Fair, San Carlos Day of Service, and Chickens' Ball by clicking the blue button below.
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Recurring Gifts
Would you like to spread your contributions to SCEF throughout the year? Please consider signing up for monthly donations. A $1,500 donation can be given as a $125 gift each month. Sign up for SCEF’s recurring gift program at
SCEFKids.org/Donate.
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Corporate Matching - Double Your Donation
Many Bay Area businesses encourage employees to give back to their communities by offering corporate matching programs for non-profit donations. Remember to ask your employer about donation-matching and double or triple giving months! Google, Genentech, Gilead and other major corporations will match your cash donation to SCEF. In September, Wells Fargo employees can secure a match for their donations. Not sure if your workplace offers matching?
Check now.
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- Many thanks to the newest members of our Technology Team for stepping up and helping us tackle some of our persistent issues - your help has been invaluable! And big appreciation to Eric Rinker for working on the wireless infrastructure last weekend to get 100% coverage in all our rooms. It was a huge job!
- Thank you!!! Dana Rechin and Joy Cheung for organizing our 7/8 milestone with so much grace and attention to detail; Jessica Rosenberg and Gwynne for their amazing support; Katie, Vinicio and Maria for their diligence, support, and positive energy; and Gail Gannon, Mike Velasco, Matt Kowitt, Katie Elgaaen, Tricia Lord, Bob Mckenna, and David Levenson for all their help chaperoning, guiding, encouraging and caring for our learners on the milestone!
- Thank you to all of the PRT members who helped make the Welcome Breakfast a huge success!
- Thank you to all the community members who attended the Welcome Breakfast. It was great opportunity for community building
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