PARENT NEWSLETTER
– Jan./Feb. 2001
First
Term Review
The
staff of The Community Schoolhouse hope the new year – and the
beginning of our school’s second term – is going well for you and your
family. Thanks again to all of you
for your support and patience during our first few months of operation.
First
term report cards were mailed to parents during the winter break.
Please contact us if you did not receive your child’s report card or if
you have questions. Community Schoolhouse report cards are tailored
specifically for our school’s instructional programs.
A
traditional Salem-Keizer School District report card will be distributed at the
end of the school year. The
Community Schoolhouse Levels of Mastery system (see “Documenting Student
Achievement” section in the Parent-Student Handbook) will be used to assign
letter grades and credits for this District report card.
New
Teacher: Ron Burkhart
The
Community Schoolhouse welcomed Ron Burkhart to our school’s teaching team this term.
Ron is an English teacher who has been working in education for the past
10 years. He moved to the Willamette Valley in 1992 from his home state
of Pennsylvania after graduating from Eastern Mennonite University in
Harrisonburg, VA with his secondary English teaching certificate.
Ron’s
pursuits before education involved supervision in the bakery industry, sports
officiating, and retail book sales. Educationally,
he has six years experience teaching English to juniors and seniors, three years
as an assistant principal, and two years as an admissions director.
Ron has also substitute-taught for one year at the middle school level
with several long-term assignments. He
was also involved in a cross-country “school on wheels” called Global Trek
and helped design a middle school curriculum activated through the
Internet.
Ron
team-teaches The Community Schoolhouse’s Health & English
instructional block. He blends a
love of kids with a desire to help his students learn to the best of their
abilities. In his free time Ron is
an avid reader, bicycler, and sports fan. He
also officiates PAC 10 softball as well as high school volleyball and college
basketball.
Instructional
Block Updates
Science
and Society
During
winter term, school staff, as a whole, is focusing on the sub–theme, “Discovering
Ourselves,” under the umbrella theme of the year:
“Adventure, Challenge, and Discovery.”
Within Science and Society, this will be manifesting itself in the
following areas of academic learning:
-
The 4 R’s: Respect,
Rights, Responsibility and Revolution – A look at the human endeavor for justice and
equality, the basic rights and responsibilities held in our U.S.
Constitution, and the major revolutions which have shaped our society and
lives as individuals.
-
The Building Blocks of Life – A look at the basic elements and molecules that
make up all living things, including ourselves, and how those molecules are
organized into the structures we know as cells. We will also focus on the amazing activity that takes place
within cells that help our human systems function.
-
DNA, Heredity and Genetics – A look at what makes us who we are as
individuals and what sets us apart as a species. We will also focus on the
issues inherent within the new fields of genetic research, engineering, and
cloning. Students will gain
insight into how they obtained the human traits they possess.
All
assignments for Science and Society are posted on our school's Science
and Society Web site.
Spanish
¡Saludos
a todos! Students are continuing to
explore the Spanish language and culture. The
focus is on “Discovering Ourselves,” which opens doors to
continue observing who we are, how we interact with one another, what
similarities we share, and our differences.
Through the process of discovering themselves, students are challenged to
discover the rich culture they have and the other cultures around, and to build
on their vocabulary and grammar skills. So
look forward to those Spanish greetings! ¡Hasta luego!
Math
Understanding
mathematics is a key to future success. Students
at the Community Schoolhouse are being challenged at their own level.
Students in the Integrated 1 Math class are focusing on
measurement and algebraic equations to describe mathematical relationships.
Students in the Integrated 2 Math class are analyzing real
world data and are using equations and matrices to represent the data.
By discovering their own math potential, students are broadening the
possibilities for their future.
Writing
and Wellness
As
the new term began, students were asked to complete a narrative piece of writing
to be used as a diagnostic tool to determine their writing strengths and
weaknesses. Students met with
English teacher Ron Burkhart to go over these papers and determine areas that
need improvement. Daily reading
times and journal entries will help students develop writing strategies that
enable them to make progress toward reaching the Certificate of Initial Mastery
benchmarks.
During the school’s Health and English block,
students are studying the topics of death and dying and how they relate to
grieving and bereavement. Students
have just finished reading “Tuesdays with Morrie,” a novel that
describes the life of a dying man and his poignant advice to a former student.
Students are currently studying some of the biological, psychological and
cultural aspects of coping with grief in our culture.
Each student was offered the opportunity to write about their own
experiences with loss and share strategies they have used to cope with this
stress in a positive fashion. In
addition, students are exploring strategies and techniques to better cope with
this topic in the future.
Following this lesson will be a unit on diseases.
Students will explore their family’s risk factors for a variety of
diseases. During Science and
Society, students will study the genetic factors that influence risk for
developing various diseases. During Wellness, students will do a lifestyle assessment to
determine how behavioral choices can directly impact the likelihood of
their suffering from disease. Each
student will evaluate their genetic risk and behavioral risk, analyze the
research on treatment and prevention of these diseases and create an action plan
to reduce their risk. Assessment
for this portion of the term will include a research report and speech based on
their action plan.
The
International Schoolhouse
Students
involved in the International Schoolhouse project are meeting once a week during
Enrichment and Remediation time (1:45 – 3 p.m.).
The goals of the meetings are to develop the international framework of
community education, local action and global collaboration at The Community
Schoolhouse. Students will also be developing and exploring the overall
theme of water and waste management, which has been selected as the theme for
the International Youth Summit this summer in Japan. Students are encouraged to participate in the international
component of the Schoolhouse even if they are not planning to apply for a
delegate position to the Japan summit.
Information
on the International Schoolhouse may be found on The Community
Schoolhouse’s Web page by clicking on “21st Century
Organization.” For students
interested in applying as a member of the delegation to the International Youth
Summit in Japan, a mandatory informational meeting will be held on
Thursday, Feb. 15 from 6:30 – 7:30 pm at The Community Schoolhouse.
Parents/guardians are strongly encouraged to attend this meeting in order
to receive the most current information on the application process for becoming
a delegate.
Mentoring
Update
A majority of our students are working in mentorships
in the community. If your child is
currently working at a mentorship site, please talk with them about their
experiences at their site. Community Schoolhouse students are working at
a variety of job sites and have interesting stories to tell.
Some
students are mentoring elementary school children helping them improve their
academic skills. One student is
helping with the carousel construction project at Riverfront Park while another
is working at Morton's Restaraunt exploring his interest in becoming a chef. Two of our students are involved in governmental mentorships,
working at the offices of Congresswoman Darlene Hooley and state representative
Vic Backlund. Another student is
learning about auto mechanics at Broadway Garage in Keizer.
And the list goes on and on. Congratulations
to all of our hard working students!
.
Students not already participating in internships are
expected to be at school on Fridays from 8:40 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
These students will be placed as mentorship matches become available and
students complete the required course assignments.
If you are interested in becoming a mentor or
receiving more information, contact Heather Burns, Community Classroom teacher,
at 503-763-8958 or by email at heather@communityschoolhouse.org.
A current list of mentorship sites for Community Schoolhouse
students is available on our Mentoring Program
Web page.
Volunteers Still Needed
Volunteers
are still needed in a variety of instructional and support
areas
at the Community Schoolhouse. Please
contact Ryan Kinnett, instructional assistant, by phone at 503-763-8958, or by
email at ryan@communityschoolhouse.org if
you or anyone you know is interested in volunteering at the school. A
current list of school volunteers is available on our Volunteer
Opportunities Web page.
Breakfast
Program
Marriott
Food Services launched our before-school breakfast program on Monday, Jan. 22.
The breakfast program time is 8:10 - 8:40 a.m. Monday through Thursday
and replaces the school’s mid-morning snack/breakfast time.
Breakfast
menu items include French toast, scrambled eggs, breakfast burritos, pizza
muffins, bagels, juice, milk and other assorted items.
A breakfast ticket will purchase two available items.
The student ticket costs for breakfast are $1 for full price and 30 cents
for a reduced ticket. The adult price is $1.50.
Yearbooks
The
Community Schoolhouse’s inaugural student yearbook is being pre-sold for $20 each. The
payment deadline to receive this price is Feb. 15.
After that the price increases to $25.
The 40-page, hardback yearbook will be created by students and
distributed by the end of the school year.
Holiday Adopt-A-Family Project
Congratulations to the students of The Community
Schoolhouse for reaching out to help local families in need during the
recent holiday season. Students
"adopted" two families through the Salvation Army's Adopt-A-Family
holiday assistance program. A
Holiday Giving Tree was set up at the school with gift ideas (for the adopted
families) listed on ornament tags. Students
selected individual tags and purchased the gift items.
Other students contributed cash donations for food purchases.
Overall, more than 70 new gifts and $400 in food items were distributed
to the two families on Dec. 19th.
Additionally, students organized a month-long food
drive for the Marion Polk Food Share. Food donation boxes were set up at
the school and at local businesses. Students collected several hundred
pounds of food, which was delivered to the Food Share in early December. Other
holiday service learning projects for Community Schoolhouse students
included visits to local retirement centers and volunteer work at Mission Mill's
"Miracle of Lights" program.
The downtown location of our school is based on the
philosophy that the community should serve as a classroom, and that includes the
area of service learning. These types of student activities, which are ongoing,
foster citizenship skills and a sense of civic pride and responsibility for our
students.
| 
The
21st Century