Dear Family and Friends of ACS,

I have received information about our CSAP testing window for this year. The window for our Third Grade Reading CSAP’s will be the week of February 13-17. The window for the rest of the CSAP’s in grades 3-8 will be the weeks of March 13- 17 and March 20- 24. An exact schedule of the days we will be testing during the above testing windows is forthcoming.

Our Parent Workshop Night will be on Wednesday, January 25, from 5:30- 7:00 in our school cafeteria. Dean Peters and some of our ACS staff members will be there to help parents as they move to different stations in order to gain more information to help support their students or to ask questions. The following stations will be available this night:

1. K-1- Emergent Literacy
2. 2-3- Early Literacy
3. 4-8- Intermediate Literacy
4. K-2 Math
5. 3-5 Math
6. 6-8 Math
7. Intermediate Science
8. Spanish
9. Homework

If you would like to participate in this workshop, please call our office to RSVP by Monday, January 23rd. Our Eighth Grade students are planning to sell pizza, so you can grab a slice as you rove to the stations.

On Friday, February 17th, our school will be closed for an in-service day. On in-service days, even though our ACS staff is going through different trainings, our office has always been open; however, on this particular day please make note that our entire staff will be in-servicing and even our office will be closed this day. Please do not try to come to the school to retrieve missing student items or to discuss an issue with our office or staff, as we will all be learning about positive and effective communication this day and cannot be interrupted. Thanks for your understanding!

Our office has had quite a few calls recently about school delays and school closures. Please refer to your Parent/Student Handbook, page 29, as it provides information regarding where you should look to see if our school will be delayed or cancelled. We do follow the Douglas County School’s decision of a delayed start or school cancellations due to inclement weather. With Douglas County being such a big district now, and if necessary, the District will sometimes communicate by referring to different sections of Douglas County. On 9News, we will follow either ‘All Douglas County’ or ‘Castle Rock Schools’ and on the Douglas County website (http://www1.dcsdk12.org) we are referenced as the West Area.

A Look Ahead:

• Monday, January 23- Second Rotation for Third Quarter
• Tuesday, January 24- Girls Basketball Game- Home- 4:00 & 5:00
• Tuesday, January 24- Boys Basketball Game- Away- 4:00 & 5:00
• Wednesday, January 25- Parent Workshop, Cafeteria, 5:30- 7:00
• Thursday, January 26- Girls A Basketball Game- Away- 4:00
• Thursday, January 26- Girls B Basketball Game- Away- 4:00
• Thursday, January 26- Boys B Basketball Game- Away- 5:00
• Friday, January 27- PTO Breakfast for ACS Staff
• Friday, January 27- Elementary Virtue Assembly, 8:50, Cafeteria
• Friday, January 27- MS Virtue Assembly, 2:50, Cafeteria
• Friday, January 27- MS and Specials Newsletter goes home
• Friday, January 27- 8th Grade Play, 6:00, Gym
• Tuesday, January 31- Girls Basketball Game- Away- 4:00 & 5:00
• Tuesday, January 31- Boys Basketball Game- Home- 4:00 & 5:00
• Wednesday, February 1- Girls B Basketball Game- Away- 4:00
• Wednesday, February 1- Boys B Basketball Game- Away 5:00

Kindra Whitmyre-Nelson
Dean of Academy Charter School
email: nelsonk@academycharter.org
web: http://www.academycharter.org/deannelson

Dear ACS Families and Friends,

Last week, we had representatives from Douglas County High School provide course information to our current 8th grade students who will be attending DCHS next fall. These forms are due next week, on Wednesday, January 25th. Please be sure to have your student return these forms to the office that morning!

Yesterday, Lisle Gates, the principal of Castle View High School, met with 8th grade students who will be attending this school next fall. Course description booklets, freshman registration forms, as well as a letter which provided information concerning an upcoming parent meeting were given to students. The Parent Registration meeting will be held on Tuesday, January 31st, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. in the cafeteria here at Academy Charter School. Students are encouraged to bring their course description booklets as well as their completed registration forms to this meeting so any questions regarding this process can be addressed at this time. Registration forms for Castle View High School will be due on Friday, February 3rd.

Kendra Peters
Assistant Dean of Academy Charter School
email: petersk@academycharter.org

We all know that eating well and including breakfast is good for our and our student’s health. But did you know that studies have shown that eating breakfast helps kids learn? When comparing students who eat breakfast to students who don’t eat breakfast, studies have shown the breakfast eaters:

• Concentrate better
• Make fewer errors
• Score higher on tests
• Are more creative
• Work faster
• Are healthier and have better attendance

I know it is difficult to get teens to eat breakfast. Here are a few suggestions to help you try to get your teens to eat breakfast:

• Keep easy breakfast foods on hand- such as milk, instant breakfast, cheese, yogurt, hard boiled eggs, sliced meat, fruit, raw vegetables, bread, crackers, bagels, cereal.
• Keep breakfast foods highly visible and convenient to grab.
• Be a role model, eat breakfast! If you find you or your teen isn’t hungry in the morning, start with something small such as a yogurt or a piece of fruit. When you start your day consistently with something to eat, your body will adjust and you find you are hungry in the mornings. Your student can also take with them food to eat on the go.

I hope this helps you with encouraging your student to eat a healthy breakfast and get a good start on his or her day.

Be Healthy!

Stacey Barlow, RN
School Nurse Consultant
720-284-9825

Picture Valentine Orders Due

Just a reminder, the picture Valentine orders are due Friday. These order forms were sent home on Tuesday with your student. This is a fundraiser for ACS. If you have questions or concerns, please contact Anne Belfrage in the office.

The IB program at Douglas County High School has extended invitations to 143 students.

We look forward to the beginning of a great IB experience for each of these students. And we thank the district middle school staffs for their contributing efforts as students participated in the application process.

• Douglas County High School – January 18th, 6:00 p.m., at Douglas County
• Rock Canyon High School – January 19th, 6:30 p.m., at Rock Canyon
• Ponderosa High School – January 25th, 7:00 p.m., Ponderosa Gymnasium
• Castle View High School – January 31st, 6:30 p.m., ACS Cafeteria

1. Appointments must be made in advance—this is first come, first serve
2. Families should call 1-866-588-4720 for appointments
3. Dentists are matched to the person’s zip code so a close referral is possible
4. The appointment lines are only open between March 21 to March 24 during the hours of 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

This is a great opportunity for low income and/or uninsured families.

Governing Board Meeting

The Governing Board will meet again at 6:00 p.m. Monday, February 13, at the school. Monthly board meetings are open to all ACS parents, and are a great way to keep up on the progress of the school. Remember that attendance is required at one GB meeting per year. Have you fulfilled your requirement yet?

THIRD IN A SERIES – ACS GRADUATE GLIDES INTO DCHS

In our continuing look at how ACS graduates transition into high school, we spoke this week with Maggie, a freshman at Douglas County High School.

Maggie was a new student at ACS in 7th grade, but her relatively short time at the charter school seems to have helped prepare her to take on the tasks of high school. Maggie was accepted into the pre-International Baccalaureate program at DCHS, a challenging curriculum “where you are expected to think deep, and learn on a worldly level.” She compares the program in some ways to ACS – “the teachers want to challenge you more, although the workload in high school is 20 times more than at ACS! Also, you are in classes with kids that want to be there.”

Like our other interviewees, Maggie also cites the size of the school as the one great difference between high school and middle school, saying, “There are so many more people, and they are so much more diverse.” But she was able to adapt fairly quickly, thanks in part to her summer spent as a member of the DCHS marching band. She met other incoming freshmen at that time, and had new friends when school started. She would “definitely recommend it” to others.

Academically, Maggie seems to have been well prepared in the majority of her classes. She thinks that ACS did a good job particularly in math and Spanish, and language arts as well. Of math, she says that having it every day in middle school was really important and helped her learn a lot. “The math book was perfect – it gives you all you need to know. The (high school) tests are pretty hard, but having hard tests at ACS prepared me well.” Maggie currently is in Geometry at DCHS.

In Spanish, Maggie believes that having her ACS background in the language was a big plus, and thinks that ACS students should be able to go into Spanish II easily. She notes that high school Spanish focuses much more on reading and listening to the language, skills needed for everyday life.

History was the one area where Maggie felt she was not ready for high school. “It is my most difficult class.” She said that high school history is more than memorization. There is more of a focus on geography, and much deeper thinking. However, she did add that most kids her grade were also having a tough time in this subject.

During her two years at ACS, Maggie was a member of both the basketball team and the band. She calls her involvement “ a good experience.” She thinks all students should join something, because it is a good way to meet more friends. Maggie believes that ACS needs to have more clubs, sports, performing arts, and music. “Being in drama club in 7th grade was a great experience. It really opened my eyes, but it was not offered last year.”

Because Maggie feels that being involved in areas other than school classes is very important to students, she shows that by giving back to ACS. She returns to ACS one hour a week to help with the band students. She sees that a personal touch makes a big difference to some students – “I want to help kids that need more attention. Having someone closer to your age working with you one-on-one makes it easier to connect.”

All in all, Maggie seems to have made the transition from middle school to high school quite easily. She is focused and serious about school, but realizes the importance of being in other activities. At ACS, she says that she could have done without the uniforms, and thinks she missed out on meeting more friends elsewhere. But Maggie was able to utilize her time and experiences at Academy Charter School to her benefit, something that will serve her well in the future – a future that looks quite promising.

2006 Survey Emailed to Parents

The January 2006 parent survey was emailed to ACS parents this past Tuesday, January 17th. If you did not receive the survey online, or if your email address has changed since school began, please contact Cynthia Heikes at cdfheikes@msn.com. We have had several surveys sent back as “undeliverable,” and would like to make sure all parents have an opportunity to fill out the survey.

For parents without internet access, please contact the school to use a computer at ACS, or to make other arrangements for taking the survey.

Please note - the deadline for completing surveys has been extended until Tuesday, January 31st.

Grocery Certificate Sales

Sean Templeton and his wife, Jennifer, sold over $2100.00 worth of grocery certificates last Friday during carpool time! Just a reminder, they will be out there again this Friday, so bring your checkbooks to purchase these certificates. This is such an easy way to earn money for our school! We earn 5% from the sale of these certificates which don't cost you anything--what a deal!

The certificates are sold in $25 denominations and can be used at King Soopers or Safeway and they are just like cash. They can also be used to buy gasoline at King Soopers stores. You may purchase them in the school office any time that is convenient for you.

If your student is sick or is not going to be attending school, please call the front office and report them as absent. We have been making more and more calls to confirm absences lately and we would appreciate your help in reporting your student absent or coming in late. You may call before school hours and leave a message on our voice mail system if this is convenient.

Thanks for your help with this important responsibility!

Anne Belfrage
Office Manager
belfragea@academycharter.org

If you have a son or daughter that will be starting Kindergarten next year, please stop by the office and tell me. I would like to have all the siblings enrolled for next year before we start dealing with the lottery folks.

Please let me know what your preference is----full day kindergarten, morning class, or afternoon class. Thanks for your attention to this important matter.

Anne Belfrage
Office Manager
belfragea@academycharter.org