Dear ACS Families and Friends,

The Middle School Information Night’s theme is “Paving the Road to Excellence”. Parents of 4th, 5th, or 6th graders, please join us on November 15th from 6:00-7:30 in the gym to learn more about our middle school programs. We will have current and former students, teachers, board members, and the deans from ACS there to answer questions. Door prizes will be given out too! Hope you can make it!

The middle school Harvest Dance last Friday had a great turn out! The 6th, 7th, and 8th graders danced the night away, played games, and ate snacks and pizza. ACS has quite a talented bunch of dancers! Thank you to all who helped make this night such a success!

This Friday our teachers will be attending an in-service in Colorado Springs about Core Knowledge. This is a national conference and we are lucky to attend. Next year it will be in California! Next week our teachers will bring this information back and into the classrooms. As a staff, we are excited about this opportunity!

All of our students in grades 1st through 8th are writing essays in their classrooms for a CCIRA writing contest. (Colorado Council International Reading Association) Members from our SAC will be judging these essays and choosing 3 from every grade level. ACS will recognize these students at an assembly. As a school, we can only submit to CCIRA one paper from 1st-2nd grade, 3rd-4th grade, 5th-6th grade, and 7th-8th grade. We will be submitting 4 papers. In February 2008, winners will be chosen and asked to read their essays during the CCIRA conference in Denver. I hope one of our great writers get chosen for this honor!

Wisdom is learning born from experiences, both positive and negative. As parents, you can develop wisdom in your children by allowing them to make choices and know the consequences of their choices. Encourage your children to reflect on what they learn through their experiences…would they do it again or differently in the future. Help your children recognize the effects their actions have on people and situations. As parents, you are the first teacher and have the greatest influence on your children.

As always thank you for your wonderful support! We cannot do it without you!

Sincerely,

Yvette Brown
Academy Charter School Dean
browny@academycharter.org

Important Dates

• November 9 Teacher In-service Day-no students
• November 12 Regular School Day
• November 13 Governing Board Meeting
• November 14 PTO Meeting
• November 15 Middle School Information Night
• November 21-23 Thanksgiving Break!

Fun Fact

The blue whale is the largest animal on earth. Its heart is as big as a small car and its tongue weighs more than an elephant. A newborn blue whale can be 25 feet long.

Fun Website

Native American Beadwork
www.nativetech.org/beadwork/beadgraph/index.html

CSAP Question

3rd Grade Released Math Question
During the summer, Henry earns $5 per hour babysitting and $4 per hour mowing lawns.
Part A Henry babysat a total of 48 hours. How much money did he earn babysitting?
Show your work and write your answer.
Part B Including the 48 hours of babysitting, Henry earned a total of $308 by the end of summer. How many hours did he spend mowing lawns? Show your work and write your answer.

Dear Families and Friends of ACS,

I am sure that many of you are aware that we will be having a change in our middle school team in the very near future. Mrs. Amen and Mrs. Greer have made the very difficult decision to resign from their positions at ACS. Many times in life, we have to make difficult choices in order to do what is best for our families and this is especially hard as educators when we have 120+ students who are like our family! These teachers will be missed by parents, students and staff. We do wish them the very best in whatever endeavors they seek in the future. Please know we, as a middle school team and administration, will do our very best to find highly qualified teachers to finish out the remainder of the school year.

Parent Portal Information:

This is a reminder for middle school parents who didn’t receive your GUID number during conferences. Your GUID number is your access number to log into infinite campus and is the way to get into the parent portal. Please stop by the office to receive your GUID. We have the log-on information on the website as well as a link here. LINK TO PORTAL DIRECTIONS-

If you do not have access to a computer at home, you may set an appointment to come to the elementary lab during afternoon carpool to sign-in to the portal. Please call the office to schedule an appointment.

We will not be sending our mid-term progress reports home since parents can access their student’s grades through the portal. Teachers will be notifying parents via e-mail when students are below a “C-“ in any class. They will ask you to check the parent portal to view your student’s grades. You can also access what missing assignments your child may have.

I’d like to provide you all with some clarification regarding how things are calculated and interpreted in the Infinite Campus Gradebook. A zero means the student has not turned in that assignment. A blank means that the assignment has not been graded. A letter “A” means the student was absent. An “M” means the assignment is missing and counts negatively towards the student’s grade.

Please remember that teachers are still posting their homework for the week by 4:00 p.m. every Monday. Consult your child’s planner daily as homework may change from the website due to students moving faster or slower with a concept. This page does not necessarily include due dates for long-term assignments.

Special Note: The middle school teachers would like me to remind students and parents that all middle school students need to have a book to read at all times for all classes. Many times when students finish a test early, or have academic assistance they do not have a book to read. Please help us by ensuring your student has a current book to read!

As always, November begins to bring about many upcoming events here at ACS. Here are some of them for you to be aware of…and a few thank you’s as well!

• I’d like to thank all the Grade Level Coordinators for all of their hard work in getting the Middle School Harvest Parties put together last Friday! These ladies are: Christi Fuller-6th grade coordinator, Tracy Belk-7th grade coordinator, and Barb Ireland-8th grade coordinator. I’d like to thank anyone else who helped this to be such a fun time for our middle school students!
• The Student Council sponsored the Harvest Dance last Friday and it was terrific! Thank you to our chaperones, Mrs. Gordon and her husband, Mrs. Rodriquez, Mrs. Solita, Mrs. Hollister for being the DJ, and Mrs. Matlock for ensuring we had the pizza and goodies ready for the students!
• We will be having our second Bully-free assembly on Friday, November 16th.
• On November 30th the Orchestra will have their winter performance in the gym. Mrs. Sowter and Mr. Ross will be providing more information next week!

If you have any feedback regarding the following changes to our conferences I would appreciate hearing from you: Having later appointments on Thursday, and having a group setting in the gym for middle school conferences on Friday. Your feedback will assist us in determining how we set these appointments for 3rd quarter conferences. Please email me your thoughts on this to petersk@academycharter.org or you can include them in your parent survey!

Have a wonderful 3-day weekend as I know we as a staff, have a great time at the Core Knowledge Conference!

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

ORIGINAL WORKS ORDERS ARRIVED A WEEK EARLY!

Thank you to all the families that placed an order! Our Original Works orders have arrived and were delivered to your child’s classroom today. If you haven’t received your order, please check with your child’s teacher. Also, please open your order and check to make sure it is satisfactory. We try to double check all orders and want to make sure you are pleased with the products. If you find something that is not right, please contact me immediately.

A special thank you to Ms. Huskins, Dean Peters, Mrs. Belfrage, Mrs. Smith, Mrs. Burgos, Mrs. Knight, Ms. Keeling, Mr. Pears, Mrs. O’Shea, Mrs. Mascarenas, Mrs. Ardrey, Mrs. Bowersox, and Mrs. Lemon for all your help during the fundraiser! You are awesome!

Thank you,
Cindy Hazlehurst
ACS Original Works Coordinator
303-688-9134

Schedule Items

• Bead Like That Class: Underway - November 12 (Mondays 4:00 - 5:00, Art
  Room)
• November 14 – PTO General Mtg. – ACS Cafeteria
• November 30 – Teacher Breakfast

UPDATE: PTO Meeting and Dinner Night – PLEASE NOTE TIME CHANGE

Please join us for the next PTO General Meeting and Dinner Night on November 14th. Dinner will be served beginning at 6-PM and the General Meeting will commence at 6:15PM. Details on Dinner are currently being finalized. For more information, contact Allyson Ford allyson4d@hotmail.com or Gina Ordunez Rchincha88@aol.com

Enrichment

Bead Like That Class: Now underway - November 12. The cost is $35.00 for all three classes.
For more information, please contact Emily Ragan: ceragan1@msn.com or Julie Harkin: toddpaco@aol.com

Social

The next teacher breakfast will be November 30th. Look for sign up sheets on the PTO board or contact Allyson- allyson4d@hotmail.com or Gina- momofboyzzz@comcast.net

Special Messages

TEE SHIRT ORDERS - Tee shirt orders are anticipated to be received from the distributor late next week, or early the week of November 12-16.

Our volunteers are very busy this month! Please continue to log your hours in at the school as we will be having a special drawing for a turkey on November 20th! Next week I will be posting the names of those volunteers who have completed 20 hours of volunteer time this year.

Remember, One Person Makes a Difference! Have a wonderful weekend.

Anne Belfrage
Volunteer Coordinator
belfragea@academycharter.org

Take Care of your yard winterization needs and help Academy Charter School 8th Graders raise money for their trip to Washington D.C.

Aerate (Front and Back) $30.00 ($5.00 of each job towards trip)

Winter Fertilization $20.00 ($5.00 of each job towards trip)

Sprinkler Blow-out $30.00 ($10.00 of each job towards trip)

Special Package Deal Save $5.00: All 3 services for $75.00 ($20.00 still will go to trip fund)

Jobs done by Dennis and Katelyn Caldwell

303 660-3815