Weekly Family Update

August 27, 2018

Greetings CLA-EAST Families!

I hope that everyone enjoyed their weekend and are now ready for another strong week. As we move into our third week of the school year, I’d like to send a special thank you to all the families. Last week we saw a big shift in attendance and we are currently averaging over 95% daily attendance. This seems like such a small thing to some, but for me this is huge. Studies show that students who are in school more often have a greater chance of doing better academically and socially. As we begin our attendance awareness programming, I hope to push this number even higher.

This week, scholars will continue taking their beginning of the year assessments. Last week we tested in Math and English. This week scholars will be taking SLO’s in Science and Social Studies. We moved our timeline up from last year in order to begin scripting tutoring needs, class assignments and individualized learning needs. Attendance is extremely important this week (as is any week), for scholars to be assessed.

Culturally, I need your help. Last week we saw our share of classroom disruptions and I aim to address this issue head-on. Beginning Monday, our school will begin digging into a case study of the Value of Education. At CLA-EAST, we believe that Education is Urgent and to help with this message, I want our scholars to take a deep dive into the value of education. This project will require the scholars to do some extensive interviews outside of school time. Be on the lookout for more details later this week.

Lastly, we will be having our first PAC in unison with curriculum night. Parents and guardians will be able to nominate/volunteer to be an officer for the 2018-2019 school-year. If you are interested in becoming a PAC officer, please call the main office and have your name added to the list of folks interested.

As always, you are invited to join us for community meetings each and every Friday from 8:00 am to 9:00 am in the gym. With any questions or concerns please feel free to email or call me directly.

Yours in Education,

Ricardo Franklin, Sr.

Founding Principal

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Academic Updates
  6TH GRADE 7TH GRADE
MATH Continued work with ratios by working on equivalency. Scholars will work on a flip grid project that parents should look forward to seeing at curriculum night. (Sept. 12th) Scholars will be reviewing dividing fractions. They will also be using their math skills on a project where they will need to determine the cost of buying a car.
SCIENCE Scholars will be reading and annotating science. articles as well as taking their BOY SLO assessment. Scholars will continue working on Scientific Method and how to apply it to a Controlled Experiment, as well as taking their BOY SLO assessment.
ENGLISH Scholars will begin their novel, “My Name is Parvana”, as well as learning about making inferences. Scholars will be starting their first novel of the year titled, “Flying Lessons and other Stories”. It is a collection of short stories. The first story focuses on character development.
SOCIAL STUDIES Beginning a three week unit on geography where scholars will learn map skills, geographical locations and the purpose of cities, counties, states, and countries. Scholars will be working on learning the differences between Athens and Sparta; and making the determination on which culture is most like American modern society.
ART Scholars will begin exploring the elements of art. Scholars will begin exploring the elements of art.
PHYSICAL EDUCATION Scholars will continue their unit on Soccer.
OUTDOOR LEADERSHIP Scholars will continue working on team building and understanding teamwork within the community.

 

School Culture Updates

This week, our focus for school culture is on rolling out restorative practices for our scholars. Each family should have received a Family Handbook in which it outlines the new restorative process at CLAE. The restorative process replaces our traditional progressive disciplinary system. The goal of the restorative process is to teach students skill in conflict resolution while restoring the harm down to the school community. In this process, students will develop their voice in what they believe is the appropriate way to behave in their school. It is important to know that some scholars will be asked to make phone calls home to inform their family they have earned an afterschool restorative circle. Circles are scheduled Monday and Friday from 3:30 pm to 4:30 pm; and Friday from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm. If your scholar is scheduled for an after-school restorative circle, it is important to arrange for him/her to be picked up at the correct time.

 

Operations, Special Events & Updates

  • 8/27 – SLO Assessments (Beginning of the Year)
  • 9/3 – NO SCHOOL (Labor Day)
  • 9/12 – Curriculum Night 5:30 PM
  • Aug/September – Attendance Awareness Month

Current School Data

Average Daily Attendance— 95.1%               Course failure rate—0%                Suspension rate—0%