Volunteer Opportunities & Poster Contest

From the desk of Mrs. M.:


Dear Families, 

This THURSDAY, August 2nd, the OFFICE IS CLOSED  for ALL STAFF TRAINING. 

Volunteer Day:

For those of you with any time from 9-3 this Saturday, you're welcome to join us for a Volunteer Day~ RSVP to office@academyacl.org if any of that time works for you. 

We have a variety of jobs of available for your choice, with everything from painting, yardwork, washing walls, raising the legs of tables with a screw driver, and copying handouts. Please bring your own versions of the following, as applicable to what you'd like to do, so that we have enough:

• rakes
• flat-headed shovels
• cleaning rags
• paint rollers 
• paint brushes

AcademyACL staff members will vary in attendance depending on who is free during that day and time. 

For the start of our year, we welcome several new families, and we also welcome new staff members Daiva Cooper (DIV), Dan Taylor (DIV), Michelle Freddolino (Special Education), Karissa Rhytting (DV) and Carrie Dietrich (guest teacher while Sra. Velasco is on maternity leave) to our team! 

And… don't forget our 

POSTER CONTEST:

 Students are invited to submit a poster that illustrates AcademyACL's theme for this year - R^{3 -} and what is "good for the brain". This can include illustrations or facts about the brain, protecting the brain, nourishing the brain, or other ideas connected with great learning and the brain. 

Requirements:

1. Student's name is NOT ON THE FRONT. 
1. First and Last Name and Division must be on the BACK of the poster board.
2. Sizes may range from 11x17", 22x28" or 20x30". 
1. Check with the front office after July 31st if you need a piece of poster board to use.
3. Judging criteria:
1. Connection to the theme
2. Accuracy (spelling, facts)
3. Readability (size of letters~ capitals at least 1" tall, lower case at least .5" tall; bright contrast, appropriate spacing, etc)
4. Visual appeal (creativity, artistic or compelling design, etc.)
4. DUE by 7:00pm on ODD night, August 10th. 
1. May be dropped off during office hours or brought to your Family Conference or to ODD night. 

Have a wonderful week, 

Mrs. M. 

Initial Family Conferences

The sign-up for Initial Family Conferences was sent out by email yesterday.  Here's the link:


http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C044FACAC2BA02-division4


A change to better accommodate the needs of our families: Instead of having all new families come on one day, all returning on another, we've split the day up a bit, so new families can meet with all three DIII teachers in the morning and afternoon both days, and returning families can meet with just the homeroom teacher in the afternoon on Thursday and in the morning on Friday.  


Please know that these conferences are only 15 minutes in length.  Because we have so many families with whom we need to meet, it's imperative that we stay on schedule.  If the conference looks to be going longer than 15 minutes, we will reschedule another time to finish our chat with you at a later time.


If you are not going to be able to make our conference days due to vacation plans or other obligations, we understand, but please contact the office or your child's homeroom teacher to reschedule it.  We are in training and professional development during the week prior to conferences, but have some availability in the afternoon to meet.  


Just a few days left of summer vacation!  Enjoy!

The Smell of Freshly Sharpened Pencils...

Sunday newspaper ads are full of school supply sales, teachers are beginning to head back into their classrooms to unpack and set up, and the smell of freshly sharpened pencils is in the air!

The 2012-2013 school year is almost upon us!  I'm excited to get started and can't wait to begin building our classroom community.

Here are a few tidbits of news and important upcoming events:

July 27: A DIII playdate is being planned for the afternoon of July 27 from 3-5 at America the Beautiful Park.  Come and join us to chat and play in the fountain!

August 9: Family Conferences for NEW to DIII families will be held on August 9.  Check your email for a link to conference sign ups from the office.  New to DIII families will be meeting with all three DIII teachers at the same time during this conference: myself, Dr. Ricotta, and Mrs. Burns.  Bring your child with you as we are looking forward to meeting your family and get beginning of the school year pictures of students.

August 10: Family Conferences for families RETURNING to DIII will be held on August 10 with your child's homeroom teacher.  Bring your child with you as we are looking forward to seeing how much our students have grown and get beginning of the school year pictures of students.

School Supplies: When you come to your conference, be sure to bring all of your child's school supplies with you so that they can be labeled and prepared prior to the first day of school.  Our school supply list can be found here: http://www.academyacl.org/PDF/AcademyACL_2012-13_Supply_List.pdf

August 10: Orientation Night!  Bring your family to our orientation night for presentations given by Division teachers that highlight what we'll be learning and doing this school year!  

August 13: The first day of school!  Have your student to school at 7:50, lined up outside our classroom!

Twitter Feed: We are going to try to use Twitter for classroom news and reminders and will tweet links to this blog when new entries are posted.  Follow us at: https://twitter.com/MsBrownDIII.  Twitter won't replace email as our primary form of communication, rather it will just be another way for us to keep in touch.  We have a number of blended families and we want to be sure that everyone is able to access our classroom news in whatever way is easiest!  

More news to come soon!  Enjoy the rest of your summer!

-Ms. Brown