Monday Morning Update
Online Program ~ November 18, 2019
We have spent the month of November discussing giving thanks to our teachers, our families, and even ourselves! The Thanksgiving holiday season is a great time to reflect on all of the people and things that we are thankful for. We are so grateful to have you as a part of our Compass Charter Schools family, and we are thankful for our ability to provide you with a personalized education in which you thrive!
We would like to hear from scholars, their families, and our staff throughout the rest of November: what are you thankful for? Join us as we give thanks this week and share with us on social media, too. Be sure to tag @CompassCS and use the hashtag #CCSGivesThanks to tell us all of the things that you are thankful for!
COMPASS SCHOOL NEWS
ASSESSMENTS: TESTING AT COMPASS ~ This week we’re sharing a brief overview of testing at Compass:
CAASPP testing is for grades 3-8, 11 and 12 and takes place in March and April, 2020.
ELPAC testing is for all grades, for scholars who are English Learners or scholars enrolling in a California public school for the first time and have a home or first language other than English. ELPAC Initial testing is ongoing as new scholars enroll and ELPAC Summative testing begins in February 2020.
Physical Fitness Testing (PFT) is for scholars in grades 5, 7, and 9. We will be sharing instructions in late January 2020 and PFT testing will begin in February.
Diagnostic benchmark testing is ongoing for newly enrolled scholars. Regular testing windows are the first week of September, February, and June.
What do those acronyms mean?
CAASPP stands for the California Assessment for Student Performance and Progress.
ELPAC is the English Language Proficiency Assessments for California.
The Diagnostic benchmarks are Istation for grades TK-5 and Edgenuity for grades 6-12.
Have questions? Please contact Assessment Coordinator, Beth Sneyd, at bsneyd@compasscharters.org.
ENERGY BUS TIP OF THE WEEK ~ Don't ruin a good today by thinking about a bad yesterday. Let it go and have a great day!
THANKSGIVING BREAK CATCH UP ~ Thanksgiving is next week and our scholars have been hard at work! Online courses will remain open during our Fall Break (next Monday, November 25 through Friday, November 29). If your scholar is behind in their courses, please help them utilize this time to get caught up before Semester 1 is over! Please contact your scholar’s teachers so that they can help your scholar create a catch up plan!
WRITER’S WORKSHOP ~ High school scholars have been attending Writer’s Workshops focused on producing an argumentative essay. If you were unable to join our live sessions, you are invited to watch a recording of the session here! The final two sessions will be held this Wednesday, November 20 and Wednesday, December 4, both at 9:30 am. Don’t miss out on this opportunity!
K-8 SCHOOL NEWS
6-GRADE THANKSGIVING LAB ~ We are having a 6-grade Friendsgiving Celebration tomorrow, Tuesday, November 19 at 1pm in Ms.Thomson's Virtual Classroom!!
ELEMENTARY WEBSITE ~ Check out our Online K-5 website for exciting information on this week’s learning labs!
ONLINE HIGH SCHOOL NEWS
COURSE PARTICIPATION ~ There are three major attributes that contribute to scholar success in an online learning environment: staying on pace, communicating frequently with teachers, and participating in learning labs (whether live or recorded). Course participation includes these three major attributes. The high school team knows that these are important to scholar success and have included a class participation grade that is weighted up to 10 percent of the total grade. For more information on how to earn the full participation grade, please reach out to your teachers.
COUNSELING SERVICES
DECEMBER SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING (SEL) LESSON
Our counseling department is looking forward to hosting an SEL Workshop for scholars in grades 4-12 about compassion on Tuesday, December 3rd at 12 pm. Compassion is when you notice another person or animal is in need, and you have concern for them that you want to show. To know if someone needs compassion we look for clues, like emotions. We show compassion by saying and doing things that show others we care. Please join Ms. Bateman, Counselor, and Mrs. Wingate, Scholar Success Coordinator, to learn more about compassion.
SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITY FOR SCHOLARS IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
Scholars living in Yolo, Contra Costa, Colusa, Lake, Sacramento, Sonoma, and Sutter counties are invited to apply for a local college scholarship. Through a partnership with Shasta Regional Community Foundation, Tri Counties Bank is committed to providing meaningful college scholarships to deserving low and moderate-income scholars. The Bank has established an endowment through the Shasta Regional Community Foundation to help sustain this important service, and provides additional funding totaling over $100,000 each year for scholarships awarded to college-bound youth (both for Community College and 4-Year Public and Private Institutions). The deadline to apply for this scholarship opportunity is Wednesday, March 11, 2020.
Enjoy a detailed list of Fall 2019 helpful college and career planning resources for middle and high school scholars.
EXCEPTIONAL SCHOLAR SERVICES
FEATURED ARTICLE ~ Five Rules for Treating ADHD in Children with Stimulant Medications: Successfully treating ADHD isn’t as simple as filling a prescription and living happily ever after. Getting ADHD medications to work to their optimal benefit requires trial and error, close monitoring, and patience. Learning coaches are invited to read this article to learn about the guidelines that doctors and patients offer for using stimulant medications safely and effectively.
FEATURED WEBINAR ~ Reducing Challenging Behaviors in Students with Autism: Merging Visual Language and Applied Behavior Analysis: This edWebinar will take an in-depth look at evidence-based strategies to help reduce and/or replace challenging behaviors utilizing functional communication training. Our learning coaches are invited to join this edWebinar this Thursday, November 21 at 12 pm to learn how to define functional communication training and discuss why it can significantly reduce challenging behaviors, including those exhibited by scholars with autism.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Upcoming Engagement Event Registration Deadlines
*Note deadlines may be several days prior to the actual event*
Tuesday, November 19 - (LA) AVID Student Leadership Conference (December 7 Event)
Thursday, November 21 - Virtual Scholar Workshop - Investigating the First Thanksgiving (November 21 Event)
Friday, November 22 - Last day to enter the Acts of Kindness Bingo Contest
Friday, November 22 - Last day to fill out Learning Coach Academy Interest Survey
Friday, November 22 - (CC) Jelly Belly Factory Tour (December 9 Event)
Friday, November 22 - (KE) Bakersfield Museum of Art (December 13 Event)
Friday, November 22 - (RV) Pennypickle's Workshop (December 18 Event)
Friday, November 22 - (LA) Getty Center (January 10 Event)
Thursday, December 5 - Virtual Scholar Workshop - Winter Baking with Household Items (December 5 Event)
Friday, December 6 - (OC) Christmas Carol Performance (December 19 Event)
Friday, December 6 - (LA) LA Clippers AVID Night (February 3 Event)
HOW TO REGISTER
*Note RSVP'ing on ParentSquare is not registering to attend the event*
· Click on “Calendar” within ParentSquare
· Locate the calendar item that corresponds with the event that you’d like to attend
· Read all details and follow “Instructions to Register Scholars & Guests”
ENGAGEMENT NEWS
AVID SPOTLIGHT ~ The Annual AVID Scholar Leadership Conference will be taking place at Long Beach State University (LBSU) on Saturday, December 7 at 12:15 pm. Don’t miss this opportunity to collaborate with your peers and interact with a guest speaker panel comprised of LBSU professors, scholar-athletes, and admissions representatives. We will also explore the campus, attend an LBSU basketball game, and new this year is the LBSU Interactive Shark Lab! Interested scholars need to register and submit payment by tomorrow, Tuesday, November 19. Use this link to register, hope to see you there!
CLUB SPOTLIGHT ~ The Awesome Elementary Artist's Club is a place where scholars can showcase their artistic talents in the areas of the performing arts. They learn about performing arts by attending performances and researching the different performances in their area. Our active club members design the club meetings around their interests. Long-lasting relationships are built during club meetings along with chances to discuss everyone's passions in the various fields of the performing arts. To learn more about this club or any of our other Scholar Clubs, please visit the “Parents & Scholars” section of our CCS website.
EVENT SPOTLIGHT ~ Join us for a Christmas Carol Performance on Thursday, December 19 in Costa Mesa by the South Coast Repertory! Nineteenth-century London comes to life during this live holiday performance. Recapture the spirit of an old-fashioned Christmas with this timeless Dickens classic and all your favorite characters—Tiny Tim and the Cratchit family, the Fezziwigs, the Ghosts of Christmas past, present and yet-to-come—and Hal Landon Jr. as everyone's favorite curmudgeon, Ebenezer Scrooge (“The quintessential Ebenezer Scrooge!” according to the Daily Pilot). Be sure to register today as we anticipate our reserved tickets for this event will sell out quickly! Registrations are now open and close on Friday, December 6 (or when we have sold all our reserved tickets, whichever comes first).
FIELD TRIP REPORTS ~ As a way to enrich your scholar(s) experience on field trips, we will be providing scholars with a field trip report to complete before leaving each field trip. We look forward to seeing their completed reports! Click here to view a folder that contains the required field trip reports for each grade level! Please note that these field trip reports are required for all scholars who attend any field trip and will be handed out to be completed by each scholar before leaving the field trip.
Compass Charter Schools
- Ashley Daugherty, Online K-8 Coordinator, at adaugherty@compasscharters.org.
- Janae Smith, Online High School Coordinator, at jsmith@compasscharters.org.
- Erin Smith, Director of Online Learning, at esmith@compasscharters.org.
Email: info@compasscharters.org
Website: www.compasscharters.org
Location: 850 Hampshire Road, Suite P, Thousand Oaks, CA, United States
Phone: 855-937-4227
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CompassCS/
Twitter: @CompassCS