Vail Innovation Center
VIC News, March 9, 2021
Vail Innovation Center
Letter from the Coordinator
March 9, 2021
Hello amazing VIC Families!
This year is just flying by and it is hard to believe it is already Spring break! I hope you and your family are doing well and have some fun plans to unplug a bit and relax over the break. Keep in mind that the expectation is that if students are behind pace, they need to use this time to get caught up on their coursework.
Parents of K-12 students, Please remember that we do have to abide by the 10-day drop policies of the state just like the brick and mortar schools. This means that attendance needs to be logged. If a student does not log work for a 10 day period without talking with the VIC, we could drop them from the program. This also applies if they are ahead of pace according to the laws we have to abide by. Thank you for your understanding.
VIC students have raised over $3,470 for the American Heart Association. Thank you for all of your support. The Sliming date is set for 3/31/21 at 2:45 and we will be recording it and sending out invites for top earners. Prizes will be organized over the break and ready to be picked up at the VIC starting 3/22/21. Thank you to all of the students and families that were able to participate.
Tax Credit Designation Time is Here
If you have not already made a tax credit designation, please consider making one to VIC through the VBL location. This designation costs you nothing! You merely designate the funds on your state tax return, send them in with the return, and receive them back with your refund. If you owe, the designation is subtracted from your balance. The money that we collect from tax credit designation is used to fund our school events, prizes, and activities. If you are filing jointly, you can designate up to $400 and if you are filing single, you can designate up to $200. Please click on the link to the district website for more information. https://vailtaxcredits.org Thank you in advance for your consideration of this.
Student Survey Deadline Extension to Friday, March 12th.
Below are the links for the student surveys. Please help remind your child to complete these by Friday, March 12th.
Elementary Student Survey Link
Have a great week CyberWolves!
Mrs. Tankersley
Rachel Tankersley
Coordinator of Digital Learning
Vail Innovation Center K-12
520-879-1313
VIC/VBL Eats Out at Panda Express: Fundraiser for Friday, March 26 from 4-7pm
In-store:
Show paper or digital version of flyer
Online:
Enter 323143 in the promo code box during online checkout at order.pandaexpress.com.
Orders must be placed on the event day, and please share the flyer with the code with everyone!
Special Edmentum Reminders
Special Reminders
All students need to be working a minimum of 5 days a week to complete their courses on time. There are course maps for you to utilize as a tool for success with completing assignments on time.
6-12 grade students should ONLY use your school email account to communicate with your teachers **Do not use the Edmentum messaging system. Remember your teachers have 24 hours to respond to your school email messages.
You should be working a minimum of 1 hour per class per day to meet the timing requirements.
Tutoring sessions are available if your student is struggling. Please be sure to look at the tutoring schedule and use those links to attend virtually. Our teachers are looking forward to seeing and helping you!
Your course is made up of multiple units. Within each unit, there are subsections and topics which often include a tutorial, activities/practice, and/or a mastery test. Mastery tests can be retaken up to 3 times, but you must redo the tutorial first and then the program will unlock the mastery test again for another attempt. Edmentum will count your highest score.
When you get to the Post Test please reach out to your teacher through email to unlock it for you.
End Dates and Pacing Chart Icons - CyberWolves Working CyberStrong in 2021!
Remember to keep a close eye on your end dates.
Are you on pace to finish by your end dates?
Dark green = ahead of pace (1 or more activities ahead)
Light green = on pace (within 1 activity of the expected pace)
Orange = slightly off pace (1 or 2 activities behind)
Pink = Way off pace (3 or more activities behind)
Remember your online agreement to work approximately one hour a day in each class for five days a week will keep you on pace with light green or dark green pacing icons. Let's work CyberSTRONG in 2021!
Thank you,
The Vail Innovation Center Team
Students in 6-12: Here is a Edmentum Tutorial with tips and tricks. Please watch for a refresher.
Vail Innovation Center Tutoring Opportunities
Please see the picture attachments below with additional information needed for each tutoring opportunity listed below; days/times and instructor information. Thank you.
Link for MS Science
Link for MS Math
Link for MS ELA & SS
Link for HS Science
Use the link below to join the "Chemistry Tutoring" Group in Schoology:
MZDF-M5ZV-6D8M9
Link for HS Math Algebra 1 & Geometry
Link for HS ELA & SS
Free Math Tutoring for K-12 through the University of Arizona
The attached schedule is provided by the University of Arizona Math Department for the Spring Schedule for FREE Math Zoom Tutoring. This is for elementary grades, middle school and high school math.
Through the AmeriCorps STEMM program, skilled tutor mentors provide free online math tutoring and support to K-12 students. Any questions about the program may be directed to mhosten@math.arizona.edu or lmaroney@email.arizona.edu or call 520.621.6866
K-5 Students of the Month for March
Grades K-5 Kudos Corner
Mrs. Allison; would like to recognize the following 1st Graders that passed off their first grade sight words: Seth, Amelia, Micah, and Talin. A special shout out to the following 2nd Graders who passed off their sight words as well: Link, Louis, Keldan, Emma, Kayleigh, Selena, Elsa P., Luke, Madalyn, Elysia, Adam, Elsa J. Bradley, Emmett and Ember. Well done!
Mrs. Hunter; would like to recognize her entire kindergarten class for doing an amazing job on their kinder assessments. They have all grown so much this year. She would also like to recognize all of her first grade students for doing a fantastic job on their first grade formatives. She is super impressed and so happy to see all of their progress. Also, she would like to thank the families for their support and for being such wonderful teachers at home. Keep up the great work! (:)
Grades 6-12 Kudos Corner
Keep your eye out for next weeks KUDOS Corner to see who is recognized next week.
Mrs. Burkholder; These students are both ahead of schedule and have a high marks: Kayla Perez Alg 1, Ethan Rogers 6th-grade math, Aurora Thompson 6th-grade math, Madalyne VanHyning 6th-grade math. These students are on track and are doing GREAT earning high marks! Alexander Simonetti 6th-grade math, and Samuel Tarver 7th-grade math.
Mrs. Elchert; Ainslie Lowe is rocking it this semester! He has been ahead in his class all while doing fantastic work in Social Studies. Olivia Weathers has been diligently been working on her World History class and always listens to feedback that she receives. She becomes a better and better student everyday.
Mrs. Franzen; These students are both ahead of schedule and have high marks: Natalyn Rogers - Economics, Christopher Collins - Academic Success. These students are on track and have high marks: Jessenda Delgado - Academic Success, Abigail Garcia - Personal Finance, and Russell Chon - Economics.
Mrs. Garcia; Rachel Blair is making progress through ELA and asking solid questions. Keep it up, Rachel. Eden Oliver is on track with language arts and showing proficiency on key concepts. Nicely done! Angel Cruz has been spending significant time on the tutorials to show mastery on standards. Way to go!
Mrs. Logsdon; recognizes the following students in Language Arts:
6th Gavin Dunn is ahead of pace yet again! 7th Calissa Berry has improved her grade tremendously since 1/15! 7th Liam McNeely did great in our weekly Zoom meeting, and he's met his goals this week! 7th Josiah Gomez has finished all his coursework and is ready for his final! Way to go!
Mrs. Lotti; congratulations to Sarah Rhodes for successfully completing English 4B! You are amazing! Good luck to Ezra Jacobs on his final exam! You got this!
Mr. Reese; recognizes Josiah Gomez who is way ahead of the pace for the course. Josiah has 22/26 activities done for the semester, and is carrying high marks. Ridiculous. Just ridiculous. You are certainly in the homestretch.
Mrs. Taggart; recognizes Alana Catlin and Grace Hallett. Both of these young ladies are working hard to stay on course and be successful in Spanish 1B. Thanks for all you do!
Mrs. Whitt; Congrats to Tanner Davis for finishing his Geometry class!
Mrs. Nunes; recognizes the following students from 6th through 12th grades who are on pace or ahead of pace in all of their classes:
6th grade; Aleczander Jackson, Vincent Menez
7th grade; Eli Curtis, Hailee Glass
8th grade; Miles Breen, Zoey Spiczka
9th grade; Mazalina Marshall, Vincent Murati
10th grade; Rylee Green, Raquel Leverence
11th grade; Caleb Herd, Blake Weller
12th grade; Charizma Brown, Stacey Henriquez, Zoey Mindziak, Theresa Octaviano
KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK!
Juniors - ACT Testing Information
Juniors,
You will be taking the ACT Test on Tuesday, April 6, 2021
Location: Vail District Office - 13801 E. Benson Hwy Vail, AZ 85641
The students will be taking the Online version of the ACT test - this is not a pencil and paper test!
Time: Arrive by 8:30a.m. testing will conclude around 12:45p.m.
IT IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED THAT YOU PRACTICE THE ONLINE ACT TEST PRIOR TO TESTING DATES SO THERE ARE NO SURPRISES. The attached document goes into detail about the practice test options, but here is a summary:
Steps:
Download - http://download.testnav.com. Note: ACT online tests are only supported on Windows, macOS, and Chrome OS operating systems.
Open the TestNav application you downloaded and click on the Practice Tests link.
Read the test overview instructions you see on the screen, enter your name, and select Start.
Highlights of the ACT online test:
TIMER - The timer at the top of the page tells you how much time you have left to complete your test. Note: A timer will not appear if you are taking an untimed practice test.
Pacing yourself for a timed test is something that takes a little practice since most tests you take during school are not timed. I would recommend practicing with the timer. Make sure you answer all the questions. It is better to guess on a question than to leave a question blank.
BOOKMARK - Select Bookmark to mark an item so that you can find it easily and return to it later. When an item is marked, the same button can be used to remove the bookmark.
ANSWER ELIMINATOR - Select Answer Eliminator to eliminate answer choices.
REVIEW - Select Review to see an overview of your current status within the test, including information such as which items you have bookmarked, answered, or not answered.
CALCULATOR - A graphing calculator is available within the testing application (in the mathematics test only). To open the calculator, select the Calculator button. Select and drag the calculator if you want to move it to another area on the screen.
ZOOMING IN OR OUT - Adjust the size of the text on your screen by using CTRL and the + key to zoom in or CTRL and the - key to zoom out. Use CTRL and the 0 (zero) key to quickly return to standard size.
ANSWER MASKING - To cover answer choices until you are ready to read them, select Enable Answer Masking. This will cover the answer choices.
HIGHLIGHTER - Use the Highlighter tool to highlight text.
MAGNIFIER - To magnify a portion of the screen, select Enable Magnifier on the user drop down menu, near the top right of the screen.
LINE READER MASK - To read one line at a time, select Show Line Reader Mask.
**Ms. Wrona recently sent emails to 11th graders and parents with more detailed information about the ACT. Check your emails.**
Senior Corner
Hello Seniors,
I want to start off with congratulating all of you that completed your SEP presentations last Wednesday! It has been a long haul and all of the judges were impressed with both your presentations and the amount of work you put forth in completing your projects!! Amazing how fast this year has gone and to think the next milestone is graduation!! To reduce any stress please remember to to stay on top of your coursework and as always should you have any questions or issues please contact me or Ms. Wrona. Again, congratulations and can't wait to see you at graduation.
Mr. Ogden, SEP Coordinator
Ms. Wrona, Counselor
Mr. Arlo Ogden
Vail Innovation Center
Senior Exit Project Coordinator
Senior Advisor
520-879-1925
Social and Emotional Learning March Theme: Compassion and Kindness
Important Flyers and Information
The 2020-2021 School Calendar
FASFA - Free Application for Federal Student Aid
Seniors! It is time to start thinking about paying for college! The FAFSA is the best place to start. Let’s start with a little bit about what the FAFSA actually is. FAFSA stands for Free Application for Federal Student Aid; translation: it determines a student's eligibility for need-based federal financial aid for college, which may include grants, scholarships, work-study and loans. If eligible, it can really help you pay for school!
Use this link to complete the FAFSA Application: https://studentaid.gov/
Carrie Wrona
Counselor
Vail Innovation Center
520-879-1305
K-12 VIC Staff Contacts - Communication is Key
Please be sure you are reaching out to your teacher at any time to get support or ask questions. We are attaching our staff list showing teacher names and email addresses so you can easily contact your teacher. We are all here to help you succeed. Please plan enough time to hear back from your teacher within 24 hours.
Here is the link to our spreadsheet with all of the VIC teachers and their email.
"Good communication is the bridge between confusion and clarity."
— Nat Turner
Edmentum Tech Support
If you are having any technical troubles with your online class, please contact Edmentum:
Technical Support
1-800-447-5286
Mon- Fri 4:30 am – 6:30 pm
Sat & Sun 6:00 am – 3:30 pm
Email: info@edmentum.com
Online: https://support.edmentum.com/