Monday Morning Update
Online Program ~ October 22, 2018
“Success is to wake up each morning and consciously decide that today will be the best day of your life.“ Ken Poirot
COMPASS SCHOOL NEWS
BLOG ~ The beginning of a new school year is an exciting time for homeschooling families. Scholars are ready to learn and parents are full of new ideas and plenty of energy to teach their children. However, sometimes after the first few weeks, the excitement begins to settle and both scholars and parents may start to lose steam. Read our latest blog for 6 Tips to Help Homeschooling Parents Keep Their Children Engaged
CCS NAMES THEIR SEPTEMBER SCHOLARS OF THE MONTH ~ We are proud of our scholars and use the Scholar of the Month program to recognize their accomplishments. Join us in congratulating our award-winning scholars:
Online Elementary School: Jennie R.
Online Middle School: Raymond F.
Online High School: Havana G.
ENERGY BUS ~ Energy Bus tip of the week- your positive energy must be greater than all negativity! Negative energy is all around us, but we have the power to ensure our positive energy outweighs any negativitivity around us! Also, be sure to check out this week’s Make a Difference Monday Message from The Energy Bus!
PARENT TOWN HALLS ~ Thank you to our families who were able to join us last week for our Parent Town Halls with the Superintendent! There were a lot of great ideas and suggestions shared during the Q&A portion of the town halls. If you were unable to join, the recording has been shared in ParentSquare and uploaded to the Parents & Scholars section of our website. Feel free to reach out directly to Mr. J.J. Lewis, Superintendent & CEO, at (818) 824-6233 or jlewis@compasscharters.org, to share any feedback on the start of the year.
SPIRIT WEEK ~ Spirit Week starts today, Monday, October 22! From today through this Friday, October 26, celebrate Spirit Week and Red Ribbon Week by dressing up with your fellow CCS family, joining our Spirit Week Chill N Chat along with participating in the Red Ribbon Week Decorating and Photo Contest! Learn all about our dress up days, virtual assembly and contests on ParentSquare!
K-8 SCHOOL NEWS
MISS. D’S SUCCESS TIP OF THE WEEK ~ Track improvement! In difficult classes, it can feel like a never-ending uphill battle, so try to remind your scholars that they’ve come a long way. In other words, acknowledge academic challenges. If a given week is challenging, provide encouragement and help your scholar set achievable, short-term goals.
7th GRADE VIRTUAL ASSEMBLY ~ Join Ms. Noller and Ms. Talcott Friday, October 26th at 3:00pm for a 7th Grade October- Themed Virtual Assembly! They will be doing an October Themed Reader’s Theatre, virtual fall crafts, and more! Come with a pumpkin and permanent marker handy and be ready to use your microphone and camera. This fun-filled fall event will be held in Ms. Noller’s Virtual Classroom!
ELEMENTARY HALLOWEEN FLIPGRID ~ Our Elementary Virtual Halloween Parade is just around the corner! Don’t forget to help your scholar record a short video showing off their amazing Halloween costume using our CCS Elementary Halloween Fun FlipGrid! To join the FlipGrid fun, click the link, sign in using your scholar’s CCS email address, then click the big green plus sign to record!
ELEMENTARY LIVE ASSESSMENTS ~ Our Elementary Teachers are holding live reading fluency assessments. Don’t forget to make an appointment with your scholar’s teacher to get your live assessment scheduled.
MIDDLE SCHOOL GRADE BOOK ~ Our wonderful High School Coordinator, Mrs. Smith, hosted an amazing “Navigating Your Gradebook” presentation a couple weeks ago. In case you missed it, here is the recording from the presentation! It has some great information on common grade book questions. Check it out!
PUMPKIN UNIT ~ Ms. Popelar will be starting her Pumpkin Unit this week during the 2/3 Math Quest Learning Lab; Fridays at 9 am! Check out our Elementary Learning Lab Schedule to make sure you don’t miss out on the fun!
ONLINE HIGH SCHOOL NEWS
AVID ~ Becoming an organized person must begin with learning skills and systems for managing important information. Scholars (and educators) can become easily frustrated when assignments are lost, the inability to find materials, and by general disorganization. However, as scholars commit to learning and practicing organizational systems, proficiency in using these systems will increase, and these frustrations will be minimized. Moreover, early success will increase a scholar’s motivation to continue using these strategies. which will develop long-term organizational routines. In turn, these routines will translate to college and career readiness. Please see these resources for some organizational tools you can begin using today.
Course Participation - There are three major attributes that contribute to scholar success in an online learning environment. Those attributes are staying on pace, communicating frequently with teachers, and participating in learning labs (whether live or recorded). Likewise, the course participation includes these three major attributes. The high school team knows that these are important to scholar success and has included a class participation grade that is weighed up to 10% of the total grade. For more information on how to earn this full participation grade, please reach out to your scholar’s teachers.
COUNSELING SERVICES
FEATURED COUNSELING SERVICES PRESENTATION
Middle & High School College Career Success Cafe: "How to Search for Community Service "
Join us for our monthly CCS Cafe next Tuesday, October 30 at 12:30 pm, to learn all about community service: What is it? Is it required? Why do it? How can I find community service in my area? ... and more! We will discuss an award opportunity as well. Don't miss out on this one!
WEEKLY SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING (SEL) SPOTLIGHT
GIVING AND EARNING RESPECT
Whether it’s at home, school, or in our community, treating people with respect makes our world a better place to live in. This week’s SEL Spotlight, Giving and Earning Respect, will explore the concepts of what respect is and what we can do to earn respect from others.
COLLEGE AND CAREER PLANNING ~
WEEKLY COLLEGE SPOTLIGHT
To guide scholars on college options, the Counseling Services Department will provide a weekly spotlight on various schools during the open application period. This week the focus is on Liberal Arts Colleges. Liberal arts schools provide an education focused on developing a broad general knowledge, in contrast to a professional, vocational, or technical curriculum. The Liberal arts schools we are spotlighting this week are Whittier College, Soka University of America, and Pacific Union College.
COLLEGE PLANNING TIMELINE - Are you interested in attending a 4 year university after high school? The CCS College Planning Timeline will help guide you throughout each year of high school with the necessary steps that you should be taking to be college ready.
FINANCIAL AID -
The 2019-2020 Federal Application for Financial Student Aid (FAFSA) & California Dream Act Application (CADAA) are open now! Seniors who are planning to attend college next year should complete the FAFSA or CADAA. These applications may qualify you for grants, loans, and/or work-study to help pay for college. The FAFSA application can be found at https://fafsa.ed.gov/ . The California Dream Act Application can be found at www.caldreamact.org. Scholars should only submit to one of these applications. Contact Ms. Olson at molson@compasscharters.org if you have any questions on which financial aid application you should submit or if you need support in completing the application
COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS -
Sixt Scholars Program
Deadline: November 30, 2018
Available to: High School Seniors
Award Amount: Five $5,000 scholarships
Sixt rent a car is pleased to offer five high school seniors graduating in 2019 the opportunity to receive a $5,000 scholarship and become a Sixt scholar. The program is designed to assist high school students who plan to continue their education in college. Scholarships are offered each year for full-time study at an accredited institution of the student’s choice.
Learn more about the Sixt Scholars Program
COLLEGE AND COMMUNITY EVENTS -
FREE CASH FOR COLLEGE WORKSHOPS ~ Starting October 1 through the March 2 Cal Grant deadline, scholars and families can attend FREE Cash for College workshops across California for help completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or California Dream Act (CADAA) and Chafee Grant for Foster Youth applications. Application period opens on October 1st. For more information, and to find a location near you visit: https://www.cash4college.csac.ca.gov/
Enjoy a detailed list of Fall 2019 helpful college and career planning resources for middle and high school scholars.
EXCEPTIONAL SCHOLAR SERVICES
Featured Webinar ~ Supporting Dyslexic Readers: Go from “I Can’t” to “I Can!” Christy Scattarella, Founder and Executive Director of The Shadow Project, will share how to address key academic, social and emotional skills that unleash a discouraged reader’s innate courage this Thursday, October 25 at 1 pm.
Featured Webinar ~ How can you resolve serious challenging behaviors of an individual scholar while also improving the scholar’s social skills and academic engagement? Discover Prevent-Teach-Reinforce (PTR), a standardized yet individualized functional behavior assessment and intervention model that’s been proven effective in improving scholar’s behavior, social skills, and academic engagement tomorrow, Tuesday, October 23 at 12 pm.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Visit our ParentSquare Calendar for more information on our upcoming events.
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