The Buzz
Concord Community Schools Newsletter
HALF WAY THROUGH QUARTER TWO
This week marked the halfway point through the second quarter. It is unreal to think we are so close to the end of the first semester. In light of the school year speeding along, I wanted to remind our families of a couple of things they can do to help promote learning with their students.
Three things are critical to student success. The first is to regularly check your child's progress in their classes. In the elementary, that means checking the backpack every day. The teachers will often send home notes, homework, or complete assignments in the backpack. Finding information in the backpack is a great way to keep up with the activities in the classroom and open a dialogue with your student about their work. In 3rd through 12th grade, our teachers use PowerSchool to display graded work. You can monitor your student's progress by logging in and clicking on the classes to see the graded assignments. If you do not have a PowerSchool log in or need some help, please contact the building office and they can help you very quickly.
The second critical step is communication. Communicate as much as possible with your student and their teacher about what they are learning, what is going well, and what they are still working on. Every student is working toward mastering grade-level standards. We regularly give assessments like our screening and benchmark assessments. In 6th-12th grade, the assessments may show up in PowerSchool. In the elementary school, those assessments are tracked by the teacher. Those assessments can tell us a lot about whether our student is demonstrating mastery of the content. If you have questions, call or email the teacher. They will be more than happy to discuss the work and/or assessments. I find setting a routine for when I check grades and ask about school has allowed us to keep the discussion going. At dinner, I ask my boys to tell me about their classes. If I am not getting enough detail, I ask for them to tell me more or I ask what went well and what they struggled with. This allows me to get a sense of how they think they are doing, and it allows us to talk about all of the soft skills they learn when they have to manage their time, get along with others, and stay focused.
The final thing that is critical to student success is reading. Every student in K-12 should be reading at home. All of our students from 6th grade up are expected to be reading either a class novel or a self-selected novel throughout the semester. In elementary school, students are expected to read for 10-30 minutes per day depending on their age. In lower elementary, teachers often send home a book bag. In upper elementary, the students are asked to self-select books for their reading minutes. I realize it is hard to fit it all in and some of our kids may not enjoy reading as much as others. However, there is no clearer piece of research than the positive benefits of reading to kids, with kids or encouraging them to read on their own. My boys do not always enjoy picking up a book, but they do enjoy listening to audiobooks, so we often listen to them in the car or while we are cleaning or making dinner. It is a great way to monitor their progress and their understanding.
We appreciate all of our families and the effort they put into helping their students become successful. We feel so fortunate that we are a team, and are here to help any way that we can!
FIRST GRADE FUN
The holiday season is a great way to extend the skills our first-grade students are working through extra extended learning projects that are fun and hands-on. The pictures below show first-grade students working on Osmos, elf, and coding!
WINDMILLS
The sixth-grade students study the elements of geography throughout the year. One of their units focuses on alternative forms of energy. Today the sixth grade made windmills to demonstrate there understanding.
BALLONS OVER BROADWAY
3rd Graders designed and created their own parade balloons after reading "Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy's Parade."
ADOPT A COW
4th graders have adopted a cow through the Adopt-A-Cow program. To extend their learning about the dairy industry, they made homemade butter before Thanksgiving. They even added their own flavors, like cinnamon and garlic to spice up their taste buds! Featured are 3 pictures during different stages of the process; including tasting it with crackers!
CAMP INVENTION WRAPS UP
Elementary students wrapped up club invention in November - an after school STEM club through the National Inventors Hall of Fame and Museum. Students were given many tasks and challenges surrounding the town of Unlucky, which was destroyed by national disasters.
This was a preview of our summer program called CAMP INVENTION that will be offered for all K-5 students this June. Registration is now open with scholarship funds and payment plans available. Check it out at invent.org/camp
WHY THE HIVE
Why the Hive is our section to highlight students that exemplify what it means to be a Yellowjacket!! #ONHIVE
YELLOWJACKET OF THE WEEK
AMBITIOUS
Someone who is ambitious has a strong desire to successfully get, do, or be something (whether that’s collecting toys for children in need, passing all of your classes with an ‘A’, learning to ride a bike with no training wheels, becoming a doctor someday, or anything in between).
An ambitious person chooses a goal (often one that might be difficult to reach) and works as hard as they can to reach it. Often, ambitious people realize that reaching their goal may take time, but their ambition to achieve it gives them enough energy to see their goal through to the end.
YELLOWJACKET TEAM MEMBERS NEEDED!!
FOOD BITES
Our Food Service Department is doing incredible things right now! From hydroponics and a Ramen bar at the high school to bringing back strawberry milk, everyone is loving lunch! Last week the Food Service Department had a sampling at lunch of fresh locally grown black beans in a black bean and corn salsa thanks to our Michigan Harvest Grant. The farmer was here to help serve and answer questions. The students were able to vote on which salsa they liked best, this one or a tomato salsa. (more high school students liked the black bean and corn, whereas younger students liked the more traditional salsa.)
Here is one you could use for the next newsletter along with a few pictures:
Thanks to the Michigan Harvest Grant, K-12 students had the hands-on opportunity to learn about the nutritional value of beans and their growing process. Students were happy to sample a homemade black bean and corn salsa with beans recently harvested from local Easton Family Farms along with a traditional tomato salsa.
ATTENDANCE MATTERS REMINDER
We began utilizing an automated system to communicate with parents about student absences. This means that a phone call will be made to the number on file within the school to notify parents of their child’s absence. When your child is absent from school, a phone call will be made to let you know of your child’s absence. The phone call will tell you which class periods your child has missed for the day.
An absence is considered more than 20 minutes late to the beginning of the school day. Please make sure that if your child is absent, you are contacting your child’s school to confirm their absence and/or notify them of the absence.
Ensuring your child attends school regularly is of utmost importance. It is crucial for their academic progress and overall development. Regular attendance allows students to actively participate in classroom activities, engage with their peers, and build strong relationships with their teachers. It also helps them develop a sense of responsibility, discipline, and time management skills. By prioritizing attendance, you set a solid foundation for your child’s academic and personal success.
TALKING IS TEACHING
TALKING IS TEACHING CAMPAIGN
CHILD CARE OPTIONS ARE STILL AVAILABLE
SPORTS FOR THE WEEK OF DECEMBER 4, 2023
THE HARVEST BEGINS
the Advanced Plant Science class and Food Service harvested our first crop of hydroponic lettuce! Students were treated to a variety of lettuce at lunch including Coastal Romaine and Cherokee Summer Crisp. Fresh basil and cilantro were also harvested! We are excited to be one of a few schools offering our own homegrown produce!
THE VOICE OF CONCORD HIGH SCHOOL: THE CONCORD CHRONICLE
SENIOR SECTION
COUNSELOR'S CORNER
Please review the scholarship application for students going into the trades from the Jackson Commercial Contractors Association at this link:
https://www.jcca.biz/scholarship-application/
It is due March 22, 2024 - although it seems a ways off, if you have time now, now is a good time to get this one going.
Please see the attached flier for the Miss Jackson Crossroads scholarship. This is open to middle - high school students and applications are due November 30th.
Concord has previously had 2 former titleholders.
The completion will be held on January 13, 2024, at Western High School Performing Arts Center. To compete, the delegates must live, work, or attend school in Jackson County. The deadline for application is November 30, 2023
Please refer to the email on the flier if you have any questions.
Below you will see:
- Scholarship tracker - an idea of what a student may want to use to keep track of their scholarship searches.
- Search engines for national scholarships that are reputable
- County wide local scholarships
- Concord local scholarships - these were handed out today at seminar, and will be made available in the graduating Google classroom soon.
- General instructions for finding scholarships from colleges that students are applying to.
- A link to the John George Jr. loan - a loan with only a 2% interest rate and allows students to use the money for most anything related to educational expenses.
Copy of a Scholarship Tracker
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1B25PWy5chX8dRfVxHxebg-8_kjdAKZ92c1UCyCrP8H8/edit?usp=sharing
Search Engines
COUNTY Local
MARSHALL Community Foundation Scholarships
https://marshallcf.org/receive/scholarships/graduating-seniors/
JACKSON Community Foundation Scholarships
https://www.jacksoncf.org/scholarships
Albion Community Foundation Scholarships
https://albionfoundation.org/scholarships/
CONCORD Local
This table shows the Concord local scholarships, the hard copies are posted in our Google classroom AND were passed out in seminar today.
Colleges Applied to:
- Check their financial tab
- Use the search engine to look up scholarships - may need to try merit scholarships
- Many will have ones specific to incoming freshmen
- Know that once you are established with a college, you can continue to apply for scholarships AND networking in your department of interest, check if they have any specific to your field
John George Jr. Loan
https://www.johngeorge.org/apply.htm
FAFSA - the free application to identify what sort of federal funding is available to your student if they plan to attend college - will not be open until December this year, as they are still making changes. More information on this will come as it gets closer.
Respectfully,
Kelly
Kelly Otto
Concord High School Counselor405 South Main Street
Concord, MI 49237
(517) 867-6109
SCHOOL VISIT
On December 12th, Sgt. Trevor Jones from the United States Air Force will be here to meet with anyone interested in learning more about what the Air Force has to offer you and your career. Please stop by the lunch table if you are interested in learning more.
SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
LATEST UPDATE
Seniors, the Jackson County scholarships open this Friday. Begin by checking out the Myer and Lois Franklin scholarship. The committee will only take the first 200 qualified applicants. Consider writing a rough draft to the essay this weekend so that you can bring it in next week to get feedback from Mrs. Otto, Ms. Ingram, or a teacher.
Seniors going into the trades, check out the new scholarship posted in the 2024 Google classroom from the Jackson Commercial Contractors Association. It is listed under the Local Scholarships topic and is due March 22nd.
MONEY! Democracy! The following opportunity is open to any CHS student 9th-12th grade. The Voice of Democracy is a program started in 1947, and is the VFW's premier scholarship program. If you would like to get in on competing for part of the $2 million in scholarship and incentives through this program, you can do so by picking up the information from Mrs. Otto. This year's question for the competition is "What are the greatest attributes of our democracy?" The only guarantee of you not getting it, is if you do not apply. The documents are also posted in each graduating class Google classroom.
REPEATED UPDATES AND REMINDERS SECTION
CHECK OUT THE NEW 4TH GRADE PODCAST - CONCORD STORYTIME
In one of the new episodes this week, I was interviewed by Landon and Austin. It was a ton of fun!!
https://open.spotify.com/show/2wp6ttptgm5yCYoxcVVfdZ?si=bd2b251c080d489f
If you don't use Spotify - here is a link that might work as well...
Check us out on Spotify and give us a follow - it helps us grow and we are tracking our listens. We are working on getting it approved for Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, and Amazon Music as well - I'm just not sure if it's there yet!
Elementary and Middle School Facebook Page
Have you liked the Elementary/Middle School Facebook Page? What about the Concord Community Schools Facebook Page??
If you have not yet, this week is a great time to start. The Elementary and Middle schools use the Facebook page to post many updates, announcements, and student photos; the Concord Community Schools page is a great way to see how a YellowJacket week unfolds! Don't miss the news - like and follow the pages today.
Concord Elementary/Middle School Facebook Page
SCHOOL CALENDAR
Concord Community School
Email: rebecca.hutchinson@concordschools.net
Website: www.concordschools.net
Location: 405 South Main Street, Concord, MI, USA
Phone: (517)524-8850