The Collegiate Connection
October 17, 2021
A Message from Dr. Lewis
It’s a great day to be a Longhorn! We had a lot of great things going on at Collegiate Prep.
Last week was an extremely busy week at Prep! Thank you to our National Elementary Honor Society parents for getting your scholars to school early for our first meeting.
This week our scholars will have the opportunity to wear orange on Wednesday for Unity Day.
On Thursday we will host an in person STEMspired Informational Session where you can sign your scholar up for a club. You can sign up here. The form will close once the session is full.
Dr. Xavier Lewis
Email: Xavier.Lewis@chisd.net
Website: www.chisd.net/prep
Location: 975 Pickard Drive, Cedar Hill, TX, USA
Phone: 9722934502
Twitter: @CHISDCP
PRINCIPAL APPRECIATION MONTH
Red Ribbon Week Dress Days
Greetings, Collegiate Prep Family!
- We invite you to check out the Oct Prep News Newsletter! There is tons of information we’ve put together JUST FOR OUR COLLEGIATE PREP FAMILY so that you stay informed. Please take a few minutes to read the newsletter where you will find great information including the following:
- As a reminder, the Diversity Quilt deadline has been extended -- please have your scholars submit their decorated squares to their Home Room teachers by Fri Oct 15th.
- Check out the new Spirit Gear just in time for the cooler months!
- Want to win a $25 gift card to the grocery store of your choice? Check out our Box Tops for Education Contest.
- This month's Restaurant/Spirit Partnership is Oct 11th - 16th at Nothing Bundt Cake - Cedar Hill! See you there.
- We hope we'll see you at our Oct PTA Meeting on Tues, Oct 12th at 6pm in the Collegiate Prep Cafeteria!
Thank you and have a GREAT week!
Message from our Counselor
Counseling Services October Newsletter
Please see the link here.
October Guidance Topic: Bullying Prevention
Unity Day- Wednesday, October 20, 2021...to show unity for kindness, acceptance, and inclusion and to send a visible message that no child should ever experience bullying. Scholars may wear orange.
**We have a limited supply of customized CH logo backpacks. Please email tangie.smith@chisd.net if your child is in need of a backpack. First come first serve.
Coming Up:
Red Ribbon Week October 25-29
Food4Kids Backpack Program
The AP Corner: By Mrs. Palmer-McKinney
Greetings Collegiate Prep Family,
This has been a great adventure. We are so grateful for your support and partnership in seeing your scholars achieve success in the classroom and in life. This week we spent some time educating our scholars on bully prevention. As a part of that continued education, below I have included some information on how we determine if an incident is bullying or if scholars are encountering conflict with their peers.
https://www.davidslegacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Bullying-Checklist-English.pdf
How Can You Help?
“The key to helping kids is by providing strategies that deal with bullying on an everyday basis and also help restore their self-esteem and regain a sense of dignity.”
Collegiate Prep is working to utilize SEL lessons and strategies to support our social and emotional developments both inside and outside the classroom. We also collaborate with our district SEL coordinator, behavior specialist, school counselor, and the Community in Schools program to develop restorative practices for our scholars.
Strategies for Parents
Praise your scholar for having the courage to speak up and remind them they are not alone.
Advise them not to respond to bullying by fighting or bullying back.
Encourage your scholar to hang with friends that are positive and build confidence.
Help them meet other friends by joining clubs or sports programs
Avoid the bully and use the buddy system.
Hold the anger. It’s normal to become upset by the bully, but that’s what bullies thrive on. It makes them feel more powerful, and practice not reacting by crying or looking upset.
Act brave, walk away, and ignore the bully.
Firmly and clearly tell the bully to stop, then walk away.
Talk about it, talk to someone you trust such as a counselor, teacher, principal.
References, Resources, and Additional Information on Bullying: StopBullying.gov, NYP.ORG/KIDS,Texas Schools Bullying and the Law, One Good Friend | StopBullying.gov https://txssc.txstate.edu/videos/bullying-and-the-law/, StopBullying.gov
I hope this information is helpful in establishing our partnership on creating a positive campus culture. And as we prepare for another week of engaging learning in the classroom, I have included some FAQs to some common parent inquiries.
Q: Why can’t I check my scholar out after 2:30 pm?
R: We ask that you refrain from arriving after 2:30 pm to check your scholar out because our dismissal procedures have already begun. It causes delays in teachers and scholars preparing to transition safely to their pick-up/dismissal areas.
Q: My scholar loves science and experiments at home all the time, how do you tap into their interest of science at school?
R: We are Stemspired and have incorporated a flex schedule on Fridays that allows us to incorporate Stemclubs and stem projects in the classroom.
Q: Per my scholars recent assessment data, my scholar is struggling on a specific skill in her math class, what is being done to address their learning gaps.
R: Every day teachers have “Longhorn Time” embedded in the schedule. During Longhorn Time, scholars receive small group intervention support.
Q: My scholar has been experiencing some challenges with self-regulating when they are overwhelmed. They also struggle with social anxiety. Do you offer any support for that?
R: Our daily schedule incorporates time to engage in an SEL or Social Emotional Learning activities. Our educators use this time to teach social and emotional lessons that will help scholars manage their social and emotional challenges.
It will be a great week and it's a great day to be a Longhorn!
Contact Me:
Instructional Focus: Literacy
Learning how to read and to think critically about what we read are priceless skills and a primary focus in our literacy program. Daily reading of increasingly complex texts in our English Language Arts classes provides multiple opportunities for our scholars to be exposed to and practice analytical skills associated with fluency and comprehension.
Read Alouds is an effective strategy that supports our scholars in developing their fluency and comprehension. By reading engaging and increasingly complex texts aloud to our scholars, our classroom instructional leaders (teachers) model fluency through articulation and expression of words. The cadence, rhythm, rhyme, and flow of words properly expressed engages students in the reading while providing appropriate modeling of fluency.
Additionally, our classroom instructional leaders build and extend critical thinking by incorporating effective Think Alouds. Think Alouds are questions we ask ourselves or others as we read text to better understand and develop our comprehension. For example, as we read a title of a book, we may ask questions such as “Why did the author write this book?” or “How will the author develop his/ her message?”.
As our scholars take time to read daily and ask critical questions about their reading, they will increase their vocabulary and refine their analytical thinking skills. So, grab a book and explore new ideas, concepts, and worlds!
Dr. Mendoza - Instructional Facilitator