AVID Newsletter
December 2023
Thank you for an AMAZING first semester
The first half of this year has been an absolute joy! It is such a privilege for me to work with these young adults each day. They have all been learning and growing so much. They each continue to make progress toward their goals while also learning how to respond to failure and use their knowledge and skills to persevere.
I am looking forward to another semester with our AWESOME AVID family! Enjoy your much deserved time off. I will see you again on Tuesday, January 9th!
AVID Fundraising
Every year, we must raise funds to cover the cost of transportation for all of our College Field Trips. We also raise funds to put on our end-of-the-year AVID celebration and senior recognition event in the Chandler Center for the Arts in May. Coming up in January, we will be launching a crowd-funding campaign through a platform called Living Tree to help us raise the funds we need. More information will be distributed after Winter Break.
We will also be doing a chocolate bar sale next quarter as well. We will be asking each student to sell 60 chocolate bars.
Upcoming Field Trips
1/17 - Sophomores to Arizona State University
2/2 - Juniors to University of Arizona
Chandler Winter Wonderland
Our AVID Club officers ran a game table at Chandler's Winter Wonderland event on Friday, December 1st. They chose to host a cup-stacking game.
AVID Club "White Elephant" Gift Exchange
Our AVID club coordinated a gift exchange for all levels of AVID. They had a great time opening and exchanging gifts! They also had fun playing Reindeer Ring Toss.
"Gingerbread" House Decorating Contest
On Friday, December 8th, our AVID classes participated in a "Gingerbread" House Decorating Contest. They were put into small groups and given supplies and a 30 minute time limit. Thank you to all the AVID students and families that donated items for our activity. They ended the event by eating COOKIES! They all had a great time!
Freshman AVID
As part of the AVID curriculum, our Freshmen AVID students are participating in a service project. Each class brainstormed ideas and voted on one idea to work on as a class.
3rd hour AVID voted to create holiday cards for children in the hospital for the holidays. As a class, they made over 200 cards and sent them to Phoenix Children's Hospital.
5th hour AVID voted to write inspirational quotes and messages on post-its. As a class, they created over 400 post-its. They will be sticking them all around campus next week as our students are taking their finals exams.
Sophomore AVID
Junior AVID
The AVID Juniors have spent time researching and evaluating the 4 skills for academic success. The 4 Skills for Academic Success are:
Essential Skill 1: Analyzing a prompt or academic task
Essential Skill 2: Selective and purpose-driven reading, especially of expository texts
Essential Skill 3: Focused note-taking, designed around a prompt or academic task
Essential Skill 4: Integrating sources into texts, using paraphrase, summary, or synthesis
They were given a college-level assignment, and had to clarify which of the 4 skills they would be using for each part of the college assignment.
They also researched and created one-pagers about the Do's and Don'ts of Choosing a College. As Juniors, the time to start choosing a college is right around the corner!
Senior AVID
Our AVID Seniors have been very busy preparing for their next steps after high school. They have been writing college essays, submitting college applications, researching and submitting scholarship applications, and preparing to complete the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) when it opens by December 31st.
Blessing Bags
One of our AVID Seniors, Serifina Buzan, has made it her own personal project to create 200 Blessing Bags for the Homeless this winter. Since this past summer, she has been collecting donations for toothpaste, shampoo, snacks, etc. She also coordinated a sock drive at CHS to add socks to the blessing bags. On Monday, December 11th, along with a group of 20 volunteers, she put together an assembly line to pack the 200 bags. Great job, Serifina!
AVID Resources for Chandler Teachers
This school year, one of the goals of the AVID/MYP Site team is to share the FIVE Phases of the Focused-Note Taking Process. In a previous newsletter, I shared a description of the first Phase: Taking the Notes. This quarter we are focusing on the 2nd Phase: Processing the Notes and the 3rd Phase: Connecting Your Thinking.
Phase 2: Processing Notes
Think about the notes. Revise notes—by underlining, highlighting, circling, chunking, questioning, adding, deleting—to identify, select, sort, organize, and classify main ideas and details. Evaluate the relative importance of information and ideas in the notes.
Phase 3: Connecting Your Thinking
Think beyond the notes. Analyze the notes using inquiry to make connections and deepen content knowledge by asking questions and adding your own thinking to create greater understanding, identify gaps or points of confusion, and connect your new learning to what you already know.
Please go to our AVID/MYP CHS Staff Resources Google Classroom for more content and resources for different ways you have have your students process their notes and connect their thinking
Click here for AVID resources about DIGITAL NOTETAKING: https://avidopenaccess.org/collections/develop-your-students-focused-note-taking-skills/
3rd Quarter we will focus on Phase 4: Summarizing and Reflection on Your Notes
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