Monday Morning Update
Options Program - September 30, 2019
COMPASS & OPTIONS SCHOOL NEWS
ASSESSMENTS ~ One of the features in Istation, for scholars in grades K-5, is the Parent Portal and the various reports that are available. Additionally, scholar score reports include Lexile levels. Use this Parent Guide on Lexile Levels to interpret your scholar’s Lexile level, and learn how to use the “Find a Book” feature in Istation. You are an important part of your scholar's reading comprehension. To help your scholar, you can:
Read to your scholar(s), or have them read to you on a regular basis.
Expose your scholar(s) to varying levels of text and different forms of literature (ie- stories, poems, audio books, or non-fiction texts).
Use pictures and ask your scholar(s) to tell you what they see, or what is happening in each picture. Use open-ended prompts, such as “Tell me more.”
Provide your scholar(s) with opportunities to use language outside of school.
Talk with your scholar's teacher about your scholar’s skills to help support their progress.
AVID ~ Teaching scholars at all grade levels organization skills has been shown to increase achievement. As scholars commit to learning and practicing organizational systems, proficiency using these systems will increase, and study time is maximized. Early success and ongoing support are keys to following through and motivation when learning these routines. In turn, these routines will translate to college and career readiness skills.
BLOG ~ High School Voter Education Weeks is happening now! For some teens, voting may seem like an overwhelming experience. To help minimize some of those anxious feelings, we’re sharing answers to five commonly asked questions about voting. Read our latest blog!
ENERGY BUS ~ Tip of the week: Post a sticky note with a kind message in your workspace and try to be kind to one person everyday this week! Kindness is contagious!
GIVE BACK ~ If you are an AmazonSmile customer, you can now support Compass Charter Schools in the Amazon shopping app on your Android device! Simply follow these instructions to turn on AmazonSmile and start generating donations.
If you have the latest version of the Amazon Shopping App, open the App on your Android device.
View Settings and select AmazonSmile.
Follow the in-App instructions to complete the process.
If you do not have the latest version of the Amazon Shopping App, be sure to update your App.
NATIONAL BULLYING PREVENTION MONTH ~ October is National Bullying Prevention Month. Compass is a certified Energy Bus School that implements principles designed to fuel open, positive, encouraging and accepting learning environments for all scholars! Join us on social media as we raise awareness for this month-long national campaign to end bullying.
OPTIONS HANDBOOK HIGHLIGHT ~ Here are some more terms that we use in our Options program with which you should be familiar:
Educational Facilitator (EF) - For our Options (Homeschool) program, we assign a credentialed Educational Facilitator to support and guide each scholar on his or her educational journey. This Educational Facilitator is also called an EF.
- Allocated Funds (AF) or Instructional Funds (IF) - The funds allocated to each scholar to be used for educational materials and services that have been approved by the school. Also called Instructional Funds (IF).
- Family Order Agreement (FOA) - Includes the terms and conditions in which orders may be requested. It is a requirement that this form be signed before any order may be placed.
- Order Request - Request made by a parent that lists items or services that they would to use the allocated funds for. The EF reviews and approves the list and then places the order into the online order system for the vendor department to order.
- Tradogram - The online accounting-procurement system used by our EFs, vendor team, and accounting department to facilitate orders and to manage the instructional funds, orders, invoices, purchase orders, and inventory.
WRITER’S WORKSHOPS ~ Reminder to all scholars in grades 3-8! You and your learning coach are invited to kick-off our Writer’s Workshop sessions, which start this week. These three-week sessions will be interactive and will focus on creating a piece of narrative writing. Sessions for 3-5 grade scholars will be held on Mondays, September 30, October 14, and October 28 at 11:00am. Sessions for 6-8 grade scholars will be held on Wednesdays October 2, October 16, and October 30 at 11:00am. Please be sure to RSVP via the ParentSquare post sent to you if you plan to attend! If you have any questions, feel free to contact Lindsey Chalco-Paz at lchalcopaz@compasscharters.org.
PARENT TOWN HALLS ~ October is the month that we are hosting our first quarterly Parent Town Hall with the Superintendent for the 2019-20 school year! Learn more and RSVP through our ParentSquare calendar!
PEER MENTOR PROGRAM ~ Our peer mentor program is off to a great start! Our Peer Mentors, Alyssa and Alexis, are ready to support and welcome scholars who are new to Compass or seeking help in their course(s). If your scholar would like to connect with their peers and get some good advice, encourage them to join our Compass Peer Room sessions every Monday!
VENDOR NEWS
New Vendors in Northern California
Sonoma County
Sebastopol Ballet (Sebastopol)
Marin County
Karen Fournier (Corte Madera)
Contra Costa County
Sherry Lewis (Oakley)
Astrid's Music School (Martinez)
Llama Talk (Concord)
Kimberly V. Art (Concord)
New vendors in Southern California
Orange County
Adventures in the Schoolhouse (Orange)
VENDOR REQUESTS ~ If there is a materials or service vendor that you would like to see on Compass’ approved vendors list, let us know! Please provide your EF with the vendor name, contact person, and contact person’s email and phone number. Your EF will pass the information on to our Vendor Relations Department. You may also direct Interested vendors to fill out our New Vendor Interest Form.
COUNSELING SERVICES
NEW: COUNSELING LEARNING LABS
Counselors will be presenting lessons in a weekly learning lab that will be held on Tuesdays at 12 noon. Various topics will be in the areas of academic achievement, social-emotional development, and college/career readiness to provide all scholars with the knowledge, attitudes, and skills appropriate for their developmental level. These learning labs are open to scholars and learning coaches and the topics will be posted weekly in the Monday Morning Update (MMU). The Counseling Services Team looks forward to meeting with you each week!
FEATURED COUNSELING SERVICES WORKSHOPS/PRESENTATIONS
High School College Briefing: “Navigating the College Application Process” - October 1st from 12-1pm in the Counseling Learning Lab for scholars in grades 11 & 12.
This virtual presentation will help scholars understand the application process for the UC, CSU and common application requirements of a 4-year college application. Any scholar planning to apply to a 4-year college/university is encouraged to attend this valuable presentation. Also, you will learn about our participation in the California College Application and Success Campaign (CCASC). Please join Ms. Olson, our College & Career Readiness Counselor, in the Counseling Learning Lab to learn more about the college application process.
MONTHLY SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING (SEL) WORKSHOP
SEL Workshop: Growth Mindset - October 8th from 12- 12:30pm in the Counseling Learning Lab for scholars in grades 4th - 12th.
Growth mindset is when you make an effort to get better at something instead of just thinking ‘I’m not good at that’ or ‘I’ll never be good at that’. Instead, you think, ‘I’m not good at that YET’ or ‘I could be good at that if I practice.’ It’s when you remember that your brain is always growing and can learn new things. Please join Ms. Bateman, Counselor, and Mrs. Wingate, our Scholar Success Coordinator, in the Counseling Learning Lab to learn more about growth mindset.
UPCOMING SAT REGISTRATION DEADLINE
Does your high school senior still need to take the SAT? The following registration deadline is approaching for the November test date. Please note that some universities do not accept scores from tests taken after November.
Test Date: November 2, 2019
Registration Deadline: October 3, 2019
You can find more information about the SAT at www.collegeboard.org.
FREE CASH FOR COLLEGE WORKSHOPS
Starting tomorrow, Tuesday, October 1 through Monday, March 2 (the Cal Grant deadline) scholars and families can attend free Cash for College workshops across California to receive help completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or California Dream Act (CADAA) and Chafee Grant for Foster Youth applications. Visit the Cash for College website for more information and to find a location near you.
Enjoy a detailed list of Fall 2019 helpful college and career planning resources for middle and high school scholars.
EXCEPTIONAL SCHOLAR SERVICES
FEATURED ARTICLE ~The Difference Between ADHD and Executive Functioning Issues: In many ways, ADHD and executive functioning issues go hand in hand. That’s because most of the symptoms of ADHD (also known as ADD) are actually difficulties with executive function. There’s one big difference between the two, however, ADHD is an official diagnosis. Executive functioning issues is not.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Visit our ParentSquare Calendar for more information on our upcoming events.
Compass Charter Schools
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