IACS Hawk Distance Edition
Week ending May 7, 2020
Dear IACS Community,
When I sat down to compose this week's Hawk letter, my intention was to celebrate the IACS faculty and staff as we wrap up Teacher Appreciation Week. And to be clear, there are innumerable reasons to shower them with praise as they have pushed the envelope of what it means to be innovative. They've led with creativity, compassion, and yes a good bit of humor to help students continue to learn and feel as connected as possible in a physically distant world.
Before finishing this letter, I was interrupted by my distressed 1st grader who was stuck on math homework, so I paused writing to provide support. Ok, back to writing The Hawk? Nope, I now had a protesting 5th grader asking, "How come you never help me on work when I ask?" Not wanting to be labeled as uncaring, I helped my oldest download and print a science activity. Now back to The Hawk letter? No, because standing between me and my computer was my 1st grader, not working on math but rollerblading in his "robot mascot" costume. Good gravy.
So while I am amazed and grateful to work with such a great staff at IACS, I'm equally grateful for everyone out there who has been thrust into the role of "Teacher" as you figure out how to operate in a world that has been turned upside down. You too should take a bow on this Teacher Appreciation Week; we couldn't be doing this work without you!
Have a great weekend. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go track down a runaway robot.
In partnership,
Greg Orpen
Head of School
.
All School News
Tilo and The Liber Institute are partnering to facilitate a three part talk series on coping with stress during the pandemic. The first session will be Saturday, May 16 from 12-1pm.
Connecting During Distancing: Coping with Stress during the Pandemic
Change like the pandemic can cause tremendous anxiety, but it doesn't have to stay that way. During this shared discussion, we will be talking about the effects of stress on the household during unprecedented change and the necessity of taking care of yourself to allow for space to care for others. The antidote for stress is human connection and love. Our goal is to provide a space that allows us to experience our emotion about the pandemic and begin to heal through human connection.
Please register here. Once you have registered you will receive an email with the zoom link to participate in this discussion.
Oobleck is a non-newtonian fluid. That is, it acts like a liquid when being poured, but like a solid when a force is acting on it. You can grab it and then it will ooze out of your hands. Hope and Daniella (IACS HS students) created an awesome resource for students and teachers on making oobleck. They also incorporated green chemistry into their work!
We thought this would be a fun activity for middle school students (and high school students) to try at home.
Here is their fantastic presentation. Enjoy!
Additional opportunities for families to pick up personal items still in our buildings. The dates are designed to meet different family schedules and are as follows:
Saturday, May 9: 9 am - 10 am
Monday, May 11: 6 pm - 7 pm
Wednesday, May 20: 6 pm - 7 pm
Saturday, June 6: 10 am - 11 am
Friday, June 12: 9 am - 10 am (Final Date)
All of these dates have been added to our website calendar with the following reminders:
These visits must be brief and should not be viewed as social "meet ups".
In order to plan appropriate staff supervision, please email the main office (mainoffice@innovationcharter.org) 24 hours in advance if you would like to enter the building.
All personal belongings must be picked up by Friday, June 12th. Personal items left in school after that day will be discarded or donated so that the normal summer cleaning can occur.
Lost and Found: The items in our Lost & Found never cease to amaze! (See the following photo.) If you believe some of these items might belong to you, please email the main office: mainoffice@innovationcharter.org.
We are trying to reach out and find all of our alumni. You can help us find them by sharing our link on Facebook. Alumni, like our page and join your year of graduation Facebook group to reconnect with former classmates! You can also follow us on instagram or on Twitter. Sending along your updated email address to smorocco@innovationcharter.org will ensure you receive our Alumni Hawk newsletter and other important updates.
Hope to hear from you soon,
Shannon Morocco - Director of Community Development
Middle School News
The Graber Advisory sent along this fun photo to staff for Teacher Appreciation Week. Awesome!
Middle School Yearbook
Middle School yearbooks can be ordered here for the regular price of $27.
8th Grade Moving Up
We currently have a committee of staff members working on planning a virtual 8th grade Moving Up celebration. Stay tuned for details!
High School News
IACS Virtual Band
In early April the Instrumental Ensemble began a "virtual band" project. The process is as follows:
As a group we chose the piece "You and Me" by the band Meute. We felt that the consistent tempo and repetitive nature of this song would make for a good first go at this. It was a piece that we had already been working on for about 3 weeks before the building was closed. Students were sent a recorded track to play along to and asked to wear headphones and instructed on how to get the best possible audio quality that they could.
They recorded themselves playing their own part and submitted the video on google classroom.
Mr. Sciolla then spent way too many hours editing video and mixing audio. The process was done using Logic (for audio) and Final Cut (for video) and in total took about 10 hours.
While the end result is a fun piece that we are happy to share with the community, it does not reflect what it is we do in the classroom and on the stage. Students were not playing together, responding to each other, and could not adjust intonation and timing in real time.
We really do miss this aspect of school and hope that we can get back to it soon.
Student Art Slideshow
Mr. Pelham and Mr. Barry are proud to present the first Student Art Slideshow featuring photos by our talented IACS students!
Celebrate our Seniors!
Our Director of College Counseling, Ms. Deknatel, has two Instagram accounts set up to celebrate our seniors. Check them out at:
iacs_collegecounseling - https://www.instagram.com/iacs_collegecounseling/
Iacs.seniors.2020 - https://www.instagram.com/iacs.seniors.2020/
A couple seniors each day will be featured on our Twitter account as well.
We miss all of our students, but we especially miss our seniors and being able to celebrate the end of their high school years in person. We do have some surprises for them in the works though, so stay tuned! Only 19 school days left for the seniors!
Athletics News
The Athletic Department is working with the Business Office to process spring athletic fee refunds. All payments should be returned within the next few weeks. If you have any questions or concerns, please email iacsathletics@innovationcharter.org. Also, student athletes who still have uniforms to return should contact our athletics office; these items can be returned during the visit dates listed in the opening letter.
Theatre News
With school campus being closed for the year, the Theater Arts is announcing the following:
The production of Les Miserables will not occur this spring or summer, however we are exploring ways in which all students, and yes our current seniors, can come together to perform this show next academic year. You've all worked so hard and we want to explore every option possible to make this happen! Rhonda Hawthorne will be communicating directly with Les Mis participants.
We will make a decision regarding Performing Arts Camps, which normally occur the last three weeks of July, no later than the end of June. If camp is cancelled, payments will be refunded promptly to families who have signed up.
Normally, this is the time of year when we announce the fall show and hold corresponding auditions. These plans are on hold and will be announced at a later date and communicated to the entire community.
IACA News
We are holding a "Meet the Community Association Leaders" Zoom meeting. This is an opportunity to check out the IACA (Innovation Academy Community Association) to learn about ways you can get involved and make a difference at IACS in a NO pressure environment. We'll be talking about how we can get ready for next year and discussing board elections and nominations. There will be 2 meeting scheduled in an effort to accommodate everyone's schedule.
- The second one will be: Tuesday May 12 at 12pm (30 minutes)
We hope you can join us and learn more about what we do and how you could help.
Nominations and Elections for our IACA group will be held next month, if you'd like to find out more click here:
Innovation Academy Charter School
Email: mainoffice@innovationcharter.org
Website: www.innovationhcharter.org
Location: 72 Tyng Road, Tyngsborough, MA, United States
Phone: 978-649-0432
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IACStyngsborough/
Twitter: @iacharterschool