Upcoming Events
5/26/2008
- No School Memorial Day5/28/2008
6/4/2008
6/5/2008
6/6/2008
School Announcements
Parent Reps. Rock!
Thank You Parent Representatives!
Each grade at school has a parent representative. We have experimented with parent reps. over the years but this is the first year that I can remember that the system has really worked. Our parent reps. meet twice a month. Their sworn mission is to support classroom teachers so more learning can take place! I can tell you from direct experience that these ladies like to get the job done.
The short list of accomplishments for this year include:
- Retooling the way we fundraise for student activities at school. You may recall endless wreath sales, candy sales, and 8th grade trip fundraisers. Now each fundraiser has a defined purpose and goal. Our annual garage sale takes stuff you and you friends don’t want and allows other people to pay for it. The cash benefits the 8th grade trip! Brilliant.
- Incredible support for Outdoor Education. Parent reps have allowed teachers to focus on the educational aspect of these incredible trips. A gift.
- Teacher appreciation. Countless pies, flowers and other goodies have “appeared” at staff meeting. It’s often the little things that really hit home.
- Organization of special learning center events, like graduation and field trips.
- New for next year, a community service plan that will allow every student an opportunity to give back to our valley.
This year the representatives have been: Cathy Click, Lynn Nichols, Julie Myers, Kristen Loden, Susanne Morrison, Susanne Sheer, Emily Ransford, Sharyn Goodson, Amy Throm, Sheila Levine, Elizabeth Ward, Stephanie Dasaro, and Laura Palmberg.
Thank you for allowing us to be better teachers!
Spring Musical
April 7, 2008
The Spring Musical
It’s snowing like mad outside but we don’t care because it’s the Spring Musical!! Our 38th annual Spring Musical is now in full swing. Rehearsals have begun and the magic is happening. It’s exciting. Students are singing, dancing, learning lines, working on academic assignments and creating quite a buzz.
It’s snowing like mad outside but we don’t care because it’s the Spring Musical!! Our 38th annual Spring Musical is now in full swing. Rehearsals have begun and the magic is happening. It’s exciting. Students are singing, dancing, learning lines, working on academic assignments and creating quite a buzz.
You might be asking why we engage in such a gigantic project as creating and producing an original musical (in 3 weeks) with a mess of 5-14 year olds. I’d like to share with you some of the reasons we believe the Spring Musical encourages, enhances and impels students towards reaching some very important educational goals:
- Effort. The most powerful learning message we can give our children is that hard work and effort leads to success. The musical takes commitment and hard work from every member of our community. The Spring Musical is challenging by design.
- Interconnected learning. Academic, social, artistic and community building skills are deeply woven into each day during the musical. Students have a direct experience with the interconnected nature of learning and success.
- Community. The best way to be a community is to do something as a community. The bigger the task the greater the potential reward and learning.
Check out this link to some really fantastic photographs and hear the music!http://web.mac.com/louraed/iWeb/Site/Welcome.html
State of ACS Board Presentation
Here are the notes from a presentation I gave to the Compass board on March 13.
Aspen Community School At-a-Glance 2007-2008
Enrollment: 121 Full Time Teaching Staff: 13
Teacher Aides: 4 Budget: $1.2 million
Grants to Date: $54,700 Annual fund to date: $70,000
Families contributing to annual fund: 65%
Students participating in: Outdoor Education: 99%,Celebrate the Beat (all school interdisciplinary arts): 100%, Spring musical:100%
Students trained to prevent intentional acts of mistreatment on campus: 21
Number of out of school suspensions: 0
Current 8th graders who scored Advanced on 07 Math CSAP: 50%
Current 8th graders who scored Advanced on 07 Reading CSAP 40%
Current 8th graders who scored Advanced on 07 Writing CSAP 30%
Staff members participating in ongoing professional development: 100%
Full time Staff turnover 07-08: 0%
School Improvement Plan 07-08
Academic Excellence: The goal is to foster and encourage academic excellence by meeting every student where they are scholastically and challenging them to succeed further.
- Comprehensive understanding of each student, their learning style, strengths and challenges, early identification and remediation for learning difficulties.
- Differentiated Instruction; Different instruction for different levels of learning and learners.
- Depth of study over “coverage”
- Interdisciplinary Connections (arts, outdoor education, wellness)
Measurement – Improvement on CSAP Scores and in class assessments
3-5 Grade 6-8 Grade
Reading 80% proficient/advanced Reading maintain 90%
Writing 70% proficient/advanced Writing 85%
Math 80% proficient/advanced Math 80%
Relevance of Subject: The goal is encourage, and support interdisciplinary “connections” between subjects.
- Cross curricular instruction within regular classes i.e.: visual art and literacy
- Whole school interdisciplinary arts and outdoor education units
Measurement –
Students will perform in before a live audience twice in December and twice in May as the culmination of all school interdisciplinarrty arts units.
Students will document cross-curricular activities in portfolio and present three times per year.
Relationships: The goal is to foster mutual respect and cooperation within the school community and with the Aspen School District.
- Focus of positive school climate: Programs include social emotional education, Safe School Ambassador training, All School meeting, in school councilor, on going staff development and training.
- Increased communication student-student, student to teacher, and teacher to parents including: new school web site, effective parent communication and conferences.
- Increased collaboration with Aspen School District: i.e.: new math curriculum project, professional development collaboration.
Measures of Success / Tools for Assessment
- Decreased referrals to Principal’s office
- Increased staff participation in professional development
- Student participation in Safe School Ambassadors Program
- Direct classroom observation
- Parent feedback on annual survey
- Student portfolios
- Teacher evaluations
- Principal evaluation
- Teacher retention
- Relationship with Aspen School District
- CSAP longitudinal data
Art, Academics, ACS!
Of Standardized Testing and the Arts
It’s like salt and pepper, Watson and Crick, John and Yoko. Sometimes you get the best results form opposites, or elements that seem opposite but are, in fact, complementary. At ACS we have a program called Arts Choices which operates on the same days that students are taking the Colorado State Assessments in math, reading, writing and science. “CSAP” testing is highly academic, by any standard. The State of Colorado requires that students in the third through tenth grade take between nine and twelve, one-hour exams to assess their academic proficiency levels. These exams are intense and our students take them very seriously. If you walk into the Aspen Community School during testing time, you can see the mental wheels turning, and turning fast. Far from being a torture test, most students view these assessments as an opportunity to show their stuff. And they do. Twice in the past three years the ACS 6-8th grade has receive the John Irwin Award of Excellence. This is only given to schools with scores in the top 8% of all Colorado public school students.
But what about Arts Choices? This is a highly creative, artistic program where students in the 5-8th grade choose a area of artistic study and work with an expert teacher. We have a blue grass band, a rock group, advanced art, printmaking and advanced chorus. Students are expected to dig deep, learn new skills and push for excellence. Both advanced art and advanced chorus classes culminate in field trips to Denver. From 8:15-10:00AM twice a week every student is an artist.
What’s the connection? There have been many studies recently about the human brain and how we learn. Current research using brain imaging technologies tell us what common sense has known for a long time. People learn best when their minds are challenged to make connections. To learn is to “draw a line” between what is known and new information. The more relevant information is, the more it is imbedded with meaning and context, the more enduring that learning becomes. If we learn in isolation, we forget. When we learn in a rich context, we remember. Richness and variety stimulate the brain. Art and creativity, by their very nature, help students to see the complexity and interconnected nature of learning. Art is also fun. A short while back the staff at ACS attended a fascinating workshop, which summarized some of this exciting brain research. Click here for a brief look.
Bottom line: Arts and Academics are connected. Both are a part of every student’s day at the Aspen Community School.
Televison and Kids
Television and Kids
Have you ever been concerned that your children are watching too much television? American households have their TV’s on an average of 7 hours a day. As a result children are watching from 3 to 5 hours of television each day. By the time they turn 13, they’ve witnessed 100,000 acts of televised violence, including 8,000 depictions of murder. Thousands of studies have been done on the effects of T.V. on our kids.
Consider:
- Children who watched violent television shows, even just “funny” cartoons, were more likely to hit playmates, argue, and disobey.
- Children often identify with certain characters, victims and victimizers on television and imitate the violence they see.
- Watching televised violence has been found to be the single greatest factor contributing to aggressive behavior in children.
- Children that are heavy viewers put less effort into schoolwork, have poorer reading skills, play less with friends, have fewer hobbies and are more likely to be overweight.
What Can You Do
Actually, quite a lot. I recommend not having a television in the house. This will create all sorts of opportunities for family interaction, reading, games and if you have a pre-teen, debating!
Short of this measure I recommend:
- Set limits
- View the programs your kids choose
- Disapprove of violence in front of your kids
- Resist advertising pressure
- Structure viewing time, keep the T.V. out of your child’s room
- Keep a time chart.
Student Activities!
Check out "Cindy's Corner" on the ACS classroom page. Here you will find some neat student activities like this one from the Aspen Recreation Department
http://www.aspenrecreation.com/pages.cfm?category2id=22&contentid=23
