Message from the Director
- Thank you to the Junkermeier family for the staff appreciation lunch from Mama’s Kitchen that you provided. The food was amazing! We all loved it!
- Thank you to all parents and staff members who supported our Chili’s Night Out. All the funds raised will support the field study trips for 6th grade.
- Our Vision in Education (VIE) Benefit Dinner is fast approaching on Friday, April 26. I would like to cordially invite you to attend the annual event. It’s a lovely evening that includes dinner, awards, a silent auction, and learner performances. This annual event raises funds for both iLEAD schools here in Lancaster, as well as Empower Generations. Click here for more information.
- Thank you to all of the parents, learners, and staff members who joined us for the Family Fundraiser at Red Robin.
Parent Resources
This week the 7 Habits focus is Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood, which means that it is better to listen first and talk second. By taking the time to listen to another person, you reach a higher level of communication. Teaching Habit 5 to young children is done by first considering their age and development. Young children find it difficult to understand another’s paradigm (point of view). This habit is best approached by introducing listening as a skill that should be practiced. Learning to listen without interrupting and learning to listen with your ears, your eyes, and your heart will help children build a foundation for Habit 5. Simply put, we have two ears and one mouth so that we can spend more time listening with the intent to understand.
Younger-Child Activities
- To better understand how listening can help or hurt a relationship, try “pretend listening” with your child for a few minutes. Your child will be frustrated. Explain what you were doing and discuss how your child felt. Now have your child ignore you when you are talking. Discuss how it makes you feel when you are ignored. Finish the discussion by thinking of ways to let the other person know when you feel you are not being truly listened to. Remind your child that this is also an example of Think Win-Win.
- Body language can be even more important than words. Play a game with your kids where you each try to guess the other’s emotion (happy, sad, angry, frustrated, bored, etc.) without using any words, just body language.
- Demonstrate how saying the same phrase in a different tone of voice can give the phrase a completely different meaning Try emphasizing different words in the phrase “I didn’t say you did it” and then have your child tell you how the meaning changed.
- Read chapter 5 of The 7 Habits of Happy Kids book with your child and then complete the Parent’s Corner.
- Learn how Leader in Me (7 Habits) can help parents and guardians establish a powerful framework to nurture and develop life-ready leadership skills at home. The excerpt above is from The Leader in Me Parent’s Guide. Click here for access to the entire resource.
Catching Character and the 7 Habits in Action
Last week, the 7 Habits focus was Habit 4, Think Win-Win. A’lani Walker had a Think Win-Win attitude when she requested the opportunity to continue in Mr. Roque’s Podcasting Workshop. She shared how the workshop helped her develop the ability to share her feelings, thoughts, and ideas. In her words, “I used to be shy, and now I’m not shy anymore.”
Presentations of Learning
5th & 6th Grade Project-Based Learning and Presentation of Learning
- Driving Question: How can I as a historian teach about the American Revolution and how it changed our lives? (5th Grade)
- Driving Question: How can I as a historian teach the importance of ancient civilizations to my peers and parents? (6th Grade)
iLEAD AV Saturday Academy & After School Tutoring
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Curriculum Corner
Georgia Math
- To support the learners, we have adopted a new math curriculum! Click here to watch a short video about the Georgia Math strategies that are all aligned to the Common Core State Standards.
- There are many ideas and strategies to support our learners at home. GeorgiaStandards.Org allows parents easy access to information about the state’s standards, which are aligned to our California Common Core State Standards.
- This website also offers a variety of free resources to help you motivate and support your child’s curriculum at home while reinforcing the standards your child is working on in the classroom. Click here for more info.
Daily 5
- We are also fine-tuning our implementation of Daily 5 and the CAFE strategies. Read to Self and Read to Someone are strategies that learners can also do at home with you. Please encourage them to do so at least 20 minutes a day.
- We purchased a total of 1,300 narrative and informational texts so that each classroom received 100 new books for their libraries. This will support our implementation of Daily 5. Please continue to encourage your learners to Read to Self, Read to Someone, or Listen to Reading at home.
The Importance of Reading
Please take a moment to click here and review a great article on “How Reading 20 Minutes a Day Impacts your Child,” and join us as we continue our schoolwide reading initiative.
Educators have long said reading makes people smarter, and there’s research backing them up. A recent study conducted by the American Academy of Pediatrics found reading to children of any age wakens a number of regions in the left part of the brain. The areas in the brain that become active involve understanding the meaning of words and concepts tied to memory.
Upcoming Events
April 2019
Friday, April 5: iLEAD AV Lottery & Open House Carnival, 2-4 p.m.
4/15-4/22: Spring break
Friday 4/26: Vision in Education Benefit Dinner; Tickets are available here.
Our Goals
Our planning and preparation is consistent with our three Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) goals. I am looking forward to sharing how we are meeting each goal throughout the school year, and I have listed the goals below:
Goal 1: Provide optimal conditions of learning through providing basic services, implementation of California State Standards, and access to an academic and educational program.
Goal 2: Provide all learners with a rigorous, creative, and broad curriculum to maximize academic achievement and college and career readiness.
Goal 3: Generate active engagement between parents/families and the school, and connections with the community, to promote learner achievement and communication among all stakeholders.
Keeping the Valet Process Moving
Dear iLEAD AV families, thank you for your patience as we perfect our new valet procedure on 22nd Street West. The morning and afternoon process is going smoothly. With your support, each day became more efficient and every learner was directed to class or walked in by their parents or an iLEAD AV team member.
Thank you for your feedback on the new valet procedure. As a result, we were able to make a few changes to improve the process:
- In the mornings, the Valet gate now opens at 8 a.m.;
- Based on parent requests, in the afternoon the valet gate opens at 3:00 p.m.;
- Many of you requested the opportunity to walk on site to pick up your learners in the afternoon. To honor your request, we added to our process. Please park on 22nd Street West, walk on to the valet lot using the exit gate, and present your valet card. You will be able to walk to the classroom to pick up your learner/learners;
- Please remember the valet traffic flow pattern. There are no left turns to enter or exit the lot.
- To help us continue to be good neighbors, please do not block the driveways for Miller Elementary School or KinderCare on 22nd St. West. To assist us with that, our leadership and maintenance team has designed a new flow pattern to get more of our parents inside the valet area.
Pick-up is from 3:30-4 p.m. Learners who have not been retrieved by 4 p.m. will go to extended care and accounts will be billed at $3 per hour, per learner.
Additional Procedures
As promised at the end of last school year, we have created a solution for our parking dilemma. The owner of the shopping center asked all parents and staff to stop parking there and posted signs warning us that cars would be towed, so that is no longer an option.
I am happy to report we will begin using our lot on 22nd Street West for Valet before and after school. The lot is very large. As a result, we will no longer have Valet in front of the school.
To access the lot, please turn right on K-4 from 20th Street West. You will pass Miller Elementary School, drive right around the bend, and make a right into our lot. At the start of the day, your learner will be greeted and escorted onto campus. At the end of the day, your learner will be summoned and escorted to your car. Please be sure to post your Valet card on the dashboard daily. Once your learner is safely in your car, you will exit the lot and make a right, which will take you to Avenue K. We will have cones, signs, and iLEAD team members to support you and the learners.
In the mornings, the Valet lot will open at 8:00 a.m., and it will open at 3:00 p.m. for dismissal. If you are walking your learner to class in the morning, we will have a parking area in the lot just for you.
A Few Reminders…
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Lunch Program and April Menu
Please submit your Free/Reduced lunch application to the front office as soon as possible. Lunch balances must remain under $20 this school year. Please make payments in the front office. NO LUNCH on Fridays.
Meal Prices:
Breakfast: $ 1.60
Lunch: $2.95
Reduced prices:
Breakfast: 30 cents
Lunch: 40 cents
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Healthy Food Policy
Learners will be more active and exerting much more energy outside. With that said they will need refreshing fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and as much water as possible. We’d like to share with you our health and wellness policy to reference and support you and your learners in making good food choices for nourishing the body and mind.
Please keep healthy choices in mind when packing snacks and lunches for school. Thank you for helping us support your learner!
What About Those Heelys?
We’ve seen an influx of Heelys on campus. Learners are zipping along the halls and on the playspaces. While we LOVE fun and seeing our learners enjoying themselves, we have to ask that they don’t use the wheels while at school. Please understand this is a safety concern for learners and staff. We want to prevent accidents and keep everyone safe. Heelys brand shoes can be worn; just please remove the wheels for school.
General safety guidelines also include no skateboards or bicycles being ridden on campus; they must be carried and walked. Thank you for your understanding and support!