Dear Families,
We hope that you have stayed warm and safe during the recent cold, snowy weather!
As we ease back into the new year, I wanted to share some of the changes we are making for the upcoming semester and start of 3rd quarter. As you know, when we designed the school, we intentionally created opportunities and systems that enabled us to regularly reflect and incorporate family and student feedback and the agility to act on that feedback. We are grateful for those who completed our feedback survey this past fall and shared your suggestions. As a result of your feedback and many conversations with our staff throughout the past several months, we have decided to implement the following changes, effective next Tuesday, January 17, at the beginning of 3rd quarter.
1. The most significant change is based on the needs of our 2nd graders, who we feel will benefit from the additional structure of the kindergarten and first grade classes, which rotate among three core teachers. While this inhibits some of the personalization we are trying to achieve with the rotation model we are currently using, we feel that the benefits of structure and consistency will outweigh the limitations. Here is a more detailed overview of how the new 2nd grade schedule will work.
2. As a result of the changes to our 2nd graders' schedule and the need to have the 2nd grade team (Ms. Whitelaw, Ms. Hollands and Mr. Hartzell) focus only on those students, there are several other changes necessary:
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- Maggie Brown will take over Stephanie Hollands' 3rd grade ELA class and Emily Fields will take over Kaylee Whitelaw's;
- LaQueita Carter will be taking over Dave Hartzell's 3rd grade Quest class, however Mr. Hartzell will continue to drop into 3rd grade Quest from time-to-time to facilitate some maker-based activities;
- Kendra Johnson will be returning to full-time work and will take over Mr. Hartzell's 4th grade Quest classes; and
- Mary Ashley Davino will take over Mr. Hartzell's 5th grade Quest class.
3. Meg Scott will be taking on more instructional leadership responsibilities and will be coaching the ELA team in addition to her ELA teaching responsibilities in 4th and 5th grades. And, she will continue supporting 5th grade Quest.
4. As opportunities for growth and partnership continue to come our way, we are also reviewing our staffing needs and hope to add some new faculty this spring.
5. We have been reviewing and discussing parent feedback and are making a number of changes to our progress reports, which will be coming out Friday, January 20th. Please stay tuned for next week's enews, which will explain the new progress report format in greater detail.
Thank you for your ongoing support, and we look forward to a fantastic second semester.
Sincerely,
Mary Moss Brown
Head of School
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| SECOND SEMESTER AFTER SCHOOL SIGN UP |
Just a reminder that second semester programming begins next week, and it's not too late to register. If you are planning to participate in a class through an outside vendor (Community School of the Arts, NZone Sports, Soccer Shots, Young Master Chess, Charlotte Kids Yoga, Taekwondo, or A Cultivated Mindset), you must
start your registration on our website and continue to the vendor's site to register and pay to ensure your enrollment.
Several classes do not currently have enough kids enrolled to ensure the class will run: Mindful Mondays (yoga K-3), Transcending Tuesdays (Yoga 3-5), Aligned Kids (Tuesday, all grades), Curtain's Up! (Thursday, all grades), Digital Citizenship (Thursday, all grades), Chick Chat (Tuesday and/or Thursday, grades 3-5), Art Exploration (Thursday, all grades). If you are thinking about signing up for one of these classes, don't wait! If you've registered for one of these classes, please begin thinking about what you'll do if the class is cancelled.
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Lab families are invited to come out and cheer on the Checkers vs. Manitoba on
Saturday, January 28
@
6:00 pm
at the Bojangles Coliseum. Tickets are $16/pp with $5 going back to the school. All checks must be payable to Charlotte Checkers! Deadline for ordering is Jan 20.
Lab families will be grouped together for this event. Flyers can be found in your child's green folder or you can print this form. Questions? Email Leslie Mueller.
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| 2017/18 LOTTERY - FYI ONLY |
We are now accepting
applications for the 2017/18 lottery. Please note, this application is for NEW FAMILIES ONLY. Current families will be asked to complete an "Intent to Re-Enroll" form later in the school year. Also, all current families with siblings seeking enrollment next year should have completed a sibling application, which was due Dec 21, 2016. If you have any questions, please
contact Kendra Johnson.
HELP US SPREAD THE WORK ABOUT OUR MIDDLE SCHOOL OPEN HOUSE
The event originally planned for last night has been rescheduled for Thursday, January 26 @
6:30 pm. We may open up some additional seats for our rising 6th grade class and would love for you to reach out to families in your network who might be looking for a unique middle school experience. More information can be found on our
website.
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You will notice that our Lost & Found is practically empty, and we need your help to keep it that way! Please make sure that you label all outerwear and water bottles. Also, a few parents have mentioned that they are missing blue sweatshirts that are labeled, so please take a look at the clothes that you have and make sure you don't have another student's clothes by accident. Those blue hoodies tend to all look the same!
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| WIRED CHILD BOOK CLUB FOR PARENTS |
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Having challenges at home due to your child's use of screens? Did you attend the 'Kids Brains on Screens' presentation at LAB school in the fall? Did you leave the session eager to learn more? Did you miss the presentation, but wish you had been able to attend? Did you answer "YES" to any of these questions? If so, we have the perfect opportunity for you to learn more!
Join us on four Monday mornings in January and February as we discuss the book Wired Child: Reclaiming Childhood in the Digital Age by Richard Freed, Ph.D. Melanie Hempe, the founder of Families Managing Media (who led the presentation in the fall) will be with us for the first meeting to help kick-off this event. Participants will be asked to read 2-3 chapters of the book prior to each discussion. Not able to attend a morning discussion? At the conclusion of this series, we will offer an evening discussion. Stay tuned for more information.
Book Club will meet immediately after drop-off. Get your child safely to school, find a parking spot, grab coffee or a muffin over at Einsteins (in the UNCC building), and then join us for a group discussion. Prior to the first meeting, purchase a copy of the book "Wired Child" by Richard Freed, Ph.D, through Amazon Smiles
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Additionally, we have a few copies available to borrow on a first-come, first-served basis. You can sign one out at the front office or email Stefanny Wilches.
"Wired Child" Book Club Details:
- 4 consecutive Mondays: Jan 23, 30 & Feb 6, 13
- Time: 8:30 - 9:30 a.m.
- Location: TBD (Lab or UNCC)
- Homework: Prior to the 1st Meeting, read the first 2 - 3 chapters of the book.
- Cost: $15 for series or $5 per session, please bring cash or check to the meeting.
- RSVP: Let us know you will be attending by sending an email to Meegan Whelan.
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| Wed, Jan 11 |
Girls 4/5 Choir Practice |
Lunchtime |
| Wed, Jan 11 |
Lab Diversity Committee Meeting |
6:00 PM |
| Fri, Jan 13 |
End of Q2 |
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| Fri, Jan 13 |
Girls 4/5 Choir: National Anthem @ Charlotte Checkers |
7:00 PM |
| Mon, Jan 16 |
MLK Day - Holiday |
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| Tue, Jan 17 |
2nd Semester Begins |
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| Fri, Jan 20 |
Q2 Progress Report Cards Home |
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| Sun, Jan 22 |
Extreme Ice Skating Spirit Event |
2:00 PM |
| Tues, Jan 24 |
Walk In Conference Night |
4:15 PM |
| Thur, Jan 26 |
4th/5th Grade Girls Book Club |
11:00 AM |
| Thur, Jan 26 |
Open House |
6:30 PM |
| Fri, Jan 27 |
Half Day - Early Release at Noon/Teacher Work Day |
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| Sat, Jan 28 |
Checkers Spirit Event |
6:00 PM |
| Wed, Feb 15 |
Middle School Open House |
6:30 PM |
| Fri, Feb 17 |
President's Day - Holiday |
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| Mon, Feb 20 |
President's Day - Holiday |
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| Tue, Feb 21 |
Teacher Workday- NO CLASSES |
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Sign up for text reminders using Remind 101. By subscribing to the Whole School AND your child's grade level, you will receive up-to-date text reminders of need-to-know information. Simply text the correct code to 810-10. Standard text rates do apply.
- Whole School - @Fk2c2
- Kindergarten - @2a34d
- 1st Grade - @8g9ccd
- 2nd Grade - @48h447
- 3rd Grade - @hea66
- 4th Grade - @43gf3d
- 5th Grade - @4dha6
- After School - @labschoola
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