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Last Distant Learning Newsletter!
Armando painted hearts on the Kindergarten ramps to welcome them back to school
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Dear Woodland Star Community,
I trust that you and your family have been enjoying your well deserved Spring Break and are looking forward to the upcoming transition to Hybrid Learning. We are very excited to have our students and staff back on campus as we make our way to normalcy.
Our hope is that Hybrid Learning will only be temporary and we would like to quickly shift to a 5-day program for as many classes as possible. We anticipate being able to start making these changes within a few weeks of completing our initial Hybrid reopening. Distance Learning will still be available for families who would like to wait a little longer before returning to campus.
The week of April 12th, we will begin a new schedule. Kindergarten, First, and Second grades will begin in the hybrid format. -
Group A will join us on campus Mondays and Tuesdays while Group B will be distance learning at home.
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Wednesdays will be distance learning for everyone so that the campus can be cleaned between stable groups.
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Thursdays and Fridays Group B will be on campus with Group A at home.
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Students working from home will log-in using the same Zoom connection they are familiar with to join their teacher and classmates participating from the campus classroom.
The week of April 19th, 3rd through 8th grade will begin their hybrid learning experience in the same format.
For those families returning to campus, be aware that the drop and pickup routines will be significantly different. In the morning, we will be using a check in procedure that will require your full cooperation. We will be greeting students from 8:20-8:40 a.m. Entry will be through the play yard gate so that we can safely check every student. Before you arrive on campus, please complete the Parent Square health screening which involves a temperature check at home. We will be verifying that this has been submitted prior to entering the campus. Before exiting the vehicle, we will verify your child is wearing a mask that meets CDC guidelines as well as their temperature using a touchless thermometer. Parents and visitors will need to remain in the car unless your child needs extra assistance.
The pickup routine will flow in the opposite direction entering from lane behind the school next to the Morning Glory Kindergarten. Pickup will begin at 12:35. We will have staff available to guide you as you get used to this system.
Those families participating in Hybrid Learning will need to sign the Hybrid Learning Parent Agreement. A copy of this agreement can be found separately in the newsletter and will be posted in Parent Square to sign via Docusign. Please read it over carefully as your support is required in order to participate. If you are not able to cooperate, we suggest that you request to be assigned to the Distance Learning only group.
As hard as we have tried to anticipate and work through all of the necessary details, there will be undoubtedly some unforeseen issues and ask for everyone's patience, flexibility, and courtesy as we address them.
If at any time you have any questions or concerns with our planning, or if you see something that appears to be unsafe, please feel free to email our anonymous COVID safety email, [email protected].
Enjoy the remainder of the break, and we look forward to seeing everyone soon.
Best, Jamie |
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Distant Learning in South Africa
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Most of us have been distant learning from our kitchen tables.
Ayla in 2nd grade has been distant learning from across the world!
Check out what her and her family has been up to...
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Ayla and her mom Liz at Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe
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Ayla climbed to the top of this termite mound!
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Beekeeping
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Ayla's new friend
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Harvesting grapes for wine on the farm
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Ayla climbed one of the highest dunes in the world at Soussesvlei!
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Here mom Liz wrote all about what they've been doing...
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And not quite so far away we have busy students working on
spelling, painting, sewing and more!
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Audrey very proud of her main lesson book page of spelling
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Isaac with his painting masterpiece
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Leo completed his bunny out of wool
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Sophia with a very amazing sewn rainbow
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Oliver perfecting his recorder piece
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Isaac celebrating his 7th birthday
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Brothers Joseph, Vincent and Gus learning
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money math with their new egg business
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7th grader Elijah cooking up some Quinoa for his Mesoamerica Spanish project
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Dear Woodland Star Parents of Students participating in Hybrid Learning,
Returning to school amidst a global pandemic is a huge challenge for keeping students and staff safe. The California Department of Public Health Services, along with the Sonoma County Department of Health Services, have clear restrictions and regulations for schools to mandate. Your support, participation, and agreement is critical. Families that are not able to agree to these requirements will need to continue with distance learning only. By signing (or signing via Docusign), you are agreeing to support the follow requirements and protocols as a parent of a child participating in learning on school campus: -
MASKS ARE MANDATORY: From the moment your child enters the campus, they should be wearing a CDC approved mask. Bandanas, masks with valves, gators or scarves are not acceptable face coverings. If your child refuses to wear a face covering, they will be asked to continue distance learning only. If a student's mask does not fit or meet safety guidelines, a disposable covering will be provided.
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DAILY HEALTH SCREENING: Student Health Checks are MANDATORY prior to arrival on campus each day they are on campus. Every morning your child attends school, please use ParentSquare to complete and submit the Daily Health Screening. Completion of this self screening will be confirmed prior to entering the drop off area. Temperature checks will be performed prior to the student exiting the vehicle. If your child has any symptoms, has a fever or has been exposed to a COVID-19 positive person, they cannot attend school on campus.
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STUDENTS AND STAFF ON CAMPUS ONLY: For Drop Off and Pick Up you MUST stay in your car unless your child needs assistance safely "buckling up". Students who must walk to school or arrive after 8:40 will be welcomed through the front gate from 8:35-8:45 daily and MUST be accompanied by a parent/guardian. Only your child is allowed on campus. Please do not congregate near or around the front gate.
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WATER BOTTLE: Your child MUST bring a Refillable Water Bottle since all water fountains are turned off.
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EMERGENCY PICK UP PLAN: If your child develops COVID-19 symptoms while on campus, they will be kept in a isolation room to mitigate disease transmission and exposure until they can be picked up from school. All parents will be required to have a plan in place to have their child picked up within 30 minutes.
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STABLE GROUPINGS: Your child is in a specific Stable Group. For play dates or after school activities, be mindful of the cross contact between stable groups. If you or your child contracts COVID-19, we will need to know who your child has had contact with and act accordingly to notify all potential exposure. There may be consequences resulting in your child and other students having to quarantine for a time period.
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COMMUNICATION: Staying safe is a team effort and we need everyone's assistance with adhering to safety guidelines. Any student, family or staff member with concerns about safety protocols and/or violations should email [email protected]. This account will be constantly monitored and issues routed to the appropriate supervisor to be addressed. Students, families, and staff who report issues may do so without the fear of reprisal. To the best of our ability, these concerns will be kept confidential.
Another way to support the school is explaining to your child the importance of healthy hand hygiene, 6 foot distancing, and the reason the school has to enforce these measures to keep students and staff safe. We are in this together and look forward to having our students back on campus again.
By signing below, you are agreeing to all of the above requirements.
Parent Name (Please print)__________________________________ Parent signature___________________________________________ Date_________________
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The 7th and 8th grade students have been quite busy. here's what they have been up to...
Maestra Christina's 7th grade Spanish class is studying Mesoamerica
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by: Zoe
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by: Alice
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by: Tallulah
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The 7th grade class took time to learn about internet safety and Cyber Bullying
And 7th grade has also been busy writing Poetry.
Here are 2 of the assignments and samplings of their work...
"Song of Myself"
Poem Poetry idea: Think about all the different things that are happening right now in America or in your city or all over the world, and write a poem with one of these things that is happening in every line. Try to think of a lot of things and make your poem as long as you can.
Life
by: Froylan Ortiz
Covid 19 is happening in the world.
People die every day around the world.
Trees are turning into different colors.
Spring is coming and it's getting warmer.
people are walking their dogs.
Turtles are dying of plastic.
People are making the world a bad place.
People are cutting trees down.
Human kind might go instinct.
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Jobs
by: Matt Makiva
The Photographer is taking the perfect picture of a couple. The doctor is helping a man with his broken arm. The teacher is teaching the 6th-grade class geometry. The author is writing up a fiction book. The nurse is giving an IV to an old lady. The electrician is hanging a crystal chandelier. The dentist is scraping the plaque off of a young boy's teeth. The detective is looking through files to solve a mystery. The principal is overseeing the school. The Uber driver is driving a girl to New York. The actor is pretending to be Mary Lee on set. The painter is painting a beautiful background of the ocean. The plumber is in the bathroom unclogging the toilet.
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Life
by: Evelyn Decker
Dogs are barking and howling at cats. Children are playing. The old lady across the street is knitting with red yarn. Some people are walking, others riding bikes. Birds are chirping for fun. And toads are jumping into small ponds. And me, a girl writing poems about the world.
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"Native America" Poem
These three poems are special poems to be chanted or sung at special times. Many Native American tribes have songs and poems like these to go with special occasions. Such songs are often partly magic, sung in order to help make things happen. The song which describes the beautiful dawn may help to make sure that the dawn will come again and again. The love-charm song, in which the woman tells how irresistible she is, is supposed to make her irresistible to a man so he will fall in love with her. The horse irresistible to a man so he will fall in love with her. The horse song, which says how wonderful the war god's horse is, may be partly to get the help of the war god, before a battle, partly to make sure one's horse will be fast and strong. The songs are full of praise and boasting - the idea behind this is that if you say how good and strong and beautiful something is , it will help it to be that way. It's like wishing, but instead of saying you wish something were true you say it is true - instead of saying "I wish I could win the bivalve race," you say "My bicycle is faster than all the other bicycles in the world and wins every race."
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Basketball
by: Jordaz Lopez
Basketball, Basketball
On the wood floor
Dribble, Dribble
Shoot then score
Basketball, Basketball
The big time rush
On Our last free throw
The crowd starts to hush
Basketball, Basketball
Sport that I love
If we don't win nationals
I'll go get my glove.
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The mighty Cat Otis
by: Nick Benson
Perched on a distant mountain peak,
the mighty cat Otis looks over the valley, in search of prey.
Suddenly, he spots a mouse run across a field,
quicker than lightning, Otis charges to catch his prey.
The mighty cat Otis is victorious!
Swiftly catching his prey without any hesitation!
The mighty cat Otis returns to his home in the mountains to feast on
his prey.
Mighty cat Otis, the greatest hunter of the mountains, will you
guide us to victory on this magnificent hunt for food we are about to
take part in?
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Books
by: Zoe French
I have read much and much I'm to read
My reality vanishes when the cover is lifted
I have seen much and much i'm to see
I have been on the sad train with Anna,
And road horses with d'Artanon,
I have walked with Elizabeth Bennet
And enjoyed the sea with the Dashwoods
I asked for more with Oliver
An have seen Hogwarts with Harry
So many worlds
So many stories
So many pages
So many memories
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As part of our recent Physics Block, the Eighth Graders have constructed model airfoils to learn about aerodynamics.
Airfoils are cross sections of airplane wings and are used to test different wing designs. As you can see, the class came up with a number of different designs, and (almost) everyone followed the guideline of using just one one sheet of paper. or, one-half of a file folder. One student made theirs WAY too big and had penalty points deducted... It pays to read the instructions carefully!
Here is how we tested them:
First they were taped to the top of the test stand and then both were placed on top of a scale. After taking the original weight of the wing and the stand, a fan is turned up to high speed, blowing an air stream over it and lifting the "wing" like an airplane motor would.
Next, I checked to see how much LESS it all weighs with the scale.
The bird-like wing made by Demitri looks very natural and organically designed, like the real thing. Is that why it was ready to take off? It achieved 6.5 grams of lift-off power in our test. And since each student was awarded one extra credit point for every gram of gravity defying power, Demitri's score rounds up to +7 EC bonus points (since we must round up, right).
Congrats to all eighth graders for all their hard work this year. We have learned a lot about how the world works through our Science investigations!
Above are many of the students designs
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Demitri's winning airfoil
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Armando Garcia
Groundskeeper and Maintenance
(and "Fixer of Everything")
Armando is married to Rosalina and they have 3 sons, Alexander who is 27, and twin boys, Armando and Christian who are 18. Both Armando and Christian are Woodland Star Alumni.
When Armando is not at work, he spends time with his family, watches movies, tends to his garden and goes fishing.
His twins were on the Dragons Football team so he spent a lot of time at the field watching them play.
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Ask any student, staff member, or parent who they would turn to for help and I bet their first answer would be "Mr. Armando."
He has worked for Woodland Star for 13 years and our school would be lost without him.
He grew up Santa Ana Michoacán, Mexico. At 7 years old he started bull riding and said he would change his clothes so his mother wouldn't find out and worry!
After moving to the US at 14 and then Sonoma in 1990, he continued bull riding until he was in his early 20's.
He is very proud to say that in February 2020 he became a US Citizen and loves Sonoma. He considers this to be his true home.
When asked what his favorite part of his job is, he replied, "I enjoy everything, I love woodworking and building. I especially love seeing the kids and working around them."
Little brother to Vincent and Joseph, Gus DeGuilio helping his friend Mr. Armando with the leaves.
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Virtual Valley of the Moon Walk
April 3rd - April 18th
Woodland Star's Virtual Valley of the Moon Walk event is off to a great start! You can still register and complete your race until April 18th! Even if you don't register to race, you can still participate and support the school in the following ways:
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Donate to the event by clicking HERE.
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Order event merchandise shipped directly to you through our online store at Threadless.com.
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Thank you for supporting Woodland Star Charter School!
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Alice Turner's AWESOME family in Massachusetts who all are walking in support of WSCS this weekend with their new merch to support Woodland Star!
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Special thanks to our Sponsors:
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Kindergartener Matilda seeing the world through Dandelion eyes
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I would like to give a quick thank you to all the parents and teachers that have helped make these Distant Learning Newsletters so full of amazing pictures and content. I am so looking forward to being back on campus with you all soon where I can get back to taking the pictures of the great work our students produce on a daily basis!
- Samantha Chapin
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Newsletter Created By
Samantha Chapin |
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Woodland Star Charter School | 707.996.3849 | woodlandstarschool.org
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Copyright © 2018 All Rights Reserved.
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