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The Foundation School
Elementary/Middle School
Spring 2022 Newsletter
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Welcome to the second semester of the 2021-22 School Year! Our students are very much enjoying being with our staff, their peers, and in their classrooms rather than on computers. Students are busy learning about themselves, their interests, and the world around them. We look forward to finishing our school year with a sense of purpose and pride in who we are and what we are capable of! |
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Leaning Tower of Pasta
Our middle school students started off the semester participating in a STEM project called “The Leaning Tower of Pasta.” They built tower-like structures using spaghetti noodles and marshmallows, placing books on the top of each structure to see which one would hold the most weight using the formula “weight of load divided by the weight of the structure.” Our competitive-natured students were fully engaged, learned a lot, and thoroughly enjoyed this project!
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Expressing Ourselves in Beauty Club
Students in Ms. Jennai’s middle school classroom learned about the art of hair and what a career as a cosmetologist might look like. Several of our students have aspirations of becoming cosmetologists or barbers, and practicing this skill during clubs put a smile on their faces!
Sometimes they even practice their skills with the school principal! Rahnisha, an eighth grade student, treated Ms. Wilson to a new look by braiding her hair. She recently learned more about careers in cosmetology from meeting with our Transition Coordinator Ms. Brown who encouraged her to practice with friends, family, and even staff!
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Books, Books, & More Books!
Dr. Sara Phang, our school librarian, re-launched our annual Book Fair in December. Thanks to Dr. Phang and our generous community of donors who contributed to our Book Fair Drive, our students were able to choose two new books to take home to read over the holiday break. Big smiles are behind those masks as students enjoyed their favorite characters, learned about origami, cats, sports, and more.
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Meet Cherish the Snake!
Classroom pets can be educational and can enrich the learning experience by giving students a sense of responsibility and safety. Our middle school students want to introduce you to their classroom pet, Cherish.
“Cherish is our class pet. She is a corn snake and she is very gentle. Cherish loves when we hold her and likes to crawl around our desks, arms, and hands. Cherish calms us down when we're upset and is a beautiful color. She is a perfect pet for us.” -Chay’Quan, Aumyah, Gerald, Kyree, Seven, Mekeil, Jaden, and Phoenix.
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Celebrating Black History Month
“A people without knowledge of their history is like a tree without roots.” Marcus Garvey
Students created positive images that reflect their admiration of African American heros. These colorful displays filled the classroom with heroes that have the same skin color as many of our students, reminding us of all they have achieved in the arts, science, and government and encouraging our students to follow their lead.
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The Foundation School
High School
Spring 2022 Newsletter
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Now that we are in the second half of the school year, we want to highlight some successful events and recognize the progress our program has made. Our staff, students, and parents have all been diligently working to foster student success in academics and life skills through positive behavior intervention supports, awards, clubs, and mentoring opportunities.
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Success In and Outside the Classroom
We have been successful in strengthening students’ reading, writing, and math skills during the first half of the year. Cross-curricular activities reinforce academic goals in all content areas. Recently, students completed project-based learning activities in English, Music, Art, and Career classes. Projects included black history essays, a music artist study, ceramic pottery, mock job interviews, and resume-building skills. We recently implemented a school internship program. Upperclassmen are chosen to work in the main office and food services to earn community service hours to meet graduation requirements. In addition, we are excited to share that select students have qualified for the work-study program, allowing them to work during the school day and receive career transition support from staff.
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Motivating Students with Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports
Each month, we have a school-wide PBIS challenge to encourage and motivate positive behavior and academic achievement. Our January goal was to challenge students to earn good grades with minimal behavior incidents. Congratulations to the students who not only met this goal, but also those who were recognized for “Most Improved,” “Most Helpful,” and “Most Positive Role Model.” Students earned brunch with the principal in February for achieving grades of C or better during the third quarter. In March we will continue to encourage good grades and positive behavior, with the prize being a field trip to the African American History Museum!
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Finding Support and Guidance in Mentoring Groups
We are so fortunate to have two outside mentoring groups to support our students this year. Male and female mentoring groups lead our students through small group sessions that focus on life skills, financial literacy, and professionalism. The topics are engaging and relevant for our students and we are proud to see them collaborate and participate with community partners. We are pleased to provide another tier of support for our students and show them their community is invested in their success as well. Students have found the sessions so helpful that they are requesting more groups next school year.
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Community Building
Half-day Wednesdays are community building days for the high school, where students and staff discuss ways to make the program better. We have chosen to make the focus for the second half of the school year extracurricular clubs. Students voted to implement cooking, cosmetology, art, music, and sports clubs. Club staff sponsors teach planning, budgeting, and setting behavioral expectations. We look forward to seeing what each club accomplishes over the next eight weeks!
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Staff Shout Outs
A special thank you goes to our Individualized Education Program (IEP) and front office staff. Thank you to Ms. Lakeisha for all you do and for keeping our attendance records up to date. Ms. Maclin and Ms. C. Hart, thank you for supporting our teachers with IEP development in small groups and one-on-one training. Ms. P. Hart, thank you for keeping the student records and documentation organized and in compliance. While you all often work behind the scenes, your hard work does not go unnoticed.
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