Have something for the bulletin? Send it to Shaina at bulletin@villagecharterschool.com.
Sneak preview: Yearbook Cover!
Dates at a Glance
· April 30th, 5:45pm - Meeting with Rebecca
· May 2nd, 1:00pm – Meeting with Rebecca
· May 3rd, 5:45pm – Meeting with Rebecca
· May 4th, 8am-9am - PA Sponsored Coffee Morning
· May 9th, 1pm - 2:15pm - PA Meeting
· May 28th - Memorial Day (No School)
· June 1st, 8am-9am - PA Sponsored Coffee Morning
VCS All-School Meetings
When: Monday, April 30, 5:45 pm*
Wednesday, May 2, 1:00 pm**
Thursday, May 3, 5:45 pm*
*No child care available for evening meetings
**E.C. rates apply for Wednesday meeting
Location: VCS Computer Lab/Library
Topics: This will be an opportunity for Q and A on Budget, Parent Pledge, Parent Involvement, and Student Engagement
Being a part of an Independent Charter School provides not only a unique educational experience for our children, but is also a new (and sometimes challenging and confusing) experience for us as parents. It is my goal that, by hosting three (3) meetings at a variety of different times, every Village family will be able to attend.
I invite everyone to bring their ears, hearts and ideas to at least one of these meetings!
Rebecca
VCS Summer Camp
Enroll Now! Deadline for sign up is May 18th.
We have had some interest, but not enough yet to guarantee that this program will move forward. Make sure to get your enrollment forms turned in to Carolyn, ASAP!
If you are having trouble coming up with the full payment all at once you can pay 1/2 by Friday, May 18. This amount will be considered a non-refundable deposit. The final amount will be due by Friday, June 1.
The VSC Summer Camp will be filled with fun activities, and interesting outings. Children will be able to choose their activities in the many open studios, go on afternoon adventures such as field trips and group projects, and stay with their Village community of friends!
Studios include:
➢ Fiber Arts such as knitting, weaving, needle-felting, sewing
➢ DIY Toy-making
➢ Music
➢ Gardening
➢ Art Journal
➢ Inventor’s Workshop (a maker’s space filled with reclaimed materials, students can create whatever they wish with the available materials)
➢ Outdoor and indoor Games
The new VCS summer program will be an 8-week program beginning June 11 and running until August 3rd. The program will be from 8am to 5:30pm. Each week will be themed around a different ecosystem around the world. Of course, since this is Village there will be art, and music, hikes and other fun activities. Incoming students (Kinder and up) will be welcome to participate.
Summer Admission Agreement | Summer Program Details
Creek Clean-a-Thon
What a fabulous event on Saturday! Our 5th annual Creek-Clean-A-Thon was a wonderful success! We had over 55 VCS students plus families and friends, in all amounting to over 130 folks cleaning our creek! Results? We collectively picked up over 715 pounds of trash!!! That is the same amount we’ve picked up over the past 4 years! Great job Village Charter School!!! We have posted a few pics from the event on the board outside of the office for you to enjoy.
As for the funds we’ve collected for our beautiful school, so far we have brought in just shy of $7000! We know there are still pledge forms to be turned in so please bring them into the office as you can. We’d love all money to be collected by the end of April but will continue to count pledges through May. We believe our school goal of $10,000 is possible!
T-shirts... If you worked the event or raised money for our school and did not get a fabulous orange t-shirt AND would like one, please email me your name and T-shirt size. I’ll be putting in final orders next Monday, April 30th.
Thank you also to ALL of our SPONSORS; you made a big impact this year!
Lastly, an enormous THANK YOU to Stephanie and Envirichment for running this event! What an incredible way to honor the earth on Earth Day! You role model for us daily our Village values!
PS - If anyone has more photos (especially of kids cleaning the creek), please email them over and we’ll be sure to post them!
Order Yearbooks
Don’t forget to get your order in for your yearbook! https://www.treering.com/validate?PassCode=1014724174042747
- Yearbooks only cost $20.00.
- The books are printed on high quality 100% recycled paper in beautiful full color.
- For each VCS yearbook sold, Trees for the Future plants a tree in our school's name.
- Order your yearbook by May 7 to get free bulk shipping with the rest of VCS!
Notes from the PA
Teacher and Staff Appreciation Week Wrap-Up.
Teacher and Staff Appreciation Week has been a great success! Thanks to your participation and donations this week has truly been satisfying Thank You to the amazing teachers we have here. Thank you for all the gracious help! Teachers and staff have felt your love.
LAST PA Meeting of this school year!
We are having our last PA meeting of the school year on Wednesday, May 9th. You wont want to miss this one! We will be talking about Carnival and Graduation. If you have ideas, suggestions or want to participate please come and join us for this meeting. If you are unable to attend but still want to help and be part of the Committees for these please email the festival chair Crisarlin at crisarlin@gmail.com.
Magical Garden
Have you all noticed Miss Malika’s Magical Garden? The children have been pouring their love and attention into planting, weeding, sowing and watering the past couple of weeks. So much gratitude to them and to Jasmine, Andy, Meg and the Nunley’s for their support, help and all round love!!!! Please take a little tour and enjoy the beauty!
Make A Difference Project
Dear Parents and Families,
I’m Hartley Blakey, an eighth grader here at Village Charter School. I'm doing my Make A Difference project on installing an air quality sensor at our school. For this to happen, I need to raise $250 on my GoFundMe page (link down below) to be able to purchase the sensor. Please visit the site, and thank you for considering a donation.
https://www.gofundme.com/air-quality-sensor-for-my-school
Woodworking Update
As some of you know, we have been working hard to transform the space between the shipping container and the fence into a woodworking area. Back in December we got a tarp cover over the area (cleverly attached with magnets) and it looked great. Perhaps the magnets weren’t so clever, because when the high winds came it popped right off. Once it had fallen the first time, it seemed the slightest wind would take it down again. Bigger magnets were added, but it did not solve the problem. Smarter minds were consulted and we finally have what will be (hopefully) a reliable way of attaching the tarp to the container. Steel and U-bolts combined with magnets should do the trick!
Unfortunately after falling down several times and being trampled, the tarp has tears in it that make it useless at creating a dry space. A new tarp has been ordered (if it is not one thing it is another). Hopefully in the next few weeks it will be up and secure and we can continue trying to get the space ready.
While the tarp was down two of the magnets disappeared. These are 4” round magnets with a pull strength of about 400 lbs. If you see them, please return them to the side of the container so we can re-attach them before we put the tarp back up.
After that we just need to rock the ground (it has already been leveled). Workbenches are made and ready to be installed and shelves for projects are being made.
One pressing need remains. We need a weatherproof cabinet that can be locked (preferably with a padlock so the combination can be shared rather than tracking down keys). One of the tall garden tool cabinets (that you can put shelves in) would be ideal. If anyone has one they are not using, please contact Arnold (arnold@kitenerd.com). We already have a nice collection of tools, safety glasses etc. and we just need a place to keep them all secure.
This has taken far longer than anyone expected, but hopefully soon we will have a nice work area to use for years to come.
Garden Group
It’s time to get the garden growing! Have you noticed that our beautiful village garden is beginning to take shape? Come and join us on Friday afternoons at 2:00 for some gardening fun! Weather permitting. Also, we are looking for pots or planters of any shape or size if you have any extras lying around.
Yearbook Photos Wanted
The deadline for sending the yearbook to print is May 7th. If you could contribute ANY photos of the 2017/2018 school year before that date, especially from the lists below, that’d be amazing! Please email them to emmakerfoot@gmail.com, or drop them off in person on a memory card, flash drive, or CD.
Major Photo Needs (We have few pictures of):
- Run Club
- Plays/Skits/Drama - Performances, rehearsals, prop-making, costume-making, etc.
- Spanish Classes - Especially of activities like art and cooking! Projects - Presentations, dioramas, models, experiments, labs, etc.
- Field Trips
- Bird Rescue Center
- Tall Ships
March for Immigration Rights(we have plenty)Legion of Honor(we have plenty)- Planetarium
Shiloh Park(we have plenty)Children’s Museum(we have plenty)- Other Field Trips?
Minor Photo Needs (we have some pictures of):
- Harvest Hoedown, Winter Solstice, Music Classes (Drumming, ukulele, etc.), Gardening, Conservation, Fundraisers, Yoga Classes, Buddies, Creek Clean-a-Thon, Artwork, and anything else! We have enough photos of anything you don't see mentioned here, but that doesn't mean we don't still want more to choose from!
Appreciations
Have an appreciation you wish to make? You can email it in by Friday morning or just stop by the office and drop off a note in the orange Appreciation Jar and it will get added to the next Bulletin.
- “Dear Families, Staff, and Students,
Being welcomed into this school has been one of the most amazing experiences that has happened in my life. I feel so fortunate to know all of you and so thankful that I get the chance to come here and learn from you all every day. The support and love that I have felt from this community has been overwhelming—and now this appreciation week has left my heart bursting! Thank you for all of your kind actions and words. The best gift of all is that we will always be in each other's hearts!
Best Wishes and Much Love!
~Ashley!”
- "Mr. Robbins would like to appreciate Carolyn, who works tirelessly every day to keep our school running. Thank you!"
- “Thank you to our wonderful Teacher Appreciation Committee and community of Village parents who helped make our deserving teachers and staff feel so special this week. ... And a final thank you and a world of appreciation to our teachers and staff for their loving and tireless efforts to make VCS the awesome school that it is. - Deneene”
- “I'd like to give an appreciation to the 3rd-8th grade students who are in the midst of taking the CAASPP. (California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress, also known as "Smarter Balanced") You have been awesome test-takers! You're pacing yourselves well, being quiet and respectful of others, not abusing your freedom to get up and move around any time you want, cleaning your work area when you leave, and keeping a positive attitude even when facing challenging questions. I'm so impressed with your behavior so far. Since the CAASPP only grades you on academics, I'm going to grade you on some of your Life Skills in the testing room:
Responsibility? Def' 10 out of 10. It's gotta get done, and you're getting it done!
Flexibility? 10 out of 10. Sometimes technical problems and other interruptions come up, and you handle them like champions.
Integrity? 10 out of 10 again! You aren't trying to get the answers from your neighbors, and you aren't asking me for more help than I'm allowed to give.
Courage? Like, 50/10. You missed almost a month of school in October, but you're approaching this test with with cool confidence.
Effort? Oh my goodness, um, how about 999/10?
Perseverance? 11/10. I love seeing you finally figure out a tough problem you've been working on for a while.
Patience? 10/10. Wait, no. 20/10. For those of you who have difficulty being quiet for long periods of time, 1,000,000/10. You know who you are. ;) - Emma”
- “What a wonderful week our teachers and staff have had! Thank you to all in our community who volunteered some of their time to give our school teachers and staff the most priceless of gifts – love, kindness and sincere appreciation! - Crisarlin”
- “Lauren - Thank you for helping with the last PA meeting. It is nice to see you being more involved again.”
- “Thank you to all the families who participated in the Creek Clean-A-Thon fundraiser. Whether you raised money or cleaned the creek it all helps keep our community strong and growing.”
- “A very HUGE thank you to Mariah and Stephanie, and of course all of you on the committee who helped make the fundraiser happen behind the scenes.”
What a fabulous event on Saturday! Our 5th annual Creek Clean-a-Thon was a wonderful success! We had over 55 VCS students plus families and friends, in all amounting to over 130 folks cleaning our creek! Results? We collectively picked up over 715 pounds of trash!!! That is the same amount we’ve picked up over the past 4 years! Great job, Village Charter School!!! We have posted a few pics from the event on the board outside of the office for you to enjoy. If anyone has more photos (especially of kids cleaning the creek), please email them over and we’ll be sure to post them!
