Back+to+School+2008-09

   Summer, 20    08      **Dear Parents of the Intermediate Class,  ** Greetings! A new school year is quickly approaching and we wanted to write a letter to both welcome and prepare you for the coming year. We are so excited to see returning families and welcome our new families into the Trillium community! If you are an old-time Trilliumite, please help us create a close community by welcoming any new faces you see this year. 

**The topics covered in this letter are:** > >   Please make notes of any questions you have based on this letter. We will see you very soon! - Rob, Jenny, Zach, and Jeremy = = =1. Introducing the Intermediate Team =  We are excited about our all-star intermediate team. This year Rob, Zach, Jenny and Jeremy wonderfully gelled as a team and are eager to ramp up expectations and excitement. Together we have a combine thirty years of teaching experience specializing in successfully structuring both personalized and emergent curriculum. You can read more about all of us in the bios attached to this letter.
 * 1) Introducing the intermediate team
 * 2)  Home visits
 * 3) <span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Georgia,serif"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">Personalized learning plans
 * 4) <span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Georgia,serif"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">School Schedule
 * 5) <span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Georgia,serif"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">The first few weeks of school
 * 6) <span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Georgia,serif"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">Volunteer opportunities
 * 7) <span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Georgia,serif"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">Electronic Portfolios/Trillium Framework
 * 8) <span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Georgia,serif"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">Basic logistics
 * 9) <span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Georgia,serif"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">Supply and Activity Fees
 * 10) <span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Georgia,serif"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">Staff Bios

Your child's advisor will be your main contact at school. If you have any concerns or questions throughout the year, please contact us. We are very open to conversations. The best way to get basic info is through email. For more in-depth conversations we prefer setting up a time to talk in person (this meeting can be arranged via email however). Please save the at home calls for urgent matters ONLY before 7 o’clock pm.

**2. Home Visits**

Home Visits will take place the first week of September from Tuesday September 2nd through Friday September 5th. As each teacher has at least 21 students to visit, we have pre-set the dates and times we would like to visit your home. This was done to ease the amount of time spent biking and driving around town. We will be calling you soon to inform you of your time and date. Please call or email to confirm or change before September 1st. We need to meet with everyone before school starts. Visits last approximately an hour.

Your home visit will be most productive if you and your child are prepared with a student written letter to their Advisor (Trillium's term for teacher.) Please see attached for further directions. This letter will form the basis for structuring your students first Personalized Learning Plan of the year. Therefore, please help your student to brainstorm ideas or suggest the addition of details. However, we would like the rest of the process (handwriting, spelling, punctuation, capitalization) to be the student's own, as this letter will also act as our baseline for writing instruction. Please read the section on Personalized Learning Plans to learn more about this important aspect of the intermediate structure.

In your visit, the advisor will do a short reading assessment, create a learning plan, and answer any questions that you or your child may have. We will come with the year’s calendar and have information packets that give more detail about Trillium. There will also be time for your child to share a special or favorite thing with their advisor (i.e. see their room, view their rock collection, play their violin).

We would like to collect the additional paperwork (safety contacts, etc.) sent previously on our home visit as well. Lastly, we would like to collect the activity fee for the year during our visit. The fee this year is $100. There is a discount if you pay early on. The fee includes all camping trips, field trips, and the yearly art fee.

**3. Creating Personalized Learning Plans (PLP)**

One of the ways we try to make the transition back into school smoother is by having Personalized Learning Plans created before the year starts. Please see the attached PLP to see a sample of how one student filled their plan out. Although your advisor will fill your PLP out with you during your home visit, your child can prepare by writing their letter describing goals, interests and passions. Most goals and activities are student-directed, although the advisers will help each student find appropriate resources and assist them when needed. (Students who have more experience and comfort with goal setting may want to set year-long goals, although learning plans are revised quarterly).


 * Electives:** Students will have weekly opportunities to take classes such as Art Studio, Garden, and some languages. PE is built into our days by doing routine jogging, yoga, and Tai Chi. At the home visit we will present you with an up to date Catalogue of Offerings. Students will not always be able to have all the electives at once due to schedule limitations.

**4. School Schedule** <span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"> <span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"> <span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">    Friday's are half days for students, ending at noon: We have a special format on Fridays that is comprised of meetings, clubs, or classes formed by students, teachers, or volunteer parents/community members. Advising groups may also spend Fridays doing service projects and establishing buddy relationships with the high school advising groups. Trillium is truly a multiage community. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">
 * Our new dismissal time is 3:15 which will coincide with the Upper School. At our home visit, we will discuss arrival and departure procedures. **

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<span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Georgia,serif"> **5. The First Weeks and the Mighty Campout**
<span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Georgia,serif"> Classes start on September 8th. There is a doughnut and coffee gathering for parents to meet or catch-up with each other after they’ve dropped their children off. We encourage you all to make connections.

We will have our intermediate camp-out this year at Oxbow State Park, near Troutdale. We go from September 24th-26th. This will be a time of building both community and relationships as well as enjoying nature and having fun. **To make the trip successful we will be relying on parents to help drive us to and from the camp and act as chaperons.** Please let your advisor know at the home visit if you are able to be a chaperon and/or a driver.

In the first few weeks of school, we will be focusing on creating a strong, active, supportive and responsible community. We feel strongly that issues such as healthy communication, problem solving, and respect for others and the school environment are important building blocks to a productive and positive learning community. We will do mediation trainings as well as trainings in diversity, tolerance, and mutual respect for others, property, materials, and the environment. As we settle into our second full year in our building, we also want to set a standard for keeping our school a clean and beautiful place to spend our days. =<span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Georgia,serif">6. Volunteer opportunities = <span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Georgia,serif"> We love our family volunteers and count on them quite a bit. Listed below are several ways for you to be involved. No effort is too little. If //everyone// just contributed a half hour a month it would make a huge difference. Please speak with your child's advisor at your home visit to tell them how you would like to help. We need:

<span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Georgia,serif"> **VOLUNTEER WORK PARTY ON THURS 8/29, 1PM. Come when you can!**
 * <span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Georgia,serif">**Class Liaisons** (parent volunteer organizers, this is the go to person for teachers)
 * <span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Georgia,serif">**Cleaners** (a dab of dusting will do us)
 * <span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Georgia,serif">**Book** **group leaders** (each advisory needs 4 or 5 parents to spend 30 minutes/week to discuss a book)
 * <span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Georgia,serif">**Reading Buddies** (reading one on one with kids)
 * <span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Georgia,serif">**Classroom helper** (we can always use an extra hand during the day- help students, make copies, etc.)
 * <span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Georgia,serif">**Construction room organizer** (Keep the construction/design area organized, help kids build)
 * <span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Georgia,serif">**Tech support** (up-keep of our class computers)
 * <span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Georgia,serif">**Drivers/chaperones** for field trips/community service (please try to do this at least once)
 * <span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Georgia,serif">**Together For Trillium** (TFT)- join the school's parent organization that sponsors the annual auction and various other social events as well as support for teachers
 * <span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Georgia,serif">"**Intensives" leaders-** (lead small classes for 4 mornings in you area of specialty-either before the holiday break or before summer break)
 * <span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Georgia,serif">Many more opportunities to help! Just tell us what you love to do!

<span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Georgia,serif"> **7. Portfolios/Framework**
<span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Georgia,serif"> Our students utilize the learning plans to pursue a variety of interests. As students find activities they want to spend considerable time on, we place a big emphasis on their responsibility to demonstrate their learning. We are launching a new electronic portfolio system called "ePearl" as a tool that students will learn to use to document and share their learning with a varied audience. This will be internet based so students and families can access work from either school or home! We are very excited to leave the jumbled paper folders and zip disks behind!

The Trillium Intermediate Framework is a tool in constant revision that aims to help students and teachers think about what skills, understandings and experiences are needed to be successful as they progress through Trillium. Look for this to be integrated on the ePearl system.

<span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Georgia,serif">8. Basic Logistics and Communication
<span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Georgia,serif"> <span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Georgia,serif">
 * <span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Georgia,serif">**Please help your child arrive at school on time.** This was a **huge** issue last year. It is hard for them to get focused when they are late and is an unfair burden on the teachers to catch them up. Additionally, math exploration and instruction will be happening right off the bat. So don't let the train leave the station without you!
 * <span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Georgia,serif">**Make sure your child eats breakfast.** There is also a morning snack time, so please pack something healthy for your child to eat in addition to their lunch. They also need to have water bottles. Students on the school lunch plan still need a morning snack. Please talk to your advisor if this is an issue for you to provide.
 * <span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Georgia,serif">Arrange for your child's **take-home folder** to be checked everyday. Important information is communicated through your child's take home folder.
 * <span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Georgia,serif">The **school website ([|trilliumcharterschool.org])** is a great resource for info, especially the calendar section.
 * <span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Georgia,serif">Each week we will provide an updates/important reminders and home assignments on **[|the 345 Blog Spot]**, which is a main link from the school's website. Each advisor will have an email list for those who want to be updated electronically (We highly recommend this if you have access to email, even if it’s just at work. This is a great way to send you lots of different info.)
 * <span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Georgia,serif">**Please don’t bring backpacks** or other bags. Storage space is very limited in our classrooms and it we need cooperation in this area to keep things tidy.

<span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Georgia,serif"> **9. Supply and Activity Fees**
<span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Georgia,serif"> I n an effort to more effectively use our supplies and minimize waste and shopping time, Advisors will do all shopping for school supplies in bulk. Instead of making a summer trip to your favorite box store, please simply write us a check using a sliding scale ($10 - $25.) The Activity Fee is also a one time, up-front payment for all school field trips, campouts and intensives for the entire year! For ease of bookkeeping, we are asking for the supply fee and the activity fee as **two separate checks addressed to Trillium Charter School.** The Activity Fee is $100. Please be prepared to give us the Supply Fee at the home visit but, reference the "Home Packet" for directions of how to pay the Activity Fee.

**THANKS FOR READING AND THINKING ABOUT YOUR STUDENT'S NEW YEAR!**