Greetings! 

 

• Dates To Remember 
• Fall Fund Drive
• Important Details about the new Anser website 
• Anser is Thankful for You! 
• Afterschool at Anser 
• Student Sign in/out   
• Pumpkins for Playgrounds  
• Professional Development 
• Dance and Sing and Do Your Thing! 
• SOS 
• JH Electives - Save the date!  December 8, 2011 6:30 pm at the Egyptian Theater 
• CBC 
• Youth Council 
• December 7th-9th Anser Book Fair   
• Cooking Classes offered 
• Meet your ECS Staff 
• JUNIOR HIGH STUDENTS ONLY - Drawing for the Anser Tee! 
• Word-of-the-Week 
• Companions Animal Hospital is having an OPEN HOUSE!  
• Yoplait Labels 

The new Anser website will launch tomorrow. Many people have worked to make it a success and we know parents will be excited to see the changes. Many pages on the new website will be password protected, meaning only people logged in with a password provided by Anser will be able to access them. These pages will include the Classroom pages where you will find Newsletters, Volunteer Needs and Crew Galleries. You will receive an email on Wednesday November 30th that will include your password and link. If you don't receive it on Wednesday November 30th, please check your junk mail folder, and if it is not there contact Abby McLean at amclean@ansercharterschool.org We consider this launch of the website as Phase 1 and will be working to add even more functionality in the future. If you have questions about the website or suggestions please contact Heather Dennis at hdennis@ansercharterschool.org.

As families head off on Thanksgiving Break we hope you know that Anser staff will be taking a moment to say "Thanks!" for everything you do to make the school a success!

Due to low enrollment the Afterschool at Anser program will end November 18th. We thank the parents whose children attended the program for their support. Although the students and parents truly loved the program, it just was not financially sustainable for the school. Anser is committed to offering a wide variety of opportunities for our students and hopes to find other ways to enrich our students afterschool time in the future.

Parents please make sure that you are signing your children out or in for the day if they are arriving late or being taken early from school.  This is an important record keeping function of our school and cannot be done properly without this being done every time!

In its first year Pumpkins for Playgrounds was a huge success, earning our playground close to $800.00!! The money was earmarked for new playground equipment and all the students were involved in helping make the decision of what the playground received. Each classroom teacher was given the opportunity to survey their students and then from those lists the merchandise was ordered.  The students really wanted soft footballs, tether balls, hula hoops 4 square balls and new flag football flags. The merchandise has been ordered and should arrive soon.  Special thank-you to Peaceful Bellies for making the Pumpkins for Playgrounds possible!

Anser Staff spent last November 2nd & 3rd with our Expeditionary Learning (EL) School Designer, John LeCavalier as part of our Professional Development.  John was on-site visiting classrooms, helping with our annual work plan (goals for the year) and meeting with teams of teachers.  John's goal for us during this visit was to focus our work on aligned standards, learning targets and assessments using the new EL planning document.  Teachers were given time to use the document as John facilitated their understanding and answered questions.  John's next visit will be in January.  He and Suzanne will observe classrooms at that time and look for evidence of our previous work  in written lessons (in the document planner) as well as instruction.  Suzanne will be attending an EL Regional Cohort meeting this week-end in Seattle. She will have an opportunity to work with other EL school leaders.  John has asked Suzanne to share Anser's Work Plan and the process used to chose the goals we are working toward with her principal colleagues.

Anser's Talent Wednesdays are scheduled twice this year.  The first one will be January 4th (the first Wednesday we come back from Winter Break); the second is scheduled April 4 (the first Wednesday after Spring Break).  Forms for the first Talent Wednesday will come home in December and must be returned before the students leave for Winter Break (information will be available after Thanksgiving Break).  This will give students plenty of time to practice!  We will send forms home by email as well as have them available in classrooms.  Please encourage your student to participate.  Anser students are a talented bunch...we can't wait for them to share with us again this year.

Students will be voting on their t-shirt designs and quotes for the SOS shirts.

SOS projects should be getting underway for most of the students, we are working with the last group now getting started on their mission statements and action plan

Performing arts show.  Students are finishing up the final touches on their speeches, dances, plays and movies and are looking forward to sharing their "art" of performance.  Collaboration and Competition Ski/snowboarding/snowshoeing forms are going home this week and will need to be returned by Wednesday Nov. 30th with payment.  Please read the information thoroughly and if you are interested in being a chaperone, there is a chaperone form attached as well.  If you are not interested in the winter sports module, there are several other options that will be going home.

Collaboration and Competition Ski/snowboarding/snowshoeing forms are going home this week and will need to be returned by Wednesday Nov. 30th with payment.  Please read the information thoroughly and if you are interested in being a chaperone, there is a chaperone form attached as well.  If you are not interested in having your child participate in the winter sports module, there are several other options that will be going home the first full week of December.  Keep your eye out for those forms and ranking options for the lottery!

Youth Council has determined the dates for all of the "ANSER Fun Days"  and this Friday is our first.  Wear your pajamas to school tomorrow!

Check out the Youth Council bulletin boards for the upcoming dates, December 18th is Sports Day, wear a jersey or your favorite sport team attire to show your spirit.

The ANSER Book Fair is coming! The Book Fair will be held in the ANSER Gym from Wed. Dec. 7 through Friday Dec.9th  and you can purchase books online and have them delivered free to the school!

Please see our website at: http://bookfairs.scholastic.com/homepage/anser for details.

Volunteers are needed for the Book Fair, Monday, Dec.5th after school for set up, Tuesday, Dec. 6th for Preview days, Wed, Thursday and Friday, Dec.7-9,  for selling and restocking, and Friday afternoon, Dec.9th from 1-6 for take down, clean up and packing.  Please contact Julie Bu if you have a few hours or more to help out with the Book Fair. It is fun way to help the school Library and no experience is needed.

Also, we are in need of tables to use for displays if you can loan us yours for a few days that would be great! Tables can be dropped off in the Gym on Monday, Dec. 5th  or contact Julie Bu to make different arrangements.

Last year's fair was a huge success and this year we hope to reach our new goal of 1000 Books and see Principal Suzanne, dye her hair Pink!
 
If you have questions please contact Julie Bu, at bu1870@msn.com or 208-863-9520.

Anne Woodhouse and Kim Rene teach the Cooking and Nutrition CBC and are providing two cooking classes for Thanksgiving.  One is an adult class and the other is a kids class on the Monday of Thanksgiving week. November 16th from 6- 8:30 Beyond Turkey 35.00 per person. November 21st 2:00-5:00 Kids in the Kitchen 30.00 per person. More info can be found on the bulletin board outside the office at school.
 
TO REGISTER contact:
Anne Woodhouse, Certified Holistic Nutritionist
anne@abundantbowl.com / 208-867-6612

Anser Exceptional Child Services Crew Leader School Psychologist Cathi Elliott

An employee of the Boise School District, Cathi has been a practicing School Psychologist for 7 years. She is a Nationally Certified School Psychologist as well as holds her Licensed Professional Counselor certificate. She joined the Anser crew this school year and also services Washington and White Pine Elementary Schools in the Boise School District.  When at Anser, Cathi serves as an Anser Building Intervention Team crewmember.  She also conducts assessments and drafts reports to inform student team decisions regarding eligibility for and placement in special education.  In addition, Cathi mentors the Exceptional Child Services Crew Leaders to insure they are utilizing best practices that meet student needs.  Cathi has one son and her second child on the way.

Thank you to everyone who entered a drawing in the ANSER tee-shirt contest.  It is going to be really hard for Family Council to decide which designs to use because they were ALL SO GREAT!  What amazing artists we have at ANSER!  We will be opening the contest up again for JUNIOR HIGH STUDENTS ONLY.  We did not get any entries from Junior High and cannot complete the tee-shirt without your contribution.

Win a chance to have YOUR art on the back of the 2011-2012 ANSER tee shirts.
This year Family Council would like to have each grade's expedition represented on the 2011-2012 ANSER tee shirts.  We are asking that students submit drawings for the tees.

Guidelines for the pictures include:

• pictures/words must be representative of the 2011-2012 expedition
• drawing should be done a plain white 8.5" X 11" piece of paper, using as much of the space on the page as possible
• line drawings outlined in black pen/Sharpie are preferred for ease of transferring to screen prints
• avoid shading/filling if at all possible
• drawings must be completed and turned in at the office (manila envelope marked "tee shirts") by Friday, November 18
• Family Council will select the finalists

Since so many families are new to Anser, Family Council will feature a regular Word-of-the-Week in the Flight Plan.  We hope this helps folks become more familiar with all of the acronyms, design principles, and lingo of our school.
 

November 19th  from 10-4. Companions will be giving clinic tours. If you've ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes at a veterinary hospital, or know of someone interested in veterinary medicine come on in!
 
Companions Animal Hospital
2802 Broadway Ave
208.389.9111

There is a collection box outside the main office to collect clean PINK Yoplait yogurt labels for breast cancer!

Anser of Idaho, Inc.
202 E. 42nd Street
Garden City, Idaho 83714

Phone: 208-426-9840

Fax: 208-426-9683

Website: www.ansercharterschool.org