News from the Village - Cyber Village Academy's Weekly e-Newsletter

1/31 - Movie Night 6:00-8:00pm
2/7 - 9:00am-3:00pm Afton Alps Ski Trip
2/13 - 8:45 am Spelling Bee
2/18 - President's Day NO SCHOOL
2/26 History Day
2/26 - 4:30-6:00pm School Board Meeting
3/1 - End of Tri 2
3/4 - 1st Day of Tri 3
3/11 - MCA Math testing begins
3/14 - Pi Day
3/18 - MCA online Science, Reading and Modified Testing begins
3/19 - 4:30-6:00pm School Board Meeting
3/25-29 Spring Break

4/15 - MCA paper reading & math testing begins
4/18 - School Musical
4/24-27 Washington DC trip
4/30 - 4:30-6:00 School Board Meeting
5/1 - Decade Day/IB Field Day

5/6-8 - 8th grade Eagle Bluff Field Trip
5/10 - Staff Planning Retreat
5/16 - Talent Show
5/27 - Memorial Day NO SCHOOL
5/28 - 4:30-6:00 School Board Meeting
5/30 - ON Campus Day - Community and Service Fair
5/30 - 4:00 Family Picnic
5/31- Last Day of School ON CAMPUS day
5/31 - Graduation

Greetings!

Well, we had our first Crazy Weather Week of the school year this week! Thanks to everyone for their safe driving and extra effort to get your students to school! It's a good time to remind everyone that if there is ever a snow day, we're not really closed, we're online! Our media don't really have that as an option, so if you find out school is "closed," be sure to check your online classes for the day's assignments.

Every month, CVA calculates two different ways of measuring attendance. The first is an overall rate that is simply the percent student-days in attendance compared to the total student-days possible. The second rate is the percentage of students who are in attendance 90 percent of the time or more. For November, our overall attendance rate was 91 percent and 75 percent of our students attended 90 percent of the days or more. We would like to hit 95 percent attendance and 90 percent of students attending 90 percent of the time.

Many of the absences occur on online days when attendance is taken through work completion. We've learned that in many cases, the work has been completed, but it falls into the black hole known as a backpack or otherwise doesn't get turned in. Please encourage your students to send it in electronically as soon as they are finished or put it in a special to-be-turned-in folder. Attendance and learning will both improve!

Enjoy your vacation, and happy holidays to all who celebrate them this time of year!

Dave Glick

Parent Volunteers Needed

On January 12, both Minneapolis and St. Paul are having their school choice fairs for charter and non-public schools. We need parent volunteers to help out either place for any amount of time between 9 am and 2 pm. Of course, students are welcome too. What a great opportunity for a Community and Service activity! Please contact Dave if you're interested in this. Thanks!

New Website!

Check out our new website at the usual URL, www.cybervillageacademy.org! You'll see many improvements, and the site will continue to grow over the coming months. The links you need for PASCAL and Fusion, including email, Moodle, Odysseyware and PowerSchool are at the bottom of the home page. Enjoy!

CVA Open House

CVA is holding an open house on Tuesday, January 8, from 4:30-6:00. We welcome all families interested in joining us this year or next, particularly those with children in Grades 2-4 and high school for next year. Please encourage your friends and neighbors to come check us out!

January Lunch Orders

Lunch orders for January are due in the office by December 17th. Forms will be in your student's mailbox next week. Click here for a copy of the form. All Monday and Tuesday hot lunches must be pre-ordered and pre-paid! Please do not send money with your child in the morning to purchase a lunch for that same day.

Pizza Wednesdays will continue offering cheese and pepperoni pizza for $3 per slice or 2 slices for $5. However, students are requested to pay in advance into a lunch account using the attached order form rather than bring cash each week.

Milk is also available daily at a cost of $0.05 to students. Students can sign up for milk in advance, or purchase it daily.

Spelling Bee!

Cyber Village Academy will be participating in the E.W. Scripps Spelling Bee. The purpose of the bee is to help students improve their spelling, increase their vocabularies, learn concepts, and develop correct English usage that will help them all their lives.

A list of grade level study words is available online here. You should study the words for your grade level.

Written classroom bees will be held the week of Monday, December 17. The top spellers from each grade level bee will advance to the school-wide bee on Tuesday, January 15, 2013. Our school-wide champion then takes an online exam to qualify for the Regional Bee held on March 2, 2013 at Augsburg College.

Winners of each local region qualify for participation in the Scripps National Spelling Bee near Washington, D.C. !

If you have any questions regarding the Cyber Village Academy spelling bee, please contact Michael Schumacher or Christy Buxman. General information about the Scripps National Bee can be found online at SpellingBee.com.

Good luck!

Board Meeting on Tuesday

The monthly meeting of CVA's school board will be on Tuesday at 4:30 PM in the media center. The agenda can be found on the board page of the website. The meetings are open to the public, and parents are encouraged to attend to learn more about the board-level management of the school.

8th Grade Eagle Bluff Update

This is just a reminder that the $50 non-refundable deposit is due by TUESDAY, DECEMBER 18 along with the Eagle Bluff Letter sent home with your son(s) or daughter(s) this week at school to Melissa. If the letter was misplaced you can click here to get a copy. Both items must be turned in! Please contact Mr. Orr if you have any questions.

Grade 2 Coming Next Year!

Next year we'll be adding a Grade 2 class pending formal authorizer approval and sufficient enrollments! Please tell all your friends! You or they can sign up now to reserve their spots. Thanks!

National History Day Memo

Levels 2-3+ social studies classes kicked off the National History Day (NHD) program at CVA this week! Hip Hip Hooray for History Day!
It was an exciting week! Both the Minnesota Historical Society and the Minnesota Public Library educators visited Mrs. Koenen's classes to help teach the kids how to research a national topic. Students are in the process of selecting an NHD research topic and parents can help their child by discussing topic ideas and how it relates to this year's national theme: Turning Points in History.

A few reminders:

Parents and students should read all important documents in Moodle related to NHD, sign the Student/Parent Letter, and obtain a notebook and folder that will be used for NHD.
Students are encouraged to bring their own device (laptop) to class on research days! It will help!!!!
Winter break is a great time to visit a local or university library. Students will be required to gather sources from libraries and break is the perfect time to begin!
History Day at CVA will be held on Tuesday, February 26th (2:30-4:00). Mrs. Koenen is already seeking parent volunteers to help judge projects. If you are interested please let her know.

If you have any questions regarding National History Day please feel free to contact Mrs.Koenen .

Student Council

The CVA Student Council successfully completed their second "sandwich-making" activity of the year for Our Saviour's Housing in Minneapolis. Along with many bags of chips, Aniq A., Seamus F., Noah R., Holly C., and Mackenna K. made 100 sandwiches to deliver to the shelter. What a great way to show you care! Thanks for volunteering! We are still accepting new members into the CVA Student Council. To print a permission slip click here. The next Student Council meeting is on Tuesday, January 8.

Student Success

Jane Hall-Dayle

Title 1 Coordinator

Last week I shared some study tips from the article, "A Toolkit for School Success: 15 Study Tips for Students with ADHD" by Margarita Tartakovsky, M.S.

5. Create a contingency plan. If you complete a work task, reward yourself with a fun activity.

6. Have realistic expectations. Talk to your teachers about how to set realistic goals, for instance in ALEKS and for the upcoming History Day project.

See the entire article by clicking here.

Donations Please!

As cold season is in full swing, we are running low on our supply of tissues for the classrooms. If you are interested and able, we'd appreciate donations. Thank you!

Energy Saving Tip of the Week

brought to you by the CVA Student Council/Eco Team

Place the washing machine close to the water heater. Water loses heat as it flows through pipes. When the washer is located near the water heater, hot water doesn't have to travel as far to reach the washer, and less heat is lost. Insulating the pipes between the water heater and washer helps retain heat, too.

Special Day!

Moustache Day: Tuesday, December 18

MYP @ CVA

CVA teachers have been busy developing units that deliver the best of the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program. The process of unit development is lengthy, but it raises the quality of both teaching and learning because teachers apply what is called "educational best practice" as identified by research. Here are MYP units that teachers are teaching now ,have just finished, or plan to start in the next week or two:

Level 1
Maya Mystery (Allissa Koenen - Humanities)

Unit Question: How do cities fail?

Levels 1-2

Music Sounds Like Music (Jennifer Naglak - Arts)

Unit Question: When do sounds become more than sounds?

Levels 2-3+
National History Day Research Project (Allissa Koenen - Humanities)

Unit Question: Who or what creates change?

Levels 3-3+

Geometry (Robyn Mesenbring - Mathematics)

Using the Tools of Geometry

Unit Question: How precisely can you create?

From Part A to Part B and How We Get There (Jennifer Naglak - Arts)

Unit Question: What can we learn by looking at change through time?

All Levels

Screencast (Patty McDonald - Technology)

Unit Question: How can I contribute to the community by teaching others something I know how to do on the computer --- without being with them?

Ask your children to tell you what they know about the units. For questions about the units, please contact the teachers. For more information about MYP and IB programs, go to http://www.ibo.org or contact Cherie Neima.

Yours for the kids, CVA - International Baccalaureate World School

The Team at
Cyber Village Academy