In this issue:

Course Changes

Character Counts

Master of the Month

Skate Night

Yearbooks

Senior Portraits

Looking for a school with Vision?

School Closures and Snow Days

About VCS

ELEMENTARY ROBOTICS TEAM GOES TO STATE JANUARY 30, 2016:

#BUY6SALVAGE6

The #BUY6SALVAGE6 campaign is addressing a solution to the problem that humans are not recycling Styrofoam 6. Schools nationwide use Styrofoam 6 daily then throw it away, since Styrofoam takes forever to biodegrade, Styrofoam will be all that's left on Earth.

People and companies buy Styrofoam to use because it is so cheap but the cost against the Earth is immeasurable. People are recycling everything from plastic to glass bottles but they don't recycle Styrofoam. Styrofoam #6 is a recyclable material, we should be recycling it.

#BUY6SALVAGE6 presents this solution, buy Styrofoam 6 and use Styrofoam 6. Help us put the news out there, Styrofoam 6 is recyclable.

For more information contact BUY6SALVAGE6@visioncsd.org!

**Brought to you by the Techno Troopers, Vision Charter School Elementary Robotics Team # 2735. Team Members include Lylli Ingram, Sam Ruegner, Kylie Harrold, Elise Kitamura, Hayden Soule, Machen Newton and Trevor Warr. We are so excited to go to state and have fun and make friends!

VISION CHARTER SCHOOL VOLLEYBALL

Vision Charter School is proud to sponsor an intramural volleyball program this year. The emphasis of this program, through skill development and teamwork, is to provide an introduction to the game of volleyball. The program will begin Wednesday, January 20, 2016 and continue through February 25, 2016. Practice times will be from 3:15pm-4:30pm. STUDENTS WILL NOT BE ALLOWED IN THE GYM PRIOR TO THIS TIME. Tentative practice schedule will be as follows: January 20, 21, 22 * January 25, 27, 28* February 1, 2, 3, 4 * February 8, 9, 10, 11 * February 15, 16, 17, 18 * February 22, 23, 24, 25. Bring your $15 fee (this fee includes a t-shirt) and signed registration form to the secondary office by 3:30pm, January 12th. ALL STUDENTS MUST BE PICKED UP ON TIME AT 4:30 p.m. Please make checks payable to Cindy Moretti. Any questions, please contact Cindy at cindymoretti@visioncsd.org. **Forms available from Mrs. Brockert in the secondary building.

SECONDARY COURSE CHANGE REQUESTS DUE TO THE COUNSELOR JANUARY 20, 2016 BY 3:00 PM
Second semester class change request forms will be accepted electronically during the holiday break (please see website for form)(Electronically submitted forms will be submitted to teachers for signatures after receipt of form). Please remember that not all requests are granted and that in most cases YEAR LONG classes are not classes students can drop at semester. Forms will be available to students in the library upon our return to school on January 4, 2016. Students will be responsible for teacher signatures BEFORE submitting to the counselor unless submitting electronically.

** VCS is in need of lunch TAs during periods 2A, 2B, 3A, and 3B

** VCS is in need of elementary TAs during periods 1A, 1B, 2A, 3A, 3B, 4B

ALL REQUEST FORMS ARE DUE TO THE COUNSELOR, WEDNESDAY 1/20/2016 BY 3:00PM. The Add/Drop form and copies of class schedules can be found on Ms. Dowski's web site: http://visioncsdcounselor.weebly.com/academic-forms.html Questions? Please email Ms. Dowski at marydowski@visioncsd.org

CHARACTER COUNTS! JANUARY CHARACTER TRAIT IS TRUSTWORTHINESS

Be honest * Don't deceive, cheat, or steal * Be reliable - do what you say you'll do * Have the courage to do the right thing * Build a good reputation * Be loyal - stand by your family, friends, and country

JANUARY MASTER OF THE MONTH IS DIEGO RIVERA. THE FEATURED ART ELEMENT IS TEXTURE.

Vision Charter School students will be studying the use of texture in the art work of Diego Rivera. Rivera is well known for using his art to celebrate the Mexican Culture, History, and People.

VCS SKATE NIGHTS!

Mark your calendars for the following dates for Vision Charter School's Skate Nights at the Nampa Rollerdrome:

Monday, February 8

Monday, April 11

Bring the whole family for a night of fun from 6:00 - 8:00 PM.

$5 entrance fee //$2 rental

ORDER MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL YEARBOOKS NOW

2015-16 VCS Middle School and High School Yearbook ordering is now open. Beginning this year, we are shifting to completely online ordering. Students can choose to customize their yearbook with additional autograph pages or even get their name on the cover, in a foil imprint. Middle school students can even upgrade their books to a hard cover. The high school yearbook is a 48-page book with a student-designed, custom hard cover with a basic price of $34.00. That is a bigger book for the same price as last year! The middle school yearbook is a 40-page, soft cover book with a basic price of $20.00.

To order, you can go to: ybpay.lifetouch.com

The VCS HIGH SCHOOL Yearbook ID Code is: 11547716

The VCS MIDDLE SCHOOL Yearbook ID Code is: 11145616

Placing your order immediately reserves your student's copy of the 2015-16 book and takes care of your payment. You will receive an order confirmation email after submitting your order. If you have a question about ordering, please email Mr. Boothby at markboothby@visioncsd.org.

SENIOR PORTRAITS FOR THE YEARBOOK are optional, but may be submitted. If submitting a portrait, it must be a digital file (no larger than 10mb) with no watermark. It must be submitted to Mr. Boothby or Shandra Dewitt (Yearbook Photo Editor) no later than Thursday, February 11th. You may save it to a USB thumb drive. We will return the thumb drive.

LOOKING FOR A SCHOOL WITH VISION? Let us help you bring your child's future into FOCUS!

We're a FREE K-12 COLLEGE PREP SCIENCE & ART SCHOOL where high school students can earn college credits through CWI, NNU, BSU, etc. without ever leaving our campus.

Thanks to our accelerated curriculum, eligible students can graduate from high school with a two year Associate of Arts degree from College of Western Idaho.

Don't wait to become part of this life changing school! We begin accelerating our students in our FREE full day kindergarten program. Critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, and collaboration start in the primary school setting and extend throughout high school!

We also emphasize music, character and leadership education, safe & small school culture, and study in a second language.

Students at Vision Charter School may qualify for high school credits while in middle school. Students who complete all state graduation requirements prior to the start of their senior year and stay enrolled at VCS will qualify for 36 concurrent college credits to be paid for by the SDE.

Get a head-start on tomorrow by learning more today! Download an application at VisionCharter.net.

Come meet the staff at our INFORMATIONAL SESSIONS from 6-7 p.m. in the VCS Gym on Tuesday, March 15th and March 29th.

VISION CHARTER SCHOOL IS ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR THE 2016-2017 SCHOOL YEAR!

Vision Charter School will hold its lottery for enrollment for the 2016-2017 school year beginning at 9:00 a.m. on Friday, April 8, 2016 in the secondary technology room.

Applications may be found at visioncharter.net under enrollment/lottery. Completed applications must be postmarked by March 31, 2016 and if hand delivered, no later than 4 p.m. on Friday, April 1, 2016. Applications received after April 1st at 4:00 p.m. will be placed into the pool for the following year and at the bottom of the wait list for each grade level.

All prospective students will be given the opportunity to enroll in the FREE public charter school, regardless of race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion, gender, social or economic status, or special needs.

Vision Charter School celebrar� su loter�a para la matr�cula para el a�o escolar 2016-2017 comienzo a las 9:00 de la ma�ana del Viernes, 8 de abril 2016 en la sala de tecnolog�a de secundaria .Las solicitudes se pueden encontrar en visioncharter.net la inscripci�n / loter�a. Las solicitudes completas deben enviarse por correo el 31 de marzo de 2016 y si la mano entregado, antes del 4 pm el viernes , 1 de abril de 2016. Las solicitudes recibidas despu�s del 01 de abril a las 4:00 pm ser� colocado en la piscina para el a�o siguiente y al la parte inferior de la lista de espera para cada nivel de grado. Todos los futuros estudiantes tendr�n la oportunidad de inscribirse en la escuela p�blica gratuita, sin importar la raza, color, origen nacional o �tnico , religi�n , sexo , condici�n social o econ�mica , o necesidades especiales.

Parents will be notified in writing within seven business days of the lottery if their child receives a spot at Vision Charter for the 2016-2017 school year or where their child is located on the wait list.

Check out our website at visioncharter.net, call 455-9220, or e-mail the Administrator at wendyoldenkamp@visioncsd.orgfor additional information.

Send Applications to:

Vision Charter School

19291 Ward Road

Caldwell, Idaho 83605

INCOMING KINDERGARTEN SIBLINGS OF CURRENTLY ENROLLED VISION CHARTER SCHOOL STUDENTS need to have an application in the lottery to be considered for the 2016-2017 school year. We do not accept applications for kindergarten students until January 1st of the year they will be entering kindergarten. Kindergarten students must be 5 years old by September 1st of 2016 to be considered for the lottery for the 2016-2017 school year.

SEMI FORMAL:

9th-12th grade VCS students are invited to attend the semi-formal Valentines Masquerade from 7:00-9:00 p.m. on February 5th. Admission is $8. Students interested in bringing a date from a different school need to pick up the paperwork from Mrs. Brockert in the secondary office. Guests must be enrolled in 9th-12th grade. Paperwork requesting to bring a guest must be completed and submitted to Mrs. Brockert by 4:00pm on February 4th to be considered.

DATES TO KNOW:

January 20: Secondary course change requests due to the counselor by 3:00 p.m.
January 29: NO SCHOOL- Inservice

February 5: HS Semi-Formal Social

February 11: St. Government Spirit Day theme tbd

February 12: NO SCHOOL

February 15: NO SCHOOL- President's Day

February 26: NO SCHOOL - Inservice

March 3: Music Ensemble Dinner Performance

March 10: St. Government Spirit Day

March 11: NO SCHOOL - Inservice

March 12th: "The Taming of the Shrew" Performances at 2:00 and 7:00

March 15: 2nd and 3rd grade music concert 7:00pm

March 21-25 NO SCHOOL- Spring Break

April 1: 7th-9th grade Dodge Ball Social from 7-9 p.m. in the VCS gym

April 5: HS Symphony and Honors Choir Performance

April 8: NO SCHOOL - 2016-2017 Lottery Drawing 9 a.m.

April 12: SAT School Day Administration for Juniors

April 22: NO SCHOOL- Inservice

May 5: K-12th Science Expo 3:30-7 p.m.

May 6: NO SCHOOL- Inservice

May 6: Musical Theater "Fiddler on the Roof" starting at 7 p.m.

May 12: Advanced Symphony/ Honors Choir Concert starting at 7 p.m.

May 13: Monster Rad Rally

May 19: CARNIVAL and AUCTION from 3:30-7 p.m. at VCS!

May 19: Last day for seniors

May 20: NO SCHOOL

May 20: 6th grade Lock In starts at 6 p.m. and goes to 7 a.m. Saturday, May 21.

Date tbd: 6th grade Spring Concert

May 24: RAD starts at 7 p.m.

May 27: LAST DAY OF SCHOOL EARLY RELEASE 1:40

May 27: Graduation practice 3:00 p.m./ Graduation 7:00 p.m. at Nampa Civic Center

** SCHOOL CLOSURES/ SNOW DAYS:

IN THE EVENT OF SCHOOL CLOSURE OR EMERGENCY CLOSURE: The most accurate updated information can be found on our Facebook page and our website at visioncharterschool.net. We will also send out updates via this newsletter. If you would like to receive our newsletters, you may sign up on our website. You may also check updates on KTVB channel 7 and KBOI channel 2.

We will send school closure information through our automated emergency contact program. You sign up for how you want to be contacted in an emergency through the parent portal. If you have not yet set this up, please contact Mrs. Bowers at amybowers@visioncsd.org for directions on setting up your parent portal account.

ABOUT VCS...

VISION CHARTER is a FIVE STAR school who has received the HONORS ranking from the Public Charter Commission.

School Mission: To create well educated, respectful citizen leaders in a K-12th grade College Prep Science and Art School.

Grades Served: The School serves students in Kindergarten through twelfth grade.

Vision/Design Elements: Vision Charter School shall implement and maintain the following essential design elements of its educational program:

Arts and Sciences - Language arts, fine arts, and science will be emphasized at all grade levels. Students will acquire and apply knowledge.

Character and Leadership Development - Character development is considered a fundamental purpose of education and will be fostered through a child-centered educational model built on high behavioral and academic expectations. The comprehensive character education plan will tap into each child's innate need to know boundaries while protecting his/her dignity.

Small School Environment - The school will provide a small, safe educational setting in which students and faculty know each other personally.

Music Training - Elementary students will be taught basic keyboarding through general music courses. A music curriculum for older students will focus on the development of fundamental musician skills, while also exposing students to local musical heritage and culture.

Second Language - Students in all grades will be exposed to a second language, with a primary emphasis on Spanish.

An Enriched Curriculum For All Students - An enriched, gifted and talented curriculum will be offered for all students. At the high school level, advanced or college credit level courses will be available for all core subjects.