Compass School Newsletter
August 30th, 2008
Newsletters will normally come out every Wednesday. Here is a special weekend edition to give a heads up on schedule and basic information.
School Starts Tuesday September 2nd at 8:30am.
We are all so pleased and excited to be starting up!
Schedule for the week: (dismissal at 2:15pm all week)
Tuesday September 2nd - 8:30am-2:15pm - Student orientation activities
Wednesday September 3rd - 8:30am-2:15pm - Student orientation activities, including a short hike up Black Mountain or Putney Mountain - please bring appropriate walking shoes and clothing for an easy hike.
Thursday September 4th - 8:30am-2:15pm - Morning academic classes. Lunch and afternoon fun at the Saxtons River Rec. area. Bring a bathing suit if you want to swim. Students may be picked up at the Rec. at 1:45pm or back at school at 2:15.
Friday September 5th - 8:30am-2:15pm - Regular academic class schedule.
Monday September 8th - Exploratories start. School day 8:30-4:00 on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays.
Forms-Please submit your health forms and the free and reduced lunch application.
Health Forms- IMPORTANT! - Please get your medical forms in if you have not already done so. We need at the least to have the parent form submitted in order to take your child hiking on Wednesday and to the Rec area on Thursday, and we need the physician forms as soon as possible as well.
School Meals
Breakfast and Lunch will be available at school starting the first day. The price for buying lunch at school is $3.50 per meal. Breakfast is $2.00. Students may purchase a 10- or 20-meal card from Janice in the office. Students are also welcome to bring a bag lunch. Enjoy all the great offerings from our new chef Cher!
Work Day Thanks!
Thanks to all who came to work day to help clean and prepare the school. Your help was fantastic! It was great to connect with students and parents new and old.
Advisors
Each Compass student has an advisor who is your primary liaison for communication about your child's progress. If you have concerns from home that you want the school to know about, contacting your child's advisor is a good first step. Ask your child who his or her advisor is; there will be advisory group time on the first day of school. And you should hear from your child's advisor soon (if you haven't already).
Families email list
A primary means of communication with families is through the "families@compass-school.org" email list. If you are reading this newsletter now by email, then you are on the list. Please contact Eric if you want to make any changes to the email address at which you receive Compass email. We have strictly controlled access so you shouldn't be getting spam through this list. (Families without email access need to be sure to get paper copies of the Wednesday newsletter each week.) You can send email to all the faculty at once at teachers@compass-school.org, or you can email any individual faculty member at their first name @compass-school.org-for example,
janice@compass-school.org.
Please Read the Weekly Wednesday Newsletter- Once school starts, you should expect a newsletter to be published every Wednesday. Please read the whole thing so that you can stay abreast of happenings in your child's school life. You are welcome to submit items to the newsletter; please send them to Eric (eric@compass-school.org) by the end of Tuesday for inclusion in the newsletter of that week. The newsletter is also posted on our website: http://www.compass-school.org/news
A note about medicines in school
All medicines must be administered in the office. If your child needs to take medicine during school hours, the medicine should be put in a safely capped bottle with note indicating the name of the student, the name of the medication, dosage, and how often it should be taken. This should be turned into the office manager who will administer medications.
School Supplies
Students should have a notebook/binder system in which they can keep notes, handouts, and papers in a neat, well organized format for each class, notebook paper, pens and pencils, a calculator (with trig functions for 10th-12th grade), Spanish dictionary. Individual teachers may request some nuances to this for certain classes-the first academic class meetings will be this Thursday.
Middle schoolers have a few special requests which were sent out in a recent mailing from teacher Lauren: Middle School Supply List
Required
- 4 1" binders or 1 large binder for all of your classes (except Spanish)
- 1 1" binder for Spanish class
- 1 3" three-ring binder to gather to gather portfolio materials in
- Lined paper
- Pens and pencils in a pencil case
- 1-2 G USB drive (labeled with student's initials)
- 1 regular 2-pocket folder (for Humanities projects)
- 2 packs of dividers for three-ring binders
- A notebook or journal for Humanities class
- 1 3-pack of post-it notes for use when reading (size and color are up to you)
Highly Recommended
- Set of colored highlighters
- Spanish dictionary
- Calculator
- Plastic document covers for portfolio pieces
Bus Transportation
The Connecticut River Transit Bus runs a regular public bus route between Bellows Falls and Brattleboro with a stop at Compass School. The bus operates on a donation-only basis- please donate each time you ride or make arrangements with CRT for an annual donation. Let's support this great resource. See their website: www.crtransit.org
School Web Site-www.compass-school.org is a great resource for information about the school. All teachers have individual web pages which offer information about your child's courses. Find these on the web site under "Resources">"Teacher's Sites".
Computer Network Fee
Students who want to connect their laptops to the school wireless network need to pay a $50 fee that covers virus & intrusion protection and the network services the school provides. The antivirus software will be installed on the laptop, and it will protect the computer outside of school as well. Mac users don't need the virus protection, so their fee is $25.
Community Service
All students participate in community service activities every other Wednesday afternoon from 12:40- 2:10. We are in the process of coordinating these community service days which include (9/17, 10/1, 10/15, 10/29, 11/12, 12/3, 12/17, 1/14, 1/28, 2/25, 3/11, 3/25, 4/8, 4/29, and 5/13) and we are looking for volunteer parent drivers and mini-vans or vehicles that can hold up to 4-5 students. If you are able to help, please contact beth@compass-school.org. Also, please contact us if you have ideas for a regular biweekly Wednesday afternoon community service project we could do.
Middle School Theater Trips
On Thursday, September 11, 2008 the 7-8th graders will be attending As You Like It at the Weston Playhouse in Weston, VT at 10am. On Thursday, September 18 we will attend a Carnival of Taiwanese Hand Puppetry performed by Happy Puppetry, a multi-generational family company of Taiwanese puppeteers, a performance that is part of Sandglass Theater's Puppets in the Green Mountains Festival. This show will be in Bellows Falls at 12 noon. Please send $15 to Janice or Anne in the office to cover the cost of tickets to both of these shows. Please contact Lauren (lauren@compass-school.org) if you are interested in attending one of these shows with us.
Middle School Family Potluck and Informational Meeting, September 15, 2008, 5:30pm
All Middle School Families are invited to a potluck dinner and an informational meeting on September 15th. Please bring a dish to share, come meet, mingle, and learn about what's coming up this year in the Middle School!
9th Grade Families-Potluck and business meeting-Tuesday Sept. 23 at 6pm
One of my favorite roles at Compass is that of Advisor. Elizabeth and I will be the ninth grade Advisors, and we are pleased to announce that a freshmen family potluck and business meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, September 23, from 6-8 PM at the school. We will gather to eat from 6-7, then meet to discuss how things are going for the ninth graders. While our fall meeting typically focuses on homework and how things are going socially for each student, all topics are welcome. Students typically play outside while parents and teachers meet from 7-8. It is a great way for us to get to know one another and to check in about our students' Compass experience. Take care - Ron
Drivers Education at Compass
Mike Henkle of the Westminster Driving School will run a driver education course at Compass in January and February if there is enough interest. Please let Eric know if you are interested. Mike is running some courses in the area this fall, so you can go to his website - www.precisiondriving.biz - to learn more. There are also courses happening at a number of the area schools, some in the evening. Contact Eric with questions.
Hello to all from Ron
I am having a great time with our wonderful faculty, thoroughly enjoyed Work Day with parents and students, and am very much looking forward to meeting the rest of the Compass School community as students begin school next week. Students, please consider bringing a notebook with graph paper for assignments, as I have found this to be useful in all math classes. You do NOT need this on the first day of school. The math team (Louise, Jason, Ron) will further explain what you need at school next week. A calculator is a good thing to bring.
Recreational Aide Needed
Westminster Center School has a position for someone 16 or older to work with 1st-6th graders during the Afterschool Program M-F 3:00-4:30. We would consider someone for 2 or more days per week, but prefer full time. Duties would include leading/supervising active games/sports. The Westminster bus picks up students at Compass and arrives at the Center School by 3:00. For more information contact Elaine Gordon 869-6103 or sudgor@yahoo.com
Wanted
Hardcover books, especially older, interesting, and illustrated ones for use in a book altering exploratory. Please bring these to Lauren or drop them off in the office in Lauren's box. Thanks!
Please come help the Bald Hill Conservation Committee stuff envelopes for their appeal letter. This group is working to publicly conserve the valuable Bald Hill land near the high school and close to Compass School. The meeting to crank out a mailing will be at the BFUHS at 7pm, Wednesday, September 3rd. We'll be there at least two hours- the more the merrier and the less total time needed for everyone.
School calendar can be viewed at http://www.compass-school.org/resources/calendar.html or you can get additional paper copies in the office.