Happy New Year to you all! I hope you’re enjoying winter break and we look forward to your return to school soon.
It’s hard to imagine that 2018 is upon us in a few short weeks!
I believe it’s valuable for families to celebrate their growth and accomplishments as part of their New Year’s celebration. I know as a mother of four that hectic days, weeks and months can slide by, making it hard to remember what events and activities made each year special. Of course, it’s important to celebrate milestones, but memorializing the small wins can do more to encourage a happy, optimistic attitude every day in ourselves and our kids. In my house, we have spent each New Year’s Eve doing at least one reflection activity – writing about our year, completing scrapbook pages together, filming video interviews or telling stories. Last year we filled out a “year in review” form (see above).
As you know, Springs offers its families many wonderful education programs. Our ongoing challenge as we continue to grow, however, is in providing facilities with enough high-quality classrooms in which these programs can take place. I’m pleased to report that at our Magnolia Student Center in Riverside, we’ve been successful in meeting this particular challenge.
One of the things that gives me great joy in my work with Springs is when I learn of the many fine things our graduates are doing. One such young man, Carter Low, came to my attention when Hurricane Harvey was in the news. Carter, 19, is a 2016 graduate of our KEYS program. He has begun a two-year mission with his church, sent to minister to the Chinese community living in Houston, Texas, which was devastated by the August hurricane. (Carter took classes to learn Chinese concurrently with the KEYS program.)
Welcome back!
I hope you had a great summer, and we’re looking forward to working with you and your children this new school year! The Springs staff is here to serve you, our students and parents, so if you have any questions or concerns now or at any time this year, please do not hesitate to contact your appropriate school representative.
Charter schools are tuition-free, public schools of choice. In 1992, California’s lawmakers passed the Charter Schools Act of 1992, making it the second state in the nation (after Minnesota) to enact charter school legislation. Its purpose was to allow educators, parents and community members to create an alternative type of public school. In California today there are about 1,230 charter schools, which serve nearly 600,000 students.
The end of the school year is upon us. I hope all of our Springs family has enjoyed a positive, productive year. We’re grateful to our students and parents for making Springs their charter school of choice.
The end of the school year is upon us. I hope all of our Springs family has enjoyed a positive, productive year. We’re grateful to our students and parents for making Springs their charter school of choice.
I’m excited to report that one of our outstanding Homeschool students, Rose Kelley, has been named a Carson Scholar and received a $1,000 award to help fund her college education. Rose has excelled academically over the years she has been a student with us and has a special talent in photography. She has benefitted from our CTE classes, working with one of our very fine CTE teachers, Judy Adair. See the article below for more details.
And, I wanted to highlight a few of our more significant construction projects happening of late since we have a lot going on related to our school facilities. First off, we’re working with the City of Jurupa to approve plans for a new facility for our Flabob Airport Preparatory Academy. The new Academy facilities will include ten classrooms attached to a multi-purpose hangar area where project work can be done, and airplanes rolled in.
We’ve been working on improvements to our Santa Ana Student Center facilities, including an upgraded security system, a new roof, and new air conditioning. Our Magnolia Student Center will open in new facilities this coming August, with 28 state-of-the-art classrooms, offices, conference rooms, a gymnasium, and pool complex.
We’re doing work on a security system upgrade for our La Fuente Student Center, now located on the campus of Faith Lutheran Church and Preschool in Vista. Our Bear Creek Student Center will also soon be moving to a new location, alongside Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Menifee. And, earlier this year, we had a dedication and ribbon cutting for our new Rancho Cucamonga Personalized Learning Center.
We’ll keep you informed of further facilities developments as the year progresses. Thanks for reading.
Did you know that taking a test can actually help you learn?
Roddy Roediger, a psychology professor at Washington University in St. Louis who runs the school’s Memory Lab, has spoken about the so-called “testing effect” or “retrieval practice” benefits of those who study for tests. While many people think of the human memory as a box to be packed with information, he said, “What people neglected and didn’t think about was the ‘getting it out’ part. We don’t get information into memory just to have it sit there. We get it in to be able to use it later … And the actual act of retrieving the information over and over, that’s what makes it retrievable when you need it.” (Read more here and here.)
Springs Charter Schools are parent choice schools where the community is our classroom. Our mission is to foster the innate curiosity of our students, empower their parents, and promote optimum learning by collaboratively developing a personalized learning program for each student.
Eagle = Choice, Freedom, Initiative
River = Community
Book = Empowering Parents (Knowledge is Power)
Torch = Curiosity, Passion for Learning
Hands = Collaboration
Keys = Personalization, Unlocking the Student’s Potential
Oak Branches = Continuous Lifelong Learning
