November 9, 2011
TO: Michael Green, SuperintendentFROM: Asha Riley
RE: Lewis River Academy
Virtual Field Trips:
This month our students participated in two virtual field trips. The first trip was to Saguaro National Park. Our students took a virtual hot air balloon ride to discover what animals live within the different life zones and learned how to conduct a schoolyard BioBlitz! The other was to NASAs Propulsion Lab. There, our students were able to meet a NASA engineer and learned about Mars rovers. They were able to submit text questions and answer interactive polls.
Parent Partnership Night:
At our last parent partnership meeting we discussed how communication of student progress is best communicated to parents. Since our parents are highly involved in their child's learning and they get progress reports weekly it was decided to not communicate grades via a report card. High school students will still have transcripts updated as they complete courses.
Based on a few parent requests we also discussed with the families different models for teaching multiple children at home. We have several families with multiple children in our academy, whom have asked for support in structuring their day to ensure learning occurs for all their children each day. Two experienced mothers gave sample schedules to the other parents and walked through a variety of strategies to successfully manage three curriculums and children at the same time.
Student Progress:
We are happy to report all our students are making good progress. We have consistent attendance at our open labs two times a week and lots of virtual conferences with students via Big Blue Button. This month we celebrated our first student to earn a diploma! As you know Mr. Bill Morrison was able to meet his graduation requirement through LRA to receive his WHS diploma.