December 2016
This is a time for giving thanks, including thanks to our
founder, the Bryan family, our professional staff,
community supporters, and our schools! We are also
thankful for firefighters(see below)!
We are super excited to introduce our 2017 National Conference at Big Sky Resort;
"The Montana Handshake" June 29th­July 1st Keynote Speaker: Mr. Ron Clark. Check out his biography
Check this conference site for updates as they come.
We offer a very hearty welcome to Coastal Preparatory Academy:
A Challenge Foundation Academy to the TeamCFA network! They
will open with 490 students in grades K­6 in August 2017. They
will be located near Wilmington in New Hanover County, NC.
Follow their progress on Facebook
Teammate in the Spotlight: Our December Teammate in the Spotlight is Educational
Technology Division member, Harry Parrish.
Harry is currently a Computer Science teacher at Western School of
Science and Technology in Phoenix,AZ. He has been with TeamCFA
since 2013 at Pioneer Preparatory School as the Technology
Coordinator and Computer Specialist. He has been with the ED Tech
Division since 2014 and has overseen the development of the new
school websites. He currently helps in the maintenance of the entire
network of websites including Teamcfa.org. In his free time Harry
enjoys coaching High School football and his son Keegan’s Flag
Football team. He has two boys Jack and Keegan and his wife Gina
Disipio­Parrish is currently a teacher at Ethos Academy. If you have
any questions or would like to contact Harry feel free to email him at
[email protected].
A note from the School Support Team
The School Support Team is happy to introduce our newest instructional coach, Mrs.
Holly Morgan, who will be helping our schools as we grow in Indiana. She shares the
following greeting:
"Hi! My name is Holly Morgan, and I am excited to join Team CFA! I am originally from southern
Indiana where I attended Indiana University. After spending 3 years teaching K/1 in East Palo Alto,
California, I returned to Indiana. I’ve spent the last 4 years teaching kindergarten and mentoring
teachers at Avondale Meadows Academy (formerly Challenge Foundation Academy). When I’m
not working, I enjoy traveling and spending time with my husband, Donnie, and my dog, Kaya. I
also try to stay fit with yoga and running."
Also:
The kindergarten team at New Dimensions School:CFA is striving towards high­quality
implementation of CKLA (Core Knowledge Language Arts), beginning with their Skills
instruction. Teresa Higdon replaced her traditional word­wall with a CKLA Sound Wall,
which is an integral component of quality CKLA implementation at the kindergarten level.
During her lessons, Mrs. Higdon references this sound wall as a way to review the
sounds and symbols used to represent the phonemes her students are learning. Sound
cards will continually be added during subsequent units as students learn the basic code
spellings for all consonant, short­vowel, and long­vowel sounds. This team of ladies at
NDS has made a commitment to CKLA's highly effective approach to reading
instruction. This observation was shared by instructional coach, Heidi Cole.
A note from the Academic Division
The Bill of Rights Institute recently launched the fifth annual We the Students Essay
Contest, which features $20,000 in prizes and a $5,000 grand prize. The essay topic
gives students a voice on the timely topic, Does peaceful resistance to laws positively or
negatively impact a free society? More information about the We the Students Essay
Contest can be found here.
A note from the Educational Technology Division
Dear Teachers: Does your class webpage present a good depiction of your classroom?
Take a look from the 'outside' by going to Find a Teacher on your school's homepage. If it
looks like there's something missing, email ED­Tech member and Online Facilitator,
Joseph Maimone at [email protected] for advice and training.
Linked here is a web­guide for teachers who want to get the most out of their web pages! PUTTING OUR SCHOOLS IN THE SPOTLIGHT, FOR YOUR INFO AND DELIGHT
Cornerstone Charter Academy: A Challenge Foundation
Academy
Greensboro, North Carolina
On Sunday, October 30th, Cornerstone held it's 4th Annual
Redbird Color Run in honor of our former student, Karson
Cross. We had a record high of 400 run entries with a Fall
Festival which included Trunk­or­Treat & many fun games. Our HS Volleyball team went undefeated the whole season and won their first ever State
Championship in The Carolina Athletic Association For Schools of Choice (CAASC). The
team was comprised of 9th & 10th graders and were playing against 11th & 12th
Graders!
Mrs. Furrow’s 8th grade language arts students participated in a Shakespearean Slam
this past week as a culminating activity for their study of William Shakespeare. Each
student composed insults and compliments using words coined by Shakespeare. They
then faced off round­by­round until a winner was declared. Below are the
Shakespearean Slam champions for each core: Chloe Stanley, Leah Goldston, Allias
Frost and Dorothy Howard.
Visit them @ http://cornerstone.teamcfa.school Lake Lure Classical Academy: A Challenge Foundation
Academy
Lake Lure, North Carolina
On November 5, 2016 a wild fire began on Party Rock, about
one mile north of Lake Lure, North Carolina. Three days later,
John Cullen, a Lake Lure Classical Academy parent and
Director of Life Roots, saw the need for the community to help
the firefighters that were working so diligently to put out the
fire and created multiple donation drop­off sites. As the fire grew, and more crews were
called in, the community of Lake Lure and the LLCA:CFA community stepped it up. The
school became a designated drop­off location for donations, and many parents helped
John in doing pick­ups at other donation sites for the Lake Lure Fire donations. When the
storage became an issue, Tom Keever, Lake Lure Classical Academy Director, opened
the doors to the school to hold tons of donations until a storage site was located. Lola
Barnes, the School’s Executive Assistant, aided in contacting all of the fire stations to
assess needs as well. Then again, once a new storage facility was located, the LLCA
family of parents and friends arrived with their trucks and hands to move donations to a
larger storage facility. Without the help of the community in donating much needed
supplies and additional support and help, the Lake Lure Fire donations would not have
been as successful as it was. Now that the Party Rock fire is under control, the LLCA
family is still helping John with distributing donations to other local wildfires.
Visit them @ http://llca.teamcfa.school New Dimensions School: A Challenge Foundation Academy
Morganton, North Carolina
We have been busy at NDS:CFA learning, creating, celebrating,
and entertaining. We have been visited by Greek gods and
goddesses and held Greek Olympics on the NDS field. We've
made booklets on 3 major world religions, made life size revolutionary men, studied the
continental drift theory, periodic table of elements, had exploding volcanoes, presented
projects on the earths layers and held a Singapore Math event for parents. The PTO
gave each student and staffer a Spirit Stick keychain with our logo. Students can
purchase different designs and can also earn sticks for making good choices, exhibiting
specific character traits, etc. We held a Grandparents' Day celebration where they attended a meeting about the
importance of reading and spending time with their Grandchild. They had classroom
activities to do with the students, were served muffins and coffee, and attended the Book
Fair. NDS classes also discussed Bully Awareness and had a coloring contest. The
winners from each class were awarded anti­bully Spirit Sticks. To encourage students to read and write, the NC Reading Association sponsors the NC
Young Author's Project designed to be a celebration of literacy for all ages. The theme
for this year was "Step Outside: Writing about the Natural World." Our first graders
visited our outdoor classroom for inspiration. The Blue Ridge Reading Council Young
Author's Project selected 5 winners and 1 honorable mention from New Dimensions out
of the 188 entries received. Their work has been sent on to the state level and winners
will be announced in February. We are very excited about this accomplishment!
Visit them @ http://newdimension.teamcfa.school Piedmont Community Charter School: A Challenge Foundation
Academy
Gastonia, North Carolina
Piedmont students dove into the arts as soon as school began. From the new kiln for ceramics class to creating engaging
festivals with costumes, artistic flare is easy to spot at Piedmont. Below is a sample of
artistic highlights.
At the 3rd grade "Very Merry Unbirthday," delicious food was paired with fun
stations including: a Photo Booth, a Mad Hatter's Hat Shop craft, Tea Cup Race,
Flamingo Ring Toss, Royal Croquet, and Pin the Grin on the Cheshire Cat. See
the video below. Kindergarten and first grade students mixed colors and used teamwork to create
an artwork for International Dot Day. Click here to read a newspaper article about Piedmont's musical theater program. The fine arts increase school spirit. Also research shows that an increase in academic
scores can be connected to the strength of a student’s fine art exposure. Wanting to
know more about how the arts might effect your students? Click here to check out an
insightful Washington Post report.
Visit them @ http://pccharter.teamcfa.school Stay tuned for more school spotlights. We take turns each month.
Watch and enjoy our 2016 promotional video:
Have you missed anything? All previous 2016 editions of Around the Network:
November 2016
October 2016 June 2016 March 2016
September 2016 May 2016 February 2016
August 2016 April 2016 January 2016
Together Each Achieves More: Challenge Foundation Academies www.teamcfa.org
Sha r e this e m a il:
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