Volume 1, Issue 10
February 13, 2017
Lansing Charter Academy Community Newsletter
The Lansing Link
Home-to-School-to-Home Communication
Dear Families,
Moral Focus
Virtue for
February:
COURAGE
Last night I attended the
Preschool-to-Kindergarten
Transition meeting at Maple
Hill Head Start just a few
miles from LCA. It was a
wonderful evening
dedicated to informing
parents on preparation and
planning for this next
important phase of their
child’s education. Parents
were presented with a great
deal of information and were
provided a number of
resources. During the
question and answer
session one parent asked
what she could do to
prepare her child for
Kindergarten and insure her
child got off to a good start.
We discussed many things,
but the one thing that all of
the education professionals
agreed upon as the biggest
factor in determining your
child’s success in school
was the parent’s actions
being consistently informed
and involved in all aspects
of your child's schooling.
Simple things like getting to
know the teacher, the other
children and parents in the
classroom, reading
EVERYTHING in your
child’s backpack everyday,
making sure contact
Erin Melcher, Principal
information is current in the
front office, attending school
events, checking the school
calendar for updates, and
especially being present.
We love our parents—we
want you to be a part of our
community. Remember you
are your child’s first teacher!
Let’s work together!
Peace, Miss M
LCA: The Bully-Free Zone: COMMUNICATION
We have been using this
space to educate our community on bullying—what
bullying is, the different
types of bullying and how to
end it. This week we focus
on COMMUNICATION.
Communication is the most
important skill and activity
we as a community can
practice. I can tell you with
100% certainty that every
argument, disagreement,
and problem is initiated
through misunderstanding
as a result of poor
communication.. We all
need to improve communicating with each other:
Teacher to parent, parent to
teacher, parent to parent
and especially Parent to
child. Information is power,
and communication is the
key to it all.
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NHA
School begins at 8:00—
breakfast is over at 7:55—
please make every effort to
have your child at school
on time. If a child misses
just 5 minutes every school
day that equals 2 full days
of school instruction!
Lansing Charter Academy Mission
To offer the families of the Lansing area a K-8 school that
has a challenging academic program and a culture that values integrity, academic excellence, and accountability,
where each and every student is given the opportunity
for success in high school, college, and beyond.
UPCOMING EVENTS Calendar Important Dates and
Events at
President’s Day—Monday, February 20th NO SCHOOL
Lansing Charter AcadeBlack History Month Program—Friday, February 24th
my:
Martin Luther King, Jr
Day Observed—NO
SCHOOL
Wednesday, January
18th—Champions Club Begins 3:30—5:30 in the Science Room MS Wing
Parent Teacher Conferences—February 28th 4:00—6:00 p.m., ;March 2nd 4:00—8:00 p.m., March 3rd
Wednesday, January 11th—
12:00—4:00 p.m. —
NJHS Induction CeremoHalf-Day of School Friday, March 3rd—students
at 11:00 a.m.
ny—5:30 indismissed
the Gym
End of Second Trimester—Friday March
3rd January 16th—
Monday
PIP Family Fun Night at Chuck E. Cheese—Wednesday March 8th 3:30—8:30 p.m.
JUMP ROPE FOR HEART—February 21 to March 17th
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The LCA Literacy Link
A resource page for families dedicated to literacy skill-building
I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Alison Wiebenga and I am
the reading specialist at Lansing Charter Academy. When I was a young girl, I remember how much
fun I had sitting around the kitchen table playing games with my family. What I didn’t know then, but I
know now, is that there was really a lot of learning taking place around our table. Last week at ELA
Night I shared several games that families can play at home to help students develop the skills necessary to become proficient readers. These fun to play word games can be found in your local store,
your personal computer, or your cell phone. You can follow the rules, or tweak them to make them a
bit more educational. Here are just a few examples.
Boggle – This fun word search game can help reinforce basic sight words and the relationships between letters and sounds. For younger students, take the letter die out of the box and have students
make words.
Jenga – Grab a sharpie and turn this fun strategy game into a vocabulary lesson. Write one word on
each piece and when a student pulls the piece from the puzzle have him or her read the word and use
it in a sentence. This can be done with sight words*, describing words, academic words, etc.
Taboo – When students have to guess the word based on the description it encourages critical thinking and forces them to think about things in a different way. This also helps develop a broader vocabulary using synonyms and antonyms.
Apples to Apples – Learn new words playing this new game. Every card has a noun or adjective on it,
and the definition is included. To play Apples to Apples, every player except one “judge” puts a card
down face-down that is best described by a special card on the table. The judge turns the cards over
and chooses the best card.
Scattegories – Think outside the box by thinking up words in a given category that start with the same
letter. You earn points if no one has the same word you have, so students have to stretch their brains
to think of creative words.
Four Pics One Word – This popular app asks you to guess the word based on four pictures. Developing
connections and expanding vocabulary will help students become better readers.
Ruzzle – Challenge your friends in this app to see who can find the most words in two minutes.
*To print a list of common sight words, visit http://www.sightwords.com/sight-words/dolch/.
Have some fun this winter playing games as a family and improving reading skills at the same time.
“The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read.”
- Mark Twain
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FEBRUARY BIRTHDAY BOARD
Please stop by the bulletin board
outside the gymnasium to see our
All-Star birthdays!
Jump Rope for Heart
Jump Rope for Heart is a fundraiser to raise money
for the American Heart Association. We will have a
kickoff assembly on Friday, February 17 at 8:05 a.m.
- parents, guardians and families are invited to
Black History Month Celebration
Living Museum
Friday February 24, 2017
Please join us as we celebrate our month long
celebration of black history with a student “living
museum” of important figures in black history.
The event will be held during and immediately
following the all-school assembly.
LCA Cell Phone Policy
We recognize the need for parents and children to
maintain communication. However,
please help us keep LCA classrooms distraction free.
Please remind your child that cell phones and other
electronics are not allowed at school. The first time
a device is used in the classroom it will be confiscated
Thank you to all our families
by the teacher or administrator until the end of the day.
If a second offense occurs, the device will come to the who attended the ELA Night. We
all enjoyed literacy activities,
office and a parent will need to come to the office to retrieve. All devices should remain in purses, backpacks food, fun and most of all BOOKS!
or lockers and should be turned off between the hours of
If your child would like a book
7:35 and 3:00. If children need to call home they may do
please have them stop by
so from the main office. In addition, if a parent needs to
Miss M’s office
contact a child, please call the main office.
and pick one up!
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