CH Christmas Card

IB TOY STORY

Here's a neat blog about an IB teacher in Australia using IB PYP inquiry around learning about and designing their own toys. I find this very relevant in this season of buying. It would be neat seeing our kids delving into the background of toys and their meaning a bit more. Maybe it might make them think just a little more about what they are getting in a couple of days. Just saying.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!

Channing Hall Performing Arts- Presents:

ONCE UPON A MATTRESS
A two thumbs up for our own performing arts team tonight at Midvale Middle School. This was a hilarious, cute and enchanting musical that made the one hour performance, over, way too soon. Shelby Evans as Princess Winnifred (Fred) and Winter Brailow as Queen Aggravain did a magnificent job playing the lead roles in the musical adaptation of the story of The Princess and the Pea. Charming supporting roles by Nicholas Nord, Douglas Pahl and the rest of the CH cast made for an endearing time. Our 2nd and 4th grade boys loved it!

ONE MORE CHANCE! They will be performing again tomorrow night at the Midvale Middle School at 7 pm.

DON'T MISS IT! TAKE THE FAMILY!

IB Video on Middle Years Program

Here's a great video explaining the MYP IB years and what we are working to accomplish. It accompanies the prior post on the PYP years. I'd love to make a similar video with our students since I know our student get it.

VIDEO EXPLAINING IB

Here's a great video that helps explain in a simple but touching way what IB is and why we at Channing Hall are so dedicated to this method of learning. It's nice to see others around the world get it too. Its even more touching when we see the children get it and can reflect on what they are learning. Refer your family and friends to this when they have a question of what we are trying to accomplish through IB.

Veterans Day Video

What a wonderful and touching Veterans Day celebration CHAPS put on! We had several veterans of Channing Hall family and friends come to the assembly so that we could honor them. It is was a touching and heart felt tribute for our children to experience and learn the meaning of serving, honor and respect. Thank you all who participated. For those that missed it check out some highlights on the video

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SETTING AN EXAMPLE

Rachal Milford, Heather Shepherd, Erin Moreno, and Jessica Lassiter

Ran but not pictured- Linsey Moffat

This past Saturday our Board Chair (Rachal Milford) and Head of School (Heather Shepherd) along with other CH parents ran the Halloween Half Marathon down in Provo. What a great example our leaders are showing to our kids at our Gold Medal school! Way to go ladies!

SAFE Howl-O-Weeeeeen!

We hear many tips about making Halloween safe for our kids like inspecting the treats before they eat them and safe costumes, but what we don't hear as much is what parents and adults can do to keep our kids safe.

A Centers for Disease Control study showed that during Halloween, child pedestrian deaths rose 4 times the normal average during Halloween!

This is not meant to SCARE, but to encourage caution for our 'Boils and Ghouls'

Here's a few notable safety tips adults should take note of:


Prepare homes for trick-or-treaters by clearing porches, lawns, and sidewalks and by placing jack-o-lanterns away from doorways and landings.

Parents and adults should ensure the safety of pedestrian trick-or-treaters

Make sure children under age 10 are supervised as they cross the street.

Drive slowly.

Watch for children in the street and on medians.

Exit driveways and alleyways carefully.

Have children get out of cars on the curb side, not on the traffic side.

Spread the safety message.

WELCOME MR. KENT!!

We are happy to announce Kent Fuller will be starting with us as Assistant Head of School November 1st. Yes, sadly that means our currant wonderful Assistant Head of School, Sarah Yermen is leaving. But we are not yet ready to say goodbye since she will be here for a couple more months to assure a smooth transition.

Mr Kent graduated from the U of U with degrees in Finance, Elementary Education and Educational Administration. He has a long background as principal in the Granite district. What's neat is that he has children that have gone through other Utah IB programs and is sold on the concept. He is on his way right now to an IB conference to get geared up for working at our school. He's invited us to stop in and say Hello once he officially starts in a couple weeks. Please give him a warm Koda welcome when you see him!

PUT A "CAP" ON DRUGS!

This week is Red Ribbon Week and today students were encouraged to wear crazy hats to remind them and us to- Wear a cap to put a 'cap' on drugs. The Red Ribbon program is the oldest and largest drug prevention campaign in the country. Red Ribbon Week serves as a vehicle for communities and individuals to take a stand for the hopes and dreams of our children through a commitment to drug prevention and education and a personal commitment to live drug free lives with the ultimate goal being the creation of a drug free America.

In the ER I personally see to frequently young teenagers brought in that have had problems abusing various substances. Recently, I had a 13 year old who "passed out" in Walmart. An empty can of computer air cleaner was found next to him. He admitted that he had been "Huffing" for quite some time. Huffing and over-the-counter cough medicine abuse is a common way for young teenagers to start on a dangerous spiral to abusing more addictive and destructive drugs. I see WAY too many drug related problems that have devastated individuals and families. Please be vigilant of unusual behavior in our children to stop a problem early before it ruins the child's life along with the family's.

Way to go Channing Hall on bringing this awareness to our kids every year!!

DO YOU KNOW TECH?

THEN WE WANT YOU!We are in need of some volunteers for our technology committee. Also, if technology is NOT your interest we are looking for volunteers to help in the Strategic planning committee and Annual Giving. Here's our Technology advertisement.

ARE YOU A TECHIE?

THEN WE WANT YOU!

TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!!!!

COMMITTEE OVERVIEW STATEMENT:

Technology engulfs our daily lives and therefore must also be an integral component in the education of Channing Hall students. The Channing Hall community must ensure technology becomes an integral part of a rich and flexible learning environment that prepares students for college, career and citizenship.

COMMITTEE PURPOSE:

To be a supporting partner with the administrative technology team in order to optimize current technology in the classroom. To progressively assist in funding and adopting appropriate technologies as they develop to maximize educational programs.

2010-11 GOALS

1. Meet with Channing Hall Administration and IT staff to optimize current technology and implement training programs.
2. Recruit "experts" to add to the committee who can help with development of long term technology plan.
3. Create 10 year plan to include budget and funding options in conjunction with Annual Giving, Grant writing and Finance Committees
4. Develop and fund telecommunication capabilities to help connect CH to the world IB community.

#4 is our most exciting goal for this year! We envision developing teleconferencing units that can be rolled into our classrooms to connect with other IB schools worldwide! We can hold classroom teaching in all parts of the world and experience how IB is taught in other international settings!

HELP US MAKE THIS HAPPEN!!

If you have any knowledge or motivation to learn this please sign up!

Do you know of someone not part of the school that can help with hardware, expertise, software etc? Please let us know or have them contact us.

Contact information:

Karl Vizmeg

(technology committee chair)

kvizmeg@pol.net

801 699-4367

Welcome back!!!

Can you believe it? Summer's over and we are back to Channing Hall for our 5th year! We have some great projects coming up for our 5th year to celebrate our accomplishments. Speaking of which; how about the new addition and new field! The field is seeded, so now we just wait for mother nature to bring out the green!The playing field looks GIGANTIC!
The expansion is also 2 weeks ahead of schedule and should be completed by the first week of September. Hooray!The portables will be going away soon and we will be adding 9 new parking spaces there instead!

We're getting a great start to the 5th year already!

Let's keep it up!

Taking shape

Dust is flying, nails are shooting, men are hammering! The expansion is in full force!
All's a whirlwind of activity at Channing Hall working towards completing this as close as possible to school start.
The rooms are being wired. The windows are in.

Even the new field is progressing. The fence is down and the land is about leveled ready for the sprinkler system. Next will be the hydro-seed, fencing and then the patient wait for the seeds of all our planning and hard work to show.

Expansion update

The floor is in. The face is gone! GO! GO! GO!

Construction update

Footers are in. Back-fill is in. Let's hope the construction accelerates significantly next week.

Keep tuned in.

Work has started!

Here's a great sign! Digging of the foundation has begun. We expect it to ramp up significantly soon! Keep posted.

CHANNING HALL EXPANSION HEADQUARTERS

The CH expansion you have been hearing about finally officially started today. Tune in hear to follow the progress.
Here are the general floor plans for the expansion. We are excited to have all that extra room! the CTE room will even have sinks!!!The second level will have two big rooms plus a breakout room and lots more lockers. We will be adding just a bit over 4000 sf.

The expansion is funded by an American Recovery Act loan, Special ED loan and by a portion of the Annual Giving donations. THANK YOU DONORS for helping make this happen!

FUN RUN 2010! .......FUN!

Wow! What a nice day and what fun the kids had today! And this was all in the name of fitness and to help the school out. The kids ran thier hearts out then got to cool off with popsickles and a spraydown from Draper Fire. Thanks to all the hard working CHAPS parents for the hard work! THEY RAISED OVER $10000!!!! This money will all go back to the school to help with computer needs.

Heres some more fun pictures of the run.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!

ADIEU! FAIR LADIES

Sad news! We have two incredible board members stepping down at this time that we must thank wholeheartedly for the tremendous work they have done for Channing Hall.

Holly Sonntag was a parent elected representative for the board and was held on after her elected term. In the relatively short time of service she has energized the board and been instrumental in many important accomplishments for Channing Hall. With her educators background, incredible intellect and boundless energy she lead a comprehensive search of all of our options for expansion. Her crowning achievement was to barter the deal for the new land purchase. She was able to haggle and deal with a stubborn property holder to pen a deal that was much lower than asking price and nearly half of what was offered several years ago. Her spirit, compassion and open-mindedness will be missed greatly. Holly, THANK YOU for all that you've done and who you are!

Alaina Gull, our Chair, also will be leaving and passing on the leadership of the school. She literally has been the seed and the nourishment for Channing Hall. She was an original founder with the vision for Channing Hall AND subsequently the guiding light. The countless hours and sacrifices she has VOLUNTEERED to accomplish what we now have for our children is immeasurable. From the initial organization, through the planning and building to following through for 4 more years to assure success, she had indeed made Channing Hall her life! The heart, the passion and the organization to accomplish this deserves our greatest respect and gratitude. The words THANK YOU cannot begin to express what we owe- but we hope its a start. THANK YOU, ALAINA!!!

2ND ANNUAL CHANNING 'HAUL' FUN RUN

YEAH! It's back again this year! The 1st annual Fun Run was awesome and with all the great planning for this year I am sure it will be topped! Here are some pictures from last year's event.

This year parents and siblings are invited to run with their students and can buy a Fun Run t-shirt. There will be great prizes, music, fireman AND energetic young Channing Hall students who are learning about health and fitness! Funds will be raised to help pay for needed computer equipment. See your student's folder and the Friday folder for details.

Come show your support and cheer on your student June 2nd 8:30-11:45!

EXPANSION HERE WE COME!

No more portables! Yay! We are going to expand the school! We've been trying to figure out a way to alleviate the crowding and thanks to some hard work from the board, administration and generous Annual Giving donors we have found a way to add on to the building! Loans and finance have lined up suddenly to make an expansion financially feasible and we are on our way!

The plan is to add 4 classrooms onto the West side of the building along 150 E. We are in preliminary stages of the planning so any suggestions you may have should be brought up at this time. We will be attempting to complete the project by the start of school this fall. We are very excited about this opportunity for our school! We'll keep you posted of more details of the project as it progresses.

WORK PARTY POSTPONED TO MAY 15TH!

Due to rain, hail, sleet, snow, mud and cold the retaining wall and garden work parties have been postponed. Weather permitting, we will schedule the retaining wall party of 9 am Sat May 15th, break for a lunch and then have the garden work party at 12:30.

Thanks for all that had volunteered and we hope you and many more CH families will be able to join us on May 15th!

Overhaul the Land / Garden Work Party!

WORK PARTY

Calling all able bodied parents! There will be a work party Saturday May 1st beginning at 1 pm (3pm for garden work)! We are in the process or getting the NEW field ready for grading and landscape work. But in order to get that going we need to do some clean up and build a retaining wall.
We need to continue this block wall for about 60 feet to bring up the elevation of the property for grading. Here's a list of what we need:

• Parents to help with the wall
• Parents to supervise the kids (families welcome) on the playground
• Dump truck or trailer (if anyone has access to one)
• Tractor with tiller or bucket
• Gloves, shovels, rakes, picks and rakes
• Topsoil (for the garden)
• Access to retaining wall blocks?
• $$$ donations!
  

GARDEN WORK PARTY

The first grade is working to improve their garden conditions. The garden work will begin the same day at 3 pm. So if the volunteers can stay longer to help that would be great. Else, if you can't make it by 1 pm come at 3 pm. We will be removing a large amount of the clay dirt in the garden and replacing it with more suitable topsoil.

Please bring the family and join the Channing Hall community for a bit of work and a lot of fun and socializing. Several board members will be present to talk to and have some of your questions answered. Light refreshments will be served.

Let us know if you have any questions.

Let me (Karl- kvizmeg@channinghall.net) know if and how many are coming or if you have any questions.

We hope to see you ALL there!

HAPPY SPRI-NTER BREAK AND EASTER!

Make the best of it! HAPPY EASTER!

Borrowed from http://floatingrabbit.blogspot.com/2009/06/snow-in-spring.html

GREEN THUMBS AND MUSCLES NEEDED!

We are in the process of fixing up the new property! Our goal is to grade the land, put in sprinklers and seed it this early spring! We are looking for landscapers to offer help in planning and implementation but will also need a lot of parents that have time and muscle to donate for trenching, raking and building a retaining wall. Supplies such as sprinkler pipes and retaining blocks would be great! Email me at: kvizmeg@channinghall.net if you know of someone that can help.

Now that we own it let's work on making it look better and getting some use out of it for our kids!

CHANNING HALL GLUE

This is a personal reflection I want to share with our CH community and not a general board note. Since our last board meeting I've been reflecting upon why my family chose to be part of CH and why I feel so comfortable on the board.

To come to CH every family had to make an active chose to leave the default system of public education, get on a waiting list and having to drive their children to school. This was at least a little bit inconvenient. Yet all of us did it. Why? I am sure there are many reasons our families could list. But one commonality I believe for all of us is that we wanted something BETTER for our children. This I believe is our glue and bond. We CARED about our children's education enough to take an active role in changing the default option.

In our situation when considering CH as a place for our boys, we were looking for a place that had at least the potential for exploration of and tolerance for diverse perspectives. And I feel we've gotten that. There are many ideologies, beliefs and practices among our families that in many cases might be cause for a strained atmosphere or even rejection of certain members not following the norm. but yet I feel that there is an acceptance of this "diversity" at our school. The reason for this, I believe is that "glue" that we have in common- that we actively "care" about our children. We are able through this focus to accept each other for who we are and work together to achieve our goal- the best for our children.

And that is what is reflected on our board. Personally, as is glaringly evident by my appearance, I am obviously not a member of the norm in this community, So I was initially surprised and heartened that I would be asked to serve. But as I have learned about the members of the board, it has been evident that we are diverse. We have a rich mixture of varied beliefs, histories and experiences, some following the norm and others not. But yet we all have a common belief: And that is, that we want the best for our children at Channing Hall. Furthermore, our bond has been greatly cemented by the countless hours spent together on that single mission. And that, I believe is our hope for the CH community as a whole.

We hope that our family bonds can grow stronger through everyone's desire to help our children and our students. That is a large reason that there has been such a large emphasis on the level of participation- even over that of the amount of money raised- in our Annual Giving campaign. We hope that the CH community can demonstrate unity and support by participating in giving to our school. The amount of the giving is left up to the families, since that ability is as diverse as our beliefs. Give what you are able as a sign of our cohesion for our children.

ALMOST THERE!

Happy St Patty's Day! Happy End of Annual Giving Day! Yes, this is the "official" end of the Annual Giving drive and we are at 60% participation (as of yesterday-the 16th).
This is good and bad.

The Bad: We have not yet reached our 75% family participation level to receive the matching $10000.

The Good: At this time last year we were farther behind in our participation level.

The other Good: The donor has extended the time frame to achieve the donation level.

The other Bad: The board will be calling those families that we have not heard from to beg for their participation.

We cannot leave the $10000 on the table so we must do everything we can to have over 75% of our families contribute to the betterment of our children at Channing Hall. And we wont apologize for that.

What are the chances we will reach the 75% goal today on the last day of the drive? Pray....

I PAY TAXES FOR MY CHILD'S EDUCATION

It is a greater work to educate a child, in the true and larger sense of the word, than to rule a state. William Ellery Channing

Education is more than a luxury; it is a responsibility that society owes to itself. Robin Cook

Education is not the filling of a pail,but the lighting of a fire. Wiliam Butler Yeats

Yes. We pay taxes that go to education, but it is embarrassing that in Utah we would settle to invest the least of any state for our children. Let's not settle for the least at Channing Hall.

LAST WEEK TO GIVE.........!!!!!!

GRANDPARENTS DAY VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

As noted earlier the Grandparents and Special Friends Day annual giving assembly was great fun and very inspiring. Here's a short 10 minute video of some of the highlights. Pass it on to family and friends who couldn't make it. It's not too late for them to donate to Channing Hall.

Thank You ALL who have helped our children out!

We are only 1 1/2 weeks away from the end of the drive. Please, Please help us out if you haven't done so to this point. We are getting nervous that we may not get to the 75% participation level to get the matching $10,000!

ANNUAL GIVING GRANDPARENTS DAY-SUCCESS!

The first Annual Giving Grandparents and Special Friends Day at Channing Hall was tremendous and surpassed our expectations! Eunie Piper, the chair of our AG committee who lead a tremendous team had this to say about the event:

"Hi everyone!
I think I’m still on a high from today’s events. From the moment that the 1st graders sang their first words to “I’m Proud to be an American” to being awed by each of our wonderful and gracious speakers, to graciously receiving donations from our special grandparents--I was thoroughly taken aback of how wonderful our school was and so very thankful and grateful for each of you because you all made this inspiring event happen. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you for all your work to make this day happen! I’m amongst giants and the most wonderful parents ever!

Much love and adoration to each of you!"

I couldn't have put it any more eloquently. Thanks Eunie.

VISIT CH THIS FRIDAY!

It's not too late to come to our "Grandparents" Day Annual Giving Assembly this Friday (March 5th at 2 pm). Come and see what Channing Hall is about. Everyone is welcome, not just grandparents.

There will be performances as well as short testimonials from our students and parents about why CH is so important to us. Board members and staff will be on hand to answer questions and you can take a tour of the school. And, YES, there will be the opportunity to show your support for the school through donations but nothing is required. And OH yeah, there will be some great refreshments.

Come and let us show you how much Channing Hall means to our children!

Hope to see you there AND BRING A FRIEND!