Operation Christmas Child

“Nebojsa had epilepsy and often went to the hospital for treatment. When he received his (Operation Christmas Child) box in the hospital, he opened it impatiently. Inside, he found a hat and gloves, candies and a school set, including a compass and ruler. When he saw this, Nebojsa started crying. His mother explained that he was failing math class because he told the teacher he forgot his supplies, but the truth was that his family didn’t have the money to buy them. He held the supplies in his arms for a long time, with tears in his eyes.“  An Operation Christmas Child shoebox recipient.*

Hard Working Channing Hall volunteers for Operation Christmas Child

Operation Christmas Child delivers shoe boxes filled with Christmas gifts to hurting children around the world.  This month Channing Hall students joined to collect and pack over one hundred shoeboxes for Operation Christmas child. This month the organization that runs Operation Christmas Child, Samaritan’s Purse, delivered the symbolic 100 millionth shoebox to 5-year-old Brenda Valdez in the Dominican Republic.  But despite these impressive numbers, it still takes one box at a time to make a difference for one child at a time.

At Channing Hall, Tomas Hollenbach was the initial spark to fire up the giving spirit in our school. Here is how his mother, Dulce, describes it. “At the age of 8 years old, Tomas was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor (DIPG) but Tomas was still determined to share his faith with the entire world.  For the last two years of his life Tomas celebrated his birthday by asking his family and friends to make shoe boxes instead of buying him gifts for his birthday, he also got his school and other organizations involved. His helping spirit inspired friends, family and even his nurse to make shoe boxes. He also raised money for OCC by setting up Lemonade stands in the front yard of his house. Tomas loved Operation Christmas Child. Most of all, Tomas loved sending presents to kids around the world so that they can receive a gift and learn of God's love for them.” To learn more about Tomas’ life please go to www.akid4christ.com.

 At Channing Hall we have carried on continuing Tomas’s dream. This year the Middle School joined in the effort with the elementary classes headed by Melissa Young and Tomas’s mother. 

 With the help of Channing Hall community, immense piles of supplies were donated and these then were boxed up after school by the students. Donations consisted of Hygiene supplies, school supplies, toys and a bit of candy. Plus each box also had a personalized Christmas card made by our students.

The IB program encourages service and teaches caring which our whole community has stepped up to demonstrate with this project.  Not to mention a great start to our Golden Rule Project!

Thank You and Happy Holidays!

Just part of the supplies that were donated

The "special touch" added to each box from our students

Service

*http://www.facebook.com/OCCshoeboxes

IB LEARNER PROFILE

One of the great things about being a teacher in the IB program is that we don’t only teach content, we also develop character.  This is done through the IB learner profile, which contain ATTRIBUTES and ATTITUDES we try to model and help the students understand.  It is important to understand that these are not learner “profiles”, but one profile that we work on developing in each student. 

Risk Taker    

● Have the independence of spirit to explore new roles, ideas and strategies

● Brave and articulate in defending beliefs

Thinkers       

◊ Apply thinking skills critically and creatively to recognize and approach complex problems

◊ Make reasoned, ethical decisions

Inquirers       

◙ Acquire necessary skills to conduct research

◙Show independence in learning and develop a natural curiosity

Knowledgeable         

► Explore ideas and issues that have local and global significance

► Acquire a balanced and in-depth understanding

Communicators       

☺Express ideas and information confidently and creatively

☺ Work well collaborating with others

Principled                 

■Act with integrity, honesty, fairness, justice, and respect

■Take responsibility for actions and the consequences that accompany them

Open-Minded          

☼Understand and appreciate your culture, & be open to the values and traditions of others

Caring                       

♥Personal commitment to service and act to make a positive difference to others and the environment

♥Show empathy, compassion and respect towards the feelings of others

Balanced                   

▬Understand the importance of intellectual, physical and emotional balance to achieve personal well-being

Reflective                  

●Able to assess and understand strengths and limitations to support learning and personal development

* Taken from the Middle School MYP Student Lead Conference Handout

What is IB and MYP?

From the MYP Coordinator

-Lindsay Allen

It is a rewarding profession being a teacher in the Channing Hall Middle Years Program.  We provide our students with a challenging academic IB framework that involves all students in their own unique learning processes.  This encourages students to make connections between school and the real world, and helps them become critical and reflective thinkers.  We see our students grow more confident in themselves and their abilities, and we see them mature into thoughtful, compassionate adolescents. 

We have worked for several years to meet the rigorous standards set by IB, and to prepare for our authorization visit, which should take place this spring. The students and parents are as much a part of this process as the teachers.  Because of this, we wanted to share information with our (Channing Hall) families about the International Baccalaureate program.  It is our hope that in this newsletter, you will gain a clear perspective of the mission and vision of the IB program, and understand how we as teachers in the Channing Hall MYP are excited to be a part of this innovative and rigorous educational program. 

The International Baccalaureate (IB) Program is a non-profit educational foundation, motivated by its mission and focused on the development of a balanced student.  International Baccalaureate was founded in 1968, and is currently being taught in 3,463 schools in 143 countries to approximately 1,050,000 students. The program is the most widely recognized pre-university educational program. In fact, five IB World Schools in the United States were featured in the “Top 10 of Newsweek’s 2011 High School Rankings”.

The Middle Years Program is taught between grades six through ten, for students between the ages of 11 to 16.  The MYP was started in 1997 and is now offered by 980 World Schools.  Channing Hall was officially accepted as an IB MYP candidate school in 2011, and hopes to become an authorized IB MYP in 2013.  

It is a program of international education designed to help students develop the knowledge, understanding, attitudes and skills necessary to participate actively and responsibly in a changing world.  IB promotes intercultural understanding and respect, not as an alternative to a sense of cultural and national identity, but as an essential part of life in the 21^st century.

We Are Thankful For.....

What are YOU THANKFUL for?  We interviewed some of our students and staff to see what they were thankful for. Take a look at the video. 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

From the Channing Hall Board of Trustees

Channing Hall's Veterans Day 2012

This year for Veterans Day, each grade did something different to celebrate and acknowledge our veterans. Some had Veterans come in to speak to the classes, while others wrote letters to their Veteran relatives or to soldiers currently serving. Other classes learned about the meaning of the day and reflected on what Veterans have done for us. For some of our students this was very personal due to family members currently serving in the forces. See the video for some examples of how our students experienced the day. 

We are having technical difficulties with the video upload. Please check back with us later

As a Channing Hall community, we want to Thank our Veterans for their service to our country. 

THANK YOU.

Channing Hall 8th Graders Score 100%

In 2010, the Utah State Office of Education moved the Direct Writing Assessment requirement from the 9^th grade to the 8^th grade.  For the 2^nd year in a row (which are the only two years the school has given the exam to 8^th graders), Channing Hall’s 8^th grade students have scored 100% proficiency on Utah’s Direct Writing Assessment (DWA). To put that in some context, only three other Utah schools earned a perfect score in 2011. The state average is 81% proficiency. 

The academic achievements shown in the middle school’s consistently high test scores confirms the success of the program, but high test scores only demonstrate a part of Channing Hall MYP’s accomplishments .  The true success of the program is seen through the development of the student’s character, otherwise known as the Learner Profile.   It is what makes an education in the MYP a truly individual and unique experience.

The IB Learner Profile is the mold we use to craft lifelong, internationally minded learners who reflect a desire to affect an ethical impact on the greater community with positive ideas and interactions.  We shape the students with this framework according to the principles the IB learner strives to exemplify.  We demand that our students take risks, communicate, and keep an open mind to various ideas.  We push them to explore their knowledge, inquire, and think critically about a varied array of concepts and ideas.  We drive the students to be principled, caring, and balanced in their thoughts and actions while reflecting on their successes and struggles.  Students cast in this mold are tempered and patterned as a whole person with emphasized intellectual, personal, emotional, and social competencies that will serve them as lifelong, internationally minded learners and leaders.

Channing Hall’s MYP program actively prepares students for a lifetime of writing success.  The “Communicator” piece of the IB Learner Profile demands that students “understand and express ideas and information confidently and creatively, in more than one language, and in a variety of modes of communication. They work effectively and willingly in collaboration with others.” 

Lindsay Allen next to her "wall of the IB Learner profile"

Lindsay Allen, the 7^th and 8^th Grade English who has been with Channing Hall since it opened seven years ago, explains her success. “Being an educator at Channing Hall is such a rewarding experience; I don’t just teach students core material to prepare them for a test, I instill in them the skills and confidence needed to be successful in life.  At the heart of a student’s confidence is his or her ability to express themselves in a self-assured and eloquent manner.  This is done through a mastery of fundamental skills in a variety of approaches, methods, and even in other classes (students often write essays in History, Science, and occasionally Math).  I’m able to have the flexibility and freedom to truly allow my students to experience what I teach.  For example, each spring I take the 8^th graders on an ‘Etiquette Fieldtrip’, which after over a month of studying table manners, handshaking skills, interview skills, and proper etiquette for formal situations, we go downtown to watch a ballet performance at the Capitol Theater, tour the Utah Museum of Fine Art, and attend a catered luncheon and awards ceremony in a ballroom at the Radisson Hotel.  It is my belief that if a student is able to first learn the importance and purpose of the material being taught, and then able to connect the material to other subjects, to their own life, and to the real world, the material becomes ingrained and meaningful.  Test scores validate the hard work that has been put in each year, but my greatest reward is seeing my students, year after year, graduate from Channing Hall as kind and compassionate adolescents, who hold their heads high knowing that they feel prepared to succeed in the next chapter of their lives.”     

A recent College Board study found that “people who cannot write and communicate clearly will not be hired and are not likely to be considered for promotion.”[1] Thanks to Mrs. Allen and the rest of the Channing Hall faculty, our students are graduating as confident Communicators ready for continued academic and professional success.

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[1] Survey of 120 major American corporations, employing nearly 8 million people, cited by The College Board’s “National Commission on Writing: Writing: A Ticket to Work…Or A Ticket Out”

Harvest Festival Report

Board Broadcast: Channing Hall Harvest Festival 2012

Harvest Festival   by Heather Fehrenbach

A llama ate my daughter in Ms. Nuttall’s classroom.  Her cute little two-year-old ponytails proved too appetizing at the Harvest Festival Petting Zoo and Mr. Llama could not resist. She didn’t cry, and didn’t really seem to mind, but a ring of horrified parents and students watched a sweet, curly, ribbon-adorned wad of baby hair be chewed and semi-swallowed.  Fortunately, the hair was still attached; the llama just needed a quick chiding followed by a gagging cough to release my little darling.  My daughter regarded Mr. Llama with a stern glance and then chose to pet Mr. Giant Bunny at the other side of the ring.  Mr. Llama was not a quitter.  By the end of our three minute petting zoo encounter everyone in the ring, students and parents, were making sure Mr. Llama did not succeed.

After our Llama encounter we tried a few games. My four-year-old was having a hard time so the middle school girl running the booth let him step forward.  Finally, the ball went in.  He was so proud.  Later, in the gymnasium as I was helping my kids juggle their plates full of pizza, hot dogs and chips, a dad, who I have yet to meet, jumped out of his chair and swooped in to catch a hot dog just as it made its descent from my 6-year-old’s plate. A parent from my son’s class stopped by to remind me to sign him up for a basketball team they would be coaching.  After dinner we checked out the silent auction, specifically the 5^th grade magnets my son had made.  I searched for his bag of magnets but they had already been purchased. 

Channing Hall’s fifth guiding principle states that “an involved community promotes optimal student learning.”  Furthermore, this Guiding Principle defines community to include “students, parents/guardians, teachers, administration, the board of directors, staff and volunteers/”

Henning Hansmann was both a school principal as well as an author on Special Education, he wrote this about community and education, “Interest and enthusiasm are the wellspring of continually evolving community life: they create bonds which unite us whether we are young or old, nearby or far from each other; they allow human warmth and love to be the formative forces in personal and community life and striving.”   Note; that both interest (curiosity) and enthusiasm are IB attitudes. 

Another activist for progressive education; Alfie Kohn, writes, “People will typically be more enthusiastic where they feel a sense of belonging and see themselves as part of a community than they will in a workplace in which each person is left to his own devices.”

The harvest festival was an awesome ending to a week of giving, but what will stay with my children is this sense of community, a sense of belonging, a sense that people support and care for them. The animal pen full of  ponytail protectors, the Middle School student running the ball toss who showed empathy to my son, the anonymous hot dog hero, the family volunteering to coach my son’s basketball team, the parent or staff member who bought the bag of magnets that my son had been so proud of.  This is what they will keep with them forever.

The Harvest Festival was successful beyond all expectation!

Annual Giving donations were the highest ever!

THANK YOU, Heather Shepherd, Annual Giving Committee, Staff, donors and so many volunteers who worked so tirelessly to put on such a GREAT show!

THANK YOU, Our wonderful Channing Hall community

for your participation

for your support

     and

for your DONATIONS!

What Our Teachers Say About Volunteers....

 VOLUNTEER MATTERS:

"I love having parent volunteers because they are there to help during my small groups. Having extra classroom management helps to have a more structured classroom." - Jessica Short (1st Grade)

"MANY hands make LIGHT work, especially in the classroom."
- Aimee Christensen (5th Grade teacher)

"I appreciate parent volunteers so much! When we divide into groups for centers or are doing hands on activities it is so nice to have as much help as possible." - Rebecca Bowen (4th Grade)

"I absolutely love having parent volunteers! My favorite times to have volunteers are during Math, Literacy, and Writers Workshop!  In math I am able to differentiate more and do more hands-on activities when I have more help. In literacy students are able to meet with parents. Lastly, in writers workshop it is helpful when there are more people than myself to edit student's papers. All in all, more good things can happen when I have more hands to help me and I love it!" - Sarah Jones (4th Grade)

"Volunteers enable me to do my job BETTER! Teaching children."
- Kim Elliot (1st Grade)

 Parent Volunteer, Heather Evans, helps give a little extra special attention to a small group of students.

Liz Nelson parent volunteer.

This may just look like a picture of some kids using math cubes to do math, and indeed it is that... but its so much more than that. By these parents volunteering their time to help, the teacher now has more time with fewer students and these students have some great differentiation time to ask questions and focus more on the particular subject. Smaller groups equal BIGGER reults! Its remarkable to see what achievements are made when parents like this come and lend a helping hand.

Parent volunteers offer a huge resource and support base for the school community while showing their kids the importance of participating in the larger community.  Not only will the school reap the benefits of your involvement — you will, too. By interacting with teachers, administrators, and other parents on a regular basis, you'll gain a firsthand understanding of your child's daily activities. You'll also tap into trends and fads of school life that can help you communicate with your kids as they grow and change (all without intruding on their privacy or personal space). Even if you haven't been involved in the past, it's never too late to start.