Placer Academy WEEKLY UPDATES
WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 16, 2019
REFRAMING LEARNING
HOT LUNCH:
We are so excited to be able to offer hot lunch to our students this year. We have contracted with Revolution Foods to provide a healthy school lunch option. Families should now be able to order lunches on My School Bucks. All orders for the week of September 23rd must be placed by Monday, September 16th at 8:00 pm. These options are available on both campuses (Upper and Primary). Each lunch will be offered at $5.75 unless you qualify for free or reduced prices. Lunches include an entree, vegetable, fruit and milk. We will also have a "sack lunch" option on Fridays. These "sack lunches" will be delivered to students during their recess break and can be eaten then or taken home. If you have a child with allergies or food sensitivities, we will have a more detailed menu available at the front desk or you can contact the school secretary HERE. 
BUBBLE RUN:
Bubble Run flyers came home last week. Donations are starting to trickle in! This is our largest general fundraiser of the year that supports our classrooms, STEM, teachers, and playground. Please turn in your permission slips and pledges before the event on September 27th. If every student raises $45, we will meet our goal of raising $14,000 for PAC. The Bubble Run takes place on our first Fun Friday of the year on Friday, September 27th. All students will report to the primary campus and be participating in 6 different rotations with all things BUBBLE. Please click on the links below for the permission slip and sponsorship forms. 
STUDENT CAASPP SCORES AVAILABLE ON AERIES:
If you have a current 4th grader - 8th grader, you can now access their CAASPP scores from last year on the parent portal of Aeries. For detailed instructions, click HERE. CHECK YOUR SPAM FOLDER:
To protect parent privacy, emails are generally sent BCC from the administration, teachers, and school staff. It is possible that your email provider might flag us as spam due to a large number of BCC recipients. Please check your spam folder to see if we've been directed there! If we have, it would help to save school email addresses as contacts to avoid this happening in the future. 
ARRIVAL AND DISMISSAL:
Thank you for working through the first few days of traffic chaos! There are a few reminders below to ensure a smooth and safe drop off and dismissal. PRIMARY ACADEMY: Please note that we are NOT allowed to park by the Physical Therapy building. If you are parking and walking in, please park by the dental office. ALWAYS use the crosswalk. Dismissal time is not an ideal time to conference with your child's teacher(s). Please email them or make an appointment when they can adequately supervise their students and give you the attention that you deserve. UPPER ACADEMY: Please note that we are allowed to do drive around for drop off in the mornings at Upper Academy, however, the Rocklin Fire Department will NOT allow this for the afternoon due to our traffic study. We will be fined if we stop in the driveway during our pick up hours. Please park and walk up or wait for your child to walk out to you. We will have teachers manning both crosswalks at pick up for student safety. 
VOLUNTEERS AND VISITORS ON CAMPUS:
Please remember that all school volunteers are required to have a cleared background check and a cleared TB risk assessment on file at the school prior to volunteering. Additionally, any visitors on campus are required to sign in at the front desk and create a name tag. This is for the safety and security of all of our students. We appreciate your support in this matter.
PE NEWSLETTER:
Want to find out all the cool things that are happening in PE on the primary campus? Check out the informative weekly newsletter. FUSION ELITE SPECIAL OFFER:
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Enroll TodayWe have limited space available. If you are interested in enrolling your students for the 2019-2020 school year, you can access the enrollment form HERE.
Email us or call us at (916) 259-1688 if you are interested in scheduling a tour to see our fantastic school! 
Quick links
CALENDAR OF EVENTSSept 16 - School Day
Sept 17 - School Day Sept 18 - School Day Board Meeting, 5:15pm (UA) Sept 19 - School Day Sept 20 - Early Release Day Sept 23 - School Day Sept 24 - School Day Sept 25 - School Day Sept 26 - School Day Sept 27 - Fun Friday, 8am - noon Bubble Run - All students report to primary SCHOOL START TIME: Primary Academy K-5: 8:10 am Upper Academy 6-8: 8:20 am SCHOOL DISMISSAL TIME: Primary Academy K-5: Monday - Thursday, 3:00 pm K-5: Friday, 12:00 pm Upper Academy 6-8: Monday - Thursday, 3:15 pm 6-8: Friday, 12:15 pm 
Placer academy ptoThe Placer Academy PTO is made of parent volunteers that work hard to make our little school a better place. They provide student and teacher resources, plan community events, and conduct fundraisers that support our school community.
BOX TOPS:
The box top program is transitioning to a more digital platform but until then clip as many Box Tops as you can. You can drop them off at the front office. Each clipped Box Tops earrns the school $0.10. Last year we earned over $400! CONTACT YOUR PTO: Interested in volunteering for a committee, helping with a fundraiser, or assisting in multiple ways? Email us at pto@placeracademy.org. PTO ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Please join us for our first PTO meeting of the year on Wednesday, October 9th at 3:15 pm. We will meet in the art room on the primary campus. Free child care will be provided on the playground. 
Article of the WeekCHILDHOOD AS 'RESUME BUILDING': WHY PLAY NEEDS A COMEBACK
“Why is it that we don’t go outside as much as my parents did as children?” This sixth-grader’s question caught teacher Kath Irving off-guard. Inherent in the query is a recognition that times are different now and children notice it. Boston College psychology professor Peter Gray marks the 1950s as the heyday of play in the United States. Back then, children played in the streets with other neighborhood kids, learning how to navigate the world by interacting with one another. This kind of play was unstructured and unsupervised by adults. Kids independently generated the activities and the rules. If someone broke the rules, kids determined the consequences. And without knowing it, they developed resilience, self-determination and problem-solving. Researchers have since connected skills gained in unsupervised play to positive mental health, social and emotional skills, agency, intrinsic motivation and creativity. But this kind of free play may be a relic of the past. A confluence of family dynamics, economic and academic anxiety, fear of strangers, and vehicular traffic have put play at risk. University of Michigan researchers surveyed how families spent their time in 1981 and again in 1997. They observed a drop in the amount of free time kids have for play from 40 percent of a child's day to 25 percent. By 2003, that amount of time dropped by another 4 percent. At the same time, the amount of time kids spend on academics has increased. This period is also marked by rising competition for college admissions, and the decline of middle-class opportunities in the United States. “So childhood is turned from a time of freedom to a time of resume-building,” said Gray in his popular TEDx Talk. Click HERE to listen to the podcast. 
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gallery of student work
LEARNING CENTER:
Our Learning Center staff is working hard on getting behavior and academic interventions in place for students! 
UPPER ACADEMY DANCE ELECTIVE:
One of our new electives for middle school students is dance. The students are loving it! 
OUR WORLD:
We have been working on Our World in kindergarten- all about maps, globes and continents. Our final fun activity for this unit is naming the continents and placing them correctly on our globe. 
CAMP AUGUSTA:
Our 7th/8th grade enjoyed a team-building field trip to Camp Augusta. |
MUSIC:
First graders got to try out our new boomwhackers this week! They got to take turns using them to play a simple melody from a song we had learned. Kinders had some fun using scarves in music this week. We used them as props along with a couple of chants/songs we learned and then practiced moving them to match the tempo of the music we listened to. Third graders learned a fun new song and as they sang, they practiced matching the rhythm with body movements.
ELMER MEETS KANDINSKY:
Kindergarten students learned about Kandinsky and Kandinsky circles while reading the book Elmer.
SIERRA NEVADA JOURNEYS:
Sixth grade is having a blast at Grizzly Creek Ranch. They are doing a ton of team-building activities, enjoying the outdoors, and learning how to be good citizens.
PIANO MAN:
Kindergarten had its first in-house “field trip” with the Piano Man! Music and silliness were key players. They had a great time!
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