NOVEMBER 2016 Blog

It is hard to believe that we are now one quarter through the 2016-2017 academic year! Report cards will be going home with students on November 16th.  As a reminder, PowerSchool is the best way to access your child's grades.  Also, parents can view their child's courses through Canvas.  Please click on the September newsletter and scroll to the bottom of the page for a walk-through of the steps for accessing Canvas courses.

Our School Improvement Team has met twice this year and our third meeting is scheduled for November 22nd at 2:30 in the HS library.  We are excited with the great turnout to our SIT meetings and always welcome more parent members!  As a team, we have reviewed the recommendations from our NEASC visit, our 15-16 School Improvement Plan as well as the District Strategic Plan.  As a result of this work, we have created four subcommittees that will work towards the following goal areas: Communication (school-to-parent and school-to-community), Personalized Learning and Advisory re-imagined, Redesigning classroom space for technology, and 21st century skills.  Each of these subcommittees are working towards specific action steps to turn our school improvement vision into reality!  If you are interested in joining a subcommittee or attending our monthly SIT meetings please email CHS administrators, Craig MacKenzie at Craig.MacKenzie@Chariho.k12.ri.us or Andrea Spas at Andrea.Spas@Chariho.k12.ri.us. 
September SIT Meeting
This month's issue will include information about student supports, updates from our departments and report-outs from our Student Advisory Board (SAB).  We have over 45 students who make up our Student Advisory Board this year!  We have been so pleased with the leadership demonstrated from our student members.  New to this year, the board has created three subcommittees invested in improving the following aspects of the high school: Events and Recognition, Daily Life and Giving Back.  Our students are excited to share their work with you and you can read all about their great work within this month's issue below.
SAB Subcommittee Mtg in late September

As always, please email us with any questions or suggestions.


Craig M. MacKenzie                              Andrea J. Spas                              Susan J. Votto      
Principal                                                 Assistant Principal                        Director of CharihoTech
Twitter: @dflamturnover                      Twitter: @Andrea_Spas              Twitter: @CHARIHOtech



Student Supports at CHS

This year we are re-doubling our efforts to support students with academic, social or behavioral needs.  Our focus is both on students who are struggling fundamentally in school, students who are on the "cusp" of achieving at a higher level, and students who have challenged themselves to an academically rigorous schedule.  Students at each of these levels deserve access to peer and teacher support and training in strategies that help foster their independence as they move through their high school experience.

AP Intervention:  Students taking on an AP and Honors-rich schedule can find themselves balancing high expectations in the classroom and for homework with other interests and commitments.  In the past week, Mr. MacKenzie has been visiting AP classrooms, discussing the challenges of AP coursework and listening to student feedback on how to manage the expectations.

Student Goal-Setting & Self Progress-Monitoring:  Last year we saw tremendous growth in our students' performance in math courses when math teachers designed a progress monitoring and goal-setting system students could own.  We see the value of this system across disciplines and in all aspects of student life, and used it as a model for supporting students identified by teachers as "at risk" academically, behaviorally and socially.  We help students break down their challenges and design short and long-term goals for making positive moves in their school experience.  School counselors lead this work.  If you feel there are obstacles to your student's success that we are not aware of, please contact your student's school counselor.  Your contribution to your student's success in our community is invaluable!


Response to Intervention in Math & Reading:  Students in their ELA and Math classes in 9th and 10th grade are administered STAR benchmark assessments in the Fall and Winter to assess their performance in math and reading relative to their peers locally and nationally.  We provide enrichment and support to students, as well as progress monitoring and goal setting, to those whose scores fall below benchmark for their grade level.


Student Advisory Board

Hello Parents and Chariho residents!

My name is Marina Judkins and I have had the opportunity to act as Mr. MacKenzie's intern this school year! We have been working on a series of projects; the Student Advisory Board (SAB) was created as a branch off of the School Improvement Team (SIT) to heighten and highlight student voice within our school.  The board is split into three sub-categories that needed the most attention: Giving Back to the Community, Daily Life at Chariho, and Events at Chariho. We reached out to a diverse group of roughly 50 students from all different grades, clubs, sports teams, etc. and invited them to an introductory meeting to present our plans to them and see if it was something that they would be interested in committing to. We are very happy and proud to say that 90% of those students signed up for a sub-category and continue to meet at their scheduled dates every month. A few students from each sub-category volunteered to step-up into a leadership role. This means they have an additional responsibility to remind their groups of meeting dates, make sure the meetings stay on track, and attend the SIT meetings as well to speak for their group. You will read about their ideas and how they are making Chariho a better environment for both faculty and students within each sub-category below!


Events & Recognition Subcommittee  (by: Simon Manlove) 

The purpose of this group is to plan special events and opportunities for students. So far, we have planned and started tailgating at home football games, with positive results. We have also contributed to planning events at the pep rally. Some things we hope to do in the future, in various stages of planning, include an era dance, with dress from certain decades in the 1900s; a game of capture the flag across campus; and changing the schedule of semester exams to be the first two blocks of the day, with third block being devoted to study periods for the next day’s exams (which may involve a possible condensing into four longer lunches) and fourth block being more of a reward block, in which the students could participate in activities and learn if they wanted to. Some activities proposed so far for this year include a varsity v. staff basketball game and personalized learning sessions. We wish to eventually have more ideas for in-school events. More ideas may be introduced at each meeting.

Giving Back Subcommittee  (by: Mackenzie Fox) 


Hello!  We are the Giving Back subcommittee of the Student Advisory Board.  We are dedicated to giving back to the community, whether it be through clothes, time, money, or even general awareness.  In the United States, there are approximately 633,000 homeless people on any given night.  In order to raise awareness, our group is hosting a homeless awareness sleep out, inviting students and staff to experience a “homeless” night on November 18, 2016 on the main football field.  The night aims to inspire participants to reach out to the homeless within our own community while simultaneously raising money for local charities with the intent of helping community members afford heat this season. We hope to help participants understand the hardships of being homeless.  Please support us and help bring this issue “home!”

This school-wide sleep out is the first of the many community projects we hope to introduce this year.

Daily Life Subcommittee  (by: Ryan Landolfi)

The goal of the Daily Life subcommittee is to improve and enrich the everyday educational and social experience of every student in Chariho High School. Since the beginning of the 2016-17 academic year, we have worked with faculty across multiple departments and students from multiple extracurriculars to brainstorm ideas and find new ways to improve CHS. So far we have:
  • Written the CHS Goes Green grant to provide a hydration station to allow students to have access to more purified water from a dispenser designed to fill bottles and allow students to be informed on proper recycling via presentations in their advisories.
  • Worked with administration from the high school and the middle school to change the pedestrian traffic patterns of the senior and middle school staff parking lots to improve safety and improve the flow of cars.
We are planning on:
  • Working with the CIPA/app committee and administration to explore the possibility to unblock Google Hangout, an essential collaborative tool, so that it can be used by students in all grades in order to work together on group projects more effectively.
  • Changing the time in which high school students can be released from their busses. We hope to be able to have kids get off there busses right when they arrive, instead of waiting until 7:10, 7:15 in order to be able to socialize with friends or work on an assignment.
  • Striving to gather representation from all areas of school life, from all grade levels, and all extracurriculars in order to gain the best perspective on what Chariho High School need and wants with respect to the daily life of the students.
 



Chariho Athletic Boosters

I'm Mike Kirby, President of Chariho Athletic Boosters.  We are a group of parents, alumni, and community members proud to support Charger Athletics through active participation in Chariho athletic events.  Some of our participation is through the staffing of concession stands at indoor and outdoor events, planning and coordination of the Senior Sports Banquet, team support for purchase of essential team equipment, and purchase of recognition for league, conference and state championship teams.  If you are a parent of a Chariho student committed to playing a sport at the middle school or high school level, you want to be a part of our organization.  Your active participation in boosters connects you to our school community, to parents with a common commitment to our students, and ensures that you have a voice in how Chariho Boosters distributes the funds we raise.  Most satisfying is the connection you make to student-athletes who see you at their games and appreciate your investment in their experience. We need your support, whether to support set up and break down of events, to man the concession stands or to support fundraising events that contribute directly and indirectly to your student-athlete.  Please join us!  We meet at CHS every 2nd Wednesday of the month at 7pm. Contact me at mkirby2@cox.net or by cell at (401)741-7867.  Click here for access to the Chariho Athletic Boosters site. See you at the games!  Go Chargers!

Humanities Corner 
Shelley Kenny, Humanities Specialist shelley.kenny@chariho.k12.ri.us   
"Everything you can imagine is real." -Pablo Picasso
Upcoming events for 2016-2017:
  • Humanities-based Independent Studies Available
  • FILMMAKERS WANTED!! Contact Ms. Kenny
  • The 4th Annual Chariho Student Film Festival - April 28, 2017
  • Journalists/Photographers Needed for the School Newspaper, The Chariho Charger
  • Poetry Out Loud - January 9th - MS Auditorium - 3:30pm
Artists and Writers needed for The Green Light, Chariho’s Literary Art Magazine
For additional information click here: https://www.chariho.k12.ri.us/humanities




School Counseling Dept: What’s Happening?

Freshman and sophomores have started working on their WaytoGoRI Independent Learning Plan (ILP) and creating career goals. One-on-one meetings with their school counselor allow the opportunity to discuss those goals and create related academic plans. Juniors will be working on their goals later in the month and will begin thinking about life after high school. Seniors are busy submitting applications to post secondary schools. 

Chariho FFA
Authentic learning at it’s best!  
  • Congratulations to students from the Chariho FFA that competed at the 89th National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, IN: Dairy Cattle Handling (Jordynn Cahoon- Gold Medal), Job Interview (Cristina LaPaglia- Silver Medal, and Prepared Public Speaking (Emily Burton- Bronze Medal).
  • Recent FFA/ Agriscience field trips included visits to Ever-Breeze Farm: Westerly, RI, Breene Hollow Farm: West Greenwich, RI and Arethusa Farm: Litchfield, CT.
  • Students from the Agriculture & Resource Development class harvested the 1st greenhouse crop of the school season.  Looking forward to our winter tomatoes!
  • Coming soon!  The first ever Chariho Agriculture Conference: Thursday, December 1.  Open to any 8th or 9th grade student that has an interest in agriculture and learning by doing. Contact Christine Haberek cehab@chariho.k12.ri.us  for more details.

                                         Arethusa.jpg

Upcoming Events:
  • Chapter Meetings:   November 11, 30 & December 7 (Room T-4)
  • December 1: Chariho Agriculture Conference
  • December 14: RI FFA Holiday Design Contest




A Message from....

CHARIHOtech would like to invite you to any one of the PARENT INFORMATIONAL SESSIONS listed below:


CHARIHOtech will be presenting an overview of the seventeen programs offered and the
opportunities for your child to graduate from Chariho college and career ready!
  • January 3, 2017  North Kingstown Library   5-7:30 p.m.
  • January 4, 2017  Chariho Middle School  5-7:30 p.m.
  • January 5, 2017   Jamestown Public Library   5-7:30 p.m.
  • January 9, 2017  Westerly Public Library   5:30 -7:00 p.m.
  • January 11, 2017   Narragansett Community Center   5-7:30 p.m.


January 18, 2017 CHARIHOtech Future Student Open House
 459 Switch Road, Wood River Junction, RI
5:30 – 8:30 p.m.
(snow date: January 19, 2017 5:30-8:30p.m.)