The Thank You Report - International Charter School

Dear Friend of the International Charter School,
ICS is different in many ways from other public schools.
Here, for one thing, donations make a real and visible difference. Gifts from friends
like you help make possible the very things that make an ICS education unique and
wonderful.
Your gifts mean a lot to our hardworking students. And you deserve to see how! In
this little newsletter, sent a few times a year, you'll see for yourself how your
generosity shapes a school.
Warm regards, Julie Nora, Director
The Thank You Report
A special donor's newsletter from the International Charter School
Issue #1 – Fall 2008
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-----Butterflies flutter from
classroom to a donorsupported garden, teaching an
amazing transformation en
route
-----Fifth-grader, Edinilza DeSousa (below), urges a
new butterfly to step from her finger and try its
wings in the ICS butterfly garden.
Watching a butterfly transform from a
caterpillar to a cocoon to a glorious Painted
Lady makes a lasting impression that simply
reading about a process like metamorphosis can't
equal.
Butterflies spend their winter in ICS
classrooms and launch each spring thanks to
your charitable gifts.
-----"Pizza Garden," "Popcorn
Garden" add tasty outdoor
classroom to ICS
-----On the left below, pizza ingredients ripen on ICS
vines. On the right, a favorite movie snack
grows ready for popping.
Thanks to a hugely generous $5,000 gift
from home improvement giant, Lowe's, and the
help of our cherished volunteers, ICS now has
an outdoor classroom and vest-pocket farm.
The "pizza" garden, "popcorn" garden and
other food-themed gardens planted in spring do
double-duty, teaching science as well as
nutrition. Students learn the origins of food and
explore life science.
-----Buying Portuguese books
with Dewing Foundation gift
involves intercontinental
search
-----You're looking at the cover (below) of a book
that saw a lot of miles before it reached our ICS
classrooms.
Portuguese text books and other teaching
materials are hard to find in the United States.
So ICS works directly with publishers in
Portugal and Brazil.
For the coming academic year, ICS
purchased 365 new books in Portuguese for
students in grades K-5, along with audio CDs
and resource materials like atlases.
We have the Dewing Foundation to thank
for this bounty. The Foundation is located in
South Attleboro and focuses on "intellectual
stimulation" for children up to grade 6.
New special library expands
ICS' selection of books which
honor diversity
-----ICS is adding as fast as possible "culturally
responsive" books in all three of our languages.
These pride-instilling books reflect positively
the cultural, ethnic, and gender diversity of
society and the world. ICS’s library is becoming
a preeminent multilingual children’s library
thanks to passionate, ongoing donor support.
-----Opportunities for you to
make a difference at ICS
•
•
Help our garden continue to grow! ICS
has partnered with the Steelyard to install
benches, archways, and other metal artwork
in our garden. Your support will help us
purchase these metal elements.
Help us continue to build our Spanish and
Portuguese language resources.
ICS depends on your support year round. Please
help if you can, in any amount. Send your check
today. Thank you for being part of ICS!
The Thank You Report ... from the International Charter School
334 Pleasant Street, Pawtucket, RI 02860 | (401) 721-0824 | www.internationalcharterschool.org
At ICS, your help grows stronger young minds.