TLA-Newsletter-201604

TLA TIMES
April 2016
Bulletin for Traditional Learning Academy Distributed Learning and Homeschool Families
Building Community at TLA
by Gabe Linder, TLA Principal
Hello TLA Families,
Building community is one of the greatest challenges that distributed learning
schools like TLA face. We take this responsibility seriously, and consider it an
essential component of the services that we offer to families. I know that some
TLA families outside of the Lower Mainland see the many field trips, programs,
and events that happen here and wish that we could do more for students in
other parts of the province. We wish that we could do more too, but arranging
certain programs and services does require a critical mass of participants to
ensure viability. Oftentimes face to face opportunities are found within students’ local communities, with local homeschool groups, and with community
programs like arts, sports, volunteering, and church-based activities. We so
greatly appreciate and value the occasions when students visit us here for
events like LOL Week or the Graduation Ceremony, and various other field
trips.
“Building
community is one
of the greatest
challenges that
distributed
learning schools
like TLA face.”
Between now and the end of the year we have two prominent trips that will see
Lower Mainland TLA students venturing out into other regions of British Columbia. On June 3, grade 10-12 students will be visiting Victoria for the day, and
some Kindergarten to Grade 8 students will be participating in an independent school track meet at the University
of Victoria. If you are on Vancouver Island please consider joining one of these events! From June 6-8 there is a
big Barkerville trip happening - there are TLA families converging there from Northern B.C. as well as a contingent from the Lower Mainland. Barkerville is relatively close to being the epicentre of our province, so no matter
where you live, perhaps you’ll consider coming along? A trip to Barkerville is a truly memorable encounter with
history that we’d love for every school-aged child to experience. Even bigger trips are on tap for next year, including a trip to Eastern Canada for the 150th anniversary of Confederation, and a Marine Biology tour down the
west coast of the U.S.A. led by TLA Science teacher Mr. John Emmons. We’ll also mix in other more widely accessible in-province trips as usual.
Continued on page 2
In This Issue:
Pg. 2– Planning for 2016/2017(ONLINE)
Pg. 5– Curriculum Corner– Money, Money, Money!
Pg. 3– Enrolling and Re-Enrolling (HOME)
Pg. 6– Upcoming Events (DIRECT)
Pg. 4– Exploring Opportunities in Our Community (SN)
Pg. 7– Innovations Online (Innovations)
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Continued from page 1, “Building Community at TLA”
Aside from field trips, we continue to work on building community virtually, and providing remote access whenever
possible to events and discussions that happen locally. Examples of upcoming events where remote access is available: the Career Workshop this Friday April 22, the Spring Talent Show May 2, the Graduation Ceremony May 26, and
hopefully our theatre production on June 2. I’m also excited that our Tech department will soon be unveiling our new
community forums which will provide a far more effective and immediate way to foster local connections between TLA
students and parents in the same communities, as well as to connect students and parents all across B.C. who want
to open discussions around topics of interest.
We welcome your suggestions about trips, activities, and community-building at TLA. We are actively planning for
regularly scheduled meetings (locally and virtually of course!) with parents who would like to become more involved in
the life of the school, and who would help with planning and implementing special events, fundraising, and other activities that bring our families and community closer together. It is an honour and a privilege for all of the staff at TLA to
be involved in the education of your children, and we sincerely look forward with joyful anticipation to the next steps of
our journey together.
PLANNING FOR 2016/2017
BY MARY-ANNE VANDERHORST, VP ONLINE
Have you re-enrolled yet?
Once again Traditional Learning Academy has an excellent
program to offer your child for the 2016/17 school year. The
mission statement of our online department is to create rich
educational experiences that meet the needs of 21st century
learners. We provide flexible educational paths that allow students to meet provincial learning outcomes while conducting
more in depth study focused on their particular interests.
Learners, parents and teachers are partners working together
to achieve each student’s goals.
If you have any questions please contact the following people:
Graduation Program Planning and grades 8-12 online courses
Mary-Anne VanderHorst at mvanderhorst@schoolathome.ca
Direct program
Bryan Young at byoung@schoolathome.ca
Innovations Online
At the beginning of April we had a very informative parent and CJ Mackinnon-Scott at cmackinnonscott@schoolathome.ca
student information session to go over our programs. If you
would like access to the presentations please let me
know. The highlight of the presentation was our student panel Grad Adapted Program
where we had a student from each program (Direct, Online and Grace Ponto at gponto@schoolathome.ca
Innovations) talk about their experiences.
You can already enroll for the 2016/17 school year. Deciding
on courses and programs can at times seem daunting, especially if you are entering grade 10, but please know that you
can contact me and I will walk you through the process. The
Ministry of Education has also come out with a great resource. If you google BC Grad Planner Guide you can download the pdf.
While enrolment for the 2016/17 school year is in full swing, we
also have many events happening in our department. This
week, April 18 - 21 we have our Live-On-Location (LOL) week
happening. Our LOL weeks provide students with time to work
together and earn credit in their online courses as well as build
relationships with other students in the afternoon activities. If
you haven’t participated in lol week yet, I encourage you to
sign up for the classes and events next fall.
We also have AP Exams happening from May 2 - 13 and Provincial exams on May 11 and 12. I wish the students all the
best as they prepare for these exams.
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ENROLLING AND REENROLLING
BY STEVE BORLEY, VP HOME
“Our
mission is to part-
ner with parents and students
quality learning at home. Our
to foster
“family first” motto ensures that our focus is on the
The enrollment and re-enrollment form online
has been open for six weeks now and the
processing of those enrollments is underway.
Thank you for your patience. Welcome emails
should be coming to you in the next week or so.
For those new to independent schools, reenrolling is a new concept. Independent schools
are required to enroll students on an annual
basis whereas public schools are allowed to
simply assume your child will be enrolled there
again next year.
Traditional Learning Academy DL takes your
decision to enroll your child in TLA very
seriously. Many of our teachers have had or do
have their children enrolled in TLA. We
understand how big of a commitment it is for
you to decide to school your child at home. The
Home department understands that the parent
serving as the teacher’s aide works many,
many more hours to deliver the educational
program to the child than the teacher does. We
know you have your child’s best interests at
heart as you consider the needs of your whole
family. That is why we have chosen to allow
such tremendous flexibility in our program to
allow you to choose resources, activities,
courses, and programs. You even have
tremendous flexibility in the way in which you
connect with your teacher. Many of you use
Google Drive and email, many others use
Freshgrade. We have no plans to change this
flexibility.
learner within
family-
centred educational programs.”
- TLA Mission Statement
STUDENT
SHOWCASE
Visit us on FACEBOOK, GOOGLE+ , or
STUDENT SHOWCASE for a showcase of student work and activities happening at TLA.
(There are links to all three of these sites on our
TLA webpage under “Our Community”.)
We would love to share what is happening in your
home or community!
E-mail your photos/videos/scans to:
newsletter@schoolathome.ca
Or pass them along to your teacher!
TLA is but one of 18 Independent DL schools;
and many public DL schools serve various
Continued on page 4.
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Continued from page 3, “Enrolling and Re-Enrolling”
regions of the province, too. The fact that you chose TLA humbles us as a staff. Our staff understands
that we are a long ways from perfect. Our school has some issues with our systems that we are
working on. And we know that our determination to be a school of integrity can be frustrating as we try
to follow the intent of rules placed on us by the Ministry of Education. At the same time, I hope you
gain increasing confidence in us for these reasons since we are developing systems designed for
Distributed Learning explicitly, we are trying always to communicate openly as partners with you, and
we are going to insist on our staff having the same integrity in all we do regardless of who we do it for.
My hope is that you can honestly say to anyone you meet that Traditional Learning Academy is a
good, solid school.
I take my hat off to each of you parents for choosing to educate your child at home over this past year.
You chose a good thing! You chose to invest directly into the growth and maturation of your child. You
chose to give of yourself. Keep on communicating with us; let us know how we can help.
BY JOANNE BUENO AND MELISSA AFFLECK, VP’S SPECIAL NEEDS
Exploring Opportunities in Our Community
It’s crazy to realize that the 2016-2017 school year is already the subject of most of our meetings here at
TLA, but I always find April is the best time to plan for the last two months of school, to reflect on the
previous school year, and to begin looking at what resources are accessible to better plan ahead.
We’d like to take this opportunity to share some virtual and local resources for families who have members with autism and other special needs, as well as for teachers to explore:
1.Free Apps:
- A list of 50 apps for children can be found here: http://www.smartappsforkids.com/2016/03/top-50totally-free-kids-apps-on-itunes-updated-lego-duplo-train25th-march-2016.html#more
- Various updates of free apps for the month of April can be found on the Apps for Autism Facebook
page.
2. CAN
Family Festival:
This free family event is on April 24, 2016 in Vancouver, BC at the Jack Poole Plaza. It includes a
pledged walk and fun family activities.
For more information, please visit the CAN website:
http://www.canucksautism.ca/support/CAN_Family_Festival_2016.htm
3. Transition
to Adulthood: familyWORKs is an organization that guides families with information
about how to achieve employment for family members with special needs. They have divisions throughout the BC that offers support meetings and sessions.
For more information, please visit https://familyworksbc.com/.
We hope that you enjoy your month and have a chance to explore these virtual and local opportunities.
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CURRICULUM CORNER
MONEY, MONEY, MONEY!
By Michelle Johnson
April 20th is Talk With Our Kids About Money Day. Last year, 2020 schools and 400,000 students participated in
Talk With Our Kids About Money Day across Canada. My daughter is busy taking Planning 10 this year through TLA
Online. She has learned a lot about post-secondary options and budgeting this term. I am grateful for the conversations it has started between us about money and credit and budgets and saving...money really does play an integral
part in our lives, and too many of us assume our kids will somehow learn about it. This month’s Curriculum Corner
shares some great resources to help us be intentional in teaching our kids about money, both on April 20th, and beyond!
1. Talk with Our Kids about Money (http://talkwithourkidsaboutmoney.com/resource_type/home-resources/)
Money is an ideal topic for BC’s redesigned curriculum as it applies to all subject areas! For example, students can
explore monetary and environmental cost savings during an electricity unit in science; compare and contrast the nutritional and financial implications of eating out; study the motivations for the start up of the Hudson’s Bay Company
in social studies. (Ideas taken from BCCPAC magazine.) This site offers activities and resources about money, and
allows you to search based on kid’s ages and/or topics, supported through BMO.
2. Ever Fi- Vault- Understanding Money (https://everfi.com/k12/vault-understanding-money/) This is a free,
three-hour course aimed at grades 4-6. It takes students through 6 modules that help establish a foundation for
making good financial decisions. Using animation, games, and real-world scenarios, this program is a great way to
start being intentional on teaching larger money strategies such as saving and budgeting. Ever Fi also offers financial capability programs for grades 9-12 and older (https://everfi.com/financialcapability/ )
3. Canada in My Pocket (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnZlAOSEmYQ) For those younger kids, there
are some fun songs to teach the basics of our Canadian coins. This one talks about the importance of the symbols
on our different Canadian coins.
4. Practical Money Skills (http://www.practicalmoneyskills.ca/) Practical Money Skills is a free financial literacy
program to help Canadians understand the fundamentals of money management. Created by Visa, the program offers money management resources including calculators, games, and lesson plans tailored for use by Canadian
families and educators. (Information taken directly from their site.)
5. InvestRight- Planning 10 Resources (http://www.investright.org/planning_10_finances/
Planning_10__Finances.aspx) Valuable resources for any older students, from grade 8 and up, this site includes
budget planners, basic financial planning outlines and an activity discussing needs versus wants. I thought their
section on credit and debt was eye-opening too, and my daughter and I had some good discussions on the healthy
use of credit cards!
6. Money Games and Activities
FunBrain- Change Maker (http://www.funbrain.com/cgi-bin/cr.cgi?A1=s&A14=medium&country%5Bcan%
5D.x=73&country%5Bcan%5D.y=27 ) I think ANYONE who works at a job with money needs to play this game before being hired. Just my two cents worth (ha!).
Continued on Page 6
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Continued from Page 5, Curriculum Corner
Cash Out- Making Change (http://mrnussbaum.com/cash-out-canada/) Same premise as Change Maker, but geared for
a little younger age group.
Canadian Money Worksheets (http://www.homeschoolmath.net/worksheets/canadian-money.php) This generator
makes worksheets for counting Canadian coins and bills. You can choose to include or not include the penny, nickel,
dime, quarter, half-dollar, one dollar (loonie), two-dollar (toonie), five-dollar bill, and ten-dollar bill. You can also limit the
money value.
More Canadian Money Worksheets
(http://www.kidzone.ws/geography/money/) This site includes information and teaching sheets, as well as practice
sheets. I like this introductory teaching of money sheets for both history and information as well as coin recognition.
App- Learning Money with Leo
The Learning Money with Leo app provides parents with a practical and fun way to help teach their children about the
concepts and value of money, through games on their mobile devices.
I would like to say thanks to my fellow teachers at TLA for sharing some of their favorite money sites with me, and I hope
that you all benefit from some of the great money resources available to us all. It is never too late to learn how to handle
our money better!
If you have any great online resources to share, or want more information on any sites, please feel free to contact me at
mjohnson@schoolathome.ca.
UPCOMING EVENTS AT TLA
By Bryan Young, VP Direct
Track and Field Meet - Wednesday, May 18
We invite all students in grades K-12 to participate in the Third Annual TLA Track and Field Meet on Wednesday, May
18 (8:30-3:30) at Bear Creek Park in Surrey. Please visit the TLA website for more information and registration information. We are expecting a day of friendly competition as students are challenged to throw further, run faster and be the
best supporters they can be for one another. We are opening this opportunity up to students from other DL schools, so
please get the word out.
Sign up here
Direct Theatre Production - Thursday, June 2
Our drama and theatre production students have been rehearsing tirelessly to present TLA's inaugural theatre production, When Villains Unite: coming to stage at the Clova Cinema on Thursday June 2 at 7pm. Join all thirty-five students
as they showcase their acting and design talent in this two act, self-created production involving characters from some of
our favourite classic stories like Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Snow White, The Wizard of Oz, Peter Pan and Robin
Hood. The production is family friendly and recommended for children 3 and up. Tickets will be available at the TLA
Hawthorne office for $5/person. Students in our drama classes will receive 2 complimentary tickets for family and
friends. Seating is limited, so be sure to get your tickets in advance to avoid missing this zany and colourful adventure,
running approximately 2 hours with a 15 minute intermission. We look forward to seeing you in our audience.
Goats, Waves, and Ice Cream - Friday, June 3
This year's exciting 'Grad Day-Trip to Victoria' will be an adventure from moment one. Picture yourself at Mile Zero facing the waves of the Pacific (almost), 'hiking' Beacon Hill for a unique ice-cream experience, and spending time with the
pygmy goats at the petting zoo! Make sure you don't have treats in your pockets! After lunch in the park we will tour St.
Anne's Academy National Historic Site (to learn a little something), and then head to the inner harbour for pictures in
front of the Legislature and The Empress Hotel.
Spots for this trip are for Grades 10-12 Online and Direct students, and are limited to 40, so you will need to sign
up TO6
DAY to get a spot!
Sign up here
Innovations Online
BY CJ MACKINNON-SCOTT, INNOVATIONS ONLINE
Want to try something innovative and collaborative in your grad program next year? Check out our online project-based
learning program– Innovations Online.
Take as few as 2 courses through Innovations Online and earn cross-curricular credit for every project you do.
TLA ONLINE INNOVATIONS provides an opportunity for students from grades 10 - 12 to learn in a creative, collaborative, and
tightly connected learning community. Students earn grade-level credits in multiple subjects in the cross-curricular projects they complete, both independently and in collaboration with other students. TLA Online Innovations makes learning interactive and focuses skills
on making content connections within real-world contexts.
All of that sound too heady? How about this?
TLA Innovations Online allows you to enjoy learning in a small cohort where you can get to know and collaborate with other students online. In Innovations you lead your own learning by creating projects that will net you grade-level credit in multiple subjects. You decide where you want to find the answers to your own questions and how you want to demonstrate your learning.
Your mentor-teacher will help you personalize your learning plan so that what you learn in each project can be credited towards
multiple subject areas. You will have opportunities to share the projects you are really proud of or excited about with your peers.
Everyone gets inspired and you go on to the next one - maybe sparked by a new idea someone else has demonstrated in their
project.
Who can learn this way? Practically anyone - all you really need is willingness to learn and to collaborate with others. You don't
need to be good at memorizing content and taking quizzes (there aren't any - except for practice for the provincial exam in
grades 10-12). You don't even have to know that much about the computer! You'll learn the computer skills and tools that are
practical for you as you see what someone else has done in one of their projects, get curious about how they did it, ask, and
then try it out yourself. You'll be surprised and proud of how much you learn in one year of Innovations - not just content and
computer skills, but skills in collaboration, creativity, critical thinking and communication. All you need is the willingness to commit to weekly real-time online networking sessions with your mentor-teacher and your cohort, and the interest in exploring topics
within the subjects you are enrolled in through TLA Innovations Online. Learning can be fun when you're connected to innovations!
Want more information about how you can get connected to TLA Innovations Online? Get in touch...
CJ MacKinnon-Scott TLA Innovations Online Coordinator gr. 10-12 (cmackinnonscott@schoolathome.ca)
ATTENTION ALL 2016/17 GRADE 8 STUDENTS!
The Innovations program is expanding its online program offerings and you are now able to join our Innovations Online community of
learners. You can choose to participate in our project-based online learning community in one of two ways. Choose the way that you think
you will be most comfortable with learning.
Option 1: Think you want to learn in a student-led collaborative, project-based learning program? Join the Innovations Online 8- 9 cohort:
Earn full course credit for your grade-level subjects in the Innovations Online project-based learning program. You can enroll in most of
your courses (with the exception of math, 2nd language, and PE) through Innovations or as few as one. You will meet with your mentorteacher and your cohort of grade 8 & 9 students once a week in a virtual classroom using video conferencing. Your mentor-teacher will
help you personalize your learning plan and set goals for projects that set you on a path of learning things you want to learn and help you
find ways to demonstrate your learning that are meaningful and fun for you to try. You will work independently and collaboratively with the
other members of your cohort. Learning is always more fun when you can learn together!
Option 2: A little shy to commit to a whole program this year? Why not just dip your toe in to see what it's like to learn this way?
If you join Innovations Remote, you will connect with other students in grades 5-8 to collaborate on one group project at a time throughout
the year. You won't be graded by your mentor-teacher, but you will be able to apply what you demonstrate in your learning to your home
program. Your mentor-teacher guides your cohort on student-led projects that will pique your curiosity and you will have the opportunity to
connect with your peers online each week. Find out how fun learning can be when you learn together!
Want more information about how you can get connected to TLA Innovations Online? Get in touch...
Erin Philps TLA Innovations Online Coordinator gr. 5 - 9 (ephilps@schoolathome.ca)
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