LABCS Weekly Newsletter - 1-25-25
RESPECT yourself, others, and our school. * Be RESPONSIBLE for yourself, your actions, and the learning environment. * Have a growth mindset and practice PERSEVERANCE.
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Monday Dress Theme - "Era's Day" (dress like the 70s)
1/27/2025
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Rescheduled Evening Seminar - "What is Dyslexia?"
1/27/2025, 6 PM – 7 PM
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LABCS Board Elections (Faculty/Staff and Families)
1/28/2025
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Admissions Tour
1/28/2025, 10 AM – 10 AM
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LABCS Board Elections (Faculty/Staff and Families)
1/29/2025
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LABCS Board Elections (Faculty/Staff and Families)
1/30/2025
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Admissions Tour
1/30/2025, 1 PM – 1 PM
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Chick-fil-A Biscuits - Pre-Orders Only
1/31/2025
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Monday Dress Theme - tbd
2/3/2025
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LABCS Board Meeting - Virtual
2/3/2025, 4 PM – 5 PM
Read More...
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Monday Dress Theme - tbd
2/10/2025
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Quarter 3 Interim
2/12/2025
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Open Enrollment Ends at 11:59 PM
2/15/2025
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Inclement Weather Make-Up Day #3 - School is in Session
2/17/2025
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Dyslexia Tidbit
Common Misconceptions About Dyslexia
- "Reversed letters: When students with dyslexia read, they’re not simply seeing letters flipped around on the page—despite popular and persistent depictions of the disorder. In reality, many children reverse their letters in the early grades when they’re learning to read and write, and for most, instructional practice and feedback remedy the issue. Students with dyslexia, meanwhile, largely struggle with associating the right sounds to letters, which can make reading feel laborious and result in spelling that feels like guesswork according to Dr. Nadine Gaab, a researcher and neuroscientist at Harvard Medical School. Difficulty with phoneme awareness—the ability to identify and manipulate individual sounds in spoken words—is the most common symptom of dyslexia, but the disorder can also manifest as a problem with reading speed or linking words together too slowly.
- It’s a vision problem: Theories around treating dyslexia often focus on vision—providing colored lenses or overlays, for example, which Vaughn and Fletcher say are not supported by evidence. Meanwhile, vision therapy is also not effective: “The faulty idea that dyslexia is a result of a vision disorder of some type has been very slow to go away,” the authors assert. They also note that multisensory instruction, or engaging senses such as sight and hearing to connect students to their learning, is similarly unnecessary for students with dyslexia.
- More reading will help: All students benefit from more opportunities to read, but simply piling on additional reading practice for students with dyslexia—assigning more at-home reading, for example—is an “inadequate” approach, Vaughn and Fletcher write. These students require specific instruction that includes decoding work and practice developing fluency and comprehension. “While opportunities to read are beneficial to all learners, improving home literacy will not resolve reading challenges for individuals with dyslexia,” note Vaughn and Fletcher.
- Medication and brain training work: Medication cannot cure dyslexia. While some students might concurrently struggle with attention and be diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, medications appropriate for these students are “aimed at their attention problems, not their reading difficulties,” Vaughn and Fletcher write. Similarly, approaches aimed at “training” the brains of students with dyslexia are generally not useful at improving reading outcomes. “Cognitive training in isolation of a reading program does not generalize to improved academic outcomes,” they write."
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Orton-Gillingham Associate Level Training - June 2-13, 2025
Read More...
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Board-Approved Electronic Policy - Effective 1-7-2025
Read More...
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Amendments to the Student and Parent Handbook and the Technology Handbook - approved by the LABCS Board on 12-2-24
These approved amendments were emailed this week to the parents.
Read More...
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After-School Tutoring
Beginning in January, tutoring will be available for current LABCS students in the area of reading and/or math. We are fortunate to have been approved for a grant for this. Each session will be 45-minutes in length starting at 3:30 pm. Tutoring is also available on weekends. This is not available for getting students caught up on missed homework or in any other subject area. If you are interested in your child receiving tutoring to help bring their skills up, please reach out to Mrs. Disbrow ( [email protected]) in the front office. Days and times will be coordinated between you and the tutor, who will be an LABCS employee.
Rescheduled Evening Seminar
January 27, 2025, 6:00 pm at Lakes and Bridges Charter School
"What is Dyslexia?"
Please join us for this evening seminar discussing what dyslexia is with Gloria Hash Marcus, LPC, LPES, NCSP, SLT. Ms. Marcus is a Licensed PsychoEducational Specialist, a Licensed Professional Counselor, a Nationally Certified School Psychologist, and a Structure Literacy Teacher with 47 years of experience working with children, adolescents, and adults. She is the founder of Halsey Counseling and Educational Center, Inc. and was also featured in LABCS's documentary "Written Off: America's Failure to Educate Dyslexic Children."
This is free and open to the public. However, seating is limited and an RSVP is required. Please email the school at [email protected] and leave your name and contact phone number.
Annual School Climate Surveys
It is nearly time for the annual School Climate surveys that are used as a rated metric on the school’s report card.
The survey window for students, teachers, and parents opens on February 24, 2025.
We will be providing more information in the coming weeks as we get closer to the survey opening. In the meantime please make sure you have access to the Parent Portal. If you have never accessed the Parent Portal please reach out to the front office for assistance.
A Note from the Development Director
Donations help us bridge the gap between the limited public funds we receive and the individualized education we offer to our brilliant student innovators.
You can still donate at any time of the year as the funding gap occurs year-round.
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By check made out to Lakes and Bridges Charter School with "Donation" in the memo line
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By cash in an envelope with your name, the amount, and "Donation" on it and given to the front office
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Through your IRA minimum distribution requirement -- contact your financial advisor
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A Note from the Reading Coach
It's time to start our Reading All-Stars reading logs for free tickets to a Greenville Drive Celebration Game at Fluor Field. Your child has their reading log information coming home from their homeroom teacher. Please send completed reading logs to your child's homeroom teacher no later than Friday, February 28th.
A Note from the Student Wellness Coordinator
SEL Word of the Week: Tolerance (n.)
Definition: The ability to accept others who are different from you
Competency: Social Awareness
This month in SEL, we have been learning about stress and how to manage it. Students in grades 3-5 have explored Dr. Siegel's hand model of the brain to visualize how the brain works and how it responds to stress. Using terms such as upstairs brain (where reasoning and problem solving occur) and downstairs brain (where emotion and behavior response occur), students are gaining a deeper understanding of why we sometimes "flip our lid" and lose control of our emotions. Watch this short video if you'd like to learn more about the brain and its stress response. As we head into February, we will discuss and practice different strategies for emotional regulation.
A Note from the Student Council
Parent/Child Valentine's Dance
Who: Current LABCS Elementary School students (grades 1-5) and their parent(s)
When: Friday, February 7
Time: 3:30-5:00pm
Cost: $5 per person
Parents, join us in the Dragon's Den for dancing, snacks, and refreshments with your LABCS child(ren)! Students who plan to stay for the Dance can dress UP instead of down on Friday for no charge. The cost for attending is $5.00 per person and can be paid through MySchoolBucks or cash/check sent into school. Payments are due by Wednesday, February 5.
*This event is only for current students of LABCS.
Middle School Valentine's Day Dance
Who: 6th-8th grade LABCS students
When: Friday, February 14
Time: 3:30-5:00pm
Cost: $10 per student
Dress up and enjoy an afternoon dance with your peers! We will have a light meal, refreshments, a chocolate fountain, and some Valentine's Day-themed treats. The payment of $10 per student can be made through MySchoolBucks or cash/check sent into the school. Payment is due by Wednesday, February 12.
Valentine's Candy Grams
ON SALE: Monday, February 3rd - Friday, February 14th
Candy Grams will be on sale in the Dragon's Den during morning arrival. Cost per candy gram is $2.00 and includes a note and special treat (choice of giant pixy stick or push pop lollipop). Candy grams can be sent from student to student, parent to student, student to teacher. Candy grams are delivered each Friday.
*Funds raised from these sales will be used to help the ongoing Hurricane Helene relief efforts in WNC.
Admissions Tours
Admissions Tours are held every Tuesday at 10:00 and Thursday at 1:00. These are designed to allow potential families the opportunity to see our school in action before and during the Open Enrollment period, which runs from January 1 through February 15.
Please call the front office at 864-442-5580 to schedule a tour on one of these days. Space is limited for these tours, and these last about 30-45 minutes.
Electronic Devices Reminders
On January 7, 2025, the new board-approved school-wide cellphone ban, which includes Smart Watches, went into effect. The policy will ban phones, smart watches, tablets and gaming devices during the school day. They would need to be powered off and put away. Exceptions will be allowed for students with IEPs and medical plans if the device is needed for medical or educational purpose
School hours are defined as beginning with the student’s arrival on campus as they exit their parent’s/guardian’s/carpool’s car during morning car line and ending when the student has entered their parent’s/guardian’s/carpool’s car to leave for the day.
Students must adhere to the school’s established communication devices/cell phones/smart watches protocol as directed. Failure to adhere to the policy established will result in the following consequences:
- 1st offense – confiscation for the remainder of the school day (no exceptions)
- 2nd offense – the device is, devices are, not allowed to be at school for two weeks (no exceptions)
- 3rd offense – the device is, devices are, not allowed to be at school for the remainder of the school year (no exceptions)
What is Chronic Absenteeism?
Chronically absent students are defined as having missed 10% of the total days within a school year. Research shows that students with a history of chronic absenteeism face a serious risk of falling behind in school, thus making it more difficult for them to succeed in the classroom.
- All types of absences contribute to chronic absenteeism:
- Excused (Lawful) Absences
- Unexcused Absences
- Suspensions
- A student is absent if he or she is not physically on school grounds and is not participating in instruction or instruction-related activities at an approved off-grounds location for the school day.
Lawful Absences
Lawful absences include but are not limited to:
- (1) absences caused by a student’s own illness and whose attendance in school would endanger his or her health or the health of others,
- (2) absences due to an illness or death in the student’s immediate family,
- (3) absences due to a recognized religious holiday of the student’s faith, and
- (4) absences due to activities that are approved in advance by the principal.
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