Arcadia This Week 10/13/2023
Hello, Arcadia families, students, and friends!
We have only three short days of school this week, and then Fall Break on Thursday and Friday!
Today’s newsletter includes:
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Winter Gertens Fundraiser
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Lunch Update
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Food Pantry
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Field Trip Update
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Upcoming Travel Opportunities
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COVID Reminders
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Upcoming Events
Winter Gertens Fundraiser
We decided to offer a Gertens Winter Greens and Poinsettias Fundraiser, but it will be open for only one week. Orders can be placed online between now and next Monday, October 23rd, before 10:00pm.
If you would like to order winter greens or poinsettias, now is the time! You can send this link to whomever you would like, but please make sure they know where to pick it up, or that you would be able to deliver it to them. Also make sure they get the correct Store ID Code! (Ours is 43.)
Our delivery date is December 4th, in the afternoon. Pickup will be that evening, in the back of the school (from the Great Room) between 5:00pm and 7:00pm.
Here is the link: https://www.gertensfundraising.com/
Our Store ID is: 43
Lunch Update
I will send out a Lunch FAQ with lots of more specific information, but we have a possible option for pre-packaged, shelf-stable lunches that could start very soon. A group of students is going to sample them, and help us decide which menu items to order to ensure that students will actually want to eat them. These would be free for students who qualify for free and reduced lunch, and cost $3.25/meal for students who do not until we are able to join the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). For now, please continue to send lunch with your child.
Food Pantry
The shelf in the front entry is full of food that is available to anyone who needs it! Feel free to take it. Though the door directly into the school is locked, the front door into the entryway is unlocked, so you could stop by anytime, even after school hours, to pick things up. The food is provided by a program through the Northfield ALC where students shop and fill bags to provide food for families.
Field Trip Update
We completed our first arts field trip of the year last week! Thank you to all of the students, who prepared well and were good audience members. We always get positive feedback from the venues to which we travel!
As I shared with the staff: The arts are an important part of our mission, and we place a high value on both experiencing arts performances and participating in the creation of art. Going to performances like these is part of our curriculum, part of how we address the needs of the whole person, a way we build community, and one of the ways we prepare our students to transition emotionally, ethically, and intellectually to adulthood.
We are looking at spring opportunities now, and will let you know when we have a plan!
Upcoming Travel Opportunities
Putting this in again, just as a reminder. Please fill out the interest form, even if you’ve just an inkling that you may want to go!
The Travel Committee has put together a tentative schedule for major trips in the next three years! Here is the plan (descriptions of the trips below):
Washington D.C./Gettysburg, Spring Break 2024
Costa Rica, Spring 2025
Japan, Spring 2026
To express an interest in traveling and be included in communications about the trips, please fill out this form: Arcadia Travel Interest Form
Washington D.C./Gettysburg
The Washington D.C./Gettysburg trip will be through EF Tours. This will be an amazing opportunity to explore places that are both historically and presently significant–with a lot of exciting stops along the way! We will schedule a meeting soon! Learn more about the itinerary here: https://www.efexploreamerica.com/educational-tour/washington-dc-gettysburg-williamsburg
The cost of this trip will likely be around $3500.
Costa Rica
The Costa Rica trip will be a bit different. Laura has worked with EcoLife Tours, a Costa Rican company, for a number of years. We have more input into the trip, and get to do things that a large tour company would never be able to schedule–because we’re mostly visiting friends and family of the tour director. In the past, we have flown into Liberia, Costa Rica, started by driving to a place called La Anita Rainforest Ranch in Alajuela Province, and then adventured our way down through Alajuela and back through the Guanacaste Province in northern Costa Rica, ending at Playa Hermosa on the Pacific coast. In previous trips, we visited with students (the same age) at a local school, played pick-up soccer games, helped with a butterfly research study site for the University of San Jose, cooked food in a traditional Costa Rican kitchen, went horseback riding with views of Arenal (an active volcano) and visited the edge of the 1968 eruption, rafted down a crystal clear river, and played volleyball in the ocean, among other things.
The cost of this trip will depend on the cost of the flight, but we are anticipating it will be around $4500.
Japan
The 2026 Japan Trip will involve a lot of cultural exchange and opportunity for in-depth exploration of Tokyo and Japanese culture! We finally made it to Japan this past June after having scheduled a trip in 2018, and we are very excited to get back to Japan in 2026! This trip will offer a very different experience than the one we had before. See the itinerary here (we are looking at the version with the extension): https://www.eftours.com/educational-tour/tokyo-japan-language-immersion
The cost of this trip will be between $5500 and $6500, depending on which options we choose.
COVID Reminders
Day 0 = day of the positive test, stay home (note COVID on absence form)
Day 1-5 = stay home and isolated, do not attend school
Day 6-10 = if you feel better, return to school, but wear a mask
Day 11+ = no restrictions
We have plenty of COVID tests and will continue to leave them in the front entryway for students to take, as needed. The original expiration dates have been extended through the end of this year, so you can ignore the expiration date on the box of the test. It’s still good.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to our school nurse, Gail Setterstrom, at: gsetterstrom@arcadiacharterschool.org
Upcoming Events
Oct. 17, 6:30-8:30pm: Arcadia School Board Meeting, in person at Arcadia, or view online: https://meet.google.com/hyf-amke-zsx
Oct. 19 and 20: No School–Fall Break
Nov. 3: End of 1st Quarter
Nov. 16: Give to the Max Day
Dec. 1: ThanksGive
Dec. 4, 5:00pm-7:00pm: Gertens Fundraiser plant pickup
Sincerely,
