Earlier today, the high school steel drum band, led by Shakia Paylor, performed for our 3rd through 5th grade students who are engaging with a steel drum artist-residency in their classes. The high schoolers worked with this artist resident last Fall as a kick-off to their steel drum program, and now CNH students get to work with him as well! It was so wonderful to see the two schools come together in this shared experience.
This weeklong event marks the beginning of a number of ways that we are building community, opening up the walls of our classroom, and getting in the community (both internally and externally to our building) this Spring. Please mark your calendars with events for families listed below and keep an eye out in your student’s Monday Mailers for events with specific classes.
Have a great week!
–Dr. Shyla.
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Noteworthy Upcoming Dates:
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Date(s) |
Notes |
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Saturday, April 2, 10:00-1:00 |
Breakfast With Your Sweetheart (an outdoor event) along with CNH Gear Day. Brunch served 10:00-11:00, DJ and yard games/activities 11:00-1:00. We will also have CNH logos for you to make CNH gear! Bring an item of clothing and $5 per logo, and walk away with new CNH Gear! |
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Monday, April 11- Monday,18 |
Spring Break (School Resumes Tuesday, April 19) |
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Saturday, April 23, 11:00-2:00 |
Earth Day Celebration at School. A celebration of the earth and our community – art-making, clean-up, earth-friendly education, and more! |
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Saturday, May 7 |
CNH Spring Fling. Celebrate Spring, community, and Mother’s Day in this fun carnival-like event with games, performances, art-making, and more! |
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New Arrival Procedures
Beginning tomorrow (Tuesday) morning, all students will enter the school building in the morning through the front door of the school. We will no longer have K-2, 3-5, and 6-8 enter through different doors. Students will walk to the front door and either enter through the lobby by the main office or through the gate into the courtyard to get to their homerooms.
This is the first step of reunifying our community.
Next Monday, April 4, we will return to our old pick-up routines. Specific details will be emailed later this week as well as sent home in backpacks. In short, you will park your cars in the neighborhood or in the parking lot out back and walk to the front of the school. Students will be signed out by the teachers on the lawn in front of the school. This is one of our traditions that helped us to maintain close contact between teachers and families that we have sorely missed these past two years. We are excited to get this back up and running with the Month of April!
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1st Grade Rita’s Celebration!
The first grade class was engaged in a deep discussion about what their favorite parts of Spring are for them. One student exclaimed, “It’s when Ritas opens!” This definitely livened up the conversation to include favorite Rita’s flavors, what is Ritas, etc.
Ms. LaShawn masterfully wove this discussion into their Math focus for the week. Students interviewed other classes and collected data on their favorite Rita’s flavors. They graphed their findings and discovered ways to make sense of data through Math. They ended the week with a Rita’s celebration in the playground with 1st grade families. What a wonderful way to celebrate rich (and delicious) learning!
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Earth Day Celebration
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Principal Hiring Update
March 28, 2022
Dear City Neighbors Hamilton community,
We are writing to update you again on the Principal Search process.
As you know, the CNH Principal Hiring Committee brought forward six candidates to our community for consideration. Over the last two weeks, those six candidates each spent one full day with us, getting to know us, observing classrooms, meeting with students, parents and staff, and participating in a second interview.
Through the process so far, hundreds of our community members have provided feedback on the candidates. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive for all of our candidates – with the collective community agreeing or strongly agreeing on each candidate’s capacity to lead us.
The CNH Principal Hiring Committee is narrowing down our final 1-2 candidates for consideration, utilizing the feedback from the formal interviews with the Committee as well as the stakeholder feedback from students, parents/caregivers and staff. The finalists will spend more time at City Neighbors, engaging with our community, and participating in some performance-based tasks that will give us even further information as to who they may be as a City Neighbors leader. Parents and caregivers will have yet another opportunity to meet the finalists and provide feedback as part of the final interview.
We will write again later this week to share the final candidates and the opportunity you will have to meet them. The final interviews will take place between March 31 and April 7.
We are now even more enthusiastic about the quality and experiences of our candidates – and find ourselves in an enviable position of having a difficult decision among some great choices. We also remain optimistic about finding our next school leader by mid-April. Please feel free to reach out to Mike (mchalupa@cityneighbors.org) with wonders, worries, or brilliant ideas along the way.
In partnership,
Christine Alamed Mike Chalupa
Board President, City Neighbors Hamilton Director, City Neighbors Foundation
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Summer Math Opportunities at City Neighbors
No matter the location, Math Camps are open to all rising 2nd through 8th grade CNH students. Check it out!
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This year, we are offering four math camps for City Neighbors Charter School and City Neighbors Hamilton students. All camps are open to students from both City Neighbors K-8 schools! 2 weeks 9-noon daily Free No more than 12 students per Math Camp experience |
REGISTER BY FRIDAY, APRIL 1 AT: https://forms.gle/
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Budding Mathematicians: Come Grow Your Math Skills! Rising 8th Graders August 8-19 City Neighbors Hamilton Campus, Ms. Budd Brown This summer, rising 8th graders will have an opportunity to practice and refine key pre-algebra skills before their last year of middle school, while also being exposed to upcoming content. Students will complete mini hands-on projects, utilize technology for daily skills practice, and practice problem based inquiry to solve real world and mathematical problems. This session is appropriate for all ability/performance levels. Come and grow your math skills before the start of the 22-23 school year! |
Polygon Pollinators Rising 2nd and 3rd graders July 25-August 5 City Neighbors Charter School Campus, Ms. Almon During this two week math camp, children will work as a group to design and plant a pollinator garden. They will learn how pollinators help our garden to grow as well as which plants will attract pollinators. Children will develop skills in measurement, number sense, and problem solving as they get their hands dirty in the garden. |
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Test Prep Boot Camp Rising 5th and 6th July 5-15 City Neighbors Charter School Campus, Ms. Jones Testing is just around the corner. Whether tests are designed by the MCAP or the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), schools nationwide are most likely beginning those additional meetings, signing legal documents full of security warnings, and sending out robocalls. Since the pandemic many students have not taken a standardized test and may now be fearful of showing what they know. Let’s give them the tools necessary to do well and feel prepared. When it comes to preparing students for tests, there’s no magic bullet, but there is magic in the room when a teacher says with assurance, “You’ve worked hard, and this is just a way to show others what I already get to see every day. I’m not worried, and you shouldn’t be either. You’re ready.” So let’s get a head start! |
Scratch Coding Rising 4th and 5th graders August 1-12 City Neighbors Charter School Campus, Ms. Dore For Beginner and Intermediate programmers in Scratch. Scratch uses a custom programming language that is easy to understand. By moving and combining blocks of code, campers develop their own programs and create super-cool animation projects. Campers can make their animations unique by designing their character’s appearances, adding unique background images and sounds, and programming their characters to dance, sing, and talk, in addition to other endless possibilities! After creating their first animation, campers can work on a wide variety of interactive projects such as a Maze Game, a Basketball Game, a Whack-A-Mole Game, a Fruit Droppers Game, a Tron Game, a Table Tennis Game, a Pinball Game, or an Asteroids Arcade Game, complete with levels and scoring! Each camper will leave camp with at least two projects. |
Questions? Contact Mike Chalupa at mchalupa@cityneighbors.org
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Summer Freedom School Program for Rising 3-8 graders
Here is the Parent Interest Form Link for Freedom School. Applications will be sent to folks who complete the interest form first – It’s a first come, first served program!
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Fox and Heron Early Childhood Outdoor Education Camp
Are you seeking a safe, fun and local outdoor summer program for your preschooler or 1st to 3rd grader? BLISS Meadows is back with our Fox and Heron Early Childhood Outdoor Education Camp! Your little one can spend their days amongst our farm and forest, where they will get to garden and explore urban ecology!
The program runs from 9:00AM – 2:00PM five days/week from July 5 to August 26. You can meet our environmental educators and have some outdoor fun during Family Campfire Night and Orientation on Saturday, June 25 form 6:00PM – 8:00pm.
https://backyardbasecamp.org/
https://docs.google.com/forms/
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Summer Opportunities for Families
Please send me any opportunities for students or families – I am happy to put them in the What’s Good. See summer opportunities for families who have experienced cancer.
Camp Kesem is a free, week long overnight summer camp experience designed for children age 6 to 18 who are impacted by a parents cancer. There are several local chapters through Johns Hopkins and University of Maryland. Camp Kesem chapters also organize local events throughout the year to support the children and parents or caregivers,
APPLY FOR YOUR CHILD’S SPOT TODAY.
https://www.kesem.org/
Justin’s Beach House is a respite home free of charge for families with cancer (within 1 year of treatment). Offering time away from doctors and hospitals, Justin’s Beach House is a place for the family to relax and unwind in beautiful Bethany Beach, Delaware. https://justinjennings.org
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Family Participation Hours
Please see the note below from our new Family Participation Committee Chair.
My name is Kate Funderburk and I am the new Family Participation Committee chair. I am looking forward to getting to know more of you and working in this new role!
I am also very excited that the kids are all back to in-person learning! With that being said, here is a great opportunity for you to log the hours that you spent assisting and working with your child during virtual school! You can follow the link below to record these hours.
https://docs.google.com/forms/
As a friendly reminder, families are encouraged to log 40 hours per school year. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me for any questions regarding your family’s participation hours. Please reach out to me if you have any questions: kfunderburck@cityneighborshamilton.org.
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K-2 Aftercare – Help Wanted by Fitness, Fun & Games
Fitness Fun & Games is a non-profit, MSDE-licensed school-age childcare program to be located in City Neighbors Hamilton. There are job openings here, in addition to other locations in Baltimore City Schools, before and/or after school. This work may count for college credit and/or count for career experience in education. There are opportunities for training in childcare. Please share this with others and through social media. Apply under “Jobs” at FitnessFunandGames.org.
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Get Your CNH Gear!
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Show Your School Spirit with CNH Gear! Help support our school with custom printed merch from the CNH Gear Store! HOODIES * CAR MAGNETS * MUGS * AND MORE!
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Donations to the School
If you would like to donate money to the school (for any reason), the easiest way is through our PayPal account. If you want your donation to go to a specific fund or activity (general educational expenses, technology, arts, etc), please note it with your donation.
PayPal Donate Button on Website: http://cityneighborshamilton.
If you aren’t able to donate funds to the school right now, we always appreciate your donation of time supporting the general programming needs at our school (all virtual, of course). If you would like to volunteer for the school, please email our Family Participation Board Director Elisabeth Hyleck at ehyleck@cityneighborshamilton.
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