This weekend I burned this piece of a log, with slices through the center and a wick down the middle. As the wick burned and caught the wood on fire, a star opened up from the center of the log and extended out through the bark. As I sat watching the log burn from the inside out, rather than the outside in, I was reminded to reconsider how I approach my daily ongoings. What do I do simply because it’s how it’s typically done? And, how might I reconsider my approach and create a new experience with greater fulfillment?
My reflections this weekend continue my theme for 2020 — When the world is flipped on its head, at least it gives you a new perspective. I wish for each of you a new perspective this week filled with joy — a perfect focus for our CNH Spirit Week @ Home this week!!!
Have a wonderful Week 11, everyone!
–Dr. Shyla.
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This Week’s Topics
(click a topic below to link directly to that text)
THIS WEEK — Spirit Week @ Home! 3
Family Participation Hours Explained 4
Help Protect MD Blueprint for Education 5
Save the Date: Family Arts Night with the A-Team (Arts and Athletics) 6
Arts Every Day 10×10 Exhibition 7
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Noteworthy Upcoming Dates:
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THIS WEEK November 16-20 |
Spirit Week!!! |
| November 20 | Our first Virtual All-School!!! (More information to come) |
| November 26, 27 | No School — Thanksgiving Break |
| December 4 | End of Trimester 1 |
| December 9 | Report Cards Mailed and Emailed |
| December 11 | Family Arts Night with the A-Team (Arts and Athletics!!) |
| December 23 – January 3 | No School — Winter Break (return to school January 4) |
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THIS WEEK — Spirit Week @ Home!
We are excited to announce our CNH Spirit Week @ Home! Spirit week will take place 11/16-11/20. Each day will feature a fun theme and challenge for you to try! Let’s all connect with one another to celebrate our CNH pride! As you complete the themes and challenges, please take photos and upload them to the City Neighbors Hamilton Family FB Page (https://www.facebook.com/groups/cnhfamily) or email them to Mr. Jerred (janderson@cityneighborshamilton). Please see the attached document for the day-by-day lineup of themes and challenges.
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Open Mic All-School
This Friday, November 20th, City Neighbors Hamilton will be hosting its first Open Mic All School of the year! Share your talents with the CNH community by uploading a video to Flipgrid (3 minutes or less). Your talent might include singing, dancing, telling jokes, showcasing visual artwork, magic, acting, poetry, etc. We are accepting submissions from students, parents, and teachers, so don’t be shy! Please make sure your talent is appropriate for all ages. The last day to submit your performance is on November 18th.
We will view all performances on the last day of CNH Spirit Week @ Home which is Friday, November 20th at 2pm. Details are forthcoming about our spirit week.
The goal is to have every grade represented at Open Mic All School so please consider sharing your talent! This is a no judgement zone, so understand that the entire CNH community is supporting you!
Flipgrid submission link: https://flipgrid.com/a3344ea1
Open Mic All School zoom link: https://bcps-k12-md-us.zoom.us/j/4623398354
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Family Participation Hours Explained
Dear Families,
We know during remote learning, family participation is looking very different. We know you are engaging in the school activity and helping to create the community we had when we were together, so we want to encourage you to submit Family Participation hours. You can consider logging hours for:
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- Parent-Teacher Conferences;
- Time spent facilitating your student’s distance learning (i.e. helping them log onto their classes, troubleshooting access issues, navigating Google Classroom, etc.);
- Holding a virtual book club or other enrichment activity;
- Hosting a conversation with others in our school community like the Family Nuts & Bolts meeting or class social time;
- Time spent coordinating resources for the school;
- Watching a City Schools Board meeting;
- Posting in the City Neighbors Hamilton Families Facebook group (.25 hour increments);
- Attend a CNH Virtual Committee Night, Family Nuts and Bolts meeting, and/or Board Meetings, and
- Attend the Parent-Teacher Conference or Back-to-School Summit
- Time spent fulfilling a school wish list (for classroom or facilities; i.e., finding extra computer monitors for teachers)
What else have you been doing? Tell us here! We appreciate all you do for our school community!
Thank you!
Elisabeth Hyleck
Director, Family Participation Committee
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Help Protect MD Blueprint for Education
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Save the Date: Family Arts Night with the A-Team (Arts and Athletics)
Join us on December 11 to celebrate learning in our A-Team classes!!! We will have performances and some audience participation activities. Keep an eye out for more information.
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Enrollment 2021-22
School year 2020-21 has just begun, but enrollment season for 2021-22 has begun!
NEW FAMILIES
City Neighbors Hamilton is now accepting enrollment applications for next school year. The deadline to receive applications from new families for inclusion in the enrollment lottery is 3 PM February 3, 2021.
CURRENT FAMILIES
The deadline to receive applications for siblings of current students and children of school staff is January 22, 2021. If your child currently attends CNH, there is no need to reapply. Intent to Return forms will be sent and collected in January. Siblings and children of staff will not be included in the enrollment lottery, HOWEVER, you must submit an enrollment application by January 22, 2021 in order for us to have an accurate count of open seats when we conduct our lottery.
Enrollment applications can be downloaded from https://cityneighborshamilton.org/apply/
and should be emailed to applications@cityneighborshamilton.org. Be sure to clearly indicate “sibling” on the application. Please be aware that the Sibling Preference Policy only applies to siblings of current City Neighbors Hamilton students. It does not apply to siblings of students who are enrolled at City Neighbors Charter School or City Neighbors High School.
If you have any questions about enrollment, please reach out to Enrollment Coordinator, Stephanie King at sking@cityneighborshamilton.org.
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Care Center Site
Families can access the Care Center Site by accessing the CNH Family Site and clicking on the Family Resources tab. You can also click here to access the site. Students, teachers, and families can find different ways to support social-emotional learning on this site. You can also use this site to get in touch with Ms. Lauren & Mr. Jerred.
Care Center Week Ahead…
- Mindful Monday
- Wellness Wednesday
- Find a Friend Friday
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Purchase CNH Gear Online!
Want to represent CNH in all ways? You can purchase shirts, hoodies, mugs, phone cases, etc on our new TeePublic storefront! Click here to check out our products!
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Arts Every Day 10×10 Exhibition
Calling all CNH artists, dancers, singers, poets, and creatives!
With so much going on in the world today, the need to listen to the voices of our youth are so paramount, especially because the decisions we make today will impact the world our children will grow up in tomorrow. For this exhibit, we invite students and teachers of Baltimore City Public schools to think about ways art, in its many forms can be used to inform, create discourse, and further understanding. This call for art encourages students to use whatever creative outlet suits their preferred art process, their intended message, or their call to action. How do you use your VOICE through the arts? Is it through dance, poetry, visual art, music, or film?
REQUIREMENTS TO PARTICIPATE:
- Visual art and photography must measure 10 inches by 10 inches (file types accepted: .jpg, .jpeg, .png)
- Videos, video performances, or short films must be no longer than three (3) minutes, with a file size 2MB of less (file types accepted: .mp4, .m4v (MPEG-4), .mov)
- Poetry/spoken word poetry, and art books will be accepted
- Photographs of 3D works will be accepted
If you have questions, please contact Ms. Cohen – hcohen@cityneighborshamilton.org
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Follow Us on Social Media
CNH is on Social Media — Follow us! Please note that Twitter and Instagram are new endeavors for CNH so please know that it will pick-up momentum with time and more followers. 🙂
- Twitter — @CNHschool
- Instagram — city_neighbors_hamilton
- Facebook — Follow us at our official school page City Neighbors Hamilton (to receive important information) and our City Neighbors Hamilton Family page (where you can share photos and comments with CNH Families as well as Staff)
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Donations to the School
Some families reached out to the school over the summer mentioning that they would like to donate the money they didn’t spend on groceries this summer due to receiving the P-EBT card for their children. Other families reached out to me wanting to donate money to support our acquisition of technology to support families this fall.
If you would like to donate money to the school (for any reason), the easiest ways are through our CashApp or PayPal accounts. Checks mailed to the school will also be accepted. Please add a note, no matter how you might donate, with how you would like it used (general educational expenses, technology, arts, etc).
- CashApp: $CNH346
- PayPal Donate Button on Website: https://cityneighborshamilton.org/
If you aren’t able to donate funds to the school, 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.org.
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Helpful Links
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- The CNH Academic Calendar — This gives all important dates for this year (end of each trimester, Progress Report Conferences dates, etc.)
- CNH Family Site — This is one-stop shopping for families (links to Google Classrooms, Family Resources, the Care Center, Tutorial Videos, etc.)
- School Schedule Spreadsheet — This document has each grade’s schedule with links to Zoom meetings in one mega spreadsheet. (NOTE: Student schedules are also posted in every Google Classroom with links to Zoom meetings)
- Family Participation Hours Log — Any time you participate in a meeting with a staff member, attend a school event, participate in progress report conferences, or attend Committee Night, complete this form so that we can keep track of your participation! Every family needs to log 40 hours of participation each year.
- CNH Main Website — Here is the main website with information about the school and resources.
- CNH Care Center Site — Find resources for supporting your child’s (and your own) social-emotional learning needs as well as see the videos posted for our morning meetings each week.
- COVID Testing Sites — If you are experiencing symptoms, click this link to find a testing site near you.
- Meal Sites — This site provides information for meal sites as well as other resources for accessing food.
- Shyla Rao’s appointment calendar — Feel free to make an appointment if you have questions, comments, or concerns. Shyla looks forward to meeting with you!
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Connecting with Shyla
Below the signature of every email I send from my computer (not the ones from my phone), I have the following text.
Want to meet? Click here to make an appointment. Be sure to add the topic/agenda of our meeting in the Notes section, so that I am prepared. I look forward to speaking with you.
I wholeheartedly mean it when I say that I am happy to meet with you anytime you’d like to talk. It can be something you’re excited or upset about, a new idea you have for the school, if you want to share news about your family, or just to connect. I would love to meet with you!