The 2011/12 Application Period is Open!

Thank you for your interest in our school. Our application period is now open.

We are accepting applications for grades Kindergarten through eighth grade. We will be accepting applications between January 1, 2011 and March 31, 2011.

Applications are accepted per a public lottery drawing in April. Check with our front office for the specific date on or after April 1st. All parents will be notified by April 30, 2011 as to their status.

Late applications, received after March 31, 2011, will be considered only after our entire lottery is
exhausted.

You must re-apply every year if your child is not accepted.

Additional Information:

Siblings of currently enrolled students are given priority. An application for siblings is still required.

Kindergarten Applicants must be 5 years of age on or before October 15, 2011.

How to Apply:
1. Fill out an application and send it in.
2. Attend a mandatory information session for enrollment. Information Sessions are scheduled
on the following dates:

January 25(Tuesday) 6:00 p.m.
February 16(Wednesday) 6:30 p.m.
March 19(Saturday) 10:00 a.m.

Quick Information about Innovations Academy:

Current Enrollment: 253
Programs: 5 day attendance, 3 day attendance and 2 day attendance
Teaching Methodology: Student Centered Project Based Learning, Differentiated Instruction, and our Explorations Program.
Grade Levels: K-8th grade
Academic Year Type: Traditional
Student Teacher Ratio: Maximum 25:1
Before/After School Care Available: Yes, for a fee, from 7:00 a.m.- 6:00 p.m.
Cost: FREE -- We're a public charter school.

Weekly Update

Good Evening, Innovations Community!

1)The Holiday break is coming and I would like to encourage you to find a good read aloud book and set the goal of reading every day aloud to your children. Hearing stories read aloud is important for all age levels, including our eighth graders. Don’t let your children miss out.

2) This is the last week for DeeDee’s class to accept non-perishable food donations for Feeding America-San Diego. Contribute to their service learning project by bringing in a non perishable food.

3) Did you know that tomorrow, Monday, Dec 13th, there will be a Groupon for Donorschoose.org. For $10, you can give $25 worth of donations. If you do groupons, we would appreciate the donation. We currently have at least one teacher with a donorschoose request.

See his request here:
http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=447739&verify=1256076429

4) Monday is our fundraising night at Fresh and Easy. Staff from Innovations will be bagging groceries. Stop in and visit them. Do your grocery shopping for the week tomorrow at Fresh and Easy in North Park.

5) Monday is busy. Our December board meeting is held at 6:30 upstairs in Tony’s room.

4) This Friday is Pizza Friday. $3 for one slice and $4 for two slices. This includes fruit and water. Support our 8th grade and get a nice hot lunch.

Fresh & Easy Fundraiser

Monday evening December 13th is IA Night at the "Fresh & Easy" Grocery store at 32nd and University--It's a beautiful brand new store. From 4 - 8 pm, IA is hosting shoppers at the store. We are asking all families to come and shop on Dec 13th from 4 - 8 pm as IA gets 5% of the total sales generated during this time frame. Ask your friends and neighbors to shop at this time as well-- it's all money for our school! When you come to shop, make sure you check in with our parent volunteers as we will offer a party to the class with the most participation in this event.

We need parent volunteers for the night to help greet, bag groceries and hand out free samples. We have 20 one hour shifts available. Please call Michelle Anderson at 951-541-4664 or Tami Hermann at 619-246-4395 and let us know when you can help, or email Michelle at michelle@innovationsacademy.org. Kids are welcome to work along side their parents. This is a great way to meet other families from IA.

Thanks for helping. See you Monday evening as we shop to raise money for IA!

Explorations Program

The Explorations Edition of Highlights is here! Learn all about our Explorations Program, just one part of what makes IA stand out.

If you know of any businesses that would like to sponsor the program and make a year end donation please see our Facebook Causes page!

Changing Education Paradigms

Here's a great video from the RSA where Sir Ken Robinson talks about Changing Education Paradigms.

What are your thoughts on this video?

Innovations Extended Care Info

We often get the question, "Do you offer before and after care?"

Yes! Innovations Extended Care Program is dedicated to creating a fun and creative environment that will inspire students to learn new skills, make new friends, and enjoy being a kid! For more information download our Extended Care Handbook.

A few facts about Extended Care:
1. Before care begins at 7:00am and ends at 6:00pm.
2. Student/Staff ratio of 20:1.
3. Use of Positive Behavior Management just like during the school day.
4. Reasonable pricing at $5/hr. See attached doc for pricing, drop ins are allowed. We would love to be able to offer the Innovations Extended Care program for free. If any parents would like to work on getting grants to sustain this program, please contact the Director.

Please contact Donna in the main office for more information.

Thank you to Solar!

Here is an article about the Extreme School Makeover and the help that Solar provided us with.

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Volunteering article – “The Season of Giving”

As the season of giving comes just around the corner, the spirit of giving at Solar is in full force.

On Saturday, October 9, a team of 45 Solar employees took San Diego’s Innovations Academy by storm in an “Extreme School Makeover” project, in conjunction with Volunteer San Diego’s Serve-a-thon. Volunteers transformed two empty, industrial spaces into fun and inviting playrooms by painting murals, constructing planter boxes, building walls and working on an indoor tree house.

“Charter schools are not given facilities, so we are located in a business park with no outdoor play space and are using these industrial bays as our play area,” said Christine Kuglen, Founder and Director of Innovations Academy. “It’s difficult to find the time and money to do what we want to do so that the kids feel like they have a great area to play in, so we are very appreciative for the Serve-a-thon and volunteers coming in to create a beautiful space that we wouldn’t have had otherwise.”

Pedro Ruiz, a second shift painter in the industrial coatings 149 division, brought his family in to help with his assigned project – a mural of San Diego’s skyline. “We thought it was a great opportunity to get involved and help teach our kids the value of giving back,” said Pedro.