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Bringing Curriculum to Life
From Hibernation to Looking Forward to Spring
A favorite time of year at CBS Preschool is winter, when pre-K children learn about hibernation. Teachers Jillian and Sara explain that bears are not the only animals that hibernate. What other animals hibernate? Where do these animals hibernate? Why do they hibernate?

Part of the fun is bringing the curriculum to life. Each child is asked to bring a stuffed animal that would hibernate - bears, turtles, snakes and more - to school on the first day of winter. Each child gives their special hibernating animal a hug and kiss, then gently places them into a special, safe place for their animals to hibernate for the winter. Shhhh - they're sleeping!
One the first day of spring, each child gets to wake up their hibernating animal, give it a hug and kiss - just the way all children should wake each day - and take them home.
CBS Preschool 254-2411

Legacy Christian Academy

Why an Early Investment in Education Matters
It's a common friendly debate among parents - do you invest in the best private education for your children while they are young, or do you stock away those resources until they're older - so they can use it for college?

"In our experience," says Tim Borruel, co-founder and superintendent emeritus of Legacy Christian Academy, "parents report that in many ways because of their early investments in their children's education, their high schoolers are earning scholarships to prestigious universities, saving big on out-of-pocket expenses for Mom and Dad."

But does private education in elementary and middle school really make that big of a difference? It depends, says local education expert and Legacy Head of School Matt Millett. "Parents have to take a variety of variables into consideration to ensure that their investment in early education makes financial sense for the long term." Millett suggests comparing private versus public in the realms of class size and teacher:student ratios; technological resources; opportunities for high-quality enrichments like dedicated art, music, foreign language and technology classes; STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics) programming, resources and curriculum; and campus investments for safety. Parents should also consider elements that may be important to their family culture, like character-building and faith education.
"What we've seen in the field of education over the years," shares Ryan Anthony, Legacy's middle-school dean of students, "is that one of the biggest predictors of success - from college graduation rates to career earnings and even in qualitative studies on happiness - is that education in childhood matters. A high-quality education early on prevents achievement gaps - there's no 'catching up' in high school and college when you start ahead of the game."

At Legacy's recent alumni gathering, graduates new and old joined together to reminisce on their experience at Legacy - and how it shaped their experiences in high school, college and beyond. "The general consensus was: Legacy laid the groundwork for success in high school advanced-placement classes, which earned them scholarships to college, where they excelled because of the study skills they learned at Legacy... and then they entered their careers, excelling in the interview process because of the speaking and reasoning abilities they developed at Legacy!" says Carl Astrera, the Valencia campus's alumni director. "It really clarified for me how the benefits of a Legacy education were at the root of our alums' success. There were a lot of smiles, hugs and thank yous when they saw some of their childhood teachers!"
Legacy Christian Academy serves a Kinder-through-eighth student population on their high-tech, Christian-based campus. Tours are available. Legacy Christian Academy 257-7377

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SCVi Accepting Enrollment Applications
for Spring & Fall 2020
Santa Clarita Valley International is ringing in the new year with a reminder for families of prospective students that the tuition-free public charter school is accepting enrollment applications for this spring and for the fall 2020 enrollment lottery.
Limited spots remain available for the spring at SCVi, the founding campus of iLEAD Schools, offering learner-centered education in grades TK through 12. iLEAD Schools uniquely emphasize methods that foster social-emotional development. A cornerstone of SCVi's philosophy is project-based learning, an innovative, research-based method of instruction that requires students to tackle deeply-engaging projects about real-world issues. For learners in upper grades, an academic and college counselor works with each student to create a plan to help them succeed.

SCVi is the only local school to offer the rigorous International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme for juniors and seniors. SCVi also offers Innovation Studios, a hybrid learning opportunity for sixth through 12th grades that leverages technological and human resources.

The school offers a high-quality arts and theatre program for all grades, headed by educator and acclaimed actor Ian Johnston, who directs iLEAD's International Baccalaureate theatre program.

Sports are offered from Kindergarten through 12th grade, with Upper School teams participating in the CIF Omega League. Sports include basketball, soccer, flag football, volleyball, cross country, softball, baseball, golf and equestrian. Renowned coach Ken Erenberg joined SCVi as athletic director in 2018.
SCVi is located in Castaic. Call to request a tour. 705-4820

Good Dental Health is Vital to a Child's Education
Kids can't learn if they aren't in school, which is just one more reason to ensure that your child's dental health routine is well established.

According to a groundbreaking study using The National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), over 1.5 million school days are lost annually to dental problems in children. 5 million days of restricted activity were also logged, as well as 1.6 million days in bed. The study was limited to dental problems, like infection. Routine checkups, for example, were excluded in the findings.
What does this data tell us? Too often, children are missing out on vital education hours because of dental issues - many of which are avoidable with good home and office care.
Santa Clarita Children's Dental 735-1500