The Lions' Lens

As a friend of TLA, we value your support. The Lions' Lens, a quarterly newsletter filled with updates and activity highlights, is our way of sharing all of the great things happening at TLA throughout the year with you. Enjoy these updates from the third quarter of 2022-2023!

Third quarter kicked-off with the TLA STEAM Showcase for scholars and families. It was a great opportunity to learn about and explore hands-on activities in TLA's Applied Arts, Music, Robotics, Information Technology, Art and Engineering Labs. Scholars had their showcase passports stamped at each Lab, earning a prize when their tour was complete. While there were a variety of prizes, the most popular was a homework pass!

Ms. Olson's/Clayton's K5 class paid a visit to Ms. Swanson's/Brown's 1st grade class to learn about the great things Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did. They enjoyed listening to a story about his life and how he made a difference in the world. Afterwards, the K5 scholars were paired with 1st grade scholars to create a puppet of MLK himself. We loved seeing both classes working together!

Congratulations to scholars and staff for their hard work and focus on academics this year. K5-sophomore scholars completed Winter MAP testing and met all school goals. Scholars are on-track for nearly a year and a half of both math and reading growth and nearly two-thirds of scholars met their individual targets. We would like to thank our families for their support with getting scholars to school every day, homework completion and their commitment to academic expectations at TLA!

Middle and high school scholars enrolled in TLA Rocks have been exploring music and performing as part of a performance-based ensemble that incorporates musical instruments and voice in playing contemporary music styles. Stay tuned for upcoming concert information in the school family newsletter and on TLA social media!

We are very fortunate to have Blackhawk Technical College (BTC) in our community and as a key collaborative partner in providing middle and high school scholars access to hands-on college and career exploration opportunities through college visits, career pathway field trips, dual enrollment learning opportunities, the Start College Now program and so much more! Thank you BTC for your partnership in engaging with TLA scholars to explore, learn and earn college credit as they work toward achieving their goals and dreams.

It was a busy winter sports season filled with growth and accomplishment at the middle and high school levels. Individual scholar-athletes, and teams as a whole, continued to build on skills developed last year, making for some great games, matches and cheering. We appreciated the school spirit, support and sportsmanship displayed by our athletes, scholars and families. GO Lions!

After-school clubs this quarter included Art Club, Culinary Club, Gaming Club and Scholar Council. In partnership with PBS Kids, PBS Kids Club, a new engineering and science-focused club for 1st-3rd graders, began at the end of the quarter.

The first annual Someone Special & Me Dance was hosted in February. K4-3rd grade scholars brought their "Someone Special" to enjoy an afternoon dance with a glow-in-the-dark theme. There was plenty of fun and we cannot wait until next year!

First grade pulled-out all of the stops celebrating the 100th Day of School - literally, the 100th day of school! It was a great opportunity to focus on a variety of mathematical concepts that can be taught using the number 100. Scholar creativity was definitely on display!

K4-10th grade scholars spent the months of January-March exploring careers in Arts & Communication, STEAM and Healthcare. Activities included learning through our career exploration platform, participating in career chats and business panels, hands-on exploration and field trips. Thank you to all of our local partners who supported these learning and exploration activities for scholars!

The Morse Group hosted Girls That Build, an event for young women interested in the trades to learn about different opportunities available in the electrical field. Scholars participated in hands-on activities like bending conduit, running wiring from a source to a switch and setting up a circuit to power a light and fan. Summer internship opportunities for high school scholars were also discussed.

Ms. Benisch, the Director of Career Planning and Partnerships at TLA, recently received the Wisconsin Technical Education Association's Special Recognition Award at the Wisconsin Technical Education Annual Conference. Congratulations Ms. Benisch!

From January-March, we focused on the character virtues of responsibility, empathy and honesty. Virtues were infused into all of our curricular subject content and taught through direct instruction with a focus on citizenship and service. At the end of each month, scholars who embodied the monthly virtue at each grade-level were recognized and participated in a field trip. The February trip was to the Stateline Boys & Girls Club. Way to go TLA!

The initial enrollment period for the 2023-2024 school year was a busy one! A lottery was required for all grades except for 6th grade. All grades have been filled for the coming school year, with waiting lists for every grade except 6th grade.

Applicants who received an offer of enrollment must contact the office to accept the offer by April 1, 2023, or the offer will be rescinded and the first scholar on the wait list will be offered enrollment. Applications continue to be accepted and added to the wait list on a rolling basis.

What do you do when both basketball teams request a scholars vs. staff basketball game? You accept the challenge, of course! As Linc the Lion and the whole school cheered them on, the girls team came away with a win and the staff team came out on top in the boys game. Both games were fast-paced, hard-fought and full of school spirit!

We celebrated Read Across America Week with guest readers for primary classes, a reading challenge, Fun Sock Day and cooperative reading activities with middle and primary school scholars. Shout out to the middle school scholars for great modeling!

In honor of AmeriCorps Week, we recognized our amazing Wisconsin Reading Corps members for all they do to support our scholars in achieving reading goals and success. We so appreciate their service to scholars and TLA!

Scholars had fun celebrating math on Pi Day, March 14th, while also giving a pie-in-the-face to some TLA teachers and staff. Scholar Council raised $325 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society through the penny drive in which scholars voted on who would get pied. Our thanks to all the teachers and staff who were great sports!

Do you love working with children and have a passion to help them learn and grow? Do you know someone who has this passion and is looking to make a change? We are hiring for the 2023-2024 school year! Learn more about available opportunities and consider joining our team!

Our Chief Education Officer, Dr. Cole, has a monthly blog. December's blog focused on myths around charter schools and special education, with January highlighting enrollment myths and February looking at why school surveys matter at TLA.

School funding has been a frequent topic lately at both the local and state level. The March blog focused on breaking down data to continue to build local understanding of charter school funding impacts.

We would like to extend our thanks to everyone who, in their own way, has contributed to supporting scholars in preparing to achieve their dreams and live a choice-filled life.

We have many awesome volunteers who continue to give their time to make The Lincoln Academy successful. This quarter we would like to put the spotlight on Donya Bundy! Donya has been a parent volunteer from the start. She has assisted with special events such as Seal-A-Smile, picture day, and TLA’s end-of-year Carnival, just to name a few. Donya always goes above and beyond and has built many positive relationships with our scholars and staff. She finds joy in all that she does. Thank you for all your hard work and dedication, Donya! We honestly could not do it without you.

We would like to gratefully acknowledge a recent donation from Jim and Nancy Packard. Their generous contribution provided operational support for things like equipment, field trips, curriculum, scholar incentives and staff professional development. Thank you for

investing in preparing scholars to achieve their dreams and live a choice-filled life!

Home Depot donated three different project kits, allowing our high school construction and manufacturing scholars to collaborate with every scholar in three different grade levels. The kits each connected to a monthly career focus and/or a unit the younger scholar had just finished learning about. Third graders constructed a toolbox during manufacturing month and, having just learned about stars, the 1st graders made a constellation viewer during STEAM month. Next up, an amphibious vehicle project! Thank you, Home Depot-Janesville, for your donation!

As an independent charter school, TLA receives thousands of dollars less per pupil funding than the traditional public school. It is imperative that we make up the funding gap, partnering with our generous community to ensure we can offer an environment that will give each and every scholar a chance to succeed. Click on the donate button below to learn more and join us in being part of something transformational!

The Lincoln Academy (TLA) is a K4-12th grade public charter school serving Wisconsin residents and committed to reflecting the diversity of Beloit. Built with input from the community, access and equity drives TLA as an innovative, high quality, free public-school option. We expect ALL scholars to graduate from high school with a clear pathway to success.

Email: info@tlabeloit.com
Website: https://www.thelincolnacademybeloit.com/
Location: 608 Henry Avenue, Beloit, WI, USA
Phone: (608) 690-5100
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TLABeloit
Twitter: @TLABeloit