Building A Healthy Charter School In 2013, Carbondale Community School became one of six trailblazing schools to join the Wellness Advisory Collaborative supported by the Colorado League of Charter School’s Building Healthy Charter Schools Initiative.1 As part of the Wellness Advisor Collaborative, our school worked with a wellness advisor to form a school health and wellness vision, develop an action plan, implement sustainable strategies, and connect to other schools and resources. 2 Results of CCS’s…

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 At Carbondale Community School, kids in grades K-4 get at least 55 minutes of recess a day and kids in grades 5-8 get a minimum of 25 minutes at lunch, plus frequent breaks that get them moving and outside. As a school, we are committed to the whole child, so that means sustaining kids’ access to the physical, social, emotional, and cognitive benefits of recess. Here’s what the American Association of Pediatrics has to say…

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Dear CCS Parents, After a month at CCS it has become very apparent that the CCS parent community contributes a great deal to the success and well-being of our students and our school. Thank you. In this post, I will share information about ways parents can continue the strong tradition of engagement and offer new opportunities. Attend Back to School Night – Thursday, October 5th 6:30 pm First and foremost, please attend back to school…

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Overcoming challenges can lead to greater compassion and agency. Agency has many definitions. When we say students have agency, we are utilizing this noun to describe a person through which power is exerted or an end is achieved (Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary). I witnessed students utilizing their agency to summit Mt. Sopris last week, and it made me think:   Students are overcoming challenges ALL THE TIME, big and small, each and every day, and quite frequently with the…

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