Tis the Season for SCIENCE!

“The 2024 CVA Amaryllis Bulb Scientific Challenge” is in full swing! Your middle school science teachers are finding BEAUTY in the holiday season by sharing a colorful and festive scientific investigation opportunity. This fun scientific investigation is open to any CVA middle schooler, but students must purchase their own Amaryllis bulb (typically $5-$10 each at the store).

BONUS! The middle school science teachers are offering this assignment for extra credit assignment in their science courses. For instructions and a lab report, please check with your CVA middle school science teacher or visit their Teams page.

The middle school science teachers have their own competition to see which one has the Amaryllis bulb that grows the fastest or has the most blossoms within a four-week period. Stay tuned… We will post the results after our Winter Break. Pictured (L to R) are our amazing middle school science teachers: Wendy Stenbeck, Lynnette Franks, Mandie Frizzell and April Beck-Friends

Students in Taylor Spencer’s class meet for an optional weekly Social Club. In this session, they are working together to solve riddles and clues for a virtual escape room!
Other students join a weekly Minecraft Club or a Photography and Art Club.

Columbia Virtual Academy's cover photo

Happy Thanksgiving to our CVA students, families and staff! Reminder: No school on November 28th and 29th!!

Enjoy the next few days as you gather with loved ones and give thanks. Here are a few resources to help make your holiday memorable:

History of Thanksgiving: https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/first-thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Activities for Kids:
https://familyfunandbeyond.com/thanksgiving-activities-for-kids/

Student Spotlight

Isabella Butler is an 11th grader in Diane Germann's homeroom class. She is in her 6th year as a CVA student.
Isabella is pictured here in Crete, Greece, after winning gold in the Ju-Jitsu World Cup. Isabella shared that she is the first Filipino to win the gold for the Youth Team.
We're so proud of your accomplishments, Isabella!!

CVA Student Spotlight

Emma MacDougall, a Kindergarten student in Ms. Marbury's class, competed in her first Ju-Jitsu competition and placed 2nd! (She is in the floral pants). Great job, Emma!!

Veterans Day originated as “Armistice Day” on Nov. 11, 1919, the first anniversary of the end of World War I. Congress passed a resolution in 1926 for an annual observance, and Nov. 11 became a national holiday beginning in 1938. Unlike Memorial Day, Veterans Day pays tribute to all American veterans—living or dead—but especially gives thanks to living veterans who served their country honorably during war or peacetime.

November is National Native American Heritage Month

We honor and celebrate the rich cultures, histories, and traditions of Native American peoples. Take some time this month to learn about the diverse contributions Native communities have made to our society, and to reflect on their enduring influence in shaping the world we live in today. Visit this site for more information:
https://www.nativeamericanheritagemonth.gov/

Trick or Treat! Yesterday was Halloween and this is how Alissa Naccarato's CVA homeroom class celebrated. Have a safe and enjoyable weekend.

CVA Student Travel Opportunity! ????
We’re thrilled to announce an upcoming travel opportunity to Washington DC and New York City in the spring of 2026. This is open to current CVA 6th and 7th grade students.
Our first mandatory informational meeting will be held on October 30th. For more details, scan the QR Code in the attached picture.

VFW Art Contest Winners & Current Essay Contests

Each year CVA students participate in the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Creative Patriotic Art contest in the spring. This year, we had four students receive special recognition and prize money. Mia W., Macy W., and Waylon F., all second graders with CVA, earned participation certificates and prize money. Stanton P. earned first place for 5th grade. For placing first, Stanton’s art moved on to the District level contest. He also earned prizes for his entry. Congratulations to all of you!!

Each fall, the VFW also holds essay contests which are currently open now. This year’s theme for the Youth Essay Program, students in grades 3-5, is “How Should Our Veteran Be Treated?” While the due date listed on the entry form is October 31, these essays with the completed entry form need to be submitted no later than October 28th to Lynnette.Franks@cva.org for local judging.

Patriot’s Pen, for students in grades 6-8, and Voice of Democracy, for students grades 9-12, are now both submitted online and have the October 31st deadline. The theme for Patriot’s Pen is “My Voice in America’s Democracy” and the theme for Voice of Democracy is, “Is America Today Our Forefathers’ Vision?”

Entry forms and directions are attached to this post. We're hoping for lots of CVA entries to show student patriotism!!

Columbia Virtual Academy's cover photo

IT'S OFFICIAL! CVA IS NCAA CERTIFIED!

The first week of school has officially come and gone. Welcome families! We are so glad to have you with us.

**Student Spotlight**
Long time CVA students Kellie and Stanton Pannek are very active in a local Dance Studio where they perform at competitions throughout the year. They both began dancing at the age of 3 and have danced competitively for 4 years. They have performed in two competitions for this season and scored well on each of their teams. They have both performed in duo’s and group dances. Kellie has performed a solo in years past. CVA has allowed them to excel in the dance program in so many ways. The flexibility allows them to travel to the events without getting behind or missing days of school. This year they will compete in 2 more competitions and a national competition in Seaside, Oregon. Their teacher, Mrs. Ruthanna Frizzell have enjoyed working with their whole family for several years now. Their ability to balance school and extracurricular activities at this level is nothing short of impressive. Her weekly video chats with all three Pannek students is the highlight of her week.

Peyton, a sixth-grade student in Mrs. Franks’s class, participated in the Washington State 4-H Horse Bowl competition last Sunday, representing Thurston County on their intermediate team (6-8 grade). Their team placed 3rd and she made top 10 for individual intermediates (coming in 8th overall). She is very proud and saw that studying hard and stepping out of her comfort zone by finding her voice really paid off. We are very proud of her!!

Congratulations, Peyton!

This is the impressive base layout created by CVA student Sam in Mr. Huffman's class. Working alongside his friends from CVA, Sam has designed something truly special in Minecraft Education Edition. His creativity and skill are evident in every detail, making it simply exceptional. Great job, Sam! #MinecraftEducation #washingtonstateeducation #CVA #onlinelearning

Greetings CVA Students and Families!

CVA celebrates our 20th Anniversary this 2023-24 school year. We would like a special T-shirt design to commemorate 20 years of serving students and families through our parent-partnership program. What do you think of us starting a new tradition of having a commemorative CVA T-shirt each year available for CVA students?

If you would like to participate and share your creative T-shirt design for this year, you are encouraged to follow a few guidelines:
-Please include “CVA 20th Anniversary 2023-24” in your design.
-Keep your design simple using 3 colors or less. See our CVA-colored logo in the photo.
- Design due by March 24th. Please send your T-shirt design to your CVA Teacher or Kimber.rolfe@cva.org .
-Participation = 1 free T-shirt of the final design. (CVA staff will vote on a final design.)

Hello CVA Families!

The spring art and music contests sponsored by the Veterans of Foreign Wars Auxiliary are open for your submissions. There are three contests available for your students to participate in. The "Illustrating America Art" Contest is for students grades kindergarten through eighth grade. For high school students grades nine through twelve, there is a 3-Dimensional Patriotic Art Contest. These contests recognize young artists who want to express their patriotism through art. The final contest is the "Get Excited for the Red, White, and Blue" national singing contest for students in grades kindergarten through twelfth grade. Entrants in this contest make a video of themselves singing the Star-Spangled Banner.

The entry forms show the deadline as March 31st; however, that date is incorrect based on information from the local VFW Auxiliary representative. All entries need to be sent to Lynnette Franks by March 13th so that there is time to get the entries to the VFW representative. Please reach out to your homeroom teacher for the applications to any of the contests.

What is CVA

Registration for the 2024-25 school year opens TODAY!

What is CVA

Registration for the 2024-25 school year opens March 1st!

Students in Ms. Dulaney’s CVA class, in grades 3-8, participated in a LEGO TEAMS meet- up to share their creativity. Students shared their expertise and interest with each other, reviewed LEGOS resources, and were able to build connectedness within our virtual class setting through a shared interest.

**Student Spotlight**

Brynlie, age 12, a 7th grader at CVA, can think of few pastimes she enjoys more than crocheting. At age 10, she first decided she wanted to try her hand at this hobby. Although initially a struggle, Brynlie challenged herself to learn with the help of a book. After making a few hats, she soon progressed to crocheting sweaters and plushies. In addition to designing potholders for her parents, she is now considering selling octopus keychains online. Brynlie enjoys creating these colorful animals in various shapes. Learning to crochet was far from easy, but Brylie feels certain her hard work has paid off over time. Take a look at some of her work!

Students in Rebecca Dulaney’s class participated in a class-wide family yoga session on Thursday, January 18, 2024, taught by Susan Reid (Ms. Dulaney’s sister), on ZOOM, all the way from South Carolina. Susan is a certified yoga instructor there. Susan introduced us all to centering energy claps, and we learned some yoga poses like cat/cow, sphinx, and cobra. We ended our session together with a couple meditations including, “Today I want to be”/”Today I am”, and we learned the meaning of “Sat Nam” to challenge each of us to “Be true to ourselves/Be yourself”.

CVA teacher Jason Harrison's 4th-grade student Abigail did exceptional work on the Concept 2 Unit 2 Social Studies "The Power of People" Final Project. This project asks students to select an important citizen from American history, research that person, and develop a wax museum presentation. Abigail selected Amelia Earhart, and her performance is a good representation of Earhart and her life.
#ameliaearhart #virtualschooling #cva

Madison Watts, a 9th-grade CVA high school student, who maintains straight A's has had a lot of success this year wrestling. She's ranked 4th in the state for the small school division . In December, Madison traveled to California for the West Coast Women's Tournament Of Champions and placed 6th in a 68-man bracket. Way to go Madison!

**Student Spotlight**

"This past weekend (January 20th, 2024) I competed in Paris, France at one of the biggest Jujitsu competitions in the sport. I had 2 matches and 2 wins. In my first match, I was able to finish in a minute with a submission. Unfortunately, I injured my opponent but I was able to move on to the finals. In the finals, I won by points with 2 points and 1 advantage! It was a very good match and I learned a lot from this experience. I wouldn't have been able to achieve this without God. Before my matches, I spent most of the time praying that he would give me the speed and the strength to win and thankfully my prayers were answered and I was able to go home with a gold medal. I spent 3 months preparing for this tournament, I spent most of my time In California training for this competition and I did 7 hours of hard training Monday - Friday. I had some minor injuries throughout this but I pushed myself past my limits and worked as hard as I could to make sure I felt prepared enough to win. This was an amazing experience and my next competition will be another major competition in Florida. Thank you for all the support!"

**Isabella, 10th Grade Student at CVA High School, Kettle Falls**

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Why is Monday, January 15, 2024 a school holiday?
We celebrate the life of Martin Luther King Jr, an influential speaker and courageous advocate for the rights of all humans in the United States. He is most known for his role in organizing and inspiring people to stand up against the injustices that were occurring against African American people in the United States in the 1950’s- 1960’s through the use of peaceful protests and boycotts. Martin Luther King Jr. was an eloquent and astute speaker whose leadership and courage helped pave the way for changes to be made.
To learn more about Martin Luther King Jr, you can visit: https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/martin-luther-king-jr
OR,
You can find various Martin Luther King Jr. activities for your student to engage in to learn more here: https://www.teachstarter.com/us/blog/how-to-teach-about-martin-luther-king-jr/

Every Kid Outdoors

Visit www.everykidoutdoors.gov to access a valuable program providing FREE park passes for 4th-grade students to explore Federal Lands and Waters. This initiative, known as Every Kid Outdoors, offers a unique opportunity for young learners to engage with nature. Find more information and print your pass to embark on exciting outdoor adventures! #EveryKidOutdoors #ExploreNature #FreeParkPass