Parent Links & Documents

ROBERT TREAT ACADEMY CHARTER SCHOOL

PARENT COUNCIL

Every child. One voice.

One hundred years ago Alice McLellan Birney said, "Let us have no more croaking as to what cannot be done; let us see what can be done, and above all see that it is done." That brisk philosophy still drives the PTA today. While the methods may change to make us more responsive to the demands of an electronic era, the underlying principle does not.

Purpose of the Parent Council

To support the Robert Treat Academy Charter School and its students.

To bring into closer relation the home and the school, that parents and teachers may cooperate intelligently in the education of children and youth.

• To develop between educators and the general public such united efforts as will secure for all children and youth the highest advantages in physical, mental, and social education.

The Parent Council (PC) is committed to increasing parental involvement in support of Robert Treat Academy Charter faculty, staff, and students. Research indicates parent support helps to provide the best learning environment possible for students to be academically successful. And we think that's important.

Get Involved with the RTA PARENT COUNCIL.

Every Robert Treat Academy parent automatically becomes a member of our Parent Council which elects the members of the Parent Council Executive Committee.

The current Parent Council Executive Committee consists of the following officers and members:

President: Tahira Strand

Committee Members:

 Vice President: 

 Officer: Latoya Ferguson 

 Officer: Dana Jones

Parents say that raising their children is the most rewarding aspect of their lives—but that doesn’t mean it’s easy, or that parents always have all the answers.

• Health — If you have health concerns about your children, the American Academy of Pediatrics' site provides excellent children's health information.
  
  
• Media — Today's children have unprecedented access to information and experiences through computers, the internet, video games, TV, and cell phones. Common Sense Media gives parents critical information about digital media choices like the latest "must have" video games.
  
  
• Safety — Keeping your children safe is a primary responsibility of all parents. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children provides resources for keeping kids safe.
  
  
• Substance Abuse — Learn about the types of peer pressure students face, how to talk about the dangers of drug use and how to determine if your teen is using drugs at drugfree.org.

Modern kids have never known a time when they couldn't connect to the entire world via the internet. In fact, they probably spend more time online than anyone else—certainly more than their parents. If you are a parent, this presents a problem, as there are explicit, disturbing, and illegal sites on the web that you don't want your kids to encounter. Furthermore, with the ever-increasing number of devices that kids use to connect, you simply can't supervise every moment they're online on your own. That's where parental control services can help. This software gives you the ability to block unwanted web content, limit screen time, restrict the use of risky applications, and more. Basically, these services are a way to help keep your kids safer on their computers and mobile devices.

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Most manufacturers offer free built-in parental controls on commonly used devices.  Below are some links on how to enable these controls.  If you are looking for directions on a specific mobile device do a google search for “Parental controls on (device name/model)”, most likely you will find instructions within the first few hits. 

Most Apple Devices

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201304

Most Android Devices

https://www.wikihow.tech/Set-Up-Parental-Controls-in-Android

Xbox Devices

Xbox 360 – https://support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-360/security/xbox-live-parental-control
Xbox One –
Setting Age Limits – https://support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-one/security/set-age-limit
Blocking Inappropriate website – https://support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-one/security/block-inappropriate-content

Playstation Devices

https://support.playstation.com/s/article/PS4-Parental-Controls?language=en_US

If you would like to further control, monitor, limit and track your child’s online activity in and out of the home, there are a variety of 3^rd Party applications available for purchase.  Here are just a few of them below.  For more information, google search “Parental Controls at Home”

1. Net Nanny – Blocks Apps, filters websites, history and monitoring (www.netnanny.com)
2. Qustodio –  Web filtering, time limits, games and app blocking, call tracking, read and block text messages (www.qustodio.com)
3. Circle – Time Limits, filters, bedtime, usage, off time, rewards, pause, and history (https://meetcircle.com)
4. Frontier Internet –  https://www.frontierinternet.com/gateway/parental-controls/

Dangerous Internet Challenges

There has been an alarming increase in internet challenges that can put your children at risk.   Some of these so called challenges are cleverly disguised ways, hackers use to try to get information out of people, such as telephone numbers, home addresses, credit card information, etc…  Other challenges are aimed to make your kids perform physical tasks that may put them and others in your household or neighborhood at serious risk.  For example turn on the gas on a stove, disappear for a few days, cut themselves, etc...  It is important to monitor your children while they are online and to teach them about the dangers of the internet and these challenges.  It might seem like a simple game at first but they gradually progress into dangerous territory the longer they play or interact with these types of things.  They are now embedding these challenges into innocent videos.  For example a YouTube video containing a Fortnite tutorial or cartoon like Peppa Pig might start off innocent with the correct safe video, then about midway into the video the challenge will show up, scaring or coercing your children to start cooperating.  Here are some of the latest challenges going viral that we should all be aware of.  For more information you can do a google search about these challenges.

Momo Challenge – https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/what-is-momo-challenge-800470/

Momo Challenge – https://www.dailydot.com/upstream/momo-suicide-challenge-youtube-kids/

48 Hour Challenge – https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/48-hour-challenge-encourages-teens-to-go-missing/5257507/

Bluewhale Challenge – https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewrossow/2018/02/28/cyberbullying-taken-to-a-whole-new-level-enter-the-blue-whale-challenge/#6d8a42e2673e

Class Dojo 
ClassDojo is a classroom tool that helps teachers improve behavior in their classrooms quickly and easily. It also captures and generates data on behavior that teachers can share with parents and administrators. Better learning behaviors, smoother lessons and hassle-free data - and its free!

Language Arts Lesson Plans and Resources 
A wealth of information including online dictionaries, online games, from pre-school to high school. Be sure to scroll to bottom of page to view all links.

The Teacher's Desk
Reading, Spelling, English and Writing activities for grades 5 and 6.

The Web English Teacher 
A variety of sites. Be sure to visit the children's literature, critical thinking, grammar, phonics, reading, vocabulary and writing links.

PBS Teacher Source
Over 3,000 lesson plans by grade level and discipline.

Tampa Reads 
Worksheets and activities for grades K-4. Manuscript handwriting worksheet maker.

The Reading Zone 
Excellent literature site. Includes links to online storybooks, author websites, a must visit.

Storybooks Online 
Young children, older children, young adult categories.

KidsReads 
Want to write to a famous author? Get their addresses here.

Scholastic Authors 
Children's book author biographies. Speak to an author online.

Super Kids Vocabulary Builder 
Features "Word of the Day" (by grade level, also SAT prep), "Hangman" and make your own word searches.

Eduhound Language Arts 
Click on keyword for a listing of sites. Excellent site. Be sure to scroll to bottom of page.

Teacher Vision Literature 
Grade level teacher guides to many classics. Guides include enrichment activities and Internet resources.

Hedgie's Treasure Trove
The official Jan Brett web site. Great for primay grades. Printouts, online games, flashcards, a wealth of primary activities.

Read, Write, Think
Created by the International Reading Association, National Council of Teachers of English and MarcoPolo, this site provides access to the highest quality practices and resources in reading and language arts instruction.

Fable Vision Library
TeleFables stories for your desktop. Download these stories to your desktop and read to your class at a later time.

1000 Ideas for Writing
1000 story starters for your students.

Reading A-Z
Offers 30 free downloadable primary books.

Super Summary
The Ultimate Teacher Resource Guide

NOTICE TO PARENTS REGARDING THE SCHOOL WEBSITE AND ECHALK

To help clear up some confusion we are posting this quick guide on how to use echalk to help find your child’s classroom pages.  It is first important to note that you do NOT need to create parent accounts.  If you find yourself at the parent account creation screen you are in the wrong spot.  Please follow these step by step directions for quick and easy access to your classpage. 

Directions for K-5

1. Go to our website www.roberttreatacademy.org
2. Hover over the Directory button and click on Class Page Directory (see image #1 below)
3. Scroll down on the left side and find and click on your grade level (see image #2 Below)
4. Find and click on the desired classroom (see image #3 below)

Image #1

Image #2

Image #3

Directions for 6-8

1. Log on to www.roberttreatacademy.orgOpens in a new browser tab
2. Hover over the Directory button and click on Class Page Directory (see image #1 above)
3. Scroll down on the left side and find and click on your grade level (see image #2 above)
4. Find and click on the desired classroom (see image #4 below)
5. 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th grade homework pages will take you directly to their corresponding homework calendars (see image #5 below)

Image #4

Image #5

Children who struggle in school benefit from tutoring, which helps them gain confidence and skills if they’ve fallen behind. Even if your children are excelling in school, tutoring can still be of great benefit, boosting their confidence and preparing them for the next level.

Tutoring services may be available through the school, but parents are encouraged to take on an active role by home tutoring their children.