Cleveland Arts and Social Sciences Academy

As the academic school year comes to a close, Cleveland Arts and Social Sciences Academy, a charter school in Cleveland, Oh., would like to invite parents to enroll their children in the school for the 2010-2011 school year.

Enrollment is now open to all students residing in the respective school district. Cleveland Arts and Social Sciences Academy can accommodate students entering into kindergarten to 8th grade. It is imperative that parents submit enrollment applications for each student planning to enroll, as early as possible.

Cleveland Arts and Social Sciences Academy implements a thematic, interactive program that incorporates multiple learning styles. Mornings are dedicated to building solid skills in the core subject areas of reading, writing, math and science. While the afternoons are reserved for foreign language, music, physical education and a daily 90-minute block of Cleveland Arts and Social Sciences Academy’s Paragon curriculum.

The Paragon curriculum is interdisciplinary, engaging, discovery-based and multi-cultural. The hands-on approach of Paragon addresses the multiple intelligences and individual learning styles. This enhances students’ communication skills, analysis and self-expression.

Cleveland Arts and Social Sciences Academy also offers an emotionally and physically safe learning environment, access to computers and technology, committed and qualified teachers and staff and encourage parental involvement. Teachers will conduct regular goal setting conferences with individual children and their parents, to ensure the student’s success.

To pre-enroll, click here .

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recognizes that school administrators, teachers, staff, and parents are concerned about the flu, particularly its effects on children. Schools are instrumental in keeping their communities healthy by taking actions such as posting information about hand hygiene in restrooms, providing flu prevention messages in daily announcements, and being vigilant about cleaning and disinfecting classroom materials.

The following are some answers to questions commonly asked by school administrators, teachers, staff, and parents:

General Information about the Disease

What is influenza (flu)?

The flu is a contagious respiratory illness caused by influenza viruses. It can cause mild to severe illness, and at times can lead to death. The best way to prevent the flu is by getting a flu vaccination each year.

Every year in the United States, on average:

• 5% to 20% of the population gets the flu;
• more than 200,000 people are hospitalized from flu complications;
• 20,000 of those hospitalized are children younger than 5 years of age; and
• about 36,000 people die from flu.

Some people, such as older people, young children, and people with certain health conditions (such as asthma, diabetes, or heart disease), are at high risk for serious flu complications.

How does the flu spread?

Flu viruses spread mainly from person to person through coughing or sneezing of people with influenza. Sometimes people may become infected by touching something with flu viruses on it and then touching their mouth or nose. Most healthy adults may be able to infect others beginning 1 day before symptoms develop and up to 5 days after becoming sick. That means that you may be able to pass on the flu to someone else before you know you are sick, as well as while you are sick.

What are the symptoms of the flu?

Symptoms of flu include:

• fever (usually high)
• headache
• extreme tiredness
• dry cough
• sore throat
• runny or stuffy nose
• muscle aches
• Stomach symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, also can occur but are more common in children than adults

Although the term “stomach flu” is sometimes used to describe vomiting, nausea, or diarrhea, these illnesses are caused by certain other viruses, bacteria, or possibly parasites, and are rarely related to influenza. Please also see “ Is it a Cold or the Flu“.

How long is a person with flu virus contagious?

The period when an infected person is contagious depends on the age and health of the person. Studies show that most healthy adults may be able to infect others from 1 day prior to becoming sick and for 5 days after they first develop symptoms. Some young children with weakened immune systems may be contagious for longer than a week.

What is the difference between a cold and the flu?

The flu and the common cold are both respiratory illnesses but they are caused by different viruses. Because these two types of illnesses have similar flu-like symptoms, it can be difficult to tell the difference between them based on symptoms alone. In general, the flu is worse than the common cold, and symptoms such as fever, body aches, extreme tiredness, and dry cough are more common and intense. Colds are usually milder than the flu. People with colds are more likely to have a runny or stuffy nose. Colds generally do not result in serious health problems, such as pneumonia, bacterial infections, or hospitalizations.

How can you tell the difference between a cold and the flu?

Because colds and flu share many symptoms, it can be difficult (or even impossible) to tell the difference between them based on symptoms alone. Special tests that usually must be done within the first few days of illness can be carried out, when needed to tell if a person has the flu.

For more information about “Flu: The Disease” visit http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/disease/.

Preventing and Treating the Flu

What can I do to protect myself against the flu?

CDC recommends a yearly flu vaccine as the first and most important step in protecting against this serious disease. While there are many different flu viruses, the flu vaccine protects against the three main flu strains that research indicates will cause the most illness during the flu season. The vaccine can protect you from getting sick from these three viruses or it can make your illness milder if you get a different flu virus.

If you do get the flu, antiviral drugs are an important treatment option. Antiviral drugs are prescription medicines (pills, liquid or an inhaler) that fight against the flu by keeping flu viruses from reproducing in your body. Antiviral drugs can make your illness milder and make you feel better faster. They may also prevent serious flu complications. This could be especially important for people at high risk. For treatment, antiviral drugs work best if started soon after getting sick (within 2 days of symptoms).

In addition, you can take everyday preventive steps like frequent hand washing to decrease your chances of getting the flu. If you are sick with flu, reduce your contact with others and cover your cough to help keep germs from spreading.

Flu Resources for Schools

Where can I get more information about the flu?

For more information and updates about the flu, call CDC’s hotline or visit CDC’s Web site. You can call the CDC Flu Information Hotline (English and Spanish) at:

800-CDC-INFO (800-232-4636)
888-232-6348 (TTY)

You can visit CDC’s flu Web site where you can access the following:

• Information about preventing the spread of flu in schools;
• “Be a Germ Stopper” and “Cover Your Cough” posters formatted for printing;
• “It’s a SNAP” toolkit , which includes activities that school administrators, teachers; and students and others can do to help stop the spread of germs in schools.

To find contact information for your state or local health department, go to http://www.cdc.gov/other.htm.

A group of teachers, curriculum specialists and Mosaica executives gathered for the Mosaica Math Summit on May 4 and 5. The summit focused on ways to increase math achievement at Mosaica schools around the world. Dawn Linden, Mosaica’s Director of Education explained the purpose of bringing these educators together: “Mathematics achievement is high on our list of priorities and we’re looking for innovative, effective strategies to increase conceptual understanding, and to ensure that we’re reaching each student every day.”

Referencing the Final Report of the U.S. Department of Education’s National Mathematics Advisory Panel (2008), summit attendees reviewed various math programs’ strengths and weaknesses and explored successful methods used in the United States and by countries that performed well on TIMMS, with the goal of adopting best practices from around the globe, raising math interest, and making math an integral part of school culture. Michael J. Connelly, Mosaica’s Chief Executive Officer, announced the rationale at the beginning of the summit: “Literacy and numeracy are the twin tools for international success on the global stage of the 21st century. Our schools are committed to high levels of student achievement and the development of life-long learners who are comfortable participating on that stage. Following our Literacy Summit, which launched our highly successful Literacy Initiative two years ago, this Math Summit is the both the culmination of years of research and planning and the beginning of the implementation phase.”

As a result of the decisions taken at the summit, Mosaica Education will implement a system-wide Math Initiative beginning in the fall of 2009. This initiative focuses on placing Math Coaches in every school, increasing the number of high-quality math teachers at every grade, exploring ways to offer alternative certifications to math teachers coming from science and industry, and bringing math specialists to upper elementary grades. The initiative will also adjust the daily schedule to allow for 90 minutes of uninterrupted math in all grades; provide additional professional development for teachers to cultivate confident implementation of the new program; develop math clubs and competitions in all schools; and – perhaps most importantly – ensure that learning math will be FUN!

Dr. Dawn Eidelman, Mosaica’s Co-Founder and President of its Paragon Division commented, “The beauty of our new initiative is that it will augment project-based learning by linking mathematics more integrally to the history of great ideas and great people in world culture through our Paragon curriculum. To innovate purposefully and to design the future, we must build upon the lessons from our past.”