The Deadline Looms

April 15 traditionally closes tax season every year. If you haven’t filed yet, there is still time to earn the 2015 Arizona school tax credit. Arizona law (ARS 43-1098.01) allows tax payers to receive a tax credit of up to $400 for donations that benefit students in public schools. This credit lowers your state tax debt dollar for dollar.

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March is Women’s History Month, and the 2016 theme, as stated in the title of this feature, is dedicated to honoring women in public service and government. This month typically features events and efforts to recognize and focus on the contributions of women and their “consistently overlooked and undervalued” roles in national and world history. The inroads and work of women in government and activism is sometimes missed and outright ignored, especially when their attention is focused on achieving actionable goals rather than recognition.

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February 29 is Leap Day.

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This week, February 8 – 12, 2016, schools and libraries all over the country are celebrating Love of Reading week. We are having special readers—city officials, police officers, servicemen and women, librarians, curators, parents, athletes, and other community members—come in to share their favorite books with students. For more information, check our newsletter and calendar of events.

Literacy and literacy education remain at the forefront of parent and teacher concerns. In our increasingly digital world, literacy is an indispensable commodity. Being able to read and write fluently is vital to participation and success in the current state of our world. Between text, email, and the time we all spend online, much of the information we consume is in print, so strong reading skills are a must for success today and in the future.

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La Paloma Academy Central students perform “Kind-Hearted Hand” during The Great Kindness Challenge. The tune is the theme song for the week-long national event in which the school participated from January 25-29.

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We believe that high-quality early childhood education is essential for a strong academic foundation that advocates lifelong learning.

Full-day kindergarten programs:

• allow youngsters to develop strong academic, social, and emotional skills
• produce better reading and math skills than half-day programs
• yield students with higher retention and lower dropout rates throughout their academic careers

That’s why we offer FREE all-day kindergarten, plus free before- and after-school care.

Learn More About Free Full-Day Kindergarten

The Patriot Times is hot off the presses! This student-written school newspaper is a combined effort of the La Paloma Academy Lakeside Newspaper Club and the Central campus’ after-school writing and poetry club, Sin Fronteras. Their hard work resulted in a paper featuring the latest news for fellow students and parents, plus original poetry selections, and comics.

Download the Patriot Times

People love to celebrate … everything. On January 18, Thesaurus Day is a celebration of the power of words. This date is the birthdate of Peter Mark Roget, who is best known for creating Roget’s Thesaurus. His name is so synonymous with this type of reference book that the publisher trademarked it. The original version of his Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases, Classified, and Arranged so as to Facilitate the Expression of Ideas was published in 1852 and contained 15,000 words; it has grown with each subsequent version. Roget’s was also the first book of this type that arranged synonymies in topical order, and it is this feature that many credit with the success of his thesaurus over others.

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Students at Tucson charter school, La Paloma Academy, learn about and are encouraged to embody the Six Pillars of Character:

• Trustworthiness: able to be relied on as honest or truthful
• Respect: a feeling of deep admiration for someone or something elicited by their abilities, qualities, or achievements; due regard for the feelings, wishes, rights, or traditions of others
• Responsibility: the state or fact of being accountable or to blame for something; the opportunity or ability to act independently and make decisions without authorization; a thing that one is required to do as part of a job, role, or legal obligation; a moral obligation to behave correctly toward or in respect of
• Fairness: impartial and just treatment or behavior without favoritism or discrimination
• Caring: (adj.) displaying kindness and concern for others; (n.) the work or practice of looking after those unable to care for themselves, especially sick and elderly people
• Citizenship: the character of an individual viewed as a member of society; behavior in terms of the duties, obligations, and functions of a citizen*

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Most parents today are well-aware of the studies showing that children lose knowledge and skills over long breaks from school. The holidays are a time of fun and relaxation for most, but, with a little planning, you might just be able to halt the loss of some of those skills and engage your children in inspiring ways.

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You can help your school by taking advantage of the Arizona School Tax Credit. Arizona law allows taxpayers to receive a tax credit of up to $400 for donations that benefit our students. A tax credit reduces what you owe in state taxes, dollar-for-dollar. For more information and a printable tax credit form, click below.

Download Tax Form

Mars regained the world’s attention this fall, with recent news of the discovery of liquid water on the planet and a new blockbuster film set on Earth’s nearest neighbor, The Martian. This is a timely moment to focus on Red Planet Day, November 28.

Celebrate the fourth planet from our solar system’s sun with our series of blogs discussing general information about Mars, some of the more than 40 space missions humans have launched to study the planet, a section on the future of Mars and plans for manned missions to the planet, and concluding with links to fiction and non-fiction on Mars.

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