Fall flew past us..

Here we are on November 30th, almost December!! Our kids have been busy studying, working hard, and playing hard too! We have had wonderful opportunities provided to us through our partners and our staff throughout the fall. Here are some snapshots of what has been going on! Thank you for all who have been apart of our journey this fall! You mean more to us than you will ever know!
-- Your Family at CFA


*20/30 Men's club took a bujavascript:void(0)nch of our kids to Wal-Mart for a back-to-school shopping day!*


*20/30 Men's club took a bunch of our kiddos to Wal-Mart for a shopping day!*


*20/30 Men's club took a bunch of our students to Wal-Mart for a shopping day!*


*Mr Young handing out school supplies to the kiddos during Halloween @ CFA!*


*Halloween 2009 @ CFA!*


*Halloween @ CFA brought students & their families in for Parent Night & Trick-or-treating for school supplies! Oct 2009*


*Diamondbacks Strength & Conditioning Coach - Mr. Shaw - came to whip these kids into shape with a short excercise program!*


*Hanging out @ Recess*


*Fall Fun Run Nov 2009 - Letting Balloons go - in Remembrance of Ms. Erin.*


*Mr. Young & Mrs. Leano participating in the Fall Fun Run Nov. 2009*


*Running Hard @ the Fall Fun Run - Nov. 2009*


*Mrs. Fowler participating in the Fall Fun Run - Nov. 2009*


*Mrs. Janiga participating in the Fall Fun Run - Nov. 2009*


*Fall Fun Run - November 2009*

Here we are on November 30th, almost December!! Our kids have been busy studying, working hard, and playing hard too! We have had wonderful opportunities provided to us through our partners and our staff throughout the fall. Here are some snapshots of what has been going on!

Summer went fast..

School has started here at CFA, but we can't forget the 4 wonderful weeks in which we partnered with Communities in Schools of Arizona to have a summer program for our kids! Here are a few of many pictures that were captured during those 4 weeks.

*Water Day @ CFA*


* A little too much fun with markers...*


*Fire Safety from PFD*


*Water Day*


*Water*



*A Night out at the Diamondbacks*


*Fun with Chalk*



*Dance Time*


*Phoenix Recycling came in*


*Making fun of the teachers...*


*Fun time outside*


*Make an angry face ...*


*story time*

Those were just a few pictures of many :)

What a difference a week makes...

To the Arizona Tree Council, Mr. Bob Franchetto, the leadership and crew at GroundsKeeper, Horizon, Steve, Arizona Landscape Contractors Association, Alternative Edge, Ditch Witch...thank you so very much.

The behind the scenes designs, meetings, coordination, execution will make a monumental difference in the lives of our wonderful children.

The cheers from our teachers say it all...we love you, we applaud you and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Life is Brilliant with grass, trees and shrubs!

CFA-Phoenix Talent Fair

Dear CFA Partners: Thank you so much for your support for CFA over the past year! We hope to see you at our event on July 17th! Children First Academy in cooperation with our new partners Communities in Schools are excited to share our collaborative summer program with you! Come for part or all of the event...we would love to see you there! You are invited to eat lunch with the kids, so please indicate if you will also attend lunch when you RSVP to Regina at: reginamitzel@gmail.com 602-712-0500 x23

JOIN OUR CAUSE - JOIN OUR TEAM

We are hiring highly qualified professionals for positions in the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th and 7th grades! Individuals with a desire to be engaged in the civil rights movement of our generation - educating children of homeless families - are invited to apply.

Call 602.615.5586 or visit www.cfaphoenix.org for more information.

Great things are happening!

Kids Need To Read!

To learn more go here!

Thanks Tina!

Take Me Out To The Ball Game!!!

Hat tip to the Arizona Diamondbacks Community Affairs Department! Maxine Royer awards our students with tickets to a baseball game - a reward for demonstrating good character and making provident choices. These are our best and brightest!

Baseball is Brilliant!

60 LAPTOPS!

Every Kid Counts has arranged for the donation of 60 lap top computers to the students of CFA-Phoenix.

At an Executive Board Meeting today, the members voted unanimously to change the lives of over 250 children of homeless families. Adding a the component of a mobile technology infrastructure is an overwhelming cost for any school - the impact will be felt for years to come!

Students and teachers are looking forward to putting these computers to work!

Thanks EKC!

Technology is Brilliant!

To learn more about Every Kid Counts and their rich philanthropic history, upcoming events and projects please visit WWW.EVERYKIDCOUNTS.ORG.

Family Picture Night

How many of you have a family picture? Dogs, cats, brothers, sisters, la de da de everybody? It is comforting to look up on the wall and see that group, reminisce, and maybe poke a little fun at Dad's receding hair line...

Through Each Others Eyes spent all afternoon and evening taking family pictures for 55 of our CFA families! Cutting Edge Style Academy donated 13 sytlists, hair brushes, combs, gel and all the hair fixins you could shake a stick at!





For some, this was their first family picture ever. Thank you to Mrs. Wellman, Mr. Frank, Ms. Gerdon and Mrs. Felix for pulling late hours to support our families.

55 families! Let's triple it next year!

Tim Wilkinson of ING

Tim and his team of exceptional individuals stopped by our school on Monday to PUMP US UP!

He spoke to us about setting goals. He told us how incredibly talented the kids are and how proud of us he is in all that we have accomplished!



Tim GAVE us his Test Taking Tips - FOR FREE! Don't tell anyone!



1. Mental house-cleaning - get rid of all the negative thoughts.
2. Focus - stay with each question and do your best.
3. Set goals and review them every day.

Tim, thank you so much!

Now that's a mouthful!

Our partnership with Community Dental continues. This month alone...

15 children seen and finished treatment plans
60% has no dental history.
13% saw a dentist more than 1 yr ago.
27% saw a dentist within one year

We were able to combat 85 cavities!!! The following is the breakdown:
79 surface fillings were done
2 extractions
4 stainless steel crown
4 baby root canals

CFA has also changed their breakfast menu to reflect our efforts to provide a balanced and healthy lifestyle.

Hearts to Hands provides our children with monthly birthday parties - and they bring healthy snacks and stimulating family/children games for the benefit of the children!

For more information go here and here.

State Capital Visit

The Clothing Room Gets a Makeover!

Our Clothing Room gets a new look once again! We owe our thanks to a very generous and talented friend of the school. The clothing racks were hand-made and custom built just for our room. These racks will help keep the clothing room organized as well as letting the children see the clothes better.

Our School's in the Spotlight!

When I was in college, Mark Crockett told me, "Jarret, you are only as good as the people you surround yourself with." How true.

We stand on the shoulders of giants in our association with Arizona Charter School Association . Their recent feature of CFA - Phoenix in their E-update talks about our mission and our students.

We are proud to partner with such a fine organization. We applaud their efforts on behalf of the students, parents - moreover, the charter community.

Find out more by going here.

SCHOOL IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Nation's Largest School for Homeless Children Offers More than a Quality Education
The students who enroll in Children First Academy - Phoenix are not typical public school students. Many of the children routinely go without life's basic necessities - food, clothing, air conditioning, water, and most importantly a stable home life.
Although many of the students never spend more than one night in the same place, they always have their school to attend each day. It fulfills much more than the typical school's role; it is the sense of stability these children so desperately need.
The staff at Children First Academy address the most critical needs of their students each day - this includes transportation, meals, clothing and even medical and dental care. The school has five buses with no set boundaries. Each day they pick up the children whose addresses change on a weekly, even daily, basis. Breakfast and lunch are provided by the school, and a mobile dental and medical unit visits the kids each week. Children First Academy - Phoenix also has a clothing closet that the children visit once a month. In addition to the clothes, they get hygiene packages complete with shampoo, soap and toothpaste.
To put their plight into dollars and cents, there are approximately 28,000 high school dropouts in Arizona each year, which costs $28 million (or $1 million per dropout) in state revenues, or taxable revenues over the course of their lifetime that they would otherwise inject or infuse into the economy.
Because of the services that Children First Academy provides, it is more than just a school; it is the student's safety net and their lifeline to a better future.

Family Night - Art Walk