Welcome to a new school year!

We would like to welcome you and your child to the Virtual Learning Academy.  We hope they enjoy their courses and find them beneficial in their quest for a high school diploma.

As they work on their courses and have questions, please remind them to email their teacher through the internal email system.   And remember to remind them to save after each question as they work to make sure they don't lose any work in case of a power outage or other unforeseen circumstance. 

We look forward to working with your child and hope they enjoy this school year! If you have any questions as the year progresses, please contact your school district that signed your child up for VLA. 

Have a great school year!

Home Project: Fireworks in a Glass

Fireworks in a Glass

Safe Simulated Fireworks for Kids

By Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D., About.com Guide

A red 'firework' explodes underwater.

Anne Helmenstine

 

Fireworks are a beautiful and fun part of many celebrations, but not something you want kids to make themselves. However, even very young explorers can experiment with these safe underwater 'fireworks'.

What You Need

• water
• oil
• food coloring
• tall clear glass
• another cup or glass
• fork

Create Fireworks in a Glass

1. Fill the tall glass almost to the top with room-temperature water. Warm water is ok, too.
2. Pour a little oil into the other glass. (1-2 tablespoons)
3. Add a couple of drops of food coloring. I used one drop of blue and one drop of red, but you can use any colors.
4. Briefly stir the oil and food coloring mixture with a fork. You want to break up the food coloring drops into smaller drops, but not thoroughly mix the liquid.
5. Pour the oil and coloring mixture into the tall glass.
6. Now watch! The food coloring will slowly sink in the glass, with each droplet expanding outward as it falls, resembling fireworks falling into water.

How It Works Food coloring dissolves in water, but not in oil. When you stir the food coloring in the oil, you are breaking up the coloring droplets (though drops that come into contact with each other will merge... blue + red = purple). Oil is less dense than water, so the oil will float at the top of the glass. As the colored drops sink to the bottom of the oil, they mix with the water. The color diffuses outward as the heavier colored drop falls to the bottom.

Thank a teacher!

It's Teacher Appreciation Week! We need to be appreciative of the many things teachers do to help our children. Without them, where would we be?? When you see a teacher this week, thank them for all they do to help children learn! Send the online teacher a message. Have your child send an internal email message.

End of School Year

Parents,

It's getting close to the end of another school year! Your child may have to complete his/her VLA coursework by the end of the school year. If you are unsure of the deadline, please call your school and speak to the person who signed your child up for VLA. Encourage your child to work on a daily basis in order to finish in a timely manner. Perhaps provide some incentive of a reward if finished on time. For instance, offer to take them to a movie, buy them a video game, take them to the library to pick out a book they've been wanting to read, etc.

We hope VLA has been and will continue to be a positive experience for your child. If we can answer any questions for you, please don't hesitate to call.

iPad Browser

For those who would like to utilize VLA on the iPad, we have found that "Puffin" is the best web browser for displaying Flash content in VLA. You can download this app from the iTunes App Store.  Puffin is free for 14 days, or you can purchase it for $2.99.

Spanish K-12

The Virtual Learning Academy is very pleased to announce that we now offer a seamless K-12 curriculum for Spanish! This means that children as young as Kindergarten can start learning the Spanish language and continue through Spanish IV. Most children in school do not have an opportunity to take Spanish until they begin Spanish I in high school. School districts can also use the Spanish curriculum K-8 for enrichment purposes to prepare students for Spanish I-IV. Contact your school district for more information.