August 24

Celebrations! Successful first week of orientation  Supply Pick-ups were successful  Great to see our kiddos in Meets and in-person for pick ups IA’s supporting the childcare room! Kesha (our very own), Angel and Yessika!!  They are new staff to Underwood that will be supporting the childcare room.   We have approval from HR for Mrs. Brett Pesce to be our interim school Counselor starting on September 14th

Wishing Well Amy Schnitzer

Important Upcoming Dates August 24-28 Week 2 of Orientation  8/24 - Business Meeting at 11:30 am 8/25 - Leadership Meeting at 8:00 am 8/26 - Wind Down Wednesday 8:30 pm (optional for staff) -- Accessing your child’s online learning, Technology Tips for Parents, Q&A 8/28 - Student Service Team meeting 8:15 *Be sure you have this WCPSS 2020-2021 calendar to reference for the year.

Communication	Collaboration
It’s important that you know who in your  classroom doesn’t have Memberhub.  For  those students, you will will need to establish  another way to communicate that  information through Google Classroom,  email, etc.  If families want to join  Memberhub (new students, incoming siblings) they can join here.  If they have been  receiving communication, no need to re-sign  up (our Memberhub chair) will move the  Child up to the next grade level. Leave Options 2020-2021 School Year-   We know there are so many questions in regards to leave this school year.  Please review this document the county has provided in regards to leave options.  Contacting Spanish-Speaking Parents by Phone:  WhatsApp Simple, free way to communicate with families.  You can download it to your phone and computer.  Many of our Spanish speaking families utilize this app and it is an easy way to stay in communication with them.  Morning Screening:  If you arrive after the “wellness screening check-in” at the front door, please ring the doorbell (regardless if you have your badge) and tell Holly or Cindy that you are just arriving.  They will meet you at the door and do the screening.  Do not come in the building until your screening is complete.  The expectation if you are working in the building for the day is to arrive between 7:45-8:45.	Elective update:  This week Ashley will work on uploading classes into SOCR and creating 1 page “mini” elective brochures and grade level google forms.  The goal is to get elective brochures/google forms to teachers on Friday, August 28th.  Virtual elective sign up would be August 31st-September 4th for students.  Chromebook or Hotspot Needs:  The county is working to get these devices to all students.  As of Thursday night, they only have done highschool.  If parents ask, please let them know where the county is in the process.  The parent/parents will receive a message from School Messenger when they can pick-up.   Donors Choose- Teachers, if you've never created a DonorsChoose project, next week DonorsChoose can help you get some extra learning resources for the year ahead. From Sunday, August 23 to Saturday, August 29 only, When you submit your first Donors Choose project, your project will receive an automatic $50 kickoff donation from the Donors Choose Team. You’ll also receive a shareable promo code, doubling additional donations made during your project’s first week on the site. Whether you need books for your students, a new coding kit, or something else entirely — this can be an extra tool to help out. Already a DonorsChoose pro? You can earn $25 for every teacher you refer, so don't hesitate to help other teachers get set up! Get started here.
Critical Thinking	Connection
If you have a family who is having tech  problems that are not resolved by sending  them the appropriate video in Spanish,  please have them call (919) 694-8100 and  choose option 2.  This will connect them  directly to a Spanish speaking agent that will  help them. If the issue is not resolved they  will fill out a heat ticket and someone from  tech support who also speaks Spanish will  call them back.  They can also fill out the  student technology assistance form https://www.wcpss.net/domain/17256  (switch the language to Espanol) and a  member of the Helpdesk will reach out via phone. Ongoing questions/answer document	Communicate with Jessica the students who did not pick up their supplies.  If you are willing to drop off supplies to students, please also let her know. Check-out Olivia’s email about the Sunshine Squad’s “new” event!!! Tie Dye the white masks!!!
Technology Updates/Highlights
This week’s Media/Tech blog post…. WCPSS Approved Websites and Apps/Extensions 3 Ways to See Your Students While Presenting in Google Meet Integrating Seesaw into Google Classroom How to Force a Copy of a Google Doc https://ugtmmediatech.blogspot.com atrowell@wcpss.net   919-272-5592

May 26-29

Families, 

Remote Learning Plans for May 26-29 -- Kindergarten - Fifth Grade Plans 

Closing Out School Year - reminder that students’s pick up of materials and report cards start on June 1st --- here are expectations and pick up dates and times -- Underwood Collection of Resources for Closure 2020

5th Grade celebration --- Save the date for June 12th 5th grade families -- 5th grade celebration info
Make it a GREAT week! 
 
Wishing you well 



Mr. Shillings

April 27-May 1

Families, 

We had a successful Foundation Virtual Gala, congratulations to those that won auction items. Also thank you those that donated to our Foundation. If you missed it and would like to donate to the Underwood Foundation, you can at https://e.givesmart.com/events/f6G/. 

Remote Learning Plan for the week of April 27th - May 1st https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kTi8LzS9r2mdnim5WoGNzVB8O0_jF_ATu0oaMZt0yYE/edit?usp=sharing 

All schools closed for the remainder of the school year

Governor Cooper announced today that all public school buildings will remain closed for the rest of the school year. In keeping with this order, all WCPSS school buildings will remain closed for the remainder of this school year for in-person instruction. Our students and staff will continue with remote learning and teleworking for the remainder of the school year. We will work on the implications of this decision and continue to update families and staff as we work through solutions. 

Helping 5th graders transition to middle school 

Even under normal circumstances, the transition from elementary to middle school is often an exciting, yet nerve-racking time for students. We want rising 6th graders to feel prepared for middle school. Parents can help enhance students‘ comfort level with this change by exposing them to common concerns that arise in middle school and equipping them with skills necessary to be successful. We encourage you to read and review this transition guide with your rising 6th grader. 

Pandemic Electronic Benefits program (P-EBT) for eligible families

North Carolina approved the distribution of additional resources to families receiving free or reduced-price lunch. The additional benefits will be through the Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer Program (P-EBT) to help families buy food during the COVID-19 school closure.

Applying for federal free or reduced price school meals

We realize that many families’ economic and employment situations have changed during this pandemic. Families can apply at any time for free or reduced price lunch, which may also qualify you for other state and federal benefits. 

Here are the locations for food pickup  - https://www.