December 19th

Communication

Elective brochures should be turned into Alexandria/Ashley's mailbox once received.

Case 21 for grades 2-5: January 17, 18, 24 & 25.  Tanya and Daphne are working on the schedule and will let you know what days/times your children will be testing!

Creativity

Mark your calendars!  The 5th grade Visual Arts Residency Project will be showcased at CAM on January 6th.  Student pieces, as well as the class collaborative Coral Reef Projects will be on display.  Our event will be from 5-6pm with the display opening to the public at 6pm.  The displays will be up at CAM until January 8th with free admission for Underwood staff/families until then.  We hope to see you there!

Thank you to Rachel, Melissa, Kellie, JR and Jill for an outstanding Holiday Performance!  The children outdid themselves! :)

Critical Thinking

* Apply Now for 2017-18 Kenan Fellows Program

  As a reminder, the Kenan Fellows Program for Teacher Leadership is accepting online applications for the 2017-18 fellowship year through Jan. 16. - Info for Keenan Fellows - 

Collaboration

Last Thursday, Kim Hughes worked closely with 5 teachers to continue their implementation of Conscious Discipline in their classroom!

Ashley, Daphne and Kindergartners celebrating completing the five steps in Feeling Buddies!

Dec 12

Communication 

Staff Holiday Celebration! - Friday, December 16 at The Point from 4:30-6:30.  Free appetizers and drawing for gift cards!  Mark your calendars. :) 

Book Fair -- We sold $14,000 in books and will receive $3,500 in profit. Additionally, we received $500 in books for the Media Center. We appreciate the many volunteers who were generous with their time and donations. And extra big THANK YOU to Megan DeLong, Susan Reid, and Joanna Rose for your hard work on this school event.

PTA Stipends-Fall Semester teacher stipends are due by December 15th.  Attach receipts to the completed form in the PTA Treasurer's mailbox for you $100 reimbursement.

Interims go home on December 13th.

YLearning - Last day before holidays is Thursday, Dec. 15.  It will resume on Monday, January 9.

Chick-Fil-A Spirit Dinner - December 13th 5-7pm Cameron Village location. 

Collaboration

We hope you can come watch our students perform at the Holiday Performance!
Handbells (2nd period, 8th period), Treblemakers: (7th period), Tap Team and Dance Ensemble will be performing on Thursday, December 15th at 7:00pm.

Band and Orchestra Holiday Performance - Monday, December 19 @ 7pm in gym

Pieces of Gold - We had a great time auditioning for Wake County’s Pieces of Gold on Tuesday, December 6th. We are excited to announce that we were selected to participate in the Pieces of Gold

Students in Theatre Production have been working hard to perfect the scene, song and dance to “So Long Ago.”

The long awaited new playground structure (similar to the net structure at Pullen Park) will be installed on December 29th and 30th! 

Discovery Education Support - Underwood is one of 27 schools that will be working with a DE coach for 3 days to increase our focus on our two SIP key processes and support our Learner Agency in our classrooms. Daphne will be leading this team. More info to come. 

Creativity 

Student Council Meeting -- Thursday 15th at 2:40 (location to TBD). If students have a device please have them bring it with them. We will be meeting for most of 8th period. We will be using Google Classroom for virtual meetings, but have not had full attendance at our meetings. 

Active Learning Space Grant -- We have five staff members that have expressed interest in being apart of the Grant process. Our application is due February 3rd. 

Shout outs Via Twitter --- Check out these awesome happenings in our classrooms

Critical Thinking 

Pulse Check - Please complete the following survey by Friday the 16th-- click on to complete. This is a survey that I will be using the results at January's principals meeting. Currently we have 14 anonymous responses. 

December 5th

Communication

Interims will be going home on December 13th.

YLearning - Last day before holidays is Thursday, Dec. 15.  It will resume on Monday, January 9.

Staff Holiday Celebration! - Friday, December 16 at The Point from 4:30-6:30.  Free appetizers and drawing for gift cards!  Mark your calendars. :)

Behavior Support Presentation - Presentation

• Minor incident (handled in your setting) → you start/close incident report (with no other student names) →  you communicate with parent (phone, email, send home form) →  you communicate with homeroom teacher (major-same day, minor-within 2 days)
• Major incident (call office for immediate need/bring to office)  →  you start incident report/click report button (include other student names for investigation then they will be deleted) →  admin closes out incident report and contacts parents

Staff brainstorming strategies to use to support students socially/emotionally

Critical Thinking

Instructional technology Facilitator - Our Learning Lab is a flexible, collaborative, shared  school environment that teachers utilize to enhance their classroom curriculum experiences.  Don't forget to go on your google calendar to reserve your time slot to bring your class to learn in the lab. This is no longer a computer lab but a space to learn math, writing, social studies, science, reading, elements of the arts. It is packed with flexible seating, creative learning materials, a projector, a chromecast equipped TV.  Come borrow the makey makeys, OSMOS, maker space materials, google cardboard, invite Tanya, (your ITF)  and/or Andrea Trowell to teach with you...let's keep the lab full of learning every day!

Collaboration

Strategies for anxious, aggressive, active child from 12/1 Business Meeting:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aMc5WqJTdlvRxyFmf1IJHlrjT5Suuij8NzrjYDfNFVc/edit?usp=sharing

Mrs. Gary and Ms. Keith collaborating using the Art of Informational text with second graders! They were loving it!

Team Teaching -- Andrea and Tanya teaching roles are to collaboration with teacher to facilitate learning of  math, writing, social studies, science, reading, elements of the arts. They are supporting the shifts in learning and teaching that were discussed during our "What is Mtss". 

Creativity

Coding - What is Coding -- When your kid starts talking about loops, go-to commands, and branches, it probably means she's learning to code, and that's a very good thing. This week is Computer Science Week (Dec 5-8). Hour of Code is being hosted all over the world.  Coding is cross curricular and does not discriminate among ages.  It also should NOT be featured during this week only as it's benefits are far reaching and sustainable.  Tanya would love to host some coding lessons with classes this week and/or in the near future with a commitment of a few hour long coding lessons with classes.  Please email Tanya if you are willing to learn how coding with your class can enhance your lessons and support the learning with the 4Cs.  Together you can work out a schedule that works for you. Tanya's presentation - First and Code.org and Computer Science Week