December 18th

Celebrations

• Star, Rachel and Karen are hosting a team of teachers from Fuquay-Varina Elementary to "see" Conscious Discipline in action!
• **Alexandria has been so helpful as always.
• Rhonda, Allison, and Mallory attending the Core behavior workshop with Mitzi Sarafit
• Holiday performances last Thursday! Looking forwarded to Tuesday night and Thursday morning! 

** From the feedback responses. 

Communication 

Elective brochures-Please be sure to turn in your elective brochures to Ashley's mailbox.

Elective registration will begin Tuesday (5th grade) and Wednesday (4th grade).  Ashley will be in touch with scheduling details.

Early Release - Our early release is on Thursday the 20th. Here is the Agenda. Lunch will be provided by our fantastic PTA! We are asking that all staff attend the beginning of the ER for the announcements and inclusion activities. Instructional Assistants and office staff are not required to stay for the "Gifts of knowledge", but are welcomed to learn with us. The remainder time in the afternoon is for you to do as you see fit. Have a great and relaxing break! 

Y-Learning Update:  The purpose of this program is to support the academic needs of students in the level 2/low 3 range. Currently, it is ran by Y Learning Counselors but they are actively seeking teachers to help participate.  If you are interested in teaching (it is paid and you get a YMCA membership), please see Mallory.  If you have suggestions for how to improve the program, please see Alexandria.

December 20th PLT:  The December 20th PLT time will be designated for the Secret Santa reveal/Holiday breakfast.  The start time for the breakfast will be at 8:00.  Please sign up to bring a breakfast item to share (and your final gift to give to your person for the reveal!)  Sign up is here!

December 21 things to know:

• Early Release (bring artifact that you are using in your classroom from the work you have been doing with unpacking the standards. )
• Lunch will be provided by the PTA
• Wear your ugly sweaters!  A champion will be crowned for the best one!
• We will also be taking a fun staff picture.

Link to Amazon during your holiday shopping and help Underwood!  Visit smile.amazon.com and then search and link to the charity:  Underwood Gt Magnet Elementary School Foundation or Underwood Elementary PTA.  Then .5% of eligible purchases will go back to our school!

Eschools

Please be sure to complete your evaluations in Eschools, so they are feeding into your transcript to renew your license!  

Collaboration

MTAC -- Why MTAC? 

Underwood's newly formed Media Technology Advisory Committee (MTAC) will have our first meeting on Thursday, January 4 at 7:45 in the media center. Coffee will be served!

If you are interested in serving on our MTAC, let Andrea or Tanya know. We are hoping for the following representatives - admin, K-1, 2-3, 4-5, specialist, and parent. 

CAM Docent Program will begin in January.  Selected 5th grade students will go on five consecutive Tuesday afternoons for training after school, followed by presentation opportunities to the general public during First Friday Evening Events at CAM.  If you are able to come attend and help, please sign up here.  

CD cohort will be meeting on Thursday, December 21st at 7:45am in the Media Center. Our focus will be reflecting on how our relationship with our own emotions and how it affect the children in our lives.

Technology Request -- If you have a technology problem that you would like to be looked at complete the Tech Help request and if on-site staff is unable to fix then they would be submitted to district help desk.  If you are need of a equipment  be sure to complete Funds Request form . This would be for cords, bulbs, ink, batteries, etc.

Mid Year PDP - Mid year PDPs will need to be conducted by January 26th. The administrator that is not the person that did your first observation will be meeting with you to go over your mid-year review. Be sure to write a short paragraph (2-5 sentences) that gives details about where you are in meeting your goal and/or steps that you are going to take second semester to meet your goal. Mallory and I will send up a sign up sheet to the people that we are to meet with via email by January 3rd. 

Teacher Assistants - Teacher Assistant Training - Jan. 16 In collaboration with the Wake County Teacher Assistants Association, the Office of Professional Learning is hosting a session designed specifically for Teacher Assistants: Building Capacity as Teacher Assistant to Offer Instructional Support in the Classroom. The session will focus on behavioral intervention strategies and will be held on Jan.16 from 4:30 to 6 p.m. in room 1400 B of the Crossroads II building. TAs should register in eSchools with SRN#183011903. Participants will receive a letter of recognition for attendance. Enrollment is limited to 70.

Critical Thinking 

Readvolution: Remember to remind and encourage students to keep reading and logging books in the Hurricanes Readvolution app found in the WakeID Portal over break. Our school has only logged 658 entries so far. That is way under 2 books per students since Readvolution began.

Lost and Found -- We are getting ready to donate our lost and found items as they have been in there for a few weeks now. Before we donate them is their a student in your class that could benefit from some gently used clothes, if so click on this link to add their name. 

The 3-1 Student Device Integration - ES course is now live in Learning Central. Teachers and staff at your school will not be automatically enrolled. All teachers who are receiving Chromebooks as a part of the 3-1 device rollout are expected to complete the 3-1 Student Device Integration - ES course by the end of the 17-18 school year (6/30/18). I will forward the information to all teachers that this applies to as the computers should be coming in the spring. The district has identified the make and model. 

ECU Offers New Online Master of Arts Program - Apply by Feb. 1
East Carolina University is offering a one-year online Master of Arts in Education program for practicing teachers. A new cohort for elementary school teachers begins in Summer 2018. The cohort for middle school teachers begins in fall 2018. Middle school teachers in the program may choose from a concentration in English, Math, Social Studies or Science. Elementary teachers entering the summer cohort may choose from Teacher Leadership, Academically and Intellectually Gifted or Teaching English as a Second Language. The deadline to apply for either cohort is Feb. 1, 2018. GRE or MAT test waivers are possible if an applicant has been teaching for 10 or more years or if the applicant is an ECU graduate with a GPA of 3.3 or higher. Check out these Google docs for more information on the program or contact Carol Greene, greeneh@ecu.edu.

Feedback -- If you have more feedback (things that have worked or things that could be better throughout the school year) you would like for us to consider, please feel free to email, discuss or fill out this form. https://goo.gl/forms/XNwhdAo6gU8lOfck1

Feedback responses -- See Link to feedback to see responses to the staff's questions and feedback. This will continued to be updated monthly. 

Creativity

Student and Staff Awesomeness -- Check out what our team is doing in their classrooms -- via Twitter - @underwoodgtm -- #weareunderwood Keep up the great work! 

Calendar:

December 18th- Instructional Leadership Team meeting 
December 19th- Middle School Magnet Parent Session (Ligon and Moore Square)
                         - Holiday Performance (Band and Strings), 7pm
December 20th-Holiday Breakfast 8am (food sign up above, 8:30 last Secret Santa gift)
December 21st - CD cohort 7:45am
                         - Early Release 
December 22nd - January 1st - Winter Break 
January 2nd-Business Meeting
January 10th-Magnet Open House, 10am/12:30pm/6:30pm
January 11th-Theater Production, 7pm

*Staff attended events listed here