September 4

Weekly Blog

9/4/2018

                        "I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand."                                 -Confucius, Chinese Philosopher

Celebrations

• Completion of PRIDE assemblies to reinforce common area expectations!
• 2nd grade was doing common planning Wednesday afternoon!
• 4th grade was doing common planning on Thursday afternoon!
• Brain Smart Starts on the buses each morning!
• Arrival of supplemental texts for EL in 5th grade!
• Staff calendar can be found at: https://calendar.google.com/calendar?cid=dW5kZXJ3b29kZWxlbWVudGFyeWd0QGdtYWlsLmNvbQ

Wish Well

• Our Kindergarten families (especially first time parents) on their first full day of school
• Rachel Frasier-  John's celebration of life is happening Sunday

Communication: 

• Building Relationships takes 6 weeks to build!  Take the time to get to know your students and do those connection activities!  Don't give up right away!  
• Business Meeting will be September 4th at 7:45am in the Media Center.  Agenda found here.
• Return all elective brochures as they are received to Ashley's mailbox.
• If you need access to the Magnet laptops for Q1 electives, let Ashley know
• Elective Registration (starting with 5th grade) will take place Tuesday-Friday.  See email from Ashley with details. 
• Complete your Q1 elective sign here.  Ashley will print and hang in the new sign outside your door.
• Lunch Monitor meeting to review expectations will be Thursday, September 6th at 8:20am.  All TA's and staff who monitor lunch need to attend meeting in the Media Center.
• Open House is Thursday, September 6th at 5:30 pm.  Expectations can be found here.
• School Family Assembly is Friday, September 7th at 9:30am. 
• MClass Materials-  Please read through the following: 
• Inventory your new TRC kits (it has been noticed throughout the county that kits are missing books).  If you have missing or extra books, please identify which books on this form.
• Check your Level T book-  some have errors. 
• If you have students not uploaded into the system at the start of the window, do not panic.. the state is working with Amplify to rectify the problem.  
• When beginning your TRC, you need to present all of the books for each level and let the students choose the book they are interested in reading.   

• PowerTeacher Pro Webinar & Questions  WakeConnect>WORKSPACES>Collaborative Teams>Data Managers>DATA MANAGER FILES>PowerSchool Instructions>PowerTeacher Pro

Webinar:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YkpQq9uuX4aZc_CneL0SKsQU30n1l9GI/view?usp=sharing

Elementary PowerTeacher Pro Basics Webinar.wmv drive.google.com

Questions:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MTsaeYBwFTLmBLePU4ODJe8V8keNx5u6/view?usp=sharing

Elementary PTP Webinar Questions.pdf drive.google.com

Tips and Tricks:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1A28mo0ZoQFNqIHVvys2tdNMmfelLzD4j/view?usp=sharing

Creativity

Collaboration

Be sure you have access to the Underwood Staff Calendar (google).  This is the current, up to date calendar all school events will be on for this year.  If you are unsure or need help, see Andrea.

Book Donation-  Do you have an extra book or two that you can donate to Shannon McKenna for the the Kindergarten Parent Academy on September 12th?  Please drop the book/books off to her room!  

YMCA and Y Learning 

My name is Adrienne Robinson, and I am the new YMCA youth director who oversees the after-school program and Y-learning tutoring program at Underwood. I am looking forward to being with you all on Tuesday morning to talk a little more about an opportunity you have to help specifically with our Y-Learning program at Underwood.

We are looking for certified teachers to come on staff with us and work with students specifically in areas of literacy and fluency during our Y-learning program from 3:45-5:45 Monday-Thursday afternoons on-site at Underwood. There are options to work anywhere from one to all four days!

I’ve linked to a couple of videos below that will explain more specifics about Y-Learning! So check them out, and I’ll see you on Tuesday morning!

Y-Learning Videos:

https://www.ymcatriangle.org/give/success-stories/y-learning-bridges-gap

https://www.ymcatriangle.org/give/success-stories/bringing-science-lif

Letterland 

Here is the letterland presentation for our k-2, intervention support, ESL and special educations teams that begins the conversation on full implementation of Letterland in all k-2 classrooms and for tier 2 and tier 3 interventions. More dialoguing will take place in PLTs and team meetings. 
Letterland Presentation 

Critical Thinking 

Re-post from last year- (I pulled this from an old blog)Standards next year- The Math and ELA standards are changing slightly next year. Many of you have heard us discuss this over the past 2 years when the state agreed to these changes. At this point, we have reviewed/shared both the ELA and Math standards. Some grade levels will be touching on the ELA standards as a team in the upcoming weeks. Links to the resources shared: ELA and Math The math department has created some live webinars as well. Click here for information. Please let Alexandria know if you would like any support understanding/digging into these new standards!

Quarterly Planning Days-  Alexandria will be sending you the agendas this weekend. Our goal will be to unpack your ELO's in each subject, create assessments that align to your ELO's and allow time for you to work on activities and/or experiences to help students utilize the content for those ELO's.  If time allows, teams will have the opportunity (30 minutes) to work on other planning.  

Science Strands and Standards-  When you look over this document-  how are you ensuring your are embedding the standards that are expected to prepare the students as they move through each grade?  Please let Alexandria know if there are any materials and or supplies you may need to teach your essential standards. We can also work as a team to unpack these essential standards!

Science Opportunity for Teachers

Thursday, September 20, 20185:30 - 8:30 pmAt the NC Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh

Are you looking for fun and engaging new ideas and curriculum-correlated STEM lesson plans? Do you want to talk one-on-one with the scientists and researchers behind the content you’re teaching? Do you plan to bring your class on a field trip to the NC Museum of Natural Sciences this year? Are you interested in learning about the wealth of resources available through your state Science Museum? If you answered yes, then the SciREN Triangle and Educator Open House at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences is the event for you!  FREE, but registration is appreciated. Please note that due to increased security measures on the SciREN website, you will first need to create a simple login, and THEN you can complete the registration by going to “Event Registration” at the top of the page, and selecting “SciREN Triangle”. Creating a login is NOT the same as registering for the event. Online registration is available here (after login):  Register Now!

Calendar/Important Links:
Important Dates Document-  Please double check this against the school calendar.

September 3rd -- No school (Labor Day)
September 4th-Business Meeting; 7:45am
September 4th-  4th grade Quarterly Planning Day (AM)
September 5th-  5th grade Quarterly Planning Day (AM)/1st grade Quarterly Planning Day (PM) 

September 6th -- Open House / 3rd grade Quarterly Planning Day (AM)/ 2nd grade Quarterly Planning Day (PM)
September 7th-School Family Assembly; 9:30am

September 11th -- BOG (Beginning of Grade) 3rd grade 
September 12th--  First day of Electives

September 19th -- No School 
September 24th--  Kindergarten Quarterly Planning Day (AM)
September 25th--  Interims Go Home

September 27th -- School Family Picnic 

September 28th -- Early Release 

August 27

Celebrations

• We are ready for the 2018-19 school year -- #smallschoolbigtalent! 
• Thoughts and shifts in thinking with Amy Spidel of Conscious Discipline 
• 
  

Wish Well

• our kindergarten families (especially first time parents) on their first full day of school

Communication: 

Important Dates Document-  Please double check this against the school calendar.  

NKT Schedule-  Please review the testing dates and new cutoff scores.  

What was the password for that site? -- here is the link for Underwood Students sites --  http://bit.ly/UGTMloginpassword. See Andrea if you have additonal questions. 

PowerTeacher Pro Webinar & Questions

WakeConnect>WORKSPACES>Collaborative Teams>Data Managers>DATA MANAGER FILES>PowerSchool Instructions>PowerTeacher Pro

Webinar:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YkpQq9uuX4aZc_CneL0SKsQU30n1l9GI/view?usp=sharing

Elementary PowerTeacher Pro Basics Webinar.wmv drive.google.com

Questions:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MTsaeYBwFTLmBLePU4ODJe8V8keNx5u6/view?usp=sharing

Elementary PTP Webinar Questions.pdf drive.google.com

Tips and Tricks:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1A28mo0ZoQFNqIHVvys2tdNMmfelLzD4j/view?usp=sharing

Creativity

PRIDE rotations -- We will have our PRIDE rotations this week to set our school-wide expectations. It will be important to reinforce these expectations in our classrooms and prior to movement in the building. 

Collaboration

Book Donation-  Do you have an extra book or two that you can donate to Shannon McKenna for the the Kindergarten Parent Academy on September 12th?  Please drop the book/books off to her room!  

Critical Thinking 

Calendar/Important Links:

August 27th -- First Day of school 

September 3rd -- No school (Labor Day) 

September 6th -- Open House 

September 11th -- BOG (Beginning of Grade) 3rd grade 

September 19th -- No School 

September 27th -- School Family Picnic 

September 28th -- Early Release 

August 24th

#Smallschoolbigtalent 

Critical Thinking 

• Core ELA Professional Development Opportunities:  This year the Elementary ELA Department will continue to provide professional development opportunities that support district initiatives and best instructional practices. You may find a list of these opportunities here.
• Instructional Needs-  ALL requests for any needed supplies and materials (electives or CORE instruction) should be submitted on the Instructional Funds Form .  Leadership/SIP will be reviewing and approving all purchases this year.  ALL PTA requests should be shared with Alexandria to present to the PTA Board.
• Big Universe change of log-in for students
  In order to provide more security with our Big Universe usage our student log in process has changed. Students should now sign in using WCP + their wake ID as their username. Their password will remain the same (their student number).
• K-5 Assessment Support Assessment is a vital component of the teaching and learning process. If you are looking for science assessment examples that are aligned to standards and are developmentally appropriate the K-5 Assessment Support Document is a useful and standards specific tool.
• Kyte Learning-Kyte Learning is a grant funded online library of educational technology training videos for teachers and administrators. It provides teachers with instructional videos on how to use and integrate technology into their lessons and classroom. You can find this resource in your "Rapid Identify Wake ID Portal" (where you select your email, Powerteacher, Google documents, ect).  You will receive Digital Learning credits if you finish the course and take the assessment at the end.  

Creativity

 - Love the Smallschoolbigtalent displays here are a few: 

 

Communication

• If you don't have access to the Underwood Staff Calendar, email Travis to get added/access.
• If your grade level hasn't turned in your daily detailed schedule, email it to Mallory ASAP.
• Interested in learning more about the new math standards? Join us for face-to-face training with hands-on activities to investigate the progression of standards within your grade band.  See the chart below for grade bands and SRN#s.
  

  Grade Band	SRN #	Date/Time	Location
  K-2	194100301	Sept 6 (4:30-6:30)	CR 2
  	194100302	Sept 18 (4:30-6:30)	Garner Science Center
  3-5	194100401	Sept 11 (4:30-6:30)	Garner Science Center
  	194100402	Oct 4 (4:30-6:30)	CR 2

K-5 Elementary Science Curriculum Maps WCPSS Science instruction is designed using the NC Essential Standards for Science. The NC Essential Standards for Science identifies and unpacks what students should know, understand, and be able to do by the end of the school year. Our district curriculum maps can be used for grade level planning and for an overview of the entire year in science. We hope you find the resources helpful!

• WCPSS Kindergarten Science Curriculum Map
• WCPSS First Grade Science Curriculum Map
• WCPSS Second Grade Science Curriculum Map
• WCPSS Third Grade Science Curriculum Map
• WCPSS Fourth Grade Science Curriculum Map
• WCPSS Fifth Grade Science Curriculum Map
• WCPSS K-5 Science Strands and Standards

Field Trip Opportunities:

Piedmont Wildlife Center: The Piedmont Wildlife Center is an animal refuge that focuses on encouraging active engagement with nature. In addition to camps, trips, and family events, they also host field trips, assembly programs, and will even come to schools and bring their animals along! For more information, check out the hyperlink above and/or contact Noelle Dalhouse at noelle@piedmontwildlifecenter.org .

North Carolina Museum of History Field Trip

History truly comes alive at the North Carolina Museum of History! Come explore North Carolina’s exciting history through a visit to the museum with your school group. We have tours that correlate to the North Carolina Common Core and Essential Standards. Also check out our pre and post visit materials designed to make the most out of your visit!

5 E Edenton St, Raleigh, NC, 27601

919.807.7900

Virtual Field Trips: Social Studies

Take Your Students to the Most Amazing Places

Take your students beyond the classroom walls and into some of the world's most iconic locations for rich and immersive learning experiences — no permission slips required, Tour the National Archives, see how an egg farm works, explore NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, or hear from the President of the United States. Discovery Education Virtual Field Trips are fun, educational, and free!

Watch archived Social Studies Virtual Field Trips below or browse the complete archive.

Collaboration 

- PLTs will meet this week to do their beginning of the year work and norms for the upcoming school year. Other tasks will be led by their team leader. 

Celebrations:

- We have missed our amazing staff! 

Wish Wells:

Important Dates:
August 23rd -- Meet the teacher at 3:30 - 5:00 
August 27th -- First Day of school 

September 3rd -- No school (Labor Day) 
September 6th -- Open House 
September 11th -- BOG (Beginning of Grade) 3rd grade 
September 19th -- No School 
September 27th -- School Family Picnic 
September 28th -- Early Release 

** Website Calendar
** Also reference the Underwood Staff Calendar in your Calendar app in your Google Apps 

Parents updates

 

Families, 

We are three weeks away from the 2018-19 school year! We are looking forward to seeing our students, we have missed them! On Friday the 10th we will be sending out our mailer to our families that will contain teacher placements, PTA and Foundation information, and supply lists. 

Class placement: 

We have put a lot of thought and considerations into our class placements to support all students. Thank you to those families that shared recommendations of classroom settings for their learners. I have taken those into consideration along with the recommendations of previous classroom teachers to create balanced classes that support all students. 

PTA & Foundation 

At Underwood Elementary, we are lucky to have two amazing opportunities for parents to support our students and teachers. Budget cuts have left many schools without, but through our Foundation and PTA, Underwood has been able to maintain high standards for our magnet programming thanks to the support of our amazing families. - Be sure to read the flyer that will be in their class placement envelope that will give more information about both organization and how you can help us at Underwood. 

School Supplies 

Order school supplies in minutes for the best summer ever!

We’re so excited to announce that we’ve partnered with ClassBundl Supplies this year! This means you can get your child’s entire school supply list in one, pre-bundled order at ClassBundl.com. Not only are you getting time back in your summer with easy back-to-school shopping, but you’re helping our school fund its projects, too! Every ClassBundl order earns 5% cash back for our school.

Ordering your supplies is as easy as 1, 2, 3:

Search for Underwood GT Magnet Elementary School at ClassBundl.com/Order.

Select your pre-bundled supplies.

Place your order and get back to your summer.

Transportation 

Bus Tags - The WCPSS Transportation Department will continue to use the bus tag system this school year. All students that are assigned a bus (and plan to ride it) will need to have a bus tag. See the WCPSS Transportation website - https://www.wcpss.net/transportation for information about routes, membership, Here Comes The Bus App and more. Please contact Mrs. Mbalia (mmbalia@wcpss.net) if you have questions that are not answered on the website. 

Carpool Tags - We have new carpool tags for our families that will be utilizing carpool this year. Current families with carpool numbers will need to pick up their new tags at Meet the Teacher. New families will need to complete the paperwork in the front office at Meet the Teacher to receive a carpool number. 

We look forward to seeing you all soon! 

Sincerely, 

Travis Shillings, Proud Principal 

Mallory Mbalia, Proud Assistant Principal 

Save the dates: 

8/23 - meet the teacher - 3:30 - 5:00 

8/27 - First day of school for 1st - 5th graders

9/6 - Open House (evening event) 

9/27 - School Family Picnic (evening event)