Sunday, September 23, 2018

September 24

Weekly Blog (9/24/2018)

     "Share your smile with the world. It's a symbol of friendship and peace." 

Christie Brinkley


Celebrations

  • Jump Rope for Heart  raised $670,000 in Wake County! We were the TOP County in the Nation!  Way to go Jamika for representing our school's team!
  • Fall is here!  
  • Donna Washington is coming back to Underwood this Friday!  YAY!!  (schedule and materials to follow this week in an email)
  • Staff photo on the 28th at 8:00 (we are hoping to have our #smallschoolbigtalent shirts the day before so you can coordinate you attire. 

Wish Well

  • Everyone affected by the hurricane!
  • Ashley Cooper
  • Rhonda Miller
  • NyAsia King (New 4th grade teacher assistant)
  • Jenny Snyder 

Communication: 

Mark your calendar (update to PTA lunches/events)- 

  • September 28th (no longer an ER day)-  no lunch provided
  • October 1st-  Unicorn Trot staff breakfast @ 8:00
  • October 2nd- Interims go home
  • October 12th-  Pep Rally (time K-2- 2:30 and 3-5- 3:00)
  • October 19th-  Lunch provided by PTA
  • October 31st- Staff breakfast (from Travis, Mallory, Alexandria and Ashley
Hurricane Relief efforts -- Underwood is collaborating with 18 other magnet schools to provide Hurricane Florence relief efforts. So if you are willing Underwood Staff and Families are donating -- Canned Meats (pop tops preferred). We will have a box in the front office to collect these Canned Meats. On Friday September 28th we will be delivering to the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina. (please share on your hubs through Memberhub)

Interim Date Change- Due to Powerschool being down in math, interims will go home on October 2nd.  

Elective Letter website has changed.  For the latest in the process to upload elective letters, see directions here.  Andrea can help you if needed!

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!  

Powerschool Outage:  In an effort to update the math standards and correct inaccuracies with the math standards within PowerTeacher Pro, teachers in grades K-5 will be unable to enter any math grades in the program beginning Friday, September 14 until Monday, September 24. Interims for traditional calendar schools are delayed one week and should be distributed the week of October 1. 

Share Ready4K with your Families!

Read! Talk! Play! School Every Day!
Ready4K is a FREE research-based text-messaging program for parents of children ages birth through third grade. Each week, parents will receive three text messages with FUN FACTS and EASY tips to boost their child's learning. Sign up is easy: 
TEXT: R4K to 70138. Learn more at www.wakeupandread.org.

Wellness - Take a Child Outside Week

September 24-30 is Take A Child Outside Week. Take a Child Outside Week is designed to encourage children and adults to spend time together outdoors. The goal is to help children develop a better understanding and appreciation of the environment and an enthusiasm for exploring the natural world. Going outside connects children to the natural world, helps kids focus in school, and helps kids be active. So take a child outside to experience these benefits and so many more! To find participating organizations in your area, get ideas for outdoor activities or learn more about Take a Child Outside partners, go tohttps://takeachildoutside.org. 

Creativity

Leadership opportunities -- We are looking for 1 to 2 staff members that will be a part of the Underwood Foundation board. As a representative from the staff you would provide feedback to the board (received from the staff), assist in planning events and support the school's effort in raising funds additional months of employment. We met the first Wednesday of the month from 5:30-6:30ish. Email or see Travis if you are interested in participating on the board.

Elective Opportunity -If you are interested in having your elective showcased on the new bulletin boards (outside girls bathroom in the PE/Cafeteria hallway), contact Ashley.

Collaboration

Battle of the Books - Kerry Miquel (WCPSS teacher and Underwood parent) would like to start a Battle of the Books Team at Underwood this year.  She would be happy to run one after school if a meeting space could be provided or a teacher sponsor is interested in sharing duties.  - Thank you to Glendia Bryson-Jacobs for partnering on this team, if you would like to join them contact Glendia. 

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 dialogue will take place in PLTs and team meetings. 
Letterland Presentation 

Writing Continuum Training
We are seeking teams of teachers who are interested in focusing on writing across the content areas within their school and growing students as writers. Please see information here to participate in this opportunity.

Critical Thinking 

Mentees (Mentor Program) - do you have a student that could use a mentor? Would you like to mentor an Underwood student? Student service team is a collaborating to support our student through a variety of mentoring program and need your help identifying students and mentors. Fill out this form 
-- Mentee/mentor form


Quarterly Planning Days- Please be sure you submit your days on AESOP and turn in the appropriate forms into Cindy. 

 K-5 Report Cards - Revised Report Card Templates (We have sent an email to central office.. and will fill you in as soon as we receive feedback.)

Below you will find revised versions of the report card template. The revised templates of the report card were necessary to accommodate the new PowerTeacher Pro software and reflect the revised standards. Changes include:

  • No overall ELA or Math Grade
  • There will be four ELA grades based on the clusters (Language, Reading, Speaking & Listening, and Writing).
  • There will be five Math grades based on the domains. The domains vary based on the grade level.
The district will generate an optional letter to be distributed with the report card that explains the revisions to parents. At this time, the report card templates should be shared with teachers but not with parents.

3-5 EL Education and NC ELA Standards Crosswalk
We recognize that the change in standards bring forth questions regarding alignment to EL Education curriculum. With that we have developed a document to support this alignment. It can be found here.

New Math Standards Webinars:
Use the links below to access the archived webinars on the new math standards.  

Please note: There may be a long pause at the beginning as these webinars were recorded live. You have the ability to fast forward to the start of the webinar.


New Math Standards Face to Face Trainings:

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

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

September 24th--  Kindergarten Quarterly Planning Day (AM)
September 27th -- School Family Picnic 
October 2nd --  Interims Go Home
October 1st-  Unicorn Trot staff breakfast @ 8:00 
October 2nd - Business meeting - Agenda ;  Interims go home
October 5th--  Fall Pictures
October 6th --  Grounds Day (9am-12pm)
October 9th -- Leadership Meeting (7:45-8:10)/ WHOLE STAFF MEETING (8:10-8:40)
October 12th-  Pep Rally (time K-2- 2:30 and 3-5- 3:00)
October 19th - Unicorn Trot (& staff lunch provided by PTA)
October 31st - Make up day (elective schedule; staff breakfast provided)
November 6th - Buisness Meeting - Agenda
November 12th - No School (Veteran's day) 
November 13th - Leadership Meeting 
November 20th - Early Release 
November 21-23 - Vacation and holidays 
November 27th - School Improvement Meeting 
November 27th - Giving Tuesday 

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