Celebrations
- Early Release: Underwood PTA provided lunch from Viva Chicken.
- Time with our colleagues to learn about each other and give back to our community
- Underwood is working with Leith Volkswagen of Raleigh to provide shoes for 16 students that are in need of new shoes via their Sneaker Drive
- Five day weekend to recharge ourselves
Wish Well
- Sharon Hansen
Communication:
Afternoon bus duty: Starting November 26th, look at the link on the google doc or listen for the all call. (The bus program on the tv will NO LONGER be used)
Check the shared Underwood google team drive, folder-Daily absences and info for the preferred sub list.
Giving Tree - Underwood's Holiday Giving Tree is up! If you would like to assist a family with their holiday gift needs, please come by Ms. Schnitzer's office and take a tag from the tree. We are asking parents and staff to purchase gifts of a maximum of $30 per tag. Please wrap each gift and put the tag on the gift you are giving, so we can keep track of your purchases. Please sign up to give gifts on a sign-up sheet in the counselor's office.
Gifts are due by Monday, December 10th. All gifts can be brought to Ms. Schnitzer's office. Thank you everyone in advance for your participation and for helping Underwood families!
Toy Drive - Underwood is collaborating with Two Men and a Mom morning show on WRAL FM, MIX 101.5 with their annual Toy Drive for the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Triangle. For the week of November 26th - November 30th, you can help us by bring an unwrapped toy to our school and add it to the collection bin in the front office. On Friday the bins will be collected and the toys will go to students that are a part of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Triangle. If you have questions please reach out to Ms. Schnitzer or Mr. Shillings at 919 856-7663.
Book Fair
Nov 19 Teacher Wish List Breakfast 8:00am
Nov 27th – Moonlight Reading
Nov 29th – Early Risers Breakfast
Reminders:
- Send returned paperwork items to the Book Fair Mailbox in the Mail room. All money needs to be processed by the PTA. Please do not bring in a donation slip to use to buy at the book fair.
- Attend Teacher Wishlist breakfast to fill out your teacher wish list forms.
- Check the Teacher Gift Certificate board throughout the fair to see if you have any gift certificates to spend. The board will be kept behind the checkout desk.
- Consider signing up for a reading time slot for Moonlight Reading - Sign up in the work room if you'd like to be a guest reader.
Minor referrals should be communicated to parents about incidents that occur that you write up. Building a relationship and opening communication with families is powerful. Major referral communication to parents will be done by administration. Specialists will print the minor referral, along with the updated cover letter with their contact information, and pass it along to the homeroom teacher. This will allow the homeroom teacher to be aware of the incident and ensure the referral gets home in a folder/bookbag.
Communication Challenge (2nd Quarter)- Update- This Wednesday please tally your grade levels communication. This challenge is meant to increase communication (hopefully more positive with parents). We are aware that many of you are already communicating on a daily basis with many families. Link to the form. The categories for communication are: phone call; emails,texts,notes, memberhub/newsletter, conferences. 1 point for a Memberhub newsletter - 2 points for an individual family email - 3 points for face to face conference or phone call.
Helping Hands
We are excited to have the Helping Hands program return to Underwood! The program will be an afterschool program to mentor some of our males in grades 3-5. The letters went home to families and the interest meeting will be on Monday Dec. 10th in the Media Center. The mentors are students from NC State University.
Ugly Sweater Contest and Secret Gift Giver
These two activities are back by popular demand this year! More information soon to come from the Sunshine Squad :)
Together we are better! Feel free to share feedback/celebrations anytime here
Creativity
Let’s learn more about YOU!! In the celebrations section of this blog, we have been featuring our new staff members in an effort to learn more about them. Now it’s your turn! We would like to showcase all staff members throughout the course of the year. (These will also be archived in the Team Drive). If you are willing, send Ashley 2-3 paragraphs as well as emailing me a picture of you!Things you might want to mention:
- Family
- Hobbies
- Role at Underwood
- What you love about being an educator
- Past experiences
Critical Thinking
Behavior Support Session: November 29th at 8:00am will be a behavior support session open to any staff member! Bring your behavior challenges and members of the CDAT team can listen and help problem solve new strategies to help support you!
Admin aspirations? - NC Fellows Program is taking applicants until January 15, 2019. There are also two info sessions along with fellow Unicorns that have been a part of the program or considered it at one time.
Collaboration
United Way! - Please be on the lookout for your United Way link. The campaign is underway! Any little bit helps! If you contribute please let me know. Your name will be entered for one of 3 Target gift cards. Thank you so much for all that you do to support the community we serve.
Media Center- Keep in mind that we have the following resources/spaces that are open for you to utilize for your classes and electives:
- Makerspace Lab: Sign up using the Makerspace Lab Google calendar *
- Media Center: When you sign up your elective/class for the Media Center space, you have access to 24 Chromebooks and 10 iPads during your scheduled time. Contact Andrea or Elizabeth to sign up. Click here to view the Media Center Schedule
- 12 Magnet Laptops: These are for use with electives only, with priority given to Robotics. Sign up using the 12 Magnet Laptop Google calendar *
- *See Andrea if you do not have access or need assistance with this.
There are a number of afterschool clubs going on: Fitness Club on Monday’s, TEK on Wednesday’s, LEGO on Thursday’s. Club rosters can be found here.
K-2 Foundational Training If you have been notified by Christine about participating in the K-2 Foundational Training, please look at the following link to identify when you can attend the 7 modules. You do not have attend the same cohort each time (but you will need to do all 7 modules).
Conscious Discipline Corner
Quote of the week:
Resource of the week: Podcast: Implementing Conscious Discipline with older children (great for 3-5!) found here
Important Dates Document- Please double check this against the school calendar.
November 27th - School Improvement Meeting
November 27th-Moonlight Reading 5:30-8:00pm
November 27th - Foundation Giving Tuesday campaign begins
November 29th-Behavior Support Session; 8:00am
December 3rd - 7th - IOWA Tests (3rd grade)
December 4th - Business meeting
December 5th - Zoe’s Family Kitchen spirit night
December 7th-TA meeting at 7:45am
December 11th - SIP / Leadership meeting
December 18th - Elective Share
December 21st - Early Release
