December 3rd

Underwood Elementary Families,

Happy first week of December. 

Readvolution - congratulations to the 70 students that reached the goal of 800 minutes! The students received a certificate and directions to purchase tickets. Big Thank you to Mrs. Judge-Lenkeit for organizing the event for Underwood Elementary!  

Carolina Hurricanes Partnership Celebration: The Youth Department from the Carolina Hurricanes will visit PE Electives at Underwood this Monday, Dec 3, 2017. Also, Underwood was selected to receive a grant from the Hurricanes and NHL for new school appropriate hockey equipment to support our PE department!

Media by Moonlight: Our book fair was very successful and we met our goal that provided the media center with $500 worth of books to go back into students hands. Thank you to the Media by Moonlight committee led by Megan Delong.

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 front office 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!

The Toy Drive was a successful collaboration 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.

Updates:

Spelling bees are going to be happening soon in the students classrooms, spelling lists have been sent out to families via Memberhub. If you have questions please contact Mrs. Page (jpage5@wcpss.net). The school spelling bee will be January 26th. 

Calendar Updates

December 3rd - 7th - IOWA Tests (3rd grade)

December 4th -Q2 Interims home

December 5th - Lunch and Learn with PTA 

December 5th - Zoe’s Family Kitchen spirit night

December 11th - SIP / Leadership meeting

December 18th - Holiday Performance (Music/Dance-7pm)

December 20th -Holiday Performance (Band/Strings-7pm)

December 21st - Early Release

                        

Sincerely
Travis Shillings, Principal

Last week of November

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.

Coats for students:

Underwood is still collecting coats for our Student Coat Drive.WE NEED 6 MORE!!  Here is the link to sign up to bring in one of the remaining coats to Ms. Schnitzer: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0D45A8A82CAA8-underwood

Media by Moonlight:

Our book fair will be open from 5:30 to 8:00 on Tuesday November 27th. We will have staff members that will be reading some of their favorite books and will have milk and cookies to cap off the night, so wear your PJs and come enjoy some great books.

Giving Tuesday through the Underwood Foundation:

Check out the Underwood Foundation Facebook #GivingTuesdayCampaign Page on November 27th to make your gift. When you give via our #GivingTuesday Facebook Event Page, Underwood Foundation will receive 100% of your donation, plus a match from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation! Individual gifts up to $1,000 are eligible for matching. You don't have to wait.  You can make a donation anytime via our website www.underwoodfoundation.org or by picking up a donor card at the school's front desk.

Make it an awesome week!

Thank you to all of the veterans that served our country! 

Please join us tomorrow, November 13 from 4 – 8pm at Lynnwood Brewing Concern for our pre-kickoff event.  You can order food from Wilson's Eatery and meet our board members and other Underwood families all while enjoying scratch made eats, tasty beverages and best of all no dishes to wash! Plus for each adult beverage purchased Lynnwood will donate $1 to the Foundation.  See more at http://www.underwoodfoundation.org/

 Early Release on Tuesday November 20th 

Broughton High School Prospective Students Open House and Tours: Are you interested in learning more about Broughton High School? Please join us for our Open House on Wednesday, November 14th from 5:30-7:30pm. We are also offering two additional evening tour opportunities and several morning tours. We encourage you to bring your student and your family with you to our Open House and tours! Even if your student is not a rising 9th grader, it's not too early to come visit Broughton. You can find more information on this flyer and our website. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact our magnet coordinator, Mr. David Brooks, at 919-856-7810 ext 23279 or dbrooks@wcpss.net. Here is a link to our flyer with all information.

Connecting with our new staff members: Michelle Kurtz (ID MOD TA

Hello!  My name is Michelle Kurtz and I am thrilled to join the Underwood family this year.  

After graduating from the University of Maryland (many, many years ago!) I started my teaching career in the area where I was raised, the suburbs of Washington, D.C.,  before moving to Raleigh in 1991. I have been a special education teacher for 30 years, the last 25 at Wiley Elementary. After a year of retirement, I decided I wasn't finished spending my days helping children experience the joy of learning new academic skills as well as celebrating themselves as learners.  I feel lucky to be a teacher assistant in the ID-MOD I classroom with Mrs. Delaney and Mrs. Gracy. What great way to spend the day!I have two daughters, Rachel who lives in New York City and Lisa who lives in Wilmington, N.C.  They have 5 college degrees between them and I am proud of the intelligent and caring young ladies they have become -- products of the Wake County School System!I enjoy cooking, yoga, taking walks and have recently started learning to use power tools around the house for home "improvements".    I am very happy to be an Underwood Unicorn! Make it a great week!
November 13th - Foundation Pre-Giving Tuesday Celebration at Lynnwood Concern from 4-8 pm

October 29th

Happy last week of October! 

Unicorn Trot! 

Unicorn Trot was a lot of FUN! We utilized our inside plan for our students to complete the Unicorn Trot. Thank you to Ms. Kellie and Mrs. Frasier for being our MCs and leading the students in dancing and running during their Trot. Thank you to Susan Hill and Colleen Rohner for organizing the event!  The students raised $23,750 - well over our $22,000 goal. With our corporate sponsorships, our grand total for the event is: $29,850. The students will be able to complete the Color Run during Field Day in the spring. 

Dress Code (in reference to Wednesdays make -up day) 
Students are expected to adhere to standards of dress and appearance that are compatible with an effective learning environment. Presenting a bodily appearance or wearing clothing which is disruptive... or which endangers the health or safety of the student or others is prohibited

Upcoming Events: 

October 31st - Make up day (elective schedule)

October 31st-Quarter 1 Elective Share

November 1st-Last day of Q1 electives

November 5th-Q2 elective begin

November 12th - No School (Veterans day)

November 13th - Leadership Meeting

November 13th - Foundation Pre-Giving Tuesday Celebration at Lynnwood Concern

from 4-8 pm

November 13th-Report cards go home

November 20th - Early Release

November 21-23 - Vacation and holidays

November 27th - School Improvement Meeting

November 27th - Foundation Giving Tuesday

October 22nd

Parents,

Happy Fourth week of October:

Updates for an exciting week at Underwood Elementary with our Unicorn Trot we have two

weeks until the end of the quarter (weather has made this quarter last a little longer)!

Second quarter will begin on November 5th.  

Unicorn Trot

Spirit Week

Monday Oct 22nd - Crazy Socks and Hair

Tuesday - Oct 23rd - Favorite Sports Team

Wednesday - Oct 24th - Hat Day

Thursday - October 25th - Pajama Day

Friday - October 26th-  Race Day - Underwood School Family will receive their Race Shirts

Readvolution-  Our students are still rocking it!  The county’s goal for each school is to read

2020 books!!  We have already read 1,652 books! We are the top in our area AND we only

have 449 students! We have updated the minutes on the goal outside of the bathrooms. Also,

we had some students express their frustration that it will only allow 60 minutes per day, the

written concern was shared with the leaders of the Readvolution for the district.

Parents and students can add their minutes to this link-  
https://www.nhl.com/hurricanes/community/readvolution.

Reflections 2018-  Heroes Around Me

Encourage your children to participate in Reflections 2018.  Reflections is a run by the National

PTA (Gail van Matre supports Underwood) and directly aligns with our gifted and talented theme.
The students use the arts to share their “reflection” of the theme Heroes Around Me.  All entries
must be submitted by October 29th. The Reflections Team will select projects that display the
theme and those will be taken to the county.  County winners will then move on to the next division.

Calendar/Important Links:

October 26th - Unicorn Trot

October 31st - Make up day (elective schedule)

October 31st-Quarter 1 Elective Share

November 1st-Last day of Q1 electives

November 5th-Q2 elective begin

November 7th-Q1 elective reports must be completed

November 12th - No School (Veterans day)

November 13th - Leadership Meeting

November 13th - Foundation Pre-Giving Tuesday Celebration at Lynnwood Concern from 4-8 pm

November 13th- Report cards go home

November 20th - Early Release

November 21-23 - Vacation and holidays

November 27th - School Improvement Meeting

November 27th - Foundation Giving Tuesday

Make it an awesome week!

October 1st

Underwood Families,

Happy first day of October. We were able to complete our second full week of classes last week, which was exciting for us! 

Interims for 1-5 grade students will be going home October 9th. The application that WCPSS uses to create an interim has not been as successful for entering grades (especially math) and creating an interim. This is the reason that the interims will go home later then planned at the beginning of the School year. 

Grounds day - We will be having our first Grounds Day on October 6th from 9-12. We will be removing weeds, working on some of the garden items, and cleaning up litter around the building. 

READEVOLUTION --- Please be sure you have worked with your child to login to the Readvolution website.  https://readvolution.cenagage.com/wake

Login- WakeID (all students have an ID-  K-2 students ID was written on the paperwork home

Password-  WakeID password (student number). 

See letter in Tuesday folders for more information about our partnership with the Carolina Hurricanes. If you have any questions, please contact Alexandria Judge-Lenkeit- ajudge-lenkeit@wcpss.net

Revised WCPSS Elementary Report Card information (an additional letter will go out to families). 

• 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 levels

Save the dates: 

October 5th--  Fall Pictures

October 6th --  Grounds Day (8am-12pm)
October 9th -- Interims go home 
October 12th-  Pep Rally (time TBD)
October 19th - Unicorn Trot (full day of school) 
October 31st - Make up day (elective schedule; staff breakfast provided by admin)
November 12th - No School (Veteran's day) 
November 20th - Early Release 
November 21-23 - Vacation and holidays 
November 27th - School Improvement Meeting 
November 27th - Giving Tuesday 

Week of September 24th

Underwood School Family, 

Last week to enjoy the month of September...

Elective Letter website  - First - fifth grade families, click on this link to view your child's elective letters to see what they are going to be doing in their electives that started last week. Or check out our website - https://www.wcpss.net/underwoodes 

Grounds Day -- Set for October 6th -- 9:00 am -12:00pm at Underwood Elementary. We need your help to spruce up some of our bushes, clean up litter and rebuild some of the garden structures. 

Hurricane Relief efforts -- Underwood is collaborating with 19 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 deliverying to the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina. 

READEVOLUTION --- Please be sure you have worked with your child to login to the Readvolution website.  https://readvolution.cenagage.com/wake

Login- WakeID (all students have an ID-  K-2 students ID was written on the paperwork home

Password-  WakeID password (student number). 

See letter in Tuesday folders for more information about our partnership with the Carolina Hurricanes. If you have any questions, please contact Alexandria Judge-Lenkeit- ajudge-lenkeit@wcpss.net

Revised WCPSS Elementary Report Card information (an additional letter will go out to families). 

• 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 levels

School Family Picnic - Come out and join our school family on September 27th from 5:30 - 7:00, bring dinner with you, pick up something at one of the Five Points restraunts or take it advantage of one of the food trucks -- Big Mike's BBQ, Mr. A's Beignets, and Kona Ice! 

Save the dates:

September 27th -- School Family Picnic 
September 28th -- Regular school time 
October 1st-  Unicorn Trot staff breakfast @ 8:00 
October 2nd -- Interims go home 

October 5th--  Fall Pictures
October 6th --  Grounds Day (9am-12pm)
October 12th-  Pep Rally (time K-2- 2:30 and 3-5- 3:00)
October 19th - Unicorn Trot (regular school time) 
October 31st - Make up day (elective schedule)
November 12th - No School (Veteran's day) 
November 20th - Early Release (students dismiss at 1:15) 
November 21-23 - Vacation and holidays 
November 27th - School Improvement Meeting 
November 27th - Giving Tuesday 

Second week of school

Underwood Families

Happy second week of school! We are off to a great start this school year, our school community is exhibiting PRIDE in all settings and those that aren't we are providing practice to teach those skills.

Thank you to all that came to the Open Houses this week! Thank you to our PTA and Foundation leaders that shared with our families the way they support Underwood. Here is the link to the presentation on Thursday's School Family meeting -- #smallschoolbigtalent presentation. Here is the link to more information about our Unicorn Trot - 2018 Unicorn Trot.

Bus evaluation practice: Each year transportation has the buses conduct a bus evacuation drill for bus safety.  In the event that the students may need to get off the bus quickly students practice exiting the back of the bus once a school year.  Underwood will have its annual bus evacuation drill on Monday September 10th  when the buses arrive at school.  School staff members will be there to help the students practice and then go to class as usual.



Upcoming Events:

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

September 19th -- No School 
September 25th--  Interims Go Home

September 27th -- School Family Picnic 

September 28th -- Early Release 

First Week of School

We had a successful first week of school! It seemed like the students were engaged and excited to be back at school, but for some it was hard getting back into a school routine (it will get better)! Rest, relax and enjoy the three day weekend. We welcome all of our kindergarten students on Tuesday, September 4th. 

This week we have focused on school-wide expectatations for PRIDE. Mrs. Mbalia and Mr. Shillings met with each grade level to go over dismissal, lunchroom, playground, bathroom, and hallway expectations.

P - Practice self-control
R - Responsibility is key
I -  Identify safe choices
D - Demonstrate respect
E - Excel in school (or in the setting)

In addition to our PRIDE reviews, our school has recommitted to Conscious Discipline as we are following the recommended Framework for full implementation, which is a 3 year process.  This year's Conscious Discipline efforts will include:

• Master Instructor Amy Speidel trained all teachers on August 23rd and August 24th focusing on the purpose and why behind the Powers/Skills/Structures of Conscious Discipline.  Thank you PTA for funding this professional developmental opportunity!
• Our CDAT Team (Conscious Discipline Action Team) will be meeting monthly to guide our implementation journey based on data, staff feedback and interest from our August training.
• Brain Smart Starts will be taking place on each bus upon arrival in the morning and before leaving each afternoon.  This four step process includes an activity to unite, disengage stress, connect and commit.
• School Family Assemblies (whole school) will be taking place quarterly this year.  Assemblies include:  celebrations, connection and a strategic mini-lesson tied to social-emotional learning.
• The staff will have the opportunity to view and reflect on the Conscious Discipline Trauma Webinar series to learn more about the effects on trauma on children, their developing brain and ways to support social-emotional learning.
• 4 staff members will be attending the NCaeyc Conference in September where Dr. Becky Bailey, the creator of Conscious Discipline, will be presenting the keynote speech.
• Conscious Discipline staff structures have been "re-energized" to allow staff to experience the power of CD on a daily basis too!  Thank you to Rachel Frasier for all her efforts over the summer to make this happen.  

Open House for Fifth Grade-September 5th - 5:30-6:00 

Open House (Grades K-4)-September 6th- 5:30-7:15

5:30 - 6:00 

Session 1 with classroom teachers

6:05 - 6:35 - 

School Meeting (PTA/Foundation/Mr. Shillings) in the multipurpose room.
 Also sign up for PTA, Foundation and other events while you are there! 

6:45 - 7:15 - 

Session 2 - repeat session with classroom teachers 

We wish you well as we all get back into our school routines. Here is an article that many parents can relate to when their children are trying to get back to their school routine. Wishing you well!

Make it a great week! 

We have missed you!

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)

Week of May 14th

Parent Portal -- PowerSchool parent portal information to your parents. This includes new students.  All schools must have the parent portal open and encourage parents to use it.  Even though we do not display grades at all elementary schools, we do have school assignment and transportation information available in the portal.

Information is available on the Internet for parents.

https://www.wcpss.net/Domain/69

Transportation for 2018-19 School Year 

• Bus Rider Registration 2018-19 School Year: On Friday, May 11, 2018, we will begin receiving (via the web and the Transportation Module) requests from transportation eligible families for the 2018-19 school year. This also applies for middle school. 

• Cut off Dates to Ensure First Day Service: Any transportation eligible family who needs to make a change for 2018-19 is requested to meet the following deadlines to ensure service on the first day of school is July 30 for Traditional calendar schools

Requests received after these cut off dates will be processed in the order received and WCPSS Transportation will make every effort to provide service as quickly as possible.

School-wide behavior expectations

As a staff we are continuing to analyze how to prepare our students for the real-world, in regards to how we treat ourselves and others. As a school, we are currently using some of the PBIS principles (Positive Behavior Intervention Support) and some of the structures of Conscious Discipline. Our goal for next year is to provide our students and staff with consistent expectations across all settings, provide students with structures to increase their ability to regulate emotions and communicate effectively with their peers and adults.

Quarter 4 Electives

If you would like to learn more about your child’s electives-be sure to visit the elective letter website found here.  These letters contain an overview of the course, standards that will be taught as well as contact information for the elective teacher.  

Calendar Updates

• Fifth grade families:  Save the date for the afternoon of June 8th for the end of year celebration! A Memberhub announcement and letter will be going home soon to give details for our awesome fifth graders send off.
• Field Day is now on Wednesday June 6th (this has been changed based on the students last day being back on June 8th).
• EOG Dates:

May 29-  3rd and 4th ELA

May 30-  3rd and 4th Math

May 31-  Nightingale/Vinson Science (computer) Make-ups
June 1 -  Goto/FV Science (computer)/Make-ups

June 4-  5th Math/Make-ups

June 5-  5th ELA/Make-ups

June 6-  Make-ups

June 7-  Make-ups

What we want our students to learn --
Teachers are to share out with our families on a weekly basis the areas of focuses for academics, announcements, and other pertain items. Most of our teachers are utilizing Memberhub, if you are not receiving updates please email or contact the teacher and/or Mr. Shillings.