July 13 - 17th

Underwood Families,  

Weekly Announcements - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wECfGnWAINA 

Virtual Academy information can be found at https://www.wcpss.net/Page/43730. Applications will open up on Friday July 10 - 20th. Reminder if you chose to have your child attend the virtual online academy, they would continue to be assigned to Underwood Elementary. Expectations and guidelines on level of engagement should be coming out this week, so families can decide if Virtual Academy is a good fit for your child(ren). 

Underwood's new eBook collection is now available! A HUGE thank you to our PTA for funding our start up collection! To get started using our eBooks, please watch this short tutorial - UGTM eBook Intro. This is new to all of us, so please feel free to atrowell@wcpss.net  reach out if you have questions or suggestions.

We will have our Wind Down Wednesday session on July 22nd to discuss updates on the 2020-2021 school year. More information to come in the next week. 

Make it a GREAT week! 
 
Wishing you well,  



Mr. Shillings

July 9, 2020

Underwood Families,  

Thank you to those families who participated in our Wind Down Wednesday evening session. Here is the presentation that was shared with families. This is an abridged version of the presentation that was shared by WCPSS with the Wake County School Board. The full version is available at https://www.wcpss.net/schoolboard. 

If you have questions, please complete the form - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSckjychzQRv5LH6gH3WDo4JebGGkDlwU0KGK0N_7m77Lp6xpw/viewform?usp=sf_link. If you have requests for having families in the same grouping that would support remote learning, please feel free to email me the names of the students and I will do my best to meet the request. 

Virtual Academy information can be found at https://www.wcpss.net/Page/43730. Applications will open up on Monday July 13th. Reminder if you chose to have your child attend the virtual online academy, they would continue to be assigned to Underwood Elementary. 

We will have our Wind Down Wednesday session on July 22nd to discuss updates on the 2020-2021 school year. More information to come in the next week. 

Wishing you well, 

Mr. Shillings 

June 8- 12

Underwood Families,  

We are in our last week of the school year! I have appreciated the time that our school has had to serve your students through this very different school year. I hope that this year has been a successful one for your family, it’s hard to believe we have not been able to be all together since March 13th. Please take a look at our at-home resource site -- https://sites.google.com/wcpss.net/uesfamilyassistance/home . This site provides resources and ideas on how to speak with your children about current events in our country as well as links to support having a successful summer. We will also be sending out a Weekly Message to families as well as continuing with our bi-weekly Wednesday Parent Chats throughout the summer to check-in with everyone. Be sure to check our local news outlets and our website as information continues to come out about how the 2020-2021 school year will look for our students. I wish you all a fantastic summer!

Monday --- 4th Quarter School Family Assembly - Click on link for Presentation 

RATs - 2nd-3rd grade performance of Rats -- Click on link to see video  

Remote Learning Plans for June 1-5 -- Kindergarten - Fifth Grade Plans 

Wednesday Virtual Field Day - 2019-2020 Field Day!!!

Make it a GREAT week! 

Wishing you well 

Mr. Shillings

May 26-29

Families, 

Remote Learning Plans for May 26-29 -- Kindergarten - Fifth Grade Plans 

Closing Out School Year - reminder that students’s pick up of materials and report cards start on June 1st --- here are expectations and pick up dates and times -- Underwood Collection of Resources for Closure 2020

5th Grade celebration --- Save the date for June 12th 5th grade families -- 5th grade celebration info

Make it a GREAT week! 

Wishing you well 

Mr. Shillings

May 18 - 22

Families, 

This week’s updates:

Remote Learning Plans -- (reminder that these are also found at https://www.wcpss.net/underwoodes) -- May 18 -22 

Fifth Grade Families -- please save the morning of June 12th for a fifth grade carpool celebration at school. More information coming out this week. 

Closing Out Our School Year --- We will be doing our closing out school activities that include - report cards, students materials, and other items the week of June 1st. Specifics will come out this week on dates and times. 

Parent Survey for WCPSS  - A remote learning  survey  for parents opened on May 12, and will remain open until May 20.   These data are being collected only at the district level, not school by school.

3 -5  Carpool Parade -- May 21st - 
-Arrive at Hayes Barton Baptist Church Parking Lot by 11:10 in your car
-Remain in your car the entire event (Parking Lot at Hayes Barton and through the Parade).
-Follow the lead of Raleigh Police Department down Scales and exit on Harvey Street
-Staff will be separated 6 ft apart down Scales Street
-Students can do a fun scavenger hunt (link) to complete during the parade!  
-Parents have asked if they can decorate their cars-  sure! 

Talent Show #2 
Friday May 22nd  - K-2 at 3:00 and 3-5 at 9:30 

Make it a GREAT week! 


Travis Shillings, principal 

April 27-May 1

Families, 

We had a successful Foundation Virtual Gala, congratulations to those that won auction items. Also thank you those that donated to our Foundation. If you missed it and would like to donate to the Underwood Foundation, you can at https://e.givesmart.com/events/f6G/. 

Remote Learning Plan for the week of April 27th - May 1st https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kTi8LzS9r2mdnim5WoGNzVB8O0_jF_ATu0oaMZt0yYE/edit?usp=sharing 

All schools closed for the remainder of the school year

Governor Cooper announced today that all public school buildings will remain closed for the rest of the school year. In keeping with this order, all WCPSS school buildings will remain closed for the remainder of this school year for in-person instruction. Our students and staff will continue with remote learning and teleworking for the remainder of the school year. We will work on the implications of this decision and continue to update families and staff as we work through solutions. 

Helping 5th graders transition to middle school 

Even under normal circumstances, the transition from elementary to middle school is often an exciting, yet nerve-racking time for students. We want rising 6th graders to feel prepared for middle school. Parents can help enhance students‘ comfort level with this change by exposing them to common concerns that arise in middle school and equipping them with skills necessary to be successful. We encourage you to read and review this transition guide with your rising 6th grader. 

Pandemic Electronic Benefits program (P-EBT) for eligible families

North Carolina approved the distribution of additional resources to families receiving free or reduced-price lunch. The additional benefits will be through the Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer Program (P-EBT) to help families buy food during the COVID-19 school closure.

Applying for federal free or reduced price school meals

We realize that many families’ economic and employment situations have changed during this pandemic. Families can apply at any time for free or reduced price lunch, which may also qualify you for other state and federal benefits. 

Here are the locations for food pickup  - https://www.wcpss.net/food

Wishing you well 

Mr. Shillings 

March 2nd-6th

Underwood Families, 
It is hard to believe that we are already in March! Here are some updates and some information from our school to you. Please feel free to contact me or your child’s teacher if you have questions. 

First Friday (March 6) Theme:  Basketball Team Attire 
Our First Friday theme is Basketball Team Attire. If basketball is not your thing, feel free to wear team gear from another sport. 

Read Across Underwood on March 20th
“....to help motivate kids to read, bring the joys of reading to students of all ages, and make all children feel valued and welcome.”       (National Education Association) - More information to come from Mrs. Fisher and Mrs. Trowell. 

Single Subject Acceleration 
Any student who is enrolled in Wake County Public School system during the SSA Test Request Window is eligible for testing. Double Single Subject Acceleration, being accelerated for the second time in the same content, is allowed. However, if a student is already receiving Single Subject Acceleration (SSA) instruction in one area, math OR ELA, that student cannot be tested in the other content area. If you would like for your student to take the assessment to see if they qualify for SSA complete this form Test Request Form and turn it into your classroom teacher by March 18th.  Testing would take place the week of March 23-27. Contact Jennifer Page (jpage5@wcpss.net) or Heather Callahan (hcallahan@wcpss.net) if you have additional questions. FAQ -- https://drive.google.com/a/wcpss.net/file/d/1AXhZdnAA4dtd-PTUmcKPip2gJ1qHKy-K/view?usp=sharing

PRIDE Monthly Focus 
This month we are focusing on I- Identifying Self Control. Here are some of the 
Common Sense Media Videos we will sharing with the students during our daily 
messages.  

Digital Safety: 
https://www.commonsense.org/education/videos/pause-think-online 
https://www.commonsense.org/education/videos/we-the-digital-citizens 
https://www.commonsense.org/education/videos/internet-traffic-light 

Recommended for viewing with your child (not being shared with the whole school) 
https://www.commonsense.org/education/videos/teen-voices-who-youre-talking-to-online
https://www.commonsense.org/education/videos/teen-voices-who-are-you-on-social-media 

Carpool Safety Guidelines

 We are so fortunate to utilize our Safety Patrol for arrival and dismissal.  As a reminder, please respect the following to keep our student leaders safe:

• Maintain a speed limit of 5 MPH or less
• Remain in your car
• All students exit and enter the car on the right hand side of the car
• Refrain from using cellphones in the carpool line

School Improvement Plan 
Our school’s Vision -- At Underwood Gifted and Talented Elementary, we challenge each child to develop individual talents and to demonstrate academic, creative and social growth in order to become productive, responsible citizens. 

Some ways that we do this: variety of elective offerings, PRIDE behavior structures, emotional regulations through teacher choice of relationship building, safe places in learning spaces, and breathing strategies. 

Calendar of Events
March 3rd: Magnet Meet and Greet for Accepted Families 
March 3rd: Quarter 3 Interims go home / Promotion and Retention Letters go home 
March 4th: PTA Board Meeting at 9:30
March 4th: Pieces of Gold Performance at Raleigh Memorial Auditorium
March 6th: First Friday: Basketball Team Attire 
March 6th: ACT Theater Performance 
March 9th: Teacher Workday 
March 10th: Leadership Meeting
March 18th: SSA Applications are due to school