March 27th

Communication 

Active Learning Grant --- Underwood was awarded one of the first annual Active Learning Spaces Grant ($50,000) to be used to provide resources (furniture, devices) to increase the flexibility of the media center. We are planning to have the items in place to start the 2017-18 school year.

Electives - Quarter 4 Electives begin today!  

  

Grade Level Report Cards-  Report Cards go home on April 7th!  

Annual WCPSS Student Surveys for grades 4&5 - school engagement and "grit"(approx 10 minutes) and focus of 4th grade is extracurricular activities and advanced courses (5-6 minutes). Each survey is available in both English and Spanish and each student can access their survey in either language using the following link: http://surlogin.wcpss.net/. Students must take these surveys at school, as the link is not accessible outside of the WCPSS computer network. students will have to use their PowerSchool ID number to access their survey. The surveys will remain active from March 20th to May 26th, so please ensure that all grades 4-5 and 7-12 students have the opportunity to complete the survey at school before May 26th.  Results will be tabulated by school and reported out this summer. 

Critical Thinking

School Family Assembly-We are looking forward to March 31st from 9:30-10:15 for our next School Family Assembly.  We will be highlighting and teaching assertiveness within the mini-lesson!

PTA Board - Interested in serving on the PTA board? Nomination time is upon us as the PTA board, if interested contact our PTA President Karen Poteat. 

Collaboration

Foundation Gala - Underwood Foundation Board held our fourth annual GALA. This year our gala was at the Contemporary Art Museum downtime. Thank you to Ashley Cooper, Shannon Wolf, Allison Weaver, and Virginia Murray with our Board President Steve Mangano and the entire Foundation board for a fantastic event with the proceeds going to fund additional positions at Underwood Elementary.

Beautification - We had our Spring Playground Cleaning Day. Thank you to Underwood PTA grounds director Holly Helmig for her leadership and collaboration with Green Machine Landscaping to trim, mulch, and clean up our playground.

Creativity

Artspleasure - Wow!  ArtsPleasure 2017 will go down in the books as a great celebration. The event was well attended starting with Stomp after school 'til we locked the doors after 8:00.  The Arts Team would like to thank all of your for your support.  I am afraid I might miss someone if we started typing names, so we extend a huge hug and gratitude to all.  Thanks for donations of time, energy, and support.  We could not carry out such a successful event without your support.

It is great to work at a place where the Arts are a strong and vibrant part of the culture!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Underwood Arts Team

March 13-17

Critical Thinking

Foundation Gala - Friday March 24th - tickets are now available -- Gala tickets for Friday, March 24, 7:00pm at CAM. The mission of the Underwood Foundation is to maintain the excellence of our school program by supporting initiatives which recruit and retain quality teachers, enable and bolster rich instructional programming, and sustain the educational environment.

Weather Makeup Day / School Family Assembly -  March 31st is our third weather make-up day. We will be having our second School Family Assembly.

Communication

Coffee with Mr. Shillings -- First Friday of the month from 9:30 and discuss items of interest at Underwood. We will meet April 7th 9:30-10:30  in the media center (other dates will be May 5th and June 2nd. To assist in the discussion, if you have a question that you would like to talk about please fill out the form. - Questions to be discussed form

Volunteer Tea is May 5. More information to come...

School Improvement Plan - 2nd Quarter Data Review (mClass, Report Cards, and Case21). We have many things to be proud of our students work!

Math Problem Statement: The students that are not proficient on Case 21 and Report Card data are not retaining isolated skills over the course of a quarter/semester.

Action Steps: Modify current instructional strategies, create assessments that have current and previous (reviewed content), interviewing with previous grade levels about curriculum, re-visiting curriculum

Reading Problem Statement: 32% of 3rd grade students are not meeting benchmarks in literacy.

Action Steps: Go into DEF report and list names of students in red or yellow. 3rd grade grade has restructured their day due to previous reading data, so the 3rd grade team will need to provide further/current data at next meeting to show if the restructuring of the day is working.

All Call -- We are working with our communications department to decrease the number of phones that are called during the all-calls. You are able to use the Parent Portal to identify which phone number you would like for the all call to be sent to in the Portal - (https://wcpss.powerschool.com/public/). We have also inquired about the inconsistencies in the opt-in text feature.

Artspleasure - Thursday March 23rd from 5:30-8:00. We look forward to seeing our families at this fun event to celebrate the Arts!

If interested, please see the Meeting minutes and data here-  https://docs.google.com/a/wcpss.net/presentation/d/1A963DIsxw0hLmwX61UsSo0XPCTOudeUf6mviE6et3mQ/edit?usp=sharing

Collaboration

Specialists Weekly Updates - Important information about First in Fitness, Dance, Art, Music, Spanish, Media Center, Technology, and Drama. Specialists Weekly Update.

Active Learning Grant - Underwood is one of 28 elementary schools to be awarded the Active Learning Spaces Grant which was established in 2017 to support school efforts to transform facilities into learning spaces that inspire innovation and creativity while fostering the skill sets needed to live, produce, and thrive in today's workplace. We will be using the grant funds to increase the flexibility of our media center.

Grounds workday-Please mark your calendars and help us on March 25th as we will be working with a landscaper (and Underwood parent) to tackle the playground and surrounding areas!

Single Sign on Wake ID Portal - Having trouble managing the multiple login names and passwords you need to access applications such as Google Apps, Canvas and more? We have good news! Starting March 15, you will use the new WakeID Portal to access these and other applications in one place with one username and password.

Creativity

The students did an amazing job at Pieces of Gold at Progress Energy Center! Many thanks to Melissa Raley, Rachel Fraiser and Kelly Harris for their leadership and continued commitment to the Arts.  

Reminders:

• March 20th - Yearbooks orders are due. Very limited supplies afterwards
• March 23rd - Artspleasure 
• March 24th - Foundation Gala at CAM
• March 25th - Grounds Workday 
• March 27th - 4th Quarter Electives begin 

March 6 - 10

Critical Thinking 
NC Severe Weather Awareness Week - Statewide Tornado Drill Wednesday March 8th at 9:30.

Promotion/Intervention - Promotion and intervention letters will be going home this Tuesday. According to Wake County School Board policy 3420, parents of students at risk of being retained must be notified by the midpoint of the third quarter. Underwood Elementary teachers have been asked to identify students who are performing below grade level in one or more content areas.  By identifying students who are at-risk early, we have additional time to concentrate on areas of academic concern for each child.

Curriculum Procurement Update: Per Brian Kingsley (Superintendent of Academics) As our team continues moving towards a final recommendation to the Board of Education in April, teachers in the county will complete their piloting of the resources by March 17th. All staff members have access to the Canvas site with information about each resource. 

Communication  
School Improvement Plan - 2nd Quarter Data Review (mClass, Report Cards, and Case21). We have many things to be proud of our students work! 
Math Problem Statement: The students that are not proficient on Case 21 and Report Card data are not retaining isolated skills over the course of a quarter/semester.

Math Action Steps: Modify current instructional strategies, create assessments that have current and previous (reviewed content), interviewing with previous grade levels about curriculum, re-visiting curriculum

Reading Problem Statement: of 3rd grade students are not meeting benchmarks in literacy on Case21 doesn't match their performances in the classroom.

Action Steps: Go into DEF report and list names of students in red or yellow. 3rd grade grade has restructured their day due to previous reading data, so the 3rd grade team will need to provide further/current data at next meeting to show if the restructuring of the day is working.

Magnet Visit - Thank you for letting Charlotte Magnet Schools and WCPSS into our fine arts electives. They were impressed with the teaching tools and learning objects that were taking place and the student engagement during the lessons.

Collaboration 
Elementary Arts Integration opportunity - there is a week-long Arts Integration Institute. Over the course of the week, scheduled for June 19-23 at the Cary Arts Center, professional teaching artists will lead hands-on activities for so classroom and arts teachers will learn ways to integrate arts disciplines across the curriculum. More info to come from United Arts. 

Single Sign on Wake ID Portal - Having trouble managing the multiple login names and passwords you need to access applications such as Google Apps, Canvas and more? We have good news! Starting March 15, you will use the new WakeID Portal to access these and other applications in one place with one username and password. 

• Students will need to access their Google Apps and Canvas through the WakeID Portal, but they won't need to claim their accounts. Their default password will be their student number. Secondary students must change their passwords on their first login. 
• More information is coming. Stay tuned!

Creativity 

June Explore Wake Schools is All About Teachers -The June issue of Explore Wake Schools magazine will focus on our outstanding teachers. Please use this form to nominate a colleague or two to be featured in this special issue.

Governor's Budget - https://www.osbm.nc.gov/2017-19-governors-recommended-budget?platform=hootsuite