Students of the Month Cold Weather Reminder · With K-1 she read "The Sneetches" by Dr. Seuss ......
Transcript of Students of the Month Cold Weather Reminder · With K-1 she read "The Sneetches" by Dr. Seuss ......
Students of the Month
Upcoming Events
Early Release at NOON
NO ASP All transportation
changes must be made
by 10am
Thursday, December 21 May wear jeans and ugly
sweater!
End of 1st Semester
Thursday, December 21
NO SCHOOL
Winter Break
Friday, December 22—
Friday, January 5, 2018
Teacher Work Day
Friday, January 5, 2018
Students Return to School
2nd Semester Begins
Monday, January 8, 2018
Parents Lunch and Learn
Health and Wellness
In Mayerberg
Friday, January 12
NO SCHOOL
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Monday, January 22
December, 19 2017
DECEMBER NEWSLETTER University Academy Lower School
Cold Weather
Reminder
It is hard to believe that
we are into the winter
season and the cold
weather is all around us.
We need your help to make
sure your children have on
appropriate clothing for
outdoor
recess.
Please make sure you are letting the lower school office know about afternoon
transportation changes before noon
816-412-9230
Or
816-412-9282
Please leave a voicemail
if we are not able to answer
~ Thank you ~
Kindergarten - Kaiden Stone ~1st Grade - Aila Abernathy ~ 2nd Grade - Ke’Vionah Martin
3rd Grade - Nyla Doyle ~ 4th Grade - Lar’Rya Cooper ~ 5th Grade - Quincy Boykins
The first semester is coming to a close very quickly as the holidays
are upon us. We hope that you all have a happy and restful
holiday and get an opportunity to spend time with friends and
family. We know that the students, teachers, and staff are ready
for a little break. The teachers and students have been working
hard to make sure that every student is learning and excelling. We
have appreciated getting the opportunity to meet with most of you
in conferences and activities throughout the semester. Education
is a partnership and we appreciate your involvement in your child's
education. Please encourage your child to read over the break to
keep their skills sharp for the next semester. We look forward to
an awesome 2nd semester as we work together. Happy Holidays!
Lost and Found
Reminder
Since it has become a
health hazard, items
will be donated on the
15th and 30th of every
month. Please label
jackets, hats, etc.
since items are
checked for names
and returned to their
owner.
Art
Advanced Studies
Creative Movement
Computers
PE
Please visit my website to read my full newsletter to get info on how you can check in with your students progress from almost anywhere you are.
http://www.universityacademy.org/schools/lower_school/teacher_pages/jordan_hadjian.
Seasons greetings! I wish you a safe and happy
holiday! Again, if you would like to view my
upcoming class details or syllabus, please see
my webpage on the UA website.
Thanks! Mrs. Slater :)
In first grade high reader pull-out guided reading
we looked at Pourquoi Stories – traditional stories from
around the world that explain natural phenomena,
like why it stays twilight to dark in the arctic for 6
months of the year, why butterflies bob when they fly
and so forth.
Second grade: worked on engineering ideas – how
to build a structure using construction toys that would
withstand a high wind.
Third grade: talked about ecosystems – how plants,
animals and their environments work together to
make a sustainable community.
Fourth grade: solved a tricky cube puzzle and other
math adventures, then began talking about DNA and
heredity of traits.
Fifth grade: same cube puzzle as fourth grade, vol-
ume and rectangular prisms, spatial reasoning, a brief
introduction to DNA and heredity.
During the month of December, PE classes are
participating in scooter activities while learning
about the muscles of the legs. Then starting in
January, we will do some fitness testing and start
our basketball units! Fun times!
Have a happy holiday!! Coach Gassen
What a great month to be in Kindergarten Art. Let's call it
Kinder Art, shall we? They have really been exploring
textures, stencils, shapes and color to prepare for the new
year, when they will begin their exploration of painting and
collage.
First Grade is beginning the Kandinsky
project where we put visual art and music
together to create expressive creations full
of color and movement.
Second Grade will soon begin their Cubism projects, while
Third Grade is finishing up their fantastic cityscape paintings
which can be seen in the halls outside the Art room. We hope
you all have a wonderful holiday season full of love, laughter
and relaxation with family and friends.
Mr. A
December Newsletter
Greetings from Lower School Music!
We had a wonderful 1st and 2nd grade performance on December
12th! Our students sang beautifully and the performance was well
received by family and friends in attendance. 3rd, 4th, and 5th
grades are working hard to get ready for their performance
on February 27th. In addition to concert music, 3rd and 4th grades
are working on recorders. We are really enjoying learning how to
play instruments and read music on them. 5th grade is working on
their woodwind instrument family, practicing how to play a
woodwind mouthpiece with a cross-over instrument
called a DooD. These instruments were purchased
last year for the Lower School Music room as a grant
from Friends of UA. I hope everyone has a safe,
happy, and merry Winter Break!
See you in 2018!
Page 3
Music: Winter Concerts
Counselor’s Corner
Happy Holidays!
In the month of December we had the Bully Lady back in all
classrooms! With K-1 she read "The Sneetches" by Dr. Seuss
and talked about exclusion, which is a form of bullying. In 2-3
she read "We're all Wonders" by Raquel Jaramillo and
discussed empathy, uniqueness in the
world, and strategies for stress. With 4-5
she read "Confessions of a Former Bully"
by Trudy Ludwig and defined bullying and
discussed strategies for targets of
bullying.
The website for Synergy Services has many great resources
regarding bullying:
http://www.synergyservices.org/?page=Main_Our_Services_
Stop_Violence. We are so happy to partner with Synergy and
the Bully Lady to help educate our students further on
bullying!
All the best,
Mrs. Hagan—K, 4 & 5
816-412-5973
Mrs. Sanders—1-3
816-412-9260
Title I
The upcoming gift-giving season is a perfect time to
support your children whether they are new readers
or very experienced readers! Encourage family
members and friends to give books to your child as
gifts. You might also consider buying a subscription
to a favorite children’s magazine. Words games
such as Scrabble (or Scrabble Junior), Boggle,
Rhyming or ABC Bingo, and Probe are just a few
examples of games
that use language,
words, and make
great gifts!
Sincerely,
Mrs. King: Reading Specialist grades K-2
Winter break is the perfect time to read aloud to your
children! Experts say that even older kids enjoy being
read aloud to at school and at home. Reading aloud to
children allows them to be able to fall in love with the
story! Sometimes it is difficult for students to work
on understanding the story when they are spending
the entire time trying to decode words. Reading aloud
to your children allows them to hear good readers
model how to use expression while reading. There are
so many benefits of reading aloud to kids so take a
few minutes this winter break to sit and escape into the
wonderful world of books.
Sincerely,
Ms. Redmond: Reading Specialist grades 2- 5
Older readers 2nd-5th graders
1. Ask students what the author’s theme or message is in the book.
2. What background knowledge do you have that relates to this book?
3. Write a summary including a beginning, middle, and end.
4. Why do you think the character did _________________?
5. Talk about all the parts of a non-fiction book like the diagrams, charts, photographs, glossary, etc.
6. Compare and contrast ideas in a story or between books.
7. Make personal connections to events in the story.
8. Ask questions that aren’t entirely answered in the book. Beyond the text questions make readers think
deeper about books they are reading.
Beginning Readers: Kindergarten thru 2nd Grade
1. Help your child learn sight words by using flashcards, posting the words around your house, or even
having students trace the words in sand!
2. Help your child visualize the story in their heads by telling them to create a movie in their mind while
you are reading aloud to them.
3. Ask questions before, during and after reading. Have your children look at pictures and make
predictions, ask them to think about what may happen next, or what was their favorite part?
4. Don’t immediately tell your child an unknown word. Ask your child to stretch out the sounds in the
words to help them decode.
University Academy Lower School
The mission of University Academy is to prepare students to succeed in an institution of higher learning and to become leaders in society.
6801 Holmes Road Phone: 816-412-5900
Kansas City, MO Fax: 816-410-0322
5th Grade Water Cycles
Each year in 5th Grade Science we round out our unit on Earth’s Systems with a
3-dimensional model of the Water Cycle. This project is a lot of fun for the kiddos
because they get to be creative in constructing a model of something they’ve
gotten to know well. It’s a big deal to get to show off that creativity. I’m very
proud of the projects turned in this year! The 4thgraders each year look at the
projects with excitement knowing their turn is coming soon! Congratulations to
this year’s 5th graders for a job well done!
The second grade went to the Nelson Atkins museum of Art for
a field trip. We learned about symbolism in ancient
communication. Each student got to see an area of the
museum and make their own metal embossment! This group
was studying symbols in ancient Egyptian art.
2nd Grade Field Trip