Community Update: September 25, 2016

Sunday, September 25, 2016

Dear Advanced Learning Academy Families,

Yesterday, I spent the morning at Martin Luther King Academy cheering on our combined 7th & 8th grade girls volleyball team to victory--the very first volleyball win in the history of our school!  In addition to girls volleyball, the Academy Sports League, new this year, offers 7th & 8th grade Advanced Learning Academy students the opportunity to participate in the following team sports:  boys and girls basketball, cross country, soccer, and track. Our ALA teams will compete against other SAISD academies on Saturdays throughout the school year and a complete listing of fall games can be found on the Advanced Learning Academy Community Calendar posted on our webpage.

Tomorrow, we have three events happening with students on the Fox Tech campus. First, we are hosting a College Fair from 11:30 a.m. -1:15 p.m. for our high school students. Over 30+ schools will be in attendance! Second, our 8th, 9th, and 10th grade students are taking a field trip to Trinity University to investigate how the new science building at the university was designed. This field trip, which our 6th and 7th grade students will take on Tuesday, will help students with their final proposals about how to make our campus more energy efficient.  Third, math teacher David Loredo has organized an optional field trip to Trinity University to listen to a science presentation  on gravitational waves.  Many thanks to our teachers and counseling staff who helped to make all these events possible!

On Wednesday at 6:00 p.m. in the Fox Tech cafeteria, we will hold a meeting to provide information about organizing a PTA. Sylvia Reyna, Texas PTA Vice President of Programs and Resources, will be present at the meeting to provide information about PTA and how PTA supports our children and school.  PTA/PTSA is a grassroots association made up of parents, teachers, students and community members who have a special interest in children, families and schools. On Wednesday, we will be voting for the following PTSA officer positions:

President – Presides at regular and executive board meetings.  Acts as representative for the PTA at the council, state and national level.  Coordinates work of board members and many “unassigned” duties.   

1st Vice President – Aide – Assists the president, officers and committee chairman.   

2nd Vice President – Fundraising – Organizes all fundraisers, serves on disbursement and budget committee.

3rd Vice President – Programs  - Arranges all program speakers and/or activities for regular meetings.

4th Vice President – Membership  - Coordinates membership drives and submits paperwork to state.

Secretary – Records the minutes of the regular and executive board meetings.  Makes reminder calls to executive committee members.   

Treasurer – Keeps an accurate and complete account of money received and spent, writes checks, balances the checkbook, prepares monthly financial statements and fills out tax forms.  

If you are interested in serving as a PTSA officer, please plan to attend the meeting on Wednesday. If you are unable to attend on Wednesday, you may also email your name and the position you would like to be considered for to Mary Jane Segovia at msegovia13@saisd.net no later than noon on Wednesday.  

Looking ahead, school portraits are scheduled for ALA at Euclid on Thursday, October 6th and for ALA at Fox Tech on Friday, October 7th. More information will be sent home soon.

Finally, parents may bring treats for their child’s birthday, but please be aware that children in school may have allergies to certain food products. Therefore, it is important to discuss this with your child’s teacher prior to bringing any food. Per district policy, all snacks must be store bought and individually wrapped or packaged. We also encourage families to consider bringing healthy treats and goodies for these celebrations!

Have a great week!

Sincerely,

Kathy Bieser

Three Updates

Saturday, September 17, 2106

Dear Advanced Learning Academy Families,

We have three quick updates and reminders to share with you today.

1. All students K-10th received information this week about progress reports and assessment. If you haven’t already received the information from your son or daughter, please ask him/her about it!
2. There will be another Volunteer Orientation on Monday, September 19th at 6:00pm in the Fox Tech MPR. Please remember to bring a photo ID.
3. Wednesday, September 21 is an early release day for all students. K-3 students will be dismissed at 1:15 while our 4th-10th grade students will be dismissed at 1:30.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Kathy Bieser

Early Release September 21, 2016

Friday, September 16, 2016

Dear Advanced Learning Academy Families,

Next Wednesday, September 21, 2016 is the first of six early release days this year.  Our K-3 students will be dismissed at 1:15 while our 4th-10th grade students will be dismissed at 1:30.  All magnet buses will run immediately after dismissal at 1:15 or 1:30.

The after school programs on both campuses will begin at their regularly scheduled time. Students attending the after school programs will be supervised by campus faculty until the programs begins at the normal time.

We will send home a form on Monday for the parents of after school care students. On the form, you will be able to indicate if your child will be attending after school care or if you plan to change the normal dismissal procedure.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Sincerely,

Kathy Bieser

Community Update: Monday, September 5

Monday, September 5, 2016

Dear Advanced Learning Academy Families,

I hope to highlight one aspect of what teaching and learning looks like at our new school in each of my community updates throughout the school year, highlighting different grade-levels and projects to give families a broader understanding of the school across all years. Today, I am happy to share that the task of naming our school has begun! Last week, in our 6th-10th grade students’ Humanities course (English & Social Studies), students were introduced to this essential question: Who are we and how can we, as a community, name our school? Students responded to the charge by investigating personal and collective identity. They created personal identity maps, analyzed and wrote multi-draft “Where I’m From” poems, and created a large concept map on one wall in our commons area that illustrates multiple migration streams to Advanced Learning Academy. To understand the language of migration, students were challenged to inductively learn terms such as voluntary and involuntary migration and push and pull factors and to demonstrate their mastery in creative ways. The project, aptly titled The No Name Project, will continue for several days and will culminate with student presentations and proposals for possible names.  

This week we have several parent and community events to share with you. Our K-3 campus will be holding Village Orientation Parent Meetings this week.  Below are the dates/times for each village

Village A: Tuesday, September 6th from 5:30-6:30 p.m.

Village B: Wednesday, September 7th from 5:30-6:30 p.m.

Village C:  Thursday, September 8th from 5:30-6:30 p.m.  

We will be holding additional orientation meetings later in the month for our 4th-10th grade families as well.  

On Wednesday, September 7, we will officially and formally open the new school year at our very first Advanced Learning Academy Opening Ceremony. Families are invited to attend Opening Ceremony beginning at 10:10 am in the Fox Tech campus amphitheater. Due to limited parking, we recommend that you arrive on campus no later than 9:30 a.m. to give you plenty of time to find a parking spot, check in at the Fox Tech main office for a visitor’s pass, and get settled in the amphitheater. The Opening Ceremony will include remarks from several community partners and the reading of an original poem by Jenny Browne, San Antonio’s Poet Laureate. All of our students, including those from ALA on Euclid, will be in attendance.

The following evening, the celebrations continue as the campus participates in the San Pedro Creek Ribbon Cutting. We would like to invite all Advanced Learning Academy students, parents, and friends to the San Pedro Creek Ribbon Cutting Ceremony on September 8th, 2016, at 5:15 p.m. We are excited to join our mayor, city leaders, the county, the San Antonio River Authority, the San Antonio Opera and many others for this ground-breaking event. In order to celebrate this occasion, we will meet in the Fox Tech mall area for coffee and cookies to assemble a parade of our students, our teachers, our campus leaders, and our amazing mariachis and band students who will lead a parade to the Fox Tech football field. At this event, our school will be highlighted and introduced by our city leaders as a spotlight on education in SAISD. We are both honored and excited to be a part of this celebration and to be highlighted in such a special way by our district, the county, and the city of San Antonio. All students in attendance will receive a free Advanced Learning Academy t-shirt to wear as we march to the football field!  We will also have extra t-shirts on hand for any K-3 Village C families who join us after their orientation meeting. More information about the event and the opera that will be performed can be found HERE. We hope to see many of you there!

Finally, we have tentatively scheduled an Advanced Learning Academy PTA meeting on Wednesday, September 28 at 6:00 p.m. at our Fox Tech campus.  We are working closely with the SAISD Council of PTAs to create our new chapter. Please look for more details in an upcoming message as well as ways to be involved.

Sincerely,

Kathy Bieser and the ALA Faculty/Staff