Community Update: Sunday, November 13, 2016

Sunday, November 13, 2016

Dear Advanced Learning Academy Families,

Last Friday,  ALA on Euclid hosted a Fall Festival designed, organized and run by our K-3 students. The carnival displayed cardboard carnival games that were colorful and interactive for the whole community.  There were colorful and creative games like a stuffed animal photo booth, sack races, a confetti water dunking booth, and much more.  Over the course of the unit leading up to the event, students explored the driving question: How do we create an event that brings our community together? Congratulations to all of the students on their hard work and creativity to bring our community together!

A reminder that Wednesday, November 16th will be the fourth of six early release days this year.  Our K-3 students will  be dismissed at 1:15 PM while our 4th-10th grade students will be dismissed at 1:30 PM.  All magnet buses will run immediately after dismissal at 1:15 PM or 1:30 PM. 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 begin at the normal time.

On Friday, November 18th, our 4th and 5th grade Speak Up! Speak Out! Finalists will travel to Austin and the Texas State Capitol to compete.  Congratulations to all of the students on a successful first round.  Best of luck to our advancing students and our dedicated teachers!

Finally, we have created a new tradition at ALA: Turkey Day! It is a way to celebrate the last day before the break. You may review the Google presentation linked above for all Turkey Day guidelines. We return from Thanksgiving Break on Monday, November 28.  We wish all our ALA families a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Sincerely,

Kathy Bieser

Community Update: November 6, 2016

Sunday, November 6, 2016

Dear Advanced Learning Academy Families,

The 2017-2018 Application for SAISD Magnet and Specialized Schools, including the Advanced Learning Academy, was launched last week on the SAISD homepage.  Families may learn more about the many options available HERE and access the application for enrollment for the 17-18 school year HERE.

Students will be accepted to ALA through a lottery system. In order to be eligible for the ALA Lottery, a potential student only needs to fully complete an application and submit it by the January 31, 2017, deadline.  Next year, we will welcome an additional 60 Pre-Kindergarten and 60 Kindergarten families to ALA on Euclid. Additionally, we will be taking a small number of students in grades 1-11 based on available seats.  Pre-Kindergarten seats at ALA will be provided on a tuition basis to students who do not meet the Texas Education Agency eligibility requirements to attend Pre-Kindergarten for free. For enrollment in the 17-18 school year, siblings of current Advanced Learning Academy students will be given automatic admission if seats in the grade are available after controlling for in-district and out-of-district ratios. Although siblings of current students may be granted automatic admission if seats are available, they must submit an application by the deadline in order to be eligible. We are in the process of finalizing informational sessions for prospective students and families that we will share on our website and through my blog. Current students do not need to apply to secure a seat for the 17-18 school year.  

Monday, November 6th, ALA at Euclid will host a ceremony honoring veterans in our community. Families are invited to attend the 10:00 a.m. ceremony and encouraged to arrive no later than 9:40 a.m. to give ample time to park, check-in and get settled in the gymnasium.

On Tuesday, our 8th-10th grade students depart for a three-day travel experience

to H-E-B Foundation Free Camps in Leakey, Texas. I will be traveling with our students and will have very limited access to email and the internet at the camp. In my absence, families may contact ALA at Euclid Assistant Principal Beth Koennecke (FMORROWKOENNECKE1@saisd.net) or ALA at Fox Tech Assistant Principal David Nungaray(dnungaray1@saisd.net) for anything that requires immediate assistance. Although the internet at the top of camp may be limited, I will try to post short updates for our 8th-10th grade families on Ms. Bieser’s Blog.

On Wednesday, our 4th & 5th grade students will present their Speak Up! Speak Out! projects from 9:30-11:30 a.m. at ALA at Fox Tech during our Civics Fair. Students have been working in small groups to identify community problems and create innovative solutions before presenting their findings. Community judges will be joining us to give students feedback and to select the finalists who will attend a fair on November 18 at the Texas State Capitol building. Families are invited to join our 4th & 5th grade students as we celebrate with learning and creative solutions!

All of our K-10 students will be voting on school names this week at school. The vote will narrow the list of names to a few finalists who will present to a SAISD committee, which will make the final recommendation to the SAISD school board. We will share the finalists in next week’s update after the voting is completed!

Finally, a complete listing of the Community and Principal’s Coffee can be accessed HERE. The document will be continually updated as we confirm special presentations for each coffee.

Have a wonderful week!

Sincerely,

Kathy Bieser