Community Update: Sunday, September 24, 2017

Sunday, September 24, 2017

Dear Advanced Learning Academy Families,

Congratulations to our Euclid campus students on their wonderful RULER exhibition last Tuesday. It was wonderful to see so many families join us in this celebration of learning!

Tomorrow, the ALA at Fox Tech campus is hosting the SAISD “Back-to-School” College Fair from 12-1:30.  Our 9th-11th students and their families are invited to attend to learn more about the many post-secondary opportunities available.  This “Back-to-School” College Fair flyer provides more information including preparation tips for students and and information about a second evening opportunity to meet with schools.

This week, we would like to highlight the Newspaper and Social Justice Club on our Euclid campus.  The mission of the club, open to 2nd and 3rd grade students, is to  provide students with a place discuss issues related to bringing about tolerance, encouraging acceptance, and providing mutual support within the diverse population of our school. Students will create a campus newspaper to serve as a platform to share current events and social justice issues. Interested families may learn more and  Sign Up HERE!

Finally, we are pleased to announce a series of Saturday Schools for students in grades 4-11.  These academically focused Saturday Schools are designed to further support student learning by providing a structured time for students to complete or revise course-work and receive tutoring with their teachers.  On Saturday, September 30, our 10th/11th grade students are invited to the school to work with Ms. Whittaker and Ms. Kern on World History AP and AP Seminar from 9am-noon and chemistry from 11 am-noon. By the end of the week, all of the 1st semester Saturday Schools will be on our community calendar, and we will continue to remind families in the weekly update as well.  We welcome the donation of snacks or other breakfast foods for these events.  Anyone wishing to donate, may contact my administrative assistant, Ida Valdez, at ivaldez2@saisd.net

Have a great week!

Kathy Bieser

Community Update: September 17, 2017

Sunday, September 17, 2017

Dear Advanced Learning Academy Families,

On Tuesday, September 19th from 5:45-6:45 pm, Euclid campus families are invited to attend our first Project-Based Learning exhibition of the year. Students will share what they have learned about our new PK-12 social-emotional program, RULER, and families will have the opportunity to learn several RULER tools to use at home. The following evening, Wednesday, September 20th, ALA at Fox Tech will host a Back to School Night for grades 6-11.  Below is an outline of the evening:

4:45-5:45 pm: Laptop Distribution & SeeSaw Registration (6th/7th only)

• 6th-11th Grade Laptop Distribution & Parent Orientations every 15 minutes
• 6th & 7th Grade SeeSaw registration for 6/7th families every 15 minutes

6:00-7:45 pm: Classroom Visits & Teacher Meetings

All Back to School Night activities will take place on the 3rd floor of the main building. While the official event begins at 6:00 pm, families are encouraged to arrive as early as 4:45 pm to attend the parent orientation for laptop distribution and learn about SeeSaw (6th & 7th only).

Once again, we would like to highlight one of the many clubs open to students on our campus.  The Curiosity Club is an exciting extra-curricular enrichment program that empowers students and enables them to learn through choice, challenge, and curiosity.  They can explore various epochs of history or specific events through online challenges that allow them to also engage in projects including art, performance, writing, drawing, model-making, video-making and more.  Students craft their own journeys based on their own interests.  The areas of challenges include culture, science, history, rights, nature and sport.  Students make connections between the various Challenges completed and begin to get a big picture of history on Earth, as well as delve into specific aspects and details of the chosen areas. Curiosity Club will meet on Tuesdays from 4-5:30 beginning on October 3rd.  This is an unique opportunity for our kids, since we are one of eight schools in the San Antonio area that are piloting this program, based on the What on Earth time-traveling series of books from the United Kingdom by Christopher Lloyd.  Permission slips for the club can be obtained from any 4th-8th grade teacher.

Looking ahead,  we will be canceling 6th & 7th grade Passion Pursuits on Wednesday, October 11 due to the PSAT test.

As a reminder, Friday is a student holiday.  The ALA faculty will be engaged in a wide range of professional development including strategies to support our English Language Learners, tools to increase classroom engagement, incorporating writing in science classrooms, and facilitating a low ropes activities.  We value the time to further deepen our teaching strategies in support of student learning.

Have a wonderful week!

Kathy Bieser

Community Update: Sunday, September 10, 2017

Sunday, September 10, 2017

Dear Advanced Learning Academy Families,

As part of the National School Lunch & Breakfast Program, all Advanced Learning Academy families are to submit a meal application for free and reduced-price lunch, regardless of income level.  At this time, we have 350+ outstanding applications that we need to be collected by the end of September. If you have not submitted a form (electronic or paper), please click on this My School Apps Link to complete the form.  You will need the following information:

• The names and incomes of every member of your household
• The school, grade, birthdate of every student in your household
• Last 4 digits of the Social Security number of the adult household member who signs the application or, if the adult does not have a social security number, check the box for “I do not have a Social Security number”.

The entire process should take 15-30 minutes depending on the size of your household and the information you are required to enter. We appreciate your timely attention to this matter as it will assist our front office staff  and administrative interns tasked with collecting a form from every family. If you are unsure if your family has submitted a form, you may email the Trinity Leadership Intern, Angelica Escobar-Smithwick, at aescorbarsmithwick1@saisd.net.

The Advanced Learning Academy PTSA selected a spirit t-shirt design at last week’s meeting that will be on sale at the Euclid campus on Thursday, September 14th, from 3:50-6pm in the cafeteria and at ALA @ Fox Tech on Wednesday, September 20th, at the 6th-11th grade Back to School Night. Families may also contact info@alaptsa.org for more information or to purchase a shirt. The spirit shirt may be worn on any day of the week. The Sonya Castro (ALA art teacher) original design, featuring the Rise, Shine & Repeat theme can be accessed HERE.

ALA at Fox Tech student ambassadors, working in collaboration with our sister schools, Fox Tech Health and Law Magnet and CAST Tech, have decided to collect donations throughout the year for a specific school (yet to be determined) in the Gulf Coast area.  This Hurricane Harvey Donation Flyer outlines the materials being collected at both campuses at this time.

Laura Sisson, the ALA at Fox Tech campus librarian, continues to distribute laptop to 6th-11th grade students this week and throughout September.  This Laptop Distribution Flyer has more details and upcoming dates. If you have any questions or need to find an alternate date and time, please contact Laura Sisson at 210.738.9730 x34023 or email lsisson@saisd.net

As we announced last week, many clubs and organizations at both campuses have recently begun or are gearing up for their first meetings of the year.  The clubs and organizations listing on our webpage was updated to include all of the current offerings PK-12.  Families may access the list HERE, and we encourage families to check back periodically as more opportunities are added.

One specific club we would like to highlight is the PSAT Preppers Club designed to provide our 8th-11th grade students a structured time and place every Tuesday and Thursday from 4-6pm in the Go Center to prepare of the upcoming October 11th, 2017 PSAT Preliminary SAT test.  Although our 8th grade students, freshmen, sophomores will be taking the PSAT as practice, the test will be scored and students will receive individual testing results later in the year.  The test is designed to help students understand their readiness for taking the SAT exam during the spring of their junior year or fall of their senior year. Junior year PSAT scores are also used by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation to select next year’s National Merit Scholars and National Hispanic Scholars, both distinctions that can earn students valuable scholarship dollars for college. We, along with all of SAISD, are committed to opening doors to higher education for every student in our community.

The ALA Theatre department is looking for a committed piano accompanist volunteer for our musical, Peter and The Starcatcher.  This musician must be able to read music and assist in the vocal score and accompaniment during rehearsals and performances for young performers learning to understand music.  If any parents would like to know more about this opportunity, or if you know someone who is interested, please contact Ms. Stengel (astengel1@saisd.net).  We need a dedicated volunteer as soon as possible.   

Looking ahead, ALA at Euclid students will participate in the first Project-Based Learning exhibition of the year on Tuesday, September 19th when they share what they have learned about our new PK-12 social-emotional program, RULER, with family and friends.   The following evening, September 20th, ALA at FT will host a 6th-11th grade Back to School Night. Please look for additional details in next week’s update.

Finally, we wish our 8th grade students a wonderful field trip to San Antonio zoo on Thursday as part of their 8th grade science biological studies.

Have a wonderful week!

Sincerely,

Kathy Bieser

Monday, September 4, 2017

Dear Advanced Learning Academy Families,

On Wednesday, September 6 at 6:30PM in the Fox Tech cafeteria, we will hold our first Advanced Learning Academy PTSA meeting of the year. Our PTSA board will be present to provide information about how the organization supports our children and school, and they will share what they have planned for both the Euclid and Fox Tech campuses this year.  Additionally, the following PTSA officer positions for the 2017-2018 are open:

• Vice President of Fundraising:  Researches and proposes fundraisers to the PTSA's executive board and membership for approval and then oversees fundraiser execution.
• Parliamentarian:  Advises the board and members on matters of parliamentary procedure, as well as serves as a consultant, ruling on questions of order and answers parliamentary inquiries.

Both of the positions above are open to the ALA community, including students. Officers must be members of PTSA, or willing to become members, along with completing an online training.  If you are interested in serving, please attend this Wednesday’s meeting.  For additional information about these positions, or about joining PTSA, please email info@alaptsa.org.  You may also join PTSA on line at www.joinpta.org and selecting SAISD and the Advanced Learning Academy, the submitting the $10 fee. We look forward to seeing families, both Euclid and Fox Tech, on Wednesday night!

The following afternoon, Thursday, September 7, from 5:30-6:30PM, our 4th & 5th grade team will host a Back to School meeting. All families are encouraged to attend to meet the teachers and hear about exciting upcoming events including our field trip to Padre Island National Park.

We have a a few reminders about start times, arrival and dismissal procedures at our ALA at Euclid campus:

Morning Arrival: ALA @ Euclid

• Takes place from 7:30-8:00AM. Please do not drop off students earlier than 7:30AM at either campus as there is no supervision for them.
• Students should report to their classrooms beginning at 8:00AM ready to start for the day.
• Students that arrive after 8:10AM are considered tardy. Parents dropping off at a time where their students will not be in class by 8:10AM will need to park, walk into the office, and sign in the student for the day.
• When dropping off at Euclid in the mornings, please respect the following procedures for the safety of all students:
• If you choose to walk your students across the crosswalk, please park in a designated parking space. Please do not park along the backside of cars parked in spaces to let your child out.
• If you are in the car line, please do not go around other cars to the first position in line. Wait for a member of the staff to direct you around.

Visitors and Dismissal: ALA @ Euclid

• All campus visitors must report to the main office first. Visitors are not permitted in the classroom hallways or classrooms without checking in at the office first.
• Any changes in your child’s dismissal must be communicated in writing to your child’s teacher.  Please note, if you email the teacher, be sure that you receive a response before the end of the day.  If not, please call the main office no later than 3:00PM.  Changes can not be accepted after 3:00PM as we have already begun the dismissal process.
• In addition, students can not be released early from the classroom after 3:00PM for Pre K and 3:10PM  for K-3rd grade.

Looking ahead, we will have a club and organizations list ready to share in next week’s update so that families can see the many special enrichment opportunities available to students.

Our new counselor at ALA at Fox Tech, Arnette Scharf, has begun teaching guidance lessons. Last week, she met with our 8th graders and she encourages families to ask their 8th graders about the five needs that everyone has, the topic of her 1st lesson.

Finally, this link shares the Progress Report and Report Card Dates for the 2017-2018 school year. We will also send out reminders via this update and other communication tools when progress reports and report cards will be sent home or are available for pick-up.

Have a wonderful week!

Sincerely,

Kathy Bieser