Community Update: October 29, 2017

Sunday, October 29, 2017

Dear Advanced Learning Academy Families,

Yesterday, ALA art teachers,  Sonya Castro and Galen McQuillen,  along with students and families gathered at MuertosFest to create an altar (linked to Facebook) in honor of Dia de los Muertos. The ALA altar, including artwork from kindergarten through high school school students,  remained on display in La Villita throughout Sunday for families and other community members to visit.  Congratulations to our young artists, our art teachers, Spanish teachers, elective teachers, and parent volunteers who all collaborated on this project.

On Wednesday, a group of 8th grade students, who have been reading and studying the book, The Memory of Light by Francisco Stork, will travel to Texas State University to attend the Tomas Rivera Book Awards where they will meet the author and participate in the annual book award celebration.

Wednesday evening at 6pm,, we will hosting our third Platica de Padres meeting  and Day of the Dead celebration at the Pearl  beginning at 6pm.  There will be tamales, sweet bread, and pozole.  Families are invited to bring something small to share, but it is not required.  We will also have Viridiana Carrizales sharing a Know Your Rights presentation with parents. There will also be various activities for the family in the area of the Pearl where the Plática will take place. This flyer has more information about the event.

A College Fair will be held on Wednesday night at the SAISD Alamo Convention Center from 6-8pm for all ALA high school students and families. More information can be found HERE.

In celebration of Arbor Day, the Euclid campus will be planting a tree and announcing the winners of a poster contest at 2:30 pm.  We are happy to partner with the City of San Antonio to celebrate the role of trees in our lives and grow our community’s knowledge on tree planting and care.  Families are welcome to join us at the event!  

We are also celebrating our campus PTSA this week, as one of only 583 from across the state that earned the Texas PTA’s Head Start and Early Bird Achievement Awards by recruiting 75% and then 100% of last year’s total membership before October. The PTSA also raised over $500 at the Cove fundraiser two weeks ago and is grateful for the tremendous community support. Lastly, the PTSA leadership asked me to announce that the Advanced Learning Academy car decals have arrived, and they will start selling them at ALA events.  They are also taking final t-shirt orders. Families may email the PTSA leadership at info@ALAPTSA.org to order.

Finally, we will end the week with a 4th/5th grade and 7th grade  Saturday School on November 4.   We welcome the donation of snacks or other breakfast foods for these important academic events.  Anyone wishing to donate, may contact my administrative assistant, Ida Valdez, at ivaldez2@saisd.net

Have a great week!

Sincerely,

Kathy Bieser

Community Update: October 22, 2017

Sunday, October 22, 2017

Dear Advanced Learning Academy Families,

A few hours ago, our ALA theater program completed the fourth and final performance of Peter and The Starcatcher. Congratulations to theatre teacher, Amy Stengel, and the entire cast and crew of 68 for a wonderfully entertaining musical.  We also want to send our thanks to the many parents and community members who supported the musical through donations and time.  

Last Thursday, our PK-3 campus students organized and hosted our 2nd Annual Fall Festival at the Euclid campus.  It was another fantastic example of what students can do.  Thank you to the many families who joined us in our celebration and supported students creativity and hard work on their festival booths.

For our 6th & 7th grade families, students will start their new elective rotations on Monday, October 23rd. The elective programming for our 6th & 7th graders is designed to allow students to rotate through different choices every nine weeks so that they can explore their interests and be exposed to a variety of courses. We had a great first quarter, and we look forward to the work they will be able to engage in the second quarter.

This week our 4th and 5th graders take two field trips to the Hill Country Science Mill in Johnson City and to Hardberger Park to enjoy a day of hiking and nature game, as we learn about local ecology from master naturalists.  Students will also visit a museum housed in a refurbished mill and experience interactive science exhibits and participation in a lab at the mill.   

Have a wonderful week!

Sincerely,

Kathy Bieser

Community Update: October 15, 2017

Sunday, October 15, 2017

Dear Advanced Learning Academy Families,

Tomorrow, Monday, October 15, is a student holiday to allow for teacher professional development.  The ALA faculty will be at Trinity University participating in a workshop about building students’ academic vocabulary before finalizing first nine-weeks grades.

Attached to this email are two important documents should your family want to enroll a sibling at the Advanced Learning Academy for the 2018-2019 school year.  The two forms are the Sibling Intent-to-Enroll Form and Choice Schools & Program Application. In order for families to access sibling preference for enrollment in 2018-2019, these two forms must be returned to the school no later than Friday, November 3rd. If the two forms are not returned by November 3, the sibling(s) will not be given sibling preference, but instead will be entered into the general lottery.

ALA at Euclid report cards will be sent home with students on Wednesday, October 18th in take- home folders. On Thursday, October 19th, ALA at Fox Tech report cards may be picked up at our first nine-weeks Report Card Pick-Up Night. Below is the schedule of the evening:

4th & 5th Grade: Silent Auction & Report Card Pick-Up

• Location: 1st Floor Mall for Report Cards; Fine Arts Foyer for Silent Auction
• Come and go anytime between 5:30 pm-6:45 pm to bid on student created artwork and pick-up your student’s report card.

6th & 7th Grade: Potluck, Community Conversations, & Report Card Pick-Up

• Location: Cafeteria
• The event begins at 5:30pm and ends at 6:45pm. Families are encouraged to attend the entire event as it is not come and go.
• Please see the attached flyer for more information.

8th, 9th, and 10th/11th Grade: Team Updates & Report Card Pick-Up

• Location: Library
• The team presentations begin at 6:00pm and will end no later than 6:45 pm.

At the conclusion of the Thursday night ALA Report Card Night, families are invited to attend our opening night of Peter and The Starcatcher.  Tickets will be sold this week following rehearsal times for cast members and before school in the theatre for friends and family.  Tickets are $10.00 for adults, and $5.00 for students.   We will have limited seating each night, so please purchase your tickets early.  We will also sell tickets at the door from 6:00pm to 6:45pm Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, however seating is not guaranteed once we meet capacity.   We will sell tickets from 1:00pm to 1:30pm on Sunday for the matinee.  For more information about the play, please see the flyer linked here.

Sincerely,

Kathy Bieser

Principal

Advanced Learning Academy

Community Update: October 8, 2017

Sunday, October 8, 2017

Dear Advanced Learning Academy Families,

Congratulations to our 7th and 8th grade girls volleyball team who finished their season this weekend with a 2nd place victory in the tournament.  It has been a tremendous season with lots of hardwork and dedication from the team. Be sure to check out the trophy in the ALA office on your next visit to our Fox Tech campus.  As girls volleyball comes to an end, girls soccer and boys basketball is beginning. Our first boys basketball game is this Tuesday at 5:30 pm.  Girls soccer practice begins tomorrow, Monday, October 9th, and the first game will be on Tuesday, October 17th.  The entire girls soccer schedule of practices and games can be found here.

Tuesday, October 10 is picture and free dress day for both ALA campuses.  Students received a flyer last week at school with more information to return to our picture vendor, Lifetouch.  Families may also order photos online at mylifetouch.com using ALA code: XY217053Q0.

Later that evening a group of 7th grade students in the Math & Sports Wonder Course will attend the Spurs game with math teacher Lisa Murphy, gathering statistics that will be analyzed in class to further develop students’ math skills.

We have a big day at ALA at Fox Tech on Wednesday, October 11th, as our 8th-11th grade students take the PSAT Preliminary SAT test. 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. Please also encourage your 8th-11th grade students to come well rested and to eat breakfast in the morning before this important test.

On Wednesday evening, we will be hosting our second Platica de Padres meeting at our Euclid campus from 6-7pm.  Blanca Rivera, from The Esperanza Peace & Justice Center, will present a chile workshop in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month. Guests will learn about the many uses and flavors of a variety of chilies and test out their favorites.  As we eat salsa and enjoy food together, we will discuss school and community involvement opportunities for both families and students. We ask that families bring their favorite salsas. Chips and refreshments will be provided.

On Saturday, October 14, our 4th/5th, 6th, 9th and 10th/11th  grade students are invited to the school to work with teachers.  The ALA Calendar has more specific information about which content areas will be represented. We welcome the donation of snacks or other breakfast foods for these events.

Finally, on Sunday, October 15, the Advanced Learning Academy PTSA would like to invite the entire ALA community and friends to at fundraiser at The Cove between noon and 5:00pm (flyer linked). Please let them know that you are with ALA and 10% of your food order goes to the PTSA.  The PTSA also asked me to share that the spirit t-shirts should be distributed to students in the next two weeks.  Families may email the PTSA at info@alaptsa.org with any questions.

Sincerely,

Kathy Bieser

Principal

Advanced Learning Academy

Sunday, October 1, 2017

Sunday, October 1, 2017

Dear Advanced Learning Academy,

On Thursday, October 5 from 4:30-6:15 on the 3rd floor in the commons area at ALA @ FT, we will host a Wonder Course Student Exhibition showcasing what students and teachers are doing in their Wonder Courses as "works-in-progress."  Wonder Courses are a signature of learning done at ALA; students indicate areas of interest and teachers design courses around those areas.  Some samples of current Wonder Courses include robotics, coding, comic-book-making, stop-motion animation, movie-making, artwork, hybrid games, world cultures, engineering, and much more.   Students are welcome to present their projects or visit work done by their peers, letting their projects speak for themselves in a gallery walk format.   In conjunction with this exhibit, we will offer GATE awareness and parent referral meetings in room 340.  These meetings are for parents who are interested in having their children test for identification as gifted/talented.  The meetings are at 4:30 and 5:15 and presented by Kimberly Nwosu, our GATE Implementation Specialist.

Several student groups will be taking field trips this week.  On Thursday, students in our Exploring San Antonio course travel to the San Antonio Museum of Art and our upper division Spanish students will be visiting the Central Library. The following day, Friday, October 6, the 6th grade team, students, and I will visit the State Capitol and the Bullock Museum in Austin to kick-fff the students’ Speak Up! Speak Out! project. To learn more about the Austin SUSO Civics Fair, please go HERE.   Families can view the trip’s itinerary HERE. Lastly, our 7th grade students will travel to the Witte on Friday to tour the HEB Body Adventure: Muscle Mechanics, and 2 the Xtreme: Math Alive! exhibits. Sack lunches will be provided from the school cafeteria.  Many thanks to the teachers and chaperones for organizing these learning field trips for students.

Ms. Scharf, the ALA at Fox Tech counselor, has located sources of support for mental health issues that she would like to share. These resources include workshops, trainings, group sessions, and places to get general information:

• The 27th Annual TAPPestry Conference 2.17.18 in San Antonio
• National Alliance on Mental Illness (Provides family education and support classes)

Finally, On Saturday, October 7, our 4th/5th grade students are invited to the school to work with their reading and writing teachers.  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.

Sincerely,

Kathy Bieser