December 2008 Newsletter
A Message From Our Founder
John Bliss
How are we doing?
Twice every year parents and guardians have a chance to tell us how we are doing. Your input matters. We read the comments, tally the totals and talk to staff about the results.
When students and their parents tell us they want change, we often consider these suggestions and take action. Programs, policies and even personnel changes can happen if enough similar responses are received.
One of my main goals for the school is to keep the students and their parents happy because families who like the school are much more likely to support it. When you tell your friends or others how much your child likes the school or how good you feel about it, you help us. Your good words and confidence make us stronger.
I know that many schools have high levels of parent satisfaction but I have talked to many of you and your support goes beyond the norm. I have met many parents who are emotionally connected to the school. I want to keep and strengthen these bonds and I believe the best way to nurture this is to be honest, respectful, hard-working and willing to change when change is needed.
You have a chance to be heard. Complete the Parent Satisfaction Survey you received recently. This is confidential. As we receive the surveys, they are tallied and reviewed. This includes your comments. Let us know what you think. Change can be initiated from many places—including your survey responses.
Dean’s Corner
by Jonathan Schmidt
Congratulations to Kindergarten and 1st Grade!
At the beginning of the year I issued a challenge to the whole school—any class that was able to attend lunch or breakfast without a staff member having to quiet them down would receive a reward.
Just recently, all of our Kindergarten and 1st Grade students were able to accomplish this. I hope they will be a model for everyone else and I hope to have to pay up many more times in the future. (See picture of classes in insert)
I would like to thank the parents who have attended our Saturday Parent Forums. It is nice to be part of a school that takes pride in communicating with its parents and this is an important vehicle for all of us in the UCCS community to improve our school and community.
I look forward to seeing all of you on December 6th at 9:00 a.m. in the Elementary School Music room. Of course, coffee and snacks will be provided.
Volunteer & Community News
by Miriam Steinberg
Another busy month!
This month we took three students on the first Pearle Vision trip of the year. The trips have now become bi-annual events. The students had their eyes examined by Dr. Robert Conway, his wonderful staff fitted the children for frames, and all three students came back to school with new glasses.
Our 3rd Highland Family Medicine resident was here this past month. Dr. Matthew Capuano helped out in the classrooms with lessons about bones and other body systems as well as reading one-on-one with students.
We’re getting ready for our 4th Highland Family Medicine resident to start, Dr. Bethany Calkins, who will be joining us on January 7th.
Free Clothing!
Downstairs by our Fitness room we have a very large rack of free, gently-used clothing. There are coats, shoes, shirts, pants and many other items. Please come in any time to look through and help yourself!
School-Based Planning Highlights
Notes from Wednesday, November 19, 2008
- Josephine Horton, Parent Representative
- As a parent at UCCS, I fully support and agree with the stricter policies that are being put in place for disciplining our children.
We all need to work together in all aspects of our children’s education, good or bad. This includes Administration, Teachers and Parents. It takes teamwork to help our children succeed and if any part of this team is not on the same page then it will fail.
Parents need to act immediately if their children are having problems in any way. They need to support the teachers and administration when their children are being disciplined. If parents are not reinforcing the discipline at home then the child will continue to have problems.
As parents, we need to make sure that our children know how special they are to be getting such a great education from passionate people. We all need to communicate more. There are many ways to do so which include scheduling conferences, come to parent forums and school-based planning meetings, call teachers or e-mail regularly.
Help Urban Choice help our children!
Our next SBPT meeting will be Wednesday, January 14th at 4:45 p.m. Please join us! I welcome your comments and suggestions.
E-mail me at: josephine.uccs@gmail.com - Christina Schermerhorn – Assistant Director of Instruction
- At the November 19th meeting, the SBPT planned an ELA information session for families and students, to learn about this very important state test.
If you have a child in grades 3-7, mark your calendars for Tuesday, January 6th, 5:45-7:15 p.m. Dinner will be served, all family members are invited and child care will be available. More details and a registration form will be sent home soon.
Mr. Bliss reported that UCCS will mail home Stanford test results. He also updated parents on After-School, Saturday School, and the new Middle School blue-slip policy.
SBPT Parents Josephine Horton and Marci Weber voiced their support for UCCS’s efforts to hold students accountable for their behavior. All students learn more when there are fewer disruptions in the classroom.
Board of Trustees
by Susan Fox, Board Chair
The Board of Trustees has really focused their efforts on two things:
- Helping Mr. Bliss with the charter renewal, and
- Planning for a high school.
The charter renewal process has prompted the Board to take a close look at the major policies that UCCS uses to operate as efficiently and successfully as possible.
When Mr. Bliss wrote the original charter to form UCCS, he had to write many of these policies himself to set guidelines. Some examples would be our health policy, our code of conduct, and safety, hiring, and admissions, just to name a few.
While Mr. Bliss did a fantastic job predicting the needs of the school, there are several policies that are due for updating to take into account that we have grown and are continuing to do so!
With regard to high school planning, our efforts to date have focused on evaluating our choices in Rochester for a new location. We are looking closely at one particular location and are conducting a feasibility study to see if this site will meet our needs.
While we are making great progress now on our two major projects, there may come a time in the upcoming months when we will need support from our parent community to further UCCS in the effort to continue our dream of redefining urban education. Look for more specifics in future newsletters!
Thank You
by Maria Wade, Special Education Teacher
Congratulations and a hearty thank you to our UCCS families, teachers, and students. You have been incredibly generous with your donations to the Open Door Mission. Together, we have surpassed our goal and collected just over 1,200 cans and non-perishable goods. Absolutely astounding!
Three seventh grade girls:
- Miquella Seawright,
- Letish Nieves, and
- Lexus Thomas
have dedicated their time and muscles to collecting and tracking the food items while learning about the purpose of the Open Door Mission. This generous donation helps to provide meals for many people in need this holiday season.
Thank you again UCCS families, and a SPECIAL THANK YOU to Charley Bliss for all his assistance. I am proud to be a member of the UCCS community and I extend my most heartfelt and warm wishes to everyone at UCCS this holiday season.
Staff Spotlight on First Grade
We are the First Grade Team!
The first grade has been very busy this month celebrating fall and learning lots of new things. In Reading we have been learning vowel sounds and reading strategies. In Math we have been learning addition and are beginning subtraction. Science has been full of experiments – we even grew sprouts from seeds! In Social Studies we have been talking about transportation and communities.
- Mrs. Dargan
- I have been teaching for eight years and could not imagine doing anything else! I have been at Urban Choice since before we had students. For the first three years, I taught Kindergarten and was lucky to take Mrs. Zayas with me to first grade this year.
I am thrilled to be teaching first grade because I love the growth and development I see in my students, particularly in reading. In first grade, students go from reading simple sight words to chapter books. I hope that the love of reading I have carries over to my students.
When I am not teaching I am spending time with my beautiful four year old daughter. We love to read, cook, shop, and go to the museum. We also enjoy playing with our six cats (who actually live together in harmony… most of the time)! - Mrs. Zayas
- My dream since I was a little girl was to be a teacher. I have been working with children for nine years now and I also started at UCCS before it opened. I spent my first three years working in Kindergarten and I never thought that I could love any other grade but I was wrong. This is the fourth year I have been working with Mrs. Dargan - we are a great team because when it comes to children we think alike. My dream has always been to work with one teacher and see a group of children grow from Kindergarten to 12th grade – I think my dream will come true here at UCCS.
One of my many assignments is to do a community service project that lasts for the entire school year – this year I chose to teach my group of students the importance of community. We see our classroom like a second family. Every month we talk, read and do fun projects about different professions. I am constantly telling them that if they put their mind to it they can do just about anything. To all the children reading this, please do your best in school – when you grow up your dreams can come true, just like they did for me! - Miss Hahn
- This is my third year working at UCCS and I love working here more than ever! I started here as an Instructional Support in 3rd grade, then moved to Instructional Support in 1st grade.
This is my first year as a classroom teacher and it has been extremely rewarding so far. It is exciting to watch the growth that occurs over the course of a year. My favorite thing about 1st grade is the enthusiasm the children have to learn. I can’t help but love coming to school each day! When I’m not at school I enjoy traveling, watching football and planning my upcoming August wedding! - Mrs. Griffith
- This is my first year working at Urban Choice. Prior to working here I taught at the Seneca Park Zoo. I am now working as Instructional Support in Miss Hahn’s first grade room. When I am not working at UCCS I enjoy spending time with my husband and daughter.
Student Interviews About Fun Friday Celebrations at UCCS
- By Akkia Jordan (Grade 5)
- There are many fun celebrations at school. These are some of my favorite ones. The best was the Pajama Party celebration! We got to eat in our pajamas and dance to music while eating snacks. It was a lot of fun. The one I like best after the pajama party was going bowling. The other celebrations that I enjoyed are: pizza party, Thanksgiving feast, games all day, going on field trips, field day, playing on the playground and playing football. All of the celebrations are good because we can have fun and do different things in and out of school.
- By Jonah Mott (Grade K)
- My favorite celebration was the magician – a magician does silly things… it was cool! I also liked the field trip to the pumpkin patch and I am happy and excited when I watch movies.
- By Meghan Elder (Grade 1)
- My favorite celebration was the Thanksgiving feast. We had mashed potatoes, corn, stuffing, juice and cookies. It was fun. I also like the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving movie. The class had popcorn and free time.
- By Trenton Wynn (Grade 2)
- I liked several Friday celebrations – going to the Helmer Nature Center, the Thanksgiving feast, visiting the Middle School and the clown and magician.
- By Jalynn Webb and Sebastian Osborne (Grade 3)
- We liked the Thanksgiving feast (yum yum!) and playing game cubes.
- By Sean Irizarry (Grade 4)
- My favorite celebration was when we went bowling.
- By Amos Williams (Grade 5)
- I enjoy many celebrations but my favorites are bowling, football, the pajama party and the movie Old Yeller.
- By Students in Miss Daniels 6th grade and Mrs. Devine and Mrs. Nicholsons 4th/5th Grade Split
- Our most special time was when we went to Strong Memorial Hospital to visit Jamel GibsonHenry. We also liked Karaoke Guitar Hero and the interactive video game Wii.
