Superintendent's Office
Urgent Action Items
ACS Calendar
Elementary School
Dear Elementary Parents,
Talent Show Registration Reminder: The due date for registering for the talent show is this Friday!
Please see my original letter about the Talent Show here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ATgFLCuru1Bi_-lqUXnLGcqN9riMCEYh4qOgxEFfkkM/edit?usp=sharing
Book Character Parade: This Friday at 10:45 am, we will host our Book Character Parade. Students are invited to come to school dressed as their favorite book characters, and of course, parents are invited to come see! We'll open our doors at 10:40 am, and the parade should 20-30 minutes.
A Note from Our Food Service Provider: Many families are overdue in paying for their children's food service. Please note that if debts are outstanding on May 1st, your child will not be able to purchase lunch.
Thank you to our Early Childhood Team: During “Dia del Niño,” Classroom Representatives from our ECE program coordinated a Toy Drive, where ACS students were invited to donate a toy to less fortunate children. KG3 first got together to talk and create awareness for our students, and then KG4 and Grade 1 joined in the fun. The toys were delivered to “Casa de Esperanza” last week and a few pictures are shared below.
Thank you for reading. I wish you a lovely week,
Sincerely,
Eric Crabtree
Elementary Principal
Secondary School
Learning & Teaching
Curriculum Review: Our curriculum review process continued last week with extended meetings for SS Science, Fine Arts, Performing Arts, and for ES Social Studies. The Science Team has created a shared document aimed at assisting us in the ability to see the Science continuum from grade 6 through grade 12. The team members who attended the AMISA Educators’ Conference in March shared their key takeaways with the group and the team began to look at the Next Generation Science Standards together. This process helps ensure common understanding of the standards and is the first step in identifying where we may need to implement changes. Fine and Performing Arts teachers began a collaborative review of the National Core Arts Standards, with the same objective in mind: to ensure common understanding of the standards, how we use standards to develop units, and how we develop multiple opportunities for students to demonstrate mastery. The ES team of teachers continued their work from last week by engaging in an exercise around developing Essential Questions and Enduring Understandings. We are beginning this process with Social Studies units of investigation and will next move onto Science.
Professional Development: Class visits continue with this week’s observations including KG3 circle and choice time, KG4 literacy, grade 2 exploration of rhyme, rhythm, repetition, and line breaks, middle school math where students applied their knowledge in solving equations algebraically and with diagrams, grade 3 math where students explored fractions and grappled with the notion of a numerator being larger than a denominator, grade 11 English students learning about Elizabethan theater, middle school drama where students reviewed stage positions and engaged in a mirroring exercise, and grade 3 students excitedly directing their own learning about spinach, parsley, and broccoli. These visits provide evidence of the impactful learning that is going on in our classrooms daily across our school and allow for meaningful post-visit conversations.
Looking Back and Forward: As we approach the end of the school year, it is an opportune time to reflect on this year’s accomplishments and to look ahead to our plans for the future. On Friday, Dr. Crouse provided a presentation on the development of our math program at ACS, a recording of which can be found in the Cougar Hub. On Wednesday, the Senior Leadership Team will provide a State of the School address to all faculty, and that same evening at the General Assembly, we will provde a summary of our newly-published Annual Report. These presentations will also be recorded and available subsequently in the Cougar Hub. We hope these presentations provide our community with an understanding of our commitment to continuous improvement at ACS.