Highcroft Hotline

January 12, 2020

Highcroft's Mission

At Highcroft, we help learners grow in a safe, caring community where ALL are valued and supported to become leaders.

Upcoming Events

January

January 12 - March 15: Order Yearbook Online, see flyer below
15: Board of Education Meeting, 7:00 pm, 471 N. Woods Mill Road
16: 5th Grade Students to Central Middle, 9:15 am - 11:45 am
16: All Read, 3:25 pm - 3:45 pm
20: No School, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
21: Kindergarten Registration, 8:00 am - 6:00 pm
21: 5th Grade West Middle Evening Program, 6:30 SSD, 7:00 General, 8:00 MOSAICS
23: Highcroft's 41st Birthday
23: PSO Meeting, 7:00 pm
28: Chorus Concert, 6:30 pm, MPR
29: Late Start, School begins at 11:05 am
29: Spirit Day - Crazy Day

Lucas Letter

Greetings,

The first time I entered Highcroft Ridge, I was approached by two students after I was buzzed into the building and headed to the office. The students were going to class but stopped to welcome me and see if I needed help. They had never seen me before and had no idea that I was here to interview for the administrative intern position. They stopped to help me purely out of kindness and were demonstrating our ROSE values. As simple as their act was, I knew then Highcroft was the school at which I wanted to work. Their actions were indicative of the beliefs and values of the community. I often share this story when asked about the culture of Highcroft because it is a pure example of our why and what we stand for as a community.

According to Character Plus, "Character education is the intentional effort to develop in young people core ethical and performance values that are widely affirmed across all cultures. To be effective, character education must include all stakeholders in a school community and must permeate school climate, culture, teaching, and learning. The term character education encompasses a broad range of prosocial constructs, strategies, and programs including positive school culture, moral education, just communities, caring school communities, social-emotional learning, positive youth development, civic education, and service-learning. All of these approaches promote intellectual, social, emotional, and ethical development of young people and share a commitment to help young people become responsible, caring, and contributing citizens."

As our students, staff, and stakeholders demonstrated the essence of character education, we have applied to be named a School of Character. Thank you for all that you continue to do to support the academic, social-emotional, and character growth of our students.

In partnership,

Cartelia Lucas

Principal

clucas@parkwayschools.net

January's Acts of Kindness Calendar Created By The 3rd-5th Kindness Leaders

Spirit of Excellence Recipients

Please join our Highcroft students and staff in congratulating the Spirit of Excellence recipients. Spirit of Excellence is a Parkway School District Awards ceremony that honors African-American students in grades 3-12, who have excelled academically. These students have earned a minimum of 10 out of 12 "On Track" indicators and are reading at or above grade level according to the grade level progress report for trimester one. The Spirit of Excellence ceremony has become a cherished tradition and serves as an opportunity for students' school community and home community to partner together for a night of celebration.

A Message from MOSAICS

Mrs. Turney, MOSAICS Teacher

First Grade - Our final unit of whole class activities which are designed to provide enrichment and identification data for all students is logic! Students will use convergent thinking (finding the correct solutions to problems). One strategy introduced and explored in these activities is the process of elimination. For new challenges of all types, and more logic puzzles check out www.prufrock.com - Try some together, it is fun!

Second Grade - Students are selecting a specific owl to learn more about. We will create slide show presentations to share our new knowledge. We continue to solve problems and think critically using a variety of manipulatives, and increase our working knowledge of multiplication facts. For more great math activities you can do at home, a great resource is www.nrich.maths.org - I encourage you to check it out. For even more great ideas, the book Family Math by Jean Kerr Stenmark is available on Amazon.

Third Grade - Look for our completed models of bridges, monuments, and roller coasters coming soon to our library! If you need a new indoor activity this winter, check out some of these games- Equate, Robot Face Race, Set, Abalone, Q-Bits, Blokus, and Qwirkle! For more programs, learning labs, contests, and parent resources check out www.giftedresourcecouncil.org - it has many great opportunities for the various strengths and interests of ALL children!

Grade Four - We are busy creating our big media bubble space display! It will be available for you to visit soon! The participating students take ownership of the media space, create all the displays, plan and organize the class visits, and develop leadership skills! If you are curious about how the bubble was created check this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKdtt-jEXh0

Grade Five - Stay tuned: our Pompeii project will be available soon! Participating students are working together cooperatively and using creative problem solving skills to craft their displays. They are also taking ownership of the exhibit, creating all the features, planning and organizing class visits, and developing leadership skills.

Math Olympiad - The third contest will be Tuesday, January 28. Our team is amazing! Participants set high, achievable goals, work their plans to achieve new learning, and gain recognition as a math-o-lete!