Highcroft Hotline

December 8, 2019

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

December

11: Board of Education Meeting, 7:00 pm, 471 N. Woods Mill Road
12: All Read, 3:25 pm - 3:45 pm
12: PSO Meeting, 7:00 pm
16: 5th Grade Field Trip to JA Biztown, 9:15 am - 2:00 pm
16: Science Fair participation form due
17: Country Western Day
20: Winter Parties, 9:45 am - 10:30 am
20: Half Day AM, school dismisses at 1:05 pm
Dec 21, 2019 - Jan 5, 2020: Winter Break

January

6: School Resumes
9: 5th Grade Parent Night at Central Middle, 7:00 pm
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: PSO Meeting, 7:00 pm
28: Chorus Concert, 6:30 pm, MPR
29: Late Start, School begins at 11:05 am

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Lucas Letter

Greetings,

One of the great things about being a part of the Highcroft community is the amazing feeling one receives from being among family. We are fictive kin - related not by birth or marriage but are a community with ties characteristics of a family. We have traditions for which we gather, and we continue to grow and develop for the better. We encourage, support, and celebrate one another as a family should.

Next Tuesday, December 17th, we will partake in Country Western Day. This event is a combination of the physical education and music curriculums and takes place during each grade-level's specials time (see below for a schedule). Students will participate in various dances and demonstrate their coordination and rhythm skills. It is a tradition that students and staff dress in their country western attire. Feel free to join in the fun of dressing up.

Congratulations to our very own Mrs. Gelner, the mother of a student in Mrs. Larson's kindergarten class. Mrs. Gelner (pictured to the right) will be featured on "The Great American Baking Show" airing December 12th at 8 pm CST on ABC. It will be fun to watch her in action and celebrate her fantastic opportunity!

We also celebrate our assistant principal, Melissa Sommerfeld. Friday evening, Ms. Sommerfeld donned an exquisite dress, and on the arm of her mother, walked down the aisle and became Mrs. Schewe (pronounced: sha(long a)-vee). She and her husband, Doug (pictured below), were picture-perfect during their winter wedding.

In partnership,

Cartelia Lucas

Principal

clucas@parkwayschools.net

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

A Message from MOSAICS

Mrs. Turney, MOSAICS Teacher

First Grade - We will complete our second unit of activities this month. In January the NNAT will be administered to all first grade students in Parkway. Our final unit with three more activities will be completed after that. When we have completed collecting this initial data, more information about the MOSAICS process for identification will be available. I look forward to sharing what we have learned about your child with each of you.

Second Grade - Students are busy removing the bones of a small rodent from their owl pellets. Our laboratory research process will include identifying these bones, keeping a log book, and reconstructing a skeleton! It is also fun to watch the eagerness and excitement as we “dig into” multiplication! Our PBL tangram mural will be coming soon!

Grade Three - Students are busy constructing models of bridges, roller coasters, and monuments to demonstrate the strength of support shapes they discovered in the real world. We look forward to displaying our projects and sharing our learning. We are also preparing for our annual 24 Tournament! As we play this game, students are becoming very skilled in using math facts for creative problem solving. This season the joyful song of, “Got it!” is ringing in our room!

Grade Four - Students in this group experienced the Metro Theatre production of, “It’s a Wonderful Life”. A grant was awarded to cover all expenses! We are reflecting on how even small acts of kindness make a big difference, and how every single person really does change the world!

Grade Five - Our Pompeii project is well under way. Together we are creating a model of the ancient city out of clay. Individually students are choosing and researching various aspects of the architecture and culture. They will each prepare focus projects to extend their learning.

Math Olympiad - Students will participate in the second Olympiad contest Tuesday, December 17! We have been learning new strategies for complex problems. We are a dedicated team of math-o-letes! We persevere! We are developing the stamina to grapple with any problem. We focus on our work to ensure individual and team success! “Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose”.

Art News

Ms. Mayer, Art Teacher

Kindergarten showed that they are ready for snow and the winter season by creating snowman collages. They listened to the book, Snowman at Night, for inspiration.

First-grade students had a lot of fun creating a cupcake sculpture out of model magic and learning about the art of American artist, Wayne Thiebaud.

Second-grade students made very cool multimedia fishbowls with model magic sea life with a curious visitor peering into the bowls.

The students in third-grade have been working very diligently on their tempera painting in the style of Romero Britto. They have been concentrating on using both warm and cool colors to create these beautiful works of art.

After studying the one-point perspective, the fourth-grade students tried their hand at this technique. The results are very interesting aquarium tunnels. They used watercolor resists to create their paintings.

Fifth graders completed their abstract art continued foil repousse designs. Look for them to be hanging in the hallway soon.

New Online Payment System

Parents will soon have access to a new online payment system, a convenient way to view and pay selected school fees, without the hassle of writing a check or paying with cash. The new online payment system is accessible through Infinite Campus. Learn more.

The new online payment system will allow you to:

View and pay school fees including activities fees, field trips, parking passes, school clothing, athletic fees, etc. This does not include lunch balance payments, which will still be processed through MySchoolBucks.
Make one payment for all your children at the same time.
View payment history.
View and complete selected school forms.
Pay on a computer or from your mobile device.

There is a 2.5 percent convenience fee for credit card use. There is a 10-cent fee for ACH payments (echecks) and funds will come directly out of checking or savings account.

There are no new accounts to create and you access the online payment system through Infinite Campus. Log in, go to ‘More’ and then click ‘Online Payments’.

For questions, please email: schoolpayments@parkwayschools.net.