Holiday concert a huge success

Special thanks to all the parents, teachers, and to Mr. Permut for making the holiday concert a tremendous success.

Harvest Fest Fun!

There were plenty of treats to go around yesterday during the Harvest Fest parade and class parties!

Here's a little movie we put together with some snapshots of the happy trick-or-treat-ers...

After-School Spotlight: Girls Who Dream

The following post was written by Mrs. Crowther. Along with Ms. Karlstad and Ms. Steward, she facilitates the Girls Who Dream meetings on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of each month. 

Girls Who Dream is a non-profit organization created to enhance the lives of young girls. At Girls Who Dream, it is our mission to help build self-confident young ladies of the future through educating and mentoring.

We teach these young ladies proper etiquette, team building, leadership skills, manners, how to adapt and maintain a healthy lifestyle, and other traits that will prepare them for a future full of living their dreams and fulfilling their aspirations.  We will also expose them to the importance of giving back to our community through a variety of community service events.

The GWD Team believes that it is important for our girls to know they are loved and beautiful. During the month of October, girls are learning to embrace their individual personalities. They are learning about the beauty they have within and out. The girls created  “I AM” boards. These boards were a wonderful way for the girls to embrace things that are unique about them. We look forward to helping guide them to what makes them unique, positive attributes, and self-worth through activities and conversations we have planned for the rest of this month.

For more information visit us at

http://www.girlswhodream.com

http://facebook.com/girlswhodream

The Girls Who Dream Team

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Check out these photos of the girls' first project of they year--they made a canvas that represents themselves...be sure to check out the full display on the wall outside Ms. Crowther's office:

First Floor Apple Orchard Field Trip

Autumn is in the air, and the kindergarten and first grades took their traditional field trip to the Apple Orchard recently. Check out some of these photos!

Students from Ms. Binion's class

Special thanks to Ms. Binion, Ms. Stoetzer and Ms. Kelly-Sell for the photos!

From the Classroom...Mrs. Guilford's Class Supports the Fight Against Cancer

From Mrs. Guilford, fifth grade teacher...

The students in Room 318 are strongly aware of the fight against Breast Cancer.  By wearing pink today they have shown their individual support of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, which is an independent non-profit organization.

MEAP is here...but not to stay!

Students in Grades 3-5 will take the MEAP test beginning Tuesday and continuing through next week. It's an opportunity for students to demonstrate their understanding of the previous year's material. (In other words, 3rd graders are tested on 2nd grade material, and so on.)

All three grades take the Reading and Math tests. 4th grade also takes a Writing test and 5th grade takes the Science test.

You may or may not know, but the MEAP test will not be around for much longer. The plan for the future is for nearly every student in the country in grades 3-12 to take national standardized tests, beginning in the 2014-15 school year. The MEAP test is based on Michigan's own state teaching standards. The new test (yet to be named) will be based on the Common Core State Standards, a national set of standards that 46 states and the District of Columbia agreed to adopt.

You'll hear a lot more about Common Core as the year goes on. We want to share all the info with parents as it becomes available. But we can tell you that here are UPA Ellen Thompson, we have already begun the transition to the new standards. We are definitely ahead of the curve!

Guided Reading Time!

Here at UPA Ellen Thompson, we teach reading using a program called "Guided Reading." In a nutshell, guided reading involves small (four to six, but sometimes fewer) groups of students meeting with the teacher to read and discuss a book that is just a little too hard for them to read on their own.

In the lower grades, this involves a book that can be read in one sitting. In grades three through five, though, Guided Reading is done with chapter books.

It's a wonderful program that helps kids become better readers. Our teachers work really, really hard planning Guided Reading lessons and making sure that students are on the right track. Our students work really, really hard, too, not just during their Guided Reading meetings, but during the other parts of reading time such as centers (for students in grades K-2) and independent reading (for students in 3-5). Teachers and students working hard together...that's when great things happen!

I'm sharing this info with you because all teachers started Guided Reading groups this week. Your child will be meeting with their groups regularly from now on. In the upper grades (3-5) this even involves switching teachers, so your child may have a different teacher for reading and writing (be sure to ask him or her!).

Here are some photos of three groups hard at work during Guided Reading time:

Be sure to ask your son or daughter how things are going during reading time at school! The more you talk about books, the more excited they'll get about them!!!

Back to School Night Tomorrow!

We hope you'll join us for Back to School Night tomorrow from 6:00 to 7:30. The event will be held at UPA High School.

The festivities begin at 6:00 in the high school gym (inside the building with the red pillars in front). Then, starting at 6:30, you'll have the opportunity to learn more about what happens in your child's grade. Teams of teachers will be presenting about their grade level in the high school's blue building (look for the blue pillars out front) beginning at 6:30.

We hope to see you there. It's sure to be a great opportunity for you to understand the way things work here at UPA Ellen Thompson!

Be sure to check our facebook and twitter pages for photos and live tweets from the event!

Free Family Fun This Weekend

Looking for some free family fun this weekend? Check out the DIY Street Fair in Ferndale. It all happens at Nine Mile and Woodward tonight, tomorrow, and Sunday.

There's a little bit of something for everyone: local art and merchants, kids' activities, music, food, and more!

Here's a link to the Kids Zone details: http://diystreetfair.com/kids-zone/

Oh, and it's free!

Morning Meeting Time!

In each classroom, every morning, a Morning Meeting is held. Morning Meetings are great ways to start the day on a positive note. A typical morning meeting includes news and announcements, a greeting, an activity and sharing time.

On Friday, for the first time ever, we held an "all school morning meeting" with all of the classes in the building. We'll be having these every month from now on as a way of building a positive school culture and strong school community.

For this first one, our activity was the Macarena! It was led by Coach Marbry. Sadly, I did not have my camera with me for this part of the meeting!!!

Then, we had sharing time. Several teachers were invited to share their thoughts and memories about their own school experiences. Mrs. Astle, Mrs. Weaver, Mr. Peri and Ms. Kairis did an awesome job with this!

Ms. Kairis during sharing time.

Mr. Peri sharing a school story.

We'll have another all-school Morning Meeting in October. For that one and for meetings to follow, students will take over more of the roles and will be more involved in leading the meeting. Stay tuned for details!

Speaking of staying tuned, be sure to follow UPA on twitter and facebook and be sure to subscribe to this blog by typing in your email address in the box located in the sidebar menu!

UPA Ellen Thompson C.A.R.E.S.

We had our first all-school meeting this morning. It was led by our principal, Ms. Johnson, who taught students about five ideas that guide everything we do here at UPA Elementary. We use the word CARES to help us remember the words:

• Cooperation
• Assertion
• Responsibility
• Empathy
• Self-Control

These values are what we try to develop in students. And our emphasis on CARES is part of the reason our school is home to the best kids you can find!

Ms. Howard's students know CARES is important.

Everyone loves the first day of school!

Yesterday's first day of school was an exciting one for both teachers and students. There were lots of smiles everywhere you looked!

Mrs. Marbry and students from Mr. Wetherbee's fifth grade class.

It's going to be a great year here at UPA Elementary, isn't it?!?

UPA Ellen Thompson is LIVE and online!

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