KHS News

Quick Announcements:

• No school on January 21st in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr.
• There will be school on January 28th to make up for school on October 12th.
• Report Card will available on February 1st!
  

This newsletter contains the following information:

• School News
• PTSO
• Lunch Menu
  
• Counselor Corner
  
• Sports at KHS
• Classroom News
  
• Community News

Upcoming Events:

1. January 22, representatives from Research Triangle High School will be at Kestrel during 8th grade lunch
   
2. Bully Buster Assembly on Thursday, February 21st in the gym starting at 9:00.
   
3. New Scholar Applications are now be accepted. Deadline is February 22, 2019
   
4. Career Day is March 22nd
   
5. Spring Performance May 16th: Grades K-2 @ 5:30 pm and Grades 3-5 @ 6:45 pm. See Classroom News section for additional information.
   

Kestrel Heights School will make up our inclement weather days as stated below. The NC State Calendar law requires school districts to provide either 1,025 hours or 185 days of instruction in a school year. Due to the length of our school day, we are able to utilize our accumulated instructional time to make up days missed.

• October 12th - make up on January 28th
  
• November 13th (2 hr delay) - use banked instructional time
  
• December 10th - make up on February 22nd
  
• December 11th - make up on May 24th
  
• December 12th - use banked instructional time
  
• December 12th (2 hr delay) - use banked instructional time
  

We will have a Bully Buster Assembly on Thursday, February 21st in the gym starting at 9:00. This assembly lasts for 30 minutes and students will be given an activity book and have a chance to earn 2 free tickets to a Durham Bulls game!

Classroom Bee complete by January 30, 2019

School-wide Bee Kestrel Heights Gym February 6, 2019

District Bee Riverside HS March 9, 2019

Scripps Spelling Bee ESPN May 31, 2019

Get your Box Tops ready!!! The deadline to submit Box Tops is Friday, February 22. Please label your clippings with the teacher name and grade level on them. The grade level with the most collected will earn a pizza party, compliments of the KHS PTSO!

On January 22, representatives from Research Triangle High School will be at Kestrel during 8th grade lunch (1:06-1:51) to share information about their high school program with students. 8th grade students and parents are welcome to come learn about RTHS and find out how to apply for next year. Please RSVP by emailing Mrs. Callahan (callahan@kestrelheights.org) so that the presenters may be prepared with enough materials.

Upcoming Parent U Events: Our popular parent education series, Parent U, is ready to start back up for the 2018-2019 school year. These parent nights are focused on providing specific helpful information in topics many parents wonder about. If you would like to attend a Parent U session, YOU MUST RSVP at least one day before the event. If less than 5 parents RSVP, the event will be cancelled.

Upcoming Parent U events include:

Executive Functioning (February 21)

Anxiety (April 23).

Hello Friends! Career Day is March 22nd and we would LOVE for you to talk to our students about your amazing profession! Volunteers presenting to K-2 students will present from 8:15-10:15. Volunteers presenting to 3-8 students will present from 8:15-11:05. Feel free to call or email Mrs. Kennedy or Mrs. Callahan with questions or concerns. Thanks for volunteering!

Volunteer Link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0c4ba9ac28aafd0-khes3

Athletics

Check out the progress of our winter athletics teams by clicking here; https://kestrelhawks.bigteams.com

Hawks Ultimate Frisbee is off to an impressive 8 -1 start!

Hawks Boys Basketball ball team is 6-3 (3-1 MCS) at the halfway point of the season!

Kindergarten:

Kindergarten has been working hard on learning digraphs and building their reading skills! We are working on decomposing numbers and number pairs! We look forward to seeing all of our scholars continuing to grow!

1st Grade:

2019 is off to a great start! We will be starting our mid-year comprehensive reading assessments (mCLASS) to see how much students have grown since the start of the year!

2nd Grade:

2nd grade is ready to begin Mclass testing. We have started out unit on different cultures and the scholars are really exciting to learn about

cultures other than their own. Please welcome our student teacher, Mrs. Mack to 2nd grade.

3rd Grade

Please look to Dojo for regular updates.

4th Grade

Fourth grade Social Studies classes have been working hard on projects that will be presented on Thursday and Friday of this week. Please be sure to check the fourth -grade website frequently for weekly homework assignments and other important announcements. The address to the site is https://sites.google.com/kestrelheights.org/4th-grade-2018-19/home.

Have a Great Weekend!

5th Grade:

Welcome back from a long winter break! We are excited to keep moving forward with the curriculum and 5th grade concepts. Please check the grade level website for specific information about upcoming events.

Have a great weekend!

http://sites.google.com/kestrelheights.org/5thgrade

6th Grade:

Reminder to all students and parents that the weather is colder and to make sure all students have an appropriate jacket or coat for when we are able to go outside for recess

Do not forget to check power school and the 6th grade web page. The link is http://kestrel6thgrade.weebly.com/ and each teacher will be updating their class page.

7th Grade Math

Greetings Parents,

Would you like to receive daily updates about classwork and homework in math?

Sign up for Ms Devlin's Remind Math Blast!

Text: @4dev7

To: 81010

*Honors, please email Ms. Devlin to get signed up*

if you have any questions or have trouble signing up please email Ms Devlin: devlin@kestrelheights.org

Science- Wrapping up our Weather Unit and are about to start our Air Quality Projects

8th Grade:

It's been a great first week of the new year for the 8th Grade. In ELA, students have started to learn more about the life of Frederik Douglass by reading his autobiography in class. Students continue to research their National History Day projects. In Social Studies, students have been working with primary documents. Students have been using these primary documents to observe and form opinions on sometimes controversial subjects. In Science, students have been learning about microbiology in the forms of bacteria and pathogens. In addition, in math (pun intended) students have been practicing their use of exponents. Also coming up, the 8th grade will be taking a team field trip to the Science Museum in Raleigh on Tuesday next week.

English Language Learners (ELL) Program - Ms. Rivera

Bienvenidos y feliz 2019!

This quarter, we have been talking about what you and others like, describing people and things, while we're jumping on an adventure to our beautiful Puerto Rico. Great Projects everybody! (3-8 scholars), the food, the posters, the pictures, and the cards you've made, were amazing!

Our Spanish class is in need of a few items: Lysol spray, Clorox wipes, hand sanitizer and Kleenex. Please send these items in with your scholar at anytime.

Please, email me with any questions: mariafoushee@kestrelheights.org

Gracias,

Mrs. Foushee

The Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation has awarded a $3,000 Lowe’s Toolbox for Education® grant to Kestrel Heights Charter School in Durham for creation of a Robotics Program. Kestrel Heights is one of 545 schools across the United States to be awarded a Lowe’s Toolbox for Education grant this spring for improvement projects.

This project will allow Kestrel's AIG program to purchase Lego Robotics kits that are necessary to participate in the First Lego League (FLL). FLL is a nationwide initiative to bring robotics into schools with a curriculum that focuses on STEM concepts while promoting positive interactions among participants. This grant from Lowe's will take the project from the planning stages to implementation. Competition size robotics tables will be constructed with materials from Lowe's, as well as purchasing as many Lego Robotics kits possible. The project is scheduled to be completed in June 2019.

“The Lowe’s Toolbox for Education program delivers on Lowe’s commitment to improve the educational environment for students across the country,” said Maureen Ausura, chairwoman of the Lowe's Charitable and Educational Foundation. “We're honored to work with Kestrel Heights to support the needs of our local students, teachers and families.”

Mr. Love

All of the students have been excited to get moving after a long winter break. All classes resuming their basketball units!

Doctor’s Notes

If your scholar needs to be excused from physical activities, please provide a doctor’s note.

Gym Shoes

Your scholar will need gym shoes (sneakers, tennis shoes) to participate in activities. They must have a flat bottom (no heel) and the foot must be fully covered. Sandals, Crocs, clogs, dress shoes, boots and any heeled shoes are not appropriate for class.

As often as I can, I will highlight a student who has gone above and beyond in their work and/or their behavior. I'll call it, "Tell Me Something Good".

Tell Me Something Good...

Two fifth graders, Mei and Isaiah, asked if they could organize things in the art room. They started by organizing all of the sketchbooks so scholars can find them more easily. Thank you, Mei and Isaiah!

Ms. Mohn,

https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/artmohn/

Happy New Year!

Welcome Back and I hope everyone had a wonderful Winter Break. I would like to say, "Congratulations," to the Elementary scholars for a wonderful Winter Performance! They did an amazing job. Although it's hard to believe, the Spring Performance (May 16th: Grades K-2 @ 5:30 pm and Grades 3-5 @ 6:45 pm) will be here before we know it.

The dancers are working on the "Elements of Dance" unit, which consists of learning about TIME (rhythm and speed), SPACE (pathways and directions), using the BODY (arms, legs, head, etc.) and more MOVEMENT VOCABULARY. We'll be working on creating "in class" dances through "improvisational" exercises. Ask your scholar to share their creativity with you.

Showcase of Schools will take place at Riverside High School on Monday, January 28th. Come out and learn more about our school and what we have to offer our students! There are three tour times available: 9:30am, 11:00am, and 6:00pm. The evening session will also include our Curriculum Night. Teachers from all departments will be present and available to discuss specific course offerings and opportunities within each discipline. Please use the link below to sign up for a session.

Sign Up Sheet - RHS Showcase of Schools 2019

Feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.

Portia T. Jacobs

School Counselor for Last Names Co – F

Riverside High School

(919) 560-3965 x65341

Kaleidoscope Charter High School

In Spring 2018 Kaleidoscope Charter High School (KCHS) received its final approval from the North Carolina State Board of Education to open August 2019. This will be the first innovative public charter high school with a "student-centered" pedagogy in Morrisville.

Designed to be the type of school that every student wants to attend, Kaleidoscope Charter High School will prepare all students for success through its innovative, student-centered approach.

Student-centered environments address the what, why, and how of learning and place students at the center of their own learning.

What: In student-centered environments, students choose the focus of their content based on personal interest.

Why: When students see the relevance of the content to their own lives, they are more engaged, more motivated, and more successful.

How: So that each student can show his or her unique gifts, student-centered environments offer a number of different ways that students can express their understanding.

At Kaleidoscope, we know that students connect with learning in different ways

and that those who have agency over their learning are more motivated,

more highly engaged, and have more successful outcomes.

- Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education

Therefore, learning at Kaleidoscope is more personalized and individually paced to the developmental needs, learning style, interests, and abilities of our students. In this way, students are empowered to take ownership of their learning, to be responsible for their own growth and progress, and to explore the power of their own potential.

Learning by direct-instruction will be enhanced with the arts, technology and "student-focused" learning techniques including but not limited to the inquiry, problem and project-based learning, hands-on experimentation and practical life skills, Student Portfolios, End-of-Semester Intersession intensive courses (such as robotics, nanotechnology, farm-to-table culinary and nutrition intensive courses etc.) and much more.

In addition to essential core-curriculum studies in math, art, foreign language, science, technology, language arts, and social studies, students at Kaleidoscope will be able to access many different types of learning opportunities including site-based internships, work-based learning, dual-credit courses, mini-courses, and online learning platforms.

As our Board of Directors and Advisory Board are narrowing down anawesome school property to lease, we welcome you to be part of our community. We'll be hiring our Director, Faculty, and Staff and will keep you updated on our website www.kaleidoscopehighschool.org.

Lottery applications for rising 9th and 10th grade students will be available on our website January 2019.

We invite you to learn more about Kaleidoscope, LIKE US on FACEBOOK

and become part of our 21st-century innovative public education community!

Duke Hospice Bereavement Services has amazing youth programs to support grieving youth and families in our community. Ms. Callahan and Mrs. Kennedy have both been involved in their programming and highly recommend their services. See the attached flyer for upcoming events.

Transforming Families NC is a peer-led resource and support group. We meet the first Sunday of each month, from 4:30 to 6:30pm at the LGBTQ Center of Durham, 114 Hunt Street. All caretakers of transgender, gender creative, gender non-conforming, and questioning youth are welcome. If childcare is needed please confirm ahead of time.

We welcome your email at

transformingfamiliesnc@lgbtqcenterofdurham.org

Invite you to join our Facebook Group-Transforming Families NC and Allies

Follow us on Twitter: transformingfamilies@tff_nc

Call the Center 919-827-1436

Do you know, a scholar in grades 3-12 who needs a home computer? Kramden Tech Scholars is a core program to assist scholars in grades 3-12 without a working home computer. To date, Kramden has served scholars in more than 70 North Carolina counties and has relied on principals, teachers, guidance counselors, and school social workers to identify and nominate deserving scholars. Once they qualify the scholar, he/she will become a Kramden Tech Scholar, and receive a computer along with ongoing technical support from the Kramden team. If you are interested in nominating a scholar check out their website (listed below). They also have materials available in spanish if needed.

https://kramden.org/kramden-tech-scholars/

Choosing the right school is an important decision. We strive to provide a welcoming and diverse community where your children can thrive. Our lottery-based enrollment process ensures an equal opportunity for all prospective students. We are now accepting applications for our 19-20 school year!

Website: kestrelheights.org
Location: 4700 South Alston Avenue, Durham, NC, USA
Phone: 919-484-1300
Facebook: facebook.com/KestrelHeightsSchool/
Twitter: @KestrelHeights