The Underwood Way

A New Year-A New Beginning!

Happy New Year! It’s hard to believe we are already halfway through the 2025–2026 school year. The year has gotten off to a great start at Underwood Elementary, and we are so proud of all that our students and staff have accomplished so far. While you may not always see every great moment happening in our classrooms and hallways, please know that meaningful learning, growth, and care are taking place every single day.

I want to give a big shout-out to our elementary staff for their dedication and hard work. They continue to go above and beyond to support our students academically, socially, and emotionally, and their commitment truly makes a difference.

As we look ahead to the rest of the school year, we have high goals for Underwood Elementary:

Continue to increase our STAR assessment scores
Strengthen reading interventions and add math interventions to ensure student growth
Continue growing a positive and strong Underwood school culture
Increase family and community involvement in our school (this is where you come in!)

We know that a school cannot be truly successful without the support of its families and community. Research consistently shows that family and community involvement leads to better student outcomes, including higher achievement, improved attendance, stronger social-emotional skills, increased motivation, and long-term success. These partnerships help build trust, support diverse student needs, foster a positive school climate, and ultimately prepare students for the future.

We are truly in this together, and we are grateful for your continued support. We look forward to working alongside you throughout the rest of the school year to make Underwood Elementary the very best it can be.

#GoBeGreat!

Hope Rush

At Underwood, we believe it’s important to pause and celebrate the great things happening in our school each day. Our Staff Spotlights are one way we do that! Through these spotlights, we want to recognize the incredible work our teachers and staff are doing, celebrate the progress and growth our students are making, and highlight the positive learning experiences happening in classrooms across our building.

Staff Spotlights also help families get a window into the learning happening at Underwood and allow us to show appreciation for the people who support your children every day. Be on the lookout for more spotlights as we continue to share the many successes that make our school community so special!

Mrs. Terri Pleinis--4th Grade Teacher

Mrs. Pleinis has done outstanding work this year and continues to make a meaningful impact on our students and staff. She uses humor to build strong relationships with students and create an engaging, supportive classroom environment. As a leader among our staff, she consistently models best practices and collaboration. Her students’ growth speaks volumes—her class moved from 50% novice readers at the beginning of the year to just 25% before Christmas, and from 41% novice in math to only 16% in the same timeframe. In addition, she is a valued member of both our TSI team and our Elementary Data Team. We are grateful for her dedication, leadership, and commitment to student success.

Thank You, Mrs. Pleinis, for your hard work and dedication!

with Mrs. Nagle

Welcome to 2026!

For our Accelerated Reader program this year, I am selecting “AR Stars of the Month.” These will be either the student in each grade earning the most points for the month or a student who has made significant improvement. They will be posted in the hallway outside the Library. December’s AR Stars are: Chloe - 2nd, Axel - 3rd, Madden - 4th, Cooper - 5th, and Evelyn - 6th. Way to read!

We have several students working hard to earn a ticket to the AR 100 Point Field Trip! Grades 2-6 students will have until roughly the end of April to earn 100 points and a spot on the field trip. Congratulations to Otto and Cooper on achieving 200+ AR points so far this year!

During December, PreK had Christmas-themed storytimes and crafts/activities. Grades K-2 worked on using hands-on coding robots such as Beebots, Sphero Indi cars, and Code & Go Mouse. 2nd grade did a refresher on how to take AR quizzes and more typing practice. Grades 3-5 worked on Christmas Around the World research, along with some typing practice. Grade 6 completed an Influential Athlete CER (Claim, Evidence, Reasoning) project on an athlete of their choice, ending by sharing a bit of their research with the class.

For January, PreK and Kindergarten will focus on winter-themed stories, crafts/activities, and yoga stories. Grades 1-2 will focus on using Sora, our ebook & audiobook app/website, along with doing some beginner research and typing practice. Grades 3-5 will be working on understanding how search engines work, choosing keywords, and conducting research. Grade 6 will be doing coding activities with the Kodable website.

As previously mentioned, Sora is an ebook and audiobook website/app we have available for students to access additional books in different formats. Here is the link to the website version: https://soraapp.com/welcome. The app is also available for download. Students use the ND Schools Shared Collection, find Underwood School, and then log in with their school Google account (first.last@underwoodschool.org). Please check out this great resource, and don’t hesitate to reach out with questions or for help getting started!

The Bookmobile will be here on Thursday, January 15th. Please help remind students to return Bookmobile items if they haven’t already. Thank you!

Please reach out to angie.nagle@underwoodschool.org or contact me via Rooms with any questions, ideas, or concerns. Thank you!

Monday, 1.19.26

No School-Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Tuesday, 1.20.26

No School-Staff Development Day

Thursday, 1.22.26

Bookmobile

Thursday, 1.29.26

School Board Meeting--7:00 am-- PD room

Let’s Talk

Have a question, comment, concern, or compliment about our school? Submit a Let’s Talk message at https://forms.gle/3k3b47r8YmNWiJrb6 24 hours a day, seven days a week from any computer, tablet, or smartphone.