KESTREL HEIGHTS NEWS

Have a neighbor, family or friends who may be interested in applying for the 2022-23 school year? We have limited seats available! To start the enrollment process, please have them complete our easy, online application on our website at: https://kestrelheights.org/apply-now/

Congratulations to Chelsea Peters!! She is our first Refer-A-Friend Drawing Winner! This month's prize is a Kestrel 3/4 Zip Fleece.

Would you like to be entered into our Refer-a-Friend drawing? Help us grow our Kestrel community by referring your friends and neighbors to Kestrel Heights School for enrollment!

Want to find out more about the Kestrel Heights Expansion Project? Want to ask a question? Want to check out the live feed camera to see the progress or the construction crew hard at work? Make sure you visit our expansion project page below!

https://kestrelheights.org/expansion-project-information/

Kestrel's Scholar of the Week - Celebrating scholars who SOAR above and beyond!

Kindergarten:

Math: Showing how to make number pairs for ten (10)

ELA: Compare and Contrast

Sitting their first Kindergarten Sight Word Assessment

Science: What do Plants and Animals need to live and grow?

Second Grade:

ELA: Homophones, Proper Nouns and Syllables.

Math: Making sum of 10 and counting on.

Social Studies: Location and Maps

Scholars continue to practice independent reading and narrative writing daily. Please make sure your scholar is reading at least 20 minutes a night at home. Also, please have your scholar practice addition and subtraction facts at home.

Third Grade:

ELA: RI.3.7 Use information gained from illustrations and the words in a text to demonstrate understanding of the text.

**Scholars will benefit from continued reading practice while at home**

Math: NC.3.OA.1 Represent and solve problems involving multiplication.

**We highly encourage scholars to practice and master their multiplication facts**

Fourth Grade:

Math: 4th graders began multiplying by 2-digit numbers, keep practicing those math facts!!

Social Studies: Scholars finished learning about the 5 themes of Geography and the 3 regions of North Carolina. Next, scholars will start to learn about the life and culture of Native American in North Carolina before 1492.

Science: Scholars finished learning about the rotation and revolution of the earth and will learn about the moon and the phases of the moon.

Fifth Grade:

Math: 5th graders were introduced to decimals. Right now they are adding and subtracting, then they’ll be moving into multiplying and dividing so keep practicing those math facts!!

Social Studies: Scholars finished learning about the life and culture of Native Americans in North America before 1492. Next, scholars will learn about the arrival of Europeans and their exploration of North America.

Science: Scholars finished learning about the skeletal system, muscular system and will learn about the human nervous system.

6th Grade:

Social Studies is beginning a new unit about the Fertile Crescent and the first civilizations of Mesopotamia. We will be learning about the geography of the Fertile Crescent, the characteristics of a civilization, as well as Sumer, the first organized civilization. Scholars will also be assigned a project where they will create a civilization based upon the characteristics of a civilization.

ELA is on a journey towards learning Greek and Latin roots. Scholars discovered that word roots compose roughly 50% of the English Language. Additionally, scholars started Literature Circles.

Math: We started a new unit. Unit 2: Intro to Ratios. We covered how to write ratios (in words, fractions, or with a colon) and how to find equivalent ratios. Next week we will continue Equivalent Ratios. If scholars aren’t finished with their Week 8 assignments before Friday at the end of day this becomes homework that will be due Sunday at 11:59pm.

Science (Ms. Chon): We are finishing our Unit on Matter and will be completing our instruction with a Unit Test.

7th Grade:

ELA: We are approaching Chapter 14 of our class novel The Giver. As scholars read, they are recording their thoughts and observations of different characters and concepts within the novel using graphic organizers.

Science is completing our Unit on Forces, Motion and Fields and will be having a unit test to complete the instruction.

Compacted Math: We will finish Module 4: Ratios & Unit Rate and take our Quiz 4 on Wednesday October 19th and then begin our Module 5: Proportions & Percents.

Math: We have wrapped up our Module 3: Rational Number Operations and will begin Module 4: Ratios & Unit Rate on Monday Oct 17th

Eighth Grade:

Mathematics: We started a very fun topic which is “Angle Relationships”. We are learning how the angles on the parallel line and transversal are related. We will also be solving equations to find the angles when the given angle is an expression. You will be seeing vocabularies like corresponding angle, linear pair, alternate interior/exterior angles, vertical angles, same side interior/exterior angles etc. on the homework packets.

Music:

The Elementary Music scholars have started working on the Winter Musical Called “Kestrel Heights Elementary Presents A Disney Spectacular” on December 8th, 2022 K-2 show at 5:30pm and 3-5 show at 6:30pm. More information tba

Band 4-8 grade Kestrel Heights Concert Band Winter concert December 13th, 2022 at 7:00pm more information to come.

Dance:

In the KHS MS Dance department we are now exploring the great world of Modern Dance that was developed between Germany and the US as a rebellion from Ballet technique. Scholars are learning from artists such as Alvin Ailey, Martha Graham, Katherine and many more. For the Elementary Dance department we are still exploring “locomotor” and “non-locomotor” movement and learning how to navigate through space as well as tell a story through dance.

Visual Art:

This week in art scholars are learning about perspective, portraiture, and how to use grids in drawing!

Intervention:

Our intervention team has begun pulling groups starting this week. Letters were sent home to scholars who qualified for intervention support on Friday, October 7th. Please read the letter in its entirety and if you have questions reach out via email to your scholars intervention provider. Please only return the letter if you wish to Opt-out of your scholar receiving intervention support.

School Counselors Office:

This week in Social Explorers, scholars were introduced to their school counselors, what counselors do, and how they can access their counselors. The fifth-grade scholars pictured worked together in groups to complete four "escape room" tasks to learn about their counselors. Going into the month of October, scholars will begin learning about social skills to promote a safe and respectful school community and be upstanders in bullying situations.

Individuals interested in joining the KHS Board of Directors are encouraged to complete an application. https://forms.gle/iTE889LvqrokWcmJ6

Substitute teaching can be an ideal way to supplement your income while setting your schedule. It will also allow you to improve your classroom skills by trying different grade levels and instructional methods. If interested, please click on the link below and submit your substitute teacher application. https://kestrelheights.org/careers/

Thanks to all community members that participated in the VaxON clinic on Friday, October 7. More than 50 members of the KEstrel Heights family - Scholars, parents, and staff - received flu and or COVID-19 vaccines. The "s" in SOAR stands for Safety!

Greetings KHS,

Please help me serve our scholars breakfast and lunch.

KHS will order meals from our catering company according to the meals ordered by parents. We will order the exact number for breakfast and lunch; therefore, there is no way for a student to eat if a parent did not pre-order online.

All parents of scholars who choose to eat from school’s lunch regardless of their status (Free, Reduced or Paid) have to use this system to pre-order the meals. Pre-order meals must be in by 5pm the day before the meal is being pre-ordered.

Please review the attachment below. It contains the information for creating your Lunch Account and how to pre-order meals for your child(ren).
Read it carefully, then click the link below to get started with the setup.

Account Setup Instructions:
https://kestrelheights.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Parents-Guide-to-School-Payment-Portal.pdf

How to pre-order instructions:
see attachment, start of page 32

If you need assistance please contact Mrs. Gordon gordon@kestrelheights.org

Family Movie Night at the Book Fair:

Friday, October 14th, 5:30-8pm
Join us for a FREE family movie night in the gym on Friday, October 14th. We’ll be screening the new movie The Bad Guys, based on the popular book series by Aaron Blabey. Free popcorn and drinks will be available, courtesy of the PTA. Bring lawn chairs or a blanket to spread out on. Doors open at 5:30pm and the movie will begin at 6pm. The book fair will also be open during this event for one final night of shopping!

Keeping up with the PTA:

Our next meeting will be held virtually on Thursday, October 20th at 6pm. You do not need to be a member to attend PTA meetings, so drop in to see what we're working on. We hope to see you there! https://meet.google.com/ogi-jwan-gdg

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/KestrelHeightsSchool/

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/KestrelHeights

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/kestrelheights/

NextDoor: https://nextdoor.com/pages//pages/kestrel-heights-charter-school-durham-nc/recommend/

Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/school/kestrel-heights-school

Monday, October 17

Teacher Workday - No School

Tuesday, October 18, 6:30pm

Parent-Family Engagement Session - Expansion Project

Thursday October 20

PTA Meeting, 6:00 PM

Friday, October 28

End of Quarter 1

Monday, October 31 - November 4

Fall Break

Tuesday, November 8, 6:30 pm

Kestrel Heights Board Meeting

Thursday, November 10

Q1 Report Cards

Friday, November 11

Veterans Day - No School

Tuesday, November 15

School Picture Make Up Day

We are a small, diverse, and inclusive learning community in Durham that empowers our Scholars to sharpen academic knowledge, demonstrate creative expression and expand leadership abilities to prepare for success in high school, college, and beyond.

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