Academy Family Newsletter
Academy for Academics and Arts 12.3.2021
Great Week of Learning and Dance!
Hello AAAmazing Academy Parents and Guardians,
We had a great week focusing on student success and learning through the arts. Our teachers have been focusing on arts integration and improving overall academic achievement.
If your child has lost an item of clothing, please stop by the front office the week of December 6-10, 2021 to look through the Lost and Found. We will have these items in the front lobby. We are accumulating items daily. Please remind your children to check the Lost and Found soon as they realize they are missing items.
Arts Performances Next Week
Please come support the AAA Dance Production: Cold Hands, Warm Hearts on December 3-4, 2021 at 7:00p.m. Also, December 5, 2021 at 2:30p.m. Congratulations to Ms. Randolph, volunteers, and students for all of your hard work! We are excited to see this production.
Please come and support the AAA Middle School Music and Orchestra Concert on Thursday, December 9, 2021 at 6:30p.m.
The AAA Elementary Music Winter Presentation will be Tuesday, December 7, 2021. You will be sent a Zoom link to view the presentation at 9:00a.m. The presentation will be recorded and emailed for families not able to attend the Zoom at 9:00a.m.
The P.T.A. Fundraiser pick-up will be on Thursday, December 9, 2021 from 11:30p.m. to 3:30p.m.
Fast Food
Just a reminder - Students are not allowed to bring fast food items for breakfast or lunch. All fast food items should be consumed prior to entering the building. This includes speciality drinks, such as Starbucks-type coffees.
Students that arrive at or later than 8:00 am will need to be signed in at the front office using the Sparkman Drive entrance. It is important to follow these time procedures so that we do not interrupt arrival for our Pre-K students, which begins at 8:00 am.
Please be in carline by 3:20. At 3:25, we stop calling names on the radio and students transition to the front office. If it is after 3:25, students can be picked up in the front office. If you are signing your child out in the front office, PLEASE do not park on the curb. The lane next to the curb is for buses only. Due to some changes in routes, we have buses that need access to that lane from 3:00 - 4:00.
If you need assistance with access to PowerSchools, please contact the front office or email Ms. Olinger at kristina.olinger@hsv-k12.org.
Attendance and Check-In/Out
Please email your check-in/out notes and excuses to Ms. Calhoun, Ramona.Calhoun@hsv-k12.org. This will take the place of the aaa.office@hsv-k12.org email. If you need to check out your child, you can email Ms. Calhoun for a quicker process.
Make-Up pictures for Grades PK - 8 are being scheduled for a date in January.
Please remind your child of the A.A.A. Way expectations daily.
1. Act Respectfully!
2. Accept Responsibility!
3. Always Be Prompt and Prepared!
Character Word of the Month: Patience
Our communication policy is to provide a response to parents within 24 hours. Many times, we are able to respond much quicker than that. Our teachers are using every possible minute to deliver instruction. A 24 hour response time allows them to continue their focus on student learning.
Please feel free to email or call with any comments or concerns. Our doors are always open.
HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEKEND!!!
Our Best Always!
Kitrise Torain
AAA Middle, Principal
Evelyn Coffey, PhD.
AAA Elementary, Principal
Another great source of information - Join our Facebook Group page Academy for Academics and Arts! Join Twitter @AAAElementary and @AAAMiddle
AAA Reflections Winners!!!
Elementary visual arts category:
1st place: Beatrice Westmeyer
2nd place: Lena Bonds
3rd place: Sophia Draine
Honorable Mention: Georgia Miller
Middle school visual arts category:
1st place: Tatianna Mills
2nd place: Christopher Bailey
We will have a breakfast to celebrate the winners on Friday, January 7, 2022 at 7:30a.m.-8:00a.m. in the Library/ Media Center. The parents of these students are welcome to come.
Winter Dance Concert Information- Ms. Randolph
Hello AAA Parents,
The Dance Magnet Program is excited to share information about our Winter Dance Concert, “Cold Hands, Warm Hearts”. The students have be rehearsing since September, and they are excited to present their work to you in December. Please mark your calendars to come enjoy a night of live performance, celebrating the holiday season.
Performance Information
When: December 3rd at 7pm
December 4th at 7pm
December 5th at 2:30pm
Where: AAA Theatre
4800 Sparkman Dr NW, Huntsville, AL, 35810
Admission: $10 Adult, $5 Student
To Purchase Tickets, visit the link below. Tickets go on sale on November 15th.
Welcome to Nurse Jenileigh Pierce
We want to welcome Nurse Jenileigh Pierce! We are so excited to have her join the Academy Family. If you have questions or concerns, please contact Mrs. Pierce. Her email is Jenileigh.Pierce@hsv-k12.org.
AAA Teachers of the Year and Support Person of the Year
AAA Elementary Teacher of the Year- Erica Coleman (Kindergarten Teacher)
AAA Middle School Teacher of the Year- Jonathan Snodgrass (Choral and Band Director)
AAA Elementary Support Person of the Year- Elizabeth Hanks (Nurse Hanks)
AAA Middle School Support Person of the Year- Wanda Lightfoot (Ms. Ann- Custodial)
P.T.A. Fundraising Information
Know any NEW families that are interested in Magnet Programs?
Magnet Window Opening Soon
Please share this information with any friends/family that may be interested in learning more about Magnet programs. Students currently enrolled in A.A.A. do NOT need to re-apply to continue enrollment at A.A.A.
- We will have a Magnet Fair at Lee High School on Saturday, December 11, 2021. Below is the schedule.
A NOTE from Mrs. Staples
Dear AAA Parents,
Our Winter Concert is almost here! This musical showcase featuring songs of the season and is comprised of all AAA students from Pre-K to 5th grade, will debut on *December 7th, 2021. However, due to COVID restrictions we will not have live performances in the theater this year. The show will be recorded and presented to you in a link for your viewing pleasure.
We are sincerely appreciative of the support we have received from our AAA families and friends this school year. We are looking forward to our 2022 season when we hope we can welcome back our families with live performances.
Sincerely,
P.S.* (attire for this event – red, green, festive – please bring change-of-clothing)
Marcia Staples
Elementary Music Director
AlphaBest After-School Program
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Families may also Customer Service at: 1-888-373-KIDS (5437).
From the Desk of the 6th Grade Team
Please send students with ear buds, earphones, or some sort of listening device. We use these for individualized learning.
ELA:
12/3/2021
In ELA, we are continuing to work on our radio plays. The Hitchhiker, written by Lucille Fletcher, is a 1940s era radio play. The students are working on recording these plays in their groups. This project is completely student driven. Through this project students are learning to identify and create the story elements: suspense, flashback, and foreshadowing by using sound effects, music, and voice acting. Our essential question that we are working on answering is “Why is fear such a popular form of entertainment?” We will continue to work on using the RACE strategy to write paragraphs and essays to fully comprehend and answer this question. With this in mind, students will also discover new vocabulary and the meanings of Greek and Latin roots and affixes. Our goal is to record these radio plays before winter break. Due to all of the performances in December, that may be delayed until after break. I will update you all as we progress along.
Social Studies: We will be learning about WWI for the next two weeks before Winter Break. Students will have a test over WWI on Thursday/Friday - December 16/17. A test review will be posted on socrative.com (room name: Hester) the week of the test.
Students who need to retake their -Isms Vocab Quiz can retake the quiz on Wednesday, December 8.
From the Desk of the 7th Grade Team
ELA: Students will be ending the quarter by writing body paragraphs about symbolism in the novel; on 12/2-12/3, students began working on their graphic organizers! The body paragraphs will be due on 12/13-12/14. Additionally, students have been practicing grammar this week, working on comma splices, introductory phrases, and commas in a series. They will take a practice quiz and have a final test next week.
Science:
7th grade students will finish working on semester review assignments posted in Schoology, their cell models, and the genetic disorder research projects with project presentations ending by Friday.
Social Studies:
We are about to finish up Civics with a short introduction to economics including a fun “Cost of Growing Up” project where students will research future career pay and how far, or not far, that money will go each month.
From the Desk of the 8th Grade Team
Math:
Honors Geometry: Exploration, inquiry, and application -Midsegments of Triangles (review), Perpendicular and Angle bisectors, Bisectors in Triangles, Medians and altitudes, Indirect Proof, ACAP/STAR Standards and skills review/practice-algebra (elimination, properties of exponents, scientific notation), etc...
8th Grade Accelerated Math: Continued - Exploration, inquiry and application of Writing equation from a pair of points (review), slope and y-intercept; parallel and perpendicular lines and graphing with Real World Connection, solve linear inequalities of various forms, solving systems of equations using substitution, graphing etc....
8th Grade Regular: Continuation of learning - Proportional relationships, slope and rate of change, graphing using slope - intercept form y = mx + b, application to real world situations, hands-on practice slope activities as well as online activities to manipulate graphs and slope, identify functions, scatter plots, etc...
Science:
8th grade students will finish working on their Chemistry projects, balancing chemical equations, and 1st semester reviews for midterm exams. Please make sure that all students come to class prepared..
Social Studies:
We will finish the semester by wrapping up our study of Ancient India with a project and then we will take a quick look at Ancient Japan.
From the Desk of the Middle School Arts Departments
Creative Writing- Students are finishing this week with a creative assignment that connected with the time period of Sherlock Holmes. Starting next week, students will begin planning and writing versions of a mystery story using a picture prompt from “The Mysteries of Harris Burdick” book by Chris Van Allsburg.
Some students in Creative Writing have collaborated with Media Arts students to create a virtual open-mic video. The videos will be posted on the Magnet Arts Website: www.whyaaa.org/ms-creative-writing in the coming weeks.
Media Arts - 7th & 8th grade - Media Arts teamed up with Creative Writing to collaborate on the Open Mic Night performance.
Theater/ Technical Theatre/Stars & Clowns
Stars and Clowns - We are frantically working to put together the best show we can for ACT Night. Mark your calendars ACT Night is Thursday, December 16 at 7:00 p.m. This event is open to all families and alumni! We look forward to seeing you there. Unfortunately, the students and I have decided to cancel the tour on December 10. Both groups discussed at length this decision. The students decided that they would rather work towards ACT Night. Stars will have an all day rehearsal on December 10. Clowns will go to class as usual. Thank you for your ongoing support! There is no place like home with the AAA family.
Theatre and Technical Theatre are looking for volunteers to help with The Addams Family. If you or anyone you know is interested, please contact Mr. Feemster. You can buy tickets to The Addams Family Young @ Part through the showtix4u website at wwwWhyAAA.org/Ms-Theatre or just CLICK HERE!
Technical Theatre students are working on their set designs for their theoretical staged versions of The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Theatre Performance is working on many things including building scripted scenes and learning about objectives, tactics, conflict, etc. The Thespians productions class are working on their piece for the Veteren’s Day Performance and their competition One-Act Play, I Never Saw Another Butterfly.
Music
Strings-Winter Concert Dec. 9 6:30pm with call arrival time for musicians 6pm-AAA Theater. Our daytime assembly performances for student body are 9am & 1pm on Wednesday, Dec. 8. Optional volunteer after school practices 3pm to 4pm on Dec. 6&7 room 167 orchestra. Student volunteers were given the letters to represent the Academy Magnet at the Magnet Fair on Saturday, December 11th at Lee High School from 8:30am to 11:30am Thank you!
Band
We are preparing for our Winter Concert December 9, 2021. Students in Band 1 and Band 2 are practicing music highlighting the winter holiday season and more.
Choir-
All choir students are also preparing for our Winter Concert December 9, 2021.
Visual Art-
Middle School Visual Arts this week has been working on creating pieces for a woven collage where we integrate the use of math measurements and patterns. We have been working on improving our watercolor techniques and skills as well in this project.
We have 5 students from visual arts classes that are participating in the upcoming juried District Art Show. The art show will be Wednesday, December 8th, 2021, from 6-8 p.m. We would like to wish these students the best of luck!
Dance-
“Cold Hands, Warm Hearts,” school show times will be December 2nd and 3rd at 2:30 p.m., and public show times will be December 3rd and 4th at 7:00 p.m.
All middle school dance magnet students are required to attend after school tech rehearsals November 29th - December 2nd, times TBA.
Ms. Randolph will be reaching out to parents regarding prop and costume needs for upcoming shows.
The Ladder to Your Child's Success
It is always best to handle concerns at the lowest level possible. This will ensure concerns are addressed in a timely and efficient manner. Our faculty and staff are dedicated to supporting their students. Please give the teachers an opportunity to resolve issues at the classroom level first.
- Step 1: If your concern involves your student’s teacher, please email that teacher first. You may request a conference or try to resolve the issue via email.
- Step 2: If after attempting to resolve your concern with the teacher you feel your concern is not resolved, please contact the counselor. The counselor can handle non-disciplinary issues. Debbie Smith is the middle school counselor. Her email is Debbie.Smith@hsv-k12.org. Dimetia Smith is the elementary school counselor. Her email is mailto:dimetia.smith@hsv-k12.org.
- Step 3: If after attempting to resolve your concern first with the teacher and second with the counselor, you feel your concern is not adequately addressed, please involve the principal, Jennifer Dardin, elementary, and Kitrise Torain, middle. Appointments may be made through the office managers. Elementary- Mrs. Tucker (Dana.Tucker@hsv-k12.org)/ Middle- Mrs. Dillard (Erica.Dillard@hsv-k12.org)
What is the AAA Way?
What's Happening at A.A.A.
A.A.A. Middle School Odd and Even Day Calendar
To purchase a Yearbook, visit: jostensyearbooks.com
HCS Dress Code
Gift Card Donations
Laptop Charger Replacements
Chromebook chargers are available for purchase for $30 each. The chargers may be picked up at the front office. Prior to pick-up, you can pay the charger fee with a Credit Card/Debit payments via MySchoolFees: www.myschoolfees.com. Sign in as GUEST, Select AAA Elem (or Middle), Select Public, Select Chromebook Charger $30, be sure to list child’s name in the COMMENTS. Or you can pay the $30 fee at the time of pick-up with cash or check. All checks should be made payable to Academy for Academics and Arts Elementary (or Middle) School. If you have any questions, please contact the school at 256-428-7600 and speak to Dana Tucker, Bookkeeper.
Stay Connected: Important School Contacts
Data Generalist: (Registration) Kristina Olinger Kristina.Olinger@hsv-k12.org
Attendance - Ramona Calhoun at Ramona.Calhoun@hsv-k12.org
Cafeteria and Nutrition - Norma Martin at norma.martin@hsv-k12.org
School Counselor - Debbie Smith at debbie.smith@hsv-k12.org
Nurse - Michelle Hanks at elizabeth.hanks@hsv-k12.org
Librarian & Technology - Brenda Levert at brenda.levert@hsv-k12.org
Elementary Principal - Evelyn Coffey at evelyn.coffey@hsv-k12.org
Middle School Principal - Kitrise Torain at kitrise.torain@hsv-k12.org
Stay Connected: Important Dates
December
December 7, 2021- Elementary Music Presentation Recording (During School Day)
December 9, 2021- Middle School Music (Choir, Orchestra, and Band) Concert @6:30p.m.
December 13-16, 2021 - STAR testing (all students)
December 16, 2021- ACT Night @7:00p.m.
December 17, 2021 - Last Day for 1st semester
December 20, 2021 - January 4, 2021 - Schools Closed
January
January 12-13, 2021- The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe Auditions
January 26, 2021- National Honor Society Auditions
Students return to school on January 5th, 2022.
Academy for Academics and Arts
Email: kitrise.torain@hsv-k12.org
Website: https://www.huntsvillecityschools.org/schools/academies-academics-and-arts
Location: 4800 Sparkman Drive Northwest, Huntsville, AL, USA
Phone: 256.428.7600
Facebook: facebook.com/AcademyforAcademicsandArtsElementary
Twitter: @AAAMiddle