UCCS NEWS

In This Issue

CEO/Principal Updates

Celebrating Student Progress

Students Learn CPR

NYS Test Pep Rally

Silent Disco

Minute to Win It

Basketball Banquet

Volunteer Appreciation

Students of the Month

Honor Roll Students

Health Office News

Counselor Corner

PTA Updates

Urban Choice Charter School Newsletter MARCH/APRIL 2019

Words from Ms. McCarthy, UCCS CEO

It seems unbelievable that the end of the school year is in sight.

Although we are always busy, we are especially busy at this time of

year. We still have our Grade 4 and 8 New York State Science Tests

coming up, along with many end of the year activities. I am extremely

thankful that you have shared your children with me. As I reflect back

on my interactions

with your children a

smile comes to my

face as I remember all

of their comments and

hugs. Let’s remember

that we still need to

focus on a strong

finish to the year.

Mr. Beaumont’s Principal Updates I am so proud of our students for working extremely hard on the ELA

and Math state tests. Your support and dedication to our school helped

our students feel calm and confident. We appreciate everyone who

wrote notes of encouragement; they meant a lot to your children as

evidenced by the smiles and comments as they read them before the

tests. We have seen our students grow exponentially this year with

their academics. I truly believe this is a result of the support our

students receive at home, along with the relationships our students and

families have with the school and our incredible staff. We have several

field trips/events coming up to celebrate the hard work and success our

students have achieved this year. With the end of the school year

approaching, I want to take this time to thank all of our families for their

dedication to UCCS.

Important dates:

May 20-23: Book Fair

May 22: Honor Roll Field Trip

May 22: Family Night

May 24-27: No School, Memorial

Day Weekend

May 29: Grade 4 Science

Performance Test

May 30: Grade 8 Science

Performance Test

June 3: Grade 4 & 8 Science

Written Test

June 5: Celebration of the Arts

June 11: Red Wings Family Night

June 13: BOT meeting

June 14: Flag Day Performance

June 20: Grade 8 Graduation

June 24: K-7 Moving Up

Ceremonies

June 25: Last Day of School

Urban Choice

Charter School

545 Humboldt St.

Rochester, NY 14610

585-288-5702

Fax : 585-654-9882

Celebrating Student Progress

Students, families and staff have been working really hard

this year to increase the reading levels of all students.

Expanding the Success for All reading program to the 6th-

8th grade for the 2018-2019 school year has helped to

ensure each student receives the individualized support

they need to further develop their literacy skills. The goal

for the school year was to have

53% of our K-5th graders read-

ing at or above grade level by

the end of the year, and 46% of

our 6th-8th grade students. At

the end of third quarter, we are at 57% and 50%, respectively. To celebrate,

K-5 students participated in an egg hunt with fun prizes for all students and

the 6-8 students were treated to ice cream sundaes. We will be working very

hard to maintain these great gains during the 4th quarter. One way to help at

home is making sure your student reads every night for 20 minutes in order

to practice the reading skills learned in SFA. Thank you to all of our

teachers, students, and parents for your hard work and support!

Middle School Students Learn CPR

Did you know that you can save a life to the beat of “Stayin’

Alive?” In the last week of April, three firefighters from the

Rochester Fire Department trained all middle school students

in hands-only CPR. After explaining when to use CPR, Fire

Fighter William Davidson said there are only two steps: call

911 and start pressing hard and fast in the middle of the chest.

The rate of compressions should be about 100 per minute, but

it’s easier to do if you think of a song with that rhythm. Since

the Beegees are more than a little out of date for today’s youth,

middle schoolers practiced CPR on mannequins while listening

to “Crazy in Love” by Beyoncé. Sixth grade student Tarron

Mixon said what helped him learn CPR was listening to the

beat of the music. “The CPR training was very important

and cool because I learned many things about how to

save many lives, how to do it, and what is important to

make it work, like the beats and how to put your arms.”,

said Brianna Santiago, eighth grade student.

After the success of bringing CPR training to our school,

the Rochester Fire Department may expand to training

students at other area schools. Great job Ms. Flake, RFD,

and all of our middle school students for making this a

positive and successful experience for everyone!

NYS Test Pep Rally

To build excitement for the NYS ELA and Math tests, UCCS held two pep rallies, one for our 3rd-5th

grade students and one for our 6th-8th grade students on April 2, the day before the first day of testing.

With Mr. Jones as the MC, students watched

inspirational videos, heard encouraging words from Mrs.

McCarthy and Mr. Parris, and cheered as staff

members competed in the masked singer. Shout out to

Mr. Parris and Mr. Clark for participating in the Masked

Singer and a huge congratulations to Mrs. Allen, the

winner of this

intense competi-

tion!

The goal of the pep rallies was to remind students that the tests

are an opportunity for them to show what they know and that it is

important for them to do their best. We wanted to make sure that

students know that we believe in them and that they have the

intelligence, skills and ability to do well on these tests. We are so

proud of how hard our students worked on both the ELA and

Math tests this year.

Silent Disco

On March 23, Urban Choice held its first annual Silent Disco Fundraiser at

the Penthouse in partnership with Muse Co., Wild Byrd Productions, In

Your Ear Events and Twist This food truck. We want to thank all of our

sponsors, partners, and everyone who came out to support Urban Choice.

The event would not have been such a great experience without all of this

support. People had a great time dancing the night away to the beats of

three different DJ channels, snacking on food donated by Wegmans and Get Caked when they

needed an energy boost, and learning more about Urban Choice. The silent auction was also a

huge success with donations from: Stokoe Farms, Seabreeze, Comedy@ the Carlson, Dave and

Buster’s, Salvatore’s Pizzeria, Delmonico’s Steakhouse, Rochester Americans, Delta Sonic, Good-

luck Restaurant, Black and Blue, Walmart, and the Urban Choice PTA. Some people who had

never been to a silent disco before were not quite sure what to expect, but said they will definitely

come back next year and invite all of their friends. We can’t wait to do this again!

Minute to Win It Family Night

Do you think you have what it takes to complete Minute to Win It

activities in 60 seconds or less? Students, family members and

staff had a great time on March 28 trying to beat the buzzer in a

variety of fun competitions to win raffle

tickets- and bragging rights. Activities

included: Face the Cookie, where

participants tried to move a cookie from

their forehead into their mouth, without

using their hands, Ponginator, bounce ping pong balls into cups, Suck it

Up, using only a straw to transfer skittles from one plate to another, Junk

in the Trunk, shake and jump around to get all of the ping pong balls out

of the tissue box tied around your waist, Elephant

March, use a tennis ball in pantyhose (your trunk) to

knock over cups, Stack Attack, stacking cups into a

pyramid and then back down into a single stack, Hexstacker, using a chopstick

to pick up and stack 5 hex nuts, Hoop de Loop, ring soda bottles with a hula

hoop, Chocolate Unicorn, stack Oreo cookies on your forehead and Chopstick

Challenge, using chopsticks to move marshmallows from one bowl to another.

Thank you to all of the families, students and staff who made this event so

much fun and definitely a night to remember.

Basketball Banquet

On April 24, we held our basketball banquet to celebrate our

incredible basketball program, recognize our talented players and

thank our dedicated coaches, Mr. Obieke, Mr. Jones and Mr. Parris,

and athletic director, Mrs. Morreall. Families, players and staff

enjoyed pizza and wings while they watched a slideshow of pictures

and videos from the very exciting and successful girls’ and boys’

seasons. Mrs. Morreall got things started with some inspiring and

encouraging words for our student athletes; then the coaches had a chance to share their thoughts

and speak directly to their players before handing out certificates, team pictures and awards.

Jay’niyah Rosario-Jones was recognized for her coachability, skill, and improvement throughout

the season as well as being a true team player, earning her the MIP award. Coach’s choice award

went to Demario Barber for his positive attitude, willingness to support other players and effort to

improve his game. And the MVP awards went

to Jahonni Frost and Manny Kelly for their

exceptional leadership, both on and off the

court, athleticism, and willingness to step up

when the team needed them, everything a

coach hopes for when they look for a team

leader. Congratulations to everyone for a great

basketball year.

Volunteer Appreciation

National Volunteer Appreciation week is a great time to recognize and

appreciate all of the amazing volunteers we have at UCCS, many of whom

have volunteered with us for many years and have made a huge difference

in the lives of countless students. Ms. Bertucci and Ms. Creighton work with

teachers to identify needs in their classrooms and do their best to match

them with the interests of our volunteers. Our students get so excited when

they see their volunteers open the door to their classrooms, knowing they

will get some extra love and attention, as well as help with their work. We

asked students to help make a short video thanking volunteers for all that they do, and although

we know the impact our volunteers have, it was incredibly touching to hear our students tell them

in their own words..

We invited all of our volunteers to a luncheon

on April 24 where they could enjoy some

yummy food with a special student hostess or

host, meet some of our other volunteers, watch

the thank you video, and receive a small token

of our appreciation for all that they do. We love

all of our volunteers and hope they know how

much we appreciate them!

*You can see the video on our Facebook page

March Students of the Month

Trustworthiness Kindergarten: Jarelz Sanchez and Samoya Davis

First Grade: Trinity Rogers and Jordynn Rodgers

Second Grade: Jaeda Arroyo and Bryce Weaver

Third Grade: Malachi Maher and Zavionne Lowry

Fourth Grade: Jay’Vion Trammell and Sadie Weldon

Fifth Grade: Isaiah Collins and Ja’Marion Jones

Sixth Grade: Orlando Torres, Tani’Jah Watson-Hill and Tamaia Walker

Seventh Grade: Nyela Leonard, Jaela Moore Wimes and Tyler Robinson

Eighth Grade: Deavon Barley-Wright, Brianna Santiago, Jalen Hill

April Students of the Month

Citizenship Kindergarten: Ja’Vier Johnson & Toni Cole

First Grade: Sofia Rizvanovic & London Windom

Second Grade: Dewayne Rutledge & Jah’Sani Smith

Third Grade: Jay’Viion Fluitt & Shawndell Pitts

Fourth Grade: Promyse McInnis & Aidalynn Hidalgo

Fifth Grade: Ahnasti Tate & Heavynne Jefferson

Sixth Grade: Talia Hooks, Tani’Jah Watson-Hill & Ariyanna Watkins-Nelson

Seventh Grade: Shamell Smith, Jermaine Gibbs, Mattias Shaw

Eighth Grade: Jah’niyah Rosario-Jones, Bryah Harrell, & Rahmeir Westbrooks

Honor Roll Students for Third Quarter

Third Grade: Tsion Assefa, Jeremiah June, Jah ’kahi Love, Malachi Maher, Aiyanna

Massey, Chantz Adams, Sterling Alexander, Skylar Bashnick, Jhelani Blake, Mya

Gonzalez, Azarie Madden-Jackson, Jamell

Montgomery, Nassier Nichols, Shawndell Pitts,

Manuel Quinones, Isabella Ramirez, Damari Swift,

Johnathen Watkins-Nelson

Fourth Grade: Brandon Fagan, Ethan Nolan,

Jesiah Troutman, Collin Vilaysak, Talynn Blanding,

Yamiliz Colon, SaHarr Curry, Yardean Henry,

Ahmarie Singletary, Sadie Weldon

Fifth Grade: Dwayne Greer, Sheta Mekonnen

Sixth Grade: Sophia Bashnick, Wayne June, Isaiah Maher, India Tisdale, Orlando

Torres, Miracle Williams-Blanding, Kam’ron Banks,

Christian Beason, Quanayzia Carter, Leannah

Cummings, Arthur Love Jr., Jaylyn Melton, Aminah

Reaves, Maraesia Tillman, Alannah Brooks, Janai

McNair, Jeremiah Morales-Garcia, Javier Ortiz,

Tamaia Walker

Seventh Grade: Styhles McKenzie-Baker, Liat

Mekonnen, Kailani Prince, Adrian Santiago, Talliah

Santiago, Shamell Smith, Savion Meeks, Francisco

Torres Otero, Arianna Scott

Eighth Grade: Demario Barber, Jahonni Frost, Cassius Jones, Joelle Boland, Cobe

Jones, Harmuni McInnis, Brianna Santiago, Quintasya Clayton, Jalen Hill, Kanye Snow-

Dixon, Rahmeir Westbrooks

Health News

The Health Office would like to wish EVERYONE a SAFE, FUN, ACTIVE Spring!! Get outdoors, spend time together, have fun, and stay safe!

Remember to wear that sunblock, bug repellent, and/or those helmets when needed! Parents, please remember to get your child's’ yearly physicals completed, and ensure that their immunizations are up-to-date.

The Smile Mobile will be here on June 16th and 19th. Applications are available in the front office. As always, please call the nurses’s office with any questions or concerns. We are here to help!

Counselor Corner

As the cold and snow finally begin to thaw, it’s fun to plan activities for kids and their families to enjoy both indoors and out. Our spring bucket list for kids has some ideas to get started!

1.) Visit a maple sugar shack

2.) Jump in puddles

3.) Plant a spring flower

4.) Join a neighborhood trash cleanup

5.) Hunt for daffodils

6.) Blow and catch bubbles

7.) Make art with sidewalk chalk

8.) Spring clean the outdoor toys

9.) Paint a Birdhouse

10.) Visit the baby farm animals

11.) Play ball in the park

12.) Start Tomato Seeds

13.) Chase butterflies

14.) Go for a nature walk

15.) Spot a rainbow

16.) Dance in the rain

17.) Feed the ducks

18.) Fly a kite

19.) Paint outdoors

20.) Go for a bike ride

Ideas retrieved from https://seasidesundays.com/toddlers-spring-bucket-list/

PTA Updates

Thank you to everyone who joined us to paint flower pots at our April meeting. We had a great time. We hope the sun will

come out soon and that we will see some May flowers after all of our April showers. As always, please let us know if you

have any ideas or suggestions for the PTA. Kisha Stubbs, PTA president can be reached at uccspta2018@ gmail.com.