Published for the Arts Based School Community
Sept 29, 2022
Each year in October, we ask you to help us do great things for your kids and for our school by participating in Annual Giving. We believe that what we have together at ABS is worthy of celebrating and sustaining, and we hope you will join us!
Throughout October, we will be highlighting the collective power of Annual Giving. All gifts and pledges made to the school throughout this time help to make the ABS experience what it is: joyful, genuine, rigorous, and unique. This is our annual fundraiser; we don’t ask you to sell popcorn or wrapping paper to your family and neighbors… we instead ask you to please consider making a gift that is meaningful for your family. Your generosity supports our operating expenses and the long-term financial stability of ABS.
This year, as in past years, we are hoping to achieve 100% participation. Each week in Thursday Notes, we will update you on our progress. You can make a secure gift online anytime, or look for the giving form in Thursday Folders.
Last year at the close of October, we shared our thoughts about gratitude being central to Annual Giving, and we think it bears repeating now:
As our month-long push for Annual Giving [begins], we hope it is a spirit of giving and gratitude—our gratitude for all of you and for your children who fill our school with life and joy, and your gratitude for this school—that will occupy space in your mind. Yes, we ask for your financial support if you are able to share it. Yes, we count each family’s participation, and yes, we tally the dollars raised before we plant them back into the fertile soil of our school. But annual giving is not merely a series of transactions—it is an act of reciprocity, an exchange of gratitude. We receive all of our many gifts with open eyes and open hearts. Thank you.
MAP Results Going Home
ABS uses Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) to assess each student’s academic growth. We will give students in grades 3-8 MAP tests to determine each child’s instructional level and to measure academic growth throughout the school year, and from year to year in the areas of math and reading. Students take the tests on a computer. MAP tests are unique in that they adapt to be appropriate for your child’s level of learning. As a result, each student has the same opportunity to succeed and maintain a positive attitude toward testing. And with MAP tests, we can administer shorter tests and use less class time while still receiving detailed, accurate information about your child’s growth. MAP results are coming home today with your student.
Invasive Plant Workshop at ABS: October 13, 5-7pm
ABS parent and landscape architect Kristen Haaf is hosting a 2-hour free public workshop where we can learn about the most invasive weeds we struggle with in our bioregion (and our school) and how to go about managing them. We will also learn how to identify several native trees, shrubs, and grasses, learn about their benefits, and explore what we can do to protect them. The first half will be learning/workshop style, and in the second hour we will work together to cut back all the invasive weeds we can eradicate during that session, focusing on the hillside around the 7th Street parking lot. Join us!
Date Change! Garden Clean-Up, and an Eagle Scout Volunteer
Join us on Saturday, October 15 from 9 am onward. An Eagle Scout candidate and his team of supporting Scouts will visit the entrance gardens at our ABS North campus on MLK to clear out, clean up, and mulch! We welcome all the help we can get! Bring your tools, pruners, loppers, work gloves, wheelbarrows, etc. There will be more gardening dates ahead!
Save the Date: Scholastic Book Fair
We are excited for the return of the Scholastic Book Fair! The fair will take place Monday Oct 17th - Fri Oct 21st. We will have our K-4 fair in the MLK Cafe and then the 5th-8th fair in our 7th Street gymnasium. Stay tuned for more information on ways to volunteer and shop during the fair.
Save the Date: Fall Fest
Saturday, October 22 is this year’s Fall Fest! Look out for more information on Fall Fest soon! Also mark your calendars for the next Parent Council meeting Friday, October 14 at 8:30 am in the MLK cafe. A Zoom link will be provided via email.
Volunteer Thank you!
This week, we’d like to extend a special word of thanks to ABS South Kindergarten Assistant Teacher -and- dedicated volunteer Caitlyn Ward. In addition to helping with car line and in the front office on the daily, Ms. Ward assembled tables for the new ABS South library and media center this week. Thank you for everything, Ms. Ward!!
On the Hunt for a Skyscraper Host
We are looking for anyone who might be able to connect our first grade classes with a view of Winston-Salem from above! We are hoping to revive a pre-Covid field trip tradition with an in-person visit to a nearby skyscraper so that students can see what their city looks like from above. If you are able to connect us with a potential skyscraper host, please email Leah Lavin.
Family Directory
This year’s Family Directory is now published behind the Parent Portal of our website! If you’d like to make any changes to your listing, please let us know.
Looking for more information about our school?
Check out our website! You can find a form to pay your student activity fee, and much more! As an ABS parent, you also have access to the Parent Portal section of our website, where you can access directories, handbooks, a volunteer hours form, and detailed information about a host of topics. If you need help accessing the portal, please let us know.
Friday Sing for the ABS South Campus will take place tomorrow, September 30, at 1:50-2:20. This event is held indoors. Although some parents enjoy observing Friday Sing and are welcome to attend, it is not a traditional performance, but just a chance for students to sing together.