K5 Student Spotlight

Easton is such an outstanding student! I have been so impressed by his work ethic and positivity in class. He comes every day with a smile on his face! He is such an example to other students! They see his love for learning and desire to work hard. He brightens our classroom with his sense of humor, responsibility, and respect. Thanks for all that you do, Easton! Keep up the good work! – Ms. Frandsen

Let’s Make It FUN!

School is fun! Did you know you can have a custom background in Zoom?  We have created a few fun backgrounds for our students to use as their Zoom background! In just a few easy steps, you can download one of these images and set it as your background when you log into zoom!  Choose one of the background’s below and download/save it to your computer and then:

STEP 1: Sign into Zoom webportal/app

STEP 2: In the navigation menu, click SETTINGS

STEP 3: In the meeting tab, navigate to the VIRTUAL BACKGROUND option (under the in Meeting (Advanced) Section) and verify that the setting is enabled. 

STEP 4: to upload a photo to use as your background, on the same Virtual Background Page, click the + icon next to where it says Choose Virtual Background. A box will pop up allowing you to upload a photo from your computer. Click on the one you want, and it will appear alongside the other pictures as an option for you to choose from.


**This is optional, not a requirement.  We ask, per school policy, that you keep backgrounds simple so they do not distract other students from learning.  Thank you and enjoy!

Summer School Fun!

We have been having a lot of fun this summer with our students!  In an effort to provide opportunities for summer structure, we created a “summer school” program to keep kids busy and engaged during these summer months!  It has been fun to see our students learn new skills, be creative, and stay active! 

In one of our K-2 Science classes, we learned about the 5 senses and then wrote poems about the summer. Look at how great these poems written by our students are?  Thanks Ted and Kaiqi for sharing what summer “feels” like to you!

Some of our other fun projects came from our  K-5 coding club students!  They used their newly learned coding skills to create a dance party! Click the button below, make sure to have your volume on and enjoy their creation! 

Our last highlighted projects come from Kaiqi and Ted. They put together these amazing report about endangered animals, the Amur Leopard and the King Cobra.  We appreciate all of our students willing to share their work with us!  GREAT JOB UTVA students!

Kaiqi Endangered Animal Report (1)

 

Ted Endangered Animal Report

 

 

UTVA Success Story

We love a good success story, especially when it comes to virtual education.  The below excerpt was written by a UTVA learning coach about her student’s experience here at UTVA!

 

“My little boy was diagnosed with general anxiety disorder, and separation anxiety at a very early age. He had the hardest time going to preschool, and made it so difficult for me and my husband. Kicking and screaming every morning not wanting to go. When he started Kindergarten we paid for a private school with about nine kids per class. He did okay with it for a few months, then the kicking screaming, crying in hysterics started up again. My husband works out of state and is home three weeks, and gone the next three weeks all year around, so I stopped working outside the home. Me and my husband were just lost with what to do about our sons situation when my aunt mentioned UTVA to us. We immediately looked into it, and got him signed up and registered for 1st grade. Since I was now at home we felt this had a great chance to work well for our son. UTVA sent all the materials we would need for 1st grade. Books, art supplies, science materials, etc. We got everything set up, and 1st grade was absolutely amazing. I won’t lie, at times it was a challenge to keep my son on task, and doing all assignments, but so much better than what we dealt with at the brick and mortar school. My son had a really difficult time with reading. It was extra challenging for him learning to read, and UTVA recognized that , and got him set up in a different reading program called Mark 12. It was so wonderful watching him learn to read, and he just kept getting better and better at it because of the Mark 12 program. UTVA makes it possible for me to be involved and know exactly what is going on with my sons education every step of the way, and being a part of it, yet not having to teach the curriculum because he has teachers for that. My son has been on the honor roll several times, and has gotten mostly A’s for grades with a couple B’s. He has been in small group math and reading classes which have made all the difference for him. My son is now in 4th grade, and registered for 5th with UTVA. It has been the best decision for our family and Braylon’s education. UTVA teachers and Administration really do care about these kids, and do everything possible to make sure the kids are learning, and not just getting lost in the shuffle. They have more than one way to teach kids, and different programs. UTVA has grown and evolved so much in the last 4 years, and it just keeps getting better. It has been a blessing during this Covid 19 time, without any disruptions he could just keep on learning as usual. UTVA is incredible with amazing teachers and staff. I can’t even imagine where we would be today regarding my sons education without UTVA. My son being able to be taught by such talented teachers in the comfort of our own home has been the answer Thank you for making it possible UTVA!”