The last three months at A Grade Ahead have been a blur of activity for staff, students, and parents. We have had held graduation celebrations at our academies, introduced hands-on activities into our curriculum, launched our Parent Portal to all A Grade Ahead families, painted the corporate offices, celebrated Mother’s Day with crafts, welcomed our newest franchise owners, and more!
Here are some more details about the exciting things happening at A Grade Ahead:
Academies Mark the End of School Year with Celebrations
All across the country A Grade Ahead students literally moved “a grade ahead” at the conclusion of May classes. The students began the new 2017-2018 school year in their new grades beginning in June.
To mark the transition many academies held celebrations and graduation parties including A Grade Ahead of Smyrna, GA, which transformed their students and teachers into rock stars for the day. Each student walked down a star-lined hallway to the cheers of others as they got their diplomas and then had a rockin’ celebration.
Academies including Parsippany and central Ohio hosted weekly activities during the entire month of May. Every week had a different theme: one week students dressed up like their favorite book characters, another week they wore their pajamas, and the last week everyone wore purple and green and celebrated with snacks.
Hands-on Activities Launched in June
A Grade Ahead students in the Enrichment at Home program and enrichment academies began participating in hands-on activities in June. These interactive challenges are incorporated in the curriculum on the last week of the month and help students comprehend the topics of the month with a unique, fun approach.
Examples of some of the hands-on activities from June are
- 3rd grade math: students practiced rounding using a number line that they made as a visual
- Algebra I: students learned about the effects of viral marketing by using what they know about exponents
- 5th grade English: students wrote delicious (or gross) descriptions of food items on a menu using what they know about their parts of speech and grammar (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, appositives, and introductory phrases).
Parent Portal Accessible to All Families
All parents now have access to A Grade Ahead’s Parent Portal and can use it to track their student’s progress over time. The portal will take the place of the paper Results Recording Sheets. Each week parents are able to enter their student’s scores from weekly worksheets into the website. Reports and charts can be used to follow the success of every student.
The URL to log in is https://parentportal.tripleg.space and A Grade Ahead parents can use the email they provided at registration to create an account. A step-by-step tutorial can be found here as a resource.
Corporate Offices Updated
When A Grade Ahead launched our new name in September of 2016, our enrichment academies were painted and decorated with branded colors with new reception furniture and desks. In June it was time for the corporate headquarters side of our Powell location to get a make-over. The entire building was painted green, purple, and gray including all of the staff offices, bathrooms, the reception area, and kitchen. Even the “stapling room” where monthly curriculum packets are sorted and shipped got a face lift featuring purple walls. Stop by and see it in person if you are in Powell.
A Grade Ahead Mothers Honored with Crafts
For the week of May 8th, Mason students worked in groups to write and decorate cards for their mothers. They used markers, crayons, colored pencils, and of course, stickers to make the Mother’s Day cards as festive as possible.
To keep the fun craft educational, students were encouraged to use what they recently learned in math and English when making their cards, and they also practiced writing greetings and addresses. The educational aspect in no way decreased the children’s excitement at doing the craft or the sweetness of the cards they created for their moms!
A Grade Ahead of Mason Becomes a Franchise
On June 1, 2017, A Grade Ahead of Mason, Ohio, became a franchised location. When it originally opened, the Cincinnati-area academy was corporate-owned. The new franchisees, Elaine Timbuleng and Tyler House, are very familiar with the A Grade Ahead program, In fact, Elaine has worked in many roles in central Ohio including teaching classes in math and English, conducting assessments, writing curriculum, training teachers, teaching enrichment camps, and more. Tyler has experience in marketing and business and is returning to his hometown of Mason, where he was raised. We wish our newest franchise owners well and know they will continue to provide outstanding service to our customers.
What do you think? What activities are you seeing at A Grade Ahead academies across the country? Do you like the addition of hands-on activities and the parent portal? Let us know in the comments.
Author: Amy Daniels, Marketing Manager, A Grade Ahead
