Sipley School Parent Newsletter
December - January
Happy Holidays
School resumes on Monday, January 8, 2018!
Behavior Barbecue
Benchmarking Assessments
Students in kindergarten and first grade take the STAR Early Literacy Assessment.
Students in first through sixth grade take the STAR Reading and STAR Math Assessment.
Students in Kindergarten through sixth grade take the FastBridge Assessment. FastBridge consists of an assessment of early reading skills and reading fluency.
Below is information on the STAR Assessments (our students do not take the STAR Reading Spanish assessment). Here is a link to information from FastBridge - http://www.fastbridge.org/assessments/reading/
School Improvement Planning - Formative Assessment for Purposeful Planning
When students return from break, we will gradually embed PARCC tasks into reading, writing, and math for students in grades three through six. Our staff will analyze student work and then alter instruction based on their analysis. We will embed online practice PARCC tests into our instruction so that students can gain the comfort and confidence using the online tools available to them.
Our focus on formative assessment for purposeful planning will raise the level of instruction through the tasks that students are asked to do in all areas of their learning.
I expect that a higher percentage of students will meet proficiency on our district assessments and on PARCC than in year's past.
Parents, you too can assist students in building comfort and confidence with the learning standards they are assessed on. Here are some links that we will use:
PARCC Practice Tests - https://parcc.pearson.com/practice-tests/
PARCC Released Items - http://parcc-assessment.org/released-items/
PARCC testing will take place for students in grades 3 - 6 between April 9 and 17.
Important Dates to Remember
Wednesday, January 10 - Sipley Spelling Bee - 1:00
Wednesday, January 10 - 5th Grade Robert Crown Parent Meeting at Edgewood - 6:30
Monday, January 15 - No School in observance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Wednesday, January 17 - 5th Grade Robert Crown Visit
Thursday, January 18 - STP/PTO Meeting at 6:45 in our library