Kindergarten graduation is Wednesday, May 17th at 6:00 pm. The program typically runs about 15-20 minutes. We are planning on an outside ceremony as long as the weather cooperates. Graduates will be wearing robes and hats with tassels. They will get these the night of graduation. Hats and tassels will be theirs to keep, but the robes will be collected after the ceremony. PTO purchased graduation signs, and families will be able to take them home after the ceremony.

*If we are able to hold the festivities outside, guests will need to bring lawn chairs to sit in.

Our eighth grade class will be graduating on Wednesday, May 17th at 7:00 pm. Guests are asked to arrive no earlier than 6:30 pm to allow for the parking lot to clear from the kindergarten graduation. The 8th graders are finalizing graduation plans. We are hoping for good weather so the ceremony can happen outside. Guests will need to bring lawn chairs to sit in.

8th Grade Graduates: Myiah Barrett, Bret Baughman, Nicholas Borcherding, Cole Brinker, Madison Doerr, Megan James, Leela Mahurin, Cole Mendenhall, Corbin Sadler, Sophia Unger, Tyler Woodle, Madyson Yates, Hailie Zeiss. We would like to wish them best of luck as they head off to the high school of their choice this fall.

8th graders are bringing home forms to order roses for the graduation ceremony. Please ask them for this paper. We have deadlines we have to meet to get everything ordered in a timely manner! Roses are $5 each. (A PDF of the note will be attached at the bottom of this letter.)

Teacher Appreciation Week is May 1-5. Our wonderful PTO is sponsoring a coffee day, lunch from Mosiac Cafe, and monetary gift. The Board of Education and the Office of Administration will be providing snacks and other daily treats to show them how much they are appreciated! We would not be able to have such a successful school district without the dedication of all of our teachers and staff. Thank you!

Field Day of K-4 will be Monday, May 15th in the afternoon. (11:30 am -2:30 pm)

Field Day of 5-8 will be Tuesday, May 16th in the afternoon. (11:00 am - 2:30 pm)

5-8 grade will be going bowling on May 15th for their MAP reward field trip from 11:30 am -1:30 pm. Thunder Alley has been reserved for a fun afternoon! Permission slips will come home at a later date. Our school will pay the fees for this field trip. Students will be responsible for their lunch. They may purchase lunch at Thunder Alley or pack a lunch.

On May 16, our K-4 students will enjoy a movie, popcorn, and soda at the Walt. There will be no charge for this field trip. Permission slips will come home at a later date. The movie will run from 12:00 pm- 2:00 pm.

Per our CSIP (Community School Improvement Plan) our stakeholders wanted the school to create a shadow day to help the 4th grade see what a day will be like as a 5th grader. On May 12, our 4th grade students and Miss Pate will be shadowing the 5th grade class for the entire day. They will carry their backpacks and follow the 5th grade schedule which means they won't be eating lunch until noon. During each class, they will have the opportunity to ask questions. We will also have planned cooperative learning activities for them to do during each hour. Please let us know if you have any questions. This will be a great opportunity for our students.

Lunch bills are sent home weekly with students with negative balances. If your student has a negative lunch balance, it is important to pay what you can even if you can't pay the balance in full. Please arrange to make payments over the summer months if you are not able to pay the full balance by the end of the school year.

Students in grades 3-8 will be taking the MAP test this year. MAP testing dates are May 8th-11th. It is important that students get a good night's rest and come to school ready to work. It is also very important that all students arrive on time and that the students eat a nutritious breakfast.

Students are not allowed to wear any type of smartwatch during testing week. As always, cell phones must stay off and in backpacks. All students in 3rd-8th grade must have a set of working headphones with a cord. We won't allow blue tooth connection for headphones. There are listening portions of the MAP that require headphones to be used. The DRC Insight which hosts the MAP tests advise students to not use Bluetooth headphones during MAP testing. This is why we are NOT allowing wireless headsets or airpods. If they do not have a wired pair of headphones, it will result in a mark against them that could affect their reward.

*We will have a limited supply of headphones available for purchase for $2.00.

Your students will be practicing MAP released items for test prep. These lessons will be done at school and be sent home. We encourage you to look over these sample items so you can see what types of questions will be asked. You will see that your students will have to read text, charts, graphs, and other text sources to answer questions. We have been practicing RACE to answer questions. Restate the question, answer the question, and cite textual evidence to support your answer. The final step is to reread your response and evaluate your answer. The responses should be written with correct grammar. Anytime your students has to answer a constructed response question, they should follow the RACE format. MAP released items will be practiced for ELA, math, and science. Even the math portion requires a lot of reading to answer questions. Besides the paper/pencil release items, students will also be practicing an online format test prior to MAP week.

It is very important that students get plenty of rest during testing week. They should eat a healthy breakfast and bring a healthy snack. It is extremely important that all students, testing or not, arrive on time. Be positive and let them know that they are prepared for this assessment. It is time to show what they know!