Blue Ash Elementary Newsletter
February 4th, 2021
Specials Schedule Week of February 7th - February 11th
Upcoming Dates
**Whenever we have calamity days, or surprise days off (February 14) - the "Letter Days" do not change. Example: If we have a snow day on a "B" day, then the next day will continue to be a "C" Day as normal.
February 14th - Super Bowl Monday!!! - No School
February 21st - Presidents Day - No School
Our Generous District Exceeded Our Who-Dey Challenge Goal!!
The response to the Sycamore Who-Dey Challenge has been overwhelming! In less than one day, our Sycamore families have raised more than $18,000 for charity. Based on the response, the district will divide our donations between two local charities that support our students—Operation Give Back and Sycamore Bridges.
Donations for the Who-Dey Challenge will be collected at our schools through this Friday, February 4, and can be made through cash, check, PayPal or Venmo. Please make checks payable to Operation Give Back. See the QR code below to donate to our Who-Dey Challenge via PayPal.
Thank you for your generosity and GO AVES!
Happy Chinese New Year! The Year of The Tiger! Coincidence? We don't think so. GO BENGALS!
Our students have dreams to make our world a better place. Thank you to leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. for showing us the way!
CogAT Results
For students who took the CogAT test last month (2nd graders, 4th graders, and any other students by parent request), please make note your child's CogAT results will be uploaded in your child's e-Backpack on Parent Portal (this is same place where you find your child's report card) on Monday, January 31st at 4:00 pm. Please see this letter for more information. Thank you!
Dear Parents or Guardians,
In your child's e-Backpack on the Parent Portal are the results of your child’s CogAT test. These test results are one measure of your child’s ability and not intended to be an all-inclusive report. Please keep in mind that other factors can also influence a child’s performance on an assessment on any given day.
The purpose of this assessment is to provide you with information specifically about your child. The CogAT assessment can also be used to identify a child as gifted in the area of superior cognitive ability. According to the state of Ohio, a student can be identified as superior cognitive gifted if he/she has received a composite score of 2 standard deviations above the mean minus the standard error of measurement. What does this mean in relation to the CogAT test your child took? If a student in kindergarten achieves a composite score of 127 or in 1st - 12th grade achieves a composite score of 128, he or she is identified as gifted in the area of superior cognitive ability. Please note that in order to be placed into accelerated and/or advanced programming in Sycamore beginning in 3rd grade, a student must have a composite standard age score (VQN) of at least 128 on the CogAT 8 in addition to a minimum of 95th percentile on one administration of the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) in the content area of math and/or reading.
You can use this Bitly https://bit.ly/ReadingCogAT to better understand how to read your child’s report.
The Winter MAP testing window is open through mid-February. Additional information regarding a student’s eligibility for accelerated math or advanced ELA programming based on CogAT and/or MAP scores will be provided in late February.
It is our hope that this information will help you to better understand your child’s test results. Should you have any further questions, please feel free to contact your building Gifted Intervention Specialist (elementary grades) or your child's counselor (Greene School or Junior High).
Sincerely,
Jamie Jackson
District Gifted Coordinator, K-12
Jersey Day!! With some Burrow shades for added flare.
Ties, Tutus and Tennies!! We have Spirit!
We are trying to persuade the Bengals to come celebrate with us at BAE!
2022-2023 Kindergarten Registration
Adapt for Life Parent Information Night
Sycamore Schools is offering a Virtual Parent Information Night on February 8, from 6:30 - 7:30 p.m. to provide more information about the Adapt for Life program.
We are asking parents to register in advance by Monday, February 7, in order to better customize the information session to the audience. Please submit questions or topics you would like our speakers to cover during the session. A Zoom link will be emailed to registrants in advance. Click here to register.
For more information about the program, visit the Adapt for Life website at https://www.adaptforlife.org. Questions? Please reach out to Lisa Zelvy, Pupil Services Supervisor, at zelvyl@sycamoreschools.org.
Learn Sign Language with Us!
We are so fortunate to have a sign language interpreter supporting one of our children at BAE again this year. Nicole Schum has been busy teaching all of us sign language! If you would like to join in the learning from home, please CLICK HERE for the Flipgrid account.
Once you log on to Flipgrid, the code for Blue Ash Sign Language is: baesign
CAFETERIA NEWS!!
Click HERE to access the menu.
PTO INFORMATION
Valentine's Day Flower Fundraiser
Love is in the air! One of our own very talented parents is hosting a Valentine's Day flower fundraiser for the PTO. Mokara Floral Design is excited to offer our blue ash community $5 off their Valentine’s flower orders with an additional $5 that will be donated to the blue ash elementary PTO.
Using the code BAE4BAE Blue Ash will be supporting a woman owned small business and their school while showing their loved ones how special they are this season. There will be two pick up dates at her Blue Ash home, with the possibility of a BAE parking lot pick up date/time.
So shower that special someone with love from mokarafloral.com.
Amazon Smile
Now that the holidays are over and we have had a chance to take a breath from all the holiday shopping, we hope that all our families that shop through Amazon remember to complete their amazon purchases through AmazonSmile. AmazonSmile donates 0.5% of your eligible purchases back to our PTO. Its super easy to set up. Log in to your amazon account through smile.amazon.com and select Blue Ash Elementary PTO as the organization you wish to support. The AmazonSmile website looks identical to the regular Amazon site. All future purchases will then benefit our PTO. Happy shopping and thank you for supporting the BAE PTO!
Upcoming Volunteer Opportunties
We are looking for a couple of volunteers for some upcoming events at BAE. If you are interested in lending a hand or getting involved in planning please reach out! We are always looking for people to help make our school a special place for our kids.
Interested in chairing our Variety Show? This fun event that highlights the many talents of our students couldn't be possible without a few amazing parents to help organize. If interested, contact Anna Floyd at annafloyd78@yahoo.com. This event takes place in May.
We are also in the beginning stages of planning a spring fundraiser. Last year we held a very successful Read-a-thon, but we are open to other fun events/activities to raise money for the PTO. Those might be a flower sale or a St. Patrick's Day fundraiser. If you have a creative idea and would be willing to help, please reach out to Kristen Poast at bapto@sycamoreschools.org.
As always, we appreciate the support of our amazing BAE parents.