Super News from Room C114
September 4, 2018
Tisch's Tidbits
We have been working hard on written responses and the expectations when doing so, subjects and predicates, world and Indiana geography, and math centers. This Wednesday is the first social studies quiz focused on the world map and Indiana on the map. In addition latitude and longitude will also be a focus. A study guide was sent home last week and your child created a world map with the oceans and continents.
Transportation Notes
After school clubs will be starting this week. If your child is attending an after school club, I will send your child to their club UNLESS you send me a note stating otherwise. You are more than welcome to send a note as well.
Parent Teacher Conferences
Conferences will take place after school on October 3 and during the day on October 4. October 4 will be an e-day for students.It will not be real time and there will be a period of time for the work to be completed. We will practice logging in with the portal and accessing websites ahead of time. Here is the link for conferences:
www.SignUpGenius.com/go/20F044FACAD23AA8-mrs1
Room Parents
Our classroom is looking for Room Parents. The person/people who serve in this role will act as the go-between our PTO and our classroom families. They will also help to coordinate school parties or other events. Room Parents are not required to attend every event, but are asked to attend at least 3 PTO meeting a year so that they may communicate information back to our classroom families. If you are interested in this role, please email me by August 31st. If there are more than one or two interested parents, I will use a random selection process to determine who will serve in this role. This is only one of the MANY volunteer opportunities available to assist our classroom during this school year. I will also need various parents for copying, field trip volunteers, and other special event helpers. We are so fortunate to have such an active parent base. Thanks for all that you do!
Wish List
Thank you to the Nate and his family for the smelly stickers and to Wesley and his family for more math center pouches! They were such fun surprises last week! Today, Miss Ivy brought in origami books and storage for paper!! I am so appreciative of your kindness and generosity. It helps make this classroom what it is. :)
SCHOLASTIC BOOK FAIR----COMING SOON!
Who doesn't love a fair!? A book fair!! Union's first Book Fair of the year will start on September 10 and run through the 14th. For those of you who are new to school, you should know that the Scholastic Book Fair is a week long opportunity to shop age, grade and reading level appropriate books while giving back to the school. Your kids will have a chance to pre-shop the books with their class, make wish lists and then they can bring money or come back with you...or you can come alone...to make purchases.
Volunteers needed to make this a successful event. Set up will start next Thursday, follow the link below to volunteer and get a first look at this year's Enchanted Forest!
http://volunteer.scholastic.com/#/signup/MkZmlrlWd
Volunteer Sign Up
Here is the link if you'd like to sign up to volunteer in my classroom for the 1st semester. I will send out another link for the second semester. I included the day for when we make our cardinals and would love to have five parents join us on that day! I didn't put a start time as I realize your times fluctuate for volunteering to help prep things for the class. My prep time is 8:30-8:55, so this time is the easier time in the morning for us to chat if it works in your schedule. Thank you in advance! I appreciate you and your time!
www.SignUpGenius.com/go/20F044FACAD23AA8-1stsemester1
REMIND 101
This year I'm using Remind to send updates about important class information.
To sign up for 2018-19 notifications, please visit
https://remind.com/join/39k9ce
or text a message to:
81010
Text the message @39k9ce
You can choose whether you would like the updates to come to your email or as a message in Remind101. I will send updates and pictures of what is happening in the classroom, so I would love for each of you to be on the list!
SEESAW
If you’re using Seesaw for the first time:
- Go to app.seesaw.me
- Choose "I’m a Student"
- Choose Email/Google Account
- Choose "New Student?"
- Choose “Create Email Account” or “Sign in with Google”
- Type in the code: WVMD MFNI. This code expires on August 22, 2018
- Finish creating your account using your school email address
Upcoming Events
September
3-No school!
26-Jog-A-Thon
Why do we give NWEA?
At ZCS, we have chosen these standardized assessments to supplement our state-required spring ISTEP+ test for several reasons. First, NWEA gives us instant results that we can use to adjust instruction and group students for learning. The tests are computer-based and yield a score which the teacher can see in a report as soon as the student finishes. Second, unlike the ISTEP tests which assess only grade-level standards, NWEA has a bank of thousands of questions ranging far beyond grade level. The test is “adaptive”—meaning that as a student takes it, the test adjusts the level of questions he/she is presented with based on correct/incorrect answers, so that a student is always working on questions at his/her most appropriate level of difficulty—rather than “one size fits all” questions. Also, as a high-performing school district, we have many students learning and working far beyond their grade level standards. NWEA assessments allow us to see their level of performance and compare it (and their growth from fall to spring) to that of similarly-abled peers nationally. Finally, NWEA is based on one large bank of questions (not different tests divided by grade levels). Thus, the score a student receives each time he/she takes the test can be compared from fall to spring and year to year—producing a graph of a student’s growth over time (a lot like the way we mark a child’s height on a door in our home as he/she grows taller). Even when a student has a one-time drop in a test score, we are still able to see the whole pattern of his/her emerging growth as a learner. Although we typically give the tests in fall, spring and optionally in the middle of the school year, NWEA can be given as often as a teacher wants in order to monitor progress in a goal area.
For all these reasons, we are glad to be able to gather this data (and the more specific information it gives us about strengths and areas of challenge) to help us plan learning experiences for our students. Please know that your child’s NWEA scores are available in PowerSchool under test history) for you to see any time you desire. Scores for most recent tests will typically be added to your child’s data when our testing window closes. The dates for all district assessment windows are available on our ZCS website at this link: https://1.cdn.edl.io/B4ZOBS5F09peWk75c8fwfFDKUlwSnZijYNGypznFlEtbQDJa.pdf