August Newsletter
August 16, 2017
Dear Parent/Guardian,
I hope you have enjoyed your summer! We are looking forward to our students returning to school. Our teachers have worked extremely hard this summer to identify common learning essentials across our district. Learning essentials are standards that have been identified as "essential" before a student moves to the next grade level. Teachers will be sending home a list of the learning essentials. Please work with your child to ensure that he or she is proficient on the learning essentials.
Our staff is looking forward to working with each of you.
I know every parent, grandparent, and guardian wants what is best for his or her child or grandchild. To ensure that every child has the opportunity to learn and achieve at high levels.
We are going to have another exciting year of learning and fun. If you have an idea or suggestion that may improve our school, please share with a member of our staff or a member of our School Improvement Council.
Children First,
Seberina Myles, Ed. S.
School Improvement Council
I would like to invite our parents, grandparents, and guardians to take an active part in participating on our school's improvement plan. The School Improvement Council is required by our state. The purpose of the SIC is to support and assist our school as we strive for continuous improvement. If you would like to nominate yourself or another parent/guardian, please send the name(s) to the office by Friday, August 25, 2017.
Grade Level Reading Proficiency - Read to Succeed
The mandatory retention requirements of Read to Succeed go into affect in the 2017-2018 school year.
The South Carolina Read to Succeed Act became law in 2014. The intent of this law is to ensure all students have the reading skills necessary to become college and career ready. This law includes significant changes regarding the promotion and retention of third grade students. The 2016–17 school year’s second grade students will be the first group of students to be impacted by this portion of the Read to Succeed legislation when they reach third grade. The law states: Beginning with the 2017-2018 school year, a student must be retained in the third grade if the student fails to demonstrate reading proficiency at the end of the third grade as indicated by scoring at the lowest achievement level on the state summative reading assessment that equates to Not Met 1 on the Palmetto Assessment of State Standards (PASS). Though there are a number of exceptions to this requirement in the law, please be assured that our school district’s goal is that all students will be proficient readers by the end of third grade. Actions are to improve student success include additional instructional time devoted to literacy, small group and individualized instruction, and classroom teachers’ receiving specialized literacy training and support from school-based literacy coaches. If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact me or the below-listed contact in our district office. You may also find information about the Read to Succeed Act on the South Carolina Department of Education website: http://ed.sc.gov/instruction/office-of-early-learning-and-literacy
Written information will be sent home to parents/guardians of third grade students in September.
Mark Your Calendar
Wednesday, August 16th - Meet and Greet from 2:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. - Please drop by to meet your child's teacher and visit the classroom
Thursday, August 17th - First Day of School - Students will report to his or her classroom on Thursday, August 17th and Friday, August 18th. Students in kindergarten will report to the kindergarten class beginning Monday, August 21st. First and second graders will report to the music room beginning Monday, August 21st and third, fourth and fifth graders will report to the PE room beginning Monday, August 21st. To promote independence, we are asking parents/guardians of 1st - 5th graders to please allow students to walk to the designated areas independently beginning Monday, August 21st. Parents and guardians of kindergartners are asked to please allow students to walk to the kindergarten room independently beginning Tuesday, September 5th.
Monday, August 21st - 1/2 day - Students will be dismissed at 11:00 a.m. to observe the eclipse with their families.
Tuesday, August 29th - Boy Scout Night - 7:00 p.m.
"Our school values learning, achievement, collaboration, and responsibility as cornerstones of our learning community."