Lloyd Road School Newsletter
March 2019
Monthly Dates to Remember
March
4: Read Across America Week (See theme days below)
8: No school: Teacher in-service
13: Pii Day Challenge for interested students
19-20: PTO school store during lunches
20: PTO meeting at 9:30 in the cafeteria
27-29: PTO Book Fair
29: PTO Family fun night (STEM Night) See flyer below
April
2: Student Spring photos by Lifetouch
5: PTO Family Bingo night
8: Marking Period 3 ends
Board meeting at Cambridge at 7:00 p.m.
9-10: New Jersey Student Learning Assessment (NJSLA) for ELA (formerly called PARCC)
9-10 PTO school store open during lunches
10: PTO meeting 9:45 a.m.
10: Art show 6-9 p.m. in gym and cafeteria
11: ESL and Title 1 Parent & Student night 6:30 at Lloyd Road
15-17: NJSLA for Math
17: Marking Period 3 report cards open on portal
19: No School: Spring break starts
29: Board meeting at Ravine Drive at 7:00 p.m.
29-April 3: NJSLA make up testing
Grade 5 Promotion Information
Students of the Month!
Congratulations to our Students of the Month for February! It is always a pleasure eating lunch with all of you and getting the chance to talk more. The selected students were as follows:
February:
Grade 5:
Sophia Jiang, Kiera Lugo, Aiden Funk, Michael Irrgang, Hannah Mandeville, Tyheed Richardson, Jaylen Lester, Evelyn Juarez, Rahul Gupta, Ameer Emera, Alexndra Miller
Grade 4:
Lucas Galloway, Nikolas Kolanivic, Asael Pelaez-Pena, Justin Willcox, Bairo Juarez, Charlotte Hunt, Nicholas Martinsen, Emily Daly, Olivia Caamano, Imyah Holmes, Kian Callueng, Logan Roinestad, Charles Brussel, Jayla Steele
PTO School Store
New Jersey Student Learning Assessments (formerly known as PARCC)
This year students in Grades 4 and 5 will take the state's New Jersey Student Learning Assessments (NJSLA) in English Language Arts, Math, and Science. The tests for Language Arts and Math were previously named PARCC. The testing dates are:
April 9-10: Language Arts NJSLA
April 13-15: Math NJSLA
May 21-21: Science NJSLA
This year we will see a reduced amount of testing time for Language Arts and Math.
NJSLA-ELA
The number of units for ELA will be reduced from three to two, resulting in a reduction of 75 90 minutes for grades four through high school. While there is a reduction in the number of units and test items, students will be assessed on the major claims of reading and writing and all subclaims.
For the spring 2019 administration of the NJSLA for math (NJSLA-M):
• Grades three to five math assessments will be reduced from four to three units resulting in a reduction of 60 minutes of testing time.
On Friday, March 1, the Course Request section of the Parent Portal will open for current 5th grade students. Families will be able to see, and review, teacher placement recommendations for the 2019-2020 school year and choose electives.
Students will be required to select 2 elective courses from the list below:
Introduction to Computer Science (Grades 6-8)
The STEAM Experience (Grades 6-8)
Design Lab (Grades 6-8)
Art (Grades 6-8)
Music (Grades 6-8)
A description of available courses will be visible inside the “Course Request” tab and will be posted on the MAMS Website under “Announcements.”
Students in Grade 5 will also have the ability to select a World Language:
Italian
French
Spanish
Students interested in participating in the Band and/or Chorus will also have the ability to register for one of the following: Students that do not choose to participate in Band/ Chorus will be placed in Study Hall.
Band Only
Chorus Only
Band & Chorus
The Deadline for all selections is Thursday March 7th, at which time the portal will be closed.
If you have questions, please direct them to your guidance counselor. Students who are currently in 5th grade may direct their question to Mr. Daryl McKurth at dmckurth@marsd.org or by emailing mamsinfo@marsd.org.
A brief bulleted summary of the main points of the policy are:
- There are now only 5 reasons the state recognizes to be counted as excused absences.
(see the letter for those reasons)
- Our student information system, Realtime, generates letters automatically at 4,8,12,16, 20 and 24 absences.
-The attendance reminder letters are then mailed home. We try and keep track of certain situations that we have been made aware of that may have affected a student's attendance such as days off for a death in the family, chronic health condition, etc. However, the letters may still be sent home depending on the overall number of absences.
- As is noted in the district letter, the school counselors, special services case managers or administration do call home to check in on higher absences.
- In person meetings are then set up for absences around 8-10 absences depending on any known circumstances.
-In person meetings will be needed especially for situations where a student has had excessive absences over multiple years showing a pattern.