The Walden Weekly

Dear Walden Families,

We celebrated a few special days this week including the first day of Spring! We wore mismatched socks on Tuesday for World Down Syndrome Day and Jersey Day on Thursday for our reading month activities. We also had fun on Tuesday Night with a live zoom with Storytime with Mrs. Strenger! If you missed this, I have shared a recording below. We also earned our PAWS reward this week with an all school dance party!

We wish all of our Walden families a safe, enjoyable, and fun Spring Break and we can't wait to see you back at school on April 3!

Happy Break!

-Stephanie Strenger

Walden Showcase Night - May 4

As shared in last week's Walden Weekly, we will be hosting a Showcase Night on May 4th from 5:00-7:00. Please save the date for this fun event!

Families are invited to attend an event to showcase our learning! Classroom will be open and teachers will be present for a great event. All Specials teachers will be in the lunchroom sharing some fun activities with families as well. The purpose of this event is to open our school doors and share some of the wonderful things that students have been learning and experiencing with our parents. It will be an open house format, so you do not need to attend for the entire time, unless you'd like to! We look forward to seeing you there!

Illinois Assessment of Readiness (3rd-5th Grades Only)

Students across the district in grades 3 through 8 will be participating in the Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) in English/Language Arts & Mathematics between April 3rd and April 24th.

This state assessment helps us understand how students are growing academically year to year, while also providing an achievement comparison to grade-level peers across the state. By measuring both mastery of the Illinois Learning Standards and the College and Career Ready benchmarks of the PSAT and SAT, the IAR is also designed to help prepare students for success in high school and beyond. The overall performance of each school, by grade, also impacts our designation, which is reported on the Illinois School Report Card.

Walden students will be taking the IAR assessment from April 12-14.

If you have questions about the Illinois Assessment of Readiness, please let me know. As always, we encourage our students to do their best and appreciate your continued partnership.