This Week at the Park
University Park Elementary News~May 2nd, 2022
Help us celebrate our wonderful University Park teachers and staff this week!
FSA Testing Grades 3rd through 6th
We continue this week with our ELA and Math FSA testing.
Tuesday, May 3rd: FSA ELA Session 1 for Grades 4th-6th
Wednesday, May 4th: FSA ELA Session 2 for Grades 4th-6th
Thursday, May 5th: FSA Math Session 1 for Grades 3rd-6th
Friday, May 6th: FSA Math Session 2 for Grades 3rd-6th
Important Information About the FSA:
The Florida Standards Assessment is a state-wide test given to all 3rd through 10th-grade students in Brevard Public Schools. The FSA tests provide insight into the progress students make in understanding and mastering the standards and skills being taught.
Tips to Help Your Child
1. We begin testing first thing in the morning so all students should arrive by 7:45 am. Any student who arrives after testing has started, will not be allowed to enter the testing room.
2. Please plan on a good night's sleep before testing! We do our best work when we are well-rested and prepared.
3. Students cannot have their cell phones or any technological device with them or near them during testing. Backpacks and phones will be collected and returned once testing is over.
4. Students should have a good breakfast the morning of testing. University Park provides free breakfast for all students starting at 7:15 am.
5. Students should not be checked out once testing begins and until testing is over.
6. Please help us in encouraging your child during the testing dates! We are excited to see their progress and growth from this school year!
Literacy Limelight By: Tehani Kisor, Reading Intervention Teacher
With summer fast approaching, we hope that you will continue reading as a part of your child’s everyday activities. Regression is very common over the summer and we want our students to maintain their reading skills throughout their break to avoid any loss of reading skills. A list of free computer websites is available at the bottom to encourage your child to keep up with their reading skills.
Pre-K/Kindergarten: Letter and sound identification is crucial to pre-reading skills. Play find the letter and sound games with your child. You can make letter cards and attach them to items in your home that begin with that letter. This will teach beginning sounds along with letter identification. When you are out and about, you can have them identify letters and sounds that they see on signs, buildings and in the stores. Read easy books to them and have them identify the letters and sounds…they may just begin reading with your help.
First/Second: Students should know all their letters and sounds by now. It is always beneficial to review them over the summer. Reading daily and having them read to you is very important to maintain their skills. Choose different books at different levels and have them take turns reading the pages with you. Sight words are huge for these grade levels and essential to increasing reading fluency. Practice the sight words that your teachers have provided and review them daily. A link for the Fry word lists is given below. Drawing pictures to describe the stories they read and writing sight words/phonics words they find in the book will be very helpful.
Third/Fourth: Your child should be well on their way to reading chapter books. A great way to maintain their reading fluency is to pick a book series that they are interested in. See how many books in a series they can read over the summer. Libraries carry these books and can usually be kept for 3 weeks at a time. Have your child practice retelling chapters to you and giving you the setting, plot, characters, main events, problem and solutions that occur in each book. This will help build their comprehension skills. Students can write a short summary of the books they read.
Fifth/Sixth: Students in these grades should be reading a mix of fiction and non-fiction texts. Fiction tells a story and non-fiction gives information and facts. Your child should pick a few types of each genre to read over the summer. Daily reading is very important to maintain their reading fluency. Practice comprehension skills by having them retell the story, give the events and main characters of each story. They should be able to describe how the characters’ feelings and emotions change throughout the story in fiction texts or give a detailed description of the facts listed in non-fiction texts.
Websites and links:
www.storylineonline.net www.starfall.com http://www.shelsilverstein.com/ http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/
www.pbskids.org www.tumblebooks.com (user id: Upark/password: books) www.abcya.com
http://www.k12reader.com/subject/vocabulary/fry-words/
Reading success depends on frequency and accuracy. The more they read, the more fluent they become. Help your child be a great reader! We hope you all have a wonderful summer break and come back in August with Super Panda Reading Skills!!
Important Upcoming Events:
Monday, May 2nd: SAC Meeting at 3:45PM
Tuesday and Wednesday, May 3rd-4th: FSA ELA 4th-6th
Thursday and Friday, May 5th-6th: FSA Math 3rd-6th
Thursday, May 5th: Spring Concert from 6-7 PM @ UP
Pre-registration for VPK-6th Grade has begun!
Please turn in Pre-registration Packets this week.
