Clark November Newsletter 2023

Here are the details:

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20TH: Anchorage Thanksgiving Blessing

In Anchorage, Thanksgiving Blessing will take place Monday. The Mountain View Community Center, at 315 Price St., will offer pickup items from noon to 8 p.m. Monday for residents in ZIP codes 99508 and 99514.

The other five locations are drive-through only from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m.:

• Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 13111 Brayton Dr., for ZIP codes 99507, 99511, 99515, 99516, 99518, 99523, 99540 and 99587.

• New Season Community Development, Inc., 639 International Airport Rd. #24, for ZIP codes 99502, 99507, 99517 and 99519.

• Central Lutheran Church, 1420 Cordova St., for ZIP codes 99501, 99503, 99510, 99512, 99513, 99520 and 99524.

• St. Patrick’s Parish, 2111 Muldoon Rd., for ZIP codes 99504, 99509 and 99521.

• Joy Lutheran Church, 10111 E. Eagle River Loop Rd. for ZIP codes 99505, 99506, 99567 and 99577.

The Food Bank says donations and Mountain View volunteer shifts to make Thanksgiving Blessing possible can be offered at its website.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 18TH: Mat-Su Valley Thanksgiving Blessing

In Mat-Su, Thanksgiving Blessing takes place Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Three churches will be offering food for pickup:

• Faith Bible Fellowship, 14159 W. Hollywood Rd., Big Lake, for ZIP codes 99623, 99629, 99652, 99654 and 99694.

• Real Life Church, 19697 E. Palmer-Wasilla Highway, Palmer, for ZIP codes 99645, 99654 and 99674.

• Wasilla Bible Church, 1651 W. Nicola Ave., Wasilla, for ZIP codes 99623, 99629, 99654 and 99687.

Two more churches in Talkeetna and Willow will be offering drive-through service, with large pre-packed boxes of food being loaded into cars:

• Church on the Rock, Mile 99 Parks Highway, Talkeetna, for ZIP codes 99676, 99667, 99683 and 99688.

• Willow United Methodist Church, Mile 67.5 Parks Highway, Willow, for ZIP codes 99688 and 99694.

Dear Families,

MAP Testing will start in December [Winter Benchmark 2: December 4 - December 15 (make-ups through December 21]. You can support your student/s to do their best by ensuring they get plenty of sleep and arrive at school on time. Please review the information below for more details about the upcoming testing. Please contact the school if you have any questions or concerns.

MAP Growth Information

2023-2024

MAP Growth is the ASD and State of Alaska required benchmark/interim assessment for students in grades 3-9 in reading and mathematics. Grades 10-12 students identified as needing Tier II and Tier III reading and mathematics support also take MAP Growth as part of the Anchorage School District's MTSS framework.

Alaska's Department of Education and Early Development (DEED) has partnered with NWEA to implement a creative approach to a balanced statewide assessment that connects fall and winter MAP Growth benchmark/interim assessments and the Alaska spring AK STAR summative assessment. AK STAR eliminates the spring benchmark/interim assessment window for grades 3-9 by combining the summative and benchmark assessment into one test that produces a spring benchmark score, which includes a growth measure. More information is available at the State of Alaska AK STAR website, education.alaska.gov/assessments/akstar or contact Emily Walle at 907-742-7774 / wentzel-walle_emily@asdk12.org

MAP Growth is an online, adaptive assessment that provides each student a personalized testing experience with data that speaks to their individual progress and growth in mathematics and reading.

The MAP Growth reading and mathematics benchmark will be administered in person during the 2023-2024 fall and winter benchmark windows. The spring benchmark will be embedded in the AK STAR summative assessment as outlined above.

● Fall Benchmark 1: September 5 - September 15 (make-ups through September 22)

● Winter Benchmark 2: December 4 - December 15 (make-ups through December 21)

● Spring Benchmark 3: embedded in AK STAR administered during the summative assessment window: March 25 - April 5 (make-ups through April 26)

o MAP Growth assessment only: Grades 10-12 identified as needing Tier II and III support

MAP Growth practice tests and tutorials allow students and families the opportunity to become familiar with the types of questions and tools available on the actual MAP Grow assessments such as the highlighter and calculator. An overview of these resources with links to the practice tests are compiled on the MAP Growth Practice Tests Quick Sheet.

Elizabeth Hermanson, Assistant Principal, Contact: 907-742-4724

If you are interested in serving on the school Discipline Committee

Team or attending any of the discipline meetings, please let me know.

The committee meets at 7:30am each month in the Clark Library during

the school year. The meetings last thirty minutes and is a great way to

provide input to the Administrative Team.

Friday, September 15, 2023

Friday November 3, 2023

Friday, February 2, 2024

Friday, April 5, 2024

Carl Snider, Assistant Principal, Contact: 907-742-7724

If you are interested in serving on the school Safety Committee

Team or attending any of the discipline meetings, please let me know.

The committee meets at 7:30am each month during the school year.

The meetings last thirty minutes and is a great way to provide input

to the Administrative Team.

Tuesday, September 19, 2023

Friday, November 3, 2023

Tuesday, February 6, 2024

Tuesday, April 9, 2024

Hello, Awesome Clark Falcons,

I am so proud of Clark Falcon students- they have learned so much this first quarter: marking up the texts for a specific purpose, figurative language techniques, narrative techniques, and rereading to find evidence/support for text-based questions. We have explored the narrative side and moved into Informational essays and text. Students are learning Text Structures, transitions to make their writing flow effortlessly, and Embedded quotes/ellipses for their Definition Hero Essays. They are also learning how to work collaboratively in a group or pair to learn and offer support to their peers.

Self-assessment is a crucial part of the eighth-grade curriculum: correcting their work and understanding “what they know” and “still need to know,” for High School English.

Kindest Regards,

Ms. Parchman M.A.T.

Contact: parchman_tina@asdk12.org

ELA Educator

8th Grade Social Studies: Hannah Hewett hewett_hannah@asdk12.org

The year has flown by! In the month of November, I anticipate us starting to cover colonizers coming to the Americas. We will learn about European colonization and the thirteen colonies.

8th Grade Science: Chelsea Fullman fullman_chelsea@asdk12.org

Hello! I'm Mrs. Fullman, the new science teacher for Team Perseverance. In November we will learn about dinosaurs and geologic events.

Happy November! Team Pizzazz was glad to see so many parents/guardians at Student-Led Conferences back in October and would like to remind everyone that we are open for conferences during our team planning time if you request a meeting. We are looking forward to several great events this quarter, such as the 4.0 Luncheon for all "A" students from Quarter 1, and the Cultural Potluck in December. As always, please let us know with any questions, comments, or concerns.

Ms. Cash (Language Arts) --> cash_ellie@asdk12.org

Ms. Pfisterer (Science) --> pfisterer_abigail@asdk12.org

Mr. Manlangit (Writing) --> manlangit_cesar@asdk12.org

Ms. Nault (Social Studies) --> nault_tanya@asdk12.org

Team Fearless has welcomed salmon in the classroom and we are currently monitoring and caring for salmon eggs, so that we can observe the beginning stages of the salmon life cycle. We were able to close out our first 9 weeks with an exciting lab day that the students had worked towards in their studies and lessons, a salmon dissection! As we begin these new 9 weeks we will finish learning about the structure and function of living things before jumping into computer science!

Team Fearless will be reading, writing and studying non-fiction expository text. Social studies will focus on research for National History Day. Writing will support research topics by practicing paraphrasing text and text citations, as well as proof reading and editing text.

Getting from here to There, together by Discovering Who We Are

Exciting News for November 2023, Issue # 3

“Tenacity is more than twice the weight of intelligence.”

Springboard, Language Arts 6: Ms. M. Smith: Our class is in the second part of Unit 1: Why is Change Significant? The students will deepen their experience with the narrative genre by shifting from the autobiographical nature of a personal narrative to the development of imagined narratives. As they work toward Embedded Assessment 2: Writing a Short Story, they will closely read several short stories—including "Thank You, Ma'am," by Langston Hughes—and learn to analyze plot development, foreshadowing, irony, flashback, figurative language, characterization, and theme.

Help me encourage your student to an independent reading. Students will create an independent reading plan at the beginning of unit 2. Check in with your child to ask which texts they have chosen to read independently. You can help them find interesting texts through Zinc Reading Labs (available through Springboard Digital), which includes a multitude of articles with interactive close reading support, vocabulary development, and reading quizzes. You can also encourage your child to check out books from our school library or local library.

SCIENCE: Ms. Olsen: In science we are starting our ecology unit, focusing on biotic and abiotic factors of an ecosystem. From there, we will be moving into interactions in an ecosystem.

Springboard Language Workshop/Language Arts 6: Ms. Ridgely and Ms. Foley: Our class is in the second part of Unit 1: Identifying characteristics of a short story and the differences between facts and opinions. Students will also be participating in student discourse to demonstrate listening comprehension while reading several short stories “ELEVEN” being one. Students will be using prior knowledge and experiences to understand the meaning of unknown vocabulary terms while closely reading the passages. To conclude their comprehension of the characteristics/ elements of a short story. Students will be doing their Embedded Assessment 2: Writing a Short Story of their choice.

SOCIAL STUDIES: Mr. Moran: In the month of November Social Studies will begin a unit on immigration and migration to America, Ellis & Angel Island, Industrialization, Men of Industry, Immigrant Labor, Labor Unions, Chinese, Mexican, Irish, and German Immigration, and The Great Depression.

ELL Math/SCIENCE: Ms. Mohammad In the month of November students will be doing I-ready Math Classes (NCC/ELL and Regular) will be evaluating the algebraic expressions in which letters stands for a number, expressions that arise from formulas used in real-world problems, perform arithmetic operations, including those involving whole- number exponents in the conventional order exponents, in the conventional order when there are no parentheses to specify a particular order (Order of Operations). My NCC/ELL 6-8 Integrated Science class will complete “The Growth of Plants”. Our next class project will be related to “Plant Cells and Animal Cells”.

Language Arts 6 In-cite: Ms. Foley.: In the month of November students will be focusing on sentence structure. Students will understand how to formulate complex and compound sentences using conjunctions.

Math: Ms. Cleopas: We will be dealing with decimals and fractions that are integral components of mathematical operations. It will enable us to work with numbers at various levels of precision, particularly when dealing with division and volume-related concepts. Its versatility and accuracy make them invaluable tools in both theoretical mathematics and practical applications.

Team Valor is thankful for our students! We have lots of exciting things coming up. In Social Studies, students are finishing their up Alaska regions presentation and will begin studying North and South America. In Writing, students are learning SAT words and academic vocabulary. In Science, students are learning about bacteria and will be creating a wanted poster on their choice of bacteria. In ELA, students are starting a new unit about informational and argumentative texts. Students will be researching the role of advertising in the lives of youth.

Reminder, there is no school for students on November 10th and the Thanksgiving Holiday November 23rd and 24th.

Should you have any questions, you can reach us at:

schlicht_amanda@asdk12.org - Language Arts

smith_carol01@asdk12.org - Writing

holmes_david@asdk12.org - Social Studies

cole_susan@asdk12.org - Science

Team Honorable

Ms. Coleman, Mrs. Foley, Mrs. Misi, Ms. Madden, Ms. Norton, Mrs. Swisher, and Mr. Tomchek are special education teachers who provide direct services to students in the areas of reading (ELA and science), writing, math, affective skills, social skills, and study skills. We support your scholars in meeting their IEP (Individual Education Plan) goals and working with the general education teachers in various ways (co-teach, check-in) to also meet your scholar's academic and social-emotional needs.

Special education is meant to provide support for a student, to not only succeed academically but also to have student to live as full and independent a life as possible. Research has clearly proven that children with significant intellectual disabilities have a hard time generalizing what they learn across different environments. An example of this is when a child is taught to make change for a dollar bill in a pretend classroom store, he or she may not be able to successfully perform this task in an actual grocery store, especially when the store is crowded. The classroom store does not represent the actual environment of the grocery store. For this reason, when necessary, it is very important that special education students receive instruction in environments outside of the school building, such as actual grocery stores, in order to help prepare them for life after school. This type of special education is known as “transition” services. Parents should remember that the term special education encompasses a broad range of both academic and nonacademic services. The specific services will depend on the individual needs of the particular child. Understanding the services your child needs and which of those services are the responsibility of the school district will help you to become a more effective advocate for your child.

Team Resilience is happy to have met with so many of you at conferences last month and were so impressed by how students showed their success in the first quarter. In Science 8 class we are finishing quarter 1 with a test on chemical interactions; quarter 2 is over geology, earth’s structure, and the history of the earth. For Social Studies, we have begun the Economics/Household Budgeting unit; students have researched their “dream jobs”. In the coming weeks they will create a “help wanted” ad for their dream job, complete applications for these jobs and create a sustainable household budget. Writing will be beginning informative writing and finding accurate and credible sources to provide information for our own writing. Language Arts will begin November writing about defining heroes and will finish exploring utopian and dystopian societies.

Writing Department:

November will be the start of our informative units in the Writing Department. We are excited to work with your students on presenting strong and credible information in a clear and concise way, following a standard format for giving credit to our sources, along with determining the best way to sequence the information to help the audience understand the topic. We will also be looking at how to determine if a source is credible and valuable and where to find these credible sources.

Busy, engaged, and productive are words to describe the Family and Consumer Sciences students. First Quarter report card grades are now history, and the F.A.C.S. program is moving swiftly into second quarter with continuing 6th, 7th, and 8th grade classes. During this Second Quarter, students will discover the Nuts and Bolts of Nutrition and they will complete hand-sewn Textile Creations projects. In addition, students will explore Career Skills, Living Environments, and Personal Finances. Many of the 7th and 8th grade students will “Tame the Sewing Machine” by completing machine sewn Textile Creations projects.

Parents and Guardians, please ensure that your students are ready to fully participate in class activities by encouraging them to follow the requirements for class success by being responsible, respectful, and safe.

Students: Get the F.A.C.S.!!!

F = Follow School and Class Expectations for Respect

A = Attendance and Participation are Required

C = Cooperation and Responsibility Counts

S = Strive to be Safe and Successful

Combine the following ingredients, to make Dough for a tasty Pizza Crust…

1 cup of Warm Water 2 ¼ teaspoons Yeast (1 packet)

½ teaspoon Salt 2 teaspoons Olive or Vegetable Oi

1 Tablespoon Sugar 2 ½ - 3 Cups Flour

BASIC DIRECTIONS: Measure, Mix, Stir, and Combine Ingredients. Knead then Spread Dough onto your prepared (lightly greased) Baking Pan. Use a Fork to Pierce the surface of Dough so that the Steam can escape during baking. Add sauce, cheese, and your favorite toppings onto the Dough. Bake for18 minutes at 425 Degrees Fahrenheit.

October has been filled with many projects in science and social studies! We will be having ongoing projects and more will be shared with families as we go. In November, we will continue to develop students’ skills in a variety of areas, including technology use, scientific method, and digital citizenship.

AKSDHH gear is available to order! We have hoodies, vests, t-shirts, hats and more! If you would like to order anything or see the inventory list, please contact Clara Baldwin (Assistant Director of AKSDHH) via email at baldwin_clara@asdk12.org.

Upcoming events for AKSDHH:

• Jr. NAD Pizza Night – November 16 – 6:00pm – 8:00pm – Round Table Pizza
• Jr. NAD Pizza Night – January 25 – 6:00pm – 8:00pm – Round Table Pizza
• Jr. NAD Pizza Night – February 15 – 6:00pm – 8:00pm – Round Table Pizza
• Jr. NAD Pizza Night – March 21 – 6:00pm – 8:00pm – Round Table Pizza
• Jr. NAD Pizza Night – April 18 – 6:00pm – 8:00pm – Round Table Pizza

Happy Fall!

Here are important dates for the November calendar:

Wednesday from 3 - 5pm - HOMEWORK CLUB

It’s a great time for kids to finish assignments in a relaxed atmosphere and then go home knowing they have at least one more thing off their plate. Ms. Ridgley, the 6th grade Language Arts teacher, is in here helping me and she is great at helping students with their assignments!

Wednesdays from 3 to 5pm - GRAPHIC NOVEL CLUB continues!

Students get to read, explore and design graphic novels, as well as meet professional graphic novelists, illustrators and writers! More guest speakers coming up!

November 11th, starting at 6pm, is Family STEAM Night

at Wendler Middle School for all middle school students and their families, with a light dinner served until 6:30pm!

Families will explore, innovate, and create together, as they rotate through 20+ STEAM stations. Every MEP Middle School student will go home with 1-2 books and every family will go home with a STEAM Projects book to explore the world of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math at home. The evening is designed for families to learn and create together. All activities have been created with middle school students in mind.

SPACE IS LIMITED

Please use this link to let us know you are planning on coming. https://migranted907.campbrainregistration.com/

Remember: Students must have an adult with them at all times during this family event.

Please call the MEP office with any questions you may have 907-742-4275

When: Thursday Nov. 9th
Where: Wendler Middle School
Time: 6:00pm -7:30pm

Migrant Education is hosting a STEAM Family night for Middle School Students and their families. This will be a fun interactive evening for students in grades 6th-8th and their families. Families will explore, innovate, and create together, as they rotate through 20+ STEAM stations. Every MEP Middle School student will go home with 1-2 books and every family will go home with a STEAM Projects book to explore the world of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math at home.

This event is designed to enrich, enhance, and supplement middle school students & their parents/guardians understanding of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, & Math. The goal of the evening is to present activities that parents and students can recreate and explore further at home.

There will be a light dinner served until 6:30pm. Families will travel together to explore as many of the stations as they can. The evening is designed for families to learn and create together. All activities have been created with middle school students in mind.

SPACE IS LIMITED
Please use this link to let us know you are planning on coming. https://migranted907.campbrainregistration.com/
Remember: Students must have an adult with them at all times during this family event.

Please call the MEP office with any questions you may have 907-742-4275

Thank you.
The Migrant Ed Team

6th Grade Math

Blake Baker baker_blake@asdk12.org

Students will be starting Unit 2 and learning how to divide, calculate volume, and multiply with fractions and decimals.

Math 8

Sarah Miller miller_sarah@asdk12.org

Students is going to be starting Unit 3! Solving equations, graphing linear equations, and solving systems of equations. This is our long unit for the year.

Algebra is working on Unit 2: Algebraic Expressions and Inequalities.

Principal Orchitt attended the Women in Educational Leading and Learning conference. She brought young female leaders from Clark, exposing them to an environment focusing on women elevating and supporting other women. The girls not only attended the conference but participated in discussions about challenges facing young women today. What an amazing opportunity for each of these girls and personally rewarding opportunity for Principal Orchitt as she started her leadership journey as a former student of Clark. Principal Orchitt also had the opportunity to represent ASD during a panel discussion.

8th grade teacher, Mr. Kelkis, invited Bird TLC to Clark. His class was fortunate to have a peregrine falcon visit their class! Go Falcons!

Thank you to 6th grade teacher Ms. Pfisterer, for hosting the CH 2 News Weather Lab. Meteorologist, Melissa Frey presented in her advisory class today!

Students learned all about weather, participated in a weather Blooket game, and created a special news shout out for Clark!

The great work of 6th grade Team Tenacious was displayed with student Portfolio Exhibits. Families of the students were invited to school to see their work. There was a welcome, a guided tour, and gratitude remarks to close the event.

Families were very proud, and parents commented to teachers saying, "Thank you. This is great!"

November

Nov. 7th - Q2 Safety Committee Meeting

Nov. 9th - Veterans Day

Nov. 10th - Inservice Day (No School for Students)

Nov. 13th - Volleyball Meet

Nov. 15th - Volleyball Meet

Nov. 21st - Wrestling & Volleyball Pictures

Nov. 23rd-Nov. 24th - Thanksgiving Holiday (No School)

Nov. 27th - Volleyball Meet

Nov. 29th - Volleyball Meet

I encourage you to focus on the positives this month. Living with an attitude of gratitude is one of the best things we can do for our own mental health. I am thankful for how hard our students, staff, and families have worked to make learning successful for many of our students at Clark. We have found ways to stay connected and build an amazing school community. I am thankful to be your Clark Principal.