Lots to update you on so put on your reading glasses
1. Picture Day will be next Thursday, October 1st. Forms will be in Thursday folders this week.
2. Progress Reports come out on Thursday of this week. There will be a half sheet of paper in your child's folder. Please look at grades on PowerSchool, discuss any concerns with your child, set two goals for the remainder of the quarter, sign and return to school.
3. 1st Quarter Conferences - 22/24 families are already signed up! Wahoo!! Here's the link if you still need to find a slot that works for you.
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080d4facaf22a46-first1
4. Thanks so much to Mr. Grochowski and the other third grade parent and student volunteers who worked on our Fire Safety Bulletin Board. They did a fabulous job! I'll upload some pics to my website tomorrow!
5. Website - I have been uploading some pics and copies of the newsletter and things to the website. If you missed something, check there! Its a very real possible that I have placed it in two locations!
http://mrswilliamsthirdgraders.weebly.com/
6. Chess Club sign ups are going on right now! Meetings begin next Monday after school!
7. Assessments - BOY have we been busy with testing! If you were at Curriculum Night you heard me say that third grade is the MOST tested grade level in CMS. WE have finished the Beginning of Grade (BOG) Reading assessment, MAP testing for both reading and math, and we are currently assessing for Dibels and individual reading levels. This last one is a one on one assessment and takes a great deal of time. I will definitely have copies of all of these results available for you at conferences.
8. We do have a Science test on Thursday about Matter! This particular test will be open note and possibly open book. The students and I spent our Science time today filling out the study guide, and working on definitions. They all brought home their Science textbook and journals so that they could read over the materials.
9. PARENT SURVEY
CMS is in the midst of the AdvancED accreditation process. A key component to that process is stakeholder surveys, which will be administered to parents, staff and three student groups (K-2, 3-5, and 6-12) September 14th through October 2nd. The questions were developed by AdvancED, an outside organization that works with schools and school systems to help them improve. They are designed to help us learn more about what you as a parent may be looking for in a high quality school. Your responses, once received, will enable our school and central office leaders to hear from key stakeholders to inform improvement strategies, raise student achievement and strengthen our overall effectiveness. All individual survey responses are confidential. Only group-level results will be reported once the survey closes on October 2. The survey will take about 10 minutes to complete.
Thank you in advance for your participation in this important survey. Please complete the survey by 10/2/15.
ONLINE SURVEY LINK
Listed below is the link you will need to use to complete the parent survey:
Parents: http://www.advanc-ed.org/survey/public/6245670
10. Field Trip Fees
Due to Kerry Smith leaving the office staff and a period of transition while the new secretary is hired and trained, we are unable to receipt money or write checks from any school accounts. This is a problem (sort of) because we are attending a field trip on October 19th called Bodyology - It is actually a two part trip (one program from 10-11, eat lunch and then attend a second program on nutrition from 12-1 before returning back to school). I wanted to give you a head's up. The cost will be $13 which covers the tickets for both programs and our bus transportation. We will probably be able to request the money starting 10/2-10/9. So be looking for that to come home!
11. Some students received information about Mathapalooza. If you received the pink packet and are interested, please signup online ASAP. There are only 20 slots per school. The formal event will be on Febrary 20th at Walter G. Byers Elementary School. We will have some afterschool meetings/practices for the competition. More information will come home on the practice schedule once we have our registered team members established.
I think that is all for now. I'll be here all day tomorrow doing a million and one things - if you're bored and you want to come up and wipe down desks or straighten bookshelves or help organize a few things - let me know!!!