TO-KNOW

1. Our 3rd grade students will be taking the Fall ELA AIR test this Tuesday and Wednesday. Most students will be testing between 8:45am – 10:45am in the morning (with some potentially using extended time).  Students will be testing in 3rd grade classrooms, the library, and Shellie and Tina’s rooms in the library. Shellie, Tina, and Ellen will be used to test small groups. Vartek has informed me that we do not need to change our Internet usage patterns during this time. Thank you to everyone for your flexibility and especially to our 3rd grade teachers for preparing our students to shine!
2. Our Voice Your Choice meeting regarding language immersion is this Monday, 11/14 at 6:30pm. More information about the staff video option should be coming soon. It is completely up to you whether you attend the meeting or use the video option. One way or another, though, I strongly encourage you to voice your choice!
3. Right at School is restarting their before school child care program. If you know of families who would benefit from having child care between 7-8am, please feel free to let them know!

TO-DO

1. The honeymoon is over in the cafeteria! We have seen an increase in some negative behaviors and could use your help in a couple of areas:
   1. Everything runs much more smoothly when classes arrive and are picked up on time. Being even a minute or two off makes a big difference. Please make it a priority to follow the schedule.
   2. Next week (and again when we return from Thanksgiving Break), please reinforce expected behaviors with students. Some highlights to note:
      1. While students are allowed to talk, we need their help keeping noise level to a minimum. Students should only be talking to students sitting directly next to or across from them. They should not be talking to students at other tables.
      2. Students should pack up their garbage when given the time warning by the adult on duty so that they are ready to get up and go when it is time.
      3. Students should sit in the order in which they arrive at the cafeteria. In some grade levels, students have started to choose seats as they arrive in the lunchroom. This has added an extra challenge to creating an orderly environment. Please inform students that they need to sit in the order in which they arrive. To help reinforce and reteach this, please be sure to walk students to their table and watch them sit down next week.

TO-READ

A knowledge-rich curriculum is the best prep for Common Core reading tests

In this article, researcher Ruth Wattenberg reports on her analysis of publicly released test items in the reading tests developed by PARCC and Smarter Balanced for grades 3, 5, and 8. Her goal was to see if they reflected the Common Core standards’ emphasis on building broad content knowledge instead of simply focusing on skills. Her analysis of the passages found that they contain “content-rich and contain challenging vocabulary,” and reward students who have engaged in a varied and rich curriculum in addition to skill development. While we no longer use the PARCC test, I think there are likely parallels to be drawn to the AIR assessment.