Week of March 30th

I hope you all had a lovely Spring Break! The weather was so lovely and I enjoyed having all the doors and windows open to let the fresh air in. My family enjoyed a lazy break, just resting up and enjoying each other and the weather. I am excited to get back to my students! It's crazy to think that we just have two months left of school, this year is going too fast and I am not ready!

ISAT Testing:

We just have 3 weeks left before we start ISAT testing. In 4th grade we take the English Language Arts and Math ISATS. Each test has two parts, the Performance Task (PT) and the Computer Adaptive Test (CAT). Each part is fairly lengthy and involved so we break them up into two days to make it easier on our students. We will be taking our ELA ISATs on Tuesday, April 21st and Thursday April 23rd. We will take our Math ISATs on Tuesday, April 28th and Thursday, April 30th. The state made the testing window earlier this year so we are doing our best to cover everything before students test. 

My number 1 goal is to make testing as comfortable and stress free as I possibly can for your student. One way I have learned to do that over the year is to talk about testing leading up to give kiddos an insight into what it will look like and what will be asked of them based on the provided practice tests. It is so important your student is here every day so that they can get all of that information since it isn't anything I can assign them to work on at home. If they are absent, they just miss it. 

ISAT Party:

One of the things I offer my students every year is the opportunity to earn an invitation to our class ISAT party after testing is over. They can earn an invitation one of two ways. One is to meet their goal that I am making with them one-on-one and this is based on individual growth. The second way is to work really hard leading up to testing and doing their best on their test. As someone who deals with testing anxiety, I never want students to work really hard and then feel bad because they didn't do well on the test because they were anxious. The learning is what matters and the ISAT is just ONE way we see that growth. I have several different other measures of growth I look at to ensure my students are growing each year. :)

ELA:

This week in ELA we will continue working to improve our reading comprehension through reading non-fiction texts on ReadWorks and paper passages. We are also learning to write similes by creating our own sea monsters. :)

Math:

We are making great progress towards covering all new content before ISAT testing. There will be a few days that we double up on lessons to make sure we cover everything in time, but students will still only have one math assignment each day. 

Science Fair Project:

Our Science Fair Project information went home with your student before Spring Break. They will need to turn in two components to me. The first is their guiding question that will guide their project and investigation. That is due tomorrow, Tuesday, March 31st. If your student needs to revise their question, I will go over that with them and send it home with them to make sure you are ok with it as well since you will be helping them with the investigation. 

The second component is their presentation board. This will have all of the data they have compiled while working on their project and all of that is in the packet that was sent home. If you lost the packet, I included all documents in the assignments in Infinite Campus so you should be able to print them from there.

Family Movie Night:

Week of March 16th

This week is such a crazy busy week filled with so many wonderful things and next week is Spring Break. It's so hard to believe that we are winding down to the end of the year already. I've told my class over and over, the most unfair part of teaching is falling in love with an amazing group of kids and then having to hand them off at the end of each year. I have loved being a part of your kiddos' lives this year!

But we aren't done yet, and we still have some amazing learning to do and goals to reach! 

Quarter 3 House Winners: ISIBINDIIIIII!!

Our Isibindi students got to celebrate their Quarter 3 win today with an extra recess just for them! They got an all call from the office to head out at 8:00 this morning to celebrate their amazing work and behavior for Quarter 3!!

Who you with?! IS-I-BINDI!!!!!!

RAD 2.0 Tuesday, March 17th:

The performance of RAD 2.0 is on Tuesday, March 17, at 6:00p.m.! The kids have been working hard and are excited to share what they've learned with you. The  doors will open at 5:30, and all actors who wear a microphone should arrive by 5:45 to get ready. Students should wear long solid-colored pants (black, blue, or grey preferred) and either a RAD shirt (if you have one from a previous year or older sibling) or any red shirt. Mrs. Ellis will have RAD shirts for actors, singers, and dancers who don't have one to wear for the performance that must be returned after the performance on Tuesday night. We look forward to seeing you there!

Roaring Readers Due:

Roaring Readers are due on Tuesday, March 17th if your student is wanting to participate. Late entries aren't accepted, this date gives us time to get the reading logs turned in to Roaring Springs. If you need another reading log, let me know or you can just write everything down any blank piece of paper.

Wagons Ho:

We have Wagons Ho on Wednesday, March 18th. This is an all day outdoor event. Please make sure your student is dressed in layers as it will be cold in the morning but is supposed to warm up to around 70 degrees in the afternoon! 

Your student needs to bring some firewood if you are able and if your family has a brand your student is welcome to bring a picture of it! Thank you to Mrs. Bergquist for donating buttons to students who need them. If you do not have a large 2 or 4 hole button, we have got you covered! 

Your student also needs to bring a bottle of water with their name on it. We will still have access to the building, but we want to make sure everyone stays hydrated. :) If your student brings a lunch, it's best if it is easily thrown away, but not required. Students can still get hot lunch if needed as well. :)

IditaRead:

This is the first year I have done the IditaRead with my students and oh my goodness! These kids are blowing me out of the water with how much they are reading! I love it! Your student has until the end of the school day on Thursday to read as many minutes as they can. We will total up the minutes read at the end of the day and get our final total. Ms. Reeve's class took the lead today, so we need to really be reading, reading, reading! :)

Week of March 9th

The racers are off and running and making great progress towards Nome! I am so excited to see how much reading is happening! Our class is in the lead of 4th grade classes for "miles" read and we have a student only two checkpoints from Nome already! I am so excited to see their progress!

Quarter 3 Grades and Conferences:

Quarter 3 report cards should be up on Infinite Campus as of 8:00 this morning. You can print your student's report card from your Parent Portal. Conferences are this Thursday and Friday and are by appointment only. If you would like to meet with me, please send me an email and I will get you scheduled!

2026-2027 Commitment Letters:

Your student brought home their Commitment Letter yesterday. This lets the school know if you are planning for your student to attend Vision Charter next year so that we can plan for numbers with the upcoming lottery. If you haven't yet, please fill that out and return it with your student as soon as possible. 

ISAT Testing:

Testing season is just about here. After Spring Break, we will have about 3 weeks to finish preparing for these tests. These tests are a lot and in the past have been super stressful for my students. I have found ways to help prepare them over the years to make testing less stressful for them, and that is my number 1 goal. I want them to be able to approach these tests feeling calm and confident! You can help your student at home by helping them get their daily work completed each day, practicing assigned IXL skills, and ensuring they are getting enough sleep leading up to testing. :)

ISAT Goals:

One of the things that I am doing is meeting one-on-one with each student to go over their ISAT scores from 3rd grade as well as the practice ISATs we have done this year. We are focusing on individual growth rather than just a set level. I love meeting with my students to do this because they get so excited and empowered when they see their own growth, and that is the best part of my job! 

Galactic Ball:

Vision Charter is hosting it's first ever adult "prom"! I will include the flyer below with all of the details. The evening will include dinner, dance lessons, music, and fun! 

Week of March 2nd

March is going to be a crazy, busy but crazy, fun month! We have so many things happening this month so I want to be sure you all know about everything as well!

Read Across America Week:

This week is Read Across America Week and we have dress up days planned for each day of the week. Tomorrow is Crazy Socks, Wednesday is Read My Shirt, and Thursday is Pajama Day!

Retro Roller Skate Night:

End of Quarter 3:

I can hardly even believe this week is the end of Quarter 3! This Thursday, at the end of the school day is the last day for students to turn in missing work. Please have your student show you their grade book on Infinite Campus to make sure they do not have any missing work. I know there is a lot of illness going around so I am hoping students will be able to keep up on missing work while they are gone. 

IditaRead:

We will NOT have a March Reading Calendar this month! We are going to be participating in the IditaRead challenge that goes along with the Iditarod race. I will be sending home the information on that this Wednesday or Thursday. We will be spending this week learning about the Iditarod and what all it entails to prepare for our own race that starts the end of the day on Thursday! 

Parent/Teacher Conferences:

This set of conferences will be scheduled conferences only. I have reached out to you if I have any concerns about your student that I have not already been in communication with you about. If we have been regularly communicating over the year, I may not schedule a conference with you. However, if you would like to meet with me, please let me know and I will happily get a conference scheduled for you!

Roaring Reader:

If your student is participating in Roaring Reader, they need to turn in their reading logs to me no later than Tuesday, March 17th. I will need to get those turned in to Mrs. Martinez so that she can get them all submitted to Roaring Springs in time to get our passes before their deadline. 

RAD 2.0:

The 4th and 5th grade music program is on Tuesday, March 17th as well. Mrs. Ellis and these students have been working so hard and I am so excited to see their performance! It is always so impressive!

Wagons Ho!:

We will be having Wagons Ho on Wednesday, March 18th. This is an all day event and we will be outside for the whole day. Students are invited to dress in western or pioneer wear if they want to, but most importantly they need to dress warmly! Especially for the morning, it can be quite cold! Students are also asked to bring a large 2 or 4 hole button, some firewood, and a picture of your brand if your family has one.

If you would like to help out, please let me know and I can either get you on the list of volunteers or on the list of back ups if we end up with extras. :)

Spring Break and ISAT Testing:

Spring Break is the week of March 23rd-27th. That is only 3 weeks away! We are on track to cover all of our math content before Spring Break! I am so proud of my class and all of their hard work! This allows us the weeks after Spring Break to really focus on those things that are still tricky for my students to practice and be ready for ISAT testing. We are looking at the end of April for ISAT testing. It is so important for your student to be here every day leading up to that so that they don't miss any vital instruction before that. The ISATs can be stressful for the kids and I try to do everything I can to make it easier on them!