| Attendance Line Number - 490-3062 | February 6, 2004 |
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| Attendance Line Number - 490-3062 | February 6, 2004 |
According to a recent parent survey, communicating with parents was identified as one of the most highly valued attributes of our school. More parents are interested in using email for this communication. To find your child's teacher, a listing is posted in our school directory and on our website (http://schoolweb.psdschools.org/she). Or you can contact the office and we can give those email addresses to you. We can accomplish more for your child when we are in good communication with parents.
Last week we completed our second set of conferences with nearly every parent. We have only a few more parents to reschedule. On behalf of the staff, I thank you for taking your valuable time to meet with us to share ideas and expectations for your child as well as celebrate the growth each child has made this year. Working together with you will indeed ensure the best possible learning experience for your child. YOU, the parents, are one the best reasons why the students at Shepardson perform so well! Thanks for being a supportive and active part of your child's team!
Next week is a short week for students so that all PSD staff can expand our teaching skills. We will be attending the session on "Closing the Achievement Gap," presented by national speaker Pat Davenport. On Friday, we will be using those ideas to find ways to enhance our program. We are looking forward to working together as a team to address the unique needs of our students.
We know that using research-based strategies is the most effective way to use the limited instructional time we have with your children. This week, for example, a team of teachers shared some specific teaching models learned at a recent conference. Working most effectively with our resource staff is a critical component of our inclusion program. We thank June Holmstrom, Amy May Teague, Sarah Harkins, Kristy Thiemann, and Jan Hoffman for sharing with our team. They challenged us to try at least one new model this year. Having a team who values continuous professional growth is another important reason that our students perform so well. We are so fortunate at Shepardson for so many reasons...excellent students, staff and parents!
| - | Mary Kay Sommers |
| email: msommers@psd.k12.co.us |
| CALENDAR | February 06, 2004 |
| FEBRUARY 2004 | FEBRUARY 2004 | ||||
| Tue | Feb. 10 | Family R & R Night 6:30 - 7:30 pm | Thu | Feb. 19 | SIT 4:00 - 6:00 pm |
| Thu-Fri | Feb. 12- 13 | District Inservice Days (NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS) | Fri | Feb. 20 | Wacky Hair Day |
| Mon | Feb. 16 | NO SCHOOL - Presidents' Day | Fri | Feb. 20 | 6th grade visits JH today |
| Wed-Thu | Feb. 18-19 | 3rd grade CSAP testing days | Tue | Feb. 24 | 5th grade music program 6:30 pm |
| Wed | Feb. 18 | Reach Week Sponsor Letters due back today | |||
This week we registered children for next year's kindergarten class. If you forgot or know of a neighbor who may not have known, please come register right away. Call the office for more information.
The first short round of testing begins in February only for third graders and only in reading. Teachers will be formally testing on Feb. 18-19. Make ups will be accomplished if possible. There is a tight timeline for this testing that offers no options.
Grade 3 --- Reading
The rest of the state testing will occur during March 8th - April 2nd. Specific dates for grades have not yet been set. Teachers will communicate with you when more information is available.
Grade 3 --- Writing
Grade 4 --- Reading and Writing
Grade 5 --- Reading, Writing, Math
Grade 6 --- Reading, Writing, Math
We so appreciate parents having their children here on time and avoiding scheduling appointments or extended vacations during this time. We will provide parents with suggestions to help your child be physically and emotionally ready to perform his/her personal best. Our counselor Rea Kreider has also provided ideas in this newsletter to reduce test anxiety. We thank you for your support so they can simply do their best.
We are so thankful at Shepardson that nearly all of our parents recognize the value of education and support us in so many ways. Having students attend every day they are healthy and arrive on time are also important values, not only for school but also for creating life habits that are valued in any workplace. We do ask that your child not arrive before 8:20 am when we provide supervision on the playground. We often need both the before and after school hours to accomplish team tasks.
At Shepardson, we strive for 97% attendance, which will happen if a child misses no more than 6 days during the school year. District policy applies when a child has missed from 5-7 days, and that time we would be sending home a letter explaining the policy. When 10-12 absences occur, a second letter is to be sent home and a district attendance officer may be assisting us in helping attendance improve. More specific information about this policy is written in the Shepardson Handbook; please contact the office if you would like another copy. We are in the process of sending home letters to some families as required by District policy.
We recognize that extended absences will occur in some years for some children. Chronic attendance and tardies, however, do require that we work more closely with families. Sometimes an attendance plan is needed or we need to provide the families more ideas and support to increase a child's attendance rate.
We hope these efforts, when needed, are seen for their intention---to help children learn and reach their personal best. We want to work with families to help your child benefit from the instructional and highly engaging and interactive models we use for learning. Doing pencil/paper tasks and reading is only a part of the instructional program. Encouraging children to think, problem solve, use their verbal skills, and work with groups to accomplish tasks are also important parts of a learning experience. We know that when students are actively engaged, learning is more effectively accomplished and retained. Having students here at school to experience the learning process is critical to the development of many skills.
We thank parents who work hard to avoid vacations and appointments during the school day. We thank you for ensuring that your children are here for the entire learning experience. Working together we can reach the stars!
We are very excited to bring back "R.E.A.C.H. Week" this year! This was a great campaign for Shepardson last year, which helped us reinforce the value of reading with our students, while offering a positive approach to fundraising. Last year, with only 36% of our students participating, we raised $12,000! We received contributions from 810 sponsors from all over the country and some from Europe as well. This year's reading will take place from Saturday February 28th until the next Friday, March 5th. Please look for the attached flyer!
Some Dates to Remember:
February 11th, Wednesday: The program will be presented to our children at school and a sponsor letter packet will be sent home with them to complete. No school Thursday or Friday.February 18th, Wednesday: the sponsor letter packet is due back to the school with the prize choice slip included.
February 28th, Saturday- March 5th, Friday: REACH WEEK reading takes place. We can help encourage our children to read at home and at school. Our goal is 300 minutes over a 7day period.
March 5th, Friday: Home reading cards are due back to your child's teacher.
We encourage you to participate if possible. It's a great program that promotes a great thing -- reading! If you have any questions, feel free to call Maria Smailes@ 223-3756 or JoAnn Caddoo at 226-3103. Thanks for your support!
The Poudre School District - District Advisory Board (DAB) will host a legislative forum Saturday, February 7th at 3:00 p.m. in the PSD Boardroom at the Johannson Support Services Center, 2407 LaPorte Avenue. State Representatives Peggy Reeves, Angie Paccione, and Steve Johnson have confirmed their attendance, and possibly more will be attending. Talking points will be current educational legislation and the state budget as it relates to education.
Parents, community members, PSD staff and anyone interested in education in Northern Colorado are invited. For any additional information please call Bob Long, DAB Legislative Team Chair at (970) 227-1633 or send email to rlong@pro-value.net.
By Rea Kreider, Shepardson School Counselor
This year's CSAPs are right around the corner. Students in 3rd grade will be given Reading assessments on February 18th and 19th. A second testing window will take place from March 8th through April 2nd. During this time period 3rd graders will be assessed in Writing, 4th graders will be tested in both Reading and Writing, while 5th and 6th grade students will be assessed in Reading, Writing, and Math. Over the last few years we have all heard more and more talk about higher standards for students and increased teacher accountability. Now, with the passage of "No Child Left Behind", CSAP tests have become the instrument used to measure students' annual yearly progress and to establish a resulting "grade" published in a School Accountability Report (SAR) each year. You most likely know by now that Shepardson has been awarded an "excellent" rating on this year's SAR. If you are interested in your own copy of the school's annual report, we have them available here at school and you can also find the report on the school's website.
As we approach CSAP testing during this next few weeks, I wanted to share a few thoughts and suggestions from a book I recently read entitled Test Anxiety and What You Can Do About It by Dr. Joseph Casbarro. In his introduction he states:
"It is a simple fact. There's just too much anxiety in our lives. Each day it seems that we are finding newer and more creative ways to worry. Some say it's due to the information age, where television and the Internet bring instant news about every real or potential danger in the world into our homes every day. Regardless of the causes, there's certainly no shortage of things to worry about. What I have found most troubling, and a primary reason that I chose to write this book, is that adults' anxieties and worries are being increasingly transmitted to children."
Dr. Casbarro proceeds to site as example foods that cause cancer, mad cow disease, medicines found to have long-term side effects, car airbags that are potentially harmful to small children if deployed, orange alert levels and the ongoing threat of terrorism in the aftermath of September 11th, increased level of worry about our financial security and the list goes on. And then he asks:
"Why then have we as a society purposely added more anxiety to the childhood experience? And why is a major source of that anxiety coming from our schools? With the move toward higher standards came a very negative and unintended outcome-anxiety. With higher and more rigorous standards came greater accountability. With greater accountability came more tests. With more tests came more anxiety. We raised the bar, developed high stakes testing, and created one of the most stress-filled learning environments in history- all in the name of higher standards. We want to raise achievement, but in the process we raised anxiety which actually produces the opposite effect."
In a later chapter entitled "Parents, and Teachers and Kids...Oh My!" Dr. Casbarro points out the "trickle down effect" that higher standards and teacher accountability has had on students. State education departments know that one very effective way to control what is taught in schools is to control what gets tested. In Colorado, as in many other states, the CSAP tests are closely aligned with curriculum standards, and classroom teachers are being held more accountable for their students achieving those standards. As standards are raised, higher demands get placed upon classroom teachers to have their students achieve annual yearly progress. The logical result is teachers demanding higher performance from their students. Instructional goals and teaching practices are adjusted accordingly. Parents want their children to be smart and successful in school, and if higher test scores are being emphasized, then how their children perform on these tests becomes more important. Perhaps, as Dr. Casbarro suggests, this is why private test prep and learning centers have thrived in the last 5-10 years. The important point is that messages communicated to students, either directly or indirectly, from teachers, from parents and even from peers can greatly influence the level of a child's anxiety and resulting test performance. The following strategies are among those strongly suggested by Dr. Casbarro to help reduce students' anxiety.
What Schools Can Do:
What Parents and Schools Can Do:
Dr. Casbarro goes into much more detail in later chapters as he discusses pre-testing strategies and in-progress strategies for schools, parents and students themselves. In an appendix he actually covers how nutrition plays an important role in childhood anxiety. In conclusion he challenges us.
"As we attempt to help our students in an era of increasing accountability, we must effectively address the impact of high stakes testing. No longer can the preparation for these tests be limited to drilling for content and taking practice tests. We must remember and incorporate a wider range of strategies and techniques to ensure that the negative effects of test anxiety do not contribute to lower performance."
Test Anxiety and What You Can Do About It is available to any Shepardson parent or caregiver and can be found in the resource library in the counselor's office.
Hello. My name is Perry Boyden and I will be a Practicum Student at Shepardson this spring. I am currently enrolled at Colorado State University for my Master's Degree in School Counseling. During this semester I will be working on developing my individual, small group and classroom counseling skills while working closely with Rea Kreider. If it looks like I will be working with your child specifically, I will be sure to inform you ahead of time and seek your permission. I look forward to working with all of the students and getting to know the Shepardson community in the process.
Perry Boyden
Just a reminder that Family R & R Night will be held Tuesday, February 10 from 6:30 - 7:30 in the Media Center.
The Shepardson Parent Teacher Organization's primary purpose is to support the learning experience of children at school. We support the school through service projects and fund raising activities.
Our fund-raising efforts help to provide programs and materials to enhance our children's education. So far this year we have accomplished the following:
In addition to the above, this year we presented all teachers at Shepardson with $100.00 cash to use for their classrooms. It is amazing the amount of money educators spend out of their own income to buy supplies. The surprise and gratitude from the teachers was a reward in itself. Each of them has written us a thank you and what the money was used for. Below are some excerpts from the outpouring of thank you cards.
"Thank you so much for the $100. I used it to help buy materials for Writing Workshop. The support PTO provides our school community is amazing and powerful."
"I want to thank you for the generous gift of money. WOW. I consider myself truly lucky to be able to teach the children of Shepardson and I sincerely thank you for all you do for your children and their teachers."
"It is difficult to put in words my feelings upon opening your note with money enclosed from PTO. Your support that you give to the whole Shepardson community is making a positive impact on our children."
The money we raise also helps to provide the following events:
As we begin our second and final fund-raiser please keep in mind that we could not even begin to provide the support that we do without our Innisbrook and REACH Week fund-raisers. Fund raising cannot be eliminated, but you can decide how as a Shepardson family you may choose to participate. Many families decide to donate only cash. That too, is a wonderful way to support our fund raising efforts. You may deliver it to the office in an envelope marked PTO. Participating in a fund-raiser is always optional at Shepardson.
Thank you always for your support. To learn more, please feel free to contact any member of the Shepardson PTO or attend a monthly PTO meeting.
| JoAnn Caddoo | Jennifer Burkhart | |
| PTO President | PTO vice-president |
Next meeting is Tuesday, March 2
7:00 p.m. in the Shepardson library
All parents are welcome and encouraged to attend!
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College Funding Night
Don't forget to mark your calendars for College Funding Night, Thursday, March 11 at 7:00 p.m. in the Shepardson library. Learn how we can effectively invest in our children's college education. Detailed information and childcare reservation forms will be sent home with the February 20th newsletter.
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VIPS Volunteer Hours
A new system has been created for signing in your volunteer hours. These hours are important to track. Now, as you sign into the office, on the same sign in sheet to the right will be a column for volunteer hours. As you sign out to leave, simply write the amount of time you were volunteering that day in the volunteer column. You are no longer required to write hours in the VIPS notebook. Home volunteer hours can be included in this column or you may call Kathy O'Donnell at 206-1818 with the hours.
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PTO Involvement
We have many PTO positions available for next year. A volunteer form will be sent home in March listing the many opportunities. There will also be a sign up sheet at the front office just as you walk into the school. We hope to see new faces along with familiar faces involved with PTO!
Questions? Contact the nomination committee; JoAnn Caddoo @226-3103, Jennifer Burkhart @ 225-1873 or Maria Smailes at 223-3756.
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If you have questions or comments regarding PTO, please contact JoAnn Caddoo, PTO President at 226-3103 or Jennifer Burkhart, PTO Vice President at 225-1873.
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