Thursday, March 24, 2016

Circle Letter 3/24/16

March 24, 2016
Dear Families,
         Welcome to Spring!  Hope you enjoyed the spring snow with your family on Monday.  Great snowmen building weatherJ
         As you know by now Maine’s public schools are required by law to take a computer – based assessment developed by Measured Progress.  Mr. Foster’s letter, sent out earlier this week, explained the process in detail.  I want to explain how this affects our class. This week in computer lab we went on –line to see the format, practice logging on, and take a practice math test.  We will continue this practice into next week for the reading and writing sections.  For the next two weeks we will take a session test most days.  On Monday our class starts the day with a math session test – 8:45 – 9:45.  Each day of the week we test at different times of the day.  Our overall schedule will be two days of math sessions, followed by four days of reading sessions (of various lengths and time) and lastly 2 days of writing sessions. As Mr. Foster stated please make every effort to be in school these days to avoid having to extend testing with make up days. One of the small perks is that sugar free mint gum is allowed during testing time to help with concentration.  Please donate a package or two to support our test takers!!    Although the testing can be long and arduous at times, I will try to make it a positive experience for all.  Encouragement and praise from you will also helpJ

            Just some house keeping news: Our Spring Conferences begin next week. Please give some thought as to what you would like to focus and reflect on… we only have 20 minutes and it can go quickly!  Thanks!