Today the MAP reports for grades 3-5 will be coming home with your children. Please remember that students in grades K-2 did not take MAP this year, and instead took the FastBridge assessment. You should have received a district communication yesterday stating that no reports will be coming home for FastBridge. As a district, we are still investigating alternative assessments for grades K-2 that will provide us with rich data that can help teachers instruct your children. If you have any questions about the MAP reports, you may always contact your child's teacher.
For the last three years our fifth graders have taken the IL Science Assessment (pretty much right after PARCC in the spring). I wanted to share the 2018 IL Science Assessment data with all of you…80.6% of our 5th graders tested met or exceeded on the assessment! 52.6 is the state average! This is wonderful news, and teachers at all grade levels contribute to our students' success! Just for your reference, in 2017 our %age was 71.1 and in 2016 it was 62.5. So I hope you will please join me in celebrating this accomplishment.
Families, please take note of the changing weather. If the temperature seems to be cooler, please send a sweatshirt or light jacket with your children. If your children attend early SPARK, they will sometimes play outside. Please make sure you are sending them with something warm to wear also.
Please do not forget to stop by the Book Fair and PTC Pancake Breakfast tomorrow, on Saturday the 29th. We hope you can join us for a fun time.
Please read the following updates and information:
Chronic Absenteeism:
At the end of last school year, I included an attachment in a May 31 email to you with information about D62 BOE policy changes for the 2018-2019 school year. One of those changes was regarding chronic absenteeism. Last night at Curriculum Night, I discussed this in more detail.
Essentially, students who are absent 10% or more of school days during the current academic year, including absences with and without valid cause as well as out of school suspensions, will be considered “chronic absentees”. District 62 will collect and review its absence data regularly and determine what systems of support and resources are needed to engage chronically absent students and their families to encourage daily attendance and promote success.
As an example: District 62 has a total of 174 student attendance days in a school year. If a student is absent for 17.4 days (10% of 174 days) during the 2018-2019 school year, they would be considered “chronically absent”. Again, this is for excused and unexcused absences and would include a student who is sick, on vacation, out of the country, has a doctor or dentist appointment, misses school due to a death in the family, parent has car troubles and cannot get to school, etc.
This will impact all schools in the state of Illinois, and it is important for you to know that all schools are all in the same situation. A new federal program called the Every Student Succeeds Act or ESSA (and formerly known as No Child Left Behind) is calling for schools and school districts to pay closer attention to student attendance data as one of many indicators that create and impact designations of a school’s success.
In summary, all D62 schools are encouraging and expecting families to do all that they can to see that our students attend school every day that they are well enough to attend. If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know.
School Volunteer Info:
Attention Volunteers! Please fill out the online volunteer application if you do not currently have one on file. In order to volunteer at school during the day or at any school function (field trips, popcorn day, etc), you must have an application on file. If you are not sure if you have completed one, please email Mrs. Lopatka at [email protected], and she can check for you. You may also apply online at the following website by clicking here.
Please read the following reminders:
Arrival Parking Lot Safety: Families should drive through the front circle to drop off students. The parking lot IS NOT a place to drop off students. If you feel you need to park and walk your child to his or her line, please park on Westgate to do so. The safety and well-being of our students is our number one priority above all else.
Dismissal Parking Lot Safety: Please remember that the safety and well-being of our students and staff are our #1 priority. After school you are welcome park your car in a designated spot in our lot and walk to the front to pick up your child. Or, you may drive through the front circle and pick up your child in the pickup line. DO NOT double park your car in the lot and ask your child to run over to your car. I have personally seen students do this and nearly get hit by a car in the lot. Please listen to and work with our traffic supervisors. We need you working together with us to ensure students and staff are safe. Thank you so much.
WeatherBug:
Please download the WeatherBug app and set Terrace as your home page. Here are the directions to download:
- Open the app, and tap the WeatherBug icon in the upper left corner to expose the main app menu.
- Select “Sign in”
- At the bottom of the login screen, tap “Sign up” and either login using your Facebook account or by creating a WeatherBug account.
- Then go back into the main app menu and select “Communities”
- Tap “Terrace Elementary School” – the plus sign should turn into a check mark – hit “Close”
- You should see the Terrace Elementary School Community card.
Internet Safety:
Families, as your children are getting older and are having more exposure online, a host of questions can arise about Internet safety. If you would like to learn more about what your children may be doing or what you can do as a parent/caregiver to protect them, please click here to read more.
Additional Notes:
- If you are on Facebook and would like to see what is going on at Terrace, be sure to check out the Terrace Facebook page. Pictures are regularly posted to better give you an insight into all the great things that go on at school each and every day. Remember to click the "like" button so our updates appear regularly on your feed. Or, under the school address near the top left of this page, you can click Facebook, and it will direct you straight to the page.
- It is important for us to have a current email address and phone number for you at all times. If you want to ensure that you receive emails and notifications from Terrace and D62, please make sure our office has your most current email and phone numbers on file. If you send us your contact information, I ask that you please write very neatly so we can make sure we are entering the correct information in our student information system.
Have a great weekend!