| March 2010 Dear Robey Families, The assessment season is upon us! We will be administering our district assessments for reading and math on March 8-12. Our state standardized tests, the CAT 10 in grade 2 and AIMS in grades 3-5 will be administered April 12-16. Students in Grades K-3 will be assessed for the third time this year on our district primary reading assessment, the DIBELS, March 29-April 9. The purpose of these assessments is to determine what our students have learned and to inform our planning and instruction. Our daily and weekly assessments such as the EXCEL math tests, Fundations, DIBELS progress monitoring, and original pieces crafted in writer’s workshop provide immediate data to teachers allowing them to plan for enrichment and remediation as indicated based upon student progress. During the year our students have had opportunities to work with life-long test taking skills including endurance and test strategies. As parents you may have questions about how best to support your child in the testing. Here are a few great ways to be involved!:  Ensure that your child has a good breakfast either at home or here at school.
Ensure that your child gets enough rest. Sleep experts recommend that children ages 5 to 12 sleep for 10 to 11 hours a night! They have also found a link between a lack of adequate sleep and obesity. Talk to your child about what he/she is learning every day. Trust us - the answer is never “Nothing”! Provide a snack and a quiet place for your child to study at home. Look at their homework and ask them how to solve the problems. If they can explain it to you then they really do understand the concepts. Talk to us! Let us know your questions, concerns, and ideas. We are a team and we need you!  We hosted our 5th Annual Olympic Field Day on Friday, March 12 and it was fantastic. A BIG thank you to all the families who were so generous in donating snacks, water and their time. It was such a fun day full of lessons and memories from outside of the classroom. Our sincere gratitude goes out to the service persons from Luke Air Force Base for leading some of our games with the ever so awesome Leadership in Excercise Kids. In the words of one first grader..."I wish every day could be field day!"
 |  |  |  | | Ms. Gonzales representing Egypt. | Field Day Rocks! | Mrs. Robey is our version of a greek god. | Kids on the court playing Sha Ball. |  Our Spring Break is March 15-19 with school resuming on March 22. I hope that you all have a wonderful time during the break and know that everyone will be rested and renewed as we move into testing and the end of the school year!
March 29 is an Early Release with students coming home at 12:30. This day was added to our calendar in order to provide professional development time for our hard-working teachers and staff. We thank you for this gift of time and truly appreciate your efforts with your children at home! Thanks for your continued support and cooperation as we work through this last round of assessments and I hope to see you all here at one of the many spring activities we have planned! As always, my door is open and I would love to hear your ideas, questions, and comments on how we continue to support our learning community. Best regards! Melissa Wisner, Principal | 
