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Dear Families & Friends of Fatima,
Hope you are enjoying your extended weekend. We have had snow on and off all day out here in Edgewood which is pretty to watch. It isn’t really accumulating that much because of the warm temps.
This month classroom teachers in grades 1-8 will be administering the second round of Star 360 Math and Reading tests. This is the second year we are using these assessments which are products of a company called Renaissance.
These nationally normed assessments replace the ITBS we had used for years. Their advantages are numerous: students take them online; they are considerably less time consuming–instead of 3 to 4 days, students can test in an hour. Star tests provide almost immediate feedback, and the feedback provides teachers with lots of useful information, including recommendations for remediation and/or enrichment. Individual and class data can be accessed with a few clicks. Monitoring data is essential in helping teachers to better meet student needs. We have been very happy with this program which was mandated through the Catholic Schools Office for all Archdiocesan schools.
During our February staff meeting we will receive additional training from a Renaissance instructor on how better to utilize our data.
In addition, teachers will administer a writing assessment by providing a prompt to which students respond. Depending on their grade, students will be required to write a few sentences, or a few paragraphs. They are assessed using a rubric that is adapted from a program called 6-Traits+1 which standardized criteria for writing instruction including idea, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency and conventions (which means correct spelling and punctuation). The +1 was added to emphasize presentation of the written piece–that is,how it looks.
Our staff has had professional development training in 6 Traits+1 for the past 3 years because students must know how to communicate effectively in writing across the curriculum, not just in language arts class. We had made the decision that this was one of our priorities.
I am attaching a flyer from Dennis Uniform. They are having a sale.
And finally, another reminder from Daniel Castillo, our 2nd grade teacher, and Yearbook coordinator:
Mr. Castillo is asking for submission of yearbook pictures of various events you attended throughout the year. He is in desperate NEED of OLF Girls Basketball (A and C Teams), Golf, Christmas, any fieldtrips (any grade), 8th grade service project and random pictures. If you can help him out, PLEASE save your pictures to a USB, place in a plastic baggie with your name, child’s name, and grade and place in Mr. Castillo’s Mailbox. He will return all USB’s to your son/daughter when he is done with them. Again, these must be submitted on USB to me to use.
If you have any questions, please see him or email him at dcastillo@fatimaschoolabq.com
Take care, and thank you for the privilege of working with your child.
Paula Domino DeHaas