Weekly Parent Update

Thank you for your attendance at Parent-Teacher conferences! We value your participation and feedback at West Lawn. It is vital that we hear your thoughts and suggestions about the education of your children. We have the mutual goal of creating the best conditions and opportunities to facilitate creating a future filled with opportunities for each student.

If you haven’t done so, please complete your student(s) registration for the upcoming 2024-25 school year. This ensures you have a spot at West Lawn, and we can secure the appropriate staff for our school community. You can register at gips.org/registration

• After School Clubs are back in session this week.
• Feb 19th 4th graders participate in NAEP assessment
• Week of Feb 19th -23rd Second Grade will complete the CoGat assessment (see below)
• March 1 NO School Teacher Plan and Prep Day
• March 4th -8th No School Spring Break

Grand Island Public Schools is excited to partner with the Cook Center for Human Connection and their website ParentGuidance.org. This is a mental health resource for parents and provides parents a trusted place to go for real answers, to find support and real help for their children.

GIPS Families are invited to attend a FREE online webinar on February 6th, 2024 at 6:30 p.m. The session will cover Grief: The Healing Power After Loss.

You may register on the GIPS website HERE.

If you have any questions, please reach out to our School Counselor, Sarah Grigsby sgrigsby@gips.org and Regina Juhl rjuhl@gips.org or our School Social Worker Anabel Gonzalez agonzalez2@gips.org

Dear Second Grade Parents/Guardians:

2nd grade students will take the CogAT 7 the week of February 19th through the 23rd. The CogAT is an assessment that indicates the level and pattern of cognitive development of a student in comparison to grade and age mates. These general reasoning abilities, which start developing at birth and continue through early adulthood, are influenced by experiences gained both in and out of school. The CogAT provides a snapshot of your child’s abilities in the areas of verbal, quantitative, and non-verbal functioning.

The CogAT is comprised of three subsections:

• Verbal: Measures a child’s ability to remember and transform sequences of English words, to understand them and to make inferences and judgments about them.

• Quantitative: Tests the child’s understanding of basic quantitative concepts and relationships that are essential for learning mathematics. Tasks measure both the understanding of relational concepts and the student’s ability to discover relationships and to figure out a rule or principle that explains them.

• Non-Verbal: Measures reasoning using pictures and geometric shapes, which reduces the impact of language on the student’s score. The nonverbal battery differs from the verbal and quantitative measures in that it does not require the student to use information gained from other experiences to solve problems.

The results of these tests will be used to drive instructional practices in the classroom. The scores will guide efforts to adapt teaching methods to meet the needs and abilities of students. You will receive a copy of your child’s results.

Please avoid scheduling any appointments that would require your student’s absence from school the week of Feb 19th -23rd. You can help your student do his/her best on the CogAT by encouraging him/her to approach the testing with a positive attitude and by making sure he/she has a good night’s sleep the night before testing and a good breakfast each morning of testing. We appreciate your ongoing support.

If you would like a better understanding of the CogAT 7 assessment, you can find information from the publisher at www.cogat.com.

Sincerely,

Dr. Maggie E Mintken

West Lawn Elementary Principal

Our 4th graders will participate in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) on Monday, Feb 19th. Here are some important pieces of information for you to know:

• The information collected is for statistical purposes only
• Your child will be assessed in both reading and mathematics.

• The assessment takes about 120 minutes for most students and this includes transition time, directions, and completion of survey questions.
• Students may be excused for any reason, are not required to complete the assessment, and may skip any question.
• While the assessment is voluntary, NAEP depends on student participation to help policymakers improve education. However, if you do not want your child to participate, please notify me in writing by Thursday, Feb 8th.
• The selection process for which schools participate is random. I am excited we were chosen and know that West Lawn's 4th graders will show what our nation's students know and can do.

Website for Parents: https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/parents/

Winter weather is here to stay for a while. Please send your child with appropriate clothing for outdoor recess. Please ensure your child has a warm coat, hat, gloves, and shoes appropriate for outdoor weather. The GIPS district has the following guidelines regarding outdoor recess:

• When the temperature or wind chill is between 20 and 29 degrees Fahrenheit, recess will be limited to 15 min. Special consideration will be given to the length of time outside for kindergarten students.

• Indoor Recess will happen when the temperature or wind chill is 20 degrees Fahrenheit or colder or when precipitation or playground conditions warrant staying inside.

• Students will be permitted to use playground equipment, fields, and asphalt play areas when conditions are suitable for safe play. Safety considerations include: equipment is dry and ice free, fields are dry, asphalt area is free of ice.

• Students need to stay out of snow and snow needs to stay on the ground.

We will stop serving breakfast at 7:55 am and the cafeteria will be cleared of students at 8:00 am. Family emergencies do come up: if your child is late and needs a quick breakfast please give us a call. Thank you for understanding the importance of our work and sharing your child(ren) with us each day.

We are conducting an Attendance Challenge in our classrooms. Each day a room has all students present they earn a letter. The first word we chose is PRIDE. We take PRIDE in showing up. Once the class completes the full word their class will earn a reward. It has been great to see them cheer wildly as they hit their daily goal.

School attendance is very important for your child's success --today, tomorrow and their future. We are here to assist you with your child's attendance. Please reach out if you have questions or are in need of support.

Ms. Anabel Gonzalez -School Social Worker agonzalez2@gips.org

Mrs. Sarah Grigsby -school counselor sgrigsby@gips.org

Ms. Regina Juhl -school counselor rjuhl@gips.org

Thank you for being safe as you drop off and pick up your children. An important thing to remember is to not stop in the drive through lane. I would encourage you to drive up as far west as possible to drop your children off. Do not stop in the drive-through lane...this causes the traffic to back up. We all want to get to work on time and it is okay if your child walks a few extra steps. Finally, at pick up time do not park in the drive-through lane. This makes it unsafe for our students to use the crosswalk and causes the traffic to back up.