April Newsletter

The beginning of April marks the official start of spring! This time of year is always an exciting time at Sandersville. Students are completing their final units of study. We will administer the MAP test soon, and there will be many fun events at school.

Sandersville is filled with extremely talented students. Over the last 3 weeks, there have been three events where Sandersville has "shined" to our community. The Intermediate Academic Challenge Team was able to beat out nearly 20 elementary schools to win The Superintendent's Cup. The final round took place at the John D Price Building, and in front of a packed house, our team was able to pull out the win. When you visit our front office, you'll find a huge gold trophy on display. Last week, our Sharks on the Stage performed 101 Dalmatians. We have so many talented students that Ms. Brantley created two casts. In each performance, close to 100 students were able to participate in the production. Last month, a select group of 4th- and 5th-grade students participated in the district-wide honors course program. It is a unique experience where students from other Fayette County schools sing together after a full day of rehearsal. The show was fabulous.

After spring break, we will begin to wrap up our last units of study. We will also administer the MAP assessment over the next two weeks. The specific dates for each grade level are listed in the calendar below. I have included a section in the newsletter dedicated to this assessment. This information comes from the NWEA, the company that creates MAP.

We are also beginning to have many celebrations and end-of-the-year events for our students. I will continue to ensure that I communicate school-wide events through Dojo. Your classroom teacher will be able to provide grade-level and classroom-specific activities. Our goal is to make this an incredible end to the school year!

Superintendent's Cup Champions

101 Dalmatians

Honors Chorus

Behavior Bash (Thank you to our volunteers from Bryan Station High School)

MAP Growth is an interim, responsive, computer-based assessment for K–12 students.

• Interim: The test is taken up to three times a year, usually at the start of the school year, halfway through, and near the end. This lets teachers get clear snapshots of how students are doing often and early enough that they can adjust their lesson plans as needed.
• Responsive: Each question on MAP Growth is generated based on the question—and answer—that came right before it. If a student gets it right, the next one is harder. If they get it wrong, the next one’s easier. Students can’t ace the assessment, even if they’re answering questions well beyond their grade level correctly.
• Computer-based: This just means kids take MAP Growth on a computer.
• Assessment: An assessment is a test. MAP Growth is a test, plain and simple. While students don’t get a grade on it, they do get a score, which makes it possible to plot their growth over time, whether that’s a single school year or several years in a row.

Kids take MAP Growth in math and reading. Your child’s RIT score reflects how they did on the test. Your child’s RIT is the number that lets teachers know how much a student knows and how much they are growing academically over time.

MAP Growth is a unique testing experience for kids because they don’t pass or fail. In fact, for teachers to get that accurate measurement of what each kid knows, students will get about half the questions wrong.

How teachers use MAP Growth

There are many ways that teachers across the world use MAP Growth data, but the most popular way to put the data to use is by looking for trends and commonalities in a class of students and then adjust plans to help ensure extra instructional time is spent on the most important learning opportunity areas. For example, a teacher might look at MAP Growth reports and notice that their class has higher than average scores in algebraic thinking but lower than average scores in geometric thinking. This insight enables the teacher to adjust their plans over the next few weeks or even months to spend a little extra time each day on math exercises that build skills in geometric thinking. These kind of strategic shifts in how to allocate classroom instructional time can have a huge impact over the course of a school year, and they have a direct impact on improved learning outcomes for all students.

Get ready for testing

You’re an essential part of your child’s learning support system. To help them get the most out of MAP Growth, here are some things to try—and just one thing to avoid.

• DO read everything your school shares with you about MAP Growth. Your school is the best place to get answers about things like testing days and times, technology issues, and other logistics.
• DO talk to your child’s teacher about what to expect leading up to, on, and after testing day. In most cases, when teachers use data to inform or guide their teaching, they’re using a lot of data from a variety of sources, including from daily classwork and observations.
• DO help your child prepare. That’s “prepare,” not “study.” Students shouldn’t study for MAP Growth, but it’s always good to know what to expect. A little confidence building can help nervous test takers feel more at ease, too.
• DO check out our Family Toolkit. Videos, guides, and more will let you dig even deeper with MAP Growth. Our student and family checklist is particularly helpful.
• DON’T view your child’s RIT score as a grade. Your child’s MAP Growth RIT score isn’t a grade. It’s a single data point that helps their teacher know how much they know and how they are growing academically. It’s there to inform a teacher’s instructional decisions at the class level, not to label or pigeonhole your child.

Lastly, a moment of gratitude. Families have always been central to every student’s MAP Growth journey, so as you’re going through the process with your child—from setting meaningful goals and tracking their progress to celebrating their growth. The time, commitment, and love that you put into supporting learning is incredible.

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- Kindergarten Promotion- Friday, May 23rd, 1:00 PM

- Field Day- Tuesday, May 27th

- 5th Grade Promotion- Wednesday, May 28th 9:00 AM

A huge congratulations to Ms. Jessica Jackson on being named the 2024-2025 Special Education Teacher of the Year for Fayette County Public Schools. Ms. Jackson makes an incredible impact on so many of our students every day. We are lucky to have her as a Shark. Congrats Ms. Jackson!

Our PTA will hold its next meeting on Wednesday, April 23, 2024, at 6:00 pm in the library.

• We are seeking volunteers for our Teacher Appreciation Week. Teacher Appreciation Week takes place the week of 5/5/25.
• 5th grade parents, join us after the PTA meeting on 4/23 to continue to plan our sneaker ball.
• PTA will have a couple of board openings (Vice President and Treasurer). Anyone interested in getting involved PTA please attend out next meeting.

👟✨ Calling All Volunteers! 5th Grade Sneaker Ball ✨👟

We need your help to make this year’s 5th Grade Sneaker Ball a night to remember! 🎉 This exciting event is all about fun, dancing, and of course—rocking your best sneakers! Volunteers are needed for setup, decorations, chaperoning, and cleanup.

If you're available to help, sign up today and be part of an unforgettable celebration for our 5th graders!

📅 Date: May 17th 6-8pm
📍 Location: Sandersville Elementary School
📝 Sign up here: ptasandersville@gmail.com

Thank you for your support—we couldn’t do it without you! 💙👟

At Sandersville, many people reach out to pass along events that can give our families unique opportunities. Instead of sending home paper flyers, we will use this section to keep you informed.

Eastern Kentucky Summer Reading Program: EKU.pdf

BioBonanza - University of Kentucky (Date Change)

The University of Kentucky's Department of Biology is organizing an open-house science event, BioBonanza, that will take place on May 17th here on UK's campus, and your students are invited to attend!

Interest Form link: https://forms.gle/okXdSLYSLCxrNeg18

What is BioBonanza?

BioBonanza will be a one-day open house festival celebrating local biological research at the University of Kentucky. UK researchers will create hands-on displays, presentations, games, and other fun activities to educate and entertain event goers. Activities will be available on May 3rd from 10am-4pm in the Jacobs Science Building (JSB) on Huguelet Drive, and people are welcome to come and go as they please during the event. Though this event is still in development, we plan to have activities showing off UK’s research with lamprey, spiny mice, salamanders, zebra fish, sawflies and more! Past displays have included videos of researchers doing field and laboratory work, a collection pool full of local aquatic insects and crayfish for kids to catch, and an amazing skull and bone collection.

The 2024-2025 FCPS Instructional Calendar for Students & Families has been set. We will share any changes or updates as we move through the year.