ESTABROOK BUZZ

Happy Easter and Happy Passover to our faculty and staff, families, and students!

Estabrook is "busy as a bee" with parent/teacher conferences, the start of MCAS, and the beginning of our classroom placement process. For your schedule:

• Wednesday, April 4 and Thursday, April 5 are half-school days (12:15 pm dismissal) for parent/teacher conferences
  
• the MCAS schedule is outlined below as a reminder
• Parents and guardians are invited to provide input into their child's classroom placement process for the 2018-2019 school year using the form e-mailed home with this newsletter. Written input is optional - due Friday, April 13.

We look forward to seeing you at Estabrook School this month!

Warmest wishes,

Principal Trach

WED. APR. 4, 12:15 PM | HALF-DAY DISMISSAL - PARENT/TEACHER CONFERENCES

THUR. APR. 5, 12:15 PM | HALF-DAY DISMISSAL - PARENT/TEACHER CONFERENCES

THUR. APR. 5 | METCO EXTENDED LEARNING PRORAM (MELP)

FRI. APR. 6, 8:45-9:30 AM | PRINCIPAL COFFEE in Estabrook's Literacy Center. Join Principal Trach; Val Viscosi, Director of K-12 Counseling; Matthew Willis, School Counselor; Krystal Velazquez, Social Worker; and Alicia Lindenmayer (Social Worker) for an update on the district's Youth Risk Behavior Survey results and implications for the elementary level. All are welcome. Coffee provided.

WED. APR. 11, 8:15-8:45 AM | SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL & JAM THE VAN. Walk, bus, carpool, or bike to school. We will collect school and art supplies for Casa Nueva Vida (family homeless shelter) including new notebooks, pencils, crayons, markers, and other school/art materials. A flyer will be sent home.

THUR. APR. 12 | METCO FAMILY FRIENDS

FRI. APR. 13 | PARENT/GUARDIAN CLASSROOM PLACEMENT INPUT LETTERS DUE TODAY - (OPTIONAL)

MON. APR. 16 - FRI. APR. 20 | APRIL VACATION / NO SCHOOL

WED. APR. 25, 3:30-4:15 PM | ESTABROOK SITE COUNCIL. Estabrook Conference Room.

THUR. APR. 26 | METCO EXTENDED LEARNING PRORAM (MELP)

THUR. APR. 26 | ESTABROOK FACULTY & STAFF and LEXINGTON POLICE (ONLY) HOLD ANNUAL SAFETY PRACTICE - AFTER SCHOOL. Estabrook School, playground and campus will be closed to visitors after school 12:45-3:30 pm. All Lextended students will be on a field trip off campus that afternoon.

SAT. APR. 28 | TALENT SHOW. Sponsored by the Estabrook PTO. A flyer will be sent home.

WED. MAY 2, 8:15-8:45 AM | SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL DAY. Walk, bus, carpool, or bike to school.

THUR. MAY 3 | MELP (METCO EXTENDED LEARNING PROGRAM)

FRI. MAY 4, 8:15-9:30 AM | PRINCIPAL COFFEE in Estabrook's Literacy Center. Join Principal Trach, and Annie Roche, Monica Tsubaki and Lauren Wehrli, ELL Teachers for an end-of-year ELL coffee to celebrate ELL student learning this year. All are welcome. Coffee provided.

WED. MAY 9, 3:30-4:15PM | SITE COUNCIL. Estabrook Conference Room.

THUR. MAY 10 | METCO FAMILY FRIENDS

THUR. MAY 17 | JAM THE VAN. Flyer will be sent home.

FRI. MAY 18 | READ ALOUD DAY

TUE. MAY 22, WED. MAY 23, FRI. MAY 25 | KINDERGARTEN SCREENING - only for new, incoming kindergarten students. If your child turns age 5 on or before August 31, 2018, parents/guardians should register their child through Lexington's Central Registration office.

THUR. MAY 24, 6:30-8:00 PM | MAKER NIGHT. Estabrook Cafeteria. Join us for a fun, schoolwide, hands-on evening of tinkering, designing and creating! Flyer will be sent home.

MON. MAY 28 | MEMORIAL DAY / NO SCHOOL, OFFICES CLOSED.

THUR. MAY 31, 7:00 PM | ESTABROOK GRADE 5 BAND, STRINGS, CHORAL CONCERT. Estabrook Auditorium.

Again this April and May, students across Massachusetts will take part in the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) testing. The assessment is one measure of how students, teachers and schools are performing throughout the state, and one of many tools teachers and administrators use to measure student growth and identify unmet needs. At the elementary level, students in grades 3, 4 and 5 participate in English language arts and math assessments. Students in grade 5 also complete a science assessment.

As in years past, students will answer multiple choice, short answer and open-response questions in both reading and math, as well as text-based essay questions in English language arts. Teachers will provide students with the opportunity to see what the test will look like and interact with the platform before testing day, to assure students’ familiarity and comfort. Students in grade 3 will complete the testing using a paper booklet, while grades 4 and 5 will take complete the test using a computer.

The 2018 testing schedule is as follows:

ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS
Monday, April 2: Grade 5 ELA Session 1
Tuesday, April 3: Grade 5 ELA Session 2
Monday, April 9: Grade 4 ELA Session 1
Tuesday, April 10: Grade 4 ELA Session 2
Tuesday, April 24: Grade 3 ELA Session 1
Wednesday, April 25: Grade 3 ELA Session 2

MATH
Monday, April 30: Grade 4 Math Session 1
Tuesday, May 1: Grade 4 Math Session 2
Wednesday, May 2: Grade 5 Math Session 1
Friday, May 4: Grade 5 Math Session 2
Monday, May 7: Grade 3 Math Session 1
Tuesday, May 8: Grade 3 Math Session 2

SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY/ENGINEERING
Wednesday, May 9: Grade 5 Science Session 1
Friday, May 11: Grade 5 Science Session 2

For those of you who haven’t had a 5th grader at Estabrook before, the t-shirts and yearbooks are a lovely tradition to commemorate their years at Estabrook and celebrate almost being finished!

Due to the successful bake sale fundraising organized by Pei Ling Man and Manisha Patel, and supported by so many families, we are able to offer a special combination price for a t-shirt and yearbook together. Students also have the option to personalize their t-shirts with their names or a nickname on the back (up to 12 letters) for an extra $5. The t-shirts in the combination price include the personalization.

Prices are as follows:

• Personalized t-shirt and yearbook combo: $40
  
• Yearbook alone: $35
  
• Personalized t-shirt alone: $15
  
• T-shirt without personalization: $10

The 5th graders will wear their shirts for various end of year events, so we hope everyone can purchase one. For financial assistance, please contact Mr. Willis, Estabrook guidance counselor, at mwillis@lexingtonma.org.

Please go to https://www.myschoolanywhere.com/cart-new.a5w?cart=EstabrookSchool9588 and choose which item to purchase.

If you have any questions, please contact Karen Griffiths (karen@griffithsweb.com).

The Estabrook Maker Space Carts need your help - and your recyclables! Please send in donations from home to keep our carts fully stocked and available for student use.

Please note: All materials should be clean and dry. Please do not send in glitter, glass, or liquids. If you have questions about the appropriateness of a donation,

please email Mark Taggart at mtaggart@lexingtonma.org prior to sending them in.

The following items would be helpful (though we're wide open to other safe materials not on this list):

large plastic storage bins with lids, batteries (all sizes - do not need to be new, but need to work), buttons, spools of thread, flower pots, cardboard tubes, clay/Play-doh, aluminum foil, craft sticks, gears, googly eyes, hand tools (hammer, screwdrivers, wrenches, pliers, sandpaper), K’nex, Legos, Magnatiles, magnets, marbles, ping-pong balls, golf balls, pulleys, pvc pipes, rubber bands, glue (all kinds), string, rope, yarn, masking tape, duct tape, wheels, glue guns, glue gun sticks, boxes (no larger than 1.5 feet in any dimension), building blocks, bubble wrap, CDs, foam trays, plastic bottle caps, rubber bands, springs, gears, fabric scraps, drinking straws, and

board game pieces.

Thank you!

Estabrook is taking part in the Crayola marker recycling program, which recycles all brands of markers, including dry erase markers. Our effort makes a big difference in keeping plastics out of landfills. We welcome families to join us. Please bring in any old, worn out markers and place them in the plastic bin in the front entry of the school. Thank you for helping Estabrook be "green!"

-Mrs. Linton, Kindergarten Teacher