The Scoop

Dear Chugach Families,

Time flies when you are having fun! I can’t believe that we are already into March and spring break is just a week away. I hope that families will be able to enjoy this time off by taking a break from your daily routines and either going on a fantastic adventure inside or outside of Alaska or just enjoying some of the local things we can do here in Anchorage.

The last week of March and the first part of April we will be doing our spring benchmark testing (mClass and AK STAR/MAP). I would encourage all families to have their students here at Chugach participate in the testing as not only gives our teachers an indicator of the strengths and needs of the students in their Family Groups, but also shows the school district and state how well our students are being instructed. Chugach traditionally does very well on testing, and that is important during this time of the Alaska Reads Act legislation.

As always, feel free to stop by and say hello when you’re here at the school.

Joel

Friday, March 1 - Parent Coordinator Meeting (8:30am-9:30am); EARLY RELEASE DAY (Dismissal @ 11:15am); CHUGACH ART NIGHT! 6:00pm-7:30pm)

Monday, March 4 - CEC Board Meeting (8:30am-9:30am in conference room)

Tuesday, March 5 - Middles Temples & Tombs (10:45am-11:30am)

Wednesday, March 6 - South Area Band Festival (South High School Gym, band students arrive @ 6:15pm, concert starts @ 7:30pm)

Thursday, March 7 - KINDY BREAD DAY!!

Friday, March 8 - In-service Day - NO SCHOOL!!!

March 11 - March 15 - ***SPRING BREAK - NO SCHOOL***

Monday, March 18 - Badminton Practice (11:30pm-12:30pm)

Tuesday, March 19 - Badminton Practice (11:30pm-12:30pm)

Wednesday, March 20 - Badminton Practice (11:30pm-12:30pm), Community Assembly Meeting (6:00pm-7:00pm in Library)

Thursday, March 21 - ONLINE LOTTERY CLOSES, Badminton Practice (11:30pm-12:30pm)

Friday, March 22 - Badminton Practice (11:30pm-12:30pm), Uppers Decade Presentations (1:00pm-2:50pm)

Monday, March 25 - Badminton Practice (11:30pm-12:30pm)

Tuesday, March 26 - Badminton Practice (11:30pm-12:30pm), SCIENCE SHARE NIGHT (5:30pm-7:00pm)

Wednesday, March 27 - Badminton Practice (11:30pm-12:30pm), Badminton Jamboree (4:00p,-5:30pm @ AK Native Charter School)

Friday, March 29 - EARLY RELEASE DAY (Dismissal @ 11:15am); LOTTERY NOTIFICATIONS TO PARENTS

The Chugach Optional Staff is happy to introduce Phellisha Bell as our new secretary! Phellisha started on Feb 28th and comes to us with great receptionist/secretarial experience. Please help us welcome Phellisha!

The ASD Online Lottery is now open until March 21, 2024. Please go to https://lotapp.asdk12.org/apply/ to submit your application. If you are already a Chugach Family with an incoming kindergarten student, you MUST still submit an application for your incoming kindergartner to attend Chugach Optional. Please be sure to complete the "Sibling" section of the application so that the sibling preference will be taken into account. Parent will be contacted with the results of the lottery on March 29th at starting at 5pm.

Natalie Koteff was our "Principal for the Day" On Wednesday, February 28th. While serving as principal, Natalie approved a request for monthly Comfy/Cozy Days and a class pet fish for Mikelle's family group. Unfortunately, various requests for bouncy houses, family group trips to Egypt, and a school cat had to be denied at this time.

Friends - please help our community to ensure a safe and efficient parking lot for arrival and dismissal.

We know parking is limited but please refrain from parking in any of the "RESERVED" parking spots, the fire lane or the loading dock area. Last month we had to call emergency vehicles to our school and they were not able to pull up to the curb/fire lane due to cars parked in the fire lane. We would appreciate your help keeping these areas clear for emergency vehicles at all times.

Also, please do not park in the handicapped parking spaces unless you are permitted to do so. We need to have these spots accessible to those who need them. We would also appreciate it if you could park in such a way as to not block others from getting out of their parking spots or that blocks the flow of traffic.

Chugach families are welcome to park at the New Hope Church across the street and in the Municipal EOC parking lot but please be good neighbors and do not park in their reserved parking areas and be mindful of your speed at all times.

Dungeons and Dragons club is back! Do you have a Middle or Upper student with a knack for story telling and imagination? If so, then DnD Club might be for them. Dungeons and Dragons is a imagination based roleplay game, where players create characters to play within an in-depth world. Gameplay elements include, social problem solving, puzzles, and turn based combat. This game is great for practicing social skills! If interested, you can find a permission slip in the office, or get one from Andy!

After 3 weeks of training, we had our competition of the Junior Native Youth Olympics this past weekend (Feb 23-25). There were over 1000 1st through 6th grade students who participated in the Native Youth Olympics! Wow!! They came from all over Alaska – big cities, small towns and villages to compete in various events like the stick pull, 2 foot high kick, scissors broad jump and others. The games focus on healthy competition and encourage the athletes to help each other as they perform to the best of their ability. Chugach had 35 students participate in the Games! Congratulations to the following athletes they did an exceptional job representing our school!

Malcolm Roberson, Hamlin Harvey, Lucas Furin, Noelle Randle, Ava O’Brien and Shea Bressler in the Kneel Jump.

Ava O’Brien, Hamish Emerson, Lincoln Hunter, and Lucas Furin in the Eskimo Stick Pull.

Kiearan Anderson, Shea Bressler, Teia Barber and Sadira Alsdorf in the Seal Hop.

Neri Boario-O’Malley, Uri Schulgasser, John Roberson, Robin Beesley, Maia Verzone, and Margo Chirichilla in the Two Foot High Kick.

Haakon Christopherson, Ethan Shroyer, Lucas Gaudet, Arden Bressler, Adalyn Okamoto, and Silvia Demarest in the Arm Pull.

Max Anderson and Charlotte Ward-Massey in the Wrist Carry.

Matti Johnson, Darek Wrocklage, Ella O’Brien, Rachel Retzinger and Hana Varnell in the Scissor Broad Jump.

Darek Wrocklage in the Alaskan High Kick.

Matti Johnson, Simon Demarest, Darek Wrocklage, Ella O’Brien, and Kaylyn Guard in the Eskimo Stick Pull.

Matti Johnson, Darek Wrocklage, Zoey Witt, Hana Varnell, and Ella O’Brien in the One Foot High Kick.

Extra special recognition goes to Ella O’Brien winning the Gold in the Eskimo Stick Pull, Lucas Furin winning Gold in the Eskimo Stick Pull and Bronze in the Kneel Jump, Simon Demarest winning 4th place in the Eskimo Stick Pull, Zoey Witt winning 5th place in the One Foot High Kick, Ethan Shroyer winning 4th Place in the Arm Pull and Ava O’Brien winning the Bronze in the Eskimo Stick Pull

I enjoyed coaching all these athletes in their events! I am so proud of them in how they competed, helped others, and encouraged all!

Polly

The Kindy Bread Sale is happening next Thursday, March 7th! Rolls will be $1.00 each and donations are welcome. Kindergartners will be in different locations throughout our hallway for the sale, which will not begin until 2:45pm. All proceeds will go to our sister school 'Mauni' in Malawi.

Wow!! Thank you for your support of the American Heart Association and our Kids Heart Challenge jump rope event!

We had 156 students participate and with your help, they raised over $18, 000.00! Also, with having over 60% of our school register we earned $500.00 for our PE program! The students will help me decide how to spend our money!

We have made a life-saving difference for people in our own community and across the Nation!

Special Recognition go to our two Top Earners this year: Sammie Sierks who raised 3259.00 and Margo Chirichilla who raised 3171.00!! Amazing!

I am so impressed with all who raised money, whatever the amount! They helped others and jumped rope for almost an hour, being physically active as well as generating monetary support.

I love the generosity of our Chugach Community! Thank you so much!

Chugach March Book Madness 2024!!!!

Think of March Madness with a book twist!

In February students nominated their favorite novel and favorite picture book. The top 64 choices of each are put in a ‘radomizer’ to sort them into brackets. I am thankful that I used a ‘randomizer’ to seed the brackets. It takes the pressure off of me when the students have to vote between two of their favorite titles! We begin voting next week and will continue after Spring Break. It has been a fantastic venue for book conversations within our community.

Two favorite comments from Chugach March Book Madness from last year:

From a third grader commenting about a picture book “This is one of my favorites from my childhood.”

A fourth grader saying, “Dog Man is a classic!”

A big thank you to Ann Severin, Charlie & Henry’s mom for creating our CMBM brackets!

Spring cleaning?

If you have books that need a new home and you are bringing them to Titlewave, please consider putting the book credit under ‘Chugach Optional’. I use the book credit to find books that need to complete a series or fulfill a student recommendation. Thanks for considering!

MAP Growth is the ASD and State of Alaska required benchmark/interim assessment for students in grades 3-9 in reading and mathematics. Grades 10-12 students identified as needing Tier II and Tier III reading and mathematics support also take MAP Growth as part of the Anchorage School District's MTSS framework.

Alaska's Department of Education and Early Development (DEED) has partnered with NWEA to implement a creative approach to a balanced statewide assessment that connects fall and winter MAP Growth benchmark/interim assessments and the Alaska spring AK STAR summative assessment. AK STAR eliminates the spring benchmark/interim assessment window for grades 3-9 by combining the summative and benchmark assessment into one test that produces a spring benchmark score, which includes a growth measure. More information is available at the State of Alaska AK STAR website, education.alaska.gov/assessments/akstar.

MAP Growth is an online, adaptive assessment that provides each student a personalized testing experience with data that speaks to their individual progress and growth in mathematics and reading.

The MAP Growth reading and mathematics benchmark will be administered in person during the 2023-2024 fall and winter benchmark windows. The spring benchmark will be embedded in the AK STAR summative assessment as outlined above.

• Fall Benchmark 1: September 5 - September 15 (make-ups through September 22)

• Winter Benchmark 2: December 4 - December 15 (make-ups through December 21)

• Spring Benchmark 3: embedded in AK STAR administered during the summative assessment window: March 25 - April 5 (make-ups through April 26)

• MAP Growth assessment only: Grades 10-12 identified as needing Tier II and III support

MAP Growth practice tests and tutorials allow students and families the opportunity to become familiar with the types of questions and tools available on the actual MAP Grow assessments such as the highlighter and calculator. An overview of these resources with links to the practice tests are compiled on the MAP Growth Practice Tests Quick Sheet.

As part of The Alaska Reads Act, the State of Alaska requires that districts administer an early literacy screening tool three times a year to students in grades K-3 to identify potential reading difficulties in order to improve reading outcomes for students. Families can read more about this comprehensive K-3 reading policy at The Alaska Reads Act website: education.alaska.gov/akreads

mClass with DIBELS 8th Edition Assessments is the State of Alaska Department of Education’s and ASD’s Early Literacy benchmark screening and progress monitoring tool for students in grades K-3 in reading. mClass utilizes curriculum-based measures and is used by schools as part of the ASD Comprehensive Assessment System to support informed instructional decisions.

The Alaska Department of Education & Early Development explains the decision to adopt mClass as the statewide literacy screener here:

https://education.alaska.gov/Alaska-Reading-Resources/Statewide-Early-Literacy-Screener

mClass screening assessments will only be administered in-person during the benchmark window listed below:

• Spring(EOY) 2023-24: April 22-May 3

Results for K-3 students that were assessed during a benchmark window, will be available in Parent Connect by May 17, 2024: ParentConnection Login Information and Reference Guide: parentconnect.asdk12.org

Science Share is coming up on Tuesday, March 26. We hope that you have been having some exciting scientific discussions and wonderings at home and have gotten a start on your projects.

All students are invited to do projects that are appropriate to their grade level, and everyone is invited to Science Share night, even if you did not complete a project.

A few reminders:

STUDENTS

Make sure to register your projects here by March 20:

https://forms.gle/rDyDTACuVyri5ynt9

SCIENCE MENTORS

Thanks to those who have signed up already! We still need 5-10 more mentors. Please sign up here if you can help out:

https://forms.gle/qL5irx1orCvrNZuE8

OTHER VOLUNTEERS

We could use some help with table set up and providing cookies for the scavenger hunt prizes. Please consider signing up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F4FA8A729A3FDC34-48205478-chugach

Link to Resources:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Xij7DD1wNgGSpoOTcdQtXqgHh4I2HXp4/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=116640097431269034704&rtpof=true&sd=true

1. Middle Group invites you to Ancient Egypt! Temples & Tombs musical which will be presented on Tuesday March 5th at 10:45am. Family and Friends are welcome.

2. South Area Band Festival

The South Area Band Festival will be held in the South High School Gymnasium on Wednesday, March 6. You will be able to see and hear the opportunities open to your child in band from 6th through 12th grades. 6th Grade Band Students Report at 6:15 p.m. to the South High gymnasium. The 6th grade combined band will rehearse until 7:15 p.m. The concert officially begins at 7:30 p.m. in the South HS Gymnasium. The performance is open to the public and there is no admission charge. Students are preparing the following songs for this performance: Chugach Overture, Ptarmigan Tango, Susitna Sunset, Beluga Blues, and Ode to Joy

3. Chugach Stage Upgrades

Your one-time donation will directly support Chugach Productions and Presentations: sound, light and technology. Currently, Chugach students have been participating in the full cycle of sound production, light engineering and technology at limited capacity. We have had to beg, borrow and steal the equipment from other schools to pull off our A class performances and presentations. Suggested donation is $100. A personal mic with wireless receiver costs $1598 dollars. If you are interested in being a founding donor or personal mic sponsor please contact Lauralee. Visit our Chugach YouTube page to see examples of our work and applaud our amazing students and staff.

To benefit some of our smallest community members, we now have a changing table in one of our adult bathrooms. Big thanks for Joel for making this happen!

Its been a while since we have had an update on the number of plastic bottles saved by students and staff using the water bottle filling station in the MPR. As of March 1st, 2024 we have saved 1900 plastic bottles from our environment. Well done Chugach!!

The Chugach Optional Office is open from 7:30am - 4:00pm every school day. We can be reached at 907-742-3730 or by email at ChugachOffice@asdk12.org