SIS Monthly Newsletter

Hey SIS Families!

February has arrived and that means it's time to start thinking about parent/teacher conferences! This round of conferences will be student-led conferences! It's a great time for students to share about and celebrate all they have learned so far this year! Please plan to bring your child with you to conferences.

Please access the link below to sign up for our Spring Parent Teacher Conferences using PTCFast. This will make signups as convenient as possible. Please click on, copy and paste or enter the web address below to access our school specific URL. Follow the prompts to schedule your conference.

You will need to know your child’s classroom teacher’s name and the names of any additional staff you may wish to conference with (Special Education, PE, Music, Art, Computer Science, etc.) Please select any and all teachers you need to conference with, regardless of grade level and then you can select a time that works best for you as well as align conference times between teachers. Teachers will receive notification of sign ups once you select a time.

Conference Sign Up Link: https://www.ptcfast.com/schools/Solon_Intermediate_School

Some notes regarding conferences:

• Staff shared with other buildings might not be available for all conference times due to conference schedules of other buildings and other contractual obligations.

• Sign Up Begins - Today, Fri., Feb. 2, 2024

• Sign Up Ends at 8:00 am on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024, the first day of our conference cycle.

• To schedule a conference after the online sign up cut off, please contact our office via email or phone (sisoffice@solon.k12.ia.us or 319-624-3401, ext. 1500)

Please reach out if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Holtz

Congratulations are in order for our very own, Ms. Sami McAtee! Ms. McAtee is not only one of our 4th grade teachers, but also leads our SIS Alpha Club, a sub-group of the Solon Optimist Club! The Alpha Club is made up so 103 fourth and fifth grade students from SIS that work together to help others, learn leadership skills, and support their community. The SIS Alpha Club is in it's second year of existence and has completed some rather large acts of service for our community!

Last year, students challenged our school to bring in food items or money for our local food pantry. Classes competed and were able to take the donations to the food pantry and stock the shelves and see how thier work supports the community. The Club also hosted a Bingo Night at SIS to raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, in honor of one of our own SIS students!

For her work with the Club, one of only a handful in the state, Ms. McAtee was award the Optimist Club Achievement in Education Award!

CONGRATULATIONS MS. MCATEE and THANK YOU FOR YOUR LEADERSHIP!!

SIS will once again be celebrating Valentine's Day with a trip to the community center to enjoy a movie and a snack together. Watch for an email from your child's classroom teacher for more details on the snack.

As we prepare for Valentine's Day, please consider the following guidelines:

• Students can bring Valentine's cards to give to ALL classmates.

• Students can provide snacks, as long as they follow the district nutrition guidelines and your child's classroom allergy guidelines.

• Due to a large number of allergies and students taking their valentine bags home on the bus we are asking that there is NO CANDY sent to school.

Classroom teachers will send out more information as we get closer to the day.

Did you know SIS was recently highlighted on the New Perspectives On Learning website for our students progress and our work with math?

As many of you know, we have been working extremely hard to build our own capacity for teaching math and helping students build on what they already know to construct new learning, gain new understandings, and think like mathematicians. It's been hard work and it is really starting to pay off! You might be wondering how we know that!

Just before winter break our student took their mid-year MAPS math assessment. This is our district's math benchmark assessment that we take three times a year to help measure student progress and inform our instruction. When we took this test in December 2023, we compared our results to student's Fall 2023 scores and also looked the projects for students for end of the year results and predictions for ISASP testing. We were so excited to see students' progress!

Here's just a little of what we noticed.

1. 169/207 students grew from fall to spring (82% of students)
2. 43% of students demonstrated high growth from fall to winter compared to 32% in the spring of 2022
3. 41% of 5th graders demonstrated high growth this winter compared to 24% of these same students in the spring of 2022 as 4th graders. THAT'S HUGE!!
4. 72% of 4th graders gained 4+ points from fall to winter and 85% gained at least 1 point or more.
5. 62% of 5th graders gained 4+ points from fall to winter and 79% gaining at least 1 point or more.

You can check out the highlights on the New Perspectives website too! Take a peek!

Spartan Dash Registration is CURRENTLY OPEN!

Forms are available at https://spartandash2024.cheddarup.com.

Please note: A form will go home with the students at a later date which will explain how to register.

Monday Feb. 5th - Friday Feb. 16th

We will be collecting non-perishable food items a well as change/cash! All proceeds will go to the Solon Food Pantry!

We will keep a weekly total/count for each class and grade and will make a fun little competition out of it, for a great cause! :)

Learn More HERE

We want to keep you informed about the latest developments regarding the construction of the Solon Intermediate School addition.

Larson Construction Co. from Independence, IA was awarded the contract for this project, and today temporary fencing is being placed around the construction site to ensure safety and security.

Starting next week, equipment will be brought in, and construction is scheduled to commence during the week of February 12. We recently met with representatives from Larson Construction, who expressed a strong commitment to minimizing disruptions to our students, staff, and parents throughout the construction process.

Rest assured, parent pick up and drop off will remain unaffected. Bus pick up and drop off will also continue as usual, with the only exception being the designated door for students to enter and exit. Larson Construction is working closely with the school to coordinate efforts and limit any inconvenience.

The new addition is a significant step towards enhancing and expanding our facilities. It will feature eight new classrooms and a gymnasium, to accommodate adding our 3rd-grade students to the Intermediate School. This expansion will be completed and ready for August 2025.

We appreciate your cooperation as we work towards creating an improved learning environment for our students. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me.

Thank you for your continued support.

Sincerely,

Davis Eidahl

Solon Superintendent

Our regular bus entrance will be closed during construction. Instead of coming through our north doors (back entrance), students who ride the bus will be dropped off as usually and take the sidewalk to the front entrance before heading to the gym in the morning. At the end of the day, students will exit through the gym.

Students will have their recess area decreased during construction. If you have any large outdoor yard games that may be useful for this time of year, we would welcome any items you may have (ex. bags sets, outdoor jenga). Thanks for considering!

As winter weather arrives, be sure YOU stay in the know! Earliest notifications will be available through our Solon App! Download the app to your smartphone or other device and be the first IN THE KNOW!

Once you download the app, be sure to set notifications to ensure you are alerted to any weather related schedule changes! Here's how:

1. Download the app (see image in upper right corner)
2. With the app open, tap in the 3 lines to the bottom left of your screen
3. After completing step 2, tap on the "settings" gear wheel in the lower right of your screen
4. When a new menu appears, tap on "Push Notifications"
5. Select the notifications you wish to receive (district, by school)
6. When finished selecting, tap "done"

It's that easy!

Now is also a good time to check that your email and phone number are up-to-date in our Powerschool system. To do this, please log into your Powerschool account, click on "forms" and then edit your contact information.

Feb. 19 -- No School -- Teacher Professional Development

Feb. 22 -- Parent Teacher Conferences (2:00 - 7:00 pm)

• SIGN UP HERE

Feb. 29 -- Parent Teacher Conferences (2:00 - 7:00 pm)

• SIGN UP HERE

Mar. 7: 2-Hr Early Release (1:32 pm)

Mar. 8 -17 -- No School -- Spring Break

Mar. 25 - Apr. 12: ISASP Testing Window

Apr. 19: 5th Grade Hearing Checks

Apr. 27: Spartan Dash

May 6-10: Teacher Appreciation Week

May 13-17: 5th Grade School of the Wild Week

As the weather continues to drop and we prepare for the potential of snow, please keep the following in mind:

• Recess is held outdoors as long as the real feel is 10° or higher.
• Students can ALWAYS use encouragement to wear their coats, gloves, and hats outside.
• It's a good idea to write your child's name in his/her personal belongings.
• When snow begins to fall, students will need boots and snow pants to go off of the concrete during recess.

Who: Girls grades Pre-K thru 5th grade

When: Saturday, February 10, 2024 5-7 PM

Cost: $20 per couple + $5 for each additional daughter ($25 max per family) Tickets will be sold at the door.

Where: Solon Performing Arts Center Lobby

If you are interested in attending, please use this link to RSVP

Contact Curtis Hendrickson if you have any questions. chendrickson@solon.k12.ia.us

Email: mholtz@solon.k12.ia.us
Website: www.solon.k12.ia.us
Location: 200 West 5th Street, Solon, IA, USA
Phone: (319) 624 - 3401
Twitter: @theholtzfamily4