Elementary Essentials

The beginning of the school year brings the assessment season. I wanted to remind you about the KSDE requirements for assessment. All districts must select a screening assessment from an approved list. Olathe USD #233 selected the Fastbridge screener to use with all elementary students.

All K-5 students will be screened three times per year with an approved screener (Fastbridge) that provides the identified Kansas SBOE approved subtests.

• Letter naming fluency
• Letter word sound fluency
• Phoneme segmentation fluency
• Nonsense word fluency
• Oral reading fluency

Olathe has made some changes to the assessments utilized in the fall for kindergarten and first grade. These changes were shared with teachers as well as elementary principals.

Kindergarten will use the Fastbridge “Onset-Sound” subtest (screener) to determine the need to administer the PASI (diagnostic). If the student is flagged on the “Onset-Sound” subtest, then teachers should administer PASI 5.1a & 5.1b. If the student doesn’t pass 5.1a then students will be included in a PA intervention group. At the end of an intervention cycle, students will be progress monitored on PASI and Fastbridge “Onset-Sound”. Link to district flowchart.

First grade will use the Fastbridge “Word Segmenting” subtest (screener) to determine the need to administer the PASI (diagnostic). If the student is flagged on the “Word Segmenting” subtest, then teachers should administer PASI 5.1a/b, 5.5, 5.6, 5.7, 5.9a/b, 5.10 a/b, 5.11 a/b. If the student doesn’t pass 5.11a/b then students will be included in a PA intervention group. At the end of an intervention cycle, students will be progress monitored on PASI and Fastbridge “Word Segmenting”. Link to district flowchart.

Reminder: Kindergarten and first-grade students will not be placed in intervention on PASI subskills of 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, and 5.8. The reason for this change is that the research demonstrates that the phoneme level is the key to beginning reading. You will still continue to teach phonological awareness skills at the word, syllable, and onset-rime levels, but we won’t be providing intervention at those levels.

Processes for screening assessments and other information regarding MTSS can be found at the MTSS website.

KSDE has released new ELA standards for K-12. We will NOT be working from these standards until they are approved by the Olathe Board of Education. Learning Services will be developing a group of teachers to study the new standards and make recommendations prior to taking them to the BOE for approval. We will continue to send communication as we move through the process.

This week’s Literacy Brief focuses on the research about teaching writing in the elementary grades and how the Writing Units of Study materials supports teachers across the district to teach using research as a guide. Click on the link below to learn more.

Literacy Brief - 2

Units of Study on-demands are on the assessment calendar. The on-demands can be found in three places: On your Heinemann account, in the Pathways book, and in the Welcome to the Unit. To begin, use the pre and post on-demands to learn about your students as writers and be able to celebrate growth within a unit. The on-demands will NOT be reported at the district level for the 2023-2024 school year. Reach out to your Instructional Coach, MTSS Literacy Support Specialist or your ELA Coordinator with questions.

Did you see the Professional Learning Essentials Newsletter? The ELA department is offering a Community of Practice on the Units of Study. A Community of Practice is a group of people who come together around a topic they are interested in and want to collaborate to advance their knowledge and practice.

All teachers in grades K-8 are currently implementing writing units throughout the school year. This community will allow teachers time to discuss writing instruction, share ideas, and troubleshoot roadblocks. We are excited to connect elementary to middle school teachers in this community. The school end times create a bit of a gap for middle school teachers, but we know that it will be powerful to span these age ranges in developing proficient writers. We hope to see you there!

In-Person Dates: You do not need to attend all sessions. Make sure to register for the sessions you would like to attend.

• September 26- Session 1
• November 7- Session 2
• February 20- Session 3

In-Person Times: 4:15pm-5:15pm

In-Person Location: Instructional Resource Center and a second location TBD

Good news! All buildings will be receiving a multi-syllable PLL kit this school year. We know many buildings were in need of these intervention materials for our intermediate grade levels. Your support specialists are working to get them assembled and delivered to you soon. Please work with your administrator to find a safe place to store these materials.

In connection to that, our 95% Group intervention materials are important to the success of our students. Please take care of the materials as you check them in and out with your building and use them with students. When portions of kits are lost, there is not a way to purchase replacement pieces. Materials are sold as complete sets only. Thank you for your help in ensuring our materials last as long as possible.

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is open to any child in Kansas from birth to their 5th birthday. Children receive free, age-appropriate books mailed directly to their home every month. Our goal is for every Kansas child to nurture a love for reading that will continue to enrich their lives throughout school and beyond! Signing up for parents is now available here. Make sure to share this information with parents.

Have you checked out the updated Math Repository yet?! Explore the following helpful resources:

· Grade Level Pacing Guides (located on grade level pages)

· Scope and Sequence (located on grade level pages)

• Fluency Resources
• Enrichment
• SBI Materials

Your support team will be happy to help you while you explore this new website!

The Johnson County Extension Master Naturalists, in association with Monarch Watch, are hosting a free, sendoff to the Monarch butterfly! There will be tagging, releasing monarchs, exhibits, native plant sell, etc. And it is in our own backyard at the Pollinator Prairie in Olathe! Click on this link for more information.

Please check out the social studies newsletter for important social studies related items. Our social studies contest for great prizes will resume next time! Snack and Chat will be back soon, too!

I hope each of you has had an amazing start this year. Please reach out if I can assist or support you. Thanks for all you do!