Chinook News for Wk of 8/26-8/30

This week...

• Mon, 8/26 - Late Start Monday - strive for 8:45 (see time schedule above)
• Tue, 8/27 - Running Club begins (more info below)
• Fri, 8/30 - Chinook Spirit Day
• Fri, 8/30 - Student Council Informational Mtg for students /10-10:30 / Rm 4 POD 1 (more info below)

Looking ahead...

• 9/2 - Labor Day Holiday / No School
• 9/5-9/6 - mClass Fall Benchmark / ASD Assessment team at Chinook (more info below)
• 9/3-9/13 - MAP Growth Assessment for grades 3-5 (more info below)
• 9/23 - What I Need groups begin (W.I.N.)
• 9/27 - Picture Day (more info below)
• 10/14 - Indigenous Peoples Day / No School
• 10/18 - Student Release Grading Day. End of 1st Quarter / No School for students
• 10/23 - Parent/Teacher Conferences Day / Parent University / Early Release
• 10/24 - Parent/Teacher Conferences Day / Parent University / Early Release
• 10/25 - Student Release PD Day / No school for students

Running Club: (more info below)

Who: 1st-5th grade Boys/Girls

When: Tues & Thur from 2:30-3:30 starting Aug 27th (8/27, 8/29, 9/3, 9/5, 9/10, 9/12, 9/17, 9/19)

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:

• Fall 2024: September 3 - 13

• ASD Assessment team will be at Chinook assessing students September 5th and 6th

Results for K-3 students that were assessed during a benchmark window, will be available in Parent Connect by September 27, 2024 ParentConnection Login Information and Reference Guide: parentconnect.asdk12.org

MAP Growth is the ASD and State of Alaska required benchmark/interim reading and mathematics assessment for students in grades 3-9. 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 2024-2025 fall and winter benchmark windows. The spring benchmark will be embedded in the AK STAR summative assessment as outlined above.

• Fall Benchmark 1: September 3 - September 13 (make-ups through September 20)

• Chinook will focus assessments on Sept 3 and 4th

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.

Chinook will offer late start student supervision on Mondays, if necessary.

• Monday mornings the MPR / 7:40-8:40

• Entrance from the North Salmon doors into the MPR

• Cold breakfast available

• Supervision by school staff

• Reading books

• Drawing

• Games

Students will be released from the MPR at 8:40 to go line up at their outside class doors.

Here are a few things to note:

• We teach bell to bell. That means students are receiving instruction till 2:30. We are asking that you do not come in to pick up your student between 2-2:30. If you have a regularly scheduled appointment and need to pick your student up, please reach out to the front office to work out a plan.
• When entering the parking lots, please pull ALL THE WAY FORWARD!
• Our data shows that most students have been picked up and are out of the parking lot within 10 minutes of dismissal! Way to go families!!
• We will have staff outside supervising until 2:45. Feel free to be flexible in the range of 2:30-2:45 as to when you drive through to pick up. 2:40 will be WAY less crowded.
• Talk to your student(s) about your plan of where you will pick them up.
• Our job is to keep you safe. We appreciate your support as we navigate the parking lot!

Please visit https://www.asdk12.org/volunteer and fill out the online application and waiver. Every volunteer needs to be approved at the start of each school year. Please complete this process ASAP, as you do need to be approved prior to being able to help in our school. This process can take between 5-10 days.

• Do you want to join our Chinook team?
• Do you know of a strong educator that would be great on our Chinook team?

To best educate your students, our goal is to have ALL positions filled with high quality staff. Help us do that by getting the word out...

We are hiring for this year (24/25):

• Teacher Substitute (ongoing recruitment)
• Kindergarten Paraprofessional / Recess Supervisor
• School Counselor (.50 FTE)
  
• Teacher
  
• Dimond High Area Noon Duty/Crossing Guard/School Based Temporary (Chinook)
  

Meet our NEW Staff:

We are working hard to fill all of our positions for this school year. LINK here to meet some of our new hires that will be joining our Chinook community for the 24/25 school year!

We, the staff and students at Chinook Elementary, commit ourselves to working together to provide a positive and safe school environment that strives to meet the needs of our diverse community of learners.‌

Email: rucksdashel_lori@asdk12.org
Website: https://www.asdk12.org/chinook
Location: 3101 W 88th Ave, Anchorage, AK 99502, USA
Phone: 907-742-6700
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AKChinookElementary/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chinookelementary/