Well done, families, on starting out strong in second semester! If you notice any glitches or mistakes in your courses, please let me know.

For students who attend in person on Tuesdays, please bring your Chromebooks to class on Tuesday, February 4. We will have Julie Mehr, our technology person, wipe them clean.

4th graders: If you haven't yet, please complete these two short beginning of first semester assessments.

Concepts of PE…4th grade form and

New Kid on the Block form.

5th graders: If you haven't yet, please complete this short beginning of first semester assessment. 5th grade technology question

iReady update: Students and parents, thank you for completing the iReady assessment by February 7! We use these results to improve learning so this is really useful information.

"Friends Day": For our in person group on Tuesdays from 10:00-12:00, please be aware that we will have a "Friends Day" on Tuesday, February 11 with a focus on Kindness. If students want to give cards to each other, they can bring in 17 cards signed only with their name (and not addressed to a specific person). They can hand these out in class. Please bring for everyone in our in person group if you choose to participate. For our virtual HomeRoom group that meets on Thursdays from 9:00-10:00, we will have a focus on Friendship and Kindness through Google Meet, in addition to a Science or Social Studies lesson. We decided to focus on Friendship and Kindness instead of Valentines Day for this month.

BG DISTRICT MATH CHALLENGE, Saturday, March 22, 9:00am - 1:00pm. 4th and 5th graders are invited to participate! Please let me know if you would like more information about joining a Math Challenge team. We need four students total and I would practice with them both in person and through Google Meet. Here is the Math Challenge website, in case you want to look it over before committing. https://sites.google.com/a/battlegroundps.org/sw-wa-math-challenge/home UPDATE: So far, we have THREE interested student! Anyone else?

State testing is coming up! See below in "Important Dates and Reminders" for more information. April 28 - May 16.

• Tuesday, February 4: in person students, please bring in your Chromebooks. We will bring them over to Julie Mehr today to "power wash" them. Because the Chromebooks save everything, they get glitchy in the spring.
• February 6 and 7 (Thursday and Friday): I (Rachel Karlsen) will be at a Science training. The schedule will continue as normal, including our drop in help times (daily 12:30 - 1:00) and virtual homeroom (Thursdays, 9:00 - 10:00). Teachers Tori Denfeld and Bradley Cain will cover for me on those two days.
• February 7: the iReady assessments for students in grades 3-8 closes. Please finish taking the Reading and Math assessment.

• Tuesday, February 11, 2025 "Friends Day" for in person students, with a focus on Kindness. This will be mirrored in our lessons for the Thursday virtual homeroom group on February 13. Please see more information above.

• January - March 15, 2025: Students, please bring in Chromebooks to be updated and power washed to Julie Mehr in our Tech Department at River HomeLink. This only should need to be done one time during this time frame.

• Saturday, March 15: BG district Math Challenge. 4th /5th graders: please inform me if interested. We need a team of four to participate. Here is more information: https://sites.google.com/a/battlegroundps.org/sw-wa-math-challenge/

• April 28: Mark your calendars, 4th graders! Our BG counselors organized a career fair at BGHS in the small gym. Please attend at 9:30. Bonnie Roggenkamp, BGVA counselor, will lead career activities with our students both on campus and virtually.

• April 28 - May 16. State testing window for BGVA, commonly called the SBAC (Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium). 3rd, 4th and 5th graders have two assessments in Language Arts and two assessments in Math. 5th graders also have one assessment in Science, called the WCAS (Washington Comprehensive Assessment for Science). I put the assessment information and practice link on my teacher page through Clever for parents to access: https://wa.portal.cambiumast.com/

The following information was copied from the weekly BGVA newsletter.

Recently, we informed you through our weekly newsletter and a specific dedicated email of our new School Data platform. The new School Data platform is a robust tool that parents can use to stay fully connected with their students' academic progress. Check your email for a short video demonstrating the process of creating your account and getting connected with your students' learning.

Click here for the link to begin the login process with our new School Data platform.

Comprehensive Sexual Health (CSH) curriculum: I will contact families of 5th graders in February regarding picking up magazines or other trainings. In the BG school district, students in grade 5 have some lessons as part of the CSH. Usually, at BGVA, this comes in the form of parents receiving ten magazines from the Great Body Shop curriculum with lots of health topics. I have the magazines in the classroom if you want to look through them. I don't give kids access to them, though. Parents can opt their students out of instruction. They do this by going into Skyward and filling out the form. The instructions for how to do this are listed here: How to Opt Out of Comp Sex Ed - parent hand out. The opt out form should be open now. I plan to distribute these magazines in February.

• Weekly Schedule Reminders click link for weekly reminders

• Fifth Grade BGVA Accelerate Education Module Schedule Second Semester 2024-2025
• Fourth Grade BGVA Accelerate Education Module Schedule Second Semester 2024-2025
• Third Grade BGVA Accelerate Education Module Schedule Second Semester, 2024-2025