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Parents, many of you were not able to attend curriculum night in August. I encourage you to connect with your child's teacher to learn about the teacher, classroom routines, and what students will be learning this school year.

Below is my recorded message to the Arcado Community. I realize the recording is 30 minutes in length but, I do feel all the information I discussed is important. I hope you will take time to listen.

Families nationwide are adapting to the evolving changes in daily life caused by COVID-19. As we begin another school year, Arcado recognizes the need to prioritize efforts to address students’ social and emotional wellbeing. Here are some tips to help you guide your child through this period of adjustment:

1. Be a role model. Children will look to adults for guidance on how to respond to challenges this school year and will learn from your examples. This is a tremendous opportunity for you to model problem-solving, flexibility, and compassion.

2. Take time to talk. Be aware of how you talk about COVID. Your discussions can increase or decrease your child’s fear. Allow children time to talk, write, or draw out their thoughts and feelings. Respond with age-appropriate explanations and reassurance. Monitor television and social media viewing and limit children’s access to content meant for adults.

3. Demonstrate deep breathing. Deep breathing is a powerful tool for calming the nervous system. Do deep breathing exercises together.

4. Focus on the positive. Discuss things that you are thankful for daily. Practicing gratitude not only trains the brain towards thinking positively, but it has also been shown to improve overall physical health.

5. Practice good daily hygiene. Teach your child to practice good hand-washing and proper mask-wearing. Teaching children positive preventive measures offers children a sense of some control over their risk of infection and can help reduce anxiety.

The GCPS 2021-2022 School Calendar includes 6 digital learning days throughout the school year. The students will learn from home completing asynchronous lessons assigned by the teacher.

The first digital learning day is Tuesday, September 14. As we prepare for this day, we need some information from you. If your child needs to bring a school computer home with them the night before the digital learning day, we need for you to complete the survey below.

From Common Sense Media

On your computer, you can protect against privacy invasion in your web browser. On your smartphone, you use the phone's settings.

Computer Privacy

Take a look at the privacy settings offered in your browser (usually found in the Tools menu) to see whether you can fine-tune them to keep the good and block the bad. When you go online, websites install cookies on your computer that track your movements. Some cookies can be beneficial, such as those that remember your login names or items in your online shopping cart. But some cookies are designed to remember everything you do online, build a profile of your personal information and habits, and sell that information to advertisers and other companies. (Check out these kid Web browsers.)

Smartphone Privacy

Settings on smartphones vary, but you can tighten up privacy with these precautions:

Turn off location services. That prevents apps from tracking your location.

Don't let apps share data. Some apps want to use information stored on your phone (your contact list, for example). Say no.

Enable privacy settings on apps you download. Make sure your teens are using strict privacy settings on services such as Instagram and Facebook.

Be careful with social logins. When you log onto a site with your Facebook or Google username and password, you may be allowing that app to access certain information from your profile. Read the fine print to know what you're sharing.

Have you checked the privacy settings on your kid's computer and smartphone recently?

Welcome Back to School and to the Media Center!!

We love, love, love having all the students back in the building, and they have been busy checking out books in the Media Center. So far, 1,848 items have been checked out by students and staff.

Our Kindergarten students are allowed to check out 1 book, 1st - 4th grade students 2 books, and 5th grade students 3 books at a time.

We hope you will be reading as a family nightly for thirty minutes or more.

HAPPY READING to you and your family!

Dr. Melissa Underwood, Media Specialist

Mrs. Sharon Manting, Media Clerk

Schools administer the national Iowa Assessment to 2nd grade students to measure achievement in Reading, Language, and Mathematics. Testing will take approximately 100 minutes each day.

The test measures both basic skills and advanced skills so that teachers can learn more about each student’s academic strengths and potential learning gaps. The district also uses achievement scores on the Iowa Assessment as a part of the process for identification for the Gifted Education program.

The Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) is a multiple-choice assessment that measures the way students think. The CogAT helps our teachers determine the best ways to instruct students. The district also uses achievement scores on the CogAT as a part of the process for identification for the Gifted Education program.

In GCPS, students in grades 1, 2, 5, and 8 take this assessment, which consists of three sections— verbal, quantitative, and nonverbal. Each section takes approximately 30-45 minutes.

District Assessments are a part of Gwinnett County Public School’s Balanced Assessment Program. They are a mixture of both formative and summative assessments administered at the classroom level to measure student learning of the Academic, Knowledge, and Skills (AKS). The Pretest, Interim, and Final assessments allow students to demonstrate what they know, understand, and are able to do.

Administration of the assessments occurs once every 9-weeks and requires a maximum of one class period to complete.

The data from the assessments provide teachers, students, parents, and other stakeholders information regarding student learning. Students are encouraged to review their assessment results and teacher feedback to help improve their learning. Teachers use the data, individually and collaboratively, to help make informed decisions during planning and refining of instructional activities. District leaders use the data to provide instructional support to improve student achievement.

Parents, we ask that you do not use your cell phone while in the car rider line. Cell phones are distracting and can cause accidents. Thank you for keeping us all safe during arrival and dismissal.