What was that noise on the roof over ELA? It was Santa!
Monday, December 12, 2016
Sunday, December 4, 2016
The Estes Elf Returns Tomorrow
The living and breathing Estes Elf will return to Estes tomorrow. Make sure your child gets to school before 8:00 to see the elf. You never know where the Estes Elf will be sitting. Make sure your child knows not to touch the elf because if he gets touched he won't be able to return to Estes. Also, parents if you try to talk to the elf he will just stare at you. Let the fun begin.
Another Elf Sighting
Less than 12 days to go! We know because Santa came and delivered Charlie the girl elf to Ms. Ellis' class this week!! We are so excited!! Our job is to show Charlie that we are respectful, responsible, following directions, nice, and ready to learn so maybe we can earn a niceness ticket from her!! We can do it!!!
Worms, Santa and an Elf
We continued learning about living and nonliving things in Science this week. The kids were able to explain the difference between a living worm and a nonliving worm (gummy worm).
Santa came this week to deliver our class elf. The kids named him "Snowflake".
Worms at Estes!
Mrs. Williams class learned about living an non-living things by comparing earth worms and gummy worms.
DRA Scores and MAP Scores
We are currently in the midst of testing your children in both DRA and MAP. If you don't know much about what the scores mean, I will try to quickly explain.
MAP:
MAP is a nationally normed test and all that means is that your child takes the same test as all other students in the nation. Your child will receive a RIT score and a Percentile. The percentile will mean more to you and is easier to understand. If your child is at the 40th percentile that is considered low average. If your child is at the 50th percentile that is considered on grade level. If your child scores at the 65th percentile your child will likely score proficients on the KPREP test. If your child scores at the 90 percentile your child will likely score distinguished on the KPREP test.
DRA:
Your child is getting ready to take the second round of DRA tests. These tests allow your child's teacher to individualize their reading program.
K students should score at level 4-6 when exiting kindergarten.
1st grade students should score at level 18-20 when exiting1st grade.
2nd grade students should score at level 28-30 when exiting 2nd grade.
3rd grade students should score at level 38-40 when exiting 3rd grade.
4th grade students should score at level 48-50 when exiting 4th grade.
If your child is behind on his or her score there is still time to help them catch them up. I have told you all about how I couldn't read well until the end of third grade and how hard my parents, my teachers and I had to work.
I have had teachers tell me that parents are telling them that they can't find 20 minutes to listen to their child read a night. To this I say: MAKE TIME!
If my parents and teachers hadn't pushed me I wouldn't be where I am today. My wife and I both work full time and sometimes 10 hour days, but we still make time to help our children. Am I bragging? No, I am not bragging. Our children need to see how important reading and an education is. Is it hard. Heck yes it is hard. Do we want to do it every night? No, but we do. Do our kids try to pull every trick in the book on us? Yes, but we still make them work and we still listen to them read. Would we rather watch television, play on the tablet or smartphone? Yes, but those things aren't as important as our children.
Here is the bottom line: Estes has the best teachers and parents in Owensboro and when we all work together our Estes children will benefit. Parents thank you for all that you do for our students and your children.
MAP:
MAP is a nationally normed test and all that means is that your child takes the same test as all other students in the nation. Your child will receive a RIT score and a Percentile. The percentile will mean more to you and is easier to understand. If your child is at the 40th percentile that is considered low average. If your child is at the 50th percentile that is considered on grade level. If your child scores at the 65th percentile your child will likely score proficients on the KPREP test. If your child scores at the 90 percentile your child will likely score distinguished on the KPREP test.
DRA:
Your child is getting ready to take the second round of DRA tests. These tests allow your child's teacher to individualize their reading program.
K students should score at level 4-6 when exiting kindergarten.
1st grade students should score at level 18-20 when exiting1st grade.
2nd grade students should score at level 28-30 when exiting 2nd grade.
3rd grade students should score at level 38-40 when exiting 3rd grade.
4th grade students should score at level 48-50 when exiting 4th grade.
If your child is behind on his or her score there is still time to help them catch them up. I have told you all about how I couldn't read well until the end of third grade and how hard my parents, my teachers and I had to work.
I have had teachers tell me that parents are telling them that they can't find 20 minutes to listen to their child read a night. To this I say: MAKE TIME!
If my parents and teachers hadn't pushed me I wouldn't be where I am today. My wife and I both work full time and sometimes 10 hour days, but we still make time to help our children. Am I bragging? No, I am not bragging. Our children need to see how important reading and an education is. Is it hard. Heck yes it is hard. Do we want to do it every night? No, but we do. Do our kids try to pull every trick in the book on us? Yes, but we still make them work and we still listen to them read. Would we rather watch television, play on the tablet or smartphone? Yes, but those things aren't as important as our children.
Here is the bottom line: Estes has the best teachers and parents in Owensboro and when we all work together our Estes children will benefit. Parents thank you for all that you do for our students and your children.
Movie Night
I would like to thank the Estes Parent Council for hosting the movie night. We had around 15 teachers volunteer their time that evening even though they weren't required to stay. For most of them they worked over 12 hours that day and didn't complain one bit because they wanted to provide a fun night for your children.
This is only our second year of providing this free service to our parents and we are still working out the kinks in the logistics. This year we tried to offer the free service to more students and parents and we underestimated how hard it was going to be checking in all of the students.
I will be honest in saying that we could have done without some of the parents cussing while describing the amount of time they had to wait. Did you know the county school a mile down the road hosted a trick or treat night and charged each family member $10 or a maximum of $30 for members consisting of more than 3 members. The families were also expected to supply the candy for the trick or treating. I mention this because our movie night was completely free and included a drink and a bag of popcorn.
If you have any ideas on how we can improve this night please come by the next parent council meeting. The meetings are always open to every parent that has a child in our school. To make our school the best school for our students and your children we need to work together and not against each other.
This is only our second year of providing this free service to our parents and we are still working out the kinks in the logistics. This year we tried to offer the free service to more students and parents and we underestimated how hard it was going to be checking in all of the students.
I will be honest in saying that we could have done without some of the parents cussing while describing the amount of time they had to wait. Did you know the county school a mile down the road hosted a trick or treat night and charged each family member $10 or a maximum of $30 for members consisting of more than 3 members. The families were also expected to supply the candy for the trick or treating. I mention this because our movie night was completely free and included a drink and a bag of popcorn.
If you have any ideas on how we can improve this night please come by the next parent council meeting. The meetings are always open to every parent that has a child in our school. To make our school the best school for our students and your children we need to work together and not against each other.
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