Northwood School Laker

October 15, 2021

Masking Update

We will continue to require masks indoors next week. The school's Covid Response Team will review the data again on Friday, October 22.

Starting today, we have moved the cutoff time for submission of changes in Pick Up Patrol to 2:15PM. If you need to make a change to your child’s plan after that time, please make sure you contact the office so they can make the changes and notify the correct people involved. Also, we ask that you please go into Pick Up Patrol and make sure your student’s default plan is correct in the system. We want to make sure that our students get dismissed to the correct location. We will be sending out account activation emails again to those parents/guardians who have not created an account as of yet.

Progress Reports, Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment, and Student Growth!

The Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment Cycle:

Research shows that students benefit academically from an educational structure that utilizes a curriculum, instruction, and assessment framework that is flexible and open to improvements. Opportunities are needed for students to demonstrate their learning of skills, concepts, and the application of skills and concepts, AND for teachers to reflect on the information gained from an assessment so they can provide feedback and coaching to students for further learning. This interaction between evidence of student learning demonstrated through an assessment and a teacher’s response to the information they get from the assessment keeps the focus on academic growth over time. This opens the opportunity to tell the greater story of a student’s progress.

In this case, the term assessment refers to any instance when a teacher checks on a student’s understanding. This can be as unobtrusive as listening to a student’s response to a question prompt, observing how a student manages a task during a video conference, or reviewing a student’s writing draft. It could also include more structured and targeted checking on a student’s understanding such as a quiz, rubric-scored assignment, or completion of a product to specifications outlined in criteria for success.

Reporting Student Progress (Progress Reports)

With Northwood’s ongoing work toward competency-based education, we openly demonstrate the value we place on the connection between assessment and instruction as a means for fostering and monitoring student growth. As a guide for the most recent progress reports, the updated indicators are provided for you and are as follows:

Michael Ling, Curriculum Director

Kindergarten News

The kindergarteners have been learning all about when to call 911 in the event of a “people” emergency. We have been trying to learn our address, and phone number.

Miss Wonda visited from the 911 Dispatch Center. She explained to the kids that they should learn how to call 911 from their parents phone, including how to bypass the passcode in the event of an emergency.

We encourage everyone to watch the Cell Phone Sally video on YouTube at the link below.

https://youtu.be/XD1Uj-wqG4s