Note From Principal Atkins

Families,

While Spring Break is quickly approaching, we do have a lot coming up with plenty of important information for you in today's newsletter. Please be sure to read all the way through!

Next week we've got our Student-Led Open House taking place on Tuesday, March 22nd between 4:15-6:15pm. The purpose of the Open House is to provide our families with time in our building to explore and see firsthand where your children spend so much time and see some of your child's work up close. This is intended to be self-paced by families. You can arrive at school anytime during the window and engage in the BINGO sheet activity to make your way around the school. We will have stacks of the BINGO cards at each door. We hope to see many of you there!

As you may have heard, our PTA has launched our annual fundraiser, and we need your help! Please consider making a donation or sharing the link to others who are passionate about supporting our children and our neighborhood school. We will be using the funds to support full time art and additional mental health supports.

Please make sure your calendar is marked for Spring Break - students have the following Monday and Tuesday off, meaning they will be out March 28-April 5 returning on Wednesday, April 6th.

See below for important information about after school enrichment opportunities from Discovery Link. One of the clubs is only $10! Be sure to sign up by March 23rd.

CMAS:
As you know, CMAS starts on Tuesday for our 3rd-5th Graders. We are excited for our students to show how much they've grown!

We want to help our families with information to support students during this assessment window. Below, you can find ways to support your student and the school:

Calendar: See the blurb below to remind yourself of your child's testing dates. We ask families to ensure their children get plenty of sleep and a healthy breakfast at home or in school every day, especially on assessment days. Breakfast will be served at school as usual. In addition, if there are doctor's appointments or other appointments that need to be made, we hope this schedule will help you make those appointments on non-assessment days. 

Attendance: We also want to communicate that all students should always be in school on time every day. On assessment dates students who are late to school will not be allowed into their classrooms until after testing. Not testing in their typical environment may impact their performance because of the unfamiliarity of the environment. Please help us by ensuring students are at school on time. 

Make-Ups: Students do best when they are in their classroom environment for testing. If your child has to miss a test session, they will have to make up that session at another time. 

Phones: Cell phone use is NOT permitted during testing nor other times of the school day. Please help us by either having your child keep their phone at home or reminding them to turn their phone off and store it with their teacher. We appreciate your support during this time. All assessments, including CMAS, are vital tools for teachers to support student success. 

We want our students to show their learning during CMAS, but we DO NOT want them stressed. Please encourage them to do their best and know that you, Mr. Atkins, and their teacher will be proud of them. 

There are online resources to help families support their students during CMAS testing, located at https://coassessments.com/. If you have any questions, please reach out to Adrienne Lopez (adrienne_lopez@dpsk12.net) or Emily_Madison (emily_madison@dpsk12.net).

Have a wonderful weekend!

Sincerely,

Michael Atkins