April 29, 2022

Dear Lower School Families,

The home stretch is upon us – the final five weeks of the school year. This time of year is filled with field trips, special classroom events and other memorable moments of the 2021-22 school year. We look forward to seeing you at the various upcoming events.

School Information Form from Parents: Today Is the Last Day to Complete the Form

Last week, all families in fourth grade and below received this email with information regarding placement for next year. The faculty will soon begin creating class lists for 2022-23. The creation of class lists is one that takes a significant amount of time and attention to detail, and it incorporates many factors. These factors include a balance of intellect, social behavior, maturity, learning style, gender, friendships, ethnicity and culture. The school welcomes your input in this process, so please complete this form if you have not already done so. The deadline is the end of the day today. The school does not accept requests for a specific teacher. If you have multiple children in the Lower School, you will need to complete a separate form for each child. The form closes tonight at 10:00 p.m.

Grade-Level Rising Meetings for Parents & Guardians

We continue our annual Parent Meetings when parents and guardians have the opportunity to learn about the programs for their children in the grades in which they will be enrolled for next year. These will be in-person in our theatre and recorded for those unable to attend. The recordings will be sent out once all of the Parent Coffees have concluded. Each grade level will have two homeroom teachers share details about the year ahead as well as highlights and expectations. There will also be time for questions from those attending in the theatre. Please see the remaining schedule below:

Celebration of Accomplishments

This celebratory event will be held on May 19 (after school) and May 20 (throughout the day). This is a time for you to meet with classroom teachers to hear from your children their perspective of their various accomplishments and growth throughout the school year. This is a time to celebrate and reflect all the wonderful achievements that they have made. There will be no school for students on Friday, May 20. A signup schedule for parents has already been sent out from homeroom teachers.

ERB Standardized Tests for Grades 3-5

Columbus Academy’s third-, fourth- and fifth-graders will be taking the ERB CTP-5 Standardized Test from May 9-13. All testing will be completed on iPads. The purpose of the ERB CTP-5 is to assess student growth and performance at the time of testing. This enables us to identify strengths and areas needing attention at an individual and group level. CTP is considered a “low stakes” assessment intended to help faculty and administrators make decisions about curriculum and classroom instruction. Because of this, there is no test preparation material available. It is very important that your children are in school each day the week of May 9-13. Each grade level will decide on their testing schedule, but tests will be given both in the morning and afternoon. Please do not schedule any non-emergency medical or dental appointments during the school day during this entire week. Please see this letter sent to you on April 25 for additional details.

Parenting Article

This week’s article is from Newsweek and is entitled “11 Parenting Tips You’ll Wish You Knew Sooner.” You can find it using this link.

Be Well,

Mark L. Hansen

Head of Lower School