The Branch - GradeBookWizard



Dear Parents and Friends of Redwood School,

Welcome back to the new year of 2015! I know it seems hard to read that year, but it is a reality! We are excited to springboard into the second half of our year. This is a good time to reflect on the past year and to plan for ways to improve in the future. We always encourage our students to focus on the positive: all students have shown academic improvements and can be proud of what they have done. For those students who have experienced some struggles this year, this is the time for us to all pull together as a team to help ensure success.

On January 16th, Redwood and our entire school district participated in teacher in-service opportunities that will help us continue to evaluate and refine the educational experience of all our children. We are very proud of the highly qualified staff and programs we have here at Redwood, and even more so of the committed families we have working towards the goal of educating all children without boundaries. We look forward to our own growth opportunities that will help all our students achieve to their maximum potential.

Please remember that Parent-Teacher conferences are February 11th and 12th, there will be early dismissal at 1:45pm each day. Conference sign-up is online at: , and will be taken through Monday February 9, 2015. We look forward to seeing everyone for Conferences on February 11th and 12th!

The Ohio Department of Education assessment requirements have changed this school year for our elementary students in third and fourth grade. Please read the letter that went home with report cards, a copy will be included in this Redwood Branch.

It is hard to believe that we are beginning to prepare for next school year. In preparation for next school year, this is a reminder that Redwood does not take teacher requests. Please know that all students are hand-selected for classroom assignments on an individual basis. Several factors go into making class assignments including teacher input, student’s data, as well as a desire to balance classes evenly throughout the grade level. It is also important for us to be able to find the best fit in regards to students’ and teachers’ strengths/weaknesses, as well as the overall dynamic of the students in the class. We appreciate your support on this for next school year.

Finally, a reflection back on the end of 2014 would not be complete without a special thanks going to everyone that helped make the first half of the year so successful. Our fantastic PTA volunteers have made so many programs such a success including: Scholastic Book Fair, Pumpkin Festival, Snowflake Shoppe, Holiday Assembly, Cookie Walk, and so much more. Thanks to everyone who makes these events possible!

Sincerely,

T.J. Ebert

Redwood Elementary Principal

Dear Parents/Guardians,

The Ohio Department of Education assessment requirements have changed this school year for our elementary students in third and fourth grade. Below is information about the assessments and the dates that they will be administered.

The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) is a group of states working together to develop a set of assessments that measure whether students are on track to be successful in college and their careers. These computer-based (K–12) assessments in mathematics, English language arts/literacy and social studies will provide teachers, schools, students, and parents information regarding whether students are on track in their learning and for success after high school. The new assessments will replace the Ohio Achievement Assessments, with the exception of third grade reading. Avon Lake third and fourth graders will take the PARCC Assessments online using their Chromebooks.

Each of the PARCC Assessments will consist of two parts:

A performance based assessment (PBA)

    -which is administered 70%-75% of the way through the school year

 An end-of-year/end-of-course assessment (EOY/EOC)

      -which is administered 90% of the way through the school year

      Scores will be available to the district Fall 2015.

Performance Based Assessment Dates:

Feb. 24 Grade 4 ELA Unit 1 March 3 Grades 3 and 4 Math Unit 1

Feb. 25 Grade 4 ELA Unit 2 March 4 Grades 3 and 4 Math Unit 2

Feb. 26 Grade 4 ELA Unit 3 March 10 Grade 4 Social Studies

End of the Year Assessment Dates:

April 21 Grade 3 Reading OAA April 30 Grades 3 and 4 Math Unit 2

April 28 Grade 4 ELA May 5 Grade 4 Social Studies

April 29 Grades 3 and 4 Math Unit 1

As with any school day, it will be important for your child to arrive to school on time. A good night’s sleep, a healthy breakfast, and a positive attitude will help your child in perform his/her best. Please avoid scheduling doctor’s appointments on testing days. If your child is sick on a testing day, please use your best judgment on keeping him/her home. We want every child to perform to the best of his/her ability. We have designated make up dates for students that are too ill to attend school.

We appreciate and value your continued support and partnership. Please do not hesitate to call your child’s teacher and/or principal if you have any questions regarding the statewide assessments

Yours in education,

T.J. Ebert

Principal – Redwood Elementary

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Happy New Year! Is it really possible that we are already halfway through this school year? We had so many wonderful activities in December, I truly cannot express how grateful I am to know and to volunteer with each of you.

Speaking of volunteering, this has been a difficult year for finding volunteers. It seems like each year, we try to maintain or even add activities for our students, but finding people to help with them gets more and more difficult. I am faced with a few difficult decisions over the course of the next few months…do we keep all of our activities, do we scale back? Do we ask for volunteers earlier that are more specific to when their child/children will be participating in activities or do we offer incentives. If you have any ideas on how we can make things better, please feel free to call me or e-mail me…I am open to suggestions. Also, if you are interested in volunteering or taking on a chair position, please let me know.

This year our goal was to keep fundraising to a minimum. We wanted to see if we could take advantage of Market Day Pie Sales, Marco’s Pizza Night, Pumpkin Fest and Buffalo Wild Wings dine-in nights. I am happy to report that so far this has been very successful. Unfortunately, due to changes with Market Day, we have had to make a difficult decision and we will be dropping Market Day. We are working with Market Day to see if we can continue to do BONUS Pie only sales and I will keep you updated. We do have our 2nd Buffalo Wild Wings dine-in coming up in February. Invite friends, family, neighbors and co-workers by giving them the attached coupon, we will receive 20% off pre-tax food sales.

Did you know that we are currently in 3rd place for the Marco’s Pizza School Challenge? Remember that you can place an order on-line anytime and designate Redwood as your school. We receive extra points on our designated nights and on-line ordering brings in even more points.

Finally, a hot topic right now is the PARCC test. I know that as a parent and a teacher, I still have many questions going through my head. One piece of advice that I would like to pass along is that there are practice tests on-line, here is one of the resources: parcc.practice-tests

As always, please feel free to contact me if you have ideas or suggestions on how we can make our PTA stronger.

Nicole Slivinski

REDWOOD LIBRARY NEWS

THANK YOU

Thank you to the following for donating books to the school library:

Michael Fiore, Elia Manter, and the Toth family

These donations are greatly appreciated!

BARNES & NOBLE BOOKFAIR

When: Sunday, March 22nd, 2015 at the Barnes & Noble Bookstore in Westlake at Crocker Park

Store hours 10:00 A.M. – 9:00 P.M. Bookfair hours 12:30-2:30

Who: ALL Redwood students, staff, and their families are invited

Why: To help raise money to purchase new books for the Redwood Library

Please join us for the following fun activities:

1:00 Redwood Choir will perform under the direction of Mrs. Orr

All Day – selected students artwork will be on display in the store

All Day – Scavenger Hunt (forms available in the store-all forms returned to Mrs. Schneider will be put in a drawing to win a prize from B & N)

12:30-2:30 wish list table will be located at the front of the store

All students who attend and return a signed reward pass to Mrs. Schneider will be entered in a drawing to win one of the following:

a prize from B & N

win lunch with Mr. Ebert

win a chance to be a library helper

the class that returns the most reward passes will get a party in the library.

ALL STUDENTS WHO RETURN THEIR PASS WILL RECEIVE A SMALL TREAT FROM THEIR TEACHER!

11:00 A.M.-11:00 P.M. Max & Erma’s Westlake Location will also be participating and donating 20% of the bill to the Redwood Library

Flyers with complete details, reward passes, and vouchers will go home during the first week of March. Hope to see everyone there!

Happy Reading! Mrs. Schneider

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What’s happening in and around the gym?

Walking Club

There are over 150 students involved in this year’s walking club. Thank you to our volunteer parents who come each week to monitor our students as they participate. We could not do this without you!! Students walk our indoor walking course and log at least a mile each meeting. We tally all the miles and get a grand total. This year we are visiting our National parks. So far we have visited the following: Biscayne Bay, Everglade, Congaree, Great Smokey Mountain and Mammoth Cave national parks. During the announcements students learn interesting facts about the parks. They can also see where the parks are located on the map in the main hallway outside the gymnasium.

The culminating activity for walking club members is on Friday March 20th at 7:00 p.m. It is the GLOW WALK! All members are invited to join us as we walk our indoor walking course while glowing in the dark. More information will follow as the date gets closer.

Jump Rope for Heart

Redwood students will again be participating in Jump Rope for Heart. This will be the 19th year of participation for our school. A flyer with more details will come home in early February. All 1-4th grade students will participate in a jumping party during their physical education class the week of February 16th. Families can participate in fundraising for the American Heart Association if they wish. Prior to the event, students will work on improving their jumping skills and will also learn the importance of making healthy choices. The jumping parties will take place at the following times:

Thursday February 19

All 4th grade classes in gym for their jumping party from 9:30-10:30 a.m.

All 3rd grade classes in gym for their jumping party from 11:00-12:00 a.m.

All 2nd grade classes in gym for their jumping party from 1:00-2:00 p.m.

Friday February 20

All 1st grade classes in gym for their jumping party from 9:15-10:15 a.m.

Volunteers will be needed. E-mail renee.stuart@ with questions.

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CHOIR NEWS

Below you will find our upcoming Choir performances.

These performances are open to everyone!

We hope you will join us at one or all!

Friday, February 27th 7:30 p.m. Lake Erie Monsters Game

We will be singing the National Anthem!

Wednesday, March 4th 7:00 p.m. Elementary Choir Festival

This concert will be held at the ALHS PAC

Sunday, March 22nd 1:00 p.m. Barnes and Noble Book Fair

Wednesday, April 1st 7:00 p.m. Spring Concert at Redwood

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MUSIC NEWS

Wednesday, April 1st

Spring Program for 1st and 2nd Grade

9:15-9:45 1st Grade and Choir

10:45-11:15 2nd Grade and Choir

This program will be held in Redwood’s Gymnasium.

Is the U.S. Having a Flu Epidemic?

Amy S. Babiuch, MD

According to recent publications from the CDC, flu activity is high across most of the country with flu illnesses, hospitalizations and deaths elevated. Flu season will probably continue for several weeks.

While the flu vaccine may not work as well as usual against some H3N2 viruses, vaccination can still protect some people and reduce hospitalizations and deaths, and will protect against other flu viruses.

Influenza antiviral drugs can treat flu illness. CDC recommends these drugs be used to treat people who are very sick or who are at high risk of serious flu complications who have flu symptoms. Early antiviral treatment works best.

Influenza (also known as the flu) is a contagious respiratory illness caused by flu viruses. It can cause mild to severe illness, and at times can lead to death. The flu is different from a cold. The flu usually comes on suddenly. People who have the flu often feel some or all of these symptoms:

• Fever* or feeling feverish/chills

• Cough

• Sore throat

• Runny or stuffy nose

• Muscle or body aches

• Headaches

• Fatigue (tiredness)

• Some people may have vomiting and diarrhea, though this is more common in children than adults.

* It's important to note that not everyone with flu will have a fever.

Flu Complications

Most people who get influenza will recover in a few days to less than two weeks, but some people will develop complications (such as pneumonia) as a result of the flu, some of which can be life-threatening and result in death.

Pneumonia, bronchitis, sinus and ear infections are examples of complications from flu. The flu can make chronic health problems worse. For example, people with asthma may experience asthma attacks while they have the flu, and people with chronic congestive heart failure may experience worsening of this condition that is triggered by the flu.

People at High Risk from Flu

Anyone can get the flu (even healthy people), and serious problems related to the flu can happen at any age, but some people are at high risk of developing serious flu-related complications if they get sick. This includes people 65 years and older, people of any age with certain chronic medical conditions (such as asthma, diabetes, or heart disease), pregnant women, and young children.

For more information visit the CDC website at:

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The Branch

The Newsletter of the Redwood PTA

February 2015

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Birthday Book Club

Thank you to the generosity of the following students for donating books to our library:

Judy Sun 8/28 - Home for Christmas

Paige Machovina 9/1 - Dolphin Tale 2

Farheen Bhuiyan 9/28 –The Napping House

Audrey Kukay 11/14 – Judy Moody Was in a Mood

Clay Broadhurst 11/17 – A Good Night for Ghosts

Haunted Castle on Hallows Eve

Night of the New Magicians

Isabella Polinko 12/6 – If I Ran the Zoo

Evan Bellamy 12/10 – I Survived the Destruction of Pompeii

Madison Collins 12/16 – Earthquake in the Early Morning

Junie B. Jones is a Graduation Girl

Patrick Dwyer 12/17 – The Escape of the Plant that Ate Dirty

Socks

Carolyn Murphy 12/22 – A New Reindeer Friend

Carley Armbrecht 12/28 – Guinea Dog

Treasure Island

My Sister the Vampire: Love Bites

Audrey Share 12/30 – The Chocolate Touch

Gunnar Mathison 1/6 – Big Hero Six

Macy Masuga 1/12 – Three by the Sea

Abby Davis 1/15 – Minecraft

Ella Miller 1/16 – Olivia Talks Turkey

Hound and Bear

Declan Roth 1/21 – The Perfect Present

Porter Machovina 1/26 – The Official Ninja Turtle Handbook

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