Fall sports/activities are in full swing. Please remember to “Team Up to Clean Up”. As you support your favorite team, please look for the recycling containers for your empty plastic beverage container. They are easy to find at Seacrest and Beechner Fields. Look for the recycling containers in the high school gyms if you’re there too!
Principal’s Report to PTA October 1, 2013
1. Fourth Friday Official Enrollment = 442 <35 students 2012-13
Grade #s Kdg 63 15
First 60 20
Second 93 19
Third 76 25
Fourth 76 25
Fifth 74 25
2. Parent Teacher Conferences were extremely well attended. The few who could not make it to their conference appointments are meeting with teachers this week. Our goal is 100% participation!
3. Wellness Focus for 2013-14 Kicks off!
The September Day 0 kicked off the year’s wellness challenges with a walk-a-thon around the new track. Students signed the Move More pledge banner, and learned a song about walking and moving!
All students took home their charts to record their daily movement activities for seven days. Families are encouraged to participate in the activities (walking, biking, playing ball, etc.) with the students. Charts are due October 7th.
October 8th will be the whole school activities (at each Expressive Arts class time) about walking and biking to school safely. October 9 is International Walk to School Day and all families are encouraged to walk or bike to school. (Even if you live a long ways away, park a few blocks from school and walk the rest of the way.) All students will receive a “Walk this Way” free t shirt, just before the all school assembly at 2:45.
The Pumpkin Run is another part of our Move More! challenge, and if we have double the number of pumpkin runners this year over last, Dr. B. will wear a pumpkin costume to school!
There will be a gratitude challenge, a water challenge, the Mayor’s Run, and other activities in our Wellness Learning Journey this year!
4. McGraw Hill Reading Wonders is the name of the new LPS Reading Curriculum. The work at every grade level is higher intensity, focused on comprehension and the skills to learn/support understanding what is read, and includes more non-fiction reading for information. The first quarter is a huge adjustment for students, but they will rise to the expectations of more careful, purposeful reading habits. Parents should expect to see lower grades than in the past, and an explanatory letter is going home to every family on October 11, at the end of the first quarter.
5. Educators work to constantly improve teaching and learning. The School Improvement Process is how we focus on the learning goals for students, the instructional strategies of teachers, and the methods we use to keep track of how well every student is learning.
Every five years is a continuous improvement cycle. This November 4 and 5 LPS will host an external visitation by educators from other districts who will visit and inspect each school’s student achievement progress over the 2008-2013 cycle.
There are several main ways we measure students’ learning: classroom work as shown on report cards (K-5), the Nebraska State Assessments in Reading, Math, and Science (3, 4, 5) and the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (grades 4, 5). Randolph School students scored at or above the district average on the recently released NeSA R, NeSA M, and NeSA S tests. When the large group (all students in grades 3, 4, and 5) are divided into categories such as qualifying for free/reduced lunch, needing special education services or English Language Learner services, or by race, our school did not meet the national AYP goals of 89% proficient in reading and 84% proficient in math in all the sub-categories.
These results show improvements in some categories by grades, but not across all categories and grades. In preparation for the external visitation, our SIP committee is preparing our School Profile. Further statistics are available in the Randolph School Profile, which will be available to all families through our web page October 11th. Our students’ achievement showed consistent learning, even though other factors were negatively increasing. We can continue to be proud of the learning happening at Randolph School!
What are you most proud of at Randolph School?
What makes Randolph unique?
When you think of Randolph School, why is it you send your children here?
CALENDAR
Oct. 7 SIP meets 8:10
Oct. 8 Professional Development (math) @ Randolph
K-3, and 4-5
Walk to School Day activities in Expressive Arts
Oct. 9 International Safe Walk to School Day! (Randolph is the focus school for this event in Lincoln this year! Let’s show how we “Move More!”)
ASSEMBLY SCHEDULE
All school assembly in gym 2:45
PTA Health and Safety Night
Elementary Principals Meeting 7 am-12
Oct. 11 End of 1st Quarter
2nd BIST practice log due
Randolph’s Security Review
Oct. 14-15 No School for students! Fall Break!
Oct. 16-18 Red Ribbon Week
Oct. 17 Club Choice delivery in the gym 3:30-5:00 pm
Oct. 19 Pumpkin Run at Pioneers Park! How many Randolph students will participate? If we double our %, Dr. B will wear a pumpkin costume to school!
Oct. 21 GET meets
Oct. 22 Staff meeting at 3:45-5:15
Report Cards due to Dr. B. by 4 p.m.
Oct. 23 BIST Consult Day “First 15” for grades
Oct. 25 Report Cards home
PTA’s Trunk or Treat Celebration! Come visit the Haunted Hallway, bounce house, and pumpkin decorating contest, as well as trick or treat at the decorated vehicles in the parking lot!
Oct. 28 SIP meets at 8:10; final before external visitation
Oct. 29 PLC Early Out 2:18
SCIP meets 8:10
PTA Board meets 5:00
Oct. 31 Instructional Conferences: Teachers with Dr. B. for grades 4, K, 1
Nov. 1 Instructional Conferences: Teachers with Dr. B. for grades 5, 2, and 3
Nebraska State Treasurer Stenberg, Nebraska Educational Savings Trust Present NEST Big Dreams Video Contest
Grand Prize of $10,000, more than $18,000 Total to be Awarded to Families
Lincoln, Neb. (Sept. 27, 2013) –Nebraska State Treasurer Don Stenberg and First National Bank of Omaha announced today the NEST Big Dreams Video Contest that will run Oct.1-31, offering a $10,000 scholarship into a Nebraska Educational Savings Trust (NEST) 529 account as a grand prize in addition to other prizes, all totaling more than $18,000.
The NEST Big Dreams Video Contest gives families the opportunity to submit a video, 60 seconds or less, featuring a child expressing his or her “big dreams.” Entries will feature children’s unique thoughts or ideas about their big dreams, recorded in video format. Children featured in video entries must be 8 years old or younger. To enter and to read official rules, families can go to NESTBigDreams.com and www.treasurer.org/cs.
“The NEST Big Dreams Video Contest provides an exciting opportunity for families to engage their children in talking about their big dreams for the future,” said Deborah Goodkin, Managing Director of NEST at First National Bank of Omaha, the NEST Program Manager. “Our hope is that families enjoy creating big dreams videos and begin thinking about saving for college to help make real-life aspirations possible.”
“Realizing the creativity and imagination of children today, I look forward to viewing the children’s videos and to learning about their big dreams for their futures. At NEST, we encourage children to dream big and parents and grandparents to plan for those dreams by starting early to save for college,” said Treasurer Stenberg, Trustee of NEST. “This contest enables children to express their dreams in new ways and to display their unique personalities and perspectives.”
The NEST Big Dreams Video Contest offers the largest grand prize of the NEST scholarships presented each year. In addition to a $10,000 grand prize, a first runner-up will receive $5,000 into a NEST account and a second runner-up will receive $2,500 in to a NEST account. The scholarships will be awarded to the entrant and deposited into an account owned by the Nebraska Educational Savings Trust, held on behalf of the winner. In addition to the scholarships, the first 25 people to enter the contest will be eligible to receive a $25 bonus into a NEST account. Winners of the contest will be notified and announced by Dec. 5.
The NEST Big Dreams Video Contest is inspired by the NEST Big Dreams campaign, which is designed to get families of young children thinking about the future and saving for higher education to help make their children’s dreams a reality. Money for the prizes is being provided by First National Bank of Omaha.
For the official scholarship contest rules, visit the NEST College Savings Plans at www.NEST529.com or the State Treasurer’s Office at www.treasurer.org/cs.