Dear Cascadia Families,
I want to take a moment to celebrate our invaluable partnership in educating your children. You support and involvement make a significant difference in their growth and success, both in and out of the classroom. A couple areas we could use your help with include reading at home and expectations for digital watches (see below).
April is Autism Acceptance Month, a time when we recognize and honor the unique perspectives and contributions of our students and families who are part of the autistic community. You may notice one tool we are sharing with all students and is often a benefit to our autistic students is a core board. We have boards in every hall, the cafeteria and on our playground. It is always exciting to see students who are able to communicate verbally and our students who are non-verbal using these tools. It's a great reminder of the richness of learning in our diverse school community.
Following our upcoming spring break, we will embark on state testing. This testing is not just a requirement, but a crucial way we measure our progress towards achieving the goals set out in our district's strategic plan. Our 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students participate in this work and benefit from our encouragement and support for them to do their best during these testing sessions.
As always, thank you for sharing your child with us,
Dawn
As we approach spring break, I want to encourage you to keep your child reading by setting aside 30 minutes each day—whether it's reading on their own or you reading to or with them. Reading at home is crucial for your child’s development and helps build their skills in fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary. Your support in making reading a priority will have a lasting impact on their academic success. Thank you for fostering a love of reading at home!
Who would have imagined that one day there would be a watch that we could use to make phone calls, text, play video games on and more. We are seeing more and more of these watches come to school. Some students do well with their watch and follow the school expectations and others are really struggling. It is difficult to focus when you have a video game on your wrist, or someone is texting you in elementary school. Please review the expectations for the watch with your child- they are the same for all electronic devices except students can wear a watch and all other devices must be stored in their backpacks.
1. A watch may only be used as a watch and students are not permitted to play video games, make phone calls or text during school hours.
2. If the watch is being used in the manner described above, we will ask for their watch and will call you to let you know it was a distraction. The watch will be sent home with the student the first time.
3. If this is a challenge again, we will ask for the watch and call you to problem solve and to have you come for the watch.
*Please note, during state testing no student may have their watch on as part of the secure testing protocol.
Thank you for helping our young learners enjoy school with their classmates and teachers without the distraction of the watch. If you need to reach your child, please call the office and we will make sure they get the message,
We wanted to update you on changes to plans for this summer for offerings for our students. This year, we will not be offering our traditional elementary summer school for general education students due to cost-saving measures. However, we will continue to provide Extended School Year (ESY) services for students whose IEPs require it. ESY will take place June 23-July 17, four mornings a week. High school credit retrieval will be offered in an online format with some structural adjustments as compared to previous years.
To help support families in the absence of our usual summer program, we are partnering with local organizations to share information about summer opportunities available to students in Ferndale. A parent square message will be sent home with this information, along with details on ESY and HS Credit Retrieval later this spring.
Registration for fall 2025 kindergarten is now open.
Our full-time kindergarten program provides a robust instruction that ensures kindergartners experience early and continuing success.
For information and to register, visit our website at: bit.ly/ferndalekinder
Early registration allows for school districts to hire staff and create balanced classrooms. It helps schools connect with families and to welcome these youngest learners.
All Ferndale School District elementary schools will be hosting an open house on May 15. Additional details are coming soon.
Looking Ahead:
May 1: Latinos in Action 8:15-9:00
May 7: Latinos in Action 8:15-9:00
May 8: Latinos in Action 8:15-9:00
May 13: PTO Meeting 6:30
May 14: Latinos in Action 8:15-9:00
May 15: Latinos in Action 8:15-9:00
May 21: K-12 Early Release
May 21: Latinos in Action 8:15-9:00
May 22: Latinos in Action 8:15-9:00
May 22: PTO World Tour Day
May 23: 5th Graders Tour Middle Schools
May 26: Memorial Day, No School
May 28: Latinos in Action 8:15-9:00
May 29: Latinos in Action 8:15-9:00
May 30: K-5 Early Release