Green Lake Family Newsletter

• Spanish Speaking Connection meetings Every Monday and Friday 8:40-9:15 a.m.
• December 9 Picture retakes in the morning
• December 20-January 4 winter break no school
• January 12 Coffee chat with Principals 9 a.m.
• January 13 10-11 a.m. Open house for incoming Kindergarteners
• January 15 Open House 5-6 p.m.
• January 19 MLK day No School
• February 16-20 No School Mid Winter Break
• April 13-17 No School Spring Break
• May 16 Multicultural night 5-7 p.m.
• May 25 Memorial Day No School
• Last day of School June 17- 1 hr. early release

Happy Friday!

Please remember Do Not drop students off on 65th as it is a busy street and a bus zone. Please drop students off on Sunnyside or by the circle on 1st. Also, there is no supervision before 8:40 a.m. Please do not drop off earlier as they cannot get breakfast, get into the building, or have people watching them until 8:40 a.m.

Paid Opportunity! We need a recess supervisor!

Would you like to get paid to do some recess duty for our Green Lake students? It would be Mondays and Tuesdays from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., potential extra hours and the position is available for next year Mon-Fri. It does require being outside in all weather and monitoring our recess rules with students. This would start in January and go through the end of the year.

Let me know if you are interested!

Some requests from families were to know about some terminology that we use and to know a little bit about assessments that we give. I'll add a few each week or so (feel free to reach out with any ones you aren't sure of that'd you'd like to hear more about!):

So here's a little "glossary" so when kids say these things you will know what they mean:

"Fry words" or "heart words" - are words that are high frequency in texts, and often sight words, that students learn but don't sound out like "the" or "said"

"CVC" words- consonant-vowel-consonant words like CAT

Dragon Blocks- time in the schedule that is specific for each student's needs. In K-2, the focus is in English Language Arts (ELA), 1st grade just started doing a math dragon block as well. 3-5 is focusing on Math small groups. Students get into small groups and have time to either receive intervention, practice, enrichment, or challenge.

Assessments:

Lots of acronyms! Many tests that we take are referred with acronyms:

SBA (Smarter Balanced Assessment) is state mandated test for 3-5, 6-8, and 10th graders. It is given in late spring (usually in mid May and we will send out a schedule closer to the time) All 3-5 grade students are given this test once per year. For additional SBA info:

MAP- see attached parent flier for more specific info, but we use MAP twice a year to measure students growth in math and reading.

WaKIDS- The Washington Kindergarten Inventory of Developing Skills (WaKIDS) is a transition process that helps to ensure a successful start to the K-12 experience and connect the key adults in a child’s life. These data help inform state and district-level decisions about education policy and investments, and classroom decisions about individualized learning. This is only given in Kindergarten.

CEAs (Curriculum embedded assessments) These are end of units for math, science, and ELA that are just part of the curriculum. Teachers keep track of this data to discuss how instruction is going and how students are moving through the curriculum to be able to provide supports or reteaching as needed.

WIDA- This is our assessment given to students receiving services as a multilingual student. This test provides opportunities for students to demonstrate their English language proficiency in the four language domains: Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing. Each of these domains is assessed separately. Tests are delivered face-to-face between test administrators and students. The Speaking and Listening tests are individually administered while the Reading and Writing tests may be administered individually or in small groups.

DIBELS, which stands for Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills, is a set of reading and literacy assessments for students in grades K-8. It is used by educators for universal screening, benchmark assessment, and progress monitoring to identify students who may need additional support in learning to read. The assessments consist of short, one-minute fluency measures that evaluate skills such as letter-naming fluency, phonemic segmentation, nonsense word fluency, and oral reading fluency. We use this primarily in K-2 and for some students in 3-5 about 3 times per year.

How can you help your student be their best?

• Make sure your student attends as much as possible! Attendance matters!
• Practice reading daily- even just reading little things can be a help! Reading signs, boxes, things around the house, anything helps! Even pointing out letters and numbers on things to help younger children identify them is great! You don't have to be a teacher, just pointing and saying them is enough!
• Number sense- making sure your student knows that numbers represent amounts- like "3" means 3 objects. Practicing counting often and practice counting up and down from certain numbers. Using their fingers is okay! They won't have to forever but it's good to have them practicing in any way! For older students, having them practice calculating the tip at a restaurant or figuring out the tax on an item that buy approximately. Life skills and math skills! Never too early to start!

Thanks so much,

Have a great week!

Warmly,

Liz McFarland (she/her)

Principal

emmcfarland@seattleschools.org

Community info:

Hi Green Lake Elementary Parents and Guardians,

Lincoln High School is hosting a winter Parents' Night Out fundraiser to support the junior class of 2027. Treat yourself to a winter Date night or relaxing evening while your child enjoys a night filled with fun winter-themed crafts, games, a movie and more! More information and registration. Keep your eyes out as well for cookie decoration with the class of 2028! Come to Class of 2028's Cookie Decorating Fundraiser at Lincoln High School on 12/12 from 5-6:30 p.m. before Parents' Night Out to socialize and decorate cookies. A full night of fun with your family.

We hope to see you there!

Lincoln High School Class of 2027

Bake Sale!

We will be hosting a Bake Sale at the Tree Sale the weekend of December 6th & 7th. All proceeds will go to the school PTA to fund things like our music classes, school counselor, classroom supplies, after-school class scholarships and more!

Sign up to bake something, or come help at the booth!

Volunteer for the Green Lake Elementary Holiday Tree Sale!

The Holiday Tree Sale is back—and it is our PTA’s biggest fundraiser of the year! This beloved tradition, running since 1985, helps fund essential educational programs for Green Lake Elementary students.

Event Details:
Dates: Friday, November 28 – Saturday, December 20
Location: Green Lake Elementary School playground
Hours:
Opening Day (Nov 28): 9 a.m.–8 p.m.
Mon–Thu: 4:30 p.m.–7 p.m.
Fri: 4–8 p.m.
Sat & Sun: 9 a.m.–8 p.m.

We need your help!
Families, friends, alumni—everyone is welcome to volunteer. This is a fantastic way to support our school and, for high school students, a great opportunity to complete volunteer service hours.
👉 Sign up to volunteer
👉 Get more information
Spread the word:
Leave a review on google or leave a review on Yelp.
Join our Facebook Green Lake Tree Sale
Questions? Email us at treesale@greenlakedragons.org.

Let’s make this year’s tree sale the best yet! Thank you for supporting Green Lake Elementary.