Licton Springs K-8 5/04/26

This week, we celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week, and we want to take a moment to recognize the incredible teachers and staff at Licton Springs. Their dedication, creativity, patience, and care make a meaningful difference in the lives of our students every single day.

If you’re able, we invite families and students to join us in showing appreciation—whether it’s a kind note, a thank‑you email, or words of gratitude shared from home. Small gestures truly go a long way.

Thank you for partnering with us in celebrating and uplifting the amazing educators who make our school such a special place to learn and grow.

At Licton Springs, our schoolwide expectations are simple and powerful:

Be Safe
Be Kind
Be Responsible

Recently, teachers and staff have been spending intentional time reviewing what these expectations look like across our school day—in the classroom, the cafeteria, during recess, and in all shared spaces.

We would love your partnership at home. Consider asking your student what being safe, kind, and responsible means to them in different settings at school. These conversations help reinforce the consistent messages they hear from teachers and strengthen the connection between school and home.

Thank you for standing in solidarity with our teachers and staff as we work together to support a positive, respectful, and caring learning environment for all students. Your support truly makes a difference!

The district has recently shared updated guidance around student cell phone use during the school day. We want to reassure Licton Springs K‑8 families that this guidance aligns with our existing school cell phone policy.

For our students, nothing is changing.

As a reminder, students are expected to keep cell phones and personal electronic devices put away during the school day so they can stay focused, engaged, and connected to learning. Our staff will continue to support students with clear expectations and consistent practices, just as we have been doing.

Thank you for partnering with us to maintain a school environment that supports learning, safety, and positive relationships.

All student devices and issued accessories will be collected before the end of the school year. Limited exceptions for students with an IEP or participating in at home learning programs, please see the district’s SPS Student Devices post for specific information.

• Collection date: Monday June 15
• Collection location: Main Office
• On‑site school contact: Carole Johnson 206-743-3700
• If you need to return your device earlier than 6/15, please deliver your device, charger and case to Carole in the office.

All devices and accessories not returned by a school’s collection deadline will be marked lost in the Destiny system, and fines will be applied to student accounts in accordance with district policy.

Fines for unreturned items include:

• Laptop: $350
• Laptop charger: $48
• iPad: $250
• iPad charger: $40
• iPad case: $49

Please reference the district’s SPS Student Devices post, which reflects the information shared with families, including expectations and fine details.

WIDA testing

WIDA tests will be administered on Wednesdays in March

SBA and WCAS Testing

3rd Grade
May 4 -SBA ELA CAT
May 5 – SBA ELA PT
May 6 – SBA Math CAT
May 7 – SBA Math PT

4th and 5th Grade
May 11 -SBA ELA CAT
May 12 – SBA ELA PT
May 13 – SBA Math CAT
May 14 – SBA Math PT
April 28 – WCAS (Science)

7th and 8th Grade
May 19 – SBA Math CAT
May 27 – SBA Math PT

SBA
Washington state requires all districts to administer the Smarter Balanced assessments each spring. These tests:

• Measure how well students are meeting College and Career Readiness Standards
• Help teachers, schools, and districts identify which students need more support
• Cover Math and English Language Arts (ELA)
• Take about 3-4 hours per subject
• Are given to students in grades 3 through 8 and 10
• Are required for federal and state accountability

WIDA testing
Each year, students in English learner programs take an English language proficiency test. This test is called the WIDA Access.
The test measures academic language skills for students in Washington state who are learning English.

The test will not affect student grades, but it can help determine whether the student will continue in the English language development program at school.
This year, WIDA testing will take place during the school day between January 29 and March 22.

The Washington Comprehensive Assessment of Science (WCAS) is a test given in the spring to all 5th, 8th, and 11th grade students. The WCAS is administered online during the same window as Smarter Balanced and uses the same state assessment platform.

The WCAS measures student performance on the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) that were adopted by our state in 2013.

How can I best prepare my child for the assessments?

Our teachers’ engaging daily lessons are the most effective preparation for students because the assessments are designed to match classroom learning goals.

Families may take practice tests at home if they’d like, and students tend to perform best when they are well fed and well rested. No additional family preparation is necessary other than a positive attitude and growth mindset.

Practice Tests are available for ELA and math
Training Tests are available for science

Answers to the practice tests are available.

Licton Springs PTO Website

The next PTO meeting will be, May 4 @ 6 p.m. We’ll be meeting online, and we hope you can join us to hear updates, share ideas, and help shape plans for the year.

Join the PTO Zoom Meeting

May

4-27 - SBA Testing - see the online calendar for dates by Grade level

4 - PTO Meeting

22 - MMIWP March in solidarity - all school field trip

25 - No School - Memorial Day

29 - Last Friday Event - Talent Show

(including performance by the 4th and 5th grade instrumental
music students and Discover Dance dancers)

June

1 - PTO Meeting

12 - Last Friday Event - Field Day

15 - Device Return Day

16 - Moving Up Day

17 - Last Day of School

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Families can subscribe to the district and/or school website online calendars. Your personal calendars update automatically when a change is made or when a new event is added. How to subscribe:

1. Click the calendar link(s) below:
   • Licton Springs K-8 School Calendar
   • Seattle Public Schools Calendar
2. Scroll to the bottom of the calendar page.
3. On the right-hand side, under Subscribe to Calendar, select a subscribe option.

Please complete the Online School Meal Application form (linked below).

Families with multiple students will only complete this form once. The form is simple to fill out and confidential. The information will only be used to help your school receive funding from state and federal programs.

Online School Meal Application