KMS WEEKLY UPDATE

Dear Parents/Guardians,

We hope you had an enjoyable winter break. We have jumped right back into the swing of things and would like to remind families that Kodiak Middle School will administer the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) Growth Assessments three times this year.

The second assessment window for KMS students is January 9, 10, and 11. The whole school will test at the same time each day with a modified schedule to accommodate testing. The final MAP growth assessment will be combined with the Alaska System of Academic Readiness (AK STAR) in April.

The MAP Growth Assessment is a computerized adaptive reading, writing, and math test aligned with Alaska's teaching standards. It is used as an interim test in fall and winter to predict a student's performance on the end- of-year summative assessment known as the AK STAR.

When taking the assessments, the difficulty of each question is based on how well a student answers all the previous questions. As the student answers correctly, questions become more complex. If a student answers incorrectly, the questions become easier. The MAP assessment is an untimed assessment and can take anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours for students to complete.

The MAP assessments help our school identify our students' learning needs in reading, math, and language usage. We will use the results of the Growth Assessments to identify students scoring below the 25%ile to recommend academic interventions. These interventions would be taught in a nine-week rotation in place of their elective. Please talk to your student about the importance of these assessments.

If you have additional questions about the MAP assessments, please get in touch with KMS administrators or your student's math or English Language Arts teacher.

The modified MAP schedule is attached below.

Additionally, on Friday, January 12, we will be running on an extended Advisory schedule. During Advisory class, each grade level will host a brief student assembly recognizing a student for academic excellence, outstanding progress, and citizenship. Later this month, we will distribute certificates to students for high honor roll and honor roll.

Sincerely,

Geoff Smith, Principal

Rena Ranking, Assistant Principal

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We are almost out of snacks for our students. If you would like to donate, please bring individually wrapped non-perishable healthy snacks to the main office.

Crackers, pretzels, granola bars, applesauce, etc are all good examples.

Thank you so much!

Nurse Amber

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Mr. Hodge is available for help and guidance Tuesday - Friday after school in Room 102.

Wednesday will remain our main group meeting with teacher support: Mr. Hodge, Ms. Johnson, Ms. Doud, and Mr. Thorpe. Students can report to room 102 at 2:30pm on Wednesdays, due to early release. Mr. Thorpe will supervise until 3:30pm, when the other teachers will join.

Here you will find events that will be happening in the next couple of months, but not during the coming week.

We want to give our families plenty of time to plan around our activities and opportunities.

Details will be posted later in this newsletter and/or another newsletter in the near future.

• 1/12: Grade-Level Academic Excellence Assembly for Students
• 1/15: District-wide InService - no school
• 1/22: KMS Schoolwide Spelling Bee, 3:35pm, KMS Commons

• 2/7: NAEP Testing (8th grade only)
• 2/9: Friday Night Live

• 3/7: PTSA Meeting, 6pm, KMS Library
• 3/18-3/22: No School, Spring Break
• Track - Information coming soon

• 5/7: PTSA Meeting, 6pm, KMS Library

Stay informed about what is happening in your student's school district!

Meeting information is posted on the Kodiak Island Borough School District website, www.kibsd.org, under the Board of Education tab - or click here.

KIBSD now streams meetings via Microsoft Teams!

The meeting agendas and documents can be viewed on BoardDocs, http://www.boarddocs.com/ak/kodiak/Board.nsf/Public

For more information, contact:

Jamie Bennett

Interim Secretary to the Board of Education

907-486-7550.

The agendas are subject to change;

therefore, the only official agenda is the one found online.

KMS Guidance Counselors would like to remind you of the free VIP membership below, called Smart Social. It's available to all KIBSD families, free of charge.

Educate yourself and your children against the dangers online.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to Theresa Miller at 907-486-7471.

KIBSD Schools are excited to welcome our visitors and volunteers to the different schools.

If you have not visited one of our schools before or have been coming for a long time, we have made some minor changes to standardize our process throughout the schools.

There will now be a sign-in binder you will be asked to sign, along with the name tag you are used to wearing. We ask for your patience, if we have not seen you before, you will be asked to present an ID when you sign in.

All non-KIBSD employees in the buildings will be asked to use staff facilities, not the student washrooms.

We also want to say good-bye when you leave so we are asking everyone to stop by the office to sign out.

ATTENDANCE LINE:

Please use this option to let us know that your child is going to be absent, late, or if you're picking them up early. This is OPTION 1 when calling the school at 907-486-7460.

We check the voicemails every hour.

CHECKING STUDENTS OUT:

Please call in the morning to let us know that you will be checking your student out early. Press the attendance line (OPTION 1) to leave a message. A pass will be given to your student so they can be ready when you arrive. You will come to the front entrance, ring the bell, and sign them out in the office.

DROPPING OFF LUNCH/ITEMS TO STUDENTS:

Please be sure to drop off lunch to students PRIOR to their lunch time.

When dropping off any items to students, please do so BEFORE the class they need it, and we will call them to the front office during passing period.