Aquarian News

September

9/8-9/11 House Gear Drop Off

9/8-9/18 MAP Testing

9/8 First Quarter ASA's Start

9/8 Texas Dine to Donate

9/11 Bake Sale

9/14 PTO Meeting 5:30 in the Library

9/17-9/18 mClass

9/18 Dress Like a Pirate Day

9/18 House Clothing Swap on Blacktop at 3:30

9/18 Bake Sale

9/19 Bowling Event

9/19 Coyote Classic (Kincaid Elementary)

9/22 APC Meeting 5:45 in the Library

• Meeting ID: 945 3161 5121
• Passcode: 871491

9/25 House Hour

9/25 Bake Sale

9/27 Nic's Race

9/30 Student Council Assembly 1:00-1:40

9/30 South Jamboree (Service High School) 5:00pm

October

10/1 Voting for Student Council 3rd-5th

10/1 Picture Retake Day

10/2 Jog-a-Thon

10/2 Bake Sale

10/5 PTO Meeting 5:30

10/12 Indigenous Peoples' Day (No School)

10/14-10/15 Explorations

10/16 Inservice (No School for Students)

10/23 Bake Sale

10/26 2nd Quarter ASA Signups

10/26 Morning Bake Sale

10/26-10/29 Book Fair

10/28 House Hour 10:15-11:45

10/28 Early Dismissal 12:00/ Parent Teacher Conferences

10/29 Conferences (No School for Students)

10/30 Conferences (No School for Students)

10/ 30 Trunk or Treat

Want to be part of making Aquarian even more awesome? Become a PTO member! Your membership helps make all the fun happen, from monthly community events and school traditions to supporting professional development for our amazing teachers.

Your PTO membership helps create the extras that make Aquarian feel like more than just a school. It’s community, connection, and a whole lot of fun! 💙

Join now before prices go up in October! Grab your PTO membership today and help us make this school year one to remember. We’d love to have you on the team!

https://aquarianpto.membershiptoolkit.com/assets/05471/aede71dcbff6ba2ff4ec1fa1b0985712

September 10: Informational meeting in Ms. Danielle's room at lunch. Hard copies of packets will be handed out.

September 21: Student applications, including speeches and a poster, are due to Ms. Danielle and Ms. Sarah P

September 23 and 28: Mandatory Speech practice in Ms. Danielle’s room during lunch

September 29: Optional Speech practice in Ms. Danielle's room

September 30: Candidates will deliver speeches in the Gym from 1:00 to 1:40

October 1: Voting for 3-5 grade will take place before school (8:00-8:30) and at Recess(11:40-12:10)

October 2: Votes will be tallied, and elected officers will be announced at the end of the day.

** Elected officials will meet every Thursday at lunch for Aquarian Student Council meetings. Student Council is a year-long commitment. Only serious students should apply.

We are looking forward to another year of growing student leadership at Aquarian!

Your AQ Student Council Teacher Representatives,

Ms. Sarah P. and Ms. Danielle

Mark your calendars because September 8th is Dine to Donate at Texas Roadhouse! 🥜🥩

Bring the whole crew, grab your favorite Texas Roadhouse meal, and enjoy a night out while helping support Aquarian PTO! 💙 Every bite helps us raise money to create awesome experiences and opportunities for our Aquarian students.

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Bring the family
🥩 Come hungry
🎉 Invite your friends
💙 Support Aquarian PTO
🍴 Eat delicious food — it’s basically fundraising without the hard work!

📅 September 8th
📍 Texas Roadhouse

Let’s PACK THE HOUSE and show Texas Roadhouse what the Aquarian community is all about! 🙌🔥

Share this event, tag your dinner crew, and make plans to join us! The more people who come, the more we can raise for our kids! 💙🐟

#AquarianPTO #DineToDonate #TexasRoadhouse #SupportOurStudents #AquarianAcademy #PTOFundraiser #EatForACause #CommunityStrong

Aquarian families, get ready to hit the lanes! Join us for our Aquarian PTO Bowling Party on Saturday, September 19th from 12–4 PM!

Bowling will happen in 1-hour increments, so families will choose a specific time slot when they sign up.

Your afternoon includes:

🎳 Bowling
👟 Shoe rental
🍕 Pizza
🍪 Cookies

IMPORTANT SIGN-UP & PAYMENT INFO

1️⃣ SIGN UP ON SIGN UP GENIUS
Please sign up for ONLY the number of people who will actually be BOWLING. This helps us make sure we have enough lanes, shoes, pizza, and cookies for everyone!

2️⃣ PAY SEPARATELY
After signing up, payment is made separately.

💙 PTO Members: Bowling, shoes, pizza, and cookies are included with your PTO membership!

💵 Non-PTO Members: $5 per bowler.

And if you haven't joined PTO yet... this is a pretty great reminder that your membership can pay for itself! 🎉 Between bowling events, monthly community activities, teacher professional development, and all the other fun PTO helps bring to Aquarian, your membership dollars go a long way.

🎳 Sign up on Sign Up Genius: https://www.signupgenius.com/

💵 Non-PTO payment: https://aquarianpto.membershiptoolkit.com/BOWLING2026

We can't wait to see everyone on the lanes! May your strikes be plentiful and your gutter balls be few. 😉

Aquarian PTO

13th Annual

Aquarian A-Thon

Friday October 2, 2026

Here’s how it works:

The Jog A-Thon event is where students run laps through the woods near the playground (loop is ¼ mile) to raise money for Aquarian. Students collect pledges from family and friends. Pledges may be either a single flat pledge or per one (1) lap for running. On Friday, October 2nd, during the school day, 2nd - 5th grade students will jog for 45 minutes. (Kindergartners and 1st graders will jog for 30 minutes.) Students will collect the money raised through pledges, which will determine the awards they can win (see below). The money raised will support the Aquarian PTO in the general fund to be used for school activities such as 4th & 5th grade camps, STEM explorations and school wide community events and professional development of our amazing teachers!

TO REGISTER: Please visit aquarianpto.membershiptoolkit.com to use the on-line option. This on-line option allows you to set up a student page, email the link to family and friends, as well as post the link to social media.

Setup Your Online Account Tutorial

Student Awards:

$50 in pledges = Water bottle sticker

$100 in pledges = an Aquarian Squishy

$200 in pledges = Ice Cream coupon to Tastee Freez

$300 in pledges = Aquarian Five Houses, One Family shirt

$500 in pledges =(2) Day passes to The Dome

Top Student Fundraiser will get to be “Principal for the Day!”

Top 3 fundraisers will be awarded a $100 gift card

*Once the top 3 have been determined, PTO will contact those families to get student’s choice and issue gift cards

Class Contest! The top primary (K-2) and intermediate (3-5) classes that

collectively raise the most money will win a party for their class.

Schedule of Events

Now - Oct 2nd – Collect Pledges – ask your family, friends, neighbors and (parent/guardian) work colleagues!

October 2nd – AQUARIAN A-THON (during school hours). Turn money raised into Student’s Teacher.

October 8th - all money raised due to classroom teachers no later than this date to earn prizes.

We’re looking for community members and local businesses who would be willing to sponsor our A-Thon this year!

A-Thon funds help make so many things possible at Aquarian, including community events, Teacher Appreciation, Explorations, 4th & 5th grade camps, and professional development for our teachers. ❤️

If you know a business, family member, friend, or community member who might be interested in sponsoring, please send them our way!

👉 Have them fill out this quick form: https://forms.gle/jWizZTiJH56su8EPA

Every connection helps us make this year’s Jog-a-Thon a success! 🎉

Have house gear your child has outgrown? Ms. Annie and Ms. Brenda are organizing a school wide House Gear Swap!

Collection: August 31–September 11
Drop off clean, gently used house gear at the front office. You will receive one exchange ticket for each item donated.

Gear Swap: Friday, September 18
Bring your tickets to the blacktop and exchange them for available house gear. Please note that sizes and items cannot be guaranteed.

House Gear Sale: Friday, September 25
Any remaining gear will be available for purchase on the blacktop after school for $5 per item. All proceeds will benefit Aquarian’s Student Council.

It’s that time of year again….5th grade Battle of the Books! Does your child enjoy reading and spending time with friends? If so, then Battle of the Books (BoB) is for them. BoB is a reading program that motivates students to read and increases their comprehension. The goals of the program are to:

• challenge and recognize students who love to read,

• encourage reluctant readers,

• broaden students’ reading interests,

• increase reading comprehension and fluency, and

• inspire discussion and analysis of literature.

If your child is interested in participating in BoB this year, please have them join us for our first meeting to get some important information. An informational meeting will be held during lunch on Tuesday, September 8th, 12:10 - 12:40 in the library. The tentative list can be found here: https://sites.google.com/view/akaslbattleofthebooks/2026-2027-tentative-list

If you have any questions, please contact Ms. Sharon at holland_sharon@asdk12.org

If you have any questions, please contact Ms. Megan at deruyter_megan@asdk12.org or Ms. Brenda at wimett_brenda@asdk12.org.

This is just a reminder that our first ¾ Battle of the Books meeting will be this Tuesday, September 8th, from 12:10 - 12:40 in Ms. Megan’s room.

If your child is interested, please simply sign up on the link here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeZXnDlKog2Eniv-Z58KLc5oSaQ9ylju0LE3GiFah6dKP581w/viewform?usp=dialog

We are hoping the finalized list of books will be available at the meeting. Please encourage your child to attend if they are interested for some general information.

Hi Aquarian Charter Families!

Picture day was on September 1st and 2nd! CLICK HERE to learn how to order, when to expect pictures, and more.

Thank you for trusting me with your children's photos,

Audrey R.

Brooks & Hayes Photography

As part of The Alaska Reads Act, the State of Alaska requires that districts administer an early literacy screening tool three times a year to students in grades K-3 to identify potential reading difficulties in order to improve reading outcomes for students. Families can read more about this comprehensive K-3 reading policy at The Alaska Reads Act website: education.alaska.gov/akreads

mClass with DIBELS 8th Edition Assessments is the State of Alaska Department of Education’s and ASD’s Early Literacy benchmark screening and progress monitoring tool for students in grades K-3 in reading. mClass utilizes curriculum-based measures and is used by schools as part of the ASD Comprehensive Assessment System to support informed instructional decisions.

The Alaska Department of Education & Early Development explains the decision to adopt mClass as the statewide literacy screener here:

https://education.alaska.gov/Alaska-Reading-Resources/Statewide-Early-Literacy-Screener

mClass screening assessments will be done at Aquarian on September 17-18.

Results for K-3 students that were assessed during a benchmark window, will be available in Parent Connect by October 2, 2026 ParentConnection Login Information and Reference Guide: parentconnect.asdk12.org

MAP Growth is the ASD and State of Alaska required benchmark/interim reading and mathematics assessment for students in grades 3-9. Grades 10-12 students identified as needing Tier II and Tier III reading and mathematics support also take MAP Growth as part of the Anchorage School District's MTSS framework.

Alaska's Department of Education and Early Development (DEED) has partnered with NWEA to implement a creative approach to a balanced statewide assessment that connects fall and winter MAP Growth benchmark/interim assessments and the Alaska spring AK STAR summative assessment. AK STAR eliminates the spring benchmark/interim assessment window for grades 3-9 by combining the summative and benchmark assessment into one test that produces a spring benchmark score, which includes a growth measure. More information is available at the State of Alaska AK STAR website, education.alaska.gov/assessments/akstar.

MAP Growth is an online, adaptive assessment that provides each student a personalized testing experience with data that speaks to their individual progress and growth in mathematics and reading.

The MAP Growth reading and mathematics benchmark will be administered in person during the fall and winter benchmark windows. The spring benchmark will be embedded in the AK STAR summative assessment as outlined above.

• Fall Benchmark 1: September 8 - September 18 (make-ups through September 25)

• Winter Benchmark 2: November 30 - December 11 (make-ups through December 17)

• Spring Benchmark 3: embedded in AK STAR administered during the summative assessment window: March 29 - April 9 (make-ups through April 30)

MAP Growth practice tests and tutorials allow students and families the opportunity to become familiar with the types of questions and tools available on the actual MAP Growth assessments such as the highlighter and calculator. An overview of these resources with links to the practice tests are compiled on the MAP Growth Practice Tests Quick Sheet.

Each year, a $150 non-refundable student activity fee is required per child. This fee helps cover the cost of field trips, explorations, and other student events throughout the school year. It is due before the end of the first quarter.

Online payment are available!

To pay online:

1. Log in to your Parent Connect account.

2. Select your child.

3. Under ASD Quick Links, click Online Payments.

4. Choose Activity Fee to complete your payment.

If you experience any issues with the online payment system, please contact the front office at 742-4900 for assistance.