TOL K-8 Family Newsletter

12/9- TOL Family Org meeting online 6:30 PM

12/10- Winter Art Party K-8 (also K-5 supply pick up for Tri 2) @ Oakland campus 1:00 RSVP

12/12- K-5 Asynchronous day

12/12-TOL @ TPL RSVP

12/15-12/19-Spirit Week

12/18- TOL @ Toolbox Lab RSVP

25-26 Student Calendar

The above calendar is clickable and takes you to the digital version. The calendar is updated throughout the month as needed. We'll send a printed copy in the mail at the beginning of the month.

Wednesday, December 10th

1:00-2:30

Prize Drawing at 2:00

Snacks: Cocoa and popcorn

K-5: Get important T2 supplies while on campus

There will be many different options for crafting this year, something for everyone.

Your ASB team is excited to present Spirit Week, happening December 15th–19th! We invite all students and staff to join in and show their school spirit. Meet us on Teams every day (links coming to calendars soon) to take part in the fun and connect with our school community! K-5 will meet in K-5 Team, 6-12 will meet separately.

Here are the themes for that week:

• Monday: Dress Like Your Favorite Decade
• Tuesday: Music Day - Dress like your favorite music genre
• Wednesday: Dress Like an Animal or Bring Your Pet
• Thursday: Character Day - Dress as your favorite fictional character, or bring one of your own original characters to life!
• Friday: Color Wars

Students in grades K-8 are invited to join the Winter Reading Challenge at Tacoma Public Library. It's a great way to enjoy reading while school is out of session. Log six hours of reading to complete the challenge, earn prizes and be entered to win raffles.

Learn more and sign up here: Winter Reading Challenge website.

Academic integrity means doing your own work, being honest about what you know, and trying your best—even when learning feels challenging. For students learning online at home, productive struggle is an important part of growing as a learner; it helps teachers see what students can do on their own and where they may need support. Families are always encouraged to help, guide, and cheer students on, but many assignments and assessments should be completed independently so teachers can accurately understand each student’s abilities and create meaningful learning goals. We value our partnership with families and are always happy to talk more about how we can support students together.

As we continue to have more meetups and field trips, consider filling out the TPS Volunteer form ahead of time. We ask any adult who may stay on campus for an event or support a field trip to fill these out. Even if you are simply on site to keep an eye on your own student, we ask that you fill out the form. This helps keep all of our students safe. Forms can be emailed to cgrant@tacoma.k12.wa.us. A picture of the front and back of your ID will be sent to WA State Patrol for a background check.

These forms must be completed annually. Thank you!

Questions? Email Mrs. Schlattmann at rschlat@tacoma.k12.wa.us.

We share scheduling school impacts related to weather via email, calls and texts. If your phone, address or email has changed recently, please contact our office to update it.

Remember to update your emergency contacts
It’s helpful to us to have emergency contacts available for each student. When you provide emergency contact information, consider adding trusted adults (neighbors, friends) who do not live in your household. To update your emergency contacts, use ParentVUE.

We will meet on 12/9. The topic will be Student Grades and how to access them.

Welcome to TOL! We are so glad you are here. Joining online school can be a little daunting at first. Click the button below to see some information that may help you get started. Hang in there and reach out if you need help.

With trimester 1 ending in a few weeks and our first report card coming out before winter break, I wanted to update K-5 families on an adjustment to the report card grade scale. In years past, number grades were associated with the BAME scale:

1-Beginning

2-Approaching

3-Meeting

4-Exceeding

For the 25-26 school year, starting with our T1 report card, the BAME language will no longer be used. The number scores from 1-4 and the following descriptions will remain in place:

TOL elementary has used the BAME scale on PLPs in the past. The PLP scale will update in the coming months to reflect this same change, eliminating BAME.

Reminder: report cards will post to ParentVue and StudentVue on 12/11.

Reminder: The T1 report card will take the place of December PLPs for students earning satisfactory progress in December. If a student is unsatisfactory, they will still receive a PLP.

K-5 families are meeting up a few times in the next couple of months at the UP Library. (3609 Market Pl W, University Place, WA 98466) Consider joining in!

Our next meetups at the UP library will be on:

• CANCELLED: Thursday December 11th 12:15pm-2:30pm

See below for more meetups and different locations over winter break.

At the Main branch of the library there is space for 10-15 students on the following dates:

• December 17th, 1:30pm-3:00pm Snap Circuits
• December 27th, 11:30am-1:00pm
• January 28th 1:30pm-3pm

*Space is limited for these. More info about registration coming soon.

Start second semester strong by spending part of your semester break learning about strategies to promote healthy habits and academic endurance. Join us at TCC on January 30th for a Wellness Gathering supported by College Spark Washington, Tacoma Community College, and Tacoma Public Schools. Please register ASAP to reserve your spot and a lunch. Registration is open to the first 150 students.

Starting Nov. 17, you can view mid-term report cards in ParentVUE. Students will be able to view them in StudentVUE.

Progress reports are now available in ParentVUE and StudentVUE. GPAs, summative, formative and learning standards—all of these terms connected to grades can feel overwhelming, but they’re all tools to help students measure their academic growth and learning. Grades and GPAs do matter, but they are only one part of a much bigger picture. Here’s what you need to know about GPA, grades, and how they fit into a student’s educational journey. Read the full story: https://bit.ly/4o0sis9

Hey there TOL Students! Your Tacoma Online ASB have their own Instagram page now! If you want to learn about your current ASB officers, upcoming ASB events and suggest ideas for school activities please follow us @asbtacomaonline!

Your ASB team is excited to present Spirit Week, happening December 15th–19th! We invite all students and staff to join in and show their school spirit. Meet us on Teams every day at 12:15 PM (link coming soon) to take part in the fun and connect with our school community!

Here are the themes for that week:

• Monday: Dress Like Your Favorite Decade
• Tuesday: Music Day - Dress like your favorite music genre
• Wednesday: Dress Like an Animal or Bring Your Pet
• Thursday: Character Day - Dress as your favorite fictional character, or bring one of your own original characters to life!
• Friday: Color Wars

Color Wars Grade Colors:

• 6th Grade — Red
• 7th Grade — Orange
• 8th Grade — Yellow
• 9th Grade — Green
• 10th Grade — Blue
• 11th Grade — Purple/Indigo
• 12th Grade — Black/Violet

We hope you’ll join us and help make Spirit Week a fun and memorable event for everyone!

Website: https://tol.tacomaschools.org/

Phone: 253-571-1545

Address: 912 Broadway, Tacoma WA 98402

TOL K-12 Principal – Shaun Martin – smartin2@tacoma.k12.wa.us

TOL 9-12 Assistant Principal – Paul Eliot – peliot@tacoma.k12.wa.us

TOL K-8 Assistant Principal—Ruth Schlattmann – rschlat@tacoma.k12.wa.us

Tacoma Online is a K-12 school that provides students an anywhere/anytime online school experience. Students engage in academic learning led by teachers. While students generally participate in learning activities from home, they are provided multiple forms of support.

Nondiscrimination Statement

Tacoma Public Schools does not discriminate in any programs or activities on the basis of sex, race, ethnicity, creed, religion, color, national origin, immigration or citizenship status, age, veteran or military status, sexual orientation, gender expression, gender identity, homelessness, disability, neurodivergence, or the use of a trained dog guide or service animal and provides equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups. The following employees have been designated to handle questions and complaints of alleged discrimination:

Civil Rights Coordinator, Gender-Inclusive Schools Coordinator, and Title IX Coordinator:

Tiffany Davis-Brantley

253-571-1252, civilrights@tacoma.k12.wa.us

Section 504 Coordinator: Laura Tuman

253-571-1086, 504Coordinator@tacoma.k12.wa.us

Tacoma Public Schools

Mailing Address:

P.O. Box 1357

Tacoma, WA 98401-1357

www.tacomaschools.org