The Silverhawk's Nest

Silverhawk Families,

Happy New Year and welcome back! We hope you and your family enjoyed a restful and joyful winter break. As we begin this new chapter of the school year, we are excited to welcome our students back and continue working together to support their growth and success.

Our focus remains strong on academic growth for every student. Teachers are using data, intentional instruction, and engaging learning experiences to help students build skills, confidence, and a love for learning. We encourage families to continue supporting learning at home through regular attendance, reading, and positive conversations about school.

In addition to academics, we will continue to emphasize our core values of Safety, Ownership, Achievement, and Respect.

• Safety ensures our school remains a secure and supportive environment for all.

• Ownership encourages students to take responsibility for their learning and behavior.

• Achievement celebrates effort, growth, and perseverance.

• Respect reminds us to treat ourselves and others with kindness, empathy, and care.

By working together—school and home—we can help students thrive academically, socially, and emotionally. Thank you for your continued partnership and support. We look forward to a successful and rewarding remainder of the school year.

If you ever have any questions or concerns please don't hesitate to email me at christine.fitzsimmons@dvusd.org or you can catch me in the front parking lot at drop-off and pick-up. Have a great January!!

Warm regards,

Principal Fitzsimmons

Happy New Year, SPARK/Sage families!

IMPORTANT

Testing, testing, and more testing in our gifted corner... It's like the Super Bowl of testing for gifted these coming weeks! 😀

For "spring" gifted testing, we are using the CogAT - The Cognitive Abilities Test - which is a multiple-choice test designed to measure a child’s academic aptitude as well as to identify gifted students.

*Note that SPARK/Sage classes may be canceled during our "spring" gifted testing window, which is from January 6th - February 20th.

2nd Grade Blanket Gifted Testing

We will begin 2nd grade blanket testing (using the CogAT) right after our winter break starting promptly on January 6th! I will be over in Mrs. Werbach's class helping to facilitate the testing our first week back. The week after, I'll be pulling any students for makeup testing if necessary.

Spring Gifted Testing (CogAT) - Grades K, 1st, 3-6th

You are encouraged to register your student! Teachers may NOT register your student for you.

Parent registration ends January 9th. Registration information is available on our DVUSD Gifted Services website: https://www.dvusd.org/departments/cia/gifted-servicescia/gifted-testing-early-entry-testing

Here is the direct link for registration: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/113I4RCCVylczxWcN0vAV_t1MJtCJ3XiyUz5exBWwVXY/viewform?edit_requested=true

Starting January 20th, I will be pulling students in all grade levels, besides 2nd, as they've completed blanket gifted testing. Due to my being on campus three days per week, I'll use the days I'm at Bellair to complete testing until the final date of February 20th.

SPARK/Sage will mostly be canceled unless I am able to pull students intermittently, which I'll try to do over the coming weeks. More to come as we begin meeting again in February. With that said, I will continue to see my WUTM (7th grade math) students during this testing window.

Attached is the flyer to register your student for testing if you have not done so already. Please be aware that registration ends on January 9th!

As always, please reach out if you have any questions!

Best,

Brittany Balog, M.Ed.

Gifted Specialist

Traditional Academy at Bellair

2nd Quarter Awards Assembly for 3rd-6th graders will be on Friday, January 9th @9:00 in the gym. Your child's teacher will reach out to you to let you know if your child will be receiving an award for the 2nd Quarter.

If you would like to volunteer in your child's classroom, or go on any field trips, you must go through Volunteer Training. We will be having Volunteer Training in room 608.

• August 19th @4pm
• November 4th @4pm
• January 13th @4pm
• March 10th @4pm

During our Early Release/PD Dates teachers will be reviewing student data and collaboratively working together to plan how to best support students throughout the school year.

• August - 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th
• September - 12th, 19th and 26th
• October - 10th, 24th and 31st
• November - 7th, 14th and 21st
• December - 5th and 12th
• January - 16th, 23rd and 30th
• February - 6th, 20th and 27th
• March - 6th, 13th and 27th
• April - 24th
• May - 1st, 8th and 15th

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is an evidence-based, tiered framework for supporting students’ behavioral, academic, social, emotional, and mental health. When implemented with fidelity, PBIS improves social emotional competence, academic success, and school climate. It also improves teacher health and wellbeing. It is a way to create positive, predictable, equitable and safe learning environments where everyone thrives. We use ‘students’ to refer to all children and youth in any educational or therapeutic setting (e.g., K-12 school, early childhood program, treatment program, juvenile justice program). Learn more about PBIS in schools, classrooms, early childhood programs and juvenile justice programs on those topic pages.

Our new PBIS Acronym is S.O.A.R. Silverhawks show Safety, Ownership, Achievement and Respect. Please help us to instill these behaviors at home, so we can all "S.O.A.R. to #Extraordinary Heights Together!"

Email: christine.fitzsimmons@dvusd.org
Website: https://www.dvusd.org/traditional
Location: 4701 West Grovers Avenue, Glendale, AZ, USA
Phone: 602-467-5700
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Traditional-Academy-at-Bellair-109175091218455
Twitter: @Trad_Bellair