Alaska Native Cultural Charter

November

November is Alaska Native / American Indian Heritage Month!

November 14 - Rock your Mocs day!

November 17 - Picture Day Retake

November 17 - Family Connections: Screenagers, 5:30 - 7:30 pm

November 17 - 21 - Quarter 2 progress reports go home this week

November 18 - 3rd & 4th grade field trip to Alaska Native Heritage Center

November 19 - 5th & 6th grade field trip to Alaska Native Heritage Center

November 20 - 7th & 8th grade field trip to Alaska Native Heritage Center

November 21 - ANCCS Fall Intensives Day

November 21 - Rock Your Regalia day!

November 24 - Maantua Monday

November 27 & 28 - Thanksgiving Holiday - No School

December

December 1 - Winter mClass benchmark test for K-5 students

December 2 - Middle School (6-8th grade) Reading MAP test

December 3 - Middle School (6-8th grade) Math MAP test

December 3 - ANCCS Story Night, 5:15 - 6:00 pm

December 4 - 3rd-5th grade Reading MAP test

December 5 - 3rd-5th grade Math MAP test

December 13 - Friends of ANCCS Holiday Market, 10:00 am - 4:00 pm

December 15-18 - Holiday Fun Spirit Week

December 17 - Winter Celebration - 1:00 - 3:00 pm

December 18 - Last Day of School for Quarter 2

December 19 - Quarter 2 Grading Day - NO SCHOOL - Winter Break Begins!

January

January 5 & 6 - Staff Development Days - NO SCHOOL

January 7 - First Day of Quarter 3!

January 14 - ANCCS Story Night, 5:15 - 6:00 pm

January 19 - Martin Luther King Jr. Day - NO SCHOOL

January 22 - ANCCS Family Night, 5:30 - 7:00 pm

As we head into the holiday season, we have lots to look forward to and celebrate here at ANCCS! November is Alaska Native and American Indian Heritage month. Students will celebrate on November 14 with Rock Your Mocs day and on November 21 with Rock Your Regalia! For Rock Your Mocs, students are invited to wear their mocs or traditional footwear and/or to dress in turquoise to recognize this day. Our student ambassadors also will be distributing turquoise ribbons for staff and students. To celebrate Rock Your Regalia, students are encouraged to wear a kuspuk, bets'egh hoolaanee, atikluk, or other cultural regalia to represent their heritage with pride. Students in grades 2-8 will be visiting the Alaska Native Heritage Center this month.

November 21 will be ANCCS's fall intensive day. Our pre-K through 8th-grade students will participate in a full-day of learning centering on their grade-level cultural focus topic. Intensives days provide an exciting opportunity for students to explore a topic through multiple content-area lenses and to engage in hands-on learning.

Since 1990, November has been declared as Alaska Native and Native American Heritage Month. November is a time to celebrate the history, traditions, and rich and diverse cultures of Indigenous people in Alaska and North America. Please read the Alaska Native, Native American Heritage Month information from the ASD Indigenous Education department for more details on how we celebrate Indigenous heritage in schools.

In addition to 21st-Century, we offer several programs and activities throughout the school year both before and after school. This month, there is a lot happening at ANCCS! Please see the activity list below. All before- and after-school activities require a completed permission slip. Some activities require a fee. If you are in need of a scholarship for the fee, please contact the front office or the activity host (listed on permission slip).

Established in 2011, Rock Your Mocs is an annual Native American & Indigenous Peoples' movement held in conjunction with Native American Heritage Month. It is easy to participate by wearing moccasins or Indigenous footwear to school, work, or anywhere you go! If a person does not own moccasins, cannot wear moccasins, or perhaps their Tribe did not wear moccasins, they may wear the color turquoise or wear a turquoise awareness ribbon to show their support instead.

Please join us on Monday, November 17 at 5:30 pm, for a family connections night to discuss screen time, technology use, and navigating parenting in the digital age. We will be viewing the film Screenagers and providing opportunities to connect with other parents, caregivers, and school staff.

This event is from 5:30 - 7:30 pm and is open to all parents, guardians, and caregivers of current ANCCS students. Dinner and childcare will be provided.

Please RSVP by November 14 by completing the linked survey form. This will help us to plan for our discussions, dinner, and childcare needs.

To celebrate Rock Your Regalia, students are encouraged to wear a kuspuk, bets'egh hoolaanee, atikluk, or other cultural regalia to represent their heritage with pride.

It is hard to believe we are almost 1/2 way through quarter 2! Teachers will be sending home progress reports this week. This is a good opportunity to pause and check-in with your student regarding missing assignments or areas where students may need support. When students wait until the end of the quarter to try to bring up their grade, it often feels too overwhelming or is too late for students to catch up. Please support your student in staying on track by checking their progress and grades regularly on Q/ParentConnection.

If you have questions about your student's progress or grades, please check in with your student's teacher.

All ANCCS students have a Clever account that they can access on any internet-connected device. There are apps on their Clever account that students can use to practice reading and math from anywhere, anytime. These apps include a variety of activities from online lessons to educational games.

How can my child extend their reading practice outside of school?

BOOST READING! Every K-5th grade student at ANCCS has a Boost Reading account accessed through Clever. This program provides personalized literacy instruction based on your child's benchmark testing. In Boost Reading, students enter a story world that grows as they do. Students encounter a series of quests and characters as they develop and reinforce their skills.

How can my child extend their math practice outside of school?

iReady Mathematics! iReady Mathematics creates a personalized learning path for every K-8th grade student at ANCCS. The program provides students math instruction and practice in the areas where they need the most support. Students can track their progress with a goal of completing 2 lessons a week to maximize their math growth. Students access iReady Math through their Clever account. On iReady, they also can access math games.

What else can I do to support learning at home?

Read to and with your student! All ANCCS students are encouraged to read for at least 30 minutes every day outside of school. This can be a combination of reading on their own, reading to a younger sibling or family member, or being read to. Strong reading habits begin with us; children are likely to mimic what they see us doing. Parents and caregivers are encouraged to model reading habits by reading alongside their child. Consider integrating a family reading time into your schedule where everyone picks up a book to read.

Friday, November 21, is our ANCCS fall intensives day! Our pre-K through 8th-grade students will participate in a full-day of project-based learning on a topic related to their grade-level cultural focus.

These "intensives" classes blend reading, math, science, and social studies skills with cultural learning and hands-on projects.

School attendance is the key to academic success as well as students' social and emotional development. We celebrate being Maantua, present, at ANCCS through Maantua Mondays. Every other Monday, students who attended 9 or more days out of the previous 10 are entered into a drawing. At the end of the quarter, names are drawn and the selected students win a prize. During quarter 1, the prizes included goodies for the students as well as Fred Meyer gift cards for the families! Every time your student attends school 9 out of 10 days, they have an additional chance to win!

Congratulations to our quarter 1 winners! Quyana for being Maantua!

As the holiday season approaches, we know that it can be tempting for students to miss school days due to travel, weather, or seasonal activities. However, maintaining regular attendance through November and December is essential to support students continued academic success and growth. These months are filled with valuable instruction and learning opportunities. Students who attend school regularly throughout November and December are more likely to hang onto this learning over the winter break. Every day in class helps students stay on track, build strong learning habits, and finish the semester confidently. Let’s work together to ensure all students are present, engaged, and ready to learn through the end of 2025!

ANCCS Goal: Less than 8 is Great!

At ANCCS, we want our students to be present and share what they have with our community each and every day. We ask our students to strive to have fewer than 8 absences for the school year.

ASD Goal: Every student will attend school at least 90 percent of the time.

A missed school day is a lost opportunity for students to learn. There is a direct correlation between students who attend school regularly and higher academic achievement levels. In order to reach the 90% attendance goal, students can miss no more than 17 days of school per year. This may sound like a lot of days, but it breaks down to less than two absences per month.

When your student is absent:

Please log on to ParentConnection to report your student's absence or call the front office. Absences will be excused for medical appointments, illness, family emergencies, or religious observation. If your child's absence is not excused by 9:30 am, you will receive an automated “robocall” phone message at 11:00 am.

Please let us know if there is anything we can do to help with your student's attendance!

During the month of October, almost 74% of ANCCS students had regular attendance (meaning they attended at least 90% of school days). This is the highest our regular attendance rate has been in October over the past 4 years. Let's keep this momentum going and strive for all students to have regular school attendance.

Throughout Quarter 2, our students are learning about being prepared and sharing. This includes exploration of self, family, and school in regards to how families depend on each other and work together (cooperation), how families help others and contribute to the community, how families work together for the safety and betterment of their people; how individuals and families become prepared; and how individuals express well-being of self and others (empathy).

Our school day ends and dismissal begins at 3:30 pm. We appreciate your patience in making our car line run smoothly. With snow on the ground, please remember to drive with caution and keep your cell phone put away while driving on campus.

Please read below for ASD's winter recess protocols and procedures.

It is essential that our students have the proper winter gear--a warm coat, snow pants, boots, a hat, and mittens or gloves--every day. Please check that your student is prepared for recess and has the gear that they need. Many items look alike; don't forget to label everything! If your student is in need of winter gear, please contact the front office and ask for our school nurse.

Atauchikun is launching a new cohort, and we invite you to be part of it! This is a unique opportunity for fathers and co-parents to connect, learn, and engage in cultural activities!

✅ Free Food
✅ Childcare Available
✅ Financial Incentives for Completion

Join us for hands-on cultural workshops, parenting support, and a welcoming community that celebrates heritage and strengthens families.

📅 Sign up today using our Parent Interest Form: bit.ly/Atauchikun

For questions, contact Diana Boggess at 907-744-2232 or boggess_diana@asdk12.org.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Atauchikun AK STRONG Team

Join us for our annual Friends of ANCCS Holiday Market from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm on December 13! Our ANCCS Yugtun Choir will perform at 1:00 pm.

MAP Growth is the ASD and State of Alaska required benchmark/interim assessment for students in grades 3-9 in reading and mathematics. This assessment provides us important information on how our students are learning and how best to support their growth.

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 winter benchmark will be administered at ANCCS on December 2nd & 3rd for grades 6-8 and on December 4th & 5th for grades 3-5.

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 Grow 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.

mClass is one of the Anchorage School District’s benchmark assessments and is administered each Fall, Winter, and Spring to K-5 students. Students are assessed in several Early Literacy skill areas which produce an overall composite score.

The mClass reading winter benchmark will be administered at ANCCS on December 1.

Screening scores provide a data snapshot that is used to support identification of students who are at-risk and in need of interventions and/or enrichment or acceleration. The assessments measure early literacy skills in grades K-3. The results are used to measure learning status and growth within the school year.