Trailside Parent Newletter

Feb. 16- President's Day Holiday- NO SCHOOL

Feb. 20- Winter Family Fun Night!

Feb. 25 and 26- Parent Teacher Conferences (See info below)

Feb. 27- Student Release Day- No school for students

March 3- Picture Day!

March 4- NAEP Testing for 4th Grade Only

March 6- Student Release Grading day (no school)

March 9-13- Spring Break

March 23-Traditional Lunch Service Begins (See Info Below)

March 27- Math and Science Night!

Week of March 30- AK STAR Testing 3-5th Grades Only

Fri. April 17- Makeup School Day (See Info Below)

April 20-26- Teacher Appreciation Week

Thurs. May 21- Makeup School Day (See Info Below)

To date, there have been four districtwide emergency closures due to hazardous road conditions. The school calendar already included two closure days, so the District needs to make up two extra days.

• Friday, April 17 will be a full school day

• The last day of school for students will now be Thursday, May 21

Join us Friday, February 20 from 5:30-7:30 pm for s'mores, hot chocolate, sledding, kick sledding, x-country skiing, and more! Equipment will be provided if you don't have your own. (Please bring helmets/sleds if you have them!)

A special thank you to the Alaska Botanical Garden for generously loaning Trailside Elementary their fleet of kicksleds free of charge!

Yearbooks are available for purchase on the LifeTouch Yearbook website. To purchase your student's yearbook:

• Go to Lifetouch yearbook pay at https://ybpay.lifetouch.com
• Trailside school code is 8571526
• Last day to pre-order yearbooks: April 10th
• There will be a limited supply of yearbooks available for purchase at the school at the end of the year

Yearbooks are passed out to students during the last week of school. Pre-ordering is the only way to guarantee your student gets a yearbook!

We’re transitioning from over-wrapped meals to fresh, scratch-made dishes! Our new traditional service model will bring warmth, choice, and community back to the lunchroom.

BENEFITS OF THE NEW SERVICE MODEL

· Fresh, wholesome meals prepared in our Central Facility and served up at your school.

· Greater variety and menu expansion — more choices students love.

· Improved food quality and presentation.

· Encourages students to choose and eat more fruits and vegetables.

· Environmentally friendly — less packaging and waste.

· Positive feedback from students, parents, and staff.

THE IMPACT

Schools that have already made the switch to traditional service have seen remarkable results: • Increased student participation at breakfast and lunch. • Reduced waste by half. • Happier students and staff who enjoy fresh aromas and engaging mealtime experiences. • A true sense of pride and community in the café!

WHAT’S NEXT

This is just the beginning! The traditional service model sets the stage for menu expansion and even more scratch-made options. Our goal is to create a dining experience students look forward to every day — a lunch to get excited about!

Please ensure your child has appropriate winter gear for recess (and label with your child's name). ASD policy has students going outside for recess up until -10 degrees F.

Have a great photo of students participating in events this school year? Send your photos to: Trailsideyearbook25@gmail.com

Become a PTA Member, Check out upcoming events, or Sign-up for an After School Activity Here:

https://trailsidepta.givebacks.com/shop

We'll be working on a schedule to distribute tickets so students can enter to win one of the many amazing prizes. And stay tuned... since our students dominated the reading challenge, we can't wait to see what the principal challenge will be!

Winter Family Fun Night - February 20

Want to get involved or have questions? Contact trailsideptapresident@gmail.com

Parents or Guardians of 5th Grade Students:

During the second semester, the Elementary Health curriculum, The Great Body Shop, will cover human growth and development and diseases.

Fifth grade student lessons are:

Unit 6 Growing Up

Lesson 1 Hormones and Your Body

Lesson 2 Puberty: Growing and Changing

Lesson 3 Hygiene and You–Keeping Clean

Lesson 4 Growing Up With a Healthy Attitude

Unit 8 About Blood and Disease

Lesson 3 HIV, Enemy of the Immune System

For more information about lesson topics, student issues and videos, please visit the preview folder:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1zTuTxyXfvva8JXUNPqjgYJgmiVUCp7xS?usp=sharing

*Please contact me if you have any or would like an opportunity to preview the related materials.

NAEP 2026 PARENT-GUARDIAN NOTIFICATION LETTER

Grades 4, 8, and 12 Civics, Mathematics, Reading, or U.S. History Monday,

January 12, 2026

Dear Parent or Guardian: Trailside Elementary will participate in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) on Wednesday, March 4, 2026. NAEP is the largest nationally representative and continuing assessment of what students know and can do in various subjects. NAEP is administered by the National Center for Education Statistics, within the U.S. Department of Education. NAEP is different from our state assessments because it is a common measure of achievement across the country.

Your child will/may take a mathematics or reading assessment. In addition to subject-area questions, students voluntarily complete NAEP survey questions. These questions provide valuable information about participating students’ educational experiences and opportunities to learn both in and outside of the classroom. More information about NAEP survey questions is available at https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/parents under the section “Survey Questionnaires & Your Student: What You Need to Know.” The assessment takes about 120 minutes for most students, which includes transition time, directions, and completion of survey questions. The information collected is used for statistical purposes only. Your child’s grades will not be affected. Students may be excused for any reason, are not required to complete the assessment, and may skip any question. While the assessment is voluntary, NAEP depends on student participation to help policymakers improve education.

If you do not want your child to participate, please notify me in writing by Monday, February 23, 2026. There is no need to study in preparation for NAEP, but please encourage your child to do their best. Contact Eric Niessner at 907-742-5500 or at niessner_eric@asdk12.org if you have any questions. We are excited that our school is participating in NAEP.

We know that Trailside Elementary’s students will show what our nation’s students know and can do. Sincerely, Eric Niessner The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) conducts the National Assessment of Educational Progress to evaluate federally supported education programs.

All of the information you provide may only be used for the purposes of research, statistics, and evaluation under the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (ESRA; 20 U.S.C. § 9543) and may not be disclosed, our used, in identifiable form for any other purpose except as required by law. Every NCES employee as well as every NCES agent, such as contractors and NAEP coordinators, has taken an oath and is subject to a jail term of up to 5 years, a fine of $250,000, or both if he or she willfully discloses ANY identifiable information about you. Electronic submission of your information will be monitored for viruses, malware, and other threats by Federal employees and contractors in accordance with the Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2015.

Each spring, Alaskan students are provided an opportunity to show what they know. When students show what they know, teachers and parents can partner to promote student success. The State of Alaska Department of Education has partnered with NWEA to align and connect the English language arts (ELA) and mathematics tests with the MAP Growth benchmark assessments students take in fall and winter.

This balanced assessment system targets instruction to better support meeting students’ individual learning needs. In addition, students will take only one assessment per content area (ELA and math) and be provided two scores as follows:

1. Summative assessment result at grade-level

2. MAP Growth interim benchmark result, including growth from fall to spring

AK STAR, the Alaska System of Academic Readiness, is comprised of English language arts and mathematics and is administered to students in grades 3-9. The Alaska Science Assessment is administered to students in grades 5, 8 and 10. The purpose of a large-scale, summative assessment is to provide parents and schools an overall picture of a student’s progress in meeting the Alaska standards at grade level.

Parents can locate resources for AK STAR and the Alaska Science Assessment, including directions for Student Readiness (Practice Tests and Tutorials), student testing times and general assessment information on the ASD website at https://www.asdk12.org/akstar.

Parents can also help by ensuring their children are well rested, eat a nutritious breakfast, and are at school on time for the days of testing. Please avoid scheduling appointments on your child’s testing days.

The ASD AK STAR and Alaska Science Assessment testing window allows for school assessment scheduling flexibility. Students! Get ready to show what you know during our school’s AK STAR and

2026 ASD AK STAR and Alaska Science Assessment Testing Window:

March 30-April 16

(Make-ups through May 1)

State of Alaska Window: March 30-May 1

*Must be completed each school year

Parents who wish to chaperone or volunteer with school events must complete a Volunteer Application each school year (it does not carry over through multiple school years). If you have not done so already, please complete a volunteer application :

Email TrailsidePTAPresident@gmail.com to volunteer. Every volunteer hour invested strengthens our school community and enriches our children's experience at Trailside. No contribution is too small!​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

REMIND is a communication tool that will be used to send important notifications to families throughout the year. Here is the link to join: https://www.remind.com/join/9caeah

Free & Reduced-Price Meal Application Reminder. Free & Reduced-Price meal applications and Direct Certification are available throughout the school year. Feel free to copy the information and adjust it to fit specific school community needs. Student Nutrition appreciates school support in getting this information out to families.

If there are any questions, please contact Student Nutrition at SNAdmin@asdk12.org.

Please call or email the office when excusing your student due to sickness, or pre-arranged absence (Travel, Etc.)

When leaving messages for the office, please make sure to leave the student's first and last name.

Please also leave a good contact name and number we can reach you at if we have questions regarding the message.

907-742-5500

donaldson_karen@asdk12.org

All parents, please check your parent connection and make sure all of your contact information is correct.

Please notify the office of any of the following changes:

• Custody/Legal Documents (as soon as possible)
• Address Changes
• Phone number updates
• If you are moving, please notify the office as soon as possible.

Please make sure when using Q Parent Connection to excuse your student, it has to be done in the system prior to 8:30 am. If not, you will get a Robo-Call from the district notifying you that your student was absent for the day. Please call the office if it is after 9:30 am and the office staff will get your student excused.

If you are traveling please contact the office so we can get your student excused, you will then see a "P" (Travel status and other pre-arranged absences) in Q- Parent Connection instead of "E" (Excused).