Lion's Pride

December

December 2 - End of Trimester 1 for Elementary Schools

December 10 - 12th - Preschool and Elementary Conferences - Early Dismissal

December 11 - Evening Conferences

December 20 - Holiday Early Dismissal

December 23-31 - Winter Holiday - Schools Closed

January

January 1 - New Years Day - Schools Closed

January 2- Return to School

January 17 - Teacher In-Service - Early Dismissal

January 20 - Martin Luther King, Jr Day - Schools Closed

We are thrilled to announce an exciting change at Lindenwold Elementary School this year: the introduction of Standards-Based Report Cards for our students!

This updated report card format is designed to provide clearer, more detailed feedback on your child's progress toward meeting specific learning standards. Instead of traditional grades, the standards-based approach focuses on your child's growth and mastery in key academic areas, offering a more comprehensive understanding of their learning journey.

To prepare for this transition, our teachers have participated in specialized training to ensure consistent and meaningful evaluations. Additionally, we recently held a parent information session to explain the new system and answer questions. If you were unable to attend, no worries! All the details, including helpful resources and parent information videos, can be found on the District Curriculum Website.

We believe this change will enhance communication about your child's strengths and areas for improvement, helping us all work together to support their success.

If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out to your child's teacher or Kathryn Agresta, Elementary Director of Curriculum and Instruction.

kagresta@lindenwold.k21.nj.us

Thank you for your continued partnership in your child’s education. We're looking forward to an amazing year ahead!

Your children have learned so much from December to January. This is due to the collaboration between families and the schools. I am so appreciative of how many parents we have had the pleasure of working with as partners. In addition, I am so appreciative of the hard work of the teachers in this district. They strive to provide the best education possible for your children.

To be sure that we are providing teaching focused on exactly what your child needs, we need to assess. During the month of January we will be assessing your child's reading and math skills.

Students will use an adaptive computer assessment, STAR Renaissance, to determine what they need academically. This program will help to determine each students instructional grade level. Students will then be set on a computer path in Freckle or Lalilo that can help close gaps and/or provide enrichment. In addition, teacher will use the data to set instructional goals during small group instruction.

In addition, we will be Dibels testing students in K-3 to be sure they have the foundational skills to be able to read. Again, teachers will use the data to drive instruction. This will be done during small group instruction time.

Finally, students in 3rd and 4th grade will take the Linkit! Benchmark in Math and Reading to determine the level of proficiency at grade level skills. This will help provide teachers information about what they can do during whole group instruction to meet your child's instructional needs.

These assessments will help us to make decisions about what your children need to be successful. Thank you for your support and we look forward to continued collaboration with families.

In LMS and LHS, students take benchmark assessments at the end of each marking period. This past month marked the end of MP1. Our benchmark assessment questions are each aligned to the NJ State Learning Standards, and are designed to look and feel like the NJ State Learning Assessments, which students take each year from grades 3-9.

Teachers and school leaders do a number of things with benchmark data, including the following:

1. Assessment of Student Progress: Benchmarks help educators assess students' academic growth and provide insights into how well students are grasping the material .

2. Identifying Strengths and Weaknesses: Teachers use the data to identify areas where students excel and where they might be struggling, and what they will in turn do for the next marking period

3. Planning and Instructional Improvement: Benchmark data assists teachers in planning their teaching strategies, content delivery, and pacing to ensure that students are on track to meet academic goals.

4. Data-Driven Decision Making: Benchmarks provide data that can inform decision-making processes at various levels within the educational system. We use this data to plan at the school and district level and set priorities for improvement.

Be sure to reach out to your student's teachers with any questions about benchmark performance.

Now that our first marking period is complete, our students in Grades 5-12 have taken their MP1 benchmarks. Your child's results are available in the Linkit Parent Portal. Instructions on how to access the Linkit Parent Portal will be sent in the coming weeks. The information in Linkit will include the following:

• test information
• your child's overall proficiency score
• your child's proficiency on each assessed standard
• the time your child spent taking the assessment

Please be on the lookout for communication about accessing the Linkit Parent Portal.

Getting information from your middle schoolers and high schoolers about their day can be a little tricky. As the teen years come on, even chatty kids might not have as much to say about their day. We've all heard "Fine," "Good," and "Nothing" as definitive answers to our questions when we see our teens at home-- these questions might help you draw a little more out and engage in quality conversation with your students:

• What is one thing that you learned today?
  
• What is your easiest class or hardest class/why?
• What is the most exciting/saddest/most unusual thing that happened today?
• What are you reading in ELA? What's it about?
• Who did you help today? Who helped you today?
• If you could choose to only go to one class each day, which class would it be?
• What do you think your teachers talked about in the staff lounge after school today?
• What math topics are you learning about?
• Which part of the day do you look forward to? Which do you dread?
  

The elementary students will choose books to add to their personal libraries during the last week of school in December to encourage reading over the break. These books were purchased with Title I Parent funds in an effort to expand our student's home library resources!

Talking to kids while reading helps them understand the story better, learn new words, and think about what they hear. It also makes reading fun and helps you connect with them.

Here are some simple questions adults can ask:

1. What do you think will happen next in the story?
2. Who is your favorite character so far, and why?
3. How do you think the character feels right now?
4. What was your favorite part of the book?
5. Did anything in the story remind you of something in your life?

Dear Families,

During the December 23rd- January 1st winter break from school, we are grateful to everyone for helping to restore a routine for showing up to school while supporting students and families.

We appreciate everyone’s efforts to avoid taking extra time off during the winter break. As long as your child is healthy, please encourage showing up to class when school is in session.

Every day of school is an important opportunity for students to learn as well as to connect to their peers and teachers.

We thank:

● Our students and their families who do their best to show up daily even when it isn’t easy.

● Our teachers who go above and beyond to make school a welcoming and safe place for all students to learn.

● Our administrators who help us work together to ensure we create a physically and emotionally safe and engaging learning environment.

● Our many, many healers and helpers - the support staff and community volunteers who provide the extra hands and attention our children need.

We appreciate each one of you. May these days off be restful and healing.

● If your family or your child needs support, please reach out to your child's school for help.

● We look forward to seeing you again when school resumes on January 2nd.

Thank you for partnering with us!

Secondary Director of Curriculum and Instruction (Grade 5 - Grade 12):

Marc Mancinelli

Elementary Director of Curriculum and Instruction (Grade PK - Grade 4):

Kathryn Agresta

Website: https://nj50010883.schoolwires.net/Page/78