Memorial Update

Good Morning Memorial Families,

Next week we will begin MCAS testing in grades three and four. In April, the students take the English Language Arts component, and then later in May they will take the Math. It is always interesting to me to see the difference between the third graders and the fourth graders and their thinking around the testing. The third graders are full of nerves, and they look at it as a really big deal. No matter what we say to them, I think that it is really the fear of the unknown that takes over. In contrast, our fourth graders typically approach the MCAS as no big deal, which speaks to the fact that they realized quickly last year that the questions being asked of them were no different than the types of items that they have seen day to day in their classroom. Once they realized that, confidence set in and they no longer feared the unknown. I say this because I do know that there is a lot of angst surrounding MCAS in the community. Both from the student perspective as well as the parents. I want to reassure you that we are confident that your child has been prepared well, with instruction steeped in the state standards. We also know that this assessment is one moment in time. We look more holistically at student achievement, and utilize classroom performance, formative and unit assessments, benchmark assessments, as well as MCAS to determine where we may need to beef up instruction. In the past few years, an area that has continued to show a need for improvement both in the MCAS as well as in the classroom is student writing. We have been hard at work developing a more consistent plan for instruction, including designing standard-based grade level writing rubrics and benchmark assessments, designing an acronym for helping structure written response to reading (RACE), and mapping our grade level curriculum for K-4. We are in year two of this work and we are already seeing student writing growing by leaps and bounds. We are also seeing students enjoying the task of writing more than we have observed in the past. That is what our ultimate goal is.

Parent Survey Reminder!

Each year, the Memorial School Council designs a parent survey. The survey is sent to families so that we may get critical feedback needed to guide next year's school improvement plan and design school goals. Our hope is that sometime in the next few weeks, you will take ten minutes to sit down to reflect on what Memorial does well that you'd like to keep, what you would like to see us focus on in the coming years, and any other feedback that you want us to think about as we begin to plan for next year's goals. Please click here to respond to the survey. We truly appreciate your time!

Respectfully,

The Memorial School Council

Wendy Bell~ Principal

Victoria Brogioli~ Faculty Rep

Suzanne Ceruti~ Faculty Rep

Erika Floum~ Faculty Rep

Nicole Alton-Moore~ Parent Rep

Sabrina Brenna~ Parent Rep

Kelly Pollard~ Parent Rep

Kevin Vaillancourt~ Parent Rep

Have a terrific week!

Warmly,

Wendy

April 1st and 3rd~ ELA MCAS Testing Grades 3 and 4

April 11th~ All School Meeting

April 14th~ Potato Hill Poetry visits Grade 1

April 16th and 17th~ Grade 2 Acton Discovery Museum program

April 16th~ Grade 4 Action Discovery Museum Program

April 18th ~Early Release Day

April 21-25th~ School Vacation Week

April 30th~ Acton Discovery Museum visits Preschool

May 5th-9th~ Book Fair

May 8th~ Grade 4 Field Trip to Museum of Science

May 8th~ Grade 1 Field Trip to Roger Williams Zoo

May 9th~ Early Release Day

May 14th~ Specialist Night

May 14th and 16th~ Math MCAS Testing Grades 3 and 4

May 15th~ MultiCultural Night at Nipmuc HS

May 19th~ Kindergarten Field Trip to Southwicks

May 22nd~ Grade 3 Field Trip to Sturbridge Village

May 23rd~ Grade 2 Animal Research Project Showcase

May 26th~ No School Memorial Day

May 29th~ Grade 2 Field Trip to Ecotarium

June 2nd~ Field Day

June 10th~ Fourth Grade Send-Off

June 11th~ Grade 3 Walking Tour of Upton

June 16th~ Last Day of School Early Release (Tentative)

Upton, MA 01568

Email: wbell@mursd.org
Website: https://www.mursd.org/o/memorial-elementary
Phone: 508-529-1020
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MemorialUpton