Fairmount Park Community Newsletter

to connect every child to themselves, others, and possibilities

Hello Fairmount Park Families,

We're settling back into our routines. Classrooms are preparing for our January testing cycle (see more about this below).

In February we will celebrate Black History Month. Although we celebrate all cultures throughout the year, this month is set aside to honor and recognize the contributions, achievements, and resilience of Black individuals throughout history.

We will also be celebrating friendship in February. Many classrooms will have friendship celebrations that focus on the positive attributes of their classmates. Look for more information from your child's teacher about this fun and inclusive day.

In Partnership,

Sara Davis

As part of our commitment to student safety, FPE practices one safety drill each month, including Earthquake, Lockdown, Shelter in Place, and Reverse Evacuation drills. These drills help students and staff know what to do in the event of an emergency.

Last week, our K–2 students practiced a Reverse Evacuation drill, which teaches students how to safely come inside from the playground during an unexpected situation at recess. Because we share our playground with a city park, this practice is an important way to help keep everyone safe.

FPE holds weekly whole-school assemblies. Our amazing assembly team plans relevant, engaging content and intentionally incorporates student voice to share common messages across our community. These assemblies reinforce our Falcon Four and provide shared learning experiences that help align and strengthen the messages students hear throughout the school.

Four FPE staff members have stepped into the role of our fabulous Falcon Four! These superhero-style heroes will be popping up throughout the school year to share fun, meaningful messages that reinforce our schoolwide expectations of Safety, Kindness, Community, and Learning.

Their debut appearance included the introduction of a new FPE Falcon Four chant developed by our assembly committee.

MLK Jr. Day is a meaningful opportunity for students to deepen their learning about an important Civil Rights leader. It also provides classrooms with the chance to share that learning with the rest of the school community. Last Friday, several classes shared their learning through performances for the school.

The Fiber Arts Studio will be opening, and students are skill building in the areas of weaving and sewing! 3-5 students started this past week out with learning how to thread a needle, tie a knot, and do basic hand stitching. They will continue to skill practice before deciding on a project over the next week or two.

K-2 students are skill building in weaving with practicing over/under and tying knots. Each grade level will have a project they will weave over the next few weeks.

If you have skills in weaving and sewing and would like to volunteer, send me an email and I will get in touch with you. kakelly@seattleschools.org

Thank you for sending in the cereal/cracker boxes and newspapers! Keep them coming!

Ms. Kelly

January is a time when we administer some progress monitoring assessments. Below you will find a review of what your student will encounter. While these tests are important and we encourage students to come to school rested and fed, this is one data point in your child's academic performance. Your child's teacher has the full picture of each academic area.

MAP - Measures of Academic Progress

Our next MAP testing window opens beginning on January 26th for all students. This is a computer based assessment and all students participate in this mid year assessment of progress in Math and Reading. Teachers use these data to understand student growth, and also where they may need to provide additional supports.

DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills)

This assessment is given to all students in grades K-2. It measures students' progress toward their progress in reading skills.

WIDA - the name WIDA has come to represent the full Consortium of states, territories and federal agencies, as well as an ever-expanding community of educators of multilingual learners.

This suite of assessments helps us know whether an incoming student in kindergarten through grade 12 would benefit from language support services. Students are identified for this test through our enrollment process. When families self report being a dual or triple language household, students become eligible for the WIDA test. Tests are administered by our trained Multi-Lingual (ML) staff.

Scores from this test help us understand where students are in their process of acquiring fluent English Language skills. It also identifies their current strengths and how we can support further growth.

My class wanted to share some pictures and information about the Salmon in the Schools Program we are launching this year.

We set up our salmon tank with help from Islandwood and went on a field trip to Carkeek Park (with Ms. Reed’s class) in early December. Then, right before winter break, we got 150 Coho salmon eggs from a hatchery in Issaquah.

The eggs hatched on December 29 and 30. Our PTA President Ryan, his son, and I, came into the building over break and got to watch some of the eggs hatch!

Now the salmon are in the “Alevin,” stage. They are getting their nutrition from the yolk sacks still attached to their bodies. Their bodies are still developing and getting stronger. They need to be in the dark most of the time and they are not swimming yet, but they are burrowing and hiding in the gravel.

My class is creating a bulletin board of the life cycle of a salmon to teach the school what is happening. Ryan does a LOT of the hard work of testing the water and cleaning the filters. We report to our water quality and how the salmon are doing each week to Islandwood.

Once the salmon get into the next stage of “Fry,” they will start eating and different classes will have turns feeding them.

Thank you to the PTA for introducing this project and funding it! The kids are learning a lot now about the life cycle, and we are also learning how important salmon our to our region.

Sincerely,

Ms. Britt and the First Grade Student in Room 129

• January 20th - Incoming Kinder Tour - 8:30-9:15 a.m.
• January 26-29th - 5th Gr. to Islandwood
• January 30th - PTA sponsored Glow Party
• February 6th - K-3 Bingo Night
• February 16-20th - No school, Mid Winter Break
• February 26th - 5th grade field trip to SCT
• March 3rd - 5th Gr. to Camp Long with DNDA
• March 10th - Incoming Kinder Tour - 5-6 p.m.
• April 13-17th - No school, Spring Break
• May 1st - 1st grade field trip to SCT

• 7:40 a.m. – Playground opens.
• 7:40-7:50 a.m. – Breakfast is served.
• 7:50 a.m. – Warning bell; students able to enter the building.
• 7:55 a.m. – School begins.
• 2:25 p.m. – Dismissal (1:10 p.m. on Wednesdays)
• 2:35 p.m. – Buses depart (1:20 p.m. on Wednesdays)

• Tardy - If your child arrives after 7:55 a.m. please go to the office to check in before they head to their classroom.
• Absence - Please contact our attendance office anytime your child will be absent from school.
• 206-252-9304
• FairmountPark.attendance@seattleschools.org

Friday's are for showing Falcon Pride! Purchase Falcon wear!

Follow the link to view the lunch menu and food services information.

Please note that SPS Culinary Services does their best to follow the planned menu, but occasionally last-minute changes may occur.

Office hours are 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Principal: Sara Davis sjdavis1@seattleschools.org

Admin Secretary: Ngoc Vo nmvo@seattleschools.org

Assist. Admin Secretary: Pauline Ashman pcashman@seattleschools.org

Fairmount Park website
Location: 3800 SW Findlay St., Seattle, WA, 98126
Phone: 206-252-9300