Webster Weekly News

December 16-20, 2024

HOLIDAY CONCERT- MONDAY DECEMBER 16TH

4K & 5K Students: Students should report to their classrooms by 5:45pm. Performance begins at 6:00pm in the Webster gym.
1st Grade Students: Students should report to their classrooms by 6:15pm. Performance begins at 6:30pm in the Webster gym.
2nd Grade Students: Students should report to their classrooms by 6:45pm. Performance begins at 7:00pm in the Webster gym.
4th/5th Grade Choir Students: All choir students should report to the Webster library no later than 7:10pm. Performance begins at 7:30pm in the Webster gym.
Performance Attire: PAJAMAS!! Students should be dressed in their FAVORITE PJs. Please no slippers. This is for their safety as they will be walking on slippery surfaces inside the school. They should wear some type of tennis shoe.
What Doors Will Be Open and When: The doors by the office and the doors on 10th Street will open at 5:40pm. To lessen congestion in the hallways we ask that you enter the building by the office or through the doors on 10th Street. The doors on the south side of the gym, by the parking lot, will be open only for our guests with disabilities.
After My Child's Program: Please take your child's jacket with you to the gym after you drop them off in their classrooms. Students in grades 5K-2nd will be dismissed from the gym after their program. They will not be able to return to their classrooms after their program.
Santa Visit: You are welcome to re-enter the school through the doors by the south playground to visit Santa in Room 200. Santa will meet with children from 6:00pm-7:30pm. Second grade students who want to see Santa should do so before their performance.

aimswebPlus READING ASSESSMENT

Dear Parent(s)/Caregiver(s):

This letter shares information about how we will learn about your child's reading skills. In Wisconsin, each child in grades 4K-3 will take an assessment called the aimswebPlus early reading screener. A screener is an assessment that quickly checks your child’s reading skills.

What skills will be tested?

The screener will check important literacy skills including alphabet knowledge, letter sound knowledge, phonemic awareness, decoding, and oral vocabulary. The skills are tested differently based on your child’s grade level. Please see the end of this letter for information about these skills.

When will the reading screener take place?

The aimswebPlus early reading screener will take place 1-3 times per year. The screening will take place during the 2024-2025 school year in January and again in April of 2025.

What information will parents/caregivers receive?
You will receive your child’s test results within 15 days after they take the reading screener. The school will give you a report sharing your child’s score and how others score at the same grade level. This comparison is called a percentile rank. We also invite families to fill out this survey about your child’s experiences with reading and writing. Please fill out the survey for each child you have in grades 5K-3.

How will the information be used?

The information from the early reading screener is one way that your child’s teacher will learn about your child's reading skills. However, the reading screener will not diagnose dyslexia or other disabilities. If your child’s score is below the 25th percentile, the school staff will complete additional assessments and create a personalized reading plan to help your child meet grade-level goals.

How can I prepare my child for the early reading screener?

No special preparation for aimswebPlus reading screener is needed. Just send your child to school as usual. The testing is quick and should not be a big event for your child.

If you have any questions or need more information about the early reading screener, please contact your child’s teacher or principal.

In partnership,

Jenny Borst
Director of Curriculum and Instruction
Watertown Unified School District
111 Dodge St
Watertown, WI 53094

920-262-1460
borstj@mywusd.org

Early Reading Skills

2023 Wisconsin Act 20 requires that children are assessed in the early reading skills of alphabet knowledge, letter sound knowledge, phonemic awareness, and decoding. These skills are assessed differently depending on the student’s grade level. You can learn more about these important early reading skills below:

Alphabet knowledge: Knowing the names of printed letters.
Letter sound knowledge: Knowing the sounds of printed letters.
Phonemic awareness: Hearing , saying, and manipulating individual sounds in spoken words.
Decoding skills: Connecting sounds to written letters to read printed words.
Oral vocabulary: Understanding the meanings of words when speaking or listening.

aimswebPlus Early Reading Screening Assessments

The aimswebPlus reading screeners that measure the skills above are based on a student’s grade level. You can learn more about these assessments below:

Letter naming fluency (5K): Measures a student’s knowledge of upper-and lower-case letters. Your child will have one minute to say the names of visually presented upper-and lowercase letters that they know.
Letter word sounds fluency (4K-1st grade): Measures a student’s letter sound knowledge. Your child will have one minute to say the sounds of visually presented letters, syllables, and words that they know.
Initial sounds (4K-5K): Measures a student’s phonemic awareness. Your child will be provided a page with four pictures. Your child will be asked to either point to a picture of a word that matches the initial sound the teacher says or make the initial sound of a word spoken by the teacher. This assessment will take 2-3 minutes.
Phoneme segmentation (1st grade): Measures a student’s phonemic awareness. Your child will listen to a word that is spoken by the teacher and then say each sound they hear in the word. This assessment will take 2-3 minutes.
Auditory vocabulary (5K-1st grade): Measures a student’s knowledge of words commonly found in 5-year old Kindergarten and Grade 1 reading materials. Your child will match a picture to an orally presented word. This assessment will take 2-4 minutes.
Vocabulary (2nd- 3rd grade): Measures a student’s knowledge of the meanings of grade-appropriate words. Your child will choose the meaning of target words by selecting from multiple choice options. This is an untimed, computerized assessment that typically takes 4-7 minutes.
Oral reading fluency (1st-3rd grade): Measures a student’s decoding skills. Your child will read two stories aloud, each for one minute.

CATS (COOL, AWESOME AND TERRIFIC STUDENTS) FOR DECEMBER

We held CATS lunch on Friday, December 13th. Each month Mr. Clark eats lunch with a group of Cool, Awesome and Terrific Students. These students are picked by teachers in grades 5K-5 for making great gains in an academic area or working super hard.