Superintendent's Parent Newsletter
ICAHN CHARTER SCHOOLS
Did You Know?
New Marking Period: New Opportunities to Learn and Succeed
As we begin Marking Period 2 on Monday, November 3, this is a great time for families to pause, reflect, and plan ahead with their children. On November 19, we will hold our Virtual Family Conferences, a wonderful opportunity to connect with teachers, celebrate successes, and discuss any areas where extra support may be needed.
Attendance is crucial for learning. Missing five or more days in a marking period can affect progress. Over a year, missing just two days a month adds up to nearly twenty days, or 100 hours of instruction. Students who miss 10 percent or more of the year, eighteen days or more, are considered chronically absent and may fall behind. Making sure students attend school and are ready to learn each day makes a real difference.
Even before receiving report cards, families can talk with their children about how things are going, celebrate successes, and think about goals for the coming weeks. At the Virtual Family Conference, you’ll have a chance to review the report card with the teacher and discuss ways to support learning.
Helping Your Child Succeed This Marking Period
Understand challenges
- Ask your child how they feel about their progress
- Identify areas that were difficult or assignments that were missed
- Talk about goals for the coming weeks
- Encourage your child to reflect on strengths and areas to improve
Make a plan
- Set achievable goals based on their reflection
- Collaborate on strategies such as improving study habits, organizational routines, or seeking extra help
- Establish consistent routines and set aside dedicated time for check-ins
- Encourage your child to take ownership of their learning and lead the planning of new strategies
Stay connected
- Talk regularly with teachers and school staff
- Check your child’s progress on SyncGrades and review work or exams sent home
- Reach out if concerns arise so solutions can be planned together
Thank you for partnering with us to help every student have a strong start in Marking Period 2.
Dr. Vasquez, Deputy Superintendent
Keeping our Families Safe Online: Celebrating Cybersecurity Awareness Month
October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and we want to take a moment to highlight the importance of online safety for our entire community. As our students increasingly use technology for learning and play, it's a great time to review and strengthen our family's digital defenses.
At school, we are committed to providing a safe digital learning environment. At home, you play a crucial role in protecting your children and your family's personal information.
Here are a few simple tips to keep in mind:
- Create strong passwords and use a different one for every account.
- Be wary of phishing emails, and talk to your children about what to look for, such as strange requests for information.
- Encourage smart social media habits and remind your children not to overshare personal details online.
- Keep your devices and software up to date. Regular updates provide critical security patches.
- Discuss online safety openly and make sure your child feels comfortable coming to you if they encounter something suspicious or uncomfortable online.
We are all in this together. By working as a team, we can create a safer and more secure online experience for our students and their families.
As Halloween approaches, I want to take a moment to wish everyone a fun and safe celebration. This is an exciting time of year for many of our students, and we want to ensure that all children enjoy the day safely, both at school and in your community. Please take a moment to review and discuss safety tips with your children before they head out for trick-or-treating or other festivities:
For a safe costume
- Be seen: Add reflective tape or stickers to costumes and treat bags to increase visibility for drivers in the dark.
- Get a good fit: To prevent trips and falls, make sure costumes are short enough to avoid dragging on the ground and that shoes fit well.
- Choose face paint over masks: Masks can obstruct a child's vision. Non-toxic makeup is a safer alternative.
- Make accessories safe: Ensure any swords, wands, or other props are short and flexible to prevent injury.
- Check for flame resistance: When buying costumes, look for a label that says "flame resistant".
While trick-or-treating
- Supervise younger children: Children under 12 should always be accompanied by a trusted adult.
- Plan a route: Map out a familiar, well-lit route, and for older children trick-or-treating in groups, agree on a specific return time.
- Stick to the sidewalk: Encourage children to use sidewalks and cross streets only at corners or crosswalks. Remind them to look both ways and to never run out from between parked cars.
- Stay alert and visible: Have your child carry a flashlight or glow stick. This helps them see and be seen by drivers.
- Only go to well-lit homes: Instruct children to only approach homes that have a porch light on.
- Never enter a stranger's house or car.
For a safe candy haul
- Inspect all treats: Wait until your children are home to go through their treats. Discard any items that are unwrapped, have torn packages, or look suspicious.
- Watch for choking hazards: Throw away any hard candies, gum, or small toys that could be a choking hazard for young children.
- Check for allergens: Read labels carefully if your child has food allergies.
We wish all our Icahn families a safe and happy Halloween!
ART | ICS 5
During professional development at the Icahn Pelham campus, art teachers explored the intersection of science and art through the cyanotype printmaking process—an early photographic technique that uses UV light and chemical reactions to create Prussian-blue prints.
Teachers experimented with UV exposure, composition, and natural materials - discovering how chemistry and creativity merge in visual art. This workshop fostered collaboration, curiosity, and introduced a historic approach to integrating science into the art classroom.
Virtual Reality | ICS 3
Icahn Teachers incorporated Student Centered Learning Experiences. In today's digital age, where distractions abound and attention spans are constantly tested, igniting students' enthusiasm for learning and guiding their focus towards a wide range of subjects can be a daunting task. The prevalence of smartphones, social media, and other stimuli often lead students to lose their cognitive connections, hindering effective learning. However, nurturing sustained attention among students is crucial, as it not only deepens their understanding of abstract concepts but also cultivates higher-order thinking skills.
Lesson Planning | ICS 2
Teachers and staff participated in a professional development session designed to enhance their instructional practice. Classroom teachers, support staff, and paraprofessionals engaged in the Wit & Wisdom Lesson Study Protocol, enhancing their understanding in preparation for upcoming lessons and future planning. Participants collaborated to apply the protocol to their next Wit & Wisdom lesson focused on thoughtful planning and learning experiences for students.
Mathematics professional development for classroom teachers also enhanced their instructional strategies, deepened content knowledge, and supported student-centered learning.
Spiral Review Analysis/Mathematician Plan & Targeted Instruction ICS 5
The Math team engaged in a Spiral Review Analysis and Mathematician Plan session focused on using student data to guide targeted instruction. Teachers analyzed spiral review results to identify trends, celebrate growth, and pinpoint areas for reinforcement. Through collaborative planning, the team developed intentional strategies to drive student achievement and strengthen mathematical understanding across all grade levels.
Starting Strong: Analyzing BOY Data & Learning F&P Administration | ICS 5
K–2 teachers participated in Starting Strong: Analyzing BOY Data & Learning F&P Administration, a professional learning session focused on using Beginning-of-Year assessment data to inform instruction. Educators deepened their understanding of Fountas & Pinnell (F&P) assessment administration and data interpretation. Through collaboration and hands-on analysis, teachers identified next steps to support early literacy growth and targeted student learning.
Wit & Wisdom | ICS 1
We focused on Norming the Wit & Wisdom End-of-Module Rubric across the grades. Teachers had the opportunity to align the Rubric with the Next Generation standards, annotate the rubrics and then share out the similarities and differences they noticed on the grade band level and then vertically.
Phase two consisted of the teachers using End-of-Module Assessment Exemplars for Modules 1 and 2 from last school year and engage in a trade and grade activity using the verbiage from the rubric. Then the teachers had the opportunity to work in groups to chart their takeaways on how student work builds from one grade to the next and their takeaways from the work during the session.
As an exit ticket to the session, teachers shared how they will incorporate the EOM rubric into their daily instruction as all grades are nearing the completion of Module 1.
