Trailside Parent Newletter

Hello Trailside Families-

As we approach the final weeks of the first semester, I'd like to thank all of you for your support of your child's education. Your support volunteering in the school, on field trips, with our swimming/boat safety unit at Service, and many other events makes a difference and is so appreciated. Thank you parents and families!

A friendly reminder to have your child's name written on hats and gloves- there are many single gloves that have made their way to the "Lost and Found".

K-3 Grade Families- Your child has just completed the Winter mClass Benchmark. Teachers will be sending letters home communicating how your child performed. Students that missed the testing days will be making this up in the next few days.

3-5th Families- your child has Measurement of Academic Progress (MAP) testing coming up next week. You can help your child perform at their best by ensuring they get a good night's sleep, a healthy breakfast, and arrive at school on time.

Dec. 2-12- MAP Testing (3-5th Grades) See info Below

Thursday, Dec 18- Last Day of Quarter 2

Thursday, Dec. 18- ADFG Bear and Moose Safety Presentation for all students

Friday, Dec. 19- Student Release Grading Day

Dec. 22-Jan.4 Winter Break

December 12: Family Game Night

December 19: Staff Appreciation Crock Pot Potluck

Jan. 5- Classes Resume (Quarter 3)

January 12: PTA Membership Meeting

Jan. 19- Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday- NO SCHOOL

January 23: Read-A-Thon Book Character Dance Party Kickoff

January 25-31: School-wide Readathon Week

January 27: Dine to Donate Day at Texas Road House

Feb. 16- President's Day Holiday- NO SCHOOL

Feb. 25 and 26- Parent Teacher Conferences

Feb. 27- Student Release Day- No school for students

Please ensure your child has appropriate winter gear for recess (and label with your child's name). ASD policy has students going outside for recess up until -10 degrees F.

PTA December Update

We are so grateful for all of you and the support you provide our Trailside community through your time, energy, and enthusiasm. We hope everyone has a wonderful holiday break with family and friends!

As we head into December, we have several opportunities to connect as a community:

• Family Game Night – Friday, December 12 from 6-7:30 p.m., join us for a cozy pajama-clad evening of board games and hot cocoa! Bring your favorite game and a holiday treat to share (enough for 8-10 people, please label ingredients). Sign up here → https://signup.com/go/pApRmmV

• Read-A-Thon Volunteers Needed! Our late-January Read-A-Thon funds everything from swimming to computers, library books, field trips, and more. We need committee members for planning! Even a small time commitment helps. Email TrailsidePTAPresident@gmail.com to join.

• Staff Appreciation Lunch – December 19: Help us thank our teachers with a crockpot potluck on their grading day. Bring soups, chilis, or any slow-cooker favorites. Signup at https://signup.com/go/qjfcare

• After-School Activities – Looking for instructors to lead fun activities in the new year—Read-A-Thom themed Read-in, legos, science, language, you name it, we will help you make it happen! (And pay $30/hour!). Contact trailsideactivities@gmail.com. Registration for all ASAs available at the Trailside PTA Givebacks Shop, https://trailsidepta.givebacks.com/shop.

• Join the PTA! Your membership directly supports field trips, classroom supplies, special events, and more. PTA members get early access to after-school activities registration. Join at https://trailsidepta.givebacks.com/shop

• Share Your Photos! Send Trailside moments to trailsideyearbook25@gmail.com to help capture this year's memories. Don’t forget to submit your "Our Story, Our Year" Trailside yearbook cover entries as well to the front office! It would be a great holiday break project!

Questions? Contact us at TrailsidePTAPresident@gmail.com

Thank you for making Trailside such a special place – we appreciate all of you!

Happy Holidays!

The Trailside PTA

Upcoming Events:

• December 5; Staff Appreciation Coffee Pop Up

• December 12: Family Game Night

• December 19: Staff Appreciation Crock Pot Potluck

• January 12: PTA Membership Meeting

• January 23: Read-A-Thon Book Character Dance Party Kickoff

• January 25-31: School-wide Readathon Week

• January 27: Dine to Donate Day at Texas Road House

MAP Growth is the ASD and State of Alaska required benchmark/interim reading and mathematics assessment for students in grades 3-9. Grades 10-12 students identified as needing Tier II and Tier III reading and mathematics support also take MAP Growth as part of the Anchorage School District's MTSS framework.

Alaska's Department of Education and Early Development (DEED) has partnered with NWEA to implement a creative approach to a balanced statewide assessment that connects fall and winter MAP Growth benchmark/interim assessments and the Alaska spring AK STAR summative assessment. AK STAR eliminates the spring benchmark/interim assessment window for grades 3-9 by combining the summative and benchmark assessment into one test that produces a spring benchmark score, which includes a growth measure. More information is available at the State of Alaska AK STAR website, education.alaska.gov/assessments/akstar.

MAP Growth is an online, adaptive assessment that provides each student a personalized testing experience with data that speaks to their individual progress and growth in mathematics and reading.

The MAP Growth reading and mathematics benchmark will be administered in person during the fall and winter benchmark windows. The spring benchmark will be embedded in the AK STAR summative assessment as outlined above.

• Fall Benchmark 1: September 3 - September 12 (make-ups through September 19)

• Winter Benchmark 2: December 1 - December 12 (make-ups through December 18)

• Spring Benchmark 3: embedded in AK STAR administered during the summative assessment window: March 30 - April17 (make-ups through May 1)

• MAP Growth assessment only: Grades 10-12 identified as needing Tier II and III support

MAP Growth practice tests and tutorials allow students and families the opportunity to become familiar with the types of questions and tools available on the actual MAP Grow assessments such as the highlighter and calculator. An overview of these resources with links to the practice tests are compiled on the MAP Growth Practice Tests Quick Sheet.

*Must be completed each school year

Parents who wish to chaperone or volunteer with school events must complete a Volunteer Application each school year (it does not carry over through multiple school years). If you have not done so already, please complete a volunteer application :

Email TrailsidePTAPresident@gmail.com to volunteer. Every volunteer hour invested strengthens our school community and enriches our children's experience at Trailside. No contribution is too small!​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

REMIND is a communication tool that will be used to send important notifications to families throughout the year. Here is the link to join: https://www.remind.com/join/9caeah

Free & Reduced-Price Meal Application Reminder. Free & Reduced-Price meal applications and Direct Certification are available throughout the school year. Feel free to copy the information and adjust it to fit specific school community needs. Student Nutrition appreciates school support in getting this information out to families.

If there are any questions, please contact Student Nutrition at SNAdmin@asdk12.org.

Please call or email the office when excusing your student due to sickness, or pre-arranged absence (Travel, Etc.)

When leaving messages for the office, please make sure to leave the student's first and last name.

Please also leave a good contact name and number we can reach you at if we have questions regarding the message.

907-742-5500

donaldson_karen@asdk12.org

All parents, please check your parent connection and make sure all of your contact information is correct.

Please notify the office of any of the following changes:

• Custody/Legal Documents (as soon as possible)
• Address Changes
• Phone number updates
• If you are moving, please notify the office as soon as possible.

Please make sure when using Q Parent Connection to excuse your student, it has to be done in the system prior to 8:30 am. If not, you will get a Robo-Call from the district notifying you that your student was absent for the day. Please call the office if it is after 9:30 am and the office staff will get your student excused.

If you are traveling please contact the office so we can get your student excused, you will then see a "P" (Travel status and other pre-arranged absences) in Q- Parent Connection instead of "E" (Excused).