Every Kid in a Park National Program

I know this frigid, messy weather does not necessarily make us want to venture outside for a visit to a park nearby for a hike, but we do want to let you know about an amazing program sponsored by our national government.

All fourth grade students in the United States have access to a FREE pass to visit any national park for free with their family. The pass expires August 31, 2018. We will be printing the paper passes (each one has a unique code) for your child to bring home. Please keep it in a safe place until you are ready to use it. Already have a spring or summer trip planned? How about adding in a visit to a national park along the way. Planning to stay local but up for a day trip? Check out one of the parks in our own state or nearby surrounding states! Any national park in the 50 states qualifies under this program. You might want to double check, in advance, to make sure the park is a national park and open and available for visitors. If you go to https://www.everykidinapark.gov/ you can find out more information, along with a list of the hundreds of parks that are available across our nation.

Please let us know if you have any questions and stay warm! Warmer weather is on the horizon...

January Notes

Welcome back! I hope you all survived the frigid temps in late December/early January. It sounds like those frigid temps will be revisiting soon!

We just wanted to update you on a few upcoming items for January. They are listed below.

• Grades were finalized yesterday and report cards will be sent home on Friday. They will be sent home in Data Binders with your child. Please review these with them, celebrating successes and growth, and setting goals for weaknesses to improve. 

• ISTEP is just around the corner and will be completely online this year. We will be working on test taking strategies when taking an online test and working on building our weaker skills. Writing is definitely an area that we will continue working on this semester. Typing fluency is also a focused skill we have been working on since the beginning of the year. Students use an online typing fluency site called "Typing Club" to build typing speed and accuracy. They seem to really enjoy using it. They can access the site at home, as well. 
• ISTEP Information Link (IDOE)
• Typing Club

• Students should be practicing math facts nightly and reading for 20-30 minutes. They also should be budgeting time to review their vocabulary/word study words at least a few nights a week. Our next test is on Friday, January 26. 

• Data binders should be coming home once a week. Just prior to Winter Break we did not have a lot of additional data to add since our schedule was adjusted. Starting next week, our routine will be back to normal with adding data. NWEA is all wrapped up here at Webb and we will be sending home results in your child's binder as soon as all district schools are finished.