Woodland Intermediate School
Woodland School Board Monthly Update
April 2009
Throughout the month of April professional development opportunities for staff were focused in two specific areas. The first was WASL. April 6th and 13th were dedicated to WASL proctor training and preparation. April 20th and 27th were dedicated to individual staff web page training and web page creation. WIS staff members have done a very nice job with their staff web pages. Our goal is for every teacher to have a web page by the end of the year. They are designed to provide the community, parents, and students with information pertaining school and personal background information.
The WIS staff has spent a good deal of time planning and preparing for our first annual Reading Night and Book Exchange. Below is a copy of the invitations that were sent home to parents. We hope that members of the School Board will be able to attend this event.
Who's invited?
WIS Parents and Students
When:
Tuesday, May 12th
Time:
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Where:
Woodland Intermediate School Gym
What is it?
The evening will start with dinner. A hot dog and a soda or bottled water will be sold for $1.00. Dinner will be followed by an informational presentation about our reading curriculum, walk to read program, and how parents can support their child's reading development at home. The presentation will be followed by a book exchange. Parents and students are encouraged to bring new or used books from home to exchange for other new or used books. There is no limit to the number of books that parents and students can bring to exchange. Please bring books that are in new or good used condition and approximately between the 2nd and 8th grade reading level. Upon arrival parents and students will trade the books that they brought for tickets. Each book is worth one ticket. During dinner and the staff presentation, all of the books will be organized by grade level. Following the dinner and presentation parents and students will exchange their tickets for books that were brought in by other parents and students. This is a wonderful way to learn about our reading program, identify how you can support your child at home, obtain new reading materials for your student's home library, and recycle reading materials that you have already read.
WIS staff members and students are very excited to have concluded WASL testing. Between the dates of April 14th and 30th WIS students took a total of 2,498 tests in the areas of reading, writing, math, and science. The policies, procedures, and schedules that we have implemented over the last two years allowed staff and students to get through this colossal task smoothly and efficiently.
Student placement for the 2009/2010 school year is becoming an area of focus. We continue to work to streamline and improve this process each year. Many factors are considered in making these classroom placements. These factors include academic performance, special needs, behavioral concerns, social concerns, and input from parents and teachers. With these factors in mind, we strive to create equitable and balanced classrooms throughout each grade level.
In all the month of April was fast paced and exciting. It is difficult to believe that we are this far into the school year. Each month seems to go by more quickly than the month before.