May 5, 2023

Dear Families,

Today we had our first monthly all school assembly. We’ve gathered two other times this year for specific events, but today, we launched our MES monthly assemblies. It was so nice to see all of our students and staff together in one space learning. We have also opened our assemblies to the community which made it feel extra special. Today, students took on leadership roles in our assembly, we learned about the word encouragement and our firms for viewing art and learned the Orca dance/ chant. Ask your students to teach you this tonight!

Important Dates

5/8-5/19 Smarter Balance (SBA) Testing for 3-5

5/11 Orca Lit Fest 6-7:30 (commons and gym)

5/17 PTA General Meeting

5/29 No School- Memorial Day

Nuts & Bolts

Orca Lit Fest

Please join us as we come together as a community to celebrate literature. The literacy team has planned many different ways for students to access literature and to celebrate all of the learning that has happened this year! Orca Lit Fest is from 6-8 on Thursday, 5/11, in the commons and gym.

SBA Testing (Grades 3-5)

Smarter Balanced Assessment

As a public school in Washington, Magnolia Elementary will be administering state tests starting this coming week. Students will take the Smarter Balanced Assessment in English and Language Arts, Math and for 5th grade, Science.

On these days, we’ll need your help to make sure your child gets a good night’s sleep and arrives at school on time. Having a healthy breakfast will be important and you can also send a healthy snack on testing days. Please try a sample test yourself:

• Click the green Sign In button
• Select grade 3, 4 or 5
• Try the Practice Tests or WCAS Training Tests. We’ll be taking the Computer Adaptive Test and Performance Task in both ELA and math. We’d be interested to know what you think of the tests.

School Climate Teamwork

On behalf of the climate team, we are excited to share with you more information about our monthly themes and our plan for building a schoolwide community. We will gather as a school once a month to talk about these monthly themes, introduce books/art projects students will be doing with their buddy classes, and announce other happenings at school within each month. The theme in May/June is encouragement, and our goal is to build community by creating and admiring art in our shared spaces. We have spent time in our classes co-creating art viewing agreements and discussing why artists make art. There will be a schoolwide gallery walk on June 2nd for students to admire the art their peers created. Next year, our assemblies will be at the beginning of each month and alternate between morning and afternoon to accommodate schedules. Looking forward to sharing more with you as we get going!

PTA General Meeting, May 18th at 7pm (in person and remotely)

You are all invited to participate at the PTA General Meeting. In this meeting the staff and I will update about the successes we’ve experienced this year with the intervention program and the supplemental curriculum, Magnetic Reading, and what will be implemented next year. Also, I will update you about the planned SPS budget cuts and their implication on MES.

The meeting will include a vote of the PTA New Budget 2023-2024 and PTA Board Officers (President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Secretary) 2023-2024. If you are considering joining the PTA Board, nominations are accepted by May 10th. Please email info@magnoliaschoolpta.org

From the PTA:

Teacher and Staff Appreciation week is MAY 8th to MAY 12th. To show our love and appreciation, we will celebrate with the following:

• Sunday, May 7 @2-3PM: Sidewalk Chalk Appreciations
  The MES PTA invites our MES community to come out and draw and/or write thanks on the sidewalk with chalk in front of the school. Feel free to drop by any other time to add to the chalk drawings.
• Monday, May 8 @7-7:40AM: Sidewalk Chalk Appreciations
  The MES PTA invites our MES community to come out and draw and/or write thanks on the sidewalk with chalk in front of the school.
• Tuesday, May 9: Baked treats
  Baked treats will be provided to our teachers and staff in their breakroom courtesy of our wonderful volunteer parent bakers. If you wish to contribute to this, please contact Nikita Dighe: nikitadighe@gmail.com
• Wednesday, May 10: Thank You’s
  The thank you boards can be found outside both staff breakrooms. Everyone is encouraged to add to the board their thanks and appreciation for the MES Teachers and Staff. This is also a great day for students to bring in a note/card for their teacher.
• Thursday, May 11: Lunch is on us!
  The MES PTA will provide lunch for all teachers and staff, catered by Arista catering.
• Friday, May 12: Bring a flower for your teacher
  Each student is encouraged to bring a flower or any floral foliage to school for their teacher. We will gather them to make a class bouquet! If you are unable to bring a flower, please let your room parent know so that we can ensure that every child who wants to give a flower will have a flower to give.