NECAP testing results
The New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP), administered
statewide to students to measure individual school's progress under
the federal No Child Left Behind law, indicates that Killington
Elementary School (KES) students do well.
Testing is done in third through sixth grades and KES students
performed solidly in the top two categories: proficient and
proficient with distinction, with reading scores in the 93
percentile and math scores in the 92 percentile. Fifth graders are
also assessed in writing and performed in the 81 percentile for
students meeting proficiency or proficiency with distinction.
Statewide, the comparable average scores are 74 percentile, 65
percentile and 46 percentile, respectively.
Small schools must interpret scores from year to year with caution,
as tests are statistically unreliable in small group
administrations. The NECAP is one piece of data, among many, worthy
of consideration when evaluating the success of a school.
Evidence reinforces recognition of KES teachers' expertise and
perseverance in providing high quality education to all children.
Furthermore, we commend KES parents for providing a solid support
system in the home environment.
Individual student results will be mailed home by the end of this
month. Please contact Mrs. Pepe if you have any questions.
Project Groundhog
Is a groundhog truly a weather predictor? Many KES students are
participating in Project Groundhog to determine if this is fact or
fiction. For the six weeks following Groundhog Day, Feb. 2,
students monitor and record daily temperature, sky conditions and
how often school closes due to weather. The information collected
is shared weekly with participating schools in the Northern
Hemisphere via the Internet and the Project Groundhog
website.
Project Groundhog is designed to introduce young learners to the
possibilities of telecommunications technology through a
meaningful, curriculum-based inquiry. It allows teachers to cover
specific objectives in science, math, social studies, and language
arts in a meaningful and engaging manner, and it is available to
students and teachers throughout the world.
College students learn and assist at KES
Killington Elementary School (KES) buzzed with the excitement of
meeting college students this week. Students from Castleton State
College (CSC) began weekly visits to learn about the outstanding
instruction that occurs at Killington Elementary School and to
practice some of their new learning under the guidance of our
teachers. Several of the college students will assist guidance
counselor, Mary Hoag, with a student-mentor program. The focus for
others is to learn more generally about the field of education
within the regular classrooms.
Vermont Community Fund grant awarded
Killington Elementary School accepts a grant award of $5000 to
cover extended guidance counseling services into the 2012-13 school
year. Our guidance counselor, Mary Hoag, offers a wealth of
services to our students and families. Because of Mrs. Hoag's
knowledge, expertise, and superb practice in giving students coping
strategies and training to deal with stress, anxiety, social
conflicts, assertiveness, and more, our students are better
equipped to learn each day. We are delighted to know that our
guidance counseling time for the 2012-13 school year will be for
two full days each week because of this grant award.
Stargazing at KES
Join us at Killington Elementary School on Feb. 16 from 5:30 to 7
p.m. as docents from the Horizons Observatory bring the night sky
closer to home. We'll see planets like Venus and Jupiter along with
a host of winter stargazing delights like the Great Orion
Nebula, the star clusters of Canis Major and Auriga, the beautifiul
jewels of the winter sky like Sirius, Aldebaran, Betelguese, and
much more.
Dress warmly as clear skies are often cold evenings. If you have
not already sent an RSVP, but you know you would like to attend
this event, please contact the school on Monday.
Student attendance matters
When your child misses school, she/he misses many valuable learning
opportunities that cannot be replicated at home. Children learn
every minute while in school: academically, socially, physically
and emotionally. When parents ask to receive work from a day missed
to keep their child up to speed, it is very difficult and often
impossible to share the science experiments, the observations, the
discussions, the collaborative problem solving and the writing
analysis and synthesis that occurs throughout each day. It is
equally difficult to re-create the social skill opportunities that
grow and evolve day-to-day and year-to-year on the playground, in
the dining hall, and elsewhere throughout the day. Most often, when
children are out for a day or more, they return to school and find
they feel frustrated. Help your child by making school attendance a
priority. If your child is absent or tardy frequently, expect a
phone call or letter from Mrs. Pepe to see if the school can help
lessen these occurrences.
What is in The Cloud?
By Eileen Vaughn, librarian.
Cloud computing software allows you to get your information from
any computer. People can also share using this web-based method. It
is a storage option in the virtual cloud space online. Many of our
students save their work in Google docs. As long as students have
access to a computer that is online, they can open that document
and continue working on it. Woodstock Union High School and Middle
School students can no longer say they forgot their homework or
left their flash drive somewhere. The work will be waiting for them
in the cloud.
Dropbox is another easy option. Recently OnLive Desktop offered a
free app for iPads that is preloaded with Microsoft Word, Excel and
Powerpoint. You can then transfer documents, spreadsheets or
presentations from your computer to your mobile device. This free
app gives you 2 GB of storage in the cloud.
While many people store and share their photos on Google's Picasa,
I like Yahoo's Flickr, another virtual storage area for my 1,500+
videos and photos. I sure don't miss my shoeboxes full of assorted
photos!
Inside health class
By Jamie Sudol RN, school nurse
In our most recent health classes, we have been discussing personal
safety and how our bodies are private. Anatomical names of body
parts are used during these classes. This may have prompted some
questions or discussions at home. Many parents are uncomfortable
speaking to their children about human bodies and the purpose of
its parts. Some of us just don't know where to begin. Books are
always a wonderful solution to this dilemma. On the nurse's office
bookshelf, I keep a wide variety of books on this subject for all
grade levels. They are available for families to borrow at any
time. Some of these books are utilized during my "developmental"
classes with the fifth graders. Most of them, however, are simply
here as a resource for families. Please come into my office and
browse my bookshelves. The books are age appropriate and filled
with wonderful, colorful illustrations. If you would like to take
some home to share with your children, or review for yourself,
please see me or Mrs. Pilsmaker.
KES news briefs were submitted by Sheila J. Pilsmaker,
Administrative Assistant at KES, Feb. 10. The briefs are extracted
from the KES newsletter, which is produced twice a month.
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