Greetings Minnehaha Families,
I cannot believe we are already one week away from Winter Break! While we know how exciting and busy this time of year is, we also know that with Trimester 1 concluding a few weeks ago, it is also time to pause and reflect upon our first trimester of growth.
Today, December 9, your child will bring home his/her first report card for the 2016-2017 School Year. If your child has attended Minnehaha (or VPS schools previously) you will notice a distinctly different “look” to this year’s card. Our previous format was revised, to better reflect our learning standards, to offer more specificity in our communication of student progress, and to allow ease in managing the information. Printed on letter-sized paper, it will be longer than previous report cards.
The cover page provides a list of developmental traits common to your child’s grade level. It features the attributes of life-long learning skills, critical to student progress. It will capture your child’s scores on our district’s common benchmarking assessment, I-Ready, administered three times per year. And because regular attendance is also crucial to learning, your child’s absences, tardies and attendance rate are featured.
Inside, you’ll find progress indicators for your child in reading, math, the sciences, and PE/Arts. Academic indicators are recorded with number values from 1 (Developing) to 4 (Advanced) for the subjects of reading, math and arts concepts. Frequency indicators–identified as Rarely, Sometimes, Often, or Consistently–will show how often a student is demonstrating understanding or application of the learning standards. Please note that narrative comments are now located adjacent to each of the major sections (Lifelong Learning, Reading, Math, etc.) of your child’s report card.
Our teachers have invested hours in scoring your child’s work, reviewing his/her progress, and reporting performance. Please be sure to take some time to sit down with your child to carefully review his/her report card with him or her. Remember that learning is a journey, and to celebrate growth. Your child’s teacher will be able to speak further or clarify any questions you may have regarding the new report cards.
As always, we so appreciate your support and willingness to partner with us as we both work towards growing your child’s academic and social learning and development!
Happy Holidays to all of our Minnehaha families!
Troy