Testing Week

Dear Parents,

Happy Easter! I hope you all had a restful, joyful holiday with your families.

Thank you to all of you who came out for our MOD Pizza fundraiser on Thursday. I came at 6:45pm, and I saw many Trivium East families. As always, we appreciate your loyal support of our school.

Today (Monday, March 28) re-enrollment packets are due. Please be sure to get those packets in so that your child has a spot reserved in fifth grade next year. If you have any questions about the packet or are maybe running just a little late with it, please call the front desk and let our wonderful receptionists know. If we don't hear from you, there is the possibility that your child's spot could be given to a student on our waiting list, but we would rather not do that! Personally, I have had a fantastic year teaching your students, and it would be great to see them come back for fifth.

This week, as you all know, is the week of AZ Merit testing for English and math. (Science testing will take place soon but not this week; date TBA). The schedule of tests is as follows: Writing test Monday morning; math test 1 Tuesday morning; reading test 1 after math test on Tuesday morning; math test 2 Thursday morning; reading test 2 after math test on Thursday morning.

The tests have a target time limit, but they are not timed. This means that if a child does not finish within the target time, they can take the time they need to finish in the fifth grade math lab before going back to class to start their next test. This will not affect their score.

Once a student starts a test, they must finish it. They do get a recess break and bathroom breaks, but other than that, they must finish their test in order to have a valid score. Please do not take your children out of school on these days. If you come looking for you child, we will, of course, get him or her for you, but taking him or her out of school will invalidate his or her test. This means your child will not have an AZ Merit score in that subject this year. Similarly, please do not allow your children to be absent on testing days unless there is a true emergency.

These days of tests are often intense for stu,dents, and so to reduce pressure we are having the science tests for fourth grades on a different week as I mentioned before. There will also be no homework assigned Monday through Thursday this week. Each day, after tests are complete, the students will resume their normal class schedule. However, there will be a heavy emphasis on science and history, to balance out the math and English testing.

In science this week we will continue our study of ecology. One of the main topics this week will be global climate change, as required for the state science exams. I understand this can be a sensitive topic for many reasons, so I wanted to explain a little bit about how we will be teaching it. We will go over the evidence that it exists, and then we will discuss theories on why it exists, including the theory held by some that this is part of a natural earth cycle, and, of course, the prevailing theory that it is caused by air pollution. We will discuss the need for caution regarding our use of fossil fuels and the potential for practical solutions. After we finish discussing climate change we will begin studying weathering and erosion. If you have any questions you can always contact me.

These are all the notes I have for you this week. As always, feel free to email me at rwycklendt@archwaytriviumeast.org with any questions.

Sincerely,

Miss Wycklendt