Dear Parents,

Welcome back or welcome!

My name is Ms. LaTonya Davis and I am your child’s teacher this year. We are located in Room #122.

I began my teaching experience at SBCS.I consider it a privilege to be a member of the SBCS staff and am very much looking forward to sharing an exciting and rewarding year with you and your child.

I was very glad to see the students coming in ready to learn! They came prepared with their school supplies and great behavior. I was very impressed with their behavior and their willingness to share their summer experiences.

Much has changed at SBCS this year and I would appreciate your patience as I we work to improve the curriculum.

One of the changes at our school is the IRLA (Independent Reading Level Assessment) program. Students will be exposed to more literacy, which will ensure their success as readers and writers. This program is aligned with the Common Core State Standards and designed to help students become proficient in reading at their grade level or above. The components in this program teach them to be accountable for their own literacy success, with the assistance of their school and family.

What Is IRLA?

The American Reading Company defines IRLA in this way, “The Independent Reading Level Assessment (IRLA) is a unified standards-based framework for student assessment, text leveling, and curriculum and instruction. The IRLA includes every Common Core Standard for Reading, both in literature and informational text, as well as those Language standards key to reading success, for students in grades Pre-K through 12.” Mr. Fraas also shared that home reading will be tracked a little differently this year, and will be measured in “steps.” (Each step will represent 15 minutes of reading at home, and at school.) On a regular school weekday students’ goal will be 4 steps of reading practice (2 at school, and 2 at home).

We will not begin recording the home reading steps until the second full week of school-starting Monday, August 25.

That way your child will know how to earn and record steps, before reading homework will need to be tracked. The steps are recorded on a reading log that will be in a blue pocket folder. All the students will be on the same step throughout the school year. At the end of this first week students will be on “Step 10” because they will have read 2 steps at school each day this week. One reason we are excited about this teaching and learning framework for reading is because it is both rooted in research, and validates the practices we have been using at SBCS for at least the last 10 years of our history. We know that students who read at home become proficient readers based on significant quantitative and qualitative research (Tony Stead, 2009).

Another change is our Encore schedule. P.E. is no longer one of our Encores but is now an activity the students will enjoy every day! Technology is now offered as an Encore and will be in the place of P.E. (Music, Art, Tech, Spanish; MATS). That means students will need to have gym shoes at school every day. Summer often means some students might be wearing shoes without heals. And, even though a lot of children wear gym shoes to school, as weather turns it will be important to remember gym shoes every day.

The last change is that students will no longer have a daily, afternoon recess in order for them to have P.E. each day. On Fridays students can earn a weekly recess by completing homework and turning it in on time. (See the attached homework policy)

As we work together to instill, in each child, a sense of confidence, self-esteem and responsibility, it is my hope that each will strive for his/her highest potential.

If, at any time during the year, you should have questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely, LaTonya Davis 217-525-3275 ext.122 [email protected] P.S. School Pictures

School pictures are next Wednesday, August 27th. It is important to know that every student will have her/his picture taken, even if you do not plan to purchase any. The pictures will be used in the class composite picture, and in the school yearbook.

Your child will bring home a book starting today in their blue pocket folder, but the students will not have their reading logs with them until next week. Please be sure the books are returned to school each day in the blue folder. Each morning students are going to use the time in the gym before school begins for reading practice.

The books this week provide examples of one of the books from the I.R.L.A. level she/he chose in a “self-leveling” activity that was the first lesson in the Action 100 Instructional Framework we are using this year. (These levels will be verified using the I.R.L.A. system.) Talk with your child about the books they bring home this week.