School Start: WPS welcomed families to Open House on August 22nd, then the beginning of school the following week for first grade. Children have jumped right into learning and were ready to welcome kindergarten students on September 4th. Staff and families have commented that the start to the year has been particularly calm and productive. It is especially exciting to hear from first grade teachers how well-prepared their new students are, both academically and behaviorally. Many thanks to the kindergarten team for their intentional instruction and focus on excellence.
WaKIDS/iReady: First grade students just completed the iReady Reading Assessment, and are beginning the math portion this week. Preliminary results are exciting, and this information will be shared in more detail soon. Kindergarten students do not participate in the first iReady administration as recommended by state experts. Instead, children are engaged in the WaKIDS screener. This assesses readiness for kindergarten and provides critical data regarding students just entering school. This data is available later in the fall and will be shared as soon as it is received and analyzed.
Dual Language: September 4th was the first day of kindergarten and marked the first day of the dual language program at WPS. Children are acclimating very well and families routinely express gratitude for the program and excitement regarding the language skills children are already demonstrating.
Children spend part of the day speaking Spanish, another part English, and have some specific times when the language spoken is student choice. It is amazing to see how quickly our young learners are picking up a second language. They are no longer “native English” or “native Spanish” speakers. They are all now “developing bilingual” students. It has been an amazing and inspiring start!
Cookies & Conversation: The first WPS Cookies & Conversation meetings will be Thursday, October 4th. A morning session will be held at 9:00 a.m. with an evening session available the same date at 6:30 p.m. This gives stakeholders an opportunity to ask questions and give feedback directly to the school. We are excited to partner with families in this way!