Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress (ISASP) - During the week of April 7th, all Cedar Falls 3rd-6th grade students will take the Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress (ISASP) tests. These will be taken digitally using our Chromebooks. Students and families can take advantage of online practice tests to help students prepare. We will also be using these practice tests during school. Please help our students to be ready by ensuring they are rested, fed and come to school with a positive mental attitude. We ask that families ensure students are at school and appointments are avoided during this week. Last, we will ask students to leave electronic devices at home or be prepared to turn in to staff during testing. If you have questions, please let us know!

Lynn Lyons Learning Opportunity - This is a FREE EVENT on Thursday, April 3 from 5:30-6:30 p.m! (https://tinyurl.com/msmcbf44) How to Navigate Smartphones, Freak-Outs and Friendships: The Big Skills All Kids (and Adults!) Need! With all that parenting currently demands, it’s easy to get caught in the details of every new emotion, conflict, trend and homework assignment that comes our way. I get it! After 35 years of being in the “solution” business, the menu of problems has never been more confusing, and the array of opinions less informed. Let’s take a collective step back--out of the weeds and traps— and focus instead on bolstering the bigger skills that help families handle emotions, relationships, and the bumpiness of being human.

After School Playground Use - as our weather improves, students frequently want to stay at school to use our playgrounds. Unless their parent or guardian is standing with them directly supervising, our elementary handbook requires them to go home to check in with family and not return until after 4:15 PM. Also, we are requesting that students not play football on either playground following school. Thank you for ensuring our playgrounds remain positive following dismissal and reinforcing this message with your students.

After School Pick Up - we have had concerns shared from our neighbors that their driveways are being blocked. If you choose to pick up your child after school, please utilize a parking space if you need to leave your car. Many families choose to park away from the school and walk to their meeting spot with their students. Thank you for being respectful of our neighbors!

A note from the Health Office for our 2nd grade families: The Iowa Department of Public Health requires a vision screening for those entering into 3rd grade. If you have a well visit coming up, please ask for a vision check on your student and submit the results to the Health Office. Please see the form attached below.

Team Lincoln Families, we need your help at dismissal each day. Please ensure students are picked up promptly at 3:45 or 1:50 every Wednesday. If you cannot be on time, please communicate this to the school in advance. Our staff prepare for instruction each afternoon following dismissal, thank you for allowing us to be prepared for the following school day!

Attendance Updates (https://tinyurl.com/yc6z9kf9)  - please carefully review attendance updates for our district according to recent legislation at the state level. If you have any questions, please direct them to Mr. Bryant.

Arrival And Dismissal - we want to help our students safely enter and leave the building each day. In the morning, we will ask students to arrive between 8:30 and 8:45. They will report to their classrooms or to the cafeteria for breakfast, if needed. At the end of the day, we will dismiss students beginning with Kindergarten and ending with 6th grade. Our staff will walk students to the door. Our Kindergarten and 1st grade students will dismiss at their outside classroom doors, second grade will dismiss onto the east playground, third grade will also dismiss onto the east playground, fourth grade will dismiss using our main entrance doors on 8th street and 5th and 6th grade will dismiss using our 7th street doors. We appreciate families making and following consistent after school plans. We will not have supervision for students prior to 8:30 AM each morning, please do not send your students before this time. Thank you for helping us support safe morning arrivals and afternoon dismissals!

Wednesday Early Dismissal - we dismiss every Wednesday at 1:50 PM. Please be sure to set a reminder to pick up students promptly. Our staff use this time to collaborate to support learning for our students.

Snacks and Birthday Treats - We are proud to be a Blue Zones school and encourage healthy choices when students bring food for their daily snack. In addition, to support safety this school year when celebrating birthdays, we will ask for families to bring prepackaged items to minimize handling. Thank you!

Lincoln Family Directory (https://tinyurl.com/yx4jx6zc) - Parents and Lincoln School (PALS) is sponsoring a directory to help our families connect! This is an opt in directory and it will be shared only with those families who choose to share their information. We will not share this link on social media. Please reach out to Mr. Bryant with questions!

CKLA/Amplify Supports -  The English/Language Arts (ELA) resource we use in our district is called CKLA (Core Knowledge Language Arts) from grades Kindergarten through 5th and Amplify for 6th grade. We will send home paper copies of the “Caregiver Letter” each time we begin a new unit and want to share these with our families each week. We encourage you to use the conversation starters!

Kindergarten Unit 9 (https://tinyurl.com/2da8z9w6) 

1st Grade Unit 9 (https://tinyurl.com/2s49rdmz) 

2nd Grade Unit 9(https://tinyurl.com/2s4xy3f4) 

3rd Grade Unit 8 (https://tinyurl.com/y6b3wfnj)  

4th Grade Unit 7 (https://tinyurl.com/499bnj9k) 

5th Grade Unit 7 (https://tinyurl.com/yajtmz8f) 

6th Grade Unit 4 (https://tinyurl.com/3b5ycw6n) 

Illustrative Math - We are excited to continue to deliver Illustrative Math to our students this year! This is a problem-based curriculum where students spend most of their time in class working on problems. Teachers help students understand the problems, ask questions to push their thinking and facilitate discussions to help students. Our goal is to help students build understanding of mathematical concepts and procedures as well as to apply this knowledge to new situations. During Math, students will collaborate with their classmates to talk about math, listen to each other’s ideas, justify their thinking and discuss their thinking. They gain experience communicating their ideas both verbally and in writing. This kind of instruction may look different from what you experienced in your own math education. Current research says that students need to be able to think flexibly in order to use mathematical skills in their lives and also on the types of tests they will encounter. Flexible thinking relies on understanding concepts and making connections between them. We plan to share family support materials for each unit as we appreciate your support at home!

Kindergarten Unit 5 (https://tinyurl.com/mrxnjax3)  

1st Grade Unit 4 (https://tinyurl.com/4pnb4xzm) 

2nd Grade Unit 7 (https://tinyurl.com/4n42htyn) 

3rd Grade Unit 5 (https://tinyurl.com/26ftw5zt) 

4th Grade Unit 6 (https://tinyurl.com/m4fu9erf) 

5th Grade Unit 6 (https://tinyurl.com/ywjd62p8) 

6th Grade Unit 6 (https://tinyurl.com/68xa32x8) 

Thank you for your support! 

Respectfully,

Ralph Bryant

Lincoln Elementary Principal

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