Union Memorial School
Parent Newsletter
October 15, 2004
DRA Results: You may have seen the Vermont Developmental Reading Assessment (VT-DRA) results from this past spring published in the Burlington Free Press. The VT-DRA is an individually administered, standards-based reading assessment given at the end of second grade. Students read aloud and retell selected short books. Teachers score the oral reading for accuracy and the retelling for comprehension. Teachers then determine the highest range of text difficulty at which students read with both accuracy and comprehension. 89% of the second graders at UMS met or exceeded the standard which is very close to our goal of 90%. State-wide, 82% of the students met or exceeded this standard.
Action Planning: Part of the Act 60/Act 68 legislation requires schools to create annual action plans. The plan helps focus a school’s professional development and growth as well as the budget process. Parent input in this process is not only required, but also important. The first action planning meeting will be held on Wednesday, November 10 at 6:30 PM at Colchester High School. There will be a follow-up meeting on Wednesday, December 8.
Sally Foster Update: As of this writing we have raised $9,813.78 from the Sally Foster fundraiser (which is very close to our goal of $10,000). By comparison, we raised $7824 last year. Don’t forget you can still order product on line at www.sallyfoster.com and our account number is 0289375. We also received 20 entertainment books for free and are selling them for $30 apiece (five of which have already been sold) with all the proceeds going directly to the playground. If you would like to purchase one, contact Melissa Mazza at 863-2305. A big thanks to the PTO and all of the parents who worked to make this a successful endeavor.
Trading Cards Ban: We have decided as a school to ban trading cards (e.g. Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon). Although the students enjoy playing with them, they have become too much of a distraction and many problems have arisen. Normally we would encourage the students to work out their disputes and view them as a learning experience, but it has become too time consuming and taken away from valuable instructional time. If a student brings the cards to school, they will be taken away and returned to you. I will be informing all of the students of this new rule on Monday. Thank you in advance for your support in this matter.
Wrapping Paper Pick-up: You can pick up the Sally Foster orders after school on Wednesday, November 3 and Thursday, November 4 from 3:00 PM to 8:00 PM at the old fire station (which is between the school and Claussen’s). To make things easier, this coincides with the after school Book Fair hours.
Respectfully,
Chris Antonicci
Principal
Upcoming Dates
Tuesday, October 26 Harvest Dinner 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM (Kindergarten, Second Grade,EEE)
Wednesday, October 27 Harvest Dinner 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM (First Grade and Multi-age)
Saturday, October 30 Halloween Howl at Leddy Park Arena in Burlington
November 1-5 Book Fair in the library
Wednesday, November 10 Action Planning 6:30 PM at Colchester High School