Hello Gardner Families,

Thank you to all of the families who donated to HOPE and especially who came out to help sort and re-box the donated items Thursday evening.  It feels good to give to others and it feels even better to do that together as a Gardner community.  A HUGE shout out goes to Amanda Boschken who helped select the organization and spearheaded the drive! 

CAASPP 3^rd thru 6^th grade

April 24^th – May 19^th is our testing window for the California Assessment for Student Performance & Progress otherwise know as the CAASPP.  Each teacher has individually scheduled when their class will take the English Language Arts (ELA) portion and the math portion of the test.  Below are a few items to be mindful of to ensure your student is ready to perform at his or her best.

1. Please be aware of the testing schedule for your child’s classroom and avoid planned absences during that time and make every effort to arrive to school on time.  If your child happens to be ill during a test day, they will be given opportunity to make their test up at a later time.   
2. Get a good night's sleep!  Research tells us that children ages 6-13 need 9-11 hours of sleep each night. 
3. Get up early enough to eat a healthy breakfast and bring a healthy snack to school. 
4. Help your child relax and feel confidant.  The teachers and students have worked hard all school year and they are ready for this assessment!  We believe in each and every one of them and want them to do their best, but not to be stressed.  While this assessment is important, it is only one data point of many that we look at to determine growth.

After School Pick Up

There are still a number of students not being picked up at dismissal.  Students should not be left unattended after school or be expected to wait for long periods of time for their parents or caregivers to arrive.  This is a safety issue that concerns me.  If you have extenuating circumstances that do not allow you to be here on time, please let me or your child’s teacher know.   Also, please keep in mind that the safest way to pick up your student is at the curb- rather than waiting for them in the parking lot and having them walk to you.

Fact Finders!

Ok Fact Finders- here is your challenge once again:  What percentage of the bee population do we lose every year?  To find the answer, please visit Mihir Srivastava’s web site.  You can look around and even make comments to him and his team!  We congratulate Mihir and his robotics team once again for making it to the semi-finals in FIRST® LEGO® League Seventh Annual Global Innovation Award!  We wish them the very best in Washington DC and cannot wait to hear all about the experience.   Remember students, come find me at recess and tell me your answer to the fact-finding challenge. 

Have an amazing-bee-tiful week,

Nadia Oskolkoff, Principal