Dear PS 107 Families,
What a joy it was to see Fall Festival return to its pre-pandemic glory this past Saturday! The gorgeous fall weather was the icing on the cake. I can’t thank the Fall Festival co-chairs, Nisha Aoyama and Eve Dilworth, enough. Their impressive event planning skills made the day such a success, as did our many parent volunteers. I have so much gratitude for this community — your can-do spirit and the way that you generously give your time to support our school. THANK YOU!
I also wanted to make all of you aware that our teachers are in the midst of administering a number of required assessments to students. The NYC DOE mandates that all schools give academic “screeners” — short assessments that measure students’ skills in reading and math — three times a year. These screeners help teachers to measure how well students are responding to core instruction and whether additional support is needed.
All NYCDOE schools are required to give Acadience Reading to students in Kindergarten through 2nd grade. These measure foundational reading skills and are administered one on one. In grades 3-5, PS 107 selected Star Reading as our academic screener, which is a computer-based assessment that’s administered in small groups or to an entire class at once. For K-5 math, we selected Star Math, which is also computer-based and administered in small groups or to an entire class at once. You can learn more about Star Assessments here.
These academic screeners will be administered three times this year — at the beginning of the year, mid-year, and at the end of the year. Our teachers will be interpreting the data generated by these assessments at their grade team meetings this year, and based on the results, will modify instruction and support students accordingly. Students will be taking these assessments in the next couple of weeks.
Teachers are also in the midst of administering Fountas and Pinnell running records, which are given one on one, administered three times a year (beginning, middle, and end) and result in the familiar reading level that teachers have shared with you in previous years. A word of caution on these levels: they are but one measure of a child’s reading skills. As a school, we encourage children to read widely. Once you learn your child’s reading level, it is not necessary to restrict their reading just to books on that level. Motivation is a key factor in the development of reading skills. If a child is excited to read a text that’s higher than their assessed reading level, let them do so! You can provide support by answering questions they may have about the text or reading portions of it together so that you can deepen their comprehension.
Finally, a request from our crossing guards: please don’t cross against the light with your child in the mornings or afternoons. We’d rather your child be a minute later to school than risk an accident! Our crossing guards help all students cross safely when they are crossing at the correct time. Thank you for your attention to this important safety matter.
Have a wonderful week!
Warmly,
Ms Joanna
PS Don’t forget to follow our official PS 107 Twitter account! https://twitter.com/ps107brooklyn