Corbett Grade School

Dear Families,

I hope that everyone was able to navigate our challenging weather over the past two weeks. Deciding on school delays, early closures, and all day closures can be very challenging in the Columbia River Gorge. Our transportation and facilities directors, along with Superintendent Dr. Derek Fialkiewicz, work hard to keep our schools open during our ever changing weather conditions. Our goals are to keep our students and staff safe and to notify our families with as much advance notice as possible. We appreciate your patience as those hard decisions are being made.

In this newsletter:

• Reading Instruction at Corbett Grade School
• February Heart Challenge
• Assessment Day and Progress Reports
• Kindergarten Kick Off (Wednesday, March 8 at 5pm)
• Application to Attend (apply at www.corbett.k12.or.us)
• Oregon State Assessments for Grades 3-5
• Important Dates and Events

Warm wishes,

Michelle Dawkins

Corbett Grade School Principal

Learning to read is a very complex process, especially for our youngest readers. At Corbett Grade School, the expectation is to provide our students with effective and explicit daily reading instruction.

Five Components of Reading Instruction at Corbett Grade School include:

• Phonological awareness

• The ability to recognize and manipulate the spoken parts of sentences and words

• Phonics

• Instruction that teaches the relationships between the letters of written language and the sounds of spoken language

• Fluency

• The ability to read with speed, accuracy, and proper expression

• Vocabulary

• The knowledge or words, including their structure (morphology), use (grammar), meanings (semantics), and links to other words (word/semantic relationships)

• Language Comprehension

• The understanding and interpretation of what has been read

Foundational skills are screened and monitored throughout the school year for our young readers. Mastery of these skills is essential for our K/1 students' reading success.

Foundation Skills for our K/1 Readers:

• General listening skills
• Understanding how books and print work
• Letter identification (upper and lower case)
• Letter to sound identification (44 sounds in all)
• Blending (the ability to blend two or mores letter sounds together)
• Rhyming
• Basic syllables
• Sight word knowledge
• Decoding words in and out of context
• Letter formation (handwriting)
• Engagement in reading

How can you help your child with their reading?

• Read books that have rhyming patterns

• Practice letter sounds and blending sounds together

• Say a word like “cat” and then asking them to not say the /c/ and add a /p/

• Take a compound word like spaceship and ask them to say the word, but don’t say “space”

• Have them clap out the syllables of words

• Read aloud each night

Resource:

Follow Instagram: Little Literacy Nook for tips on how to help your reader with foundational skills

Part 2 - April Newsletter
The graphic of Scarborough’s Rope illustrated below, shows the complexity of reading. Reading is about learning how to recognize words (decoding, sight word recognition, and phonological awareness) and then applying that knowledge to language comprehension through background knowledge, vocabulary, language structures, verbal reasoning, and literacy knowledge. In our next newsletter, we will discuss how to support our 2/3 students as they learn to bridge the gap from foundational skills to language comprehension.

Our Kids Heart Challenge is off to a great start and we are learning how to keep our hearts and minds healthy! We are encouraging all families at the school to learn the steps to Hands-Only CPR through Finn’s Mission. Be part of the movement and join the 1.8 million families across the nation learning Hands-Only CPR this year! So far, 71 students have signed up and 15 families have learned Hands-Only CPR! Thank you for supporting our school and the American Heart Association in their mission to save lives!

Next Steps:

• If you have not registered for our team yet, consider registering today at http://www2.heart.org/goto/CorbettGradeSchool or download the Kids Heart Challenge app!
• If you have already registered, THANK YOU! Send 10 emails or e-cards to family and friends today (pre-written templates are in your KHC HQ!)
• Start FINN’S MISSION and learn the steps to Hands-Only CPR. When your student completes Finn’s Mission, they will earn an XL Finn the Shark Keychain!

Special School Incentives:

1. Any student that raises $150 will get to Silly String Ms. Young and others!!

2. The class with the most participation will earn a class party with Popsicles!

3. Students that complete Finn’s Mission will earn a certificate on the wall!!

When you raise $50 you will earn a Be The Torch wristband, 4 Heart Heroes, and a Mystery Gift!!

Each spring our students in grades 3-5 take part in Oregon State Assessments known as SBAC. Students are assessed in the areas of English Language Arts (ELA) and Math. Our students in grade 5 are also assessed in science. Testing for students at Corbett Grade School will begin during the month of April. Each classroom teacher will send out more specific information about when testing will take place in their classrooms.

Helpful Hints before Assessments:

• Get plenty of rest the night before
• Provide a breakfast that has protein
• Relax and try not to stress about the assessment
• Encourage your student to do their best

We encourage all of our families to participate in the state assessments. We realize that for some of our students assessment causes stress. For our families wishing to opt their student out of the SBAC test contact your student's classroom teacher or Shelia Morgan Osborne (smorganosborne@corbett.k12.or.us) to request a waiver.

Progress Reports will be emailed or mailed home on Thursday, March 9, 2023

Non-resident families that have a child that will be entering kindergarten for the 2023-24 school year are required to complete an Application to Attend Form for their incoming kindergartener. Please visit www.corbett.k12.or.us for more information or contact the grade school office.

There is still the possibility of inclement weather during the month of MARCH! During this time, we may have a school closure or a two-hour delayed start. You will be notified by email and a text message. Announcements of closures or delays can also be found on our district website and local news media. In addition, you can subscribe to FlashAlert for additional communication about emergency messages and important weather closure information in our area. If you are not receiving a text, phone, and/or email, please contact: Carrie Evans at cevans@corbett.k12.or.us

Students should remain at home when they have:

• Fever (100.4 or higher) or chills
• May return after 24 hours fever free without the use of medication
• Cough
• May return if the cough is improving
• Vomiting or diarrhea
• May return after 48 hours
• New rash or sores
• Red eyes with drainage
• Anyone who has symptoms of illness OR tests positive for COVID-19 should:
• Stay home and notify their child's teacher and the grade school office.
• cevans@corbett.k12.or.us
• 503-261-4236
• Wear a well-fitting, multi-layered mask around other people.
• If symptoms last longer than 24 hours, consider testing for COVID-19 or visit a healthcare provider.
• Our grade school has free COVID-19 home tests available, contact the office for more information.

If symptoms of illness appear while at school, students will wait in a space away from healthy students until they are picked up by a parent/guardian. Make sure the school has correct phone numbers so that someone can be reached in case your student needs to be picked up.

If you have health questions, call your school nurse or your healthcare provider.

• Thursday, March 2 - End of the Second Trimester

• Friday, March 3 - Trimester 2 Assessment Day

• Wednesday, March 8 at 5pm - Kindergarten Kick Off

• Wednesday, March 8 - Corbett School Board Meeting at 7pm

• Thursday, March 9 - Corbett PTA Meeting at 6:30pm in the Longhouse

• Wednesday, March 15 - CAPS Showcase

• March 27-30 - SPRING BREAK

• Monday, May 29 - Memorial Day NO SCHOOL

• Wednesday, May 31 - GS Portfolio Night 4pm -7:30pm

• Friday, June 2 - Friday School and Last Day of School