Dear Pirate Families,

We are off to a great start for the 2018-2019 school year.  I feel very hopeful for this school year and the accomplishments that will arise over the course of the school year.  I truly want to be the principal that instills our vision statement and continue to celebrate success with our Pirates.  “The vision of Notus School District is to challenge and inspire one another to be our best academically and socially, modeling our values of respect, responsibility, collaboration, and celebration.”  I hope that you will continue to support our vision to foster the deligence and effort that our Pirate staff models every day here at school.

We are still embarking on the journey of standards based grading with our Mastery Based Education grant.  Two years ago, we accomplished separating academics from behavior in our implementation of Habits of Success.  Work study habits (Habits of Success) are very much like citizenship grades. As educators, we want to separate out the actual content grade versus the work study grades.  Elementary students are asked to self reflect often on their Habits of Success and I hope that these reflective thoughts are shared around the dinner table.

Last year, we transitioned to standards based grading for Mathematics.  You will find on the report card that math is graded on a 4, 3, 2, 1 scale.  Hopefully, during parent teacher conferences your child’s teacher shared about our scale and how this transition from a traditional grading system to a standards based grading system is very explicit in communicating strengths and needs in mathematics.  The scale is listed on the report card. One of the unique attributes of transitioning to mastery based is if your child has scored below meeting standard (3) there are future opportunities, beyond the traditional “Quarter” timeframe, that your child will be able to make improvement as they show mastery.

As mentioned before,  I am grateful for our Pirate village that has helped support our Pirates on their learning pathways.   “It takes a village to raise a child” is a proverb that encompasses one of my philosophies as your school principal.  I strongly believe that it takes a village to support each and every one of our students. Our Pirate Village works dilignetly to make sure that each student is their best self and learns at the best of their ability.   Thank you for being part of our village along with supporting our students and staff in all that you do each and every day.

Proud to be a Pirate,

Jen Wright, Principal

Queridos Piratas,

Hemos tenidos un gran comienzo este ano.

La vision del Districto Escolar de Notus es desafiarse e inspirarse uno al otro para aser lo mejor academicamente, y socialmente, modelando nuestros valores de respeto, responsabilidad, colaboracion y celebracion.

Todavia estamos embarcando en una nueva calificacion basada en una beca que recibimos de Mastery Based Education. Hace dos anos logramos separar lo academico y comportamiento en nuestra implementacion de Habits of Success. Basicamente los estudiantes seran calificados academicamente y por su comportamiento.

El ano pasado hicimos la transicion a la calificacion de Matematicas. En la boleta de calificaciones econtrara que las matematicas se califican en una escala de 4,3,2 y 1. Si su hijo/hija ha obtenido un puntaje menos de 3, hay oportunidades en el futuro para mejora su grado.

Estamos muy contentos con nuestra Familia Pirata por todo la ayuda y apoyo que recibimos. Trabajamos diligentement para asegurarnos que todo estudiente aprenda de la mejor manara posible.

Por favor llamenos con cualquier pregunta o preocupacion. Gracias,

Jen & Mrs. Ana Gonzalez