The State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, will begin this week. On Monday, March 30th, our 4th grade will participate in Day One of the Writing STAAR.  On Tuesday, March 31st, 4th grade will complete Day Two of the Writing STAAR, and 5th grade will take the STAAR Reading assessment.

We encourage our students to:

• Go to bed early
• Be on time for school
• Plan to bring your lunch from home that morning or purchase your lunch from the cafeteria on these two testing days. Food brought in for lunch will not be allowed for any grade level on testing days. VISITORS for lunch will not be permitted on campus on March 30 and 31.
• Students may bring one, sealed bottle of room-temperature water. Any other drink will not be allowed.

We are proud of our students and know that they are ready to show what they can do. Let’s stand behind them and show our support by making sure these tips are followed by all.

STAAR training for White Oak Intermediate personnel will take place on March 17th at 7:15 and again on March 18th at 3:45.  Please plan to attend one of these sessions. Training is mandatory. Do NOT be late.

While it’s not a new “school” year, we do want to welcome back all of the students to the 2015 “New Year”.  It is really great to see all of the boys and girls back in classes again. Faces were smiling and teeth were chattering as they entered this cold morning. We have lots of learning to accomplish in the next few months. The year 2015 is going to be a great one!

White Oak ISD is a Title 1 school. We value to bond between parent and school. Because of that collaboration, we want to keep parents informed on the educational front. The Parental Involvement Newsletter for September 2014 is linked HERE. Region 16 is the official site for the parent newsletter and meets Title 1 requirements.

Thank you for your active participation in your child’s education here at White Oak ISD.

We are nearing the half-way point of the first nine weeks grading period. Normally, teachers would be sending home student progress reports around the 4th or 5th week of a grading period. However, teachers have been working diligently to teach routines and enjoying getting to know your child. No progress reports will be printed out and sent home for this first grading period. You may expect them to be sent beginning at the half-way point of the second nine weeks grading period.

Remember, parents, because you used the required online registration, each of you have access to your child’s grades at any time with your Skyward Family Access. You are encouraged to login and follow your child’s progress at any time. For any new students who may not have received Family Access login names and passwords, please contact the intermediate office at 903.291.2101.

Thank you to our parents, teachers, and other supporters of our community and school who are taking advantage of the Take Charge of Education Promotion at Target. Every time you shop with your REDcard, Target donates 1% of the total purchase made at Target or Target.com to the school you have designated. These checks can be used for books, field trips, supplies, or technology.

Thank you for your participation.

With our students starting back to school, we want to our parents to know how important you are to us. Here is a link to printable lunch box notes from the Happy Home Fairy (or planner/backpack notes). They miss you as much as you miss them during the day. Make the day special for them.

Image:http://happyhomefairy.com/

White Oak Intermediate would like to ask parents to send in the free book codes found in specially marked packages at Walmart. Just put them in a ziplock bag and turn in at the intermediate office. We will enter the codes and order books for our intermediate classrooms. There are over 50 books on the Scholastic list that are available with these codes. Below are examples of some of the participating products. What an opportunity to put books into the hands of students!

Welcome back, students! Thank you, parents, for getting our students ready to learn.

www.theholdernessfamily.com