Important Dates and Reminders:

• 09/29-10/03 Costume Swap and Closet Clean Out each morning at drop-off

• 10/05 Sunday: Parent Association Fall Meetup 11am: See flyer below

• 10/06 Monday: Costume Donation Shop at Pick Up

• 10/09 Thursday: NO AFTERCARE FOR K-6 (Aftercare for EC only)

• 10/09 Thursday: 7th Grade Options Night 6pm-8pm

• 10/10 Friday: No School: Professional Development Day

• 10/10 Friday: 6th Grade to Balloon Fiesta. Leave RGS at 4:30am

• 10/13 Monday: No School: Indigenous Peoples' Day

• 10/16 Thursday: Fall Fiesta and Pumpkin Patch 3:15-5:00

• 10/28 Tuesday: RGS Open House 8:45am-10:45am

• 10/29 Wednesday: School Photos

• 10/31 Friday: Hawktoberfest! 2pm-3pm

NWEA (MAPS) Assessments Next Week

Next week, our k-6 students will take our beginning-of-year NWEA (MAPS) reading and math assessments. These short-cycle tests help teachers monitor progress, measure and predict growth, and establish benchmarks that guide future instruction. MAPS are low-risk and have no impact on grades or promotion.

A few facts to know:

• MAPS produce a Rasch UnIT (RIT) score, which shows how a student is performing on a continuous scale (like measuring height). It is not meant to label grade level, though equivalents exist.

• The assessments are adaptive: questions adjust in difficulty based on answers, aiming for about 50% correct to identify each student’s “zone of proximal development” — their best learning window.

• Students will use Chromebooks or iPads; each session takes about 45 minutes, with extra time provided if needed.

• Students who qualify for accommodations (e.g., text-to-speech for math) will receive them.

If your child feels anxious, remind them that MAPS are for teachers to plan lessons, not to evaluate or compare students. Teachers will share this reassurance with them in class as well.