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Los Lunas Schools

Sundance Elementary

March 2017

FROM THE PRINCIPAL Educators use assessments to

understand student mastery

of content and skills, and to

provide students with

effective, individualized

instruction. There are four

types of assessments:

Formative Assessments are

typically informal “checks”

administered frequently by

teachers to monitor student

progress and adjust teaching to

help students learn.

Short-Cycle Assessments are

periodic (daily, weekly, bi-weekly,

and/or monthly) assessments such

as DIBELS, reading checks, learning

logs, exit slips, quizzes, etc. that

provide regular feedback to

teachers. Results of short-cycle

assessments help teachers ensure

that students are learning and

provide concrete feedback to help

students improve their

understanding and apply their

knowledge.

Interim Assessments are

administered three times at the

beginning, middle, and end of the

school year. These tools measure

student progress throughout the

course of the year.

Summative Assessments are

formal assessments administered

at the end of a unit, course, or

year to determine a student’s

proficiency of the standards at

each grade level.

The PARCC tests are

summative

assessments that are

taking the place of the

SBA in English Language Arts

(Continued on page 2)

From the Principal 1-2

Computer Clicks 3

Academic Coach 4-5

Library 6

Music 6

Health 7

Physical Education 7

PTO 8

Counselor 9

Box Tops 10

Important Dates 11

Pop Tabs 11

Breakfast/Lunch

Menu 12

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Sundance Elementary Young Authors’ Day

Family Event!

Date: Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Time: 5:30-7:00

Place: SE Cafeteria All Student Writing on Display!

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(ELA) and

math. Aligned

with

instruction,

they assess student

mastery of the Common

Core State Standards,

which are designed to

better prepare our

students for college and/

or a career. The upcoming

PARCC tests, which begin

in early April, will provide

teachers with important

information about

students’ learning to help

support better

instruction and increase

student achievement.

PARCC Resources

In the past few months,

PARCC has developed

excellent resources to help

students and their families

become familiar with the

(Continued from page 1) PARCC assessments. In

addition to general test

information, the following

resources are available for

grades 3 – 11 in ELA and

math:

Tutorials. Located at http://

parcc.pearson.com/tutorial,

the tutorials will help

familiarize students with the

new computer platform

(called TestNav), text-to-

speech, online tools, and

other resources.

Sample Items. Available at

http://parcc.pearson.com/

sample-items, sample items

are available in online and

paper formats. In addition to

providing practice with new

types of test questions, the

math sample items include

practice with equation

editors and online

calculators.

Rubrics. Available on the

same webpage as the sample

items, you will find rubrics for

ELA writing questions. The

rubrics show the number of

points students can earn and

skills students are expected

to know.

Practice Tests. You can find

practice tests for grades 3 –

11 here: http://

parcc.pearson.com/practice-

tests.

Using online practice tests

requires that computers have

the appropriate hardware

and software (http://parcc-

test.pearson.com/technology-

setup). If your home

computer is unable to run

the practice tests, they can be

printed so students can

practice PARCC questions

on paper. Additionally, these

practice tests are available in

large print and Braille.

From the Principal Cont.

We have openings! Project Keys is a before and after school daycare

program for students. We are located here in the cafeteria at Sundance

Elementary for your convenience. We will help the students with homework

and provide games and activities to keep the students engaged. We provide

snack and very affordable pricing! We are open from 7:00am-school start

and school release-6:00pm. If you are interested in more

information please contact Debbie Jones at 505-866-3787 or come

by the cafeteria before or after school.

PROJECT KEYS

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Carolyn Sandoval, Computer Lab

Spring is almost here!

The students 3rd thru 6th have

been preparing to take the

PARCC (Partnership for

Assessment of Readiness for

College and Careers) test. They have

been practicing their typing skills and

taking practice tests. We will start taking

the PARCC in April.

They like practicing their typing

using the Typing Instructor. If you would

like your child to practice at home they can

practice by logging into the Typing

Instructor web site. To log onto the web

site they need to go to the Los Lunas

schools web site (llschools.net) and hover

over Students then click quick links. The

page will open and at the bottom of the

page you will see TYPING INSTRUCTOR

STUDENT click on it. Once the Typing

Instructor opens your student will need to

log in to Typing Instructor. To log in

they will type in their user name and

password. Their user name is their

lunch number L (yes it’s a capital L)

their password is their lunch number S

(yes it’s capital S) at the end of their

password. All students will log in the same

way.

The kindergarteners are getting

familiar with using the computer. They

have learned how to log in using the mouse

and keyboard. First grade has been

practicing typing their sight words using

Microsoft word. Their keyboarding skills

are getting better and better. Second grade

has been working on typing their different

projects that they have been working on in

class.

Help Us Earn Funding!

We are collecting used ink cartridges, old cell phones, mp3 players, GPS

units, cameras and headsets from home or businesses to support us. This is

a wonderful fundraiser to raise money for the computer lab and it also

helps save the environment.

Typing instructor login:

User name Password

LUNCH #L LUNCH #S

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Students in Grades 3-6 will take the PARCC test in April beginning Tuesday, April 4th.

Please mark your calendars as attendance during testing is very important. Testing will occur

throughout the month of April. Students will be assessed in both English Language Arts (ELA)

and Math. Please see the testing sessions outlined below. Students in Grades 3-5 have

seven testing sessions and Sixth Grade students have six testing sessions. If you would

like to see practice PARCC questions, visit:

https://parcc.pearson.com/practice-tests

GRADE 3 GRADE 4 GRADE 5 GRADE 6

ELA ELA ELA ELA

Unit 1: Research Unit 1: Research Unit 1: Research Unit 1: Research

Unit 2: Narrative Unit 2: Narrative Unit 2: Narrative Unit 2: Narrative

Unit 3: Literary Unit 3: Literary Unit 3: Literary Unit 3: Literary

Math Math Math Math

Unit 1 Unit 1 Unit 1 Unit 1

Unit 2 Unit 2 Unit 2 Unit 2

Unit 3 Unit 3 Unit 3 Unit 3

Unit 4 Unit 4 Unit 4 ——-

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LIBRARY Patti S. Bitting, Library Assistant

March is Music In Our Schools

Month. During this month,

performances will take

place throughout the

country to celebrate

MUSIC. Los Lunas will also

have a performance at the

Los Lunas High School on

March 16th. The

performance begins at 6 p.m. in the

gymnasium and all are welcome to

attend. The whole show lasts about

one hour and includes brief

performances by elementary, middle

and high school students. Our

Sundance Choir students along

with other elementary Los Lunas

students will sing the National

Anthem as well as a fun song

called Shake The Papaya Down.

It’s a great way to celebrate

music in our schools! Hope to see you

there!

The month of March is going to be

full of so many exciting things!

Our Spring Scholastic Book Fair

will be held from March 6-March

10. It’s so much fun to see the

library transformed into a gigantic

book store for a whole week. The

book fair is a great opportunity for

families to expand their home

libraries with lots of books

available at family friendly

prices. It is also an

incredible opportunity for

Sundance to build our library

collection. We earn 50% of all

profits and that money is spent

entirely on new books. Please plan

to join us for our Family Event on

Tuesday March 7 from 4-6pm. The

class that purchases the most

books will be rewarded with an Ice

Cream Sundae Social courtesy of

the library. A flier will be sent

home advertising the dates and

times the book fair will be open.

Read Across America Week:

MONDAY 3/13—Hawaiian

Day – Beach Theme – Bright/

Neon, Flower shirts, sun hats, leis,

etc.

TUESDAY 3/14—Dr. Seuss’

Whoville – Crazy Everything

Theme – Socks, hats, hair, crazy

clothes, Inside-out, backwards, mix-

matched, mustaches (LORAX), etc.

WEDNESDAY 3/15—Farmers and

Flannel – Cowboy, Rancher,

Farmer, Scarecrow Theme -

Overalls, Flannel Shirts, Cowboy

Boots, Cowboy/Straw Hats, etc.

THURSDAY 3/16—Princess/Super

Hero and Forward Thinker

Day – Allows students to

dress as princesses and super

heroes, but also allows older

students the chance to dress

appropriately as to what they

envision fashion of the future will

look like. Includes Star Wars/

Robots/Space themed items too.

FRIDAY 3/17—Wearing O’ the

Green/Leprechaun Day –

EVERYTHING GREEN AND

LUCKY!

PLEASE NOTE -Students who have

received a hot slip can participate

although they will be required to

wear their uniforms every day.

As always, curl up with a good

book!

Patti S. Bitting, Library Assistant

Music Notes Erica Otero, Music Teacher

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Health News Christin Zamora, RN

Physical Education Monica Aragon, P.E Teacher

Food and Fitness for a Healthy Child

When your child comes through the door after school or activities,

they are probably starving. Try these tips for healthy snacks that will

give your child the energy to play and do homework.

Stock the Kitchen

What you have in your kitchen is what your child will be eating, so

when you shop keep that in mind. Stocking your kitchen with healthy

snacks such as fun fruits and veggies is the key. When your child asks

for a snack give them a choice, and since you have

stocked healthy snacks they will be able to choose

from healthy snacks that will give them energy and be

healthy for them. Some healthy snacks include,

grapes, apples, veggie sticks (celery, carrots, jicama), oranges, air

popped popcorn and more.

Build Your Own

Do you have a picky child? If you let your child get creative in the

kitchen they will be more likely to eat the results. Making fruit kabobs is

something most children love to be involved in, let your child thread

grapes, melon, low fat cheese and more onto toothpicks making

different designs and shapes. Spreading low fat cream cheese or organic

peanut butter on rice cakes and decorating it with dried fruit is another

fun idea your child might enjoy.

Exercise is Fun

When children are young, exercise is just plain

fun! Here are a few ideas for getting more physical

activity into your child’s day. Superman: lie on

your stomach with arms and legs straight out. To

fly stretch your arms and legs out and hold them off the ground, see

who can fly the longest. Freeze dance: play music and have a dance off,

when the music stops everyone freezes and holds that position for at

least 10 seconds, start the music and start all over again. Math pro: give

your child a math problem to solve with an exercise. For example, do

3+4 jumping jacks. The child should perform 7 jumping jacks. This is a

fun way to exercise while practicing math!

Just have fun!

Keeping healthy shouldn’t feel like a chore.

Incorporating fun exercises and activities into your life

is easy once it gets started. This is a great way to spend

time and bond with your child while teaching them

healthy habits.

Supplies we could use: New or gently used

tennis shoes. Your support is greatly appreciated.

THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

On February 17, 2017 students at Sundance Elementary jumped

all over heart disease and stroke by participating in Jump Rope

For Heart. The students raised $3,939.56 for the American

Heart Association, which funds research, programs and

education to fight heart disease and stroke.

I am so pleased with our success! Overall we had about 88

students who raised money for the American Heart Association.

Once again Thank You to all that participated in being a “Heart

Hero.”

M. Aragon-Physical Education

The Top Students: Andres Burkhard $515

Hannah Gulas $298

Caylee Dewsbury $200

Aidan Atencio $200

Payton Keryte $175

Andrew Escajeda $165

Gabrial Escajeda $165

Samuel Escajeda $165

McKaylee Burt $131

Kiara Baca $109

Alanna Jojola $105

In class students are

learning how to bowl

and score.

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PTO News

PTO will be sponsoring the Save Around Coupon Book Fundraiser from March

10th—March 17th. The Save Around coupon book has more than $5,000 in sav-

ings in each book. There are local coupons for places like Albertson’s IHOP,

Denny’s, Del Taco and Great Clips to name a few. There are also coupons for Al-

buquerque including ABQ BioPark, Cool Springz, Hinkle Family Fun Center, res-

taurants and MORE! Permission slips and more information will be sent home

very soon. Thank you for your continued support!

SAY CHEESE!!!

Spring individual and class picture day

is on Friday, March 3rd.

Chili’s donation dinner

On March 15th Chili’s in Los Lunas will

be donating 15% of every purchase

with a flyer back to Sundance. Mark

your calendar and bring the family to

Chili’s. Flyers will be sent home .

Swing into Spring Craft Show

Sundance PTO will be hosting a spring craft show on April 1st from 9-1:30 in the cafeteria. There will

be several vendors, dance performances, a silent auction and food for sale. If you are interested in

being a vendor, you can pick up an application in the office or you can email PTO at

sundanceelementarypto@gmail.com.

The next PTO meeting will be held on March 14th at 3:45 in the library.

Childcare will be provided for school age kids. See you there!

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Counselor’s Corner Sheila Broome, Counselor

The Students and I have been very busy these past few weeks learning

more effective ways to calm down. The students have been learning that

when they are having “strong emotions” like anger, worry,

embarrassment, disappointment… they can try calming down by naming

their feelings, doing deep centered breathing/belly breathing, counting,

using positive self-talk and sometimes just walking away from a situation.

The students are trying to find out what works best for them in order

to calm down. When students have strong emotions this can also cause

students to feels those emotions in their bodies as well. Strong

emotions can cause a faster heartbeat, faces to get red, stomachs to

hurt, knees and or hands to shake, and lack of concentration. Doing

deep centered breathing/belly breathing, counting and using positive self-

talk can help to calm down the strong emotions. Students begin to feel

more in control of their emotions and bodies. Positive self-talk will tell

the brain that everything is ok and the body can start calming down.

Students are learning how to change negative self-talk into positive self-

talk. This will also be effective and hopefully utilized for our older

students, grades 3-6 as PARCC testing will be coming up in April.

During the month of March for those grades we will be spending more

time on positive self-talk, building confidence, and calming strategies.

We want our students to try their best during testing and no one

wants stressed out students. Please begin practicing with your child on

positive self-talk, students can tell themselves: I can try my best, I can

do this, I’m smart, It’s all going to be okay, I’m awesome!!! Having

“strong emotions” like test anxiety makes it difficult for students to

think. I am so impressed with the students here at Sundance and how

fast they are learning these skills.

Parents don’t get

discouraged!! I

understand

schedules get hectic

and parents are

pulled in a hundred

different ways. Keep

up the good work

and remember a

quick check-in with

your student on

how they are feeling

can go a long way!

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1—Early Release @ 12:50. No AM

Or PM PK

3—End of Pennies for Patients

Spring & Class picture day- SMILE!

6—Spring book fair begins (all week)

7—Evening book fair 4-6 PM

LLS Board Meeting @ 6:00 PM

NMSBA (Science-4th grade) testing

begins

10-End of 3rd 9 weeks

Hot slip challenge ends (1-9 through

3-10)

Save Around fundraiser through 17th

13-Dress down for those who qualify

Read Across America Events begin

Hawaiian day

14-PTO Meeting @ 3:45 in library

Dr. Seuss Crazy Day

Poetry Presentation 5:30-7:00PM-

Evening Event

15-Farmers & Flannel day

Chili’s Night (Proceeds benefit SE)

16-Princess/Super Heroes/Robots/

Star Wars day

17-Report Cards out

Wear Green

20-25—Spring Break—NO School!

Hello students, parents, and staff…..

We only have a few months left to collect your POP Tabs. This is a great way to

have our school support others in need. We will be donating the pop tabs to the

Ronald McDonald house charity.

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