Barbara Benson Elementary School Quick Links January 16,2015 Benson Website School Tour Day Haiku Elementary schools in Tustin (excluding Tustin Memorial Academy) will conduct TOURS on Tuesday, February 3rd, at 9:00am 10:00am &11:00am12:00pm for parents of students entering Kindergarten next year & for parents of students in grades 1st-5th who are new to our district. Please see our website for additional information from the District Office. We highly encourage our parents to tell their friends about Benson, the best little hidden "treasure"! My TUSD Accelerated Reader Benson Message Instagram Facebook REPORT AN ABSENCE Reminder Dates Martin Luther King, Jr. DayMonday, January 19th Child I.D. ProgramWednesday, January 21st CHP Car Seat CheckMonday, January 26th Joyful Child Foundation BRAVE workshopThursday, January 29th. Family Fund NightTuesday, January 27th CHP Car Seat Check In the State of California more than 80% of children's carseats are used or installed incorrectly. Don't put your child at risk! Come to the FREE car seat checkup, Monday, January 26th, 9:00am - 11:00am, and have trained California Highway Patrol car seat technicians teach you how to properly install your car seat. If your car seat is found to be unsafe or recalled, limited number of replacements may be available. Joyful Child Foundation For those of you who have signed up and paid, the BRAVE Workshop will be on Thursday, January 29th from 6:30-8:00 pm. We are looking forward to Non- Student Day-Friday, January 30th School Tours Tuesday, February 3rd Recycling DayFriday, February 6th Lincoln DayFriday, February 13th Washington Day-Monday, February 16th welcoming back Erin Runnion and Salvadore Hernandez from the Orange County Register for this exciting event! Please be advised that the BRAVE Workshop classes have been expanded to allow additional participation. The cost is $25 per student and registration forms will be available in the front office. CAASPP- What Is It? New Standards - New State Assessment The state has a new assessment system to measure student learning of the new state standards that were adopted in 2010. The CAASPP replaces the STAR assessments that have been given for the last several years. You may hear the new assessments referred to as Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) because it is the consortium that provides the assessments. Students in grades 3-8 and 11 will take the SBAC assessments in English language arts and mathematics during the April/May testing window this year. The new assessments will take about the same length of time as the old assessments. It cannot be emphasized enough that the CAASPP is very different from the STAR assessments, and therefore, results of assessments from prior years cannot be compared to the new assessment results this spring. The key differences will be highlighted in future editions of this newsletter. More information may be found atthe Parent/Student tab of the California Department of Education CAASPP Web page athttp://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/ca/. PLEASE JOIN US AT OUR NEXT PTO MEETING ON JANUARY 27 @ 8:20 AM IN THE MPR TO MEET WITH KATHIE NIELSEN, TUSD CHIEF ACADEMIC OFFICER, TO SEE A PRESENTATION ON THE CAASPP. Family Fund Night It's Family Fund Night time. Please come join us at Chipotle at 13348 Newport Avenue on Tuesday, January 27, 2015 from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM. Benson will receive 50% of the proceeds! You must present the flyer at the time of your purchase. The flyer will be sent home in the Friday folders. Hope to see all of you Benson Bears at Chipotle!!! Spring Student Council Interest Meeting There will be a student council interest meeting on Tuesday, January 20th during first recess 3rd-5th grade students only. Early Registration for 2015-16 Outdoor Science School Final payment for fifth grade Outdoor Science School is due Friday, February 20th. A third notice about account balance will go home with your student at the end of the month. Please send in any remaining balances to the office. Consent Forms, Medical Forms, Packing Requirements, Menu,etc. will be going home end of January. Please see Janis Bailey in the front office if you have any questions. Safety Child I.D. Program Wednesday, January 21st ... Benson and Safety Child I.D. are working as a team on a program regarding child safety. Safety Child I.D. will be at Benson to photograph our students so parents may participate in the program. In case of an emergency, the program allows parents to use their cell phone and/or email account to immediately forward their child's eCHILD I.D. Mobile Alert to Police, the Media, as well as their friends on their contact list. A number of our elementary schools work with Safety Child I.D. and have a great response to this program. Flyers will be coming home soon. Parent registration/participation is optional. Only students who have been registered by their parent(s) will have their photographs taken. Registration must be completed prior to the event. If you would like information on the company, programs, products, etc. please feel free to go online to safetychild.com. Kindergarten Round Up Benson YMCA Follow us on Social Media! Follow us on Instagram CLICK HERE, Twitter CLICK HERE, and Facebook. Look for BENSON BEARS!! Archived Benson Messages You will still be able to access past Benson messages, in addition to the new ones that you see here. CLICK HERE for our new messages. Barbara Benson Elementary 12712 Elizabeth Way Tustin, CA 92780