11/3/23
I hope that everyone has had a good week. This week had a lot of excitement with our students dressing up for Halloween and as we approach the end of the trimester. There are just a couple of items in the blog this week.
Wolves of the Month
Congratulations to our Woodlawn Wolves of the Month for September. Each team chooses a Woodlawn student to be their representative. The characteristics we look for are consistently demonstrating respect, kindness, responsibility, and perseverance, as well as serving as a role model for outstanding expected behavior.
8th Grade World Languages Information
Dear Families -
In the month of November, 8th-grade students will participate in the AAPPL (The ACTFL Assessment of Performance toward Proficiency in Languages) assessment to assess their communicative competency with the Spanish language. The purpose of this assessment is three-fold:
D96 will collect valuable data that will inform our instruction to continue to enhance our Spanish curriculum and instruction.
Stevenson High School will use this proficiency data to make initial recommendations for Spanish coursework when your student is in high school.
Students will have the opportunity to have experience with an assessment that can lead them to earn the Seal of Biliteracy on their High School diploma when they are in high school.
Tell me more about the assessment.
Your child’s Spanish Teacher will share the specific assessment schedule. The tasks included in this assessment are similar to tasks we use during our regular instruction and assessment cycle in Spanish classes. The students are asked to engage in interpretive listening and reading tasks. This includes listening or reading authentic Spanish pieces and answering questions, in English, about those pieces based on the language the students already know or context given. Additionally, the students will respond to writing prompts in Spanish utilizing learned language skills. The final piece of the assessment is an interpersonal speaking opportunity in which your child will perform for the classroom teacher and will be scored based on a rubric co-constructed with all Spanish teachers across the consortium (D96, D102, D103, and D125) for consistency of expectations.
When will the test be administered?
Speaking- (in class administration) November 15th - 21st
Listening and Reading- November 29th
Writing- November 30th
What do students need?
Please make sure your student has headphones.
Please make sure your student has a charged iPad.
How will this information be used to make course recommendations?
Your student’s level of proficiency (interpretive listening and reading as well as writing) as indicated by this assessment combined with an analysis of their interpersonal speaking skills and teacher input will be used to make an initial course recommendation that is optimal for your student. You will receive this information in the mail in late January/early February before needing to select courses at Stevenson. You can find the specific course sequence in this course book. In general, recommendations will be made for the following courses based on this assessment:
Spanish 2
Spanish 2-3 Accelerated
Spanish 3-4 Accelerated
As this is a recommendation, your family will have the opportunity to provide input as you make the final selection for a course should your child choose to continue studying the Spanish language.
What is the Seal of Biliteracy?
The Seal of Biliteracy is intended to recognize students for multilingual skills and is indicated on a student’s high school diploma. Additionally, Illinois universities are obligated to offer college credit to students who have earned the Seal of Biliteracy through meeting the requirements.
For more information about this opportunity, use this link and click on the Seal of Biliteracy Tab.
What if my child would like to participate in a benchmark or placement assessment for a language other than Spanish?
Stevenson also provides individuals with experience in Chinese, French, German, Hebrew, or Latin could take a placement exam to decide if a higher level language course placement would be appropriate for their child. Please visit the Stevenson website for more information and to register for the exam via this link. The deadline to register is Friday, December 8th.
The purpose of the benchmark exam is two-fold:
As indicated by this assessment, your student's level of proficiency will be used to determine the appropriate level for course recommendation. This information will be mailed in mid-January before Stevenson's Course Selection evenings.
Course selection data collected in February is crucial to determining appropriate staffing, the number of sections, fiscal decisions, and building the master schedule for the following school year.
Finally, more information is available on this Benchmark FAQ document. For additional questions, please email [email protected].
LightSpeed Systems Weekly Student Online Activity Report (REPEAT)
Dear Parents and Guardians,
As a part of our ongoing commitment to ensuring a safe and secure online environment for our students, we are excited to announce that we will be offering the Lightspeed Systems Weekly Student Online Activity Report to all parents and guardians of our school community.
You will receive an email from District 96 that will enable you to register for the Weekly Student Online Activity Report. Once you receive the email from our school district you will have the ability to register. Simply choose to register and follow the prompts to sign up for the Weekly Student Online Activity Report.
The Lightspeed Systems Weekly Student Online Activity Report is a valuable tool that will allow you to gain insights into your child's web history while using the school's iPad. This report will provide an overview of the websites visited by your child while using the iPad. The report is designed to promote transparency and communication between parents and the school, fostering a safer digital learning experience for our students.
The weekly activity report is only accessible to parents and guardians registered for this service. It will not be shared with any external parties, and the data collected will be used solely for the purpose of improving the online safety measures at our school. Parents/guardians will not start to begin receiving weekly reports until their child has at least a week's worth of browsing data.
Lightspeed Parent/Student Enrollment Email Schedule: Families will begin to receive LightSpeed Parent report emails from Lightspeed. This email correspondence will allow you to enroll and begin receiving your child’s reports from Lightspeed for the following grades on or near the dates below.
October 23, 2023 (8th Grade)
October 30, 2023 (7th Grade)
November 6, 2023 (6th Grade)
November 13, 2023 (5th Grade)
November 20, 2023 (4th Grade)
November 27, 2023 (3rd Grade)
December 4, 2023 (2nd Grade, 1st Grade, Kindergarten)
Please note that while we encourage parents to use this tool to stay involved in their child's online journey, it is essential to have open conversations with your child about their internet use. Establishing trust and communication around digital practices will enhance the overall safety and well-being of our students.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the Weekly Student Online Activity Report or need assistance with the registration process, please feel free to reach out to the IT department at [email protected].
Thank you for your continued support in creating a secure and nurturing learning environment for our students.
Click here for the Woodlawn Daily Announcements
Daylights Saving Time
If you can believe that this is happening…this Sunday we need to “fall back” and turn the clocks back an hour.
Here are some fun pictures of the Woodlawn staff from Halloween!
Finally, I am writing my blog as the musical practice is happening. I cannot tell you how much fun it is to be around the students as they practice for their big performance this week upcoming. Since the start of the school year, this group has worked tirelessly to perfect their parts, the scenery and all of the directions. This musical is a student production, guided by our awesome adult sponsors. Having never been a part of a musical or play, it is incredible to see the dedication of our students. They are having so much fun and they are so supportive of each other, it is truly inspiring. I cannot tell you that after a long week, it is inspiring it is to see this group of students in such a different light. They are truly incredible. Having been around this group, it really makes me wish that I had been a part of a play in high school, maybe a comedy. I did do the world a favor by not being in a musical. It would have set the drama department back many, many years.
Have a great weekend. Enjoy the extra hour of sleep.