Bear Cub Digest #5

Posted Date: 09/08/26 (06:45 AM)

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Bear Cub Digest

Parent & Community Newsletter

September 7, 2026

Hello September picture with fall leaves.

Back to a Busy Week!

We hope you had a chance to rest and enjoy the much-needed Labor Day weekend. Welcome back to a short, yet busy week. We have finished most of our PM1 testing and we are examining the data to formulate plans for students to meet all expected benchmarks by the end of the school year. This week marks the midpoint of our first quarter. Please look out for first quarter progress reports that will be published to the parent and student portals on Friday, September 11, 2026. Also, we have our first picture day this Thursday. Be sure to have students in their school uniforms for this first picture day. Have an amazing week!

September Events

Sep.10 - Picture Day

Sep. 11 - Q1 Progress Reports Posted

Sep. 15 - SAC/PTO Meeting @7:00am - Media Center

Sep. 16 - DEAL Time Buddies

Sep. 17 - Dress Down Day

Sep. 25 - Professional Learning Day, No Students

Picture of the acronym FAST and the words for the letters.

Make-Up Testing

This week we will conduct make-up testing for students that missed any part of the first set of FAST progress monitoring assessments (PM1).

The results of PM1 will only be used to help teachers understand what areas to focus on with students. Teachers will also work with students to review their scores from the prior year and set realistic goals for PM2 and PM3. Please be sure to check out the testing resources at flfast.org/families.

Coach Stenberg directing the cross country team.

Cross-Country Running Team

Thank you for the parents that brought students out early in the morning to the Cross-Country running team try outs last week. We look forward to excellent practices under the leadership of our very own PE teacher Coach Stenberg.

Coach Stenberg directing students for the cross-country team.

Picture of a report card and the words Progress Report.

Progress Reports

First quarter progress reports will be available this Friday! Elementary school progress reports track a student's academic growth and behavior toward end-of-year grade-level standards during a grading period. These reports are meant to show a student's current performance and areas needing improvement before final grades are set. Please note that at this early stage in the school year, many students are still developing and approaching grade level benchmarks since these standards are taught progressively over the full school year. Please review these reports and schedule a time to meet with your child's teacher(s) to discuss ways you can continue to support their academic growth.

Teacher holding a data chat with a student.

Student Data Chats

As we come to the close of the first progress monitoring assessment, teachers and administration will take some time to hold "Data Chats" with students. Data chats are focused, collaborative conversations where students, teachers, and admin review data together to set goals, solve problems, or build shared understanding around what is needed to meet goals. These data chats are brief, one-on-one meetings between a teacher and a student to review recent test scores, grades, or attendance. The purpose of this process is to help students understand their own academic progress, build confidence, and set personal improvement goals. These chats are private and the teachers use grade appropriate terms to help students understand. Students then record their data and write down clear next steps to meeting their goals. Be sure to ask your children about their goals and steps to meet their goals this school year.

Teacher Professional Learning Communities (PLCs)

A professional learning community (PLC) is when a group of educators meet regularly to share expertise, collaborate, and improve teaching skills and student learning outcomes. The focus of a PLC is on learning. The main goal is to ensure high levels of learning for every student, rather than just focusing on teaching. Grade level teams work together and interdependently to explore current best practices and test new strategies through shared research and reflection. Progress in the PLCs is measured using data to evaluate what works in lessons for students and make continuous improvements. A results-oriented PLC continuously address four driving questions:

What do we want students to know and be able to do?
How will we know if they have learned it?
What will we do for students who already get it (enrichment)?
What will we do for students who do not yet get it (intervention)?

Below are pictures of our 5th grade ELA and Math/Science PLCs and our VPK/Pre-K PLCs in action.

A picture of books and the words Academic corner.

Instructional Focus

We continue to see great things happening in our classrooms and special area classes such as PE, Art, and Music. Our schoolwide focus is on strengthening instructional practice, maintaining student engagement, and enhancing teacher checks for understanding. We also want to make sure all learners can clearly articulate what they are learning and why it matters. All of these instructional focus areas lead to high levels of learning for all students. Below are some examples of students engaged in small group math instruction, ELA instruction, and even a snippet of student engagement in PE instruction.