Bear Cub Digest #10

Posted Date: 10/12/26 (05:19 PM)

View Original Post

Bear Cub Digest

Parent & Community Newsletter

October 12, 2026

Picture of hands pointing at a target and the words second quarter.

Beginning of Second Quarter

Welcome back to another busy week of school! We are entering the second quarter of school! The second quarter of school is one of the most critical stretches of the school year. We have only 29 instructional days before the second FAST Progress Monitoring (PM2) testing window opens, and what happens in classrooms during those 29 days will have a profound impact on student achievement. We will be working with our students to ensure their continual move toward demonstrating proficiency on their grade level benchmarks. See the information below that shows how we are building traction and excitement toward our school goal of 72% proficiency!

October Events

Oct 12- Teacher Workday- No students

Oct 13- Begin Quarter 2/ Parent Resource Night (K-2)

Oct 13- Cross Country Meet @ Voyager K-8

Oct 15- Dress Down Day

Oct 15- Cross Country Meet @ Kissimmee Middle School

Oct 20- SAC/PTO Meeting @ 7am

Oct 21- DEAL Buddies

Oct. 22- Parent Resource Night (3-5)

Oct 23- Quarter 1 Report Cards Go Home

Oct 23- Student Club Day

Oct 30- Leadership Parade

FAST Assessment Reminders

The Florida Assessment of Student Thinking is a progress monitoring assessment that is administered three times per year in grades VPK through 10th grade.

The assessment is aligned with the Florida B.E.S.T. standards and provides data on learning outcomes throughout the year, as well as student mastery at the end of the year.

FAST assesses all areas of reading. VPK through grade 2 progress monitoring is assessed through Star Early Literacy and Star Reading. Grades 3 through 10 are assessed through Cambium.

In grades 3 through 10, FAST is administered through the Cambium assessment, which is aligned to the Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking Standards or the B.E.S.T. Standards. It is computer adaptive, which means items may become progressively harder as students successfully respond to items and easier if students answer more questions incorrectly.

While progress monitoring one (PM1) and progress monitoring two (PM2) are for informational purposes only, progress monitoring three (PM3) will be used for school accountability.

Descriptions of FAST Progress monitoring time frames

Student Motivation Sneak Peek!!

We are excited to unveil our student motivational activities planned for students who raise their achievement on the FAST PM2 assessment or reach/maintain proficiency on the assessment. Please see the exciting events we have planned for these hard-working students!! We will be talking to students about these events this week and building excitement for these last 29 days before testing time!

Parent Resource Nights Coming!!

We are excited to announce our Parent Resource Nights for parents of students in K-2nd grade, and parents of students in 3rd - 5th grades. This will be a time to hear about what your child is learning, look at their data (receive their state data reports), and receive information about what resources are available to assist them. There will be some food and snacks available for purchase while supplies last. This will card purchases only. Please see the flyers below. Use the QR code to sign up so we may plan ahead and have your child's data report ready for you. Thank you!

Rock Your School Classroom Transformations!!

The Rock Your School initiative by Get Your Teach On is a global movement that encourages educators to create creative, high-energy learning experiences for students. On October 9th, many of our NCES educators turned up the engagement and found creative ways to bring learning to LIFE for their students. See some of those amazing transformations below!

Teacher with students in construction theme

Student presentation of bakery theme activity

Thank You!!

We want to take this time to thank every parent/guardian who supported our Book Fair and our First-Grade Pumpkin Painting event last week. The turn-out to both events was incredible. Special thanks to Mr. Acosta for buying books for EVERY STUDENT in two of our 4th grade classes!! We also thank other families that donated money that will go toward more events for our kids! Thank you all for making NCES the best!!

family at bookfair with media specialist

A picture of books and the words Academic corner.

Socratic Seminar

Socratic seminars are student-led, text-based discussions that focus on open-ended inquiry, critical thinking, and multiple perspectives over debate. The activity centers on a rich, or contrasting piece of literature, historical document, or article that students have read and annotated in advance. Many classrooms use a "fishbowl" model where an inner circle actively discusses the text while an outer circle of "co-pilots" or observers takes notes or evaluates evidence. The conversation starts with a broad question (such as "What does this text mean?") rather than a query with a single right answer. The teacher acts as the quiet observer and guide.

In the pictures below, you can see Ms. Robichaux's 4th grade classroom engaging in a Socratic seminar using a text they have already read and annotated. The students begin by pairing up and examining the "author's claim" based on the question provided. They then get into their fishbowl structure to debate the claims (including their own claim based on evidence from the text). This was an excellent activity to watch!