Congratulations Jo Goss, this year's Heart Award winner. https://www.hcosd.org/o/holyoke/page/heart-award
Join us 4/25 @ 7pm at the Peerless to honor her and the other award winners.
Congratulations to senior Audrey Talavera! Yesterday she signed a letter of intent to play basketball for Doane University in Crete, Nebraska!
Congratulations to our 2024 Emerald Awards Winners!
Heart Award - Jo Goss
Leader Among Us - Christine Mallari
Rookie of the Year - Flor Varela
Come to the Peerless Theater 4/25 @ 7pm for the awards ceremony.
https://www.hcosd.org/o/holyoke/page/emerald-awards
#TBT Here is a throwback to 1981 when the girls who ran the 440 and 880 yard relays got to keep their baton from state! Now we use the metric system to measure our races. Come see the relay teams use the new exchange zones on Saturday at our home track meet. #DragonPride
To finish their Africa Unit, Julius Collins spoke to 7th grade Social Studies students about his native country of Liberia.
Today is National School Librarian Day. We want to thank Mrs. Stanley for all the hard work she puts in to the library, the book fair and everything that makes it so we can all enjoy literature. #ThankSomeone
You may have noticed the Holyoke Junior High journalism class downtown selling their monthly newspapers in the past. They won't be walking to local businesses this month, but you can still buy a paper at the Heginbotham Library.
Thank you to everyone who has read the newspaper and supported student journalism!
https://bit.ly/3xkhRuZ
Happy Paraprofessionals Day! We couldn't do what we we do without their contribution to our district. #ThankSomeone
It is always fun to look back. Here are some of the highlights from the last few months.
https://youtu.be/OG8peKIaGZA
2B wrapped up their lesson on micro habitats by searching and investigating the playground to find different micro habitats.
Welcome to Wonderful Wednesday from Holyoke Elementary School.
TEST YOUR BEST!
Summer EBT is coming to learn more read here - https://5il.co/2he44
El verano EBT está llegando para aprender más hagan clic aquí - https://5il.co/2he43
Last week students from Mrs. Kleve's College Intro to Public Speaking class participated in the Lions Club speaking contest. They spoke about courage to change the world in small and large ways. The top finishers were
1 Nicole Schlachter
2 Leah Struckmeyer
3 Isaiah Rueter
Here is the April Newsletter for the Elementary School
English - https://holyokeco.edurooms.com/engage/elementary-newsletter/newsletters/april-2024-newsletter
Spanish - https://holyokeco.edurooms.com/engage/boletin-de-la-escuela-primaria/newsletters/2024-abril-boletin
Thank you to all of the families that stopped by our bookfair! We appreciate all of the support you gave to our school library. We exceeded our goal and will be able to purchase many new books and supplies for our library! The students are very excited!
Did you know? . . . State Testing Time
By Kimberlee J. Bennett
Spring in Colorado schools means it is state testing time. The test, Colorado Measure of Academic Success (CMAS), is given during the month of April.
“State statute requires assessments for evaluating students' mastery of and growth in the Colorado Academic Standards and evaluating the performance of districts and schools. CMAS is aligned to the state's rigorous academic standards and designed to gauge how well students are mastering the standards and are prepared for their next grade.” (Colorado Department of Education cde.state.co.us/communications/factsheetsandfaqs-assessment#)
3rd - 8th grade students take both Math and English Language Arts tests. In addition, 5th, 8th, and 11th graders take the science test.
The 65 minute Math test has 3 units, each taken separately.
The English Language Arts test includes reading, grammar, and writing questions. In 3rd - 5th grades, each test is 90 minutes and the 6th - 8th grade test is 110 minutes each.
The Science test has three units and each is an 80 minute test for 5th and 8th graders. 11th graders take two units and have 50 minutes per test.
In the Holyoke School District, students take the CMAS computer-based tests on their school issued Chromebook through the Test Navigator app. Everything is highly secure.
In addition to the CMAS tests, high school students are required to take the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT). 11th graders take the SAT and 9th and 10th graders take the PSAT on their school issued Chromebook through an application called BlueBook.
“Everyone involved in CMAS and CoAlt administration must be trained each year,” according to Stefan Betley, District Assessment Coordinator of the Holyoke School District. This includes assessment coordinators, testing administrators, technology personnel, or any other school or district staff involved in the administration of the tests.
Betley also stated that the purpose of the training is to help ensure that a standardized testing environment is created and maintained for the duration of the testing window.
On the testing day, when students are finished with their test, they are required to be quiet so that others can finish testing in a quiet environment. Students may read a book, but do no writing or drawing.
Students can not have other electronic devices such as cell phones and e-readers in the classroom.
Teachers must remove any support materials they have displayed in their classrooms, such as, but not limited to, math facts, scientific charts, or parts of speech posters. They must also be actively proctoring the room during the tests to maintain standardization of assessments.
“Test Administrators may not engage in activities that impact validity, reliability, or fairness of the tests.” (cde.state.co.us) Strict protocols are in place to ensure this.
Assessment accommodations can be made for students with Learning Plans, Reading Plans, or 504 Plans.
“The Colorado Alternate Assessments (CoAlt) is administered to students with significant cognitive disabilities who are instructed and assessed on alternate achievement standards.” (cde.state.co.us) School staff works closely with the student’s Individualized Education Plan (IEP) team to determine the need for CoAlt assessments.
In preparation for the CMAS, students have been taking the practice tests and reviewing concepts since any of the standards can be tested on the CMAS. Students learn how to manipulate the protractor, ruler, answer eliminator, and other tools provided on the computer-based test.
In an effort to be prepared for the state testing, students need to do the following at home:
-Get a good night’s rest
^Ages 6 to 12 need 9 to 12 hours of sleep
^Ages 13 to 18 need 8 to 10 hours of sleep
-Eat well
-Get exercise
-Charge their Chromebooks at home every night
State testing in the Holyoke School District is in full swing so good luck to all students as they TEST THEIR BEST!
Mrs. Walker uses HMH interactive lessons so that her students can work on different lessons at their levels and pace all at the same time.
April 1st - 4th is Dean of Students week. We are so happy to have these visionary leaders helping our students and staff. #thanksomeone
Sixth graders began their mystery novel study by cracking the Case of the Missing Mona Lisa.
CMAS State Testing begins April 1st (no fooling) in the elementary and April 8th at the JR/SR High School. Please encourage 3-8th grade students to get a good nights sleep, eat right and do their best on these assessments.
