Dear La Entrada Community,

Class Placement for 2015-16:

This article outlines our class placement process for La Entrada students in grades 4-8.  The faculty spends considerable thought and attention formulating classes that will work best for students.  The teachers and administrators consider three major perspectives as we work together to develop class groupings:  the needs of the individual child, the need to create balance within each classroom, and the need to create balance among classrooms at a grade level.  The teachers work carefully to create classrooms that are evenly balanced in terms of:

• Gender, social maturity, interest, student background
• Academics-high, medium, and low performing students
• Special needs-students who work with our many specialists such as  English Learner Support, Speech and Language, the Resource Program,  Reading and/or Math Intervention
• Health and other special needs
• Social relationships

For Students Entering Grades 4-5:

The process for composing classes involves all teachers at a grade level working together to develop classes for the next grade.  As they work together during several meetings, the administration and support staff also provide perspectives based on their knowledge of the children.  As appropriate, input from prior teachers is tapped.  We believe that your child's current teacher possesses the necessary information and understanding concerning your child to make an appropriate grouping for the coming school year.  Teachers' names are not assigned until after the class configurations are complete.

In order to maintain balance in class size we may have multi-graded classes.  For the 2015-16 school year, we anticipate a 4/5 multi-grade class.  Multi-grade classes are of the same high caliber as all other classes.  These classes are formed using the same process described above.

We do expect that parents will trust and respect the judgment of staff in making classroom placement decisions.  We do not accept requests for specific teachers because such requests would compromise our ability to develop balanced classes - which would impact all children.  Since requests for specific teachers are not helpful to this process, we ask that you do not formally or informally make requests for specific teachers.

While we do not accept teacher requests, it is helpful for us to know if you have had an older child in a specific classroom that did not work well for him or her.  If you wish to provide additional perspectives about your child that you believe we are not aware of and that could be useful to us as we engage in the grouping process, we offer that opportunity through email to me (spotts@llesd.org).  Remember, this is optional.  There is no expectation that an email be sent.  It is simply our way of offering an additional opportunity for those of you who want to provide more input.  Please note that while we do our best to accommodate student needs in the core classroom, the process for math placement may not allow for such requests.

For Students Entering Grades 6-8:

The process for these grade levels is much more "technology" dependent because we offer students a wide variety of courses in a manner that is more typical of a high school.  We use a computer system to do the scheduling of students in grades 6-8.  The process looks like this:

1. The students fill out their registration forms, listing their elective choices for the following year. (This has already happened.)
2. We develop a master schedule that has the highest probability of meeting the highest percent of student requests.  This is a list of classes, what periods of the day the classes will take place, the teachers for each class, maximum number of students for the class, and the room the classes take place in.
3. Students' elective choices are entered into the system, as well as a list of the required courses they must take.
4. The computer places the students into a schedule which allows for the closest match of the student getting his/her top elective choices as well as the required courses.
5. The computer generates a list of students who were unable to be scheduled completely.  We then look at the students' other elective choices to see how to make the schedule work, and we also experiment with other variations of the master schedule.
6. We print out a list of all classes and make necessary adjustments to try to balance the class groupings.

In August, the administration and counselors review and finalize class lists to accommodate students who have enrolled or moved away over the summer.  We put tremendous effort into creating balanced classes to best meet the needs of all of our students.  We are continually refining the process and are proud of our results.

If you have important information about your child's placement for next year, please let the classroom teacher know, or submit that information to me in writing before April 15, 2015.

Any placement information received after this date may not be considered due to our placement schedule, unless there are extenuating circumstances. If you've sent information in prior years that is still relevant, please include that information as well. Thank you for your cooperation in adhering to this deadline.

Upcoming Events

• If your child will be in 6th grade next year, you are invited to come to an "Incoming 6th Grade Parent Information" meeting on Wednesday, February 25th at 6:30 p.m. in the MUR.  At this meeting, I will be talking about the structural transition between 5th and 6th grade.  For parents of special Education students entering 6th grade, we will be meeting at 5:45 p.m. to answer questions you may have.  The information discussed will also be posted on the school website.  I look forward to the evening. 

• Correction:  The new 4th/5th grade computer teacher, Angela Ping, would like to invite you to meet her on Thursday, February 26th at 6:30 p.m. in her classroom.  She will be able to tell you more about her program and answer any questions you may have.

• New Families to La Entrada are invited to campus for an orientation and tour.  The tours will be held at 10:00 a.m. on March 16, March 29, April 29 and May 11.  Please notify the office if you would like to attend.

• The Talent Show has been rescheduled to March 25th at 6:30 p.m.

Spring Conferences are scheduled for March 9-12. 

Parent-teacher conferences are designed so that information and questions can be shared.  Open and ongoing communication is highly valued by our staff and community.  For the spring, we are allotted three days for conferencing spread over the 4 scheduled minimum days.  Each teacher will either pass out a schedule or have their availability on the online system.   To make the most of this time, spring conferences are considered optional and can be requested by the teacher or the parent.

Conferences in grades 4 and 5 - Trimester Ends March 6

Your child's teacher will contact you regarding conferences.  The teacher may request a conference with you, or you may request a conference with the teacher.  Whether you conference or not, you will receive an updated report card that outlines important information regarding your child's progress.

Conferences in grades 6-8 - 3rd Quarter Ends March 27th

There are approx. 45 spots for conferences during March 9-12.  Teachers may have three times as many students as there are conference slots. (For example, a math teacher may have 150 students, but still only has 45 conference slots!)  Conferences are optional and we ask that you keep in mind the limited slots and only sign up for a conference if you feel it very necessary. 

6th - 8th Grade Teacher Conference Sign Ups will be Online

PTC Wizard is a web based parent/teacher conference scheduling system.  Parents can create and manage their conference schedules in an easy and time efficient manner.  

Here is what you need to do to schedule a parent/teacher conference:

• Registration opens at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday, February 24.
• Login to https://llesdms.ptcwizard.com
• You will first need to register and enter the names of your 6th-8th grade children.
• Follow the steps and the program will instruct you on how to choose a child, choose a teacher and set a time for the conference.
• When you have finished scheduling, a confirmation email will be sent to you.
• Conference availability closes at 2:00 p.m. on the school day prior to the conference.  
• If a teacher's time slots are full, please call the office. We will keep a wait list.
• If for any reason the online system does not seem to be working for you, please call the office and Mrs. Rudge or Mrs. Stosz will assist you.
• Because space is limited, please login and cancel any conference that you will not be able to attend.  If you need to cancel after registration has closed for that day, you will need to call the school office.
• The school office number is (650) 854-3962.

Warmest regards,

Shannon 

Lunar New Year Celebration at lunch this Tuesday

Attention 8th Grade Families:  LLEF and District Leaders are happy to announce the 8th Grade Legacy Gift Challenge!

We need just 15 more families to reach the 80% participation threshold for the 8th grade.  Every gift, of any amounts, counts towards this participation.

If the class reaches this goal, your graduating 8th graders will earn the right to create a Legacy Gift of a painted wall mural at school!

What a wonderful parting gift for your child's school.  Can you help?

DONATE NOW to the Annual Giving Campaign. 

Mark your calendars... The annual Spring Auction and "Party of the Year" will be held on May 16th!

 We know you have the goods and ideas to make this auction GREAT!

Thank you in advance for your help and support. You can donate now by clicking the button to the left.

Join us for one last party before the big one!