March was a wonderful time to celebrate.

Students participated in a week of Dr.

Seuss activities. We enjoyed Doctors

who read to our students, and participat-

ed in a family-fun evening at our annual

Seuss Night Celebration. Next, we took

time to focus on our health at the Second

Annual Fun Run, then finished the month

with a wonderful musical event, Tikki Tik-

ki Tembo as our Fourth Grade Musical.

The month of April began with the Col-

lege of Charleston presentation of Jack

and the Beanstalk—The Opera for our K-

5 students. Our students thoroughly en-

joyed this unique presentation. As we

continue the month, we begin the most

important testing period for our students

and teachers. Testing will occur on many

levels for our students. Students in kin-

dergarten take The Developmental

Reading Assessment (DRA 2), grades

Principal’s Message

J A M E S I S L A N D

E L E M E N T A R Y

S C H O O L 1 8 7 2 G R I M B A L L R D

C H A R L E S T O N , S C

2 9 4 1 2

( 8 4 3 ) 7 6 2 - 8 2 4 0 P

( 8 4 3 ) 7 6 2 - 8 2 5 5 F

W E B S I T E : H T T P : / /

J I E S . C C S D S C H O O L S . C O M

Beacon Buzz A P R I L 7 , 2 0 1 6 V O L U M E 6 , I S S U E 7

1st through 5th take their Spring

Measures of Academic Progress (MAP),

students in grades 3–8 will take The

South Carolina College- and Career-

READY Assessments (SC READY).

While this may seem like a lot, the pur-

pose of testing is to identify strengths

and weaknesses, allow teachers to plan

for instruction, monitor growth, prepare

students to meet classroom testing ex-

pectations and provides information to

teachers, schools, and districts regard-

ing student's overall achievements. Our

goal is to help our families prepare our

students for the future while working to

create a balance. Please review the in-

formation provided by Mrs. Chirles for

our student's continued success.

Thank you for your support. With the

children in mind, Dr. Fickling

Thank you to Coach Harrington for start-ing our First Tee Golf Program. We are proud of our stu-dents for being a part of this new initi-ative.

Nurse’s Notes Some reminders from Nurse Davies…

Lice: It makes you itch just thinking about it! Last year the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) updated their recommendations and published them in the May 2015 issue of Pediatrics. This statement supports CCSD’s clinical policy for head lice and provides ex-cellent information on safe, effective methods for treating this common nuisance Check it out at http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/135/5/e1355. Parents, please examine your child regularly for any signs of lice such as frequent itching, nits (small dandruff like specs glued to the hair shaft) or live lice. The sooner you find the lice the easier it is to bring the problem under control.

Free Summer Meals: Charleston County School District’s Nutrition Services Department will provide free breakfast and lunch meals to approved sites through its Seamless Sum-mer Feeding Program (SSFP). The program allows school districts to provide free summer meals in low-income areas from Monday, June 6, 2016 through Friday, August 5, 2016. Check out www.ccsdschools.com for more information.

Thank you to everyone who made Seuss Week such a wonderful success. We had a tremendous turn out for our Seuss Family Reading Night. What a treat to see so many families out to cele-brate Dr. Seuss! Our “Doctors for Seuss” was also exciting this year. We welcomed back many familiar faces and 3 first time readers earned their “Doctor of Seussology” from JIES! Mark your calendars for our Spring Reading Prize Patrol. Prize patrol is a very special week we hold twice per year when stu-dents can pledge to be reading or doing homework 2 hours per night, Monday—Thursday. Five winners are randomly drawn each night from all pledges and those students get a visit from the Prize Patrol! They receive a prize bag filled with books, and are taped for our morning news broadcast! It will be April 18-21, from 5-7pm. Reading pledges will go home next week. Contact Mrs. Hale, 843-762-8253 or margaret_hale@charleston.k12.sc.us if you have any questions.

LIBRARY NEWS!

SAIL NEWS The 4th and 5rh SAIL students designed and built contraptions to protect an egg when dropped from 75 feet! The fire de-partment came and dropped the contrap-tions from the top of their ladder!

P A G E 3

Mrs. Gartside’s class created GallonBots as a part of a unit on measurement. See how GallonBot begins to take shape! Cal-lie, Raniyah, Ayden, and Terrence with their completed GallonBot! Want to see one in person—stop by the STEAM sec-tion of the library!

Third grade spent time re-searching an animal. With Art Buzz through ECM, students were able to create a clay version of their animal and its habitat. We had a great time painting them and seeing our fired creations.

Don’t forget the A in STEAM—3rd graders celebrating the Arts at the Young People’s Concert at the Galliard!

For STEAM Day, third grad-ers were challenged with creating a device that would have helped the British save their tea from the colonists during the Boston Tea Par-ty. Students worked in groups to brainstorm, de-sign, and create a flotation device. They were tested and modifications were made. We had a great time! ng the design process!

PTA NEWS The Holidays are here and if you order online you can also raise money for JIES! Just go to

http://www.boxtops4education.com and register. Our School ID #958675

. Then shop from the Boxtops for Education website. Almost all of the major retailers are represented and it doesn't cost you any-thing extra! Your order will arrive with Boxtops coupons. There will be a PTA Board Meeting on Tuesday, December 14th at 3:15. The PTA wishes everyone a happy and safe Holiday Season!

MUSIC NOTES The fourth grade did an excellent job performing the Chinese Folk Tale, Tikki Tikki Tembo! Many instruments, including the recorder were played, along with a fabulous dragon parade and awesome shadow puppets.

The Spring Concert will be held on Thursday, May 19, at 6:30 p.m. and will feature fifth grade Strings, Chorus and all 5th grade students!! Plan to come out for an awesome night of music!

Counselor’s Corner!

Spring Testing Update:

This spring, students in grades 3, 4 and 5 will complete the SC READY and SC PASS assess-ment. Teachers have been pre-paring the students all year for these assessments and here is some information and resources to help your student do their best. The SC READY assessment will take place in the morning on April 26th, 27th, and 28

th for

students in grades 3-5. Students will be tested on ELA and writing on the 26th, ELA and reading on the 27th, and math on the 28th. For additional information about this assessment vis-it: http://ed.sc.gov/tests/middle/sc-ready/. The SC PASS assessment in science and social studies is giv-en to 4th and 5th graders. This year 4

th grade will take the test

with paper and pencils and 5th grade will take it online. See below for the testing dates and visit this link for more information: http://ed.sc.gov/tests/middle/scpass/

We encourage students to feel confident and relaxed on testing days. To help them do their best, it is helpful to: get plenty of rest the night before eat a healthy breakfast arrive to school on time maintain a regular schedule and share some encouraging words. Thank you for your support parents and families!

Date

Assessment

Grade levels

Tuesday, April 26

SC Ready ELA and

Writing

3rd, 4th and 5th

Wednesday, April 27

SC Ready ELA and

Reading

3rd, 4th and 5th

Thursday, April 28

SC Ready Math

3rd, 4th and 5th

Wednesday, May 11

SC PASS Science

4th

SC PASS Science 5A, 5B

Thursday, May 12

SC PASS Social

Studies

4th

SC PASS Science 5C

SC PASS Social

Studies

5A

Friday, May 13 SC PASS Social

Studies

5B, 5C