Beachwood is a Washington State School of Distinction 2011 Award recipient for being in the top 5% of the state for dramatic and continual improvement in student achievement over the last 5 years. 12/5/11Dear Beachwood Parents, This December the students are getting excited about the holidays and possible trips many of our families are planning to head home for the holidays. We are equally excited, but rather on seeing the growth of you students both academically and socially in the classrooms. Our students have come a long way in a short amount of time. Academic Assessments and How Our Teachers will Differentiate Instruction Based on Data:Knowing and supporting your students is our purpose as teachers. We continually strive to know each student’s personality, interests, how they learn (learner profile), and what areas they struggle with and need differentiated instruction to improve on. We have just received the Math Benchmark Assessment and Reading Benchmark Assessment data back. This is another data point to support our teachers to know the specific areas of strengths and opportunities for growth with each child. Our teachers are meeting in Professional Learning Community teams weekly to bounce instructional ideas on how to meet the needs of each learner. I am positive you will see significant academic growth and increased confidence as we meet your child’s academic and social needs. All Beachwood Families Need to Support Beachwood and Volunteer 5 HoursWhile we know many of you will only be with us for a short time, our goal is to improve Beachwood for your children while you are here and for the children who have not come to Beachwood yet. Our expectation is that each family volunteer 5 hours supporting the school and our students. This can take the form of in class support, recess support, PTA support, library support, helping with morning/afternoon supervision support, creating afterschool clubs, helping the PTA with evening events, or supporting PTA from home on your own time. Any support you can offer is greatly appreciated. Please sign up to volunteer in the main office if you have not done so.Safety at Recess:After Thanksgiving, the students roughhousing and not following our recess expectations have increased. We are working on solving the issues at recess and would like your support.Thank you parents for all your support as we strive together to make Beachwood the school that your children will remember forever and will never want to leave.Sincerely,Josh Zarling Principal