From the Principal - January 22, 2010

From the Principal:

Spelling Bee Winners!
Congratulations to Sam Forsner, the winner of the EGR Middle School Spelling Bee, and Paul Zamarippa, the runner-up. Sam and Paul will represent East Grand Rapids Middle School at the Regional Spelling Bee held at Plymouth Christian School, 1000 Ball Ave., Grand Rapids, Michigan on Tuesday, February 23, 2010, at 4:30 PM.

Attention 6th grade parents: Stanford/OLSAT Testing
Students in 6th grade will be taking the Stanford 10 and Otis-Lennon School Activity Test (OLSAT) tests from March 1st - March 12th. Students will be testing in a different core content area daily on a rotating schedule. *Calculators are needed for March 3rd for the Problem Solving portion of the Mathematics test, so please help your child remember to bring one to school that day.

If at all possible, please try to avoid scheduling appointments during this timeframe. Encourage your child to get plenty of rest, and to eat breakfast each day during testing. For further information about what these tests entail, please read the following two paragraphs.

The OLSAT is designed to measure abstract thinking and reasoning ability. It is also designed to assess examinees' ability to cope with school learning tasks, to suggest their possible placement for school learning functions, and to evaluate their achievement in relation to the talents they bring to school learning situations. The OLSAT is based on the notion that to learn new things, students must be able to perceive accurately, to recognize and recall what has been perceived, to think logically, to understand relationships, to abstract from a set of particulars, and to apply generalizations to new and different contexts. These processes are measured through performance on such tasks as detecting likenesses and differences, following directions, classifying, establishing sequence, completing analogies, and solving matrixes.

The Stanford 10 assesses the basic curricular objectives in the areas of reading, mathematics, language arts, and science. Students will also take a spelling and listening section, all of these tests are un-timed.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Mrs. Healey in the Guidance Office.

Have a safe, restful weekend.

Best Regards,
Mr. Stuursma