Looking Ahead to the Fall...

Now that we have sent our 8th graders off to their high school adventures, it's time to look ahead to the 2012-2013 school year. We would like to welcome all kindergarteners and new students and their families to Lincoln K-8 Choice School, and look forward to seeing our returning students and their families as well.

The LincolnLincs is the newsletter for Lincoln K-8 Choice School. In August, you will be receiving a special edition of the LincolnLincs in the mail.

For the rest of the year the LincolnLincs is an online newsletter. Beginning in August, watch this space (www.lincolnlincs.blogspot.com) for back to school information on Meet the Teacher Day, Information Fair, Back to School Picnic, documents and forms, and important beginning of the year dates and information.

One way to start the year right is to get involved with one of Lincoln's active parent/family organizations, like the Lincoln Program Planning Team (PPT), Volunteers in Education (ViE) and the Lincoln Auction. Watch this online newsletter for information on leadership and volunteer opportunities, and upcoming meetings and events, and visit the organizational booths at the Information Fair for more information.

Have a wonderful summer and see you in August!

Reminder - Meet the Teacher/Information Fair 

Thursday, August 30, 2012 –2:00 pm-4:00pm 

Back to School Picnic to Follow

PPT Minutes - March, April and May, 2012

PPT Minutes from March, April and May, 2012, are now available.

March, 2012 PPT Minutes
April, 2012 PPT Minutes
May, 2012 PPT Minutes

PPT elects officers for 2012-13 school year

The Lincoln PPT held officer nominations/elections at the May meeting.  The officers are:

Co-presidents:  Joscelyn Martin and Donna Layton
President-elect:  Jodi Kruse
Treasurer:  Kevin Morrissey
Secretary:  Karen MacLaughlin

GARAGE SALE - June 2

We need your gently used clothing, books, toys, electronics, household goods, sporting goods, craft supplies, furniture and outdoor gear for the Lincoln Garage Sale. Today - Friday, June 1 - we will have Uppers Students available to help you unload your car, starting at 3:30.

We also need your help. We will be setting up for the rummage sale on Friday afternoon, starting at 3:30. We need help sorting, organizing and displaying the donations. We also need help pricing the items, starting at about 7:00 pm.

On Saturday, we need people to run the checkout and help bag purchases.

If you can help, please sign up at the Volunteer Desk in the Lincoln Office, or contact Ginger Kerr by email at gikerr@rochester.k12.mn.us with the time(s) that you can help. Even 1 hour of your time would be a great help.

We will also have plants for sale from the Lincoln Little Sprouts (Andi & Ginelle's 2nd & 3rd Grade Gardeners), so if you missed them at the Farmer's Market, now is your chance to get plants raised by our own students! There are flowers, herbs, tomatoes and peppers. Great plants at great prices!

The sale runs from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, June 2. We will have a $2.00 "Bag Sale" at 1:00.

Lincoln - an exemplary school of the state!

Lincoln is rated 18th in FR (Focus Rating) and 28TH in MMR (Multiple Measure Rating) out of 800+ schools in the state! This achievement doesn’t happen by accident and is a direct result of the outstanding efforts of our students, staff, parents and volunteers! We are all very proud of the recent article in Post Bulletin but what does it mean? Basically, it means we are making learning happen for all students through all of our efforts and closing those learning gaps for students.

The state has a new accountability system and rating system of schools. What is the new accountability system?
MMR = Multiple Measurement Rating

• Focused on closing the achievement gap and promoting high growth for all students 
• Built around multiple measurements 
• Directly addresses the achievement gap 
•  Provides support for locally-developed school improvement plans 
• MMR is a simple average of state percentiles in available domains 
• Percentiles done within school classification (i.e. elementary, middle, high school, other school
• For example, some schools (elementary) don’t have graduation data 
• MDE does an additional calculation which is essentially unnecessary (multiply by 25) 

 FR = Focus Rating

• A secondary rating, highlighting the achievement gap 
• Combines AGR and AYP 
• Proficiency for “gap groups” only 
• Average of these state percentiles, just like MMR 

Thank you for making it happen!!! We are all so proud of our amazing school and always trying to make it even better!
Jim Sonju

Uppers' Parents - Check Skyward for Missing Work

Camping trips and end of the year activities make it difficult to get “Missing” or “Not Handed In” work turned in before the end of the year. PLEASE check Skyward WITH your son or daughter THIS WEEK and look at their current grades and missing work. Students need a plan to get their missing work in before the school year ends. Teachers are available to help, but responsibility is still with the student.

End of Year Picnic Lunch at Slattery Park - June 7

PPT will be providing popsicles for the end of the year party at Slattery Park. They have done this the last few years as well. Your son or daughter will need to bring their own beverage with a sack lunch on Thursday, June 7, 2012.