P.E.A.R.L.

The week of Thanksgiving is a no contact week for students. We will not have Zoom classes from November 24th-28th.

Sneak Peek of 2nd Semester Zoom Classes

We are so excited to offer you this sneak peek of the 2nd-semester Zoom classes. Registration will open at 8:00 am on Monday, December 1st. 

Our hope is that you will have some time to look over the catalog and prioritize the classes your child would like to take next semester. We have some exciting new offerings! 

Monday, December 1st, I will send out an email at ~8:00 am with the links to register. The first week, students will be able to register for one class. On December 8th, students can register for a second class. December 15th, registration is fully open, and students can register for additional classes at this time. 

Here is the LINK to the preview catalog.

If you have questions about a class, please email the Zoom teacher listed. If you have any questions about the registration process, please email Mary Najar (mnajar@qsd48.org). 

We are looking forward to growing and learning with you next semester!

Your PEARL Zoom teachers.

Weekly Digital Citizenship: Evaluating Online Information

Not everything online is true. We need to be detectives, checking if information is reliable before believing or sharing it. Digital Balance and Healthy Habits is the sixth of nine lessons in our PEARL digital citizenship series.

November Health: Feelings and Emotions

Everyone has feelings — happy, sad, excited, angry, worried, calm. Emotions are signals that tell us what’s happening inside. They aren’t “good” or “bad” — they just give us information. Learning to notice, name, and manage emotions helps us build strong relationships and handle tough situations in healthy ways. This is our health lesson for MPR 4. It can be found in our PEARL Health series. 

November Awareness: Native American Heritage

Native American Heritage Month celebrates the histories, cultures, and traditions of Indigenous peoples across the United States, honoring both ancient traditions and modern contributions. This month you can also use our PEARL Heritage and Awareness lesson to learn which Native tribes traditionally lived in your area. The image in this section is the symbol of the Spokane Tribe, The Children of the Sun. Students may enjoy learning the symbols associated with local tribes in their area, too.

Lexia Writing Tools

We've all recently shared writing samples with our Pearl Teachers and you may be having discussions about ways to support your student in writing.  

Our Lexia program provides us with some really neat writing tools in the form of prompts with basic rubrics for students to consider as they write and for parent teachers to use in evaluating student writing for further instruction.  Please check out this great resource!  They are as good for struggling writers as they are for advanced writers.  

The Core5 pack is for younger students who are able to write sentences or paragraphs.

The Power Up pack is for 6th graders and up.

Lexia Tips and Tricks

Now that we've completed our first CBMs of the school year, it's a great time to help your child analyze their own reading fluency. Use this Fluency Checklist or this Fluency Rubric to talk about the aspects of fluent reading with your children at any age. You can also access all of the Fluency passages for more regular practice on our Lexia Resources Doc.

Fluency Packs for Weekly Practice

Anyone can access all of the Fluency passages on our Lexia Resources Doc. Learn more about Lexia at our Parent Training Schedule.

Lexia Close Reads

What are Lexia Close Reads? Available to anyone in Pearl, Close Reads are created for upper-elementary students.  Lexia Close Reads provide opportunities for critical reading and analysis with a variety of real-world text types and engaging topics. The full-color student readers are organized in sets and can be used to develop fluency and comprehension while promoting higher-order thinking, collaboration, and discussion.

Lexia Close Reads Overview

Lexia Close Reads Packs - scroll to the end of each pack for Teacher's Guide.

Dyslexic Advantage Book Study

Who: Any PEARL parent, teacher or caregiver

When: Mondays from noon -1, once each month, Oct. 20, Nov. 10, Dec. 15, Jan 12, Feb. 9, March 16, April 13, May 18.

How: Read the book on your own at home, think about discussion questions and prompts provided, join for facilitated group Zoom discussion of strategies in 7 monthly sessions.

Do: Sign up using This Form & check out a copy of The Dyslexic Advantage from the Pearl Library. Or order your own if you’d like to be able to write in your copy and keep it.

PEARL Connections offers parents a space to connect, collaborate, and learn together while students take part in activities. Join teachers and other families to share resources, discuss curriculum, and explore school topics in a supportive community setting.

Please email efrantz@qsd48.org if you have any questions about these events.

Port Townsend/Quilcene/Tri-Area/Port Ludlow/Brinnon

December 4th, 2pm

HJ Carrol Park

9884 WA-19, Chimacum, WA 98325

Sign up here

Shelton/Tumwater/Lacey/Olympia

November 7th, 2pm

Tumwater Historical Park

802 Deschutes Way SW, Tumwater, WA 98501

Learning Standards

Learning standards are an important part of your child’s education. They outline what students should know and be able to do at each grade level. In Washington State, these standards are organized around four main learning goals:

1. Communication: Students learn to read with understanding, write clearly, and express themselves effectively in different ways and settings.

2. Core Knowledge: Students build a strong foundation in math, science, social studies, the arts, health and fitness, and more.

3. Critical Thinking: Students practice thinking creatively and logically, using what they’ve learned to solve problems and make thoughtful decisions.

4. Life and Career Skills: Students explore how effort, performance, and choices connect to future educational and career opportunities.

With these goals in mind, the standards provide the stepping stones that guide learning each year.

Resources

One of the main purposes of the SBAC assessment is to measure students’ depth of knowledge, not just surface-level understanding. In other words, can students move beyond basic comprehension to use higher-order thinking skills—such as considering why an author made certain choices, identifying deeper meanings, and analyzing how a text is organized? These are valuable skills for both test preparation and overall learning.

Below are a few resource options to help your student strengthen these skills. Most links will take you to the publisher’s website, but all of these materials can also be found on Amazon by grade level.

Recommended ELA Resources:

Evan-Moor Workbooks (Paired Reading Texts)

Evan-Moor (Text-Based Writing: Non-Fiction)

Carson-Dellosa Workbooks (Evidence-Based Reading)

Washington Test Prep SBAC Practice Books