Welcome back to school and to a new year! I hope you've had a restful and enjoyable Christmas break. I spend lots of time in the kitchen and Santa brought me a Pioneer Woman Cookbook... I was very excited!
It's time to hit the ground running again with another edition to the ENews. Before I get started, I would like to point out some updates to the blog (if you're viewing this on a mobile device, you may not be able to view these updates unless you select "View Web Version").
First, I've added an Countdown Event Badge from EdcampAwesome to the blog on the side menu. Be sure to register if you haven't already. Remember, any staff member who registers for the event will be entitled to ONE jeans pass... and if you attend EdcampAwesome, you will receive FOUR additional jean passes. So, click here and register for the BEST professional development experience ever! I love Edcamps ... and I love them so much I did a blog post last year about them on my personal blog (thedigitalprincipal.com). Click here if you want to read/watch it.
Second, I've also added our Scott Activity Calendar AND it's a link at the top of the blog. You can check out our upcoming dates to help you plan for future events, field trips, parent nights, etc. Be sure to visit with Martha if you need something added to the calendar.
It's time to hit the ground running again with another edition to the ENews. Before I get started, I would like to point out some updates to the blog (if you're viewing this on a mobile device, you may not be able to view these updates unless you select "View Web Version").
First, I've added an Countdown Event Badge from EdcampAwesome to the blog on the side menu. Be sure to register if you haven't already. Remember, any staff member who registers for the event will be entitled to ONE jeans pass... and if you attend EdcampAwesome, you will receive FOUR additional jean passes. So, click here and register for the BEST professional development experience ever! I love Edcamps ... and I love them so much I did a blog post last year about them on my personal blog (thedigitalprincipal.com). Click here if you want to read/watch it.
Second, I've also added our Scott Activity Calendar AND it's a link at the top of the blog. You can check out our upcoming dates to help you plan for future events, field trips, parent nights, etc. Be sure to visit with Martha if you need something added to the calendar.
Monday - Welcome Back to School!
Tuesday - Have a wonderful day!!
- 3:30pm - Good News Club
Tuesday - Have a wonderful day!!
Wednesday
- 5:00pm - Chickfila Spirit Night
Thursday
- Math Training with Valerie James in Conference Room
- 2:00pm - ARD (Bright, Worley, Todish)
Friday - Enjoy the Weekend
Reading Instruction
Guided Reading books have been organized in the 4th Grade pod by reading level. Teachers will develop groups based on student's instructional reading level. Reading groups will meet daily. Lower level readers will meet every day while higher level readers will meet at least 2x per week.
Accelerated Reader (AR) Update - Students should be at 75% of their goal by this Friday. If you notice someone who really needs help, please let me know. We will continue to monitor and encourage students to make weekly targets and a comprehension score of at least 80%. Nita Green is meeting with our targeted 3rd and 4th grade student to ensure they have a book on their reading level each day.
Students should be asked to take home a book every night and read for 20 minutes. Be sure to communicate with parents about their child's AR point goal and their progress toward reaching that goal.
***I'm so excited about our reading levels this last week. EVERY homeroom class has been doing an amazing job getting students to read and take AR quizzes. During the last week, we had an increase of passed AR tests from 20-50% in every class. Most classes have taken over 100 quizzes during this grading period and many classes have many, many, many more. It's obvious that Scott Elementary students are reading! Keep up the good work teachers!!***
Mathematics
1st & 2nd Grade - Lone Star Daily Rigor is being used with students each week.
3rd & 4th Grade - Math GPS is being used to help students weekly. Teachers should be on week 30-35 this week. We must maintain this pace in order to finished by testing time.
Think Through Math (TTM) for Grade 3-4 - Teachers please ensure that all students have been assessed for TTM. Letters have been sent home during the first report card to parents. Remember that there's an app for TTM and it can be used on the iPad.
Professional Development
Remember Valerie James is available for demonstration lessons so be sure to ask her to visit your classroom for additional support as needed. Each week, you're working with Valerie to determine words students must know to be successful. These words are colored by strand and should be posted on the word wall. Be sure to review them frequently with your students. Dr. Bright and I will be looking for these during our classroom observations and walkthroughs.
Kristen Weichel is working with ELAR teachers. She studies the unit IFDs and Assessments to bring materials and ideas for teachers to use during ELAR instructional time. She will also provide support for Guided Reading and is available to conduct demonstration lessons.
Gradebook Reminders
Let's avoid challenging conversations about grades with parents and be sure to follow the Royse City Grading Guidelines. Here's a couple of reminders:
Guided Reading books have been organized in the 4th Grade pod by reading level. Teachers will develop groups based on student's instructional reading level. Reading groups will meet daily. Lower level readers will meet every day while higher level readers will meet at least 2x per week.
Accelerated Reader (AR) Update - Students should be at 75% of their goal by this Friday. If you notice someone who really needs help, please let me know. We will continue to monitor and encourage students to make weekly targets and a comprehension score of at least 80%. Nita Green is meeting with our targeted 3rd and 4th grade student to ensure they have a book on their reading level each day.
Students should be asked to take home a book every night and read for 20 minutes. Be sure to communicate with parents about their child's AR point goal and their progress toward reaching that goal.
***I'm so excited about our reading levels this last week. EVERY homeroom class has been doing an amazing job getting students to read and take AR quizzes. During the last week, we had an increase of passed AR tests from 20-50% in every class. Most classes have taken over 100 quizzes during this grading period and many classes have many, many, many more. It's obvious that Scott Elementary students are reading! Keep up the good work teachers!!***
Mathematics
1st & 2nd Grade - Lone Star Daily Rigor is being used with students each week.
3rd & 4th Grade - Math GPS is being used to help students weekly. Teachers should be on week 30-35 this week. We must maintain this pace in order to finished by testing time.
Think Through Math (TTM) for Grade 3-4 - Teachers please ensure that all students have been assessed for TTM. Letters have been sent home during the first report card to parents. Remember that there's an app for TTM and it can be used on the iPad.
Professional Development
Remember Valerie James is available for demonstration lessons so be sure to ask her to visit your classroom for additional support as needed. Each week, you're working with Valerie to determine words students must know to be successful. These words are colored by strand and should be posted on the word wall. Be sure to review them frequently with your students. Dr. Bright and I will be looking for these during our classroom observations and walkthroughs.
Kristen Weichel is working with ELAR teachers. She studies the unit IFDs and Assessments to bring materials and ideas for teachers to use during ELAR instructional time. She will also provide support for Guided Reading and is available to conduct demonstration lessons.
Gradebook Reminders
Let's avoid challenging conversations about grades with parents and be sure to follow the Royse City Grading Guidelines. Here's a couple of reminders:
- Record Grades Weekly - Grade should be recorded weekly in the grade to afford parents & students the opportunity to view through parent portal.
- Late Work – this is accepted within five (5) days of the original due date. Be sure to record grades in a timely manner to allow parents to become aware of missing grades during the five (5) day period. Late work penalties do not apply to make up word from absences.
- Minimum number of grades – the district required a minimum of nine (9) grades throughout the six weeks. This includes grades for Science & Studies. You have the option to count assignments twice in the grade book. The same assignment that can be counts for Reading can count in Social Studies too.
- Unit Assessments – these will be counted in the grade book. Remember to provide intervention or tutoring before administrating a retest for unit assessments.
- Zeros – students have five (5) days to complete an assignment before it becomes a permanent zero in the grade book. We want to support you in motivating students in getting their work turned in on time. We’re working on a Google Doc for you to report students to campus administration with two (2) OR more permanent zeroes in the grade book. Teachers are expected to communicate with parents about the progress of their child and give suggestions to improve their performance BEFORE permanent zeroes are given to students.
- Parent Communication – please enter your parent communication into Aware under the Journal tab. This will help us keep track of our efforts with parents. Let us know if you need help with this.
Staff Meeting Next Monday - January 12th @ 3:30pm
All staff members be sure to make arrangements to attend our monthly staff meeting.
ENews Special Edition Challenge
Congratulations to the following teachers who completed the ENews Special Edition Challenge: Bethany Bunnell, Christin Propst, and Heather Todish. I asked you to watch the video titled "What School Is Achieving-OutComes" from the Edutopia website. They will have their morning duty off this week! Be sure to checkout the previous blog post for some great resources for teachers.
Techninja's back at it again!
In a previous blog post, I told you that Todd Nesloney (@TechNinjaTodd) created the Summer Learning Series and it was being considered as the "Best Open PD/Web Conference/Webinar Series" by The Edublog Awards. Well I'm happy to say that he was awarded that distinction ... if voted for him of course ... and now he's doing another web-based PD for educators.
It's called Educator Learning Series with the hashtag #EduLS. You can read more about this series and work the challenge on the blog - http://educatorlearningseries.blogspot.com/. I will let you know when there's an update because I'll be completing the challenges myself again.
Blog Contributors
I would like to thank Christiana Finch (@christianafinch) who has written several postings on our staff blog recently. Here are a list of the her most recent postings in case you've missed them:
I'm happy to add other contributors to our staff blog. We learn best from each other. If you would like write yourself or nominate someone to guest blog for our staff sometime, please let me know. Each person has something to share and I would be so thrilled to have others sharing on this blog too. Think about it!
Teacher of the Month
Cast your vote for a NEW Teacher of the Month. The Teacher of the Month is a monthly award that recognizes a teacher who exemplifies excellence in education.
Articles in Your Mailbox
Recently, I was blessed by Judy Caskey with some educational articles and decided to share TWO with you and placed them in your mailbox. As I read them, I underlined key points in the articles... you could simply read my lines and get main points. One article is about class discussions with a focus on Math instruction AND the other challenging student behavior.
As I read the second article, I thought about a few of "Scott Scholars" specifically. The author gives tips on what their staff did to help support their challenging scholars... verbal check-in, creating safe corners with cushy beanbag pillow or chairs, a calming box with moldable putty inside, etc, etc. And sometimes those things didn't work either. The educators working with a specific kid had many people working with her... teachers, principals, psychologists, counselors, specials educators, behavior specialists, you name it! These talented and skilled educators would meet, develop, and implement a behavior plan and it worked... sometimes. The student would experience "setbacks" - as the author described it - with the plan and the educators would meet again to develop another one.
This one sentence from the article touched me, "It would be wonderful to report that Jane rapidly turned the corner again and was participating appropriately every moment of her day, but it's far more truthful to share that despite any setbacks she may experience, her growth and learning are being supported by educators who just won't give up on her."
I have personally witnessed several of you who refuse to give up on our kids - especially while working with some of our most challenging students. I read this article not necessarily learning something new, but instead I was reaffirmed that the work you all daily is worth it. I'm so fortunate to work with teachers that won't give up on students... no matter what! So read the articles and I hope you'll be encouraged like I was.
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