ENews 02.02.2015

Posted by Anonymous on

Weekly Schedule

Monday 
  • Jacobs to TCEA Conference in Austin for the week
  • 3:00pm - Good News Club

Tuesday - 4th Grade Mock STAAR Writing (Day 1)
  • Closed Campus
  • 3:30pm-4:30pm - 4th Grade Writing Tutoring
Wednesday - 4th Grade Mock STAAR Writing (Day 2)
  • PLC suspended due to testing today
  • Closed Campus
Thursday - Valerie James & Kristen Wechiel on Campus
  • PLC Meetings Today
  • Meet with Valerie James in the conference room
  • Meet with Kristen Wechiel in your pods (3th & 4th grade)
  • Powley attending CTC Training
  • 3:30pm-4:30pm - 4th Grade Writing Tutoring
  • 5:00pm - Chickfila Spirit Night
Friday 
  • Reminder: Staff Meeting next Monday, February 9th @ 3:30pm
Important Reminders

EdcampAwesome
Get your tickets for EdcampAwesome - 1 ticket for registering and 4 additional tickets for attending the event. Click here for register!

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.

Figure 19 Training
Region 10 has placed in the "Online Learning Center" to help teachers with supporting the skills found inFigure 19. As many of you know up to 70% of the STAAR test is dual coded to Figure 19. Ervin Knezek says that Figure 19 contains the "process standards" for ELAR.

Region 10 has created a 75 to 90 minute online course about the skills in Figure 19. In an effort to meet everyone's learning style, they're offering 2 different options for accessing this content if you are interested in taking the course.

Click this link & you'll find illustrated directions on how to sign up for the online course through Region 10. When you finished, you would take the brief quiz and receive your certificate. This workshop does count for PD credit. Just list the course in your portfolio, along with the certificate.

Accelerated Reader (AR) Update - Students should be at 50% of their goal by next 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.

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 51-55 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. 
ESL Certification
Royse City ISD is pushing to have 100% of the teaching staff to be ESL Certification. The district will pay for teachers to take the test AND have the ESL Certification place on your teaching certificate. Below are a list of links that are helpful to those interesting in this process:
They can afford to reimburse you now - who know when they will no longer continue to this offer. Be sure to take up the district with this offer to reimburse you for this certification.

Biggest Loser Contest
Nurse Kacie and Coach Pendleton are organizing a Biggest Loser Content. Click here to read more about the details & contact them directly if you have questions.

Yearbook Information
Be sure to send home the yearbook order forms. Fourth grade students have 3 extra pages for parents to send personal ads in to be placed in the back of the yearbook. The deadline for ordering ads (Personal and one line ads) is set for March 2nd. Cost of the yearbook will be $25, after the 2nd it will go up to $30.

NEW Information

 Staff Meeting - February 9th @ 3:30pm
All teaching staff be sure you have made arrangements to attend.

AR Update - Students should be at 50% of their goal by Friday.

Math GPS is being used weekly by teachers & students should be on week 51-55 this week.

Tutoring for 3rd/4th Grade Teachers
Next week our 3rd/4th grade students will be taking the Math/Reading Mock STAAR (aka Benchmark). We'll use that data to develop our tutoring groups for the rest of the Spring until the real STAAR.

I'll looking for teachers who would like to help with this session of tutoring for Math/Reading of 3rd & 4th grade students. If you're interested in helping, please fill out this form on Google Forms. I will use the information you provide to build our groups. Let me know if you have any questions.

 Good Resource for Teachers
A Peach for the Teach is a blog shared with me by a fellow Scott Family member this week. Two blog posts are focused around student behavior with tips on how to handle them. Click on the links below to read more about them:
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.

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