ENews 03.26.2015



Next Week's Schedule

Monday
  • STAAR Writing 4th Grade (Day 1)
  • 3:00pm - Good News Club
Tuesday 
  • STAAR Writing 4th Grade (Day 2)
Wednesday
  • PLC Meetings Today - RtI will continue to meet with students
Thursday
  • Kindergarten Easter Egg Hunt
Friday - No School (Have a restful weekend!)

Important Reminders

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 in Figure 19. They have created a 75 to 90 minute online course about the skills in Figure 19.
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 66% 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 pages 86-90 next 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.
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.

Bad Weather Dates
Two of the bad weather make up days are scheduled for Friday, May 1st & Friday, June 5th

NEW Information

STAAR Next Week - there isn't a lot of information this next week - simply we're having STAAR testing for 4th Grade students. Here's a link to the TEA STAAR Training Modules if you haven't completed those yet.

Failing Grades - A quick reminder about contacting parents of students with failing grade. Also if you have any student you're considering holding the student back in the current grade level, you must schedule a conference with me to discuss that student's progress.

I'm Seventeen (#stuvoice) - Kate Simonds is 17. Take a deep breath, and a quick inventory of what feelings come to mind when you consider a 17 year old. Now watch this talk and prepare to have your thoughts flipped inside out. In the talk, she shares the following statement:
“As students we have no say in what we learn, or how we learn it, yet we are expected to absorb it all, take it all in, and be expected to run the world some day. We are expected to raise our hands to use the restroom, then three months later, be ready to go to college, or have a full time job, support ourselves, and live on our own. It’s not logical.”

Powerful stuff. Are we listening? Even if we are, are we doing anything about it? Watch this video and see if you can connect with these ideas to the student voice in your classrooms.


Comments