Hearst Staff Update
The best little school in the district!
November 3, 2023
Principal's Message
Owls,
The first advisory has flown by! We are so proud of how our students have come together to build community, grow and reflect on their own learning. We can't wait to see how our Owls continue to grow and develop this school year.
Looking forward to seeing those who can join at the student Talent show tomorrow (Saturday, 11/4) from 3PM - 4PM.
Have a restful weekend,
Elke
Key Dates
10/27 - 11/9 TAS Meetings with Larin and Elke
11/4 Hearst's Got Talent, 3:00 - 4:00 PM
11/9 LSAT Meeting, 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM, library
11/9 PTA Meeting, 6:00 PM -- 7:00 PM, library & Zoom (see link below)
11/10 Veteran's Day - No School for Students
11/17 Whole School Assembly: Gr 3-5 Fall Music Concert 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Gym (Families invited)
11/21 Community Meeting
11/22-11/25 Thanksgiving Break, No School for Students
11/30 Fall Chorus Concert, 6:30-7:30 PM, Gym
Pictures From the Nest
Staff Spotlight
Many thanks to Denise, Beth, Sarah, Skyelar and Janna for their participation in the Trunk or Treat event and helping to make Community Day a fun and special event for all the young people in attendance!
Thank you to the Sunshine Committee for hosting an excellent Soup Day event. It's so great to have time to sit and be in each other's company while enjoying some great food!
Shoutout to Caroline, Keri, Cassi, Amanda, and Wallace for welcoming a family, demonstrating true care, and facilitating a seamless 504 meeting to ensure one of our Owls gets the academic and social emotional supports needed. A true example of #OneHearst
EdFest Volunteers Needed
EdFest is a district-wide enrollment recruitment event. It is returning to in-person this year at the DC Armory on Saturday, December 2 from 10:00-1:00. We need volunteers to help run our Hearst booth. This is a great opportunity to add to your CSC evidence for Cycle 1. If you would like to volunteer, please sign up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F4DABAA29A0FE3-45860511-hearst
Multilingual Learner Team Schedules
Now that our team is complete, Brian, Janna, and Gemma met with our ML Cluster Support Staff on Thursday to troubleshoot and finalize scheduling needs for our multilingual learners. (Did you know that is the new term for ELL?) Please note that their schedules will change to include the following:
Targeted small group supports should be about 225 minutes a week, with push-in as the priority option and pull-out as a second option. This should occur during small group instruction time in the instructional blocks, not whole group Tier 1.
The other times in their schedule should be dedicated for Tier 1 push-in supports. This can follow co-teaching models.
Hearst has ML students with 14 different home languages, so our use of visuals, graphic organizers, explicit vocabulary, pre-teaching, and intervention will be part of our planning and instructional supports.
Before School or After School Tutoring
We will be looking to launch tutoring in late November. If you would be interested in serving as a paid afterschool or before school tutor, please reach out to Elke and let her know which grades and subject area (SEL, Math or Reading) you would like to support.
Classroom Environment Expectations
A reminder to have your learning objectives and the closing question, product, or task for the day should be posted next to the Smartboard so that they are visible throughout the lesson cycle. (I can statements will be provided by Elke if requested). The closing question, product, or task should clearly state how the student will demonstrate his or her understanding of the learning objective for that day.
Please review other classroom environment expectations here: 23-24 Classroom Environment Expectations.docx
Progress Monitoring
We are preparing to launch MTSS Cycle 2! All planning documents are located here: MTSS. The following dates are when progress monitoring is due in Panorama:
Nov. 10
Nov. 21
Dec. 8
*All intervention plans in Panorama should have a start date of Oct. 16 to align to DCPS Progress Monitoring with DIBELS. Please check in with your coach/interventionist for support with entering intervention plans in Panorama.
If you have any questions, please reach out to Caroline and Larin.
Term 1 Report Cards
With the end of Term 1 approaching, we wanted to share information about grading for report cards.
November 2 marks the last day of Term 1.
November 3 is a 1/2 PD Day and 1/2 Records Day on the DCPS calendar.
See Term 1 Timeline for Completing Grades and Comments: Term 1 Report Card Timeline.docx
Updated Grading Expectations Hearst SY23.pptx
Comments Due November 3 here: Term 1 Report Card Open Comments.xlsx
ML Teachers and Interventionists Use These Folders for Comments: ML Team Comments and Interventionist Team Comments
All Grade and Comments Due November 14 in Aspen.
Please see helpful resources for entering grades/comments here: ES Report Card Canvas Page and Demo Videos and Screenshots. As always, we are here to support you! Reach out to Larin with any questions.
Things to Know
DC Public Schools' FY25 (SY 24-25) Public Budget Hearing
DCPS will convene a public budget hearing on Tuesday, November 14, at 6:00 p.m. The purpose of the hearing is to gather input from the public about the upcoming Fiscal Year 2025 (School Year 2024-2025) budget. Members of the public are invited to provide testimony at the hearing. Individuals or groups wishing to testify should register online here by Friday, November 10.
Resources to Support Conversation about the Israel-Hamas War
Central Services’ teams have worked to compile, vet, and standardize constantly changing resources to provide our educators with the necessary tools to facilitate open, inclusive, and constructive discussions in their classrooms. At the same time, our DCPS wellness teams have been continuing to develop culturally responsive supports for any student feeling the weight of the world’s issues. Please see this resource for more information.
Free Capital Bikeshare Annual Membership
All DCPS staff members can receive a FREE Capital Bikeshare Annual Membership since they are DC government staff. Please view this guide (Pages 5 and 6) for information.
WMATA Red Line Metro Closure (12/18-12/30)
On Monday, December 18, WMATA will begin a two-week construction project on the Red Line that will make the line unavailable at Farragut North, Metro Center, and Gallery Place stations from Monday, December 18, through Saturday, December 30, with free shuttle buses replacing trains. In addition, Judiciary Square Station will be closed from Friday, December 22, through Sunday, December 24. While the Red Line is closed at these stations, service will continue to be available on the Blue, Orange, and Silver lines on the lower level at Metro Center and Green and Yellow line service on the lower level at Gallery Place. More information can be found here: Metro to shut down Red Line service at three stations in December for critical repairs and upgrades | WMATA
Previously On...
Class Names
PK/Haith-Morales: Funny Frogs
PK/ Dawkins - Fraser: Joyful Jellyfish
K/ Prince- Evans: Dazzling Donuts
K/ Schiers - Hicklin: Awesome Sauces
K/ Teagarden-Singh: The Amazing Rainbow Dinosaurs
1st/Ouellette: Kind Kangaroos
1st/Dobkin: Resilient Red Pandas
1st/Volpe: Golden Dragons
2nd/Thompson: Helpful Hawks
2nd/Young: Cool Cookies
3rd/Burleigh: Fantastic Phoenixes
3rd/Doherty: Tranquil Tigers
4th/Duvall: The Exceeding Axolotls
4th/Liberman: The Brilliant Birds
5th/Hutchins: Super Slaying Sloths
5th/Boone: Flaming Phoenixes
CES-ECE Delmare, Hicks, Schenck: Energetic Elephants
CES-K-2 Marber, Forbes, Mzee: Dancing Burritos
CES 3-5 Munzinger, Molina, Wei: The Majestics (Unicorns)
Admin Observations
Over the course of the next 7 weeks , Larin and I will be conducting informal classroom observations and sharing feedback via biweekly check-in's. The intention is for you to have at least two rounds of observations (an informal informal and a formal informal with notes entered in the IMPACT database) by November 9th. The formal EP observation cycle at Hearst will be from November 13 - February 1. Please reach out to your direct supervisor if you have any questions about this process.
Quick Links
Websites To Bookmark
Updated Custodial Support Form
Remember to use the Updated Custodial Support Request Form to make non-urgent support requests. The goal is for you to get a follow-up within 24 hours. You can click here to see Responses to Custodial Requests
If you require immediate assistance, please call the front office (x1291105 or x1291150).
Professional Development Opportunties
Register for ARE-U 120: Antiracist & Culturally Responsive Math Education
Staff can still register for ARE-U 120: Antiracist & Culturally Responsive Math Education. This virtual, live-facilitated course was co-developed by the DCPS Math “DREAM” Team and the Equity Strategy & Programming Team to support participants in interrogating and improving their own mindsets, biases, and practices related to math education. More information and course registration links are available here. 50 randomly selected staff members who register for an ARE-U Course by Tuesday, October 31st will receive ARE-U swag.
PD for Instruction and Learning Supports for Multilingual Learners
Are you interested in a 30-45 minute whole-staff PD aimed at helping us learn how to use the online Ellevation platform to support our students with English Learner needs? Would you like to learn how to access lesson plans and professional development modules for supporting multilingual learners that you can utilize as CSC 2 evidence? If so, please e-mail Larin and let her know. We will plan for this PD opportunity based on staff interest.
Spring 2024 DC Reading Clinic Recruitment
The DC Reading Clinic Spring 2024 application will be open on the DC Reading Clinic website from Monday, October 16 through Friday, November 10. This program is for teachers at any DCPS school in K-5 roles including classroom teachers, special educators, ESOL teachers, paraprofessionals or librarians. Our focus is anyone who teaches needs-based small groups with a focus on word recognition. Instructional coaches or Grade 6-12 educators can audit the program. Teachers and leaders may also refer struggling readers to the program on the website.
Other information
Early Childhood "Para U"
Pre-K paraprofessionals are encouraged to sign up for the second annual "Para University" PD opportunity. These in-person PD sessions will be held at Emery on Friday, November 3; Friday, January 26; and Friday, April 5. Paraprofessionals can choose from two learning tracks: one focused on CLASS and the other on building positive relationships and effective co-teaching. Interested paras can sign up here.
Update: 2023- 24 AFSCME Education Aide Substitute Teacher Program
We are pleased to share that the Education Aide Teacher Program will continue to be in effect for the 2023-2024 school year! This program provides eligible American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) education aides employed at each school the opportunity to earn a stipend by opting to provide temporary classroom coverage at each school site upon the request of the school leader.
This program will provide compensation of up to three thousand dollars ($3,000) annually to educational aides who provide temporary classroom coverage during the absence of an assigned classroom teacher, as follows:
- Aides who provide temporary classroom coverage of a minimum of three hours in a school day during Terms 1 and 2 will receive a stipend of $1,500.
- Aides who provide temporary classroom coverage of a minimum of three hours in a school day during Terms 3 and 4 will receive a stipend of $1,500.
- Payments will be distributed to eligible employees at the end of each cycle.