THE FLIGHT RECORDER
Statesville Road Elementary's Weekly Newsletter
Principal's Point to Ponder
An artist uses creativity, natural talent, innovation, and inspiration to produce work that is so good, others will pay to experience it. A scientist uses tools that are much more rigid...things like facts and data gathered from experiments and observations to produce answers to life's questions and problems. If you walked into a small school on the west side of Charlotte that is filled with 572 promising young minds who need to have their learning accelerated so they can have a chance at participating on a level playing field, what type of teachers would you seek to put in each classroom...teachers who work like artists or teachers who work like scientists? I argue that the teachers in the classrooms of this small school on the west side of Charlotte MUST have characteristics of both the artist and the scientist in order to give the students what they need. We must produce work that is so creative, innovative, and inspired that others throughout the district will want to come see us in action. However, we must also observe, analyze, interpret and convert information into data that answers this question: Is our instructional plan working? So as you go about your work next week, summon your inner scientist AND your inner artist. Bring both personalities fully to the table for the continued growth of our school community. With art and science, everybody wins!
Instructional Strategy of the Week
Mr. Wood's students are learning to differentiate between conduction, convection, and radiation. By addressing all learning styles in one lesson, Mr. Wood's students were able to gain a better understanding of these concepts. Visual learners could take advantage of the anchor chart produced during the lesson, kinesthetic learners enjoyed the experiement, and verbal/linguistic learners had the opportunity to express themselves in writing. Test your science knowledge....does the experiment photo above illustrate conduction, convection, or radiation? I bet Mr. Wood's kids know the answer!!
What's Happening This Week?
- Kudos to all staff for reviewing and effectively monitoring student behavior this week. Students were on point in open areas and in the cafeteria. Thanks classroom teachers for eating with your classes!
- Kudos to Donnellan, Sadler, Bledsoe, J. McAfee, Cunningham, Davis, and Umberger for braving the coldest days of the year and being on time and consistent every day for outside morning duty!!!
- Kudos to Holoman and Digh for effectively managing instructional time in order to see 2 small groups during the math block!! You demonstrate that it can be done :)
- Kudos to Tobi Lee for always having a structured learning environment. On numerous consecutive walkthroughs, the lesson plan notebook has been intact and updated, "I Can" statements have been accurately reflected for student use, instructional time is being used effectively, students have been engaged, and her classroom has been neat and inviting!
- Kudos to Mr. Mitra (cafeteria intern) for doing a great job managing our cafeteria during his training here and kudos to Ms. Sullivan for being an awesome mentor to him!
- Intervention Plans: The Intervention Block Plans based on your Unit 3 common assessments are due electronically to your grade level administrator on Monday, January 13th. The plans should identify at least 2 strategically chosen literacy and 2 strategically chosen math standards (and science for fifth grade) from your unit 3 common assessment that will be addressed for the time period of January 13th - Feb 21st.
- PTA Dues: Staff, you are invited and highly encouraged to become a paid member of the Statesville Road PTA. Your $6.00 dues payment can be placed in the PTA safe in the workroom anytime during the month of January. Personal checks, cash, and money orders are accepted. Remember, the "T" in PTA stands for Teacher (and staff) :) Thank you in advance!
- Report Cards: All grades are to be posted to the report cards by 12 noon on January 24th. The last day of the quarter is Jan 22nd.
Monday, January 13, 2014 (Day 5)
- 7:15am: Brief Staff Meeting for certified staff (Media Center)
- Lungarini at Testing Coordinators Meeting (all day)
- BELL afterschool program begins today for 3rd and 5th graders. Please follow afternoon dismissal instructions Friday's email from Lungarini and Hall.
- 3:30pm -- Math Night Committee meeting (The Nest)
Tuesday, January 14, 2014 (Day 1)
- 8:00am : TA meeting with Stackhouse and Sadler (The Nest)
- Williams at Principals Meeting (all day)
- Walser at Tech Facilitators Meeting (AM)
- Title I Audit today (Sadler is the point person)
- 6:00pm -- 4th Grade Family Literacy Night
Wednesday, January 15, 2014 (Day 2)
- 8:00am : TA meeting with Patterson and Lungarini (The Nest)
- Walser at West Charlotte High School for testing (AM)
- 3:30pm - 5:30pm DDI Staff Meeting (There will be no formal meeting today, but this is time set aside for you to grade and record common assessment data into your trackers and begin your intervention block planning. Use this time wisely :)
Thursday, January 16, 2014 (Day 3)
- 8:00am : TA meeting with Sadler and Hall (The Nest)
Friday, January 17, 2014 (Day 4)
- Caught Soaring Award presented on morning announcements
- Happy Friday :)