Monday Memo
Hemlock & K.C. Ling Elementary Newsletter
The Week of April 30th - May 4th
Peek at the Week
Monday, April 30th
Announced Observation - 9:50
Announced Observation - 10:40
Pledge Rotation - Mr. Eaton's Class
Tuesday, May 1st
K & 1st Grade Art Club - 2:45 - 4:00
M-STEP Testing - 3rd Grade
Meeting with ACR Candidate - 9:30 (Lori)
Wednesday, May 2nd
M-STEP Testing - 4th Grade
Admin Council - 12:45 (Lori)
Thursday, May 3rd
BIP 9:45-11:00 a.m . (Fromholz, VanAlst, Smith, Buchman, Baird)
2nd - 4th Grade Art Club - 2:45 - 4:00
Friday, May 4th
Popcorn Sale for PTO Field Day - Regular $0.50 or Chocolate Sugar Cookie $1.00
Leader of the Pack Assembly - 8:00 a.m.
Earned Time with Mrs. Fromholz's Class - 1:30 p.m.
School Improvement Meeting 8-11:00 a.m. (Grandy, Dunton, Hahn, Schantz, Gensch)
Curriculum Mappin 11:30 - 2:30 p.m. (Siler, Olinger, Kaczmarczyk)
Pledge Rotation next week - Grandy's Class
From the Principal's Desk....
Leader of the Pack Assembly - We will hold our next Leader of the Pack assembly on Friday, May 4th at 8:00 a.m. Students will stay in the gym until the bell rings. Kindergarten classes will come down to the gym after students arrive. Lunch counts will be taken once you return to your rooms. I have attached the April Leader of the Pack Nominations Forms below. We will also discuss student behavior when guest teachers/subs are in the classrooms.
Announced Observations - If you haven't done so already, please schedule a time for me to observe in your classroom as soon as possible.
Love of the Arts Night- Love of the Arts Night is scheduled for May 8th from 5-9 p.m.
Field Day - Field Day has been scheduled for Monday, June 4th.
PAWS Passes - Please make sure you are consistently giving out PAWS passes throughout the week. We want to make sure we are reinforcing positive behavior. Also, please spend some time when we return from Spring Break reviewing the expectations in shared spaces.
- Lesson Plans - Lesson plans should be up-to-date on the first student day of each week.
Important M-STEP Reminders
· Online administration manuals were placed in your mailboxes last week. Please be sure to read through this prior to the start of your first testing session.
· Testing tickets – On the morning of each scheduled testing session, your tickets will be placed in your mailbox for pick up. Testing tickets must be collected after students have logged in as they may need them later in the day. Please be sure to turn in all of your testing tickets by the end of each testing day so that I can ensure that they are disposed of properly.
· Students that miss a session, or simply do not finish, need to be added to the Google Sheet. This will help me schedule make-up sessions. Additionally, students that arrive late to a testing should be allowed to begin and complete as much as possible, unless you deem otherwise.
· You must complete a seating chart for each test session you administer.
· It is imperative that students/classes are quiet when traveling the hallways.
· Students should only be allowed to read their independent reading books following a testing session.
· Classroom posters/charts must be covered.
· At any point if a problem arises during testing, or if you have a question, please contact Becky at 3000 or myself at 3010. I will make sure you get what you need as quickly as possible.
Two M-STEP Sessions in the Same Day
· Please caution students that there is a difference between PAUSING and ENDING an online test. This difference can significantly impact what happens when students intend to resume testing after a scheduled break.
Any online test can be paused by using the blue Pause button on the bottom of the screen. When pause is selected, the screen immediately displays a digital clock that is ticking down from 20 minutes. The clock displays the minutes and seconds remaining until the test status is changed to “exited”. If a student resumes testing within 20 minutes it is NOT necessary to re-enter a username and password. If the test has been “exited”, it is similar to a time-out feature and will require the student to have their original ticket and re-login in with username and password. Pause should be selected for a scheduled break. Pause then Exit should be selected if the break is scheduled to exceed 20 minutes. This is extremely important when you have two testing sessions in the same day with just one testing ticket. You will need to redistribute test tickets so that students will be able to login again.
Ending a test, which is accomplished by clicking on the green Review/End button on the bottom of the screen should only be selected when the student has completed the test. The Review/End button is used to submit the test and if a test is submitted before it is completed, it will be locked and CANNOT be re-opened.
When the Review/End option is selected the student will see a screen that shows item numbers and item type. Completed answers are shaded in gray. From this screen, students may return to questions to complete any item that is not shaded or, End the test. If the student chooses to click End, they will receive an additional warning screen that advises students to be sure they have answered all of the questions. At that point, a student can still return to the review screen or continue to End and submit the test.
Starting an Online Testing Session
Once students have logged in, the teacher must then read the directions as the students navigate them on the computer. Please make sure that students are not clicking ahead, and thus, accidentally ENDING their test session. If students happen to race ahead of the teacher, they may try to get back to where they should have been and inadvertently END their test. Teachers, please stress the importance of staying with you during the directions portion of the M-STEP testing process.
Please take a moment to complete the Early Literacy Coach Survey by May 3rd!
April Leader of the Pack Nomination Form
Calling All Teachers....
Lori Gensch, Principal
Hemlock & K.C. Ling Elementary
Email: gensch@hemlockps.com
Website: www.hemlockps.com
Location: 835 North Pine Street, Hemlock, MI, United States
Phone: 989-642-5235