PKMS 3.15.21 Newsletter
A Close Look At How We Did & Will Do Our Work
Attendance Matters Each Day
Hybrid & Virtual Learning
Please be sure to log in and stay engaged in the lesson.
Families, please be sure to review your child's assignments and grades via our Parent Portal
Please email your child's teacher for follow-up questions or clarification
Remember, students log on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday for Live Instruction - They are to keep cameras on while teachers are instructing and students are responding
HELLO, PKMS FAMILY
Together We Are Stronger!
March is Women's History Month!!
Our Commitment to Character theme is Theme of Courage and Perseverance. To support this work, our weekly quote is by Walter Elliot
"Perseverance is not a long race;it is many short races one after the other."
Our appreciate continues for your engaging learning environments, dedication, planning, collaboration, assessment of students, focus, and hard work.
Remember, to SMILE (Show My Infectious Lovable Energy) as it is the first thing students, families, and colleagues see.
Let's Keep These Thoughts in Mind:
- Laugh a little. Laugh a little more.
- Gladden the heart of a child.
- Always operate from a honest place.
- Give a soft answer.
EMPIRE STATE GRANT AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAM
We are very excited to have been awarded this grant - Our program continues until the middle of June - Thank you to the staff and community organizations for working and partnering with PKMS - This is a great opportunity
Notes of Gratitude
- Thank you to Mel Bolden, Norah Carney, Carolee Finney, and Mitchell Guido for their great direction of our Music In Our Schools Concert - Extra thank you to our Students Musicians who did a FANTASTIC job!!!! We are so proud of everyone's commitment
- Thank you to Mike Tanzi for his coaching and training students participating in You Be The Chemist Challenge - Thank you to Dr. Campolongo for organizing and supervising it for another year! - Congrats to our students for displaying great knowledge and skill
- Thank you to our Empire Grant After School Staff for another week of enrichment
- Thank you to everyone for your dedication, collaborative energy and spirit and for students trying their best to perform well - Thank you for your continuous outreach
Thank you to our clinical team for their consistent family outreach, staff support, and collaboration
- Thank you to our custodial team, led by Tim, for sanitizing our building and maintaining the cleanliness
- Thank you to Chemay, Merriweather, Nigel, and Officer Greenan for keeping us safe
- Thank you to Parketha and her team for providing our students and families with daily nourishment
What does the data say - NYS Exams & Unit Exams
AimsWeb and SRI students will continue to test this Wednesday at 8:45AM - Thank you to Math and ELA teachers for communicating with students/families
Who's sitting for the Exams (Apr 19-29 ELA & May 3 - 14 Math)
All Hybrid Students Sitting for the Exam
ELA - April 19 - Book I - Grades 6 - 8
ELA - April 20 - Book II - Grades 6 - 8
Math - May 3 - Book I - Grades 6 - 8
Math - May 4 - Book II - Grades 6 - 8
Students sitting for exam report at 8:45AM
We will utilize the 2-Hour Delay Schedule so that classes begin at 11AM instead of 9AM
All Virtual Students Sitting for the Exam
ELA - April 21 - Book I - Virtual Students Grades 6 - 8
ELA - April 28 - Book II - Virtual Students Grades 6 - 8
Math - May 5 - Book I - Grades 6 - 8
Math - May 12 - Book II - Grades 6 - 8
All students not sitting for the exam will have Asynchronous Assignments until the test is complete and teacher rejoins for live instruction
Unit Assessments
- Please ensure that you are administering them with students supports built in
- Analyze Student Performance
- Share Students Performance with your Grade Content Colleague
Collaborative & Department Work
- Please review Wednesday's Schedule for Professional Development Opportunities, Grade-Level and Department Meetings, and Office Hours
Department Meetings
First and Third Wednesdays as a Whole Department
- March 17 - Full Department Meeting - Work on CRE Curriculum Analysis
- March 17 - Full Department Meeting - Work on CRE Curriculum Analysis
Second and Fourth Wednesday with your Grade Content Colleague
- Content Grade Colleague Meetings
- 2nd and 4th Wednesday
- ELA, ENL, and Science Invites to Ms. Simon
- Math and SS Invites to Mr. Lewis
- LOTE, Spec Ed, and Encore Invites to Dr. Campolongo
Grade-Level Meetings
March 17 - South Teams meeting with Admin & Clinical - North Teams will use this time to call or email families with academic updates or prepare for RtI Meetings
March 24 - NYS 2021 CBT Exam Training for All Staff - Will have manuals by then
virtual-age learning
Arts Live Here
- Recalling music performance and music theory terms
- Listening to identifying musical aspects for playing, defining sightreading/continuing reading and applying concepts
- Recording themselves playing their instruments
- Preparing for Spring concert
- Designing Cartoon Character and 3D Names
a health-conscious mind & body
- Discussing the concept of the day (Flexibility)
- Utilizing gross motor coordination, endurance, flexibility, and strength
a humanities lens
- Understanding the main events within the first two presidencies through guided notes
- Discussing the significance (importance) of the major supreme court decisions and evolution of political parties in the US
- Exploring how political and social hierarchies influenced the access that groups and individuals have to power, wealth, and jobs
English Language Arts:
Recalling details of the text to complete guided notes, discussing the themes from the novel read, and connecting to those themes using popular music
Comparing character testimonies
Language Other Than English:
- Using reading, writing, listening and speaking to learn about various cultural experiences throughout Latin America
stem is just the beginning
Using the coordinate plane system to place elements on the screen accurately and correctly sequence their code
Apply sequencing logic, using new code blocks, and using conditional logic to to solve puzzles
Math:
- Solving Volume of Spheres
- Solving and Discussing multi-step real-world and mathematical problems posed with positive and negative rational numbers in any form
- Exploring the part or whole in a percent problem by using the ratio or equation method.
Science:
- Discussing Cells and Cell Processing
- Exploring Weathering
STUDENT ASSISTANCE SERVICES
For more information or if you, or someone you know, has a family member living with addiction please reach out to your Student Assistance Counselor:
Ms. Geider - KGeider@peekskillschools.org
Margaret's Place
The Margaret’s Place program at PKMS delivers school-based intervention and prevention services to children exposed to violence and trauma, facilitates school-wide violence awareness campaigns, and provides training to staff and families on these issues. Margaret’s Place is administered by WJCS in partnership with The Joe Torre Safe at Home Foundation.
Maura Rawlins- Program Coordinator/Social Worker
914-737-4542 Ext. 2551
MRawlins@peekskillschools.org
Important Dates
- March 15 - Department Leader Meeting
- March 22 - Holocaust Guest Speaker will be Zooming with 6th grade
- March 24 - Hillcrest-Middle School Family Meeting and Program Presentation - Live Streaming at 6:30PM
- Early April - Grade 8 Family Meeting and Presentation on High School Transition cifics
- May - Jewish American Heritage Month
- May - Asian Pacific Heritage Month
- May 13 - PKMS Spring Concert
- May 20 -STEAM Fair @6:30PM Live Stream
- June - LGBTQ Month
Some Reminders
- Take attendance for each of your instructional periods
- Ensure 504 and IEP Plans are being supported
- Ensure grade content colleague planning - reflecting Rubicon Atlas
- Ensure Gradebook and Teacher Webpage/Google Classroom reflect current information and assignments
- Communicate with families and maintain that communication in PLP
- Data Driven Instruction Model
- Always Ask: Have They Learned? How Do You Know?
- Training One Another
- Discussing Student Performance Information
- Designing Tiered Instruction
- Reflecting on Daily Practice
- Reviewing Assessments from All Content Areas (Formative, Summative, Interim)
- Discussing Progress Monitoring Efforts
- Pacing through Rubicon Atlas
- Lesson Plans Should Be Designed with the following in Mind
- Questions Posed - What is the level
- Tiered Instruction
- Guided Instruction
- Driven By Data
- Clear and Articulated Assessment Throughout (assessments must contain spiraling back questions)
- Groupings (Fluid)