General News
Staff Newsletter - Week of 09/24/2018
You know, students say the funniest things. On Friday, I got to use my best read aloud skills...or so I thought....to I read Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, to Mrs. Wheeler's class. During the awesome read aloud, a student made a few interesting observations. First, he mentioned that the book was "old timey" because the car was old. When I looked at the picture, it was an original Volkswagen Beetle.....I certainly didn't think that was too old...but okay. Next, the student shared that the story was old, like from the 90's when we use to use a feather and ink to write stuff. I reflected again.....it is all about perspective. Then I thought to myself, I wonder how old he thinks I am? I was smart enough not to ask. But, I still wondered if he would say, "Real old, like 25."....I can live with that.
International Night was a huge success. Thank you to the entire staff for their hard work. Thank you to the Social Studies Committee who have done a great job planning and organizing for this event. A special shout out to Mrs. Bridges and Mrs. Baker for all of the extra hard work they put in. Reflection from a student: "Dr. McCain, this is the best event that I have ever attended in my whole life!" Reflection from a parent who brought delicious food: "I look forward to this event every year!" See a few great pictures from the event below.
Have an awesome week of learning!
Kelli
Family fun
Delicious food from all cultures
Beautiful clothing
Staff Updates
Tevi Esco - as she continues to recover from a concussion. She has a little bit of cabin fever! She says she misses everyone. Hopefully, she will be able to return to work soon.
Ka'li Border - her baby BeBe had emergency surgery on Thursday. Ka'li says she is recovering and they hope to go home soon.
Rachel Blair - her fur baby had to have emergency surgery last week. She is now home resting.
DLD Plans
Calendar
The Week of 09/24 - 09/28
Monday - 09/24
- IOWA Testing begins - M-F, Grades 5 and 2
- Literacy Collaborative Planning - Coaches Corner
Tuesday - 09/25
- 7:30 Grade Level Meetings
- Math Collaborative Planning - Coaches Corner
- IOWA Testing
Wednesday - 09/26
- IOWA Testing
Thursday - 09/27
- IOWA Testing
- 3:30 New Teacher Network
Friday - 09/28
- Jeans and Spirit Wear
- IOWA Testing
Saturday - 09/29
- GAGE Saturday School - Building will be open from 8-12 (Mrs. Brawley)
Looking Ahead:
Fall Break - Thursday, 10/04 and Friday, 10/05
Staff Development Day - Monday, 10/08
Dr. Rush's Visit
- Evidence of gradual release
- Mini-lessons that were focused and mini
- Students working in collaborative groups
- Anchor charts that were aligned to the AKS
- Instruction that was aligned to the AKS and in the lesson plans
- Students reading with a purpose
- Students who could clearly articulate what they were expected to do
- Formative assessments
- Teachers modeling what students are expected to do independently and in collaborative groups
I know ya'll want to know whose classes were visited.....Madison Maier, Shady Sanders, Donald Harris, Adrienne Alloway, Belinda Terry, Tiffany Spikes.
It was awesome to see everyone implementing effective instructional strategies and trying some of the things they learned during professional learning.
Compliance Videos
Thank you for taking care of this right away!
GCPS Professional Learning
Reading Boot Camp
During this second session of Reading Boot Camp, participants will plan for reading instruction for the second nine weeks. Teachers will rotate through three different one hour sessions, which will allow them to examine AKS for which there are common misconceptions, plan mini-lessons for those AKS, and consider how they will plan for responsive small group reading instruction.
What: Reading Boot Camp
When: September 29, 2018 (8:00 AM - 12:00 PM)
Where: Discovery High School
Teachers can register in PD&E using the course #21046. Grade level section numbers are below.
Kindergarten- section #31532
First Grade- section #31535
Second Grade- section #31536
Third Grade- section #31538
Fourth Grade- section #31539
Fifth Grade- section #31541
Quality-Plus Teaching Strategies Highlight: Literacy
This week's focus is on the Foundational Quality-Plus Teaching Strategy of Literacy. The Literacy strategy focuses on explicitly teaching, modeling, and practicing the cognitive strategies for listening, speaking, reading and writing in all content areas. Literacy provides students with a foundation for academic achievement, and "becomes the currency of other learning" (Hattie, 2017). When using Literacy strategies, the teacher will identify, model, and provide students with frequent, extended opportunities to listen, speak, read, and write in student centered activities requiring students to actively use specific content language.
Here is an awesome article:
https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/fisher-and-frey/documents/talk_kappan.pdf
Visit the QPTS website in the portal to review articles, websites, and other references related to the Foundational QPTS of Literacy.