K-2 Team Newsletter
August 24-28
Principal's Message
Thank you all for an amazing three weeks of virtual learning. Parents are thankful for what EPP is doing and just like Jim shared, across K-8 we have 89% of our scholars showing up for virtual learning. THIS IS HUGE compared to other school experiences I have been hearing about!!! Know that none of that could have been possible without your blood, sweat, and tears just getting this up and running, let alone making it into week four. Know that your admin truly loves you all and respects the hard work you are putting in every single day! In case you need a reminder of your AWESOMEness...read below!
Priority #1: Anti-Racism
DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion)
We had some amazing conversations in our DEI working groups today. Thank you for going all in and participating. Shout out to our K-2 facilitators, Jacqueline, Shelly, Toyia-Nicole, and Victoria! Our next session will be a TECA facilitated PD on Cultural Dimensions on September 18th, more info to come.
Deans of Academics
General Academic Deliverables
ACTION REQUIRED by EOD Monday: Please email Molly and Ayana your Zoom username, password, and link. We know emergencies happen and we want to be prepared to support you and help kids and families should a teacher have an emergency matter arise in the middle of the day.
Academic Pushes for Week 4:
Pacing: Limit wait time after checks for understanding. If a scholar struggles, prompt them, call on another scholar, or give the answer. Then, go back to the first scholar to restate or stamp the answer.
Specific, Bite-Sized Directions: Give concrete directions that require no prior knowledge or guesswork from scholars.
Example: “Team, get your whiteboard. Hold it up to the screen to show me you have it. Excellent Amelia, Delvin - you’re ready to go. Put your whiteboard down. Pick up your marker. Hold it to the screen to show me you have it. Wonderful Reese, Emmori - you are prepared for our next activity.”
Remember to input 2 small group rubric grades (1 ELA, 1 Math) and the Friday Exit Ticket grade (1 ELA, 1 Math) per student. Here is the link to the Participation Rubric Link if you would like to print for yourself.
Participation Rubric Clarification: In order to avoid scholars being “double dinged” on the participation rubric AND getting a grow, please only mark down on participation rubric and a grow if scholars are doing a repeated, intentional, or egregious behavior. Example: Scholar comes off mute, teacher corrects, scholar comes back on mute and yells
NEW NORM: Friday Exit Tickets for Math and ELA will remain open until Monday morning at 8 am. We want to allow families who have more bandwidth on the weekends a chance to complete the work. Please archive (along with the previous week’s Read Aloud lessons) before Monday Morning Meeting. Teachers will not be expected to input grades for scholars who completed the exit ticket after 8 am Monday morning.
Please input all student grades for the previous week by Tuesday at 5 pm.
Monday - Thursday Record 1 Skills lesson per classroom per day to post to your Google Classroom by 5 pm for students who were absent (only assign the video to absent scholars; this is in order to be in compliance with FERPA).
Absent Scholars for Math: Monday-Thursday- Post the “student-paced” link into Google Classroom and assign to the absent scholars.
August 31st will be our first academic and culture night for families! DOAs and DOC will be planning and executing so there are no action steps for teachers nor are teachers required to attend the Zoom call. Wewill be putting the announcement and flyer in your Google classroom and reminding families to please attend so they can get questions answered!
ELA
ELA Deliverables, Updates, and Reminders
Week of Friday, August 21st to Friday, August 28th
Grade Level Group IPP Meetings - Lesson for discussion submitted by 5 pm to AFT. See below for a link to your grade bands schedule.
Mondays at 2 - First Grade Group IPP Schedule 1st
Tuesdays at 2 - 2nd Grade Group IPP Schedule 2nd
Wednesday at 2 - Kindergarten Group IPP Schedule K
All videos, independent work and Exit Tickets for the week of August 31st are due in Google Classroom by 5 pm on Friday, August 28th.
1st and 2nd: Please make sure that you have provided the link for the Foundational Skills Boost as a MTWTh assignment in Google classroom. You may copy the message below into the assignment as directions.
LInks:
Sample Directions:
Hello Scholars and Families! We are so excited to be able to provide you with the Foundational Skills Boost. This website is a video-based, self-guided instruction that scholars can do by themselves. This instruction focuses on unfinished foundational skills instruction from the spring of 2020 and consists of 9 weeks of lessons. The website is free through our curriculum purchase and your scholar does not need a login. As soon as you click on the link, they can begin! If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Ms. Fletcher-Tyson at 901.262.3039.
Directions for accessing the CKLA Digital Materials: CKLA Digital Materials Directions
Skills and Knowledge Content Planners: If you have not already done so, please input Unit 2 information into the ELA Course Blueprint for your grade level. Reach out to AFT with any questions or concerns!
All Lead Teachers should have received an invitation to the STEP tool. I will be hosting office hours on Thursday, August 27th from 2 to 3 to specifically discuss the STEP assessment and how we use it at East End Prep. New to EEP and new to Leads will be receiving calendar invites next week!
Due by Friday, August 28th EOD
Complete the IPP Process for Skills lessons for the week of August 31st using the Skills IPP Template to guide you.
Submit the lesson for your grade level’s IPP meeting for the week of August 31st to AFT. See Group IPP schedule linked above for the specific lesson.
All CKLA assignments, video and Exit Tickets
Add the Foundational Skills Boost assignment to your Google Classroom by EOD Tuesday, August 25th.
MATH
Math Deliverables, Updates, and Reminders
Week of Friday, August 21st to Friday, August 28th
Week of August 24th- 28th
Reminder- I’ll be popping around to observe and potentially filming your Math lesson. Recording videos is a requirement of the AF program to ensure I am giving you the best feedback possible.
Group IPP Meetings (Kinder Monday, 2nd Grade Tuesday, 1st Grade Wednesday- MJ sent invites on 7/29):
Pre-Work:
Turn in Annotated (Lesson 12-Kinder, N/A-1st, Will communicate next steps -2nd)to Molly by 8/21
Meeting Agenda:
Group IPP Process
Weekly Check-In (2nd Grade Tuesday, Kindergarten/1st Grade Friday- MJ sent invites on 7/29)
Pre-Work:
None
Agenda:
Materials Organization
Due by Friday, August 21st EOD
Complete the IPP Process using the Independent IPP Checklist for all lessons for week of August 24th (See Course Blueprint for clarification if needed)
Email Molly (Kinder- Unit 2 Unpacking, 1st Grade- Lesson 10, 2nd Grade-Unit 2 unpacking)
Accept invite from “Canvas”- This will be a tool we use to record and upload lessons for feedback
Dean of Culture
We know there have been many questions surrounding attendance and we are trying our best to respond as clearly as possible. Please click on the link below to see frequently asked questions. If you think of more, please email the admin team and we will get an answer for you as soon as possible.
LINK: Live Class Attendance FAQs
August 31st: Academic and Culture Parent Night
6:00-7:00pm
Deans of Academics and Dean of Culture will be planning and executing this event. There are no action steps for teachers, nor are teachers required to attend the Zoom call. There will be an announcement and a flyer in your Google classrooms to remind your scholar's families to attend, so they may have the opportunity to have any questions answered regarding academics, culture, and especially attendance.
Dean's List Paychecks
There was a miscommunication in how paychecks were supposed to run K-2 by our rep. She is no longer with the company so Eva had to figure it out for us. K-2 daily paychecks will populate Mon-Wed in Dean's List and parents will have to log into the system to see them. Thursdays a weekly paycheck populates the shows Fri-Thurs totals for K-8 and a reminder is sent to families to check. While NOT our original plan, this will help in addressing glow totals as well as allow parents and scholars to see if they met the target number of glows required to participate in the paycheck party. We are very sorry for the confusion and if you have any questions please don't hesitate to reach out!
Attendance Tracker
Dean of SEL
Habit of the Month: Habit #3: Put First Things First
“You’re in charge of yourself”
Work first, then play
Prioritize “big rocks”
Find out what is most important to you
A new Leader in Me video is posted for the SEL lesson of the week! I will leave all of my SEL lessons up under the SEL tab so that scholars can reference them throughout the year. Please sign up for morning meeting SEL lessons with this link.
Agenda - August 28th Professional Development Day
Upcoming Events
August 24th
Kindergarten Math Group IPP 2:00-3:00
First Grade ELA Group IPP 2:00-3:00
Second GLM @ 2:30
August 25th
Second Grade Math Group IPP 2:00-3:00
Second Grade ELA Group IPP 2:00-3:00
Kindergarten GLM @ 2:00
First GLM @ 2:15
August 26th
1st Grade Math Group IPP 2:00-3:00
Kindergarten ELAGroup IPP 2:00-3:00
August 27th
Kindergarten Lead Check-In 10:00-10:30
Kindergarten AT Check-In 10:50-11:20
1st Grade Lead Check-In 11:40-12:10
1st Grade AT Check-In 12:30-1:00
K-8 Progress Reports
August 28th
Professional Development Day (see agenda above)
Teacher Spotlight
Academics: Right is Right
Alicia Schenck has taken our charge for Right is Right and implemented it with fidelity in her classroom! Alicia clearly has the exemplar response in her mind at all times and as she scans her scholars , she is consistently checking their response against the exemplar. She then offers constructive feedback in a positive manner where scholars feel comfortable to make a mistake. Overheard in one of her groups was a scholar exclaiming “Ms. S I don’t know how to make lowercase A’s as good as uppercase A’s but I can try my best!”
Core Value - Growth
Core Value - Enthusiasm
Lisa Peters prioritizes every single part of her job, every day. She is excited by new ideas and accepts feedback openly. Her work around social justice and SEL in her classroom is amazing, and she influences the culture of our staff with her positivity. Lisa has created a community meeting document to highlight current events, character skills, and social justice for her morning meetings. She does not shy away from tough conversations, and has a growth mindset no matter the topic. Her scholars are so incredibly lucky, and so are we.
Quick Find Docs
Class Rosters click here
Groups List Virtual Learning click here
K-8 Staff Contact Info click here
MNPS Mental Health Resource Guide for employees - click here
Parking Lot click here
Rubric Virtual Learning click here
Scholar Communication Log click here
School Calendar click here
Scholar Birthdays click here
Sunshine Survey click here