Monday Morning Motivation
Central Elementary Staff News----August 22-26
Unassuming Ways
Dear Staff,
This weekend I attended the funeral of my favorite uncle. His best friend of 40 years eulogized him in this way "He was not a man of wealth. He was not an educated man, but he was wise. If I were being honest, he was not a particularly good looking man . But he was a man rich with friends because he poured his life into others. He made his mark on the world in unassuming ways, mostly on the hearts of those who loved him and who he loved"
On the way home, I could not help but think of you and the work you do each day, pouring your heart into the lives of your students. You do this in the most unassuming ways with the most extraordinary results.
As you go through this week, take a moment to notice all the positive things happening in our building from the Random Acts of Kindness in our teacher lunchroom to the uplifting messages in our copy areas.
Have a great week!
Julie
Two Weeks at a Glance
Central Calendar
MONDAY, August 22
- 6:00 p.m. ELL parent meeting in Cafeteria
- 7:00 p.m. PTO meeting in LGI
TUESDAY, August 23
- Meet with grade level teams during prep to talk about Rocket Math and Learning A-Z licenses
- 4:00 Rocket Math Committee Meeting
WEDNESDAY, August 24
- Title One Reading Data Spreadsheet due to me
THURSDAY, August 25
- 7:45 Professional Development committee meeting
- 8:00 PAR compliance meeting
FRIDAY, August 26
- Central Curriculum sheet due to Dr. Delvecchio (team leaders have this)
MONDAY, August 29
TUESDAY, August 30
- Data Team Meetings
WEDNESDAY, August 31
- 4:00 New Teacher Meeting
THURSDAY, September 1
- Show Character Company Video
FRIDAY, September 2
- School Picture Day
Tornado Drill Recap
- Congratulations! We shorted our drill time by one minute from our best time last year!
- Always bring your binder with you so we will have class lists to account for all students. This will allow you to take attendance. During our drill the nurse ended up with two students.
- In the basement, fill to the far computer lab first.
- We have a new route for Krista B.'s class to eliminate hall crossing.
- Let me know if you have other suggestions to make us safer in the event we need to take emergency shelter.
Announcements and Reminders
- Back Sacks Nutrition Club Referrals to Diana W. by Wednesday, August 24th
- Data Spreadsheets Due Wednesday August 24th
- Grandkids Program Referrals to Diana W. by Friday, September 2nd
- Study Buddy Program Referrals to Diana W. by Friday, September 2nd
Science Day September 16th-This is an all day event. The schedule will be in your mailbox within the next week.
High School Spanish IV Class to visit on Friday, November 4. The students will teach a 30 minute lesson to grades 1 – 5. I appreciate your help and willingness to host my students. 9:00 – 9:30 – Central Visit
Rocket Math
Teachers, we need to meet about setting grade-level goals for our School Wide Math Fact Challenge. We are going to meet together Tuesday to discuss grade level goals, AND how we will use Rocket Math to meet these goals.
Here's a couple of examples (Grade level teams come up with the goals; you are the experts):
Set Quarterly Student Goals--Here are a few ideas....
2nd grade
In 3 minutes
Q1-50 addition facts
Q2-100 addition facts
Q3-50 subtraction facts
Q4-100 subtraction facts
4th grade
In 5 minutes
Q1--100 addition facts
Q2--100 subtraction facts
Q3--100 multiplication facts
Q4--90 division facts
Kindergarten
Quarter One:
Level 1: (A1- R1) Children complete Level 1. Children are only tracing the numerals (does not include timing). These pages are for accuracy. Teachers monitor and correct children.
Quarter Two:
Level 2: (A2-R2) Children complete Level 2. Children continue to only focus on writing correctly, but are also focusing on writing smaller and without tracing. (Does not include timing) Students should get to the point where they are putting a numeral on each blank.
Quarter Three:
Level 3: (A3-R3) Children complete Level 3: Writing twenty numerals in one minute.
Quarter Four:
Level 4: (A4-R4) Children will be able to write 40 numerals in one minute.
CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION
Working on the following licensing allocation for Headsprout, RAZkids and Learning A-Z
All 4 kindergarten teachers will receive licenses to Headsprout
Teachers in grades 1-2 (lower third grade tier 3) will receive licenses for RAZ Kids--1 teacher = 36 seats. This builds fluency, can use headphones to build an audio file
Special Education and Tier 3 teachers will receive RAZ KIDS and Learning A-Z (leveled books to use on Promethean Board)
Are there 4th and 5th grade teachers who will use Learning A-Z? Let me know.
The “school” STAR 360 benchmark cut scores for the 16-17 school year in Renaissance Learning have been set. You will notice that the cut scores differ in reading (60 percent) and math (70 percent). This was determined by analyzing student performance on the 2016 ISTEP.
STAR 360 Goals
We want to set all of our student goals at moderately ambitious (66 percentile). This compares students in same grade level with similar testing (achievement history). You need to do this in order to have growth data. You will not get the growth data we want if you customize the goal.
Goals for Group (goals are set by teacher)
1. Reading Assessment
2. Screening, Progress and Monitoring and Intervention
3. Second Tab Progress Monitoring and Goals
4. Class: Teacher
5. Search
6. Click on each student independently
7. Add Goal
8. Click "calculate goal" Choose Moderately ambitious for EVERY STUDENT (66 percentile)
Why would we do this for every student, even the students who are beyond the 66th percent or those who are well below the 66th percentile?
Again, this goal compares students in the same grade level with similar testing (achievement) history. By doing this you will have better growth data than it you customize a goal. According to our STAR data coach, the only students you would want to have customized goals are those students in the 1-2 percentile.
Staff Celebrations!
- Thank you to Courtney for making our copy rooms much more positive.
- We appreciate Rhianda and Diana for helping us to think about Random Acts of Kindness
- Check out second grade Math Olympic photos in the staff drive under photo library
- Attendance for first few weeks of school---98.51percent
- Happy August Birthdays
- Debbie Brouillard (2nd)
- April Miller (11th)
- Margaret Rosine (29)