Anchor Weekly
A newsletter for Alta Vista Staff~Week of October 29, 2018
Don't Forget! Next Week's Calendar
- Red Ribbon Week ALL WEEK
- Reg 12 Math Coaching with Mr. A on Monday, October 29
- Faculty Meeting on TUESDAY, October 30 **Anchor Team Committees**
- 50th Day of School (Dress Up!) on Wednesday, October 31
- PLCs with Judy York/Reg 12 on Thursday, November 1
- Mayborn Family Science Night on Thursday, November 1 at 5:30-7:30 pm at Mayborn Museum
- Picture Re-Takes on Friday, November 2
Coming Up: SPECIAL Twitter Chat Hosted by Mrs. Helton on Thursday, November 8 at 8:00 pm
Red Ribbon Week Reminder: Please allow students to keep their water bottles at school so they can bring them to lunch.
PLCs with Region 12
From Your Captain
It is campus policy that grades are updated on a weekly basis. Parents are checking. It's difficult for parents to check student progress and communicate about missing work when grades are not put in until the last minute.
Our number one job is keeping students safe. This means that ALL VISITORS are required to sign in at the office and get a sticker. If you see an adult without a badge or visitor sticker, please escort them to the office to check in. The conversation may not be "comfortable" but it's about safety for all.
RtI & Branching Minds
Each grade level will meet with Mrs. Helton on Monday, November 12 to review RtI data for the 2nd six weeks and print the parent information letter and student progress letter to go home with report cards. If you haven't completed your To-Do's that Friday, then we will be sending home inaccurate information to parents about student progress.
Branching Minds Website: https://wacoisd.branchingminds.com/#/login
Conscious Discipline
- Be Safe
- Be Respectful
- Be Responsible
- Be Ready to Learn
Students should be making a commitment every day towards one of these school agreements. How you choose to do that in your respective classes may look different, but it's an expectation for Conscious Discipline implementation.
Classroom Management Training/Professional Development
The elementary staff at Wiley Opportunity Center will be offering a series of after-school training's for classroom teachers. Registration and details on Eduphoria.
Location: Wiley Opportunity Center
Time: 3:45-4:45 PM
- Tues., Oct. 30 Checking Emotional Engines
- Tues., Nov. 6 How to Lead Great Morning Meetings/Circles
- Tues., Nov 13 "Own It Fix It" to Change Behavior
Staff Members of the Week!
Congratulations Mrs. Salazar for being our Teacher of the Week. You are working so hard to make sure that the needs of our special education students are met, and you work with teachers as a team to support the classroom.
STRATEGY OF THE WEEK
Comics in the Classroom
Here are 10 Cool Ideas for Using Comics in the Classroom.
1. A fun alternative to traditional book reports.
2. Create biographies.
3. Create autobiographies.4. Create goal or vision boards.
5. Illustrate procedures.
6. Summarize events.
7. Craft a visual timeline of events.
8. Write and illustrate fun fiction stories.
9. Illustrate concepts and or vocabulary terms.
10. Model polite conversations.
5 Tools for Creating Comics
Storyboard That and Pixton both offer comprehensive lesson plans that incorporate the ideas listed above. Of course, you don't need to use those tools to create great comics. You could also use Google Slides to create comics as demonstrated in this video. To create simple, single frame comics you could try a tool like ToonyTool. Or you might try Make Beliefs Comix for creating comics in multiple languages. Make Beliefs Comix also provides PDF comic templates that you can print for your students.
For more information, visit: https://www.freetech4teachers.com/2016/10/10-ideas-for-using-comics-in-your.html#.WFGdCaIrLm2
UIL
We still need a few more sponsors for the following teams:
- Chess (Gr 2)
- Maps, Charts, Graphs (Gr 5)
- Dictionary Skills (Gr 5)-MS PICAZO
- Social Studies (Gr 5)
- Number Sense (Gr 4-5)
We already have a LONG list of interested students...we just need sponsors. Email Mrs. Helton if you are interested!
TTESS & SLO
Blended Learning Information
House Parties
Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AGVGnZSL_vonsnCn86AT_N5EKF6qg7Oh4sXcNNZabZY/edit?usp=sharing
Anyone can award points for good behavior or other behaviors that you feel are deserving. The points form can be found here: https://goo.gl/forms/UCXb9cX7tHqfGuCw2
We will be awarding points on a consistent basis for:
Six Weeks Perfect Attendance-1 point for every student with perfect attendance for reporting period
Weekly Perfect Attendance-10 points for every class with perfect attendance for week
Anchored in Excellence-1 point for each person that receives a note (up to 150 per House per six weeks)
Cafeteria Behavior: Rate classes weekly (1st-20; 2nd-15; 3rd-10; 4th-5)
Specials Behavior: Rate classes weekly (1st-20; 2nd-15; 3rd-10; 4th-5)
Staff Activities (Limit of 2 per semester)-Up to 50 points per activity
Academic Achievement-Decided by grade level
Character Traits-Awarded by Maynard depending on activity
Makerspace-10 points for using Makerspace cart each month
Social Media Postings-1 point per post (email Koenig # of posts each six weeks)
Special challenges-Designated by Logan/Helton