SOAR Report
Week of December 12, 2016 "D" Week for Related Arts
Wendell Phillips Vision
WHERE AND WHEN TO BE THERE!!!!
Monday, December 12
Lesson Plans due via Google Drive (9:00 am)
Tuesday, December 13
Grades 3-6 ELA Common Assessment
AIO Visit (10:15-11:15)
Boys Basketball Game v. Edison School of the Arts (6:00 pm in Gym)
Wednesday, December 14
Grades 3-6 Math Common Assessment
Learning Community Meeting- 7:30 am, Media Center
Thursday, December 15
Smekens Writing PD PLC- All Grade Levels (Conference Room)
Cardinal Cash Bash- Grades K-1 (1:45-2:30)
Cardinal Cash Bash Grades 2-6 (2:45-3:30)
Winter Wonderland Family Event 5:30-7:00 pm
Friday, December 16
Arts Council Performance (K-1) 9:00 am in Gym
Polar Express Day- PJ's and Cocoa
NEWS & NOTES
Our vision should be known by all. In breaking this down, our learning environment will be:
- Positive- set the tone in our classrooms by building relationships and reinforcing positive behavior
- Engaging- instruction will be interactive and driven by student needs. This means intentional planning through posted I CAN statements aligned to daily lessons.
- Rigorous- Our instruction needs to be challenging and aligned to standards. Deconstructing standards into skills and teaching how to apply the skills is the end game. Critical thinkers are the desired outcome.
This is the final week before break.....and it is vital we maintain the same structure and instructional framework for our students. As mentioned previously, time before break can be an anxiety inducing stressor....and this has become evident in some conversations with our students. I have had some students asking if Santa is going to visit their house, or telling me (and others) that parents told them Santa died, and this is why they aren't getting anything. The behaviors may drive us to question some things, but let's please keep this in consideration as we close out the week. Check out the article below in the DIY section titled "9 Reasons to Correct Student Behaviors with Rewards".
Peace Learning Center will be coming Wednesday morning during our Learning Community Meeting to touch base about our Community Circles. If you have questions or concerns, make sue to lift these up.....so we can make this practice a rewarding part of our day. In walking through some classrooms at this time, I am seeing some good conversations and some that are just going through the motions. Make this practice relevant to your classroom environment.
Engaging and Rigorous instruction....involves the types of questions we ask our students. DOK (Depth of Knowledge) levels need to be aligned to student need. We can't start at Level 4...this would go over most of our students heads. We can't sit at Level 1, because our assessments hit higher levels. However, we need to make sure we scaffold our questions to lead to our students working at DOK 3/4. In the DIY section below, check out question stems aligned with DOK levels. How will you use these to increase DOK?
On Thursday, Courtney Gordon from Smekens will be coming during your PLC times to provide PD around writing. Grades K-2 will be focusing on the beginning of implementing Writer's Workshop, while 3-6 will be working on constructive responses as seen on ISTEP. We will meet in the conference room that day. Be on time and ready to engage!
Grade Window opens Monday and closes Friday. If something doesn't look right in ESchool, please let Ms. Fox know ASAP.
Boys Basketball plays Tuesday night vs. Edison School of the Arts. Game time is 6:00 pm in the gym. Please come out and support our undefeated Cardinals!
Speaking of the Winter Wonderland....if you have any gently used or new coats to donate, please continue to bring those to Ms. Koch's room. We will be handing these out at the Winter Wonderland, which will be on December 15th. Thank you to those who have signed up to volunteer. Come on out....you may see Santa!!