Dos Rios Elementary
Weekly Rocket * September 25, 2017
Principal's PLC-Connection
Key Items for this week:
Observation Schedules
- Continuing Teachers need to sign up for their Pre-Observation and Observation with Mrs. Dowling-Garrott. A scheduled time for the next two weeks needs to be added to my calendar outside my door for your convenience.
- Please see me this week for scheduling: Kelly * Winifred * Sharon * Shannon * Molly * Anju * Neal * Patrick * Kurt * Heather S.* Carrie * Leah * Grace * Colin * Wendy * John * Heather M. * Kathleen * Jared
PLC's
- Please be sure to write your "OLE" to prepare for PLC's on Tuesday
- Specials' PLC's on Wednesday, 11:00
1st Quarter Retention's/GEIT
- 45-Day Screeners DUE
- If you have students that you are concerned about retention, as clarified in last week's staff meeting, please schedule an appointment with me to review data and items by end of the week to give me time to process and conference with you before final signature is needed by Oct. 6th (prior to P/T Conferences)
- Students receiving 1st Notice of Possible Retention are students well below in reading and mathematics, educationally disadvantaged, attendance greatly impacting growth/achievement etc.
- Both English & Spanish versions of Q1 Retention Letters (on school letterhead) are attached below. PLEASE USE THESE LETTERS.
- Pre-GEIT forms need to be completed and submitted with Q1 Retention Letter to Mrs. D-G for review by the end of the week for each student who is receiving a 1st Notice of Possible Retention.
Preparing for P/T Conferences
- Please be sure you have contacted parents of students you have concerns about and have shared interventions you are providing and strategies for home support prior to conferences and giving a 1st Notice of Possible Retention.
- Grades for report cards/conferences due Oct. 6th
- Contact the principal or assistant principal of scheduled times for any tricky student conferences. We are here for you.
- Middle School & Specials' Teachers - your conferences will be held in the gym. Middle School teachers' tables will be around the perimeter of one-half of the gym, and Specials' Teachers' tables will be around the perimeter of the other half of the gym. Chairs will be set up in the middle for parents to wait for your availability
I am very excited about our late night conference pot luck dinner. There was an overwhelming vote for "yes." I will be working out any details with PTA &/or Student Council. My only goal is to have a dedicated, enjoyable time to break bread with the staff that evening. We will post that conference times will be suspended from 5:00-5:45 for dinner break. HOWEVER, if you have conferences that you need to get done during this time or choose not to have the break, that is completely up to you. Please feel free not to schedule conferences between 5:00-5:45 on October 10th. Either myself or PTA (I've always bought chicken and mashed potatoes for my staff dinner) will purchase the main dish for the entire staff and then we will have a sign-up sheet for other dishes.
Principally yours,
Mrs. Annamarie Dowling-Garrott
(aka Mrs. A or Mrs. D-G)
Please be encouraged... "It works if you work it."
Weekly Launch Codes
Week-at-a-Glance
Weekly SEaL Sessions Calendar on OneDrive
Professional Development - September 27th
Hello Dynamic District Teachers,
We are very excited to offer you time with your district colleagues. Based on the survey I sent out teachers wanted to be sure that they had access to the curriculum map binders, teacher editions for planning and a printer. In order to ensure that all of you have these resources we planned to have you meet in a teachers classroom for your grade level or content. Team leads please bring your curriculum map binder so that there you all have what you need to plan.
Time: 1:30 pm - 4:00 pm
Where: See grid below
What: 30 minutes for Unit 1 reflection and 2 hours of Unit 2 planning.
Materials: All teachers should bring their lap top.
Classroom Teachers: Please have your teachers editions available for use.
Team Leads: Please bring your mapping binder as a resource to support effective time use.
Melanie Block
Director of Academic Services
Castro's Corner
Weekly Discipline Data (Week of 9/18)
- Out of School Suspensions (OSS): 4
- In School Suspensions (ISS): 1
- SEaL Sessions: 5
Weekly Discipline Tip
1) What is PBIS?
- PBIS is Systems, Data, and Practices that make school a more effective learning environment.
- PBIS is a system and is not a program or curriculum
- PBIS is school-wide, evidence-based, and used nationwide
- PBIS catches students displaying proper behavior and provides consistent consequences for disruptive behaviors
- PBIS teacher and supports students so they can be socially and behaviorally successful
- PBIS makes schools more predictable, consistent, positive, and safe for all staff and students
2) What are PBIS Outcomes?
- Decrease disruptive classroom behaviors and office referrals
- Increase time for academics and academic achievement
- Improve school climate and safety
3) Why is PBIS needed here?
- School data: discipline referrals, academic achievement scores, attendance rate, suspension rates, special education referral rates
This Week's TOP PILOT
Reading Rockets - Contributed by Ryann Miller
Text-Dependent Questions:
Effective questions about literature and nonfiction texts
require students to delve into a text to find answers. (Part 1)
-Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey
The types of questions that students are asked about a text influence how they read it. If students are asked recall and recitation questions, they learn to read for that type of information. If they are asked synthesis questions, they learn to read for that type of information. Unfortunately, many of the questions that students are asked are about personal connections, which may not even require that they have read the text at all.
The architects of the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts are challenging the practice of asking students questions that can be answered without reading the text. They are pressing for questions that instead require students to locate evidence within the text. Those text-dependent questions require students to read carefully and produce evidence in their verbal and written responses. This is not to say that personal connections should be avoided at all costs— after all, readers naturally compare the information they are reading with their experiences. The argument for text dependent questions, however, asserts that discussions and writing prompts should focus on the text itself to build a strong foundation of knowledge. That purposefully built foundational knowledge can then be leveraged by learners to make personal connections that are meaningful and informed.
For example, a teacher could ask the following two questions of students who have been studying “A Way Forward? The Soft Path for Water” by Peter Gleick, an essay in Last Call at the Oasis: The Global Water Crisis and Where We Go From Here (edited by Karl Weber, 2012, PublicAffairs):
- Has your family made any changes to reduce water consumption?
- What are the differences between soft and hard paths to water management?
The first question can be answered without ever reading the essay. A conversation about the first question may be very animated and interesting, but it does not require the students to develop any level of understanding of the information presented by the author.
Instructional leaders who observe classroom instruction may witness significant student engagement in such a class discussion, but they should ask themselves about the actual reading and thinking that is required for the discussion. The first question about water consumption habits is actually irrelevant within the context of evaluating the essay, which focuses on systemic water conservation methods. It is important that teachers know how to engage students beyond simply asking them to tell a personal story. The content itself can and should be used to engage.
Making Math Matter - Contributed by Melanie Blaum
Building Math Fluency
Tip 4: Mental Math
Another way to build math fluency is through teaching “mental math”. Mental math is the ability to think of and solve a problem quickly and independently (without paper/writing materials). Mental math takes a lot of practice. Mental Math is also a part of your Balanced Math Block.
There are many ways that you can encourage students to use and build mental math strategies:
- Conduct Math Talks-Ask questions orally without any visual representation of the problem available. Encourage students to visualize the problem “in their heads”.
- Ask students to round numbers to nearest ten, hundred, thousand, and so on. Use copies of receipts, grocery ads, menus, order forms in order to tie the concept to real life.
- I have…who has… cards are a great activity for building mental math fluency.
- Quiz Quiz Trade Kagan cards from library.
Health & Wellness
Overthinking? It Could Be Depressing You
Brooding Over Past Slights and Current Plights Can Lead to Depression
The boss makes an upsetting comment about your work and you stew about it constantly. Or perhaps you rehash last month’s breakup obsessively. [Or a parent harshly judges our best intentions].
Ruminating – a repetitive, passive brooding – can trigger depression, says Yale psychology professor Susan Nolen-Hoeksema, PhD, author of Women Who Think Too Much (Holt Paperbacks) and The Power of Women (Times Books).
“Your mind goes round and round over negative events in the past, problems in the present or bad things you’re worried will happen in the future,” says Nolen-Hoeksema, who pioneered the study of women’s rumination and depression and is considered the go-to expert in the field.
And this inability to release bad thoughts and memories can get you down.
“You rehash these events and analyze them, but you don’t do anything to solve the problems or feel more in control of your situation,” she says.
Women are twice as likely as men to become depressed, and they’re also more prone to rumination.
That’s no coincidence, says Nolen-Hoeksema.