Cat Tracks
Spring Shadows Elementary Wildcats Staff Newsletter
November 5-11, 2018
Look at that smile! Empowering our students to learn from each other! (4th)
Our Vision
Our Mission
Core Beliefs
- Each student has unique intellectual, emotional, social, and physical qualities.
- We embrace a child’s individual values, interests, and personalities.
- Parents are confident in their child’s social and intellectual educational growth.
- Educators lead their craft by preparing learners in our fast changing world
Principal's Message
Dear Wildcats,
Woohoo! We are now in November.... that only means one thing to me: THANKSGIVING is near us! Thanksgiving should be daily- we are very thankful for those we love in our life and all the wonderful things that make us smile each day. I absolutely loved Jakerian's Happy Teacher Challenge to encourage us all to do a little something that will count towards our own personal happiness.
Last week was a great week of reflection on our student achievement thus far. 2nd-5th grade teachers have been thorough in presenting their data along with writing up their own personal action plans in response to their district benchmark data. Kudos to you!
Based on our results: What specific best practices and effective teaching strategies will we emphasize during this teaching/learning cycle?
This brings me to our next two PLCs. We will have one on Wednesday aferschool where you can dive deeper into either Dreambox (K-2nd) or Guided Reading Strategies (3rd-5th) or personalized planning if you are not a homeroom teacher. Then on Thursday, schedule yourself to be at the Personalized Playground session for PLC where we will dive into a your own grade level plans for personalization as we move forward. Come with an open mind and creative spirit.
As a community- we have declared our goal to improve on state accountability standards by one letter grade from 70 to 80.
On to some fun for November:
- Tuesday is Election Day. Make sure to Vote if you have not done so. You may leave right after duty to do this. I've included some election websites for lesson plans in the calendar section to bring this important process to life for your students. Feel free to infuse it into your lesson plans.
- Don't forget to bring something delicious to share for our Thanksgiving Potluck Luncheon on Thursday. (Our lounge will be transformed, so please enjoy your meal there.)
- Friday- Orbit will be here to do a Bully Free Show with 2nd-5th. Wear your Astros shirts to demonstrate that we are Bully Free with Orbit!
Wildcat Love and respect,
Rachel Martinez
Calendar
Kindergarten Extended Planning
Group 5
- 8:00-10:00 ILT Meeting
- 2:45-3:30 Team Leader Huddle
Tuesday, November 6, 2018
1st Grade Extended Planning
Group 1
- Election Day: Voting and Election Lesson Plans; ReadWriteThink Election Day Plans
- K-2nd TCRWP Walkthroughs
- After-School 3-4
- 2:45-4:00 Opportunity Culture Team Mtg (Conference)
Wednesday, November 7, 2018 University T-Shirt Day
3rd Grade Extended Planning
Group 2
- Mrs. Martinez @ Comm. Sup. Mtg A.M.
- Personalized Faculty PLC (K-2: Dream Box; 3-5: Guided Reading; Specials/Support Staff: Personalized Planning).
Thursday, November 8, 2018
PLC Thursday
Group 3
- 8:00-1:00 Counselor Meeting
- K-5 Meets in Maria Luna's room for PLC.
- 11:00-1:00 Staff Pot Luck Lunch
- 3:00-5:30: SSE ReDesign Meeting (Luna's Classroom)
Friday, November 9, 2018- Wear your Astros Shirts to Celebrate with Orbit
2nd Grade Extended Planning
Group 4
- Spiral Day
- Lifeskills Trip to the Zoo
- 9:15-9:45 Office Meeting
- 1:00-2:00 Orbit (Grade 2-5): Bully Free Lesson & Activities for S.S.K-5
Library News
SSE Readers keep soaring!! They now have 153,240 minutes logged in!
5th Grade Readers - Keyim (14,600), Parada (8,713) Denson (6,151) Calkins (1,189)
4th Grade Readers - Perez (18, 031? ) Hill (7,143), Mendoza (6,440), Shankar (4,634) Dortch( 3,870) Vargas (676)
3rd Grade Readers - Salazar (8,518) , Klauer (2,908, Lee (2,017) Carrabba - Coming)
2nd Grade Readers Urrutia (10,994) Alvarez (8,796) Zetino (1,972) Ochoa (1,047) Gutierrez (948)
1st Grade Readers- Gomez (27,080), Espejo (2,701) Garcia (570)
Kinder Readers - Moreno (7,100)
More coming as minutes come.
Think about... when would you like to have your students create a class book. If you have some writing assignments that are getting edited which would make a great writing piece for a book, let's plan!
Thanks again for your support!
Ann : )
Shout Outs
- Congrats on the ILT meeting together to bring more tech into the classrooms for students! They relayed to me that by sharing and pulling all tech together we went from offering 3:1 ratio to 2:1 ratio per student! Yay! 3rd-5th you should have your tech by end of the week!
- Yes team leads! You worked hard on vertically aligning yourselves on Monday to discuss our student's academic needs and then relaying that to your teams later in the week!
- Shout out to Bea for providing support in K!
- Thank you Ms. Mendoza, Ms. Gardner, and Ms. Rushing for providing support to our students when they are in personal need.
- Many thanks to all the teachers and staff members for responding to feedback!
Teachers leading learning with each other!
Make and Take's During PLCs
Real Time Writing Coach!
2nd Dives into Data!
4th Reviews Reading Resources
Bilingual Science Anchor Charts
Building Stamina for Reading in Kinder!
Authentic Writing in 1st!
Visual Support in Math!-1st
Remember to Sign Up for Sunshine and PTA!
Join Sunshine & PTA for $30 (certified staff) & $25 (non-certified staff). You can pay cash or check to Mrs. Berryman or Mrs. Gentry. Checks can be made out to Spring Shadows Elementary.
We are trying to get 100% participation in Sunshine & PTA!
When you join, you get an SSE Unstoppable T-Shirt, 5 Jeans Passes, 4 Late Arrival Passes, and 4 Leave Early Passes.
Please review the PDF attachment to see our SSE Sunshine Bylaws that the team revised and agreed upon at our last meeting. This will give you more information about Sunshine and what your dues are used for.
Sunshine SEMESTER JEANS PASS for $30
The one caveat is that your jeans are to be worn with a nice shirt and shoes (not a t-shirt).
See Mrs. Berryman or Mrs. Gentry to pay for your pass!
Sunshine Sponsored Events
SSE Social Event @ Yard House - October 26th (More information coming soon!)
SSE Sunshine Coffee Cart - October Date TBD
Spring Shadows Elementary
Email: rachel.martinez@springbranchisd.com
Website: https://cms.springbranchisd.com/sse2/
Location: 9725 Kempwood Drive, Houston, TX, United States
Phone: (713) 251-7100
Twitter: @twitter_rachelmartinez4