Elementary ENews
ISSUE 32/ APRIL 2016
Praise and the Growth Mindset
Enjoy and share the video below!
Instructional Coaches
8:30-3:30 at various locations (be sure to check eduphoria)
- May 17
Spring Point People
Spring Meeting Formats for All ~
SUMMER CURRICULUM SNEAK PEEKS
On August 3rd & 4th teachers are highly encouraged to join the curriculum coordinators to get a sneak peek at the 1st quarter curriculum units for all content areas. New curriculum documents will be shared along with design time with grade level peers for each content area. Teachers will participate in first hand learning and collaboration time to support the planning and design of highly engaging and differentiated learning experiences for their students.
NOTE: These sessions will take the place of the summer point people meetings and/or former OI trainings.
Math - Kerise Ridinger @kerise_ridinger
Math Academies & Math Design Team
Summer Math Academies- Teachers who have been selected for the Math Academies have been notified and should have registered. There are still some open spots in Kindergarten,1st grade,4th grade and 5th grade. Please let me know if you have any other teachers that would like to participate in this learning experience. Also, please encourage your coaches to attend one of the academies, to deepen their knowledge of mathematics.
Math Design Team- The Kindergarten through 5th grade math design teams have begun the creation of brand new Instructional Focus Documents for each unit. We are excited to be able to link the Lead4ward Field Guides to these documents since you will all have this resource on your campuses. The IFDs will be a great resource for teachers to use in designing units for their students. Thank you for all for allowing teachers time off of campus to engage in meaningful conversations around the creation of our “New” documents.
Social Studies - Stacie Nickols @snnickols
Congratulations Caldwell!
Happy Birthday Collin McKinney!
Collin McKinney & Curriculum Design Teams
Collin McKinney’s 250th Birthday Celebration
MISD had many students participate in Collin County Historical Society and Museum’s celebration by submitting projects and artwork.
Shout out to this group from Caldwell!
Curriculum Design Teams
The Kindergarten through 5th grade social studies design teams have begun the work of revising some of our curriculum documents including the creation of brand new Instructional Focus Documents for each unit. We are excited to be able to link the Lead4ward Field Guides to these documents since you will all have this resource on your campuses next year. The IFDs will be a great resource for teachers to use in designing units for their students. I look forward to working with these teams in June as we continue the work by looking at ways to formatively assess, choosing instructional strategies aligned with standards, and revising district assessments.
Science - Marie Hayes @sciencehayes
Science in Review
Science in Review
As the 5th Grade science STAAR test approaches, the element of review is upon us. When you are working in PLCs with your 5th grade teams and discussing options for review of our science concepts, please be sure to refer them the Science in Review unit found in Forethought. The unit this year has been redesigned to encourage our teachers to create a more focused review utilizing TEKS specific resources to support the individual needs of their learners. We are all aware that test taking strategies play a role in many review environments, but we would prefer to see reteaching and reinforcement opportunities that involve hands on learning and interactions with vocabulary and discussions that would allow for broad connections to be made beyond just sample test questions. Another way to involve the whole school is to pass out science Q&A so other staff members can ask students questions throughout the day. This could even involve points systems and rewards of some sort if someone would like to organize that. We had a training in March that was well attended by the 5th grade teachers, so I recommend that you reach out to your teams to see if there are other ideas they would like to share. Bottom line is, if we make the review opportunities authentic and engaging we better ensure that true connections and learning occur for all of the MISD scientists that we support and grow. Thank you for your partnership in this!
ELAR - Mona Savage @mona_rsavage
DRA(EOY) - Q4 DA - Kinder Screener - Literacy Institute - STAAR SSI and Review
Coming soon! May 6-20
- This includes administration of assessment and data input in Aware
- If you have any additional needs for your teachers or have questions about scores, please contact me.
Quarter 4 District Assessments
Grades 3-5 will still be participating in unit assessments as teachers will remain assessing the performance of standards as we end our year strong.
Good news! Removing the DA from grades 3-5 only eliminates the need to have to scan or use bubble sheets for any of the remaining unit assessments.
MISD Kinder Screener - Summer 2016
MISD's Kindergarten Screener, administered each summer by campuses, has been uploaded into Forethought under Instructional Resources.
PLEASE NOTE: The Screener FAQ page is for teacher and administrator use only
Literacy Institute SAVE THE DATE flyer to share!
STAAR SSI and Review
The following campus support document was shared with administrators for SSI students. If you have any questions after reviewing, please be sure to contact me. Thank you for your focus and support of literacy growth.