Maude Saunders Newsletter
Week of March 2, 2020
At Maude Saunders, we are...
One School
One Team
with One Mission:
EXCELLENCE A+
Goals:
- Have a positive mindset each day toward students, parents, & staff.
- Build team efficacy through collaboration.
- Create a school culture reflecting excellence in ourselves and our students.
- Build cognitive capacity in our students through high expectations.
Mission & Vision:
To be a place where all students succeed and achieve to their maximum potential with a curriculum that is a dynamic response to each student's needs.
Vision:
Maude Saunders Elementary School will create and sustain a school climate that encourages student success.
In the Spotlight - Katy Baur
This week we’d like to highlight Ms. Baur. We are so excited to shine the spotlight on Ms. Baur because we didn’t have the difficult job of picking a teacher from our amazing faculty; a parent did it for us! The word is spreading about the great teaching and fantastic teachers at MSE throughout the community, and a parent called and wanted to brag on Ms. Baur. This parent wants to be sure that we know how happy her child is in her room, how he is finally excited about learning, and he is doing better in school than he ever has before. Way to go Ms. Baur, you are not only inspiring to your students, but to all of us as well.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK: Team Efficacy - Does your team believe that TOGETHER your goals will be achieved?
Differentiated Accountability: We are proudly educating 546 future leaders.
From the Desk of Mr. Johnson:
When classifying undesirable behaviors, we have to classify them into incident categories for data entry into FOCUS. Currently we have recorded 284 referrals divided into 32 incident categories. The highest by far is Aggressive Acts: hits/kicks/bite. Behaviorists say that most children who act aggressive towards others is due to the inability to communicate their emotions/anger verbally, so out of frustration they lash-out physically. So the question is, how can we combat this. One was is by recognizing signs in your students that they are becoming upset or frustrated at something/someone. Once your recognize the signs of a student in emotional crisis, the next step is to help de-escalate the student so that he/she can reset themselves. Yes, there are times when a student simply puts their hands on another before you even see it coming, but this blurb is discussing the student who is slowly getting agitated. Remember that every student is different, some students want to leave the room to get away and calm down, others want to ball up in the corner, and countless other escape mechanisms. One common denominator is how the responding adult reacts to the potentially escalated student. It is your job to de-escalate and not further escalate the student.
Tips to consider before you respond to this student:
- Do I have a relationship with this student?
- Does this student trust me?
- Am I in his/her personal space, and causing a claustrophobic feeling?
- How is my volume and tone while speaking to this student?
- Am I touching this student right now, and should I be?
When in doubt, put yourself in the shoes of this student. Picture yourself upset and wanting to be left alone and a person 3 feet taller than you moves forward and reaches for you, bends down in your face, and yells “what do you think you are doing?” How would you respond to that person? Exactly… and you are a rational adult. Be aware of how you are responding to students in emotional crisis, and realize that they have a lot on emotions in their little bodies from situations that most of us cannot relate. It is our job to make them feel comfortable and safe while at school.
From the Desk of our own Krisy Spence
Did you know that informing parents and families of state assessment schedules and results is a Title 1 requirement? Please make sure you are sending home STAR assessment parent letters after each assessment period. Also, document notifications you personally send home to parents regarding test schedules and results, other than the ones sent home by the school. Keeping parents informed regarding upcoming tests and their children’s test results helps keep them informed, and further strengthens the home/school connection.
GREAT USE OF A PERFORMANCE SCALE
INSTRUCTIONAL FOCUS - Quality Questioning
Quality Questioning Research-Based Practice to Engage Every Learner
The next focus of the 6Ps Framework for Quality Questioning is Process Student Responses.
Quality Questioning Research – Based Practice to Engage to Every Learner discusses four practices with processing student responses.
- Use Student responses as feedback to guide instructional moves.
- Offer strategic feedback to students.
- Encourage student questions and feedback to one another.
- Engage students in interactions to deepen thinking and understanding.
As students speak, listen, and think together, they can reinforce knowledge and deepen thinking and understandings. Student conversation that includes concepts and ideas, not mere recitation of right answers, is the vision of quality questioning.
Math Tips from Mrs. Lathinghouse
Teachers from 4th and 5th grade attended an Instruction Partners Math PD on February 26th and 27th. During these two days we reviewed strategies for lesson planning and how to analyze supplemental materials for reinforcement, remediation, and enrichment. I will share this information with all teachers and I'm on campus Tuesday (3/3) if you have any math questions or needs.
Important Information
- CAP: It is important for all teams to sign up for CAP. This is an opportunity to plan for next year while it is fresh on your minds with some PD from our reading and math coaches. The dates and sign up sheets are on the front counter. Please sign up no later than Tuesday, March 3rd.
- Formal Observations: Please go ahead and schedule your formal observation through MS Outlook. If you need a quick review of how to use Outlook, please do not hesitate to let me know.
- FOCUS: Please keep your grades updated and make sure your grades are standards-based and you have the correct number of grades per the SPP.
- House Points: Please continue to award points for students.
- Skyward: There are several that have not submitted attachments for TDE. Please submit the attachment this week.
- Lesson Plans: Please make sure your lesson plans are on your desk and accessible each day. I may need to refer to them when doing a walk-through.
- Parent Communication: Are we continuing to make positive phone calls home home?
- Mrs. Neale: I will be out on March 5th and 6th. Text or email me if you need me.
Calendar Additions:
NOTE: Please let Mrs. Bonnie know if you have events that need to be added to the master calendar. Ms. Bonnie will begin this week entering what we have on the master calendar so far.