From the Desk of Mr. Yoshida
Birdneck Elementary March 21, 2018
UPCOMING EVENTS
March 18-24
National Poison Prevention Week
March 22 - Grade 2 Fieldtrip to Sandler Center
March 22 - PTA Executive Board Meeting 5:00pm
March 22 - (Change in Date) General PTA meeting/Spring Musical 6:00pm
March 24 - Kindergarten Francis Land House Fieldtrip
March 26-29
College Week! Wear your College Sweatshirt or Tee on Wednesday!
March 26 - Grade 5 Field trip to Jamestown Settlement 7:05 - 2:00
March 27 - Grade 4 IPT testing
March 29 - Lifetouch Spring Pictures
March 30 - Staff Day: No School for Students
April 13 - end of Quarter 3
*****SPRING BREAK: APRIL 2-6*****
Upcoming:
April 10th - Math Night @ Birdneck ES 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm / "Kid Marketplace" Money and Math Activities
April 16th - Start of 4th Quarter
A MESSAGE FROM YOUR PRINCIPAL
Hello Birdneck Community,
Spring Break is quickly approaching despite another chance of snow this week. I can't believe how fast the year has gone by. We are about to close out our 3rd nine weeks and approach the final quarter of the school year but still have a lot of learning ahead of us at Birdneck Elementary. Our school is a positive environment that continues to grow stronger and stronger. When walking the halls and visiting classrooms, I continually hear our staff members giving compliments to students who are exhibiting SOAR (Safety,Ownership, Attitude, Respect) behaviors .
Students may come home telling you they received an "egg". This is how staff members have been recognizing exceptional behavior of safety, ownership, attitude, or respect our students illustrate in school. This is part of our Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) program that we began this year. Coupled with Responsive Classroom strategies, PBIS has helped transform discipline and the way we approach teaching expected behaviors to our students. We continue to see positive growth in our school climate and culture. Students have morning meetings in their classrooms to discuss ways to show kindness and are explicitly taught what SOAR behaviors look like in our school. I feel it is important that we are consistent with what we teach our children between home and school. I encourage you to use the SOAR acronym to illustrate what Safety, Ownership, Attitude and Respect looks like in your home, at the store, or when visiting others. Using the same vocabulary will help instill these values in your child's daily practice and behaviors across all settings.
Below you will also find our 4th quarter objectives. Our students continue to improve academically. Data from our quarterly assessments shows that we are rising up when compared to other schools. Our teachers have been focusing on differentiating for each student in small group instruction. As students complete their assessments teachers have been anaylizing data and planning remediation and enrichment.
Have an amazing day,
R.V. Yoshida
Birdneck SOAR Behaviors
School Report Cards on VDOE website
Did you know you the Birdneck School Report Card and SOL scores are available with just a few simple clicks?
Virginia Beach City Public Schools is pleased to provide you an Annual School Report Card. The purpose of this report card is to communicate to various audiences regarding educational accountability and to demonstrate our commitment to ensuring that every child is challenged and supported to reach his or her full potential. This report card provides access to information pertaining to student and staff characteristics, school performance, and progress toward meeting state and federal accountability standards. It also includes measures of student performance that are aligned to the globally competitive skills identified in our strategic framework, Compass to 2020. To see the full report click here.
The Virginia Department of Education also has reports for all to view on the VDOE webpage. The state report cards for schools, school divisions, and the commonwealth provide information about student achievement, accountability ratings, attendance, program completion, school safety, teacher quality, and other topics. Reports may be viewed and downloaded as PDF files or Microsoft Excel files.SOL scores and accreditation information. Click here to search the VDOE database.
Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)
On December 10, 2015, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was signed into law. Under ESSA Section 1112(e) parents of students attending Title I schools are to be provided these two notifications.
Section 1112(e) (1) (A) of ESSA states that as a parent of a student in Birdneck Elementary, receiving Title I funds, you have the right to know the professional qualifications of the classroom teachers instructing your child. Federal law requires the school division to provide you this information in a timely manner if you request it. Specifically, you have the right to request the following information about each of your child’s classroom teachers:
· Whether the teacher has met state qualification and licensing criteria for the grade levels and subject areas in which the teacher provides instruction.
· Whether the teacher is teaching under emergency or other provisional status because of special circumstances.
· Whether the teacher is teaching in the field of discipline of the certification or degree he/she received
· Whether paraprofessionals provide services to your child and, if so, their qualifications.
Section 1112(e) (2) of ESSA states that parents of students in Title I schools have a right to know about state or division policies regarding student participation in any assessments mandated by ESSA, including any policy or procedure.
If you would like to receive information, about the qualifications of your child’s teacher, please contact Principal Yoshida. If you would like information regarding student participation in state assessments please contact your school’s testing coordinator.
4th Quarter Literacy Focus
KINDERGARTEN:
• Understand fiction tells stories and nonfiction tells facts.
• Retell stories in own words including beginning, middle and end.
• Use word references (e.g., word walls and simple dictionaries) when reading and writing.
• Demonstrate comprehension by identifying the topic and simple facts of a nonfiction selection.
• Write in a variety of forms, including writing to inform/explain, to offer an opinion and to narrate an experience (personal narrative).
Students will continue to retell stories, increase vocabulary and identify simple facts in a nonfiction selection. Students will continue to compose narrative and expository text and use descriptive words in their writing. Unit 7 will immerse students in writing poetry and Unit 8 will provide opportunities for students to generate opinions and reasons to support their thinking in writing. The science topic “Patterns in Nature” and social studies topic “History” will be integrated into language arts instruction.
FIRST GRADE: The following “big ideas” will be the focus of language arts instruction:
• Retell stories and events using beginning, middle and end, including key details.
• Identify the main idea or theme.
• Retell nonfiction texts, identifying the main idea and important details.
• Identify and use text features such as pictures, headings, charts and captions.
• Write in a variety of forms, including writing to inform/explain, to offer an opinion and to narrate an experience (personal narrative).
Students will continue to be engaged in reading, writing and discourse around fiction and nonfiction texts. Students will continue to retell fiction and nonfiction texts, demonstrating comprehension of the central message of the text. Students reading nonfiction text should identify important information to support main idea and use text features to locate facts and information in text. Students will continue to compose narrative and expository text and use descriptive words in their writing. Unit 7 will immerse students in writing poetry and Unit 8 will provide opportunities for students to generate opinions and reasons to support their thinking in writing. The science topic “Patterns in Nature” and social studies topic “Geography” will be integrated into language arts instruction.
SECOND GRADE: The following “big ideas” will be the focus in language arts instruction: • Continue to make inferences in both fiction and nonfiction texts.
• Demonstrate understanding of the theme or main idea in fictional texts.
• Demonstrate comprehension of fiction and nonfiction through summaries, which include main idea and details.
• Develop comprehension and understanding of reference materials.
• Write to persuade based on an opinion and incorporate research into expository writing.
• Consider the audience when writing and make decisions about the most important ideas and details to include in a writing piece.
• Explore central ideas in poems and interesting words students read in poetry to get ideas for their own poems.
Students will draw conclusions based on details from both fiction and nonfiction text as well as identify and explain the author’s purpose. Students will identify and discuss the theme and the main idea of fiction and nonfiction selections. Students will have the opportunity to explore reading and writing poetry in Unit 7. Students will determine the main idea and supporting details and identify the reason an author gives to support points in nonfiction text. During Unit 8, students will focus on persuasive writing and incorporate research to support opinions.
THIRD GRADE: The following “big ideas” will be the focus of language arts instruction:
• Draw conclusions about character, theme and main idea.
• Apply reading strategies (determining importance, questioning, inferring, summarizing) to construct meaning when reading a wide variety of genres.
• Analyze a text closely to determine the message and central idea an author intended for his or her readers.
• Continue to develop narrative, expository and persuasive writing.
• Ask questions of other writers in order to make revisions.
• Revise and edit around sentence formation, including avoiding run-on/fragments, improving sentence variety and revising word choice.
Students should be engaged in close reading of texts to draw conclusions about plot, character, theme, main idea and author’s purpose. Asking and answering inferential and literal questions should be visible in all classrooms when students are reading to comprehend or to analyze an author’s craft to apply techniques to their own writing. Opportunities to discuss a text with peers and to discuss their own writing pieces will provide students with a great opportunity to revise their thinking based on others’ perspectives. During Unit 7, students will be immersed in opinion/persuasive texts in both reading and writing. During Unit 8, students will complete a performance-based writing task which will integrate content, technology, research, reading and writing objectives. This real-world, authentic learning experience will incorporate many 21st Century learner skills.
FOURTH GRADE: The following “big ideas” will be the focus of language arts instruction:
• Make inferences and draw conclusions to support comprehension of theme and main idea.
• Determine important information to support the main idea, opinions and conclusions.
• Make connections across texts and personal experiences to deepen comprehension.
• Develop the strategic use of questioning to support literal and extended comprehension.
• Explore the genre of poetry and write a variety of poems.
Students should be provided multiple opportunities to apply skills and strategies through whole and small group instruction as well as independent practice. Students should be exposed to multiple genres of text throughout the day. Students should continue to make connections and draw conclusions about theme and main idea, as well as ask and answer literal and inferential questions. While reading nonfiction, students will continue determining importance in order to summarize and state the main idea. Students should write daily, for a variety of purposes. During Unit 7, students will conclude their study of poetry writing. Students will immerse in poetry and explore their skills as poets. During Unit 8, students will “revisit the writing community” in Being a Writer and have student-led discussions about writing, reflecting on the progress they made as readers and writers this year. Students will get the exciting opportunity to engage in an integrated language arts and coding task! Students will get to select a favorite text and use the Scratch website to codify a summary of the text. Students will plan and script their work to prepare to code.
FIFTH GRADE: The following “big ideas” will be the focus of language arts instruction:
• Draw conclusions and make inferences from text, including inferences about the main idea.
• Analyze author’s purpose and choice of language when reading to enhance comprehension and when writing to apply techniques and style to their own writing.
• Make judgments and form opinions about a text, using evidence from the text as support and to develop an opinion piece.
• Explain the various organizational patterns in nonfiction texts.
• Develop multiparagraph expository and persuasive essays, using research-based information as appropriate.
• Focus revision and editing around organization and sentence formation, including avoiding run-ons/fragments, improving sentence variety and revising word choice based on purpose and audience.
• Extend inquiry-based writing tasks. Students should continue to apply reading strategies and think critically to support comprehension of fiction and nonfiction texts.
Students should read a wide variety of texts closely to determine important information, identify main idea/theme and the author’s purpose. Students should apply knowledge of text structures found in fiction and nonfiction texts to improve comprehension. Students will further develop the strategic use of questioning to support literal and extended comprehension. Students will continue developing short reports based on topics from content and student interest and will revise and edit for sentence formation, sentence variety and word choice based on purpose and audience. Students will immerse in persuasive texts in order to write their own persuasive piece during Unit 7. Students will complete a performance-based writing task that will integrate content, technology, research, reading and writing objectives. In Unit 8, students will apply the reading strategies of drawing conclusions and relate the study of theme to poetry. Writing instruction will include exploring figurative language to create tone and voice within writing.
Quarter 4 Math Focus
Kindergarten:
Measurement will continue from Quarter 3. Students will focus on money, time and the tools used for measuring. Students will be introduced to fractions by identifying parts of a set and region. Then, students will move into computation by composing and decomposing teen numbers into tens and some further ones and exploring addition/subtraction with objects.
Grade One:
Students will revisit computation by focusing on creating and solving story and picture problems using basic addition/subtraction facts. Students will continue to work on patterning and conclude the year with a measurement unit. In measurement, students will explore nonstandard units for measuring length, weight/mass and volume.
Grade Two:
Students will continue their study of measurement, then will move into fractional understanding. Students will learn to, identify fractions of a set, region and compare fractions. To close the year, students will study data and probability through collecting, organizing and analyzing data for various types of graphs and conduct experiments to predict outcomes using mathematic vocabulary.
Grade Three:
Students will close out their study of measurement and move into probability and statistics. Students will collect and organize data through observations, measurements, surveys and experiments. They will record written interpretations of the data. Students will explore the concept of probability as chance and investigate the possible results of given situations.
Grade Four:
Measurement will continue from Quarter 3. Students will close out the school year by examining probability and statistics. In this unit, students will collect, organize, display and interpret data in a variety of graphs. Students will also study predictability of outcomes and how to represent probability numerically.
Grade Five:
Students will spend the last quarter of the year studying probability and statistics. They will collect and organize data in a variety of forms, including stem-and-leaf plots, line graphs, etc. Students will discuss measures of center (e.g., mean, median and mode) and measures of variation (range). Students will conclude the last unit with a study of sample spaces.
4th Quarter Social Studies and Science Focus
Kindergarten:
Science/Social Studies — Science/Social Studies — Students will investigate daily weather conditions, shadows and changes that occur over time. The focus should be on the fundamental, concrete observations students make. Students should be able to distinguish between the past and the present (not the future).
First Grade:
Science/Social Studies — Students should investigate the sun, weather and seasonal changes, natural resources and conservation. Students should be using maps and globes similarly to how they did in kindergarten, although they should be able to talk more explicitly about symbols on the map and the shapes of specific locations. Another major focus is how the physical environment affects the way people live.
Second Grade:
Science — Students will use problem-based learning to develop an understanding of components of a healthy habitat, ultimately creating a zoo exhibit that demonstrates understanding of the interdependence that exists in healthy habitats as well as explaining how habitats are systems. Social Studies — Students will study ancient China and transfer their understanding of the location, physical features, use of environment, economic activities and resources and contributions to the larger idea of civilizations as a system.
Third Grade:
Science — Students will investigate and understand natural cycles among Earth, the moon and the sun, the components and layers of soil and the water cycle. Renewable and nonrenewable energy sources are compared and contrasted to expand students’ understanding of the energy sources’ importance and the role of people to manage them.
Social Studies — Students will continue their year-long study of individuals who embody democratic principles, as well as holidays that recognize the contributions of citizens who have worked to defend democratic principles.
Fourth Grade:
Science/Social Studies —Students investigate the structure of Earth and how the surface is constantly changing, including major layers, plate tectonic boundaries, the rock cycle, weathering, erosion, deposition and the study of fossils.
Fifth Grade:
Science — Students should investigate plant anatomy and basic life processes. Specific emphasis is on the structures and processes related to plant reproduction. Social Studies — The students will study a range of topics from the structure of Virginia’s government in the modern era to the concept that individuals bring about social, political and economic change.
Join our PTA
Support Birdneck Elementary students by joining the PTA. Our PTA is AMAZING! We collaborate together to create opportunities for our students and community to learn and have fun in the process. Don't miss out on the benefits from joining the PTA. Receive over $300 in savings... all for just $5 for a membership. Check out the PTA website at http://birdneckpta.weebly.com/
Our goal is to have 100% participation!!!!!!!!!
Ten Marks
We will be using TenMarks, an online math program to provide your child with opportunities for additional math practice.
On TenMarks, your child can practice and master math concepts one topic at a time. They can work on assignments that their teacher makes or choose to practice on their own anytime. While they are practicing, your child will have access to hints if they get stuck, as well as a short video tutorial if they need more detailed explanation.
Teachers have set up your child with their own individual account. Students can access Ten Marks from any computer or tablet to continue working on the program at their own pace. Teachers can monitor and review your child's progress, assign work, and give them feedback.
For students to access the digital resources from home, they should go to https://clever.com/in/vbcps, and click “Log in with Active Directory.”
Students will be prompted to provide their username and password. Your child’s username is his/her lunch number. If your child does not remember his/her password, please contact your child’s teacher.
Login: Student#
Password: Assigned by the Teacher
Once students have successfully logged in with Clever, they will be able to access the resources provided by the school system. For Ten Marks you are looking for the icon in the corner of this message.
HOMEWORK HELP PROGRAM
The Homework Help program will be provided by the City of Virginia Beach during the 2017-2018 school year.
Through Homework Help, students receive after school assistance from state certified teachers. Homework Help operates from 3 to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday. Students can access Homework Help at the following City of Virginia Beach website: https://www.vbgov.com/government/departments/libraries/kids/Pages/homework-resources.aspx
BIRDNECK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
BIRDNECK MISSION
The mission of Birdneck Elementary is to dedicate ourselves to the success of all children, preparing them to meet today's expectations and tomorrow's challenges.
BIRDNECK VISION
Children are our future. We are dedicated to their success.
BIRDNECK BELIEFS
We believe in a collaborative community in which teachers, administrators, students, and parents work together for student success.
We believe in creating a safe, nurturing, and positive environment in which all students can strive for excellence and achieve their individual potential.
We believe we will prepare our students for success by providing 21st century learning and developing within our students critical thinking, effective communications and problem solving skills.
Website: http://www.birdneckes.vbschools.com/
Location: 957 South Birdneck Road, Virginia Beach, VA, United States
Phone: 757-648-2120
Facebook: facebook.com/birdneckes
Twitter: @BNESeagles