Maude Saunders Newsletter
Week of November 4, 2019
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
Thought for the Week
Differentiated Accountability: We are proudly educating 545 future leaders.
INSTRUCTIONAL FOCUS - Domains 2 & 3
Professional Development Updates
Who: All 5th Grade Math Teachers – Geometry
What: Grade 5 and Secondary Math PD
When: December 5 from 8am-3pm
Where: CHAT Center (555 Walton Road, DeFuniak Springs, FL 32433)
Top 10 Achievement Boosters For Students ©2016 Eric Jensen
3. Connections
WHAT THIS MEANS: Teacher-student relationships and student-student relationships are both critical. Invest in relationships and get a whopping effect size of 0.72. You get extra synergistic effects when the relationships are staff to staff and staff to parents. We also see high degrees of success where teachers use appropriate levels of interdependency so that students have their success tied to the success of others. This type of learning, relational learning, works best when the student alliances (including partner, team, cooperative learning) are also taught social skills as well as content. Students will usually be happier and work harder in class when they can work well with peers. There are limits to this factor, but when done well it seems like a miracle.
HOW TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN: First, read up on how to build effective teams or you’ll likely be disappointed. There is no “free lunch” with groups, teams or study buddies. They all take work to develop and maintain. If you do not already use this factor, and you’re ready to begin, start with something small and build. I began using temporary partners. Students get up for a quick stretch, then take 8 steps, find a partner. Build 30” of “get to know you” time into each of your content and skill-builders (e.g. name, something you dream about doing someday, etc.) so that you increase the social glue and reduce the cliques in the class. Once I got good working with partners, then I started getting comfortable with building and using teams. You start small and keep building.
From the desk of our own Krisy Spence
“Maude Saunders is a Title 1 school” – so what does that really mean? MSE is one of 4 elementary schools in Walton County that receives Title 1 funds. Our district serves elementary schools with over 65% of students on free or reduced lunch. Currently, 85.7% of MSE students receive free or reduced lunch. This equates to approximately $496,000.00 annually for our school. The next few newsletters will review some of the requirements that come with receiving these federal funds.
Math Tips from Mrs. Lathinghouse
Recently, Instruction Partners' Michael Coon led a Math PD with teachers in grades 1-5. In this workshop, we learned to "do the math" before ever starting the planning process. By completing the Problem Set and Exit Ticket before you start planning, the teacher will be able to identify the aspect(s) of rigor called for by the standard(s) and anticipate where students might make mistakes.
Here is a tip for planning your Problem Set:
Complete the Problem Set yourself and determine what questions are “Must Dos" or "May Dos." Label these questions during planning. Normally, 10 minutes is all your students will have to complete the Problem Set, so choose your “Must Dos” carefully. Note: The Exit Ticket can also help you determine what questions students should practice from the lesson.
Important Information
- Interim Reports: November 14th
- December Faculty Meeting: Please change the December Faculty Meeting to Tuesday, December 4th at 3:00. The SIP Goal Committee Meeting has been changed to December 10th.
- Review Proposed Standards: In a Just Read, Florida! presentation yesterday, they boiled the most significant proposed changes in the new standards to the items listed below. Please review the standards and submit feedback through this link: https://www.floridastandardsreview.org/
- Skyward: Anyone that has submitted TDE into Skyward must upload an attachment (agenda, email requesting you attend, etc.). If you did not do this, please go back and upload your attachment. NOTE: You do NOT have to submit TDE into Skyward for trainings we have on our campus. This was just clarified at my Principals' Meeting. So for our Data Chats, you do NOT have to upload an attachment.
- Comp Time: Please do NOT enter comp time for Faculty Meetings. Loveta will enter Faculty Meeting Comp Time into Skyward for all that attend. If you leave early, make sure you write the time you leave by your name. Also, please remember that comp time must be pre-approved. For parent meetings, please upload an attachment to indicate the time-frame in which the conference was held.
- 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.
- 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.
- Parent Communication: How are the positive phone calls home progressing?
- Safety: Please keep all classroom doors locked.
- Attendance: Attendance should be completed by 8:30 a.m.
- Transportation Notes: Please make sure these are sent to the front office no later than 8:30 a.m. Also, make sure transportation notes are picked up from your box before dismissal.
- School Visit: I will be out on Monday, 11/4/19. If you need me, text 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.