GRANT STAFF WEEK-AT-A-GLANCE
Week of November 1 - 7, 2021
~ NATIONAL NATIVE AMERICAN AND NATIVE ALASKAN HERITAGE MONTH ~
At the November 4 board meeting, the SMMUSD Board of Education will adopt a resolution honoring National Native American and Alaska Native Heritage Month.
November is Native American Heritage Month, or as it is commonly referred to, American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month. The month is a time to celebrate rich and diverse cultures, traditions, and histories and to acknowledge the important contributions of Native people.
Following are some great resources with videos, lesson plans, and activities for teachers, students, and parents:
~LINK TO GRANT STAFF HANDBOOK~
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_I4gudd78dMjkXFn2fCtid9Vc_yK_WsmByoewhA0Q0w/edit?usp=sharing
~ GRANT STAFF CALENDAR of EVENTS ~
Please review these important dates:
- Tuesday, November 2nd: Pupilp-Free Day for Parent Conferences Week
- Tuesday, November 2nd: Grant Instructional Assistants and Campus Monitor SEL Training: 8:30 AM in the Library.
- Wednesday, November 3rd: No Staff Meeting: Parent Conferences
- Wednesday, November 3rd: Minimum Day for Parent Conferences: All Grades: PreK-Kinder @ 12:15; 1st Grade @ 1:00; 2nd Grade @ 1:05; 3rd Grade @ 1:10; 4th/5th Grades @ 1:15
- Wednesday, November 3rd: Grant PTA Executive Board Meeting @ 6:30 PM on Zoom
- Thursday, November 4th: Minimum Day for Parent Conferences: All Grades: PreK-Kinder @ 12:15; 1st Grade @ 1:00; 2nd Grade @ 1:05; 3rd Grade @ 1:10; 4th/5th Grades @ 1:15
- Friday, November 5th: OLWEUS Anti-Bullying Assembly: 8:50 - 9:20 AM on the Big Field
- Friday, November 5th: Minimum Day for Parent Conferences: All Grades: PreK-Kinder @ 12:15; 1st Grade @ 1:00; 2nd Grade @ 1:05; 3rd Grade @ 1:10; 4th/5th Grades @ 1:15
- Monday, November 8th: Board Member Laurie Lieberman Visit to Grant. Christian and Laurie will be walking the campus and visiting classrooms. Please email Christian if you have something special you would like us to see! :)
- Wednesday, November 10th: Grant ABAR Committee Meeting @ 7:45 (Zoom)
- Wednesday, November 10th: Individual Planning - No staff meeting
- Thursday, November 11th: VETERANS' DAY - NO SCHOOL
Monday, November 15th: School Site Council Meeting @ 3:15 PM
- Wednesday, November 17th: Staff Meeting @ 1:45 PM
- Wednesday, November 24th through Friday, November 26th: THANKSGIVING BREAK - NO SCHOOL
- Monday, November 29th: All-day SLT InnovateEd workshop day (please communicate with Lisa about subs ASAP.)
- Wednesday, December 1st: Staff Meeting: PD meeting @ 1:45 PM
- Thursday, December 9th: 5th-Grade SMC Dance Program Performance: Invitation sent home to 5th-Grade parents.
- Friday, December 17th: Minimum Day: All Grades: PreK-Kinder @ 12:15; 1st Grade @ 1:00; 2nd Grade @ 1:05; 3rd Grade @ 1:10; 4th/5th Grades @ 1:15
~ ACTION ITEMS ~
~OLWEUS ANTI-BULLYING ASSEMBLY THIS FRIDAY~
As you know, we will be holding our annual OLWEUS Anti-bullying assembly on Friday, November 5th from 8:50 - 9:20 AM on the Big Field. PLEASE HAVE YOUR STUDENTS SIT WHERE THEY NORMALLY SIT FOR EMERGENCY DRILLS.
Each year as a part of this program the students are led in a dance by Laura Meshel that is meant to be fun and inspirational. We filmed a new, updated video of Laura showing you all the steps to this dance. Ideally, you will use this video as a "break break" or "wiggle break" for your students multiple times before the kick-off assembly. Click the link below to watch this video:
OLWEUS FIREWORK DANCE VIDEO 2021
We look forward to sharing this fun experience together again this year!
~Elementary Fall Conference Report Card~
Here is the memo giving teachers how-to resources for entering in grades and printing report cards for the Fall Conference. The window is open on Monday.
~INFORMATION ITEMS~
Emergency Approval of Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine for Ages 5-11: Last week, the FDA recommended authorization for emergency use of the Pfizer vaccine for ages 5-11. The CDC will meet on 11/2 to consider granting emergency use authorization.
LACOE Public Health Update: Updated K-12 COVID-19 Guidance Plans: The following COVID-19 exposure guidance plans have been updated for the public and L.A. County school communities:
Updated Exposure Management Plan for K-12 Schools requires schools to have Safety Protocols classroom seating charts and participant rosters for persons participating in school extracurricular programs to facilitate identification of close contacts of persons with COVID-19 at the school. School visitors are to be included as part of the school exposure management plan.
ExposureManagementPlan_K12Schools.pdf (lacounty.gov) Update: 9/8/21
Lintelio Health Screening Link: All Staff and students need to follow the Lintelio Health Screening Link Instructions to register so that you can receive a link to screen at 5 am every morning.
~DREAMBOX LEARNING~
TK-8 DreamBox Mathematics: DreamBox Learning--adaptive, game-based math learning is part of our SMMUSD Math program. Besides summer and convocation PD, teachers will be supported throughout the year by TOSAs, Coaches, and Coordinator, in order to nurture and build students’ math conceptual understanding and fluency via DreamBox. (Reflex will no longer be available/supported centrally)
TK-8 Math Challenge: Please share in your staff notice/bulletin/newsletter this DreamBox Learning Challenge for teachers and staff. We seem to be at about 50% in usage. Kids need to play in order to calibrate to the adaptive learning level of our students. This hyperdoc includes supports that can be further unpacked whole staff, PLC/depts, teacher 1:1, brown bag lunch time...with Ed Services support. Let us know if you need support.
- ED TECH NEWSLETTER: Ed Tech Update to staff. It contains links to LatinX resource, Benchmark Grade 1 SeeSaw Activities, Math Jamboards, and Custom Post-Its https://www.smore.com/915b4
Required SMMUSD Password Change by December 1, 2021: Please remind staff to check their email from John Castillo on Oct. 26, 2021, at 9:39 a.m. to review Password change plan and policies. Email and instructions also found HERE. John Castillo will be sending out a weekly reminder email.
Mental Health & Social Emotional Learning Newsletter: The mental health team has created a newsletter that was emailed to all staff last week.
- IMPORTANT SAFETY INFO: All staff members are required to come to the office when they arrive on-campus, scan their face with the thermal face scanner, and sign in to both the COVID Tracking notebook on the office counter and the staff sign-in sheet. This is important for us to be able to track contact trace, if necessary. Also, you must wear a mask and do not congregate with other staff members.
- Child Abuse Reporting Electronic System (CARES): Starting Jan. 1, 2021, all mandated reporters may use the Child Abuse Reporting Electronic System (CARES) to submit non-urgent reports of suspected abuse or neglect. Please see the information linked here: child abuse reporting hotline for non-emergency reports The 36-hour follow-up written report is not required when using the online system. Learn more about CARES by viewing this short video.
~TESTING/ASSESSMENT INFORMATION~
Dear Elementary Teachers,
I hope the new year is going well for you. I wanted to provide some details and highlight the resources at your disposal for our upcoming 2021-2022 Fall Diagnostic Assessments for ELA (Window 8/30/21 to 9/15/21) and Math (Window: 9/16/21 to 10/1/21). Please also see the updated assessment calendar on this website (you will need to be logged into your google account to view it).
For the details of what subsets to administer for each testing window please visit this google sheets document: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10_uCq6RsjkapB4GySmDRZJDWj10h-tyGLkAdTIXvjx4/edit?usp=sharing
Early Math might be new to some and so one our Instructional Coaches made this guide for everyone that can be used by instructional coaches or individual teachers: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1tT0PrJUT_GHYTShIFd_NDiqWXntH58q0K_TYZ0jTMf4/edit#slide=id.p. (Many thanks goes to Liz Cochran.)
Thank you for all you do every day for our SMMUSD students!
Alicia Baillie
Director, Research, Assessment & Evaluation
~Play Zone Rotation and Lunch Seating Weeks of 10/25 and 11/1~
Following are the colors for each teacher's class that is sitting outdoors during this first rotation which goes until FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1ST. WE WILL ROTATE EATING AREAS ON MONDAY, OCTOBER 4TH:
First Grade:
- Green: Gormley
- Yellow: Martinez, L.
- Blue: Spanos
- Red: Williams
Third Grade:
- Green: Lipson
- Yellow: Martinez, J.
- Blue: Ripley
- Red: Subin
Fourth Grade:
- Green: Blair
- Yellow: Cordes
- Blue: Ware
- Red: Kim (5th)
~Designated and Integrated ELD~
As you are finalizing your instructional schedules please be reminded that we need to ensure our English Learners receive both Designated and Integrated ELD.
Designated ELD is provided by the classroom teacher during a protected time during the regular school day. Teachers use the ELD standards as the focal standards in ways that build into and from content instruction to develop the critical language our students need to access content in English. Students need to be provided with 30 minutes of daily designated ELD and this needs to be evident on the classrooms’ daily schedules.
Integrated ELD is provided to ELs throughout the school day and across all subjects by all teachers of ELs. The ELD Standards are used in tandem with the ELA/Literacy and other content standards to ensure students strengthen their abilities to use English as they simultaneously learn content through English.
https://www.gstatic.com/gumdrop/consciouskid_inclusivereads.pdf
This is a curated list of teacher-facing materials and evaluation criteria to affirm and reflect students’ identities and to help facilitate important conversations about equity, racism, and belonging.
~SCHOOL WELLBEING TOOLKIT~
Please review this great resource! As a reminder, SMMUSD Mental Health Counseling Coordinator Shuli Lotan, is a great human resource for all things counseling, mental health, and mindfulness! She can be reached via email at slotan@smmusd.org.