Mosaica Online Happenings
April 22-26 2013
Upcoming Dates to Remember
- Thursday, April 25th: Parent Education Meeting @ 8:30pm Eastern
- Friday, April 26th: Advisement @ 2pm Eastern in Julie's office
- May 13th-23rd: Q4 Performance Series Benchmark Testing
- **Beginning August 28th, all adjunct teachers must submit invoices to Brenda McCullers on the 14th and 28th of the month**
Upcoming Quarter 4 Final Performance Ed Testing!
K-2nd grade:
- Monday May 13: Reading Foundations (K-1), Reading (2nd grade)
- Tuesday May 14: Math
- Wednesday May 15: Language Arts (2nd grade only)
- Thursday May 16: Science (2nd grade only)
- Friday May 17: makeups
3-10th grade:
- Monday May 20: Reading & Math
- Tuesday May 21: Language Arts & Science
- Wednesday May 22: makeup
- Thursday May 23: makeup
End of the Grading Period.... Right Around the Corner!
AZ: Friday, April 5th
CA & CO: Wednesday, April 10th
You received the chart and calendars to guide you through the ending of Grading Period #3..... The immediate deadlines are:
Week of April 22nd:
- Continue PSAP Conference window - AZ, CA, & CO
Staff Spotlight- A diversion from our normal... The Zayas and Floyd families:)
While in south Florida last week visiting family, the Floyds (from Georgia) were able to get together with the Zayas family and actually meet in person for the VERY FIRST TIME!!!!! Julie and Sarah have worked together daily for quite awhile now, but had never actually met in person. A great time was had by all - the kids were awesome together and it was a fun visit!
Front L to R: William Floyd, Bella Zayas, Lily Floyd
Back L to R: Julie, Sam Floyd, Alex Zayas, Sarah
Mercury Sunshine!
*As always, please keep Barbara Noel-Williams in your thoughts- she is a WARRIOR in her fight against cancer!!!!
Let me know of any concerns or celebrations within our Mercury family!
Club Corner
Art Club has just finished a big week of crafting! Craft and Art are close relatives though not often considered the same thing. Usually, crafts are thought of as beautiful things a person creates, which also have a specific purpose. A good example of a craft is a ceramic mug. A mug can be painted and sculpted beautifully, but in the end it's most important job is to hold your hot cocoa! This week our craft was to design a bird feeder out of a milk carton. Art Club members Eve and Sarai Scolari created wonderful bird houses that the birds are sure to love!
This week we feature the bird house created by Eve!!!
TEACHER TIP OF THE WEEK!
"Effective teachers ask questions. Ineffective teachers issue commands."
Love and Logic ® Teacher-isms by Jim Fay and Charles Fay
What Is Going On In Other Mercury Locations?
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Mexico City
Alaska
Muskegon Heights, Michigan
Hyderabad, India
Ohio
You will receive updates here that will pertain to our students in any of these locations!
- be sure to consult the various calendars in D2L for these locations
Teachers PLEASE be sure you are keeping your D2L grade book updated. Whenever a program needs grades for a progress report, we export the D2L grade book current average. Thank you!
Upcoming Events/Holidays:
Puerto Vallarta
- April 26th: Professional Development Day
- May 1st and 6th: Mexican Holiday
- June 13-18th: Final Exams
Mexico City
- May 1st: Mexican Holiday
- May 10th: Mother's Day Holiday
- June 1st: Seniors Graduate
- June 13th: Last Day of School
Muskegon Heights
- May 10th: 1/2 day vacation
- May 27th: Memorial Day Holiday
- June 25th: Last Day of School
India
- April 22 - 26 - Spring Vacation
- May 1 - National Holiday
- June 20 - last day of school
Data Discussion...
California students in grades 2-11 will begin state exams next week. Below are two links that provide grade-specific sample test questions. Feel free to use these with your students, provide them to parents, or both! Please be diligent about scheduling coursework around testing dates- various grade levels will be testing from April 22 all the way through May 17th (for some online students).
http://starsamplequestions.org/starRTQ/search.jsp
http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/sr/css05rtq.asp
CCSS:
Last week we explored the relationship between Common Core State Standards and College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards. Remember, the College and Career Readiness (CCR) Anchor Standards are the broad, overarching descriptions of the skills a student should have obtained by high school graduation. These anchor standards are then broken down by grade level, with an increasingly complex application of skills and mastery. Let's take a closer look at those anchor standards, starting with Language Arts:
"Because literacy tasks involve various modes of operation, there are several sets of anchor standards. They are: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, and Language."
There are 10 Reading Anchor Standards fall into the categories of:
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Key Ideas and Details
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Craft and Structure
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Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
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Range and Level of Text Complexity
The 10 Writing Anchor Standards in the categories of:
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Text Types and Purposes
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Production and Distribution of Writing
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Research to Build and Present Knowledge
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Range of Writing
6 Speaking and Listening Anchor Standards are categorized by:
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Comprehension and Collaboration
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Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas
And finally, the 6 Language Anchor Standards within the CCR Anchor Standards are:
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Conventions of Standard English
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Knowledge of Language
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Vocabulary Acquisition and Use
For a linked resource of exactly what each of those 32 anchor standards for Language Arts states, as well as a terrific explanation of what each means, visit: http://www.teachingthecore.com/ccr-anchor-standards-in-reading/. Next week we'll look at how the skills described in the CCSS progress through the grade levels for the construction of an understanding of the CCR Anchor Standards...otherwise known as mastery!
Source: Teaching The Core: A Non-Freaked out Approach to the Common Core State Standards http://www.teachingthecore.com/ccr-anchor-standards/
State Testing....
California:
Corona April 22-24
Wildomar April 29 – May 3
La Mesa May 6 - 8
**Note that some CA testing will take place outside of these dates, dependent upon student location
Online Paragon Nights!
Tuesday June 11, 2013 @ 8:30 p.m. Eastern
The event will be facilitated by Hadar Goldberg & Gabby Bray!
And last but not least..... Your joke of the week
Pupil: Today and Tomorrow.