Magers Memo
August 13th, 2018
First Week of School!
- Monday, August 13th: Meet the Teacher 5:30-6:30 pm (work in classrooms today)
- Tuesday, August 14th: "Back to School Basics" staff meeting in the library from 8:30-9:30 am, work in classroom the remainder of the day.
- Wednesday, August 15th:
letters out front for an all staff picture at 8:10 a.m. This will be quick so we can start welcoming students!
*First day of school and IGNiTE Deployment for 3-5 (1:00-3:00 pm-teacher's choice).
- Thursday, August 16th: IGNITE Deployment for K-2: 9:00 Second Grade, 9:30 Kindergarten, 10:30 First Grade (more info. will come at Tuesday staff meeting).
- Friday, August 17th: Wear jeans and your One Dream t-shirt provided by the district! Make sure every student leaves excited to come back on Monday morning!
From Curriculum...
Funding from Learning Support
Field Trip Transportation Grants - The Field Trip Transportation Grant is an amazing way to reinforce PBL units
PBL Classroom Grant - Each SPS teacher is eligible to receive funding from the PBL Classroom Grant once per semester until funding is no longer available. Teachers are eligible for up to $150 per classroom per project. This grant cannot be used to cover transportation costs unless the teacher has already used funding from the Field Trip Transportation Grant. Please read the specific details and guidelines: PBL Classroom Grant.
Integrated Units - Revisions to K-5 Integrated Units 1 and 2 were made in July based on teacher feedback. Teachers will notice that the following updates have been made to units 1 and 2. Remaining units will be revised during first and second quarter. Here is what was completed during revisions:
o Lessons have been compiled into one unit plan rather than multiple lesson documents.
o Units have been rearranged based on teacher feedback.
o Lessons have been revised based on teacher feedback.
o Standards have been identified as informally or formally assessed.
o Formal Assessments have been created.
o Canvas courses have been created and will automatically sync with courses based on eSchool course codes.
Blueprint Canvas Courses will automatically import for the courses on this spreadsheet. These courses were created based on the standards and current curriculum for each class. Some of these courses also include assessments.
Math Intervention Resources
o Learning Support has purchased a new math intervention resource for the upcoming school year. This resource, Bridges Intervention by Math Learning Center, is meant to be a Tier 2 intervention for small group instruction in the classroom or with intervention specialists at the building. We will also be using this as a resource for intervention in Club Encore.
o The Canvas page with all of the resources can be found here. We will be working with a site liaison to organize the materials for checkout by teachers at each site to ensure teachers have easy access to the materials. These materials may have already arrived at your sites and should be set aside until training occurs.
o We have district trainers who will receive training at the end of August. They will then contact you to schedule training for your staff during a staff meeting in September or October.
Curriculum Resource Adoption - This year we will work with teams of stakeholders to review resources and materials to support the learning of 6-12 math and K-5 ELA. Teachers interested in working on curriculum writing for K-5 ELA can fill out the K-5th Grade ELA Curriculum Writing Application.
Software Overview/Guidelines - Click below to see an overview of software best practices and recommended usage as well as an overview poster to depict the various software programs used at each grade span. We have provided training opportunities on these programs over the summer and at SPS Now, but we will have additional training opportunities upon request. Those dates will be emailed to teachers.