Friday Buzz...
One School, One Team, One Goal
Professional Reading and Learning Opportunities
- Creating Goalbook Questions in UNIFY- There are a group of teachers from PHES working to build Goalbook items in UNIFY. If you are interested, please let administration or Cortney Dvorak (cddvorak@smcps.org) and/or Jeff Gibson (jsgibson@smcps.org). Once items have been built, all teachers throughout the county may use them to collect standard specific data.
- Elementary Math - Optional workshops regarding assessment use and analysis will be offered in January and February. Please let administration know if you or your PLC are interested in attending.
- Counting Profile: Workshops will be offered on:
- February 6th from 8:30 - 11:00;
- February 6th from 1:00 - 3:30; and
- February 7th from 8:30 - 11:00.
- Counting Profile: Workshops will be offered on:
- Fraction Four-Square Assessment Workshops: Each workshop will be held from 8:30 - 11 at the Loveville Training Room. Substitute will be provided by DCI for the workshop itself. The workshops are scheduled for the morning in order to allow time for collaborative planning at the school in the afternoon if schools choose to provide substitutes for the rest of the day.
- January 10: Fraction Foundations (Grade 3, 4 and 5 teachers, special education teachers, and ESOL teachers)
- January 24: Fraction Addition and Subtraction (Grade 4 and 5 teachers, special education teachers, and ESOL teachers).
- January 30: Fraction Multiplication (Grade 4 and 5 teachers, special education teachers, and ESOL teachers).
- February 13: Fraction Division (Grade 5 teachers, special education teachers, and ESOL teachers).
- The Maryland Retired School Personnel Association (MRSPA) is offering a $2,000 scholarship to public school employees enrolled in a program leading to teacher certification or certification as a school counselor, speech and language pathologist, physical or occupational therapist, school social worker, media specialist, or school psychologist. For more information, see their FAQ page on the SMCPS website: http://www.smcps.org/files/HR/MRSPA%20Scholarship%202018.pdf
- To view the inaugural Environmental Education Quarterly Newsletter, please click here.
- English Language Learners: January 2018 https://www.smore.com/nmgr7
Message from Administration
We are asking that Goalbook Pathways be utilized consistently during grade level planning and PLCs as a resource to support standards based instruction. If you need assistance navigating, please let administration know ASAP. At least one person on each PLC has access to pathways. Additionally, each Special Education Teacher and Instructional Resource Teacher has access. Thank you
GoalBook Toolkit Library Update:
There are changes to the library that will help with organization of content in Goalbook. The updated library categorizes saved content into individual student libraries, making it easier to organize and design student-specific instruction. You can read more about this feature in this article and see the new library here.
GoalBook Pathways Decodable Text - Information about decodable texts available in Pathways: https://medium.com/innovative-instruction/introducing-new-decodable-texts-in-goalbook-pathways-7ca16f755817
GoalBook Pathways New Reading Quick Assessments:
- There are new independent reading quick assessments for grades K-2. This release will help assess independent reading skills and comprehension for early readers. You can read more about this feature in this article and see an example of a new quick assessment here.
- New UDL-aligned Strategy Pages in Pathways: Early Learning: Literacy
- Use Rare Words
- Felt Storyboard
State the Fact
Upcoming Week in Review
Leadership Team Meeting: Monday, January 8th @ 3:45 p.m. in the Media Center
PLCs:
Tuesday, January 9th: 3rd Grade
Wednesday, January 10th: 4th Grade
Thursday, January 11th: 5th Grade
Monthly Staff Breakfast: Thursday, January 11th @ 8:00 a.m. in the Staff Lounge
Multi-Tiered System of Support Meeting (MTSS): Tuesday, January 9th @ 3:45 p.m.
Elementary Math/GT: Please be sure that OANBT Scores for grade 3 students are entered by Friday, January 12 for GT placement purposes. Thank you
For the best performance of the wired and wireless network, Information Technology Services (ITS) is recommending users restart their computers at least once a week. Computers which are not restarted at least weekly may notice slower speeds and limited or intermittent access to the network.