the RAH
September 9-14, 2018
from J-
I'm looking forward to our first Senior Leadership Team meeting, followed by our Elementary Leadership Job Alike. Head's up - please plan on a full day Wednesday.
Hunger Action Month!
Maslow's trumps Bloom's
Look left and look right.
Did I mention it is Hunger Action Month?!?
from Mike-
Content Filtering
If you have needs for a website to be opened or closed to students and staff, just drop me an email and I will let Greg Askew know that we have a new site to add to our whitelist or blacklist. He is constantly monitoring activity on website traffic, Google Drive, and email for harmful content. We can even make changes to the content that is available to specific students who need restricted access based upon previous technology misuse. Making a change is pretty quick and simple… just let me know and we will get those changes implemented.
FYI: Site Visits Form Update→ ADA to ABC
J and I have had some great initial visits with several Great Ones discussing the priority metrics and the game plan for moving our building teams forward. One small change to the form we shared earlier to help drive our discussions is the move from Academics, Discipline, and Attendance (ADA) to a more elementary-friendly version… Attendance, Behaviors, and Coursework (ABCs). Same three concepts and discussion points, but a renaming of the headings on the form. Just a heads up in case you refer back to the original link prior to a scheduled visit from one of us and see our form has changed.
Upcoming Learning Support Events
September 11 - Kindergarten ELA Curriculum Writing (8:30-3:30)
September 12 - 1st Grade ELA Curriculum Writing (8:30-3:30)
September 13 - Master Learner Institute Yr. 2 (K-5 PBL) (8-11)
September 11th,13th, or 18th (TBD) - Elementary PE CDC (12-3)
September 13 - Nature Unleashed Training - 3rd grade teachers
September 18 - 2nd Grade ELA Curriculum Writing (8:30-3:30)
September 19 - 3rd Grade ELA Curriculum Writing (8:30-3:30)
September 20 - Master Learner Institute Yr. 3 (8-3)
September 24 - #SPSMathChat (8-9 pm)
September 25 - 4th Grade ELA Curriculum Writing (8:30-3:30)
September 26 - 5th Grade ELA Curriculum Writing (8:30-3:30)
September 26 - Math Contest Sponsor Training (4-5:30)
September 27 - Integrated Unit Revisions (Grades K-1) (8-3 )
September 28 - Integrated Unit Revisions (Grades K-1) (8-3 )
October 2 - Kindergarten ELA Curriculum Writing (8:30 - 3:30)
October 3 - 1st Grade ELA Curriculum Writing (8:30 - 3:30)
October 4 - Integrated Unit Revisions - 3rd & 5th (8-3)
October 5 - Integrated Unit Revisions - 3rd & 5th (8-3)
October 9 - 2nd Grade ELA Curriculum Writing (8:30 - 3:30)
October 10 - 3rd Grade ELA Curriculum Writing (8:30 - 3:30)
October 11 - K-2 Super CDC (8-11)
October 11 - 3 - 5 Super CDC (12:30-3:30)
October 16 - 4th Grade ELA Curriculum Writing (8:30 - 3:30)
October 17 - 5th Grade ELA Curriculum Writing (8:30 - 3:30)
October 18 - Integrated Unit Revisions - 2nd & 4th (8-3)
October 19 - Integrated Unit Revisions - 2nd & 4th (8-3)
Learning Support Updates
Numeracy
Our district trainers will be contacting you about scheduling a staff meeting to present to your staff about Bridges Intervention. This will provide information about our new math intervention resource from The Math Learning Center to be used to support small group instruction. These should be scheduled between September and October as teachers will dive deeper into the resources at Activate SPS in November.
Many teachers have begun using the Number Talks routine in their classrooms. This is an amazing way to build fluency and number sense. These can serve as a way to connect mathematical ideas and shift from closed to open tasks that produce multiple possible pathways. Check out this video of a number talk about addition.
ActivateSPS
Teachers will receive a Save the Date email on September 18th for ActivateSPS. Here are the details:
Date: November 6th
Time: 8:30 - 11:35
ELA Updates
The teachers and coaches listed below have been selected to serve as ELA Curriculum writers during 2018-2019. Every effort was made to involve a variety of both Title and Non-Title schools at every grade level. Our goal is to organize resources, create a scope and sequence, develop assessments, and create Canvas modules.
Bring it along
It's here!
September’s FOR the RECORD has information about what to do with the distribution of non-school materials that we are flooded with at the beginning of the school year. This issue includes a burning legal question that might help when confronted with feuding parents…don’t overlook this article.
#iTeachMO
The first #iTeachMO twitter chat is Make an Impact: Build Real Relationships. (Indicator #2.1, 5.3). Please encourage participation as you seem fit!
Tuesday, September 11, 8CT by following #iTeachMO on Twitter.
More Updates from Learning Support & Partnerships
Food Fight
The Annual Ozarks Food Harvest Food Fight will run this year from January 14-25, 2019 with all food raised through the drive divided between pantries in Springfield. This year, monetary donations will go to fund SPS Weekend Backpacks.
Nurses at each site will serve as the champion for the drive, working to top last year’s record-breaking drive which raised more than 39,000 meals.
This year, we’re allowing sites to select a two week window that works for their site by registering for the drive here although official results will not be announced until January 25th.
Additional details will be shared here as we get closer to the drive.
And the Thank You goes to....
We’re getting ready to place an ad in the News-Leader thanking our supporting partners. We certainly don’t want to omit any faith-based group, business, or organization that provided assistance. Please review the list here to ensure that partners that supported your site have been included. If you notice an omission, please add them to the list in red.
And, speaking of our faith-based partners...it might be helpful to share these guidelines with them to remind them of the secular focus of their work in the school setting.