THE STALLION STAR
MAY 15, 2016
IN THE NEWS...
EOY TESTING
Yes, STAAR may be over for grades 3-6 and as relieving as that may be, teachers please be aware that grades Kindergarten through 2nd grades will be administering their EOY testing this week. The lower grades have done their due diligence at ensuring quiet halls for our SIM and STAAR weeks... let's make sure we return the favor for their EOY testing as much as possible. Thank you!
STAAR TESTING
Thank you to everyone for a successful STAAR week. Our students could have not made it through without each and every one of you pitching in, big and small. Your patience and flexibility with schedules and supervising students was outstanding!
EOY CHECKLISTS
Staff should have receive EOY checklists from Carlla Holt for math and Marie Reed/Jennifer Blanton for ELAR. Whole school checklist will be finalized and in your mailboxes by end of day Monday.
ELL TUTOR
Some of you may or may not know that we have had a wonderful woman, Dina Chavez, working with several of our ELL students the past few weeks in preparation for STAAR. She has been excellent and will continue working with a few high need ELL kids throughout the day to provide some extra boosts of intervention. She will be here Monday thru Thursday this week and next week. Please, if you see her, be extra friendly and introduce yourself!
RETENTION
We spoke with most grade levels last week regarding the process for Retention Considerations. Please remember to use the grade level cover sheet for the entire grade level. Behind the cover sheet should be a conference sheet for each child along with all the documentation checked off and paper clipped to the conference sheet. Retention Considerations were due to Rachel by Friday, May 13th. They should be turned in as a grade level.
PINK/BLUE PLACEMENT CARDS
Most grade levels received information regarding pink/blue placement cards for creating classes next year. If you haven't already, please pick up the number of pink and blue cards that you need for your homeroom. When complete, please attach the goldenrod TRACKING SHEET, the red ESL FOLDER (if applies), any RTI forms completed, and any behavior contracts that may have been used for the student. Pink/Blue Cards are due Monday, May 16th and should be turned in as a grade level.
DISMISSAL
We are seeing an increase of incidents occurring at the end of the day during dismissal. In most of the cases, it has been due to lack of supervision. Please STAY VIGILANT with your dismissal procedures -- this is not the time of year to just release the kids or send them on ahead... it's like opening the cages at the zoo. Be wary that if there continues to be issues at dismissal time, we will be investigating that proper supervision was in place.
STUDENTS - DISCIPLINE/REFERRALS
It's becoming that time of year when the frenzy for summer begins. Teachers, please make sure you re-establish expectations to remind students of our standards and the ramifications for violations, both at the classroom and office level.
As discussed at the staff meeting, we will likely need extra layers of reinforcement to get our students to the end of the year, especially after STAAR is over. Please before considering taking privileges such as Buddy Fun Day or other special EOY events, make sure students and parents are fully aware of the stakes at hand. We will support you, however only when all parties are fully aware of the stakes. Students should not arbitrarily lose a major event without knowing it was at risk of being lost and there should be a specific plan in place that warrants the loss. Some grade levels are using a point system with the letters "FIELD TRIP" or "BUDDY FUN DAY" and so students are fully aware of where they stand. If a student is at risk of losing a big EOY event, parents need to be in the loop and on board as well.
We are seeing an increase of students being sent to the office for classroom level violations. Please when you seek assistance, ensure that the severity warrants an office level consequence. We will refer students back to the teacher for horse-playing, swearing, or basic silliness. If it is a student whom you've handled several times with classroom level consequences, please send documentation of what has been done -- there is a good form on Google drive that is easy to use for those kids with ongoing issues. This also applies to special area and support teachers.
A couple other points:
* Unless it is a serious offense (i.e. fight), the office should not be placing the first phone call to the parent. Nothing is worse than the parent not being aware that there was a problem in the classroom or in specials, and the teacher had not called to describe the issues.
* Don't place students in the hallways unattended, especially if they are upset. Please use your buddy rooms.
* Don't trust students to call parents on their own -- they either don't really call home or they tell the parent a different version of the story. Students may call but should be supervised by a teacher to ensure authentic communication.
* Do NOT just send students to the office to be seen by an administrator or liaison. We had a couple students last week spend over an hour in the office, being entertained by the activities going on and getting out of class (which turns into a reward), because there was no available administrator or liaison.
LIBRARY
Scholastic Book Fair May 17 – 19 (no previews/purchases only)
Student materials are due to the library by Monday, MAY 23rd (because will have a book fair the previous week). Encourage your students to clear fines and overdue books prior to end of the year activities and field trips.
Teacher materials will be due back Friday, May 27th.
LUNCH MONEY
THE DATE HAS PASSED! The cafeteria will no longer accept personal checks!! Do not send any!
ENRICHMENT CLUSTER PLANS
If you will be out on a day when enrichment clusters are occurring, you are responsible for leaving detailed notes about the procedures, as well as your cluster plans. A substitute will need clear and detailed plans in order to understand.
PROCEDURES AND POLICIES
As we near the end of the school year, we tend to get a bit lax with our own professional responsibilities. Please understand that the little things can have an impact on the overall feel of student expectations. If we let up, they will sense the laxness and they will let up.
Please make sure you are turning in jeans passes when you choose to wear jeans on a day other than College Mondays or Spirit Fridays. Also, please know that when you arrive late to school or to duty, there are students not being supervised or undersupervised. Thank you in advance for keeping up with professionalism and communicating to our kids that what we do IS important.
SUBMISSIONS TO THE STALLION STAR
Anyone is welcome to submit entries to our weekly staff newsletter. Please email any submission requests to Carlene by the Thursday before publishing.
PARENT ED/CHOOSE KIND DEDICATION
Wednesday, May 18, 2016, 05:00 PM
ACE Library
ENRICHMENT CLUSTER DATES
Spring Enrichment Clusters
Dates:
Cluster Drill- THURSDAY, MAY 12th!!! -- CHANGE!!!!!
Session 1-Friday, May 13th
Session 2-Friday, May 20th
Session 3-Monday, May 23rd
Session 4-Tuesday, May 24th
Session 5-Wednesday May 25th
EXPO- Thursday, May 26th
KUDOS GOES TO!
* To ALL STAFF who worked together to ensure best practices were in place for STAAR testing! Everyone's cooperation and flexibility helped bring success to a rather stressful week! Thank you for taking care of your kids and your responsibilities!
*To the many staff members who picked up extra duties this week! We had several picking up in response to STAAR procedures and some picking up for people who were out. For example, not sure if you missed it, but Sherri Harris picked up a hair net and jumped in behind the food line in the cafeteria! And... she said it was fun! What a team player! Thank you everyone!
DUTY TIME
May 16-20
Wontor - Student Entrance @ 7:20 (Stop students to breakfast at 7:50-Give stop sign to last student.)
Caten - Gym - Reading Corral @ 7:20 - Release students one grade level at a time at 7:50
Baker - Gym - Reading Corral @ 7:20 - Release students one grade level at a time at 7:50
Cafe -- 2 teachers monitoring cafeteria, 1 teacher in food line
Benavides- Cafeteria @ 7:20 - monitoring students - release tables at 7:50 one at a time
Rivera - Cafeteria @ 7:20 - monitoring students - release tables at 7:50 one at a time
BURKE – Cafeteria @ 7:20 - Expedite Food Line
Afternoon Duty: Dye – Cones - stand by front cones @ 2:45 to let daycare buses/vans through Newman and Coleman – Daycare
May 23-27
E.Williams - Student Entrance @ 7:20 (Stop students to breakfast at 7:50-Give stop sign to last student.)
A.Williams - Gym - Reading Corral @ 7:20 - Release students one grade level at a time at 7:50
Wimberly - Gym - Reading Corral @ 7:20 - Release students one grade level at a time at 7:50
Cafe -- 2 teachers monitoring cafeteria, 1 teacher in food line
Huey - Cafeteria @ 7:20 - monitoring students - release tables at 7:50 one at a time
Tribble - Cafeteria @ 7:20 - monitoring students - release tables at 7:50 one at a time
Jacob – Cafeteria @ 7:20 - Expedite Food Line
Afternoon Duty: Coleman – Cones - stand by front cones @ 2:45 to let daycare buses/vans through Hill and Evangelista – Daycare
UPCOMING DATES:
- May 17-19 -- Scholastic Book Fair
- May 18 -- Cheerleading tryouts; Parent Ed Night & Choose Kind Dedication @ 5PM; Cheerleaders perform @ 6PM
- May 19 -- GLIMs/No Staff Meeting
- May 19 -- Grade Posting Window opens for 1st-6th
- May 23 -- Student Materials due in the Library
- May 24 -- Draft Report Cards due
- May 25 -- 5th & 6th grade choir to Sandy Lake; Cheerleader Banquet
- May 26 -- Kindergarten Graduation; Retirement party
- May 27 -- Teacher Materials due in the Library; BUDDY FUN DAY
- May 30 -- MEMORIAL DAY -- NO SCHOOL
- May 31 -- TALENT SHOW; 6th Grade Amazing Jakes
- June 2nd -- 6th Grade Graduation; Awards Ceremony
- June 2nd -- Last Day -- Report Cards go home
AUDELIA CREEK ELEMENTARY
Email: rachel.sanjose@risd.org
Website: http://www.edline.net/pages/Audelia_Creek_Elementary
Location: 12600 Audelia Road, Dallas, TX, United States
Phone: 469-593-2900