HAWK HAPPENINGS
The official newsletter of Hillcrest Elementary Staff
Every single student, every single day, in every single way.
February 3, 2019
The Groundhog says: Early Spring!
MUST READ
Weekly Announcements
Teachers: when it is your class' turn, please send your 2-3 volunteers to the office right away so they can begin announcements at 8:30.
FEBRUARY NEWSLETTER
PLEASE send the link to the electronic version of the newsletter in any class email correspondence or in your Remind! or Class Dojo blasts to families in order to maximize readership. You can copy and paste the link from here:
BOARD MEETING THIS TUESDAY FEBRUARY 5
WIN SUSPENDED FOR ASSESSMENTS FEB. 6 - 15
( Is your class web page updated???? )
BULLETIN BOARD WARS!!
Because February is an odd month with the week-long break, we will postpone Bulletin Board Wars until Tuesday, February 12. This way bulletin boards will be ready for our guests at the end of the month.
Some hints to meet expectations and boost your chances of winning:
- Be creative!
- Work should represent grade level standards and represent most/all of your class.
- Include a description of the TASK.
- Include a copy of the RUBRIC.
- Include a glow and a grow on student work (preferable either on an individual student rubric copy or on post-it notes -- do not write on student work)
- Reference the standards addressed.
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PLEASE WATCH
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GLOBAL SCHOOL PLAY DAY FEB. 6
Choose the time of day when you feel you can suspend regular learning activities for about an hour, and let us know your designated time on this sign-up sheet so we can try to pop in to take photos. Break out your board games, or invite students to bring other games and toys (NON-ELECTRONIC) and allow your students to play. Then observe, join in -- just be present with them in their activity (no correcting papers or answering emails).
“You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.”
-Plato
Why should we encourage unstructured play at school? Watch this amazing TED Talk by Stuart Brown by clicking THIS LINK.
ELA HAPPENINGS
- Student Reading Growth Goals: We are striving for students in red and yellow to make two F&P levels before the next assessment. Students who are in green and blue should make 1.
- Miscue Analysis follow-up
Please begin to update the Reading Tracker during your technology time with the information from your miscue analysis on your F&P assessments
To do this, please use the code at the top of your sheet which says: KEY for this section: + means consistently, -- means sometimes, 0 means rarely. So, in the case of M (Meaning), S (Syntax), and V (Visuals), you place a "+" if they use that cueing system consistently, a "-" if they do sometimes, and a "0" if they rarely use it.
The question was raised as to whether or not teachers should wait and use the new F&P data for this, or to go back to the November F&P data. The information we are looking to share on the Tracker for your use (and your WIN teacher's use) is not likely to change much at all from one administration of the assessment to another. The cueing system student rely most on is likely a constant, and unless they receive explicit instruction in the one they use least, they will likely continue to use it the least. The sooner we get the information entered, the sooner people can start using it to guide instruction. If you wait until the new F&P assessments are all completed, the data may not be used until after the state ELA assessment, as we will begin using data from last week's interim assessments for WIN groups after the February break.
MATH HAPPENINGS
Dr. Ardito's Math Modeling Schedule
Tuesday 2/5/19
8:45 Hernandez Diaz will Observe (Alvarado will cover)
9:30 Pop-In Visits
10:15 Bocek Perlowitz will observe (Hess will cover)
11:00 King - Room 2 Thompson will observe (Hess will cover)
11:45 Pena Flores will observe (Alvarado will cover)
12:30 Bruno/Rodriguez Combined No Coverage Needed
1:15 Lunch/Check and Connect with Crystal and Randy
Dr. Ardito's Meeting Schedule
Thursday 2/7/19
8:45 Meet in Rossi's room- (5th- ICT) Rossi, Levy, & Tama will attend- Mendello will cover Levy
9:30 Meet in Rice's room (Self Contained- Mixes Grades 3-5) Harrison and Batiste will attend- Grey will cover Batiste
10:15 Meet in Macpherson's room (5th-Gen Ed) Valenzuela, Macpherson, and Galiano will attend- Mendello will cover Valenzuela and Alvarado will cover Galiano
11:00 Meet in Owens' room (4th-ICT) Owens, Lepore, & Volpe will attend- Hess will cover Lepore
11:45 Meet in Badurski's Room - Badurski and Fernandez will attend -- Combine students
12:30 Gerald's Lunch
1:15 Meet in Calabro's room (4th-ICT) Connor and Munson will attend- Alvarado will cover Munson
*** Teachers- please give the students a quiet assignment so that you can meet with Gerald about math pedagogy in your rooms.
REMEMBER THE "WHY?"
UPDATE on the IIT (formerly DTDSE Team) TO VISIT HILLCREST FEB. 26-28
The presentation from the faculty meeting reminding you about our SCEP work which was shared at the meeting can be found HERE, and the information about the CSI school reviews, in general, can be found at THIS LINK.
Remember the key items that we are working on:
Content/Language Objectives
Content: What do the students need to learn?
Language: How are they using language to learn it?
The “Why?” of Instruction- How does this content relate to the students’ everyday lives. This can be a question that is asked at the beginning of each lesson, or as an exit ticket.
Meaningful student discussions prompted by higher order questions/teaching students to ask higher order questions
Data Driven Instruction
Randy and Crystal will be watching a webinar from 10am-12pm on Monday with respect to this process. We will share any information we gather.
ROCK THE MOCK -- FOLLOW-UP and INSTRUCTIONAL IMPLICATIONS
Thank you to everyone for your flexibility with the Interim ELA and Math (mock) assessments this week. Though it was challenging for many of our students, we hope to be able to use this data to inform our instruction.
4th and 5th grade teachers will meet on Wednesday to create an item analysis. It would be beneficial if everyone could do as much scoring as possible before Wednesday, however, we will also give you time during the meeting to continue scoring. We will use this information to create new WIN groups that will start in March.
Reminder: STUDENT ATTENDANCE
Reminder: BLACK HISTORY MONTH
http://www.nea.org/tools/lessons/bhm-curriculum-resources-gradesK-5.html
https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/collections/teaching-content/black-history-month/
https://www.education.com/lesson-plans/black-history-month/
https://www.weareteachers.com/7-fresh-ideas-for-black-history-month/
https://www.weteachnyc.org/resources/collection/black-history-month-resources-teachers/
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/2014/02/black-history-month-teaching-resources/
As a 4th grade teacher, one of my favorite projects was during February when we made a biography Quilt of 100 Influential & Under-Celebrated Black Americans. Students researched lesser-known black Americans who made important contributions to our country or the world, and wrote biographical sketches (1-2 paragraphs) and drew a picture of that person, and glued it onto a square piece of paper, or a felt square. Our goal was to have 100 of them before the 100th Day of School and we assembled the quilt as part of our 100th Day Celebration. Once we even scanned them, printed them out on Iron-on paper and actually ironed them onto fabric squares and stitched them together to create a fabric quilt.
How will your class commemorate Black History Month? Let us know so we can spread the good word! Enter your info IN THIS CHART.
Our Integrated Intervention Team Visit is at the end of the month, so creative, rigorous projects on Black History would look good in our classrooms and bulletin boards so they can see the skill and creativity of our staff and students!
THIS WEEK'S HAWK HEROES!!
Hawk Heroes:
Crystal, Tracy and Candida- for getting the interim assessment materials ready- thank you!
Myron, Ricardo, and Jose for keeping our school sanitized and safe from the snow and ice!
Myron for helping us with last-minute assessment location set-up!
Jen Bruno for organizing the You Be The Chemist Challenge
Christina DelPilar for planning and executing the PBIS Assembly
Julia Levy and Karin Flores for the PBIS presentation and video
Heather Goggins for joining the Hillcrest Community! We look forward to having you back in 5 weeks!
Reminder: LESSON PLANS
Reminder: THREE THINGS TO FOCUS ON IN 2019
1). Authentic, caring relationships with every student
2) Differentiated, data-informed instruction
3) Common, standards-based assessment with timely, actionable feedback
If we are successful with these three priorities, we will truly positively impact every student, every day, in every way.
COLD & FLU SEASON IS UPON US!
It is surely that time of year! There have been 3 confirmed cases of the flu so far, and we are working with Myron and Carmine to have the building disinfected. We will start with the common areas and the classrooms of those people who have confirmed cases. We will keep you updated on the plan for sanitizing, In the meantime, please make sure to wash your hands frequently, and have your students do the same. Nurse Deb will be reviewing healthy habits at this week’s PBIS assemblies. Please make it a point to discuss with your students as well.
SHOULD READ
DESIGNING AND ASKING BETTER QUESTIONS
TEACHER To-Do LIST
- Plan for World Read-Aloud Day this Friday February 1
- Enter miscue data into Reading Tracker doc (use Tech time) by Wednesday if possible
- Ed-Data order by Thursday
- Plan for Black History Month
- Send glows/grows on newsletter via link
- Collaborate with team to complete February Curricular Update by end of day Tuesday
- Discuss Global School Day of Play for NEXT WEEK (Feb. 6)