Food for Thought
Principal's Weekly Communication -Week of December 12/14
PBIS
Our fifth meeting was productive. We partnered up to review our current behavior matrix. Solidifying the matrix builds the foundation for our universal expectations school wide. When we are all speaking the same language and having the same expectations our students thrive and staff feels connected. We held our student session to gain valuable feedback on our proposed matrix. I was very impressed with our students. They had really good suggestions for our PBIS team to consider. The team reviewed these suggestions at our last committee meeting. We also agreed on our voice levels to be used through the different parts of the building. We will update staff on PBIS at our upcoming staff meeting.
Our work can be found in the:
Our next meeting will be on Jan.8th
School Improvement Planning Through Rising Star
Our team reviewed our PARCC data. PARCC student results will go home to students on December 18th. Click Husmann .pdf above to access our building's report card. At our upcoming staff meeting we will look at grade level reports and review how to read them. Overall, Husmann has much to celebrate. We were above or at the district and state averages.
We also had quality discussions about our indicators. We will present to the board the goals and indicators that we presented to staff on Institute Day.
At our January meeting we will be looking at putting together time for teams to review an upcoming unit of literacy with Interventionist to to differentiate by target, enhanced, and prerequisite. The unit plans also differentiate learning activities among various modes of instruction – whole-class instruction, independent work, small-group and station -based activities.
Learning Environment: CL8 The school culture supports teachers in practicing effective and responsive instruction to meet individual student needs.
Educator Quality: ID13 Instructional teams meet for blocks of time sufficient to develop and refine units of instruction and review student learning data.
Teaching and Learning: IIB04 Teachers differentiate instruction based on assessment results to provide support for some students and enhance learning opportunities for others.
Word Study
As you know, one way to differentiate word study for your students is by using word sorts that correlate with students’ developmental spelling stage. The sorts are already made and organized by stage and lesson! In order for these to be more easily accessible, they have been moved to the following locations:
“letter name” & “within word” stages: downstairs workroom
“syllables and affixes” & “derivational relations” stages: upstairs work room.
Another resource that is easy it use is the word study section of the Language and Literacy Guide. These follow the typical developmental stages for the grade level. This is a valuable resource especially for grades 3-5 since there is not a “word study” component written into the UofS. If you would like a partner to co-plan ways to integrate word study into your literacy time, Jenni would be happy to help!
Running Records
The following running record forms have been replenished and are available on the shelf in room 223 (aka...the Hokey Pokey Clinic)!
- blank (no line) forms
- lined forms for levels C-K with condensed comprehension conversation rubric on back
- lined forms for levels L-Z with condensed comprehension conversation rubric on back
Cathy Mueller and Joy Burney rock for doing our school newsletter!
I'd like to say thanks to Erin Hendrix and Ann Aiello, our nurses for their devotion to our students and the staff; I appreciate your keeping us informed and for your quick responses to our concerns. YOU ROCK! Thank you! Gina Belt-Daniels
And Ladies of the Cafeteria, YOU ROCK! You three are always cheerful and treat the students with such helpfulness and respect. I also appreciate how you brown my pizza and grilled cheese to my pickiness perfection! Gina Belt-Daniels
Emily Schaefer and Kristin Ziemba for helping to support a student before school so he could finish his project for class. Classic example of PLC, and helping to support all our students!
Jenni Atkinson for being so flexible and working with our schedule - The Third Grade Team
Encore Team for ringing the bell at Walmart this past weekend!
5th grader teachers for organizing a great math and service project for our 5th graders at Target to help needy families.
All the teacher that participated in the Hour of Code!
Karen Belke for organizing gifts for our families in need.
PPS team rocks for pushing to be the best for our students and exercising patience and positive atttitudes as we organize our procedures and protocols.
12/14
- No formal PLC
- Monica @ CORE PM (Early Childhood Committee)
- Hat Day Any hats/headbands...holiday or otherwise.
12/15
- 5th grade band
- Staff Mtg
- Monica @ Core PM (PBIS Committee)
- Chess Club
- Winter Sign Language Club
- Silly Socks Day Any silly socks...holiday or otherwise.
12/16
- Chorus
- Girl Scouts
- Monica@ CORE AM(Leadership Mtg)
- Sports Day Favorite team or sport
12/17
- PPS Mtg
- Recycle
- Girl Scouts
- Pajama and/or Star Wars Day The flyer only shows pajama day. Please share with your students that they may also wear Star Wars themed clothes in celebration of the opening day of the new movie.
12/18
- Winter parties
- Rebecca Caudill Book Club
- 5th Grade band
- Girl Scouts
- "In the Spirit" Day This day is our annual "Ugly Christmas Sweater" Day for staff. It is also a jeans day (Thanks Monica!!) Students are still welcome to dress in their holiday best as in past years, but may wear holiday colored/themed clothes also.