Food for Thought
Principal's Weekly Communication -Week of October 13
PBIS
Our third 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 students thrive. We will continue our work at our next meeting.
The minutes can be found at this link:
Our next meeting will be on November 6th.
Map Data
We know this is new for staff so we wanted to support you through the application of the newly learned content. Please remember we are available to model for your class the goal setting process, assist with individual goal setting with your students, help run reports or just be a thinking partner for you. We are here for you as we begin our shift to incorporating MAP data into our culture of instructional planning and delivery. In our Husmann Central Folder, you will find a MAP Resources folder that contains all of the resources we have gone over.
We will use our PLC meeting on October 26th to discuss Core instruction and identify students scoring in the bottom 25% according to MAP data. We will review classroom assessment data and identify students in Tier 1. We will then work together on the Elementary Planner and collaborate on effective instructional strategies and interventions to use in the classroom. We will also take a look at which students are scoring in the 90th percentile. How are we differentiating instruction to meet their needs?
School Improvement Planning Through Rising Star
Our team had our first meeting. We reviewed our goals and indicators chosen from last year. From this analysis we will determine our goal this year, choose indicators that will help us meet those goals and then create tasks that will need to be accomplished. This work will help keep our school focused on our mission of providing educational excellence for all of our students. Our next meeting is Oct. 20th.
Upcoming Conferences
Our Early Release on October 21st is Teacher Plan Time
Parent Teacher Conferences is a great time to establish or strengthen an already established partnership with parents. We want parents to have a positive experience where they walk away feeling heard and have a clear picture of how their child is progressing. Parents value information on how to support their child at home. When sharing feedback on how students are progressing, it is essential to use evidenced based statements and eliminate biased judgments.
Suggested talking points for Parent/Teacher conferences:
Remember, we are just in the 8th week of school. Let parents know that the purpose of meeting early in the year is to discuss how their child is adjusting to the grade level, what they are working on now, and upcoming expectations.
Student adjustment to new grade level
Student strengths
Where student is now, where we want to go next
Report card- this lays out expectations for the year
MAP goals
The following link has great ideas for using the conference as a bridge to communicating with parents on an ongoing basis.
I Can Statements
One big idea that came out of Jason's discussion of the report cards, is that we want students to be able to talk about what they are learning, not just the "number" they receive. To help encourage this, you may want to consider using some sort of self assessment tied to student learning goals. This can be done in a variety of ways. One example, below, is for individual students to reflect on an "I can" statement. There are blank copies in our Husmann Central folder under "literacy resources." Another option is to have students self assess as a class. Here is a quick video of one way this could look
Check with Jenni if you would like to brainstorm more on this idea.
Example:
I can re-read when I get stuck on a word when I am reading.
I can do this by myself.
I can do this with some help.
I am still unsure.
We just learned this reading strategy. I don’t always remember to use it when I read to myself. When I buddy read, my buddy helps me remember to do this.
ELA Units Update
3rd Grade:
- We just wanted to let everyone know that Unit 2 printing (only required items) will be coming soon. You will have the Unit 2, Week 1 exit slip later this week (so you do not need to print this yourself), and the rest of the Unit 2 printing next Monday.
- Any necessary unit changes will be noted in the Unit Notes section on page 1 or 2 of each unit. We will date the changes as well. *For Unit 2, a few changes were made today so please be sure to look at it in case you already printed it out.
1st Grade:
- I just wanted to share with you that an error was found in 1st grade for unit 2. The incorrect traits writing lesson was listed in week 5. I have updated the unit on the ELA cite and included the corrected tasks for week 5 below. (Changes are in bold.) If you have any questions please let me know.
Thanks,
Stacey
WEEK 5
Task 8 continued: (Student Directed) DOK Level 2
Students will be writing an informational/expository piece about an animal. Using the information collected on the dash fact sheet (active link), organize and write an expository piece about your animal. Students should be using all the 6-traits they have learned and taking this expository piece through the entire writing process. Encourage students to revise their expository piece for sentence fluency and voice during the editing process.
Students will then present their animal to the classroom community. Collect the students information/expository piece to use for assessment purposes.
Task 9: (Student Directed) DOK Level 1
Expose students to voice by following Traits Writing, Unit 4, Week 2, Days 1 & 2. Students will learn about communicating with sparkly and pizzazz by revising their expository piece for voice and adding captions to their illustrations.
Task 10: (Student Directed) DOK Level 2
Students will read two informational passages about elephants and complete the Reading Complex Text assessment. (active link)
Dear Second Grade Teachers,
Unit 2, Week 2 contains a scholastic news anchor text, A Frog Grows, which is used for tasks 7 and 8. Teachers may choose to project the text for task 7 where students write out sticky notes for the R.A.N. chart. For task 8, teachers will need to print the text so that students can cut out examples of various text features for their text features booklet. They should NOT print front to back, since students may find features on both the front and back of a page that they will be cutting out and gluing into their booklets.
Sorry for any inconvenience. Please talk to your literacy coaches or let us know if you have any additional questions.
Jason Brogan
ELA/SS Facilitator
Setting Norms
- Developing agreed upon norms for group behavior makes collaboration and group meetings more effective by guiding team behavior.
- Norms enable team members to hold each other accountable for any behavior that is negatively impacting the success of the team.
- Clearly assigned roles and responsibilities help the team build internal capacity for planning and holding effective and focused meetings
We will post these norms on each of our meeting agendas. You can also access them here.
Spirit Banner Award
Erin's Law
This year I will once again be teaching the students about Erin's Law, the Illinois state-mandated sexual abuse program that is age appropriate. The plan is to do this the week of Halloween, Oct. 26-30th during STEM time. All parents were notified in September via district email blast. I will email you individually if any parents in your class have opted their child out of this discussion, in which the student would just sit on the benches near the office for about 30 mins or so.
Just a reminder that we as educators ARE mandated reporters, and there have been reports made at other schools in the district after this discussion with their students. If a student discloses something to you, you need to make a call, whether you think it is true or not! If a parent asks you about Erin's Law during conferences, feel free to send them my way. Let me know if you have any questions!-Emily
- Thank you to Donna for putting together our 5th grade play.-M&G
- Cathy and Gina rock for tag teaming and taking over my class Friday afternoon! Thank you so very much (and thank you Monica for arranging it)! - Kim F.
- Sandy Kinahan rocks because she always makes the ELL kindergarten students feel so welcome and at ease upstairs with "the big 3rd graders"! 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade teachers AND their students rock too because they are careful in the hallways upstairs so the "little people" don't get knocked over as they head towards specials or lunch! -M Howe
Kerri Tilton is known for her tech-savvy ways, energetic teaching style and organizational/planning skills! Did you also know that she is incorporating whole brain teaching into her daily lessons this year? Kerri, you rock for taking what youare learning in your Master's Program and using it to benefit student learning. So glad that you are my teammate! Katie Felz
Lisa Noonan ROCKS because she read with my students when I had to sub in Library last week. This let me use the facility AND airdrop our Chatterpix videos onto my teacher iPad. THANKS!!-Tilton
10/19
- Synergy Progress Report Training
10/20
- 5th Grade Band
- Rising Star
- Duo Del Sol Assembly
10/21
- Early Release
- Conferences
- Chorus