Suwanee Express
Hello, SUMMER!
YOU DID IT! 5 more days, and you are headed off to summer. I am so proud of each and every one of you for absolutely crushing it this year! Together we faced a challenge like no other and supported our students and each other through it all. Thank you from the bottom of my heart! This week soak in this last bit of time with your students and cherish every bit of joy! May this summer be one spent with family, friends, and renewed hope for an amazing future! We will be back with each other again, and I will be thinking of each of you this summer.
Your VERY Proud Principal,
Mary Taylor
Calendar at a Glance
*** Finish EOY Check-Lists
*** Stay positive and have the best last week ever!
*** To support your time as you wrap up with the kiddos, no scheduled grade level zoom meetings with admin this week. :) But, please call us if you need anything.
5/18 - Step Up Videos Posted On Eclass
5/19 - 5th Grade Graduation "Parade" Optional to participate. Be at Suwanee ES by 10:45AM, and we will meet in the back parking lot by the cafe at 11:05 to line up and cheer for our 5th graders! (starts at 11:15AM)
5/20 - LAST DAY OF SCHOOL! :)
5/21 - Instructional Leadership Team Zoom meeting at 2:00PM
5/22 - It's Friday! It's Time to Do the Happy SUMMER Dance! :)
Add this to your EOY check list
Where do I turn my EOY check list? Kathy Martin's mailbox
Where do I turn my technology sign-off sheet? Shawn B. mailbox
*** Don't forget to check your mailbox before you leave.
FYI - These are the GCPS summer school letters that will be in report cards. Every student will receive one of these letters either recommended or optional.
News from GCPS Curriculum Departments
Updated Instructional Calendars and Revised Analyzing the Standards Documents
The updated ELA instructional calendars will be linked on ECOMM May 15, 2020. They will reflect a few changes to support pacing. As you recall, the reading AKS went through the GEMS process this past year for revision to strengthen alignment between grade levels and to provide greater clarity. The LA Team has created new Analyzing the Standards documents. These documents will now feature clear student actions, sample assessment stems, and sample teaching points. The revised Analyzing the Standards documents will be posted on ECOMM by June 9, 2020. It is our intention that these serve as a resource to support teachers and collaborative planning teams as they design instruction for the 2020-2021 school year.
Teacher Created Assessments in Schoolnet
The AKS on teacher created assessments can be automatically updated this summer to the 2020-2021 AKS. Teachers should copy the 2019-2020 assessments and save them as Public Drafts by Friday, June 12th, to have the AKS updated.
Directions are posted in the TAARC, here.
2020 Summer Professional Learning
Curriculum and Instruction is excited to facilitate professional learning for teachers during summer 2020 in both digital and face to face formats. All Summer Institutes are designed with a common focus equipping teachers with knowledge, skills, tools, and resources to support teaching and learning as we plan to launch SY 2020-2021. Each Summer Institute offers grade level/course specific professional learning to model effective practices in curriculum, assessment, and instruction in both face to face and digital contexts with students. As you review the summer 2020 catalog, we hope that you will select the learning that best meets your professional learning goals as you begin planning for the upcoming school year with your students.
Link: K-5 2020-2021 C&I Summer Professional Learning Catalog
Revised Math Institute Plan
In lieu of our traditional face to face Math Institute in early June, we will conduct a virtual Math Institute “Kick-Off” meeting on July 15, 2020. Our learning will focus on deepening the understanding of the Operations and Algebraic thinking AKS, K-5. This will be followed by a Saturday session in August (with students) where we will model the balanced numeracy framework in “real time”. We will send out follow-up emails with more details to principals, master trainers, cluster trainers, and site coordinators later this week. With our new plan, a stipend for teachers will not be provided.
What: Online Summer Kick Off, course #25370
Who: Teachers interested in Math Institute
When: July 15, 2020 (8:00 AM– 12:00 PM)
Where: ZOOM links will be sent at a later time and posted on eCOMM
Innterested teachers register in PD&E, course #25370
News from the GCPS Information Security Department
In August of 2018, the school district first became the target of a cybercrime gang that researchers call Scarlet Widow. Security experts have been tracking their activities for several years now. Scarlet Widow is based out of Nigeria, with affiliates in the United States. They target educational institutions, using social engineering tactics such as phishing and impersonation. They trick victims into purchasing iTunes, Amazon, or eBay gift cards and sharing the 16-digit code on the back of the cards via text or email, with the false promise of reimbursement.
During April of this year, GCPS experienced a 300% increase in the number of “principal impersonation” emails targeting school-based personnel. Our Security Operation Center blocked 1,797 emails from reaching faculty and staff inboxes. So far, this month, we have already exceeded April’s highwater mark.
Despite our best efforts, we know we can’t block every impersonation email from reaching employee inboxes, so it is imperative that staff members know how to recognize this scam and what to do. We have developed the following security awareness video to help staff members more easily recognize the indicators associated with this and other impersonation scams.
Please click here to view the video.
We believe that by providing staff members with just-in-time security awareness education— along with our annual mandatory security awareness training— GCPS is uniquely prepared to sustain, monitor, and improve our cybersecurity posture during these challenging times.