Albion Middle School Staff Bulletin
Weeks of January 11 and January 18, 2016 - Number 10
What's happening at the "Big A"
Team Meetings, AM - Tom
Guidance/Administration Meeting - 1:00 pm
Wednesday, January 13
Albion PTA - 9:30 am, Media Center
Friday, January 15
Early Release - 2:00 pm
Monday, January 18
MLK Day - No School
Tuesday, January 19
Math Curriculum meeting , BOE - 2:45 pm
Wednesday, January 20
BLT - 3:15 pm (rescheduled from original 01/19 date)
Thursday, January 21
Team Leaders, 7:15am - Chef Jeff
Candid Picture Day
Athletic Events:
Athletics and other school events can be found on Albion's School calendar. You can access Albion's calendar at: HERE
Other stuff...
Assessment Practices - Tip of the Week:
Regarding assessment within your classroom, how would you respond to these 9 essential statements? Access the statements HERE!
Early Release - January 15:
Our third Early Release Day will be held on Friday, January 15th. As shared earlier, the focus will be to have district TBTs meet to run the TBT five-step process on their second quarter common assessment(s). To prepare to have a productive early release session, read the directions below and click here to find your meeting location and facilitator.
Listed below are the hours for our early release day. We ask that you be prompt and ready to work upon arrival with the necessary resources.
High School: Dismissal at 1:25 p.m.; Work Time from 1:35 p.m. - 2:35 p.m.
Middle School: Dismissal at 2:00 p.m.; Work Time from 2:20 p.m. - 3:20 p.m.
Elementary: Dismissal at 2:30 p.m.; Work Time from 3:00 p.m.- 4:00 p.m.
Preschool: No Students; Work Time from 7:30 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.
Access the directions for our Early Release Day HERE!
Staff Meetings:
Beginning in February, we will hold joint staff meetings with the staff from Center Middle School. Our first scheduled combined staff meeting is Wednesday, February 10 at Albion. Our focus will lean toward the sharing of best practices within small groups and the entire staff.
Additionally, our January staff meeting has been rescheduled to Wednesday, January 27.
Achieve 3000:
Please continue to use Achieve 3000 with your students. The goal is for students to complete 2 articles/week and to improve one lexile level by the end of the school year. Let’s make a strong 3rd quarter push!
Spring 2016 Testing:
For Planning Purposes, we will be administering the AIR Tests beginning the Week of April 18. More details to come….
Technology Survey:
Please complete the following survey to help better assess the tech needs of the district. It only takes a few moments. SCS Technology Survey 2015: Staff
PBIS:
An important component of student success in the school setting, is the recognition of positive behaviors. 110 entries have been entered into Public School Works from the start of the school year through December. Entries include Determined (32), Engaged (23), Excellence (27), Respectful (14), Inclusive (8), Prepared (4), and Other (2).
As you can see, the areas of Respect, Inclusion, and Preparedness have not been recognized/observed as often as several other areas. Continue watching for students exhibiting any of our PBIS traits and continue to record them in PSW. Keep up the great work that you do!
New AIR practice materials and revised test specs available:
New practice test items and related materials were posted online last week. These include additional Student Practice Resources in several areas and updated test specification documents for science and social studies in all tested grades and courses.
Teachers of these content areas may review test blueprints accessible from the Content Preparation for Teachers – State Tests Web page, which also describes what they can learn from test specifications and blueprints.
English language arts – Remaining sample items (grades 4-8), adding to those for grade 3 and high school that appear here.
Science – Additional practice test items for grades 5 and 8 and updated test specifications for all science tests.
Social studies – In addition to the updated test specifications for all tests, high school American history teachers now have additional practice test items.
The department and AIR released mathematics sample items for grades 3 through high school in October.
Directions for how to access everything are located within the links. The blueprints are extremely helpful in knowing what to expect on tests, and the sample questions assist with rigor and aligning to current assessments. This would be good to go through at TBTs if you have the opportunity.
About ALBION MIDDLE SCHOOL
Email: tkairis@scsmustangs.org
Website: http://www.strongnet.org/site/Default.aspx?PageID=2314
Location: 11109 Webster Rd, Strongsville, OH, United States
Phone: 440-572-7070
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/strongsvillecs
Twitter: @albionms
Resource Links:
Differentiation: 50 Tools for Differentiating
Public School Works: Public School Works
Education Articles: HERE
Know your Apps: Take a look HERE!
Student Mental Health Services: Frontline Services