HAWK HAPPENINGS
The official newsletter of Hillcrest Elementary Staff
Every single student, every single day, in every single way.
September 8, 2019
IMPORTANT DATES
Monday 9 -- Bus Safety Drills
Weekly Lesson Plans due: hand in to Randy until further notice
Math Daily Password Begins
Tuesday 10 -- Voluntary PBIS Committee Meeting (Library, 7:40)
Fire Drill
Wednesday 11 -- All teachers involved in AIMSWEB: Meeting at 7:40 in library
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Thursday 20 -- Hillcrest Dads Bring Your Child to School Day
Mock-Lockdown Drill
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Monday 23 -- Constitution & Citizenship Day
Tuesday 24 -- Hangin' at Hillcrest Literacy Night & Barbeque
Friday 27 -- PBIS Assemblies
Saturday 28 -- Saturday Academy
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Monday 30 -- No School -- Rosh Hashanah
MUST READ
IMPORTANT LINKS
First Week/Fire Drill Survey
Bus Safety Drills Monday 9/9
Principal's Parking Spot
To nominate an individual for this special privilege, click HERE.
ARRIVAL & dismissal
Although we will eventually switch over to having all breakfast students eating breakfast in the cafeteria, and all students not eating in the gym, we will continue to follow the same procedures as last year for breakfast/morning arrival for this week (at least). That is to say: 4th graders and students in self-contained classes will gather in the cafeteria, and 5th graders will take their breakfasts (from the fancy new cart located outside the faculty room) to the gym. Signs with teacher names will be in place on Tuesday in the cafeteria and the gym. Staff members with morning supervision duties should be in place by 8:00 in order to greet and direct students. Any extra people who are available to help between 8:00 and 8:20 this week would be greatly appreciated. Teachers should continue to meet their classes at 8:20 in the cafeteria (gr 4 & self-contained) or the gym (gr 5) and greet them and walk them to class, reinforcing our hallway expectations: please stay to the right, quiet voices, hands to oneself. Once we are comfortable and confident that they are ready to walk on their own, we will allow them to do so.
Please remember that we cannot deny any student breakfast, so we will continue to send students who are not finished and students who are late to class with their breakfast in tow. Please be sure students use the HALLWAY trash cans to prevent unwanted guests in the classrooms -- this was a concern last year, so let’s teach students from day 1 to use the hall trash cans for food.
MORNING ANNOUNCEMENTS
We are exploring some new ways to submit your announcements. For the time-being, if you have something you would like to add to the morning announcements, click on this calendar doc and add it to the morning you would like it announced. Be careful not to type over someone else’s announcement. I know some people had difficulty accessing the document, but I have changed the settings to make sure everyone can edit the file.
AIMSWEB
As a district, we will be transitioning over to AimswebPlus in the future; however, we are not fully registered in the system yet, and since we use it for teacher APPR, we will be going back to the “old school” method to do it on paper. We will meet this Wednesday morning at 7:40 in the library to learn how that will work, and more about the timeline of when and how the assessments are to be administered.
Why we are here, and finding what’s right
I saw the brief video below and it reminded me about the things we explored together during Superintendents’ Conference Days: why we have been called to do this difficult work, and how we continue to find joy in it. Simon Sinek is a leading thought champion these days, and his words resonated for me: click here.
PBIS Committee Meeting this week
Our new school counselor, Rachel, will chair a PBIS Committee Meeting this Tuesday, September 10, at 7:40 in the library -- all are welcome and invited to be part of this voluntary committee. I encourage folks who participated last year to attend even if you do not intend on participating this year so that you can help move the work forward and help Rachel during this transition.
Password of the Day
We will begin using the password of the day on Monday, September 9th. I noticed that some eager staff members started this past week and I heard the students are loving it which is fantastic! That being said, we are starting school-wide on Monday and we are starting with the first password which is 5x5=. The password will be announced during the morning announcements and in addition, they will be posted by the entrance (where we swipe) and at the security desk. Ms. Batiste has been kind enough to volunteer her class to change the passwords at the end of the day for every entrance door in our building.
This cover sheet has been printed for you - should you still need one, please ask Marlix. The cover sheet should be placed near your door while making sure you are in compliance with the Fire Safety guidelines.
You can find the daily password here and remember we are starting with DAY 1 (5x5) on Monday.
Homework Reading Responses & Logs
On Monday, September 9th you will receive copies of the reading log for your class. For this week we will introduce our students only to the record keeping portion (title, minutes & parent signature). Literacy teams will meet this week and revise our reading response portion to include greater student choice (see SCEP). The full reading homework (log & response) will be going home on 09/16.
Math Homework
State Assessment Scores
I am in the process of downloading several different reports related to the 2019 NYS ELA and Math Assessments. I have several there, but there seems to be some problems viewing them so I will be re-downloading them and replacing them. Click here to access the folder with the Assessment reports. This will include Curriculum Analysis reports which will help us see where our curriculum is preparing students well, and where we need to improve, as well as Class Reports by teacher so you can see how your 18-19 class did on both the ELA and Math assessments.
408 compliance
We have been granted an extension, so please make sure that you complete the 408 compliance before the end of the day on THURSDAY. For staff who DO NOT interact/serve students with IEPs, it’s important that you also sign off and write that you do not have students with IEPs (which shows that you have at least checked to see and you do not have any students with IEPs.)
Self-portraits
Please remember the plan for all students to complete a self-portrait within the first few weeks of school. Taylor has crafted a plan to get us started, but it will likely mean that it will have to be completed in class (when they have extra time) or at home.
NEW LUNCH ROUTINES
We are still monitoring the efficacy of the new lunch routines; if you have feedback, please be sure to include it in your survey, The idea eventually is for it to allow teachers more time to teach and for their lunch because they won't have to transition the students. Let's watch this week and make a decision whether to continue or discontinue it within the next few weeks.
WIN BLOCK AND AIS READING Services
Reading Teachers began to pull students on Friday during the WIN Block. Partner teachers and teacher who share the WIN block should decide when to begin switching groups based upon your priorities. Submit your plan to me via email, with which day you plan to begin to split up, and how you will be splitting students for this first round of WIN. Everyone should begin by Monday, September 16 at the latest.
Mandatory Compliance tRaining
- Hazardous communications
- Blood-borne pathogen
- Sexual harassment
- Prevention and Emergency Response in K-12 Schools -- Altaris.
- Digital Security & Protection
Please see Dr. Mosey's email; they all must be completed by October 4.
Class Web Pages
SPLIT LISTS
Please submit your class split list as soon as possible during the first week.
Reminder: HAWK SQUAWKS/POSITIVE CALLS HOME
Along those lines: consider setting a goal for yourself to make a few positive phone calls home by the end of the week. One person suggested making one positive phone call each day right after dismissal. Not only will this help you stay focused on what's right in your classroom (Remember the TEDx Talk?), but it builds bridges with students and families that you can leverage later on when you need support or to gently nudge the student. It's better to already have a positive relationship and to have shared a positive interaction that day when you have to call for something not-so-positive.
Reminder: Literacy Night & BBQ September 24
We also need tents. That's right: tents. We are having a fall barbeque campfire theme this year, and we need tents to be the "home base" for each station (and we may need your assistance in setting it up that afternoon).
Sign up HERE to volunteer and to lend a tent! Thank you SO MUCH -- this will be a FANTASTIC event with your cooperation and support!
Remember: AMAZING things are happening every day. celebrate what's RIGHT
To watch the TEDx talk again (and again and again), click the link: CELEBRATE WHAT'S RIGHT WITH THE WORLD
Here are links to two related articles:
7 Reasons Why Your Brain Goes Negative, and How to Go Positive Instead
Reminder: NEW TRIMESTER DATES
As you know, we are moving to trimester this year from quarters. Here are the dates on how those trimesters are being divided up:
1st Trimester: 9/3/19- 11/27/19
2nd Trimester: 12/2/19- 3/20/20
3rd Trimester: 3/23/20- 6/26/20
The assessment pacing guide should be finalizes this week, so stay tuned for more information on that soon.
Reminder: Looking Ahead: Back to School Nights
Grade 5 October 10 at 6:30 PM
We will follow a similar format to last year for our Back-to-School Nights. We will begin with the Meet-n-Greet Fair in the gym, with a brief introduction and welcome by administrators, and then time in the classrooms with teachers. Departmentalized teachers will have to plan to have fewer slides so that parents can move between both classes.
Reminder: CONSTITUTION DAY September 17th
Please remember that we are obligated to teach about the U.S. Constitution on Constitution Day. Here are some planning resources -- feel free to discuss among your teams, but it seems most logical to me for this to be the responsibility of anyone who teaches social studies, though you may have additional ideas on where it fits best.
http://www.scholastic.com/browse/collection.jsp?id=381
https://constitutioncenter.org/learn/civic-calendar/constitution-day-civic-holiday
https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/constitution-day
http://www.civiced.org/resources/curriculum/constitution-day-and-citizenship-day