BESTeam Tidbits
April 1, 2018
Celebrations!
Congratulations to Wendy, Alecia and Al! They had the most students attend our Spring Creek Spirit Night. They will all be getting T-shirts and goodie bags from Spring Creek.
Fantastic Writing Mega Labs with 1st and 2nd grade! Thank you Jenna Brosette and Megan Harris for collaborating with us and Kirsten for covering Megan’s class!
Fabulous pep rally on Thursday! Great way to celebrate our students! Thank you all for recognizing our Texans!
Thank you for our working staff meeting!
Great job with TELPAS this year Jeanette, Michaela, Jan, Hayden, Connie, Al, and Judy! Thanks for all of the time and effort you put into this process!
Big Rocks
- Safety: We had a safety meeting with Dr. Ryan on Thursday after school. We will be doing safety tips on the announcements this week. If you have a specific topic or item you would like addressed, please email it to Jamie and Tonya. We will host our Safety and Security chat with Allen Smith on Thursday morning at 8:00 a.m. in the library. Continue to speak with our students about safety practices at school. Thank you for all you do to keep our Texans safe each and every day!
- Great job with our drills. Please review our bad weather drill with your students. We will be having this drill very soon!
- Website: Please send out your new teacher page link to families in your next newsletter. If a parent or community member bookmarked the page on the old site, it no longer works.
- Retention: As discussed at staff meeting this week, please see below for specifics.
If you are thinking about retention see Jamie and Tonya
Retention is not a choice, it is not a teacher recommendation, it is based on board policy, local and legal
Caution: Opinions versus data
We are guided by the policies by the mastery of TEKS - mostly 3’s; must demonstrate 70% mastery
The child should be in RTI process
Special Education Procedures: RETENTION REQUEST BY PARENTS Lack of progress on goals is appropriate for the ARD to address. Grade Placement Committees apply for Grade 5 and 8. The ARD discusses and adjust programming based on performance on STAAR for 5 and 8 in order to help child be successful. ACCELERATED INSTRUCTION & INTENSIVE PROGRAM OF INSTRUCTION
Parent requests: Again, let Jamie and Tonya know. We will use Promotion/Retention Conference process
Attendance conference might be needed if they are not meeting the 90% of instructional days rule (173 instructional days this year). See Jamie and Tonya if you are concerned about a student's attendance.
The U.S. Department of Education today announced that U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has approved the state’s Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) consolidated plan. Commissioner of Education Mike Morath issued the following statement in response to the plan’s approval:
“In Texas, we are committed to ensuring every child is prepared for success in college, a career or the military. Our state plan reflects a commitment to reinforcing public education outcomes for more than five million schoolchildren while continuing to strengthen the economic future of Texas.”
ESSA became law in December 2015, replacing the No Child Left Behind Act. ESSA requires federal review and approval of a state consolidated plan, which provides a comprehensive overview of how each state will use federal funds to advance its own goals and visions of success for students. Specific highlights of the final Texas consolidated state plan include:- Maintaining rigorous, yet achievable goals for all student groups;
- Creating stronger alignment between all state and federal program areas;
- Shifting the proficiency level for students from the “Approaches” label on State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) to the “Meets” label; and
- Better aligning of federal funding with priorities within TEA’s strategic plan.
- STAAR - Please let parents know that the campus is closed next week, Tuesday, April 10-Friday, April 13, due to STAAR testing and make-up testing.
Arts Resources
- Benefits of music lessons: https://psmag.com/education/music-lessons-boost-kids-cognitive-skills?platform=hootsuite
Small Rocks
Science Blog: Take a moment and subscribe to the district science blog. This blog will highlight great science teaching and learning, professional development opportunities, best practices and science communication. Subscribing is as simple as a click and entering an email address. https://scienceingcisd.blogspot.com/
You Are What You Eat Contest: The Texas Department of Agriculture's (TDA) annual You ART What You Eat art competition deadline for 2018 is quickly approaching. Encourage your student to be creative and get involved in this year's campaign to promote healthy school meals. There is still time to enter, so tell all artistic young Texas to submit their entries before 5 p.m. April 20, 2018. For more information on the contest, click here.
Grant Opportunity: VOYA is offering teacher grants for projects that are innovative creative and positively influence students. Each year, 100 finalists receive a $2,000 grant and three are selected for additional grants. Click here for more information.
Retirement: Save the date for the 2017-1018 Retiree Dinner on Thursday, May 3, 2018. If you are considering retirement, make some time to visit with Jamie or Tonya.
Watch D.O.G.S.: This is the live link for our awesome Watch D.O.G.S.
We are excited to announce that GCISD is once again partnering with the community to serve our economically disadvantaged students. The seventh-annual Back to School Fair is scheduled for Saturday, August 11, from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. at Grapevine High School. This is a collaborative event sponsored by GCISD, CONNECT, the Grapevine-Colleyville Education Foundation, and the Women's Division of the Grapevine Chamber of Commerce. Last year, with support of our staff and community, these organizations provided free backpacks, school supplies and other back-to-school needs to approximately 1,200 GCISD students.
We are in desperate need of volunteers! We need both English and Spanish speaking volunteers - the more, the better. This is a very rewarding experience and you will be happy you were part of it - guaranteed! We need assistance with checking families in, guiding families through the fair, and assisting nutrition and transportation with bilingual communication.
Join us in the fun of helping our less fortunate families. We look forward to seeing you there.
Please sign up here: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0f4aafaa22aafc1-btsf1
If you have any questions, please contact Emberly Hill.
Instructional Technology Updates
- Blogs you may have missed
- Classroom Screen: https://goo.gl/ZRTJrC
- Discovery Education: https://goo.gl/PaaFVr
- Using the app list for Meraki: https://goo.gl/fTBGNk
- Prodigy Online Math: https://goo.gl/8sMAUU
- DyKnow: https://goo.gl/y3Jx8u
- E-Portfolio
- When we get back from Spring Break, the 3rd artifact will need to be collected.
- Math Slides apps are back!
Prodigy Math Madness Spring Tournament
- Win just for participating: Dedicate some time in class or encourage your students to play Prodigy at home between March 5th and April 13th
and you will automatically be entered to win 3-month memberships for your entire class! - Win for being the ultimate Prodigy playing class and school: Have your students play Prodigy everyday in school or at home in order to answer the most questions and win a Prodigy trophy, lots of great swag, 3-month memberships AND 3 laptops for your class.
- Have fun!
What is a Pineapple Chart?
The energy in the building Monday was electric! It is always exciting to see the amazing things our colleagues do and learn from the experts! Wouldn't it be great if we could do that everyday? With a Pineapple Chart we can!
On the bulletin board in Cathy's office there is a chart that represents one week of school. The columns are labeled Monday-Friday. The rows are an entire school day (7:30-3:00) divided into 30 minute segments. On this chart, teachers can "advertise" the interesting things going on in their classrooms that others may want to observe. They can be as simple as a read aloud or circle up, or as complex as a science experiment or Breakout Edu! Just jot down the teacher name, the timeframe, and a brief title of the activity on a post it and place it on the chart at the start time.
Check the chart regularly to find something you may be interested is observing. Go to that classroom at the designated time. Sit down in an out of the way spot and watch. It's that simple! You can stay for as long as time allows, or just pop in for a few minutes. This is an informal, but powerful way to learn new techniques and ideas! Maybe you need new ideas for seamless transitions, or you might want to see what the learning environment is like in another grade level. There may be a new tech tool you'd like to try, but want to see someone else using it first. The possibilities are endless when we learn from observing one another!
So think of what you would like to share with the staff and a time you have to visit another classroom. Post your observable moments. Find something you'd like to see, and go for it!
The Pineapple Chart
What to Put on Your Post it
Post It and Visit
Week at a Glance
What's going on around BES this week?
Monday
TELPAS Window March 5-April 13th
Transfer Lottery Applications on GCISD Website March 26-April 20
STAAR Alternate 2 (grades 3-8 & EOC) April 2nd-20th
Shelly’s birthday
Cathy @ C & I
Girls On The Run 2:55-4:25pm
LifeStage Theater 3:00-4:00 pm-cancelled
Choir 3-4:00pm
Garden Club 3-3:45pm
Tuesday
Third grade benchmark
Raschel @ TLA Conference
Lauren, Brittany & Hayden out
Tonya to ARD @ 2:00
We Are GCISD Wear jeans & Convocation shirt
Staff Mtg.-L.I.F.E. Time 3:15-4:30pm
LifeStage Theater 3:00-4:00 pm-cancelled
Wednesday
Raschel @ TLA Conference
Jamie at principal meeting a.m.
Tonya to ARD at 2:00
GCISD Special Olympics Track Meet
Fitness Force 2:55-3:45pm
LifeStage Theater 3:00-4:00 pm-cancelled
Thursday
Behavioral RTI meeting with Abbey if needed
Raschel @ TLA Conference
Rebecca @ meeting 7:30 am-11:00 am
Safety & Security Chat 8-9:00am
MAC Tour-Rebecca 11-12:00
Shelly @ meeting 1:30pm-3:30pm
Friday
Raschel @ TLA Conference
April’s Birthday
Kate out
Progress Reports
Jamie & Denise Budget Mtg. 10-11:00am
Girls On The Run 2:55-4:25pm
5th grade Choir 3-4:30pm
BEST pARTy 6:00-11:00 pm
Be Proactive: A look ahead!
- April 19: Beauty and the Beast 6:30 p.m.
- April 21: Rachel's Challenge Rally and 5K Students and Staff can run FREE!
- Spirit Events
- Snuffer's Spirit Night April 10th 5-8:00pm
- McAlister's Deli Spirit Night April 24th 5-10:00pm
- Menchies Spirit Night May 3rd 3-5:00pm
- El Pollo Loco Spirit Night May 8th 4-8:00pm 9009 N. Tarrant Pkwy. N. Richland Hills
March 27: Instructional staff
April 3: L.I.F.E. Time
April 10: No meeting, STAAR Testing Week
April 17: All staff
2018-2019 Planning & Information
- Calendar 2018-2019
- Master Schedule: We have started the conversation about master schedule for 2018-2019. Our final schedule will be ready in May. Stay tuned for updates. Our goals are to think differently and create a schedule that allows us to:
- meet students' varying needs
- continue our journey from teaching to learning platform
- delve deeply into arts integration
- design and facilitate engaging work for our Texans
- have collaboration time with peers throughout the building
- maximizes time for students and staff
BES Forms
- Field Trip Request Form
- PTA Grant Request: All PTA grant requests are due the Wednesday before the executive board meets.
Jamie Halliburton
Email: jamie.halliburton@gcisd.net
Phone: 806-441-6518
Twitter: @BESHalliburton