Briar "CLIFF" Notes
#learningonthecliff
October 2018
Calendar of Events:
October
1 – K and 5th PLT
2 – 1st – 4th PLT
BLT @ 8:00AM
3 – CARE 10:45AM
4 – Early Release
1:00pm - Tier 2 Behavior & Academic
PTA@6:30
5 - No School
8 – Professional Development Day
9 – K - 4th PLT
12:00pm - Universal Behavior Training- Kimmel, McCord, Van Winkle
Papa Johns Night
10 - Diversity Council
Cookie Dough Delivery-pickup
10:45am - CARE Team
11 - Principals Meeting - AM Searcey
4th Grade to Kaufmann
1:00pm - Tier 2 Behavior & Academic
3:50pm - TGIT- PBIS Class Dojo Focused
12 - New Admin Cohort - Searcey
Classifies Staff Training - Searcey
NorthtownTrue - Purple and Gold Day
Mercury Gym Night
15 – 5th PLT
15-19 - Pay to wear jeans in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness - (See MM)
16 - Staff Meeting 8AM - 8:45AM
K – 4th PLT
17 - 10:45am - CARE Team
18 – PD- Kate Roberts 1/2 day, Allen & Downing
1:00pm Tier 2 Behavior & Academic
3:50pm TGIT- Instructional and PBIS update
19 – Day- TLC Cohort
Future Hornet Night at NKCHS Football Game - Briarcliff Tailgate at NKCHS
22 – Data Dig - Searcey
5th PLT
23 – Book Fair
1st - 4th PLT
PD- Math Solutions- Stichnot
4:30pm - Parent Teacher Conferences
24 - PD- Math Solutions- McCord
10:45am CARE Team
25 - PD- Math Solution-Green
1:00pm -Tier 2 Behavior & Academic
3:50pm - TGIT- PLT
4:30pm - Parent Teacher Conferences
23-26 - Book Fair
23/25 - PTC 4:30-8:30
29 - Mayor Sly James visits Briarcliff
5th PLT
30 - RPDC - PBIS at Union Station - Baker, Harrington, Searcey
K - 4th PLT
31 - 10:45am CARE Team
Classroom Fall Parties 3:15 - 4:00
#northtownTRUE - Spirt Wear Fridays
#northtownTRUE Fridays (linked to order spirtwear)
Bleed purple and post on Twitter with #northtownTRUE.
10.12.18
11.9.18
12.14.18
1.11.18
2.8.18
3.8.18
4.12.18
5.10.18
Fall Parties
Some of you may or may not have heard, but we are bringing Halloween back to the cliff! In other words, kids can wear costumes during their class party, we plan on having a parade, and we are going to have a schoolwide teacher theme for costumes!! There will be more details to come on that part.
In the meantime, if you have any old costumes lying around or accessories like tiaras, crowns, etc. it would be wonderful if you could donate them to our less fortunate students. We want them to know that they can come down to the ELL room and throw on a costume or a fun accessory to wear for the parade on the 31st.
For those students who are not allowed to participate in Halloween activities we will have something planned for them BUT we need to have a parent specifically tell us that their child cannot participate. We don’t want to make decisions for the kids based on our assumptions. We will be sending out information about the parties, costume guidelines, and the parade to all parents, and I will make sure and include a part in there to notify the classroom teacher if they do NOT want their child to participate.
If you wouldn’t mind looking through your house for old costumes and/or accessories, that would be awesome!! Please make sure they are costumes that can just be thrown on over their clothing. These WILL be reused each year so we will ask the kids to return them to our room on the 31st or by the next day in case they want to go trick or treating in them that night.
Thank you SOOOO much for your help in this endeavor!!
Have a wonderful long weekend!!
Absence
SCHEDULE FIELD TRIPS - If you need ideas, ASK!
The Energy Bus
Please see the attached story entitled, The Starfish Story. In leadership books, we learn that characters may not have the power to change what happens overall … but they can achieve power over themselves. As readers, we can look for how characters achieve power over themselves by finding evidence of how a character shows courage and grace and how these actions impact others. We can also think about what we can learn about power and how to use it to embrace goodness.
IS AVERAGE YOUR STANDARD?
Reader's and Writer's Notebooks - From Dr. Sutton and Kristin Havens
· Students in 3rd – 8th grade should continue to have a Writer’s Notebook. Students should have experiences drafting pieces both in their notebook and digitally. Teachers should be prepared to model and demonstrate how a writer takes ideas from the notebook and drafts them on paper as well as digitally.
· Regarding writing, students in K-2 should be working in a Writer’s Folder rather than a notebook. Towards the end of 2nd grade, writers may be exposed to keeping a Writer’s Notebook to prepare for 3rd grade. K-2 writers may, at times, publish their writing digitally.
· Students in 3rd – 8th grade may keep digital Reader’s Notebooks. It is a good idea to begin with a Reader’s Notebook for writing notes and responses to reading and slowly migrate to a digital notebook as the year progresses. Students should have the choice to record their thinking in the mode of choice, however they should be exposed to both through teacher modeling and demonstrating. Facilitating conversations around efficiency is important. Readers will want to choose the most efficient method for recording thinking so as not to take away from reading time.
Independent Reading and Writing Time
· Reading and writing volume matter. Depending on the unit, the amount of digital reading may vary. For example, during an informational unit, readers may access text digitally more often than they would in a literature unit. When skimming for information, digital reading is efficient. When reading closely, analog reading may be more appropriate. Explicitly teaching students how and when to choose analog or digital text is a life skill that must be addressed as early as kindergarten.
· Ultimately, we want to create readers and writers that are skilled in both analog and digital reading and writing. Our teachers must be intentional about when, and for what purpose, we use the device.
#NKCCHAT
Mini Lesson VS Read Aloud
REMINDERS...
Friday Folders
- All paper communication home (from office, agencies, district, classroom, PTA, etc) saved and sent on Friday only. If you have a homework folder, perfect you don’t have to change that, but the Friday folders are for ALL other communication.
- This is a building process/system I need us all to support in order to streamline our communication process. I will communicate with parents to expect this type of communication through these folders. See Saw is about ready, so that is another way for you to communicate throughout the week if you chose too!
- PTA has to have their copies (copied and counted) to teachers mailboxes by Thursday. Put a student leader in charge of this if you need help stuffing them. K-1 reach out to an older grade to see if there are student leaders to help each of you stuff these folders. Just a few ideas!
Reminder: Accessing Science Online Resource - from Tricia Scott
NKCS has a new science resource, and the technology portion is set up (based on the information that lives in PowerSchool).
Teachers and students will both access this resource through staff or students links-Pearson Realize. Teachers login with employeeID@nkcschools.org and their current Mac password. The first time a teacher logs-in content needs to be added. Until the term begins teachers need to select “future courses” to see the 18-19 courses. Then the appropriate course can be selected and the appropriate content can be added.
Students login with studentID@nkcschools.org and their birthday mmddyyyy.
We do plan to have the app Pearson Realize Reader scoped to students so they can install it on their iPads. Teachers are welcome to go ahead and install their iPad from the app store.
When using the app there are some tips to keep in mind.
- Open the app
- Look toward the bottom of the login window and tap Pearson EasyBridge Plus & Auto
- Select North Kansas City Schools
- Teachers login with employeeID@nkcschools.org and current password
- Students login with studentID@nkcchools.org and current password
***We are still working with Pearson a bit on the app, so if it doesn’t function as you would expect please know we are working on it.
Electronic Report Card Update:
- Electronic report cards will be available K-6 this year.
- Rather than sending home paper copies, parents will be able to see the electronic report card in PowerSchool for a window of time (2 weeks).
- Elementary viewing – October 25-November 8
- 6th Grade viewing – October 23 – November 6
- Once the viewing window closes, parents will no longer have access to see the report card until the 2nd quarter window.
- Paper copies may be printed at the building level for families that do not have access to an electronic device. Administrative assistants will be able to flag students in PowerSchool that need a paper copy and then batch print for all the flagged students. The content of the printed copies will be the same as what we are used to seeing, however they will be in an HTML version. This means that the page breaks will not be “clean” as they have been in the past. Thus, only print when absolutely necessary. Directions for how to flag students in PowerSchool will be forthcoming.
Briarcliff Elementary
Email: jonalee.searcey@nkcschools.org
Website: https://www.nkcschools.org/page.cfm?p=1596
Location: 4100 N Briarcliff Rd
Phone: (816) 321-5030
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LearningOnTheCliff/
Twitter: @BRES_Bears