Galloping Gazette
A newsletter for the Faculty and Staff - Week of 1/6
Put Students First • Seek Growth • Be Open to Change . Do Great Work Together • Value Differences
Principal Message
As you know, I love my quotes and graphics. As I was scrolling through Twitter, I saw this and it made me honestly stop and think. My mind thought about this in so many ways. Then I started to think about all of the different times throughout the day when this could positively impact students and negatively impact students.
Take report card comments, when a child looks at their report card, do they get the right message of how they have performed over the past nine weeks? Take formative assessments, are we just giving out intentional feedback or just marking how many questions a student got right or wrong? What feedback are we giving students?
Over the next couple of weeks, we will be giving our students a ton of feedback. Before you jump into it, plan it out - what questions do you want to ask your student to help them reflect on their own work? How will you empower them to continue to strive towards the end goal instead just having hear that they have to re-do it? Are we in the right mindset to give strong feedback or are we only at 50% ourselves?
Over the next couple of weeks, we will be diving into our language choice through our Love and Logic book study and our next steps in PBIS. Until then, use this week to reflect on your own feedback and consider if I was the student would the feedback that I was given help me or hurt me?
Enjoy the BEAUTIFUL weather this weekend!
-Robyn
BUNDLES OF JOY!!!
We can't wait to meet both of them! Welcome to the family!
Shout Outs...
- Thank you to Olivia, Whitney, Beth, LIz, and Christine for welcoming Adrian and me into their classrooms during their math blocks! Jenny
- Shout out to Cynthia Doyle who has jumped right in to ‘all things library’ and is making everything run so smoothly. Anne
- A sincere shout out and big thanks to everyone who helped me celebrate my 60th birthday..BEST DAY EVER! Tina
- Thank you to Moriah for printing the posters for me so quickly! Travis
- Thank you Debbie for putting up with my talking bulletin board this week! Travis
- Thank you to everyone who made my special birthday so much fun! Sharon
- Jenny, Thank you for modifying our math assessments. You rock! From, Team 2
- Ally, Thank you for letting me borrow a few old friends. Danielle
- Nicole, Thank you for helping a couple of my friends talk through tough times at home. Danielle
- Thank you Anne Young for your patience as I learn my way through the library. Your patience and enthusiasm is to be commended. Thank you. Cynthia
- Muchas Gracias Robyn for helping me get an awesome partner for the Partnership Expo! You are a Rockstar! Miriam
- Shout out to Michelle Johnson for spending her own money to buy a special reward to motivate one of our students for the next few weeks! Anna
- Shout out to Michelle Nicolosi and Kelly McNeely for always being patient and doing whatever it takes to help your students learn. And taking the new students with stride! ALL of your students are lucky to have you! Anna
- Mrs. Cooley thank you for taking the time to help out us this week. The Cafeteria Staff
- Thank you Ms Backer for the fresh, flavored water every Friday! May
Schedule for upcoming weeks
** January is National Mentoring Month **
**PLC Focus: Math-DDIPP Mid-Year Math bring exemplars**
** Q2 Language Arts Assessment (2-5) Given This Week**
Monday, January 13th
Tuesday, January 14th
- TLLT Training @ Laskin Road, 2nd Grade 8:30-10:30
3rd Grade 12:30-2:30
- Spanish Immersion Teachers out of building - Assessment Meeting, 11:30 - 3:00
- PAC/Leadership Meeting 3:00, Rm 15
Wednesday, January 15th
- Robyn at EPL; Spanish Immersion Meeting - out of building
- Opening Seating for 5th grade lunch
- PLC/Collab: 2nd 11:00-11:45
- Census Commercial Filming 3:30, Outside
1st 12:45-1:30
4th 1:35-2:20
Thursday, January 16th
- 4th Grade Fire Safety 8:30-9:30 Cucuzza
9:35-10:35 McNeely
10:40-11:40 Nicolosi
- TLLT Training @ Laskin Road, 4th Grade 8:30-10:30
5th Grade 12:30-2:30
- PLC/Collab: 5th 8:30-9:15
Knd 10:10-10:55
- School Planning/PTA Meeting, 3:00 Library - Grade Level chairs do not have to attend
- "JUMP" Cashola Night 4:30-6:30 @ Lynnhaven Mall
Friday, January 17th
- Spirit Day - Staff and Students wear your CFES gear!
- Watch Dog Dad Rudy Sandoval
- 4th Grade Fire Safety 8:30-9:30 Kesner
9:35-10:35 Dorbin
- 5th Grade Civil War Program, 9:00-12:00, Innovation Lab
- Kellam VTFT Observations, 12:45, Various Classrooms
** PLC Focus: Content/Technology **
** Q2 Math Assessment (2-5) Given This Week **
Monday, January, 20th
- No school for staff and students- Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Tuesday, January 21st
- "Sweat it Out" Day
- Landstown Middle School Choir performing for 5th Grade, 1:30
- Faculty Meeting 3:00, Library
- DQ Cashola Night 5:00-7:00 Landstown
Wednesday, January 22nd
- Colt's Store 7:55-8:20 Foyer
- Robyn at Meeting out of Building 8:30 - 12:00
- PLC/Collab: 2nd 11:00-11:45
1st 12:45-1:30
4th 1:35-2:20
- Newspaper Club 2:45-4:00
- 5th Grade Celebration meeting 3:00 Library
Thursday, January 23rd
- PLC/Collab: 5th 8:30-9:15
Knd 10:10-10:55
- Annual Service Awards Dinner 6:00-8:00, Convention Center
Friday, January 24th
- Quarter 2 ends
- Father/Daughter Dance 6:00-8:00 "Boots and Bling"
Staffing Update
Sandra Exhem will be taking Joy's position, starting on the 13th. She worked at CFES this summer, so she is very familiar with our school. She will be a great addition to our team!
LA Quarterly Reminders
Grades 2-5 are to give the Q2 Reading Assessment next week: January 13-17.
*Please talk with your students prior to the test about taking it seriously and using scratch paper.
*This assessment includes:
- 1 fiction passage
- 1 nonfiction passage
- 1 poem or functional text
*It still will be about 20 questions. Questions can cover any quarter 2 objectives, not just the Synergy objectives.
*When your tests are pushed out to your courses, be sure to "ENABLE SUBMISSIONS". If you have published the assessment but students are not able to begin their assessment, this is the most likely mistake.
*If you have read aloud students AND you have gotten a new student (read aloud or not) be sure to add them to the appropriate grading group before assigning the assessment or they will not receive it. See Travis if you need help doing this.
*Grades 3-5, be sure to enable LockDown Browser. This is how students will take the SOLs so they will need to be practicing this during quarterlies.
*If you have students that are ELL, have a 504 or an IEP - please ensure you know the most up to date accommodations. (ie. Read Aloud vs Read Aloud by an adult)
News and Notes....
- We have a confirmed reservation date of March 18, 2020, 8:00am-2:00pm, for the Mobile Mammography Unit. Appointments can be scheduled for the Mobile Unit at their website: www.ChesapeakeMammo.com. This will be set up outside in the bus lanes.
- ** Mandatory Training ** is due February 14! Don't let it sneak up on you....You can log onto it directly from the home page of VBCPS.
We wanted to reach out our Jimmy John's Rewards Program to remind you to sign up to receive special offers. The best part is when you sign up and use the Jimmy John's Rewards Program, you get a free sandwich. It works at any Jimmy John's nation wide.
- Our "Good Phone Call of the Day" Wall is very empty. Please send more students our way. We want to fill it up :)
DRA 2 Scores in Synergy - window - January 2 – February 6
*All students below grade level need to be given a DRA and their INDEPENDENT level needs to be recorded in Synergy by February 6 (Report in the Q3 DRA column)This deadline has been extended to align with TalentEd goal deadlines and the mid-year DRA2 testing window. Students reading on or above grade level need to have a score entered also. Use their current guided reading level to enter.
*A document outlining the steps to correctly enter DRA2 data in Synergy is posted in the Additional Resources folder in the Language Arts portion of each grade level’s Schoology Group. This document is also posted in the Literacy Leader Schoology Group, so check in with Mrs. Csenar if you have questions.
*All Kindergarten must have a new DRA unless the student has a current DRA of 4 or higher.
*If a student was on grade level at the beginning of the year and has steadily moved up (on the basis of running records) and is reading on grade level, a new DRA is not necessary. Simply enter the current reading level based on the running records.
Morning Meeting Moment - Compassion
As we continue on our kindness journey, we move into the concept of compassion. This idea can be a difficult one for our littles. Take some time to plan out your morning meetings and teach this concept. There are updated resources on our morning meeting calendar.
Game Changer Moment
Looking for Professional Development? Check These Out!
Quarterly Content Planning: Inquiry Learning Series
Professional Learning Programs (PLP) will be available for teachers each quarter.
Time: 3:45-5:00 p.m.
Locations: TBD
Dates: Grade K - Jan. 14
Grade 1 - Jan. 15
Grade 2 - Jan. 16
Grade 3 - Jan. 21
Grade 4 - Jan. 22
Grade 5 - Jan. 23
The sessions for SY 2019-2020 will provide teachers with opportunities to deepen their own personal content knowledge as well as grow their practice. Teachers will be able to preview upcoming content and identify resources available to plan, teach and assess the content. The sessions will also support building teacher capacity to develop a classroom culture centered on performance-based assessments and inquiry-based learning. Teachers will be able to sign up in Frontline. Search for: Inquiry Learning Series: Launching into Quarter 3 Content for Elementary Science & Social Studies.