All Things Bally
Published: January 12, 2019
Principals Message
It's time to think about nominations for Evening With the Stars to be held in January. This awards ceremony is for students who have represented their school and placed 1st, 2nd, or 3rd at the state or national level. You can nominate your child here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfj6LjNt_HZD6z1D8rJLRc5a7drh1-jOqze61_yjtLrQF8G4w/viewform?usp=sf_link
Erika Bowles
erika.bowles@boone.kyschools.us
James Demetrakis
This Week's Events
Monday: Parent Article Study from 6-7, Home girls basketball vs. Gray, Drama Club
Tuesday: Home girls basketball vs. Camp Ernst, MathCounts Cancelled (Bowles has meeting out of building), Community Forum at Ignite at 6:30, Hosting District Governor's Cup from 4-6pm
Wednesday: SBDM at 5pm, Drama Club, Spirit Club
Thursday: Academic Team Practice, Energy Club, Recycling Club, Boys home basketball vs. IHM
Friday: Sign Language Club, Forensics Team
Saturday: Hosting District Governor's Cup all day
Superintendent Community Forum
If your child is diagnosed with the flu, please let us know at 905-2620. We keep track for state reporting. Thanks!
Ballyshannon SEL, Counseling, and Guidance
Topics this week:
It Takes a Village: Talk to Your Teen about E-Cigarettes: A Tip Sheet for Parents
SEL Lessons
Ryle and Cooper Scheduling Information
Tech Tips: 15 Apps Parents Should Look out for on Their Kids' Phones
Info From Our Teachers
6th Grade Newsletter --Click here!
7th Grade Newsletter ..Click here!
8th Grade Newsletter--Click here!
These links change every month.
Info from our PTSA
Colorful Run prizes will be awarded in JANUARY!! Wahoo!
Sign up for a student led conference by clicking below.
Science and Engineering Fair of NKY
Registration for the Science and Engineering Fair of Northern Kentucky will open in January!
Date: Saturday, February 22, 2020
Fee: $35 per project (includes t-shirt)
Location: Northern Kentucky University Ballroom
Website: https://sefnk.stemwizard.com/
Registration closes on Friday, February 7th.
Top category winners from 5th-12th grade will be promoted to the State Competition in March. Over 20 awards and scholarships to win, totaling over $100,000!
The Best of Fair winner of the High School Division will win an all-expense paid trip to ISEF 2020 in Anaheim, CA!!
Home Basketball Schedule
6th grade plays at 5, 7th grade plays at 6, 8th grade plays at 7:15
Students may not stay after school for games.
Tuesday, January 13: Girls vs. Gray
Tuesday, January 14: Girls vs. Camp Ernst
Thursday, January 16: Boys vs. IHM
Thursday, January 23: Boys vs. Highlands
Monday, January 27: Girls vs. Campbell Co.
Tuesday, January 28: Boys vs Twenhofel
NKMSAA Tournament: 2/1, 2/4, 2/6
Parent Discussion Series
Topics include:
- 13 Things Mentally Strong Parents Don’t Do
- Top 10 Reasons Teens Have So Much Anxiety
- Is Safetyism Destroying a Generation?
- Why Social Media is Not Smart for Middle Schoolers
- Speaking the soul: Why kids cut and what we can do about it
- Juuling and Teenagers: Why Vaping is a Dangerous Trend
- How to Help Tweens and Teens Manage Social Conflict: Don’t add to the drama. Take it in stride and coach your kids as they work to resolve things on their own.
Want to be included in updates about our series? Email one of our counselors.
KET Young Writers Contest
KET Young Writers Contest begins November 4, 2019 with deadline for submission will be March 27, 2020 including grades 6 - 12.
See following link for guidelines. https://www.ket.org/education/young-writers-contest/
Scholarship Opportunities for Graduating Seniors
The Brewer Foundation for Civic Engagement will once again be awarding a graduating senior from each of the high schools a one time award for the winning applicant. See the scholarship application below.
Deadline no later than April 1, 2020 of student's senior year. Submissions via email to jessebrewer1111@gmail.com
Making Sense of Standards Based Learning
1. We use the district timeline for each grade level and each content area. (Click HERE and then click District Curriculum from the home page.)
2. Once we have identified the standards we will be teaching according to the district timeline, we create Proficiency Scales. (You can view all of your child's proficiency scales on his/her Google site. Ask them to pull it up for you at home.)
3. After we create our proficiency scales, we design a unit plan and daily lesson plans. The unit plan and daily lesson plans are created to lead kids to mastery of the standards through general and differentiated instruction.
Proficiency Scales will tell you what is required to score a 1, 2, 3, or 4 for each and every standard.
- Students receive a 1 if they require help from the teacher in understanding the prerequisite skills of a standard.
- Students receive a 2 if they have mastered all of the prerequisite skills and academic vocabulary necessary to master the standard.
- Students receive a 3 if they have completely mastered a standard and demonstrated mastery over time.
- Students receive a 4 if they pursue extended or deeper learning of a standard after they have achieved mastery. This will most likely occur during the tutorial period or as extension activities in class.
Teachers will begin awarding 1.5, 2.5, 3.5 at the next grading period if you have not seen them on progress reports already.
- A 1.5 will mean that the student requires assistance on some skills, but is reaching mastery of prerequisite skills on their own for others.
- A 2.5 will mean that the student has mastered all of the prerequisite skills and some aspects of the standard, but not full mastery of the standard.
- A 3.5 will mean that the student has mastered the standard and has demonstrated some level of enrichment of the standard beyond mastery.
At the end of the year, the 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, and 4 are converted to number and letter grades on the official report card.
4 = A+, 100
3.5 = A, 95
3 = A-, 90
2.5 = B, 85
2.0 = B-, 80
1.5 = C, 75
1 = C-, 70
All grades below 1 will register as an Incomplete. If the course is not remediated through summer school, the Incomplete becomes an F.
Because most grade-level standards should be mastered over the course of a year, it isn't logical to assume that children will have straight 3's in the first quarter. This way of learning and assessing learning is a yearlong process.
Traditional grading can be an inaccurate representation of a child's knowledge. Here are two examples:
- Student 1 is struggling with the content and often confused in class. However, he takes advantage of every extra credit assignment the teacher gives. This boosts his grade when he doesn't do well on tests. He also completes all of his classwork and homework so he gets full participation points. These participation points are averaged into his low points he receives on assessments. At the end of the term, he receives an A, but he understands very little of what has been taught.
- Student 2 can listen to the teacher teach in class, never write anything down, and still pass all of the assessments with flying colors. He often gets a perfect score on quizzes and tests. He does not, however, do any of his homework and many times doesn't complete his classwork. His participation scores are very low. When averaged with his assessment results, he receives a final score of C+ on the report card.
If you are the parent of student 1, do you assume he will have a good ACT score? As parents we should expect that what the school communicates to us is an accurate representation of knowledge. It may not be.
If you are the parent of student 2, do you assume he will struggle or is not learning? Would you label this student as lazy? The reality is that this student's grades in a traditional grading system may communicate one of those ideas but in actuality this may be a student who is not challenged, has already mastered the material, and who needs enrichment.
Standards based learning is a means of providing transparent communication to students and families about the understanding of the grade-level content. We implement standards based learning because we have confidence this method of learning will best prepare your child for high school and postsecondary studies. Your child works with their proficiency scales regularly. He/she should be able to pull them up for you and explain where they are for each standard.
Standards based learning also helps students realize deep learning takes time, resilience, grit, determination, and perseverance. Deep learning takes practice.
We know this can be tough for all of us who were raised with traditional grades in school. We're accustomed to points-based grading. We get a 5/10 on a quiz, we do a 10 point extra credit assignment, we turn in all of our homework, we get a 105% for the quarter. We feel good...but what about that 50% on the quiz?
Give yourself some time to learn more about standards based learning. Give us feedback and give us ideas for how to make this more understandable for you. We will continue to deliver education events to help support you as parents.
Mrs. Kegley will be organizing another round of Standards Based Learning 101 sessions during November. Stay tuned. We'll get you supported. As our instructional coach, Mrs. Kegley is also available for individual consult, explanation of how to use Canvas as a parent, and so much more. stacie.kegley@boone.kyschools.us
School Hours
Breakfast: 7:00-7:30am
Tardy Bell: 7:35am (students must be in their 1st period classroom)
Buses, Walkers, Bike Riders dismiss: 2:35pm
Car Riders dismiss: 2:40pm
About us
Email: erika.bowles@boone.kyschools.us
Website: http://www.boone.k12.ky.us/29/Home
Location: 7515 Shamrock Avenue Union, KY 41091
Phone: 859-905-2620
Facebook: facebook.com/ballyshannonms
Twitter: @ballyshannonms