The Hornets' Weekly Buzzzzz!
Important information for the week of January 19th
Together EARHART Achieves More
CORE BELIEFS
· Our main purpose is to improve student academic achievement.
· Effective Instruction makes the most difference in student academic performance.
· There is no excuse for poor quality instruction.
· With our help, at risk students will achieve at the same rate as non-at risk students.
· Staff members must have a commitment to children and a commitment to the pursuit of excellence.
OUR BELIEFS...The Earhart Way
#2. Increase the Quality of Instruction
#3. Increase the Culture and Climate
What's Buzzing this Week...
This Week...
- MLK Holiday (No school)
Tuesday:
- DOL (Reading, Math and Writing)- All in Learning
- Gretchen Bernabei Training (Benavidez, Fuentes, Earett): 8-4
Wednesday :
- DOL Data Dig (Gr. 3-5)
- SBDM@ 5:30 p.m.
- PTA @ 6 p.m.
Thursday (Earhart will host an Achieve 3000 training for Pinkston feeder @2:30)
- Interim Assessments (Gr. 3-5)
- PLC
Friday : (Grades due for Progress Reports)
- DOL Data Dig (Gr. 3-5)
- Brighter Bites Application due to Ms. S. Jones (Staff must complete the form in order to receive produce).
Saturday:
- PD/Planning - January 23rd (9 a.m. - 1 p.m.)
Upcoming Events...
K-5 Writing ACP - Tuesday, January 26, 2016.
Friday, January 29th - 5th grade RM PLCs - Momentous Institute - 8 a.m. - 10 a.m.
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ARTICLE OF THE WEEK - KEYS TO EFFECTIVE IMPLEMENTATION OF RTI
In this Education Week article, Amanda VanDerHeyden (Education Research & Consulting), Matthew Burns (University of Missouri), Rachel Brown (University of Southern Maine), Mark Shinn (National Louis University/Chicago), Stevan Kubic (National Center for Learning Disabilities), Kim Gibbons (University of Minnesota), George Batsche (University of South Florida), and David Tilly (Iowa Department of Education) say that starting in 2001, RTI spread among U.S. schools “like the latest diet fad.” Response to Intervention “is designed to remove the oh-so-human temptation to speculate and slowly mull over learning problems and instead spur teachers into action to improve learning, see if the actions worked, and make adjustments in a continuous loop. Guided by assessment data, children progress through a series of instructional tiers experiencing increasingly intensive instruction as needed.”
Sounds pretty straightforward. “However,” say the authors, “knowing what works and doing what works are two different endeavors. It is difficult for people to successfully follow diets, stick to budgets, and, yes, to implement RTI.” VanDerHeyden and her colleagues suggest four “implementation pearls” to avoid ineffective implementation of RTI:
• With screening, less is more. Over-testing is a problem in many schools, say the authors, chewing up as much as 25 percent of instructional time and producing far more data than can be used. Teachers need to select the most accurate, strategic assessment tools and use every bit of the data they generate
• Focus on Tier 1 instruction. “Every teacher should be supported to know exactly what students are expected to learn within their grade level, to map a calendar of instruction onto that timeline using resources beyond the textbook, and to assess student mastery of skills,” say VanDerHeyden et al. “When core instruction is strong, a majority of students perform in the ‘not-at-risk’ range on screening.” When a significant number of students (20 percent or more) don’t show mastery on an assessment, the best thing is for the teacher to rethink the segment and teach it again for the whole class. “Improvements to core instruction require serious teamwork, trust, and a paradigm shift in schools in which teachers may be accustomed to working in isolation,” say the authors.
• Use interventions matched to students’ needs. “At the surface level,” say VanDerHeyden et al., “targeting reading fluency, comprehension, vocabulary, phonics, and phonemic awareness for the weakest students sounds great. But intervening without consideration for what a student specifically needs is like choosing an antibiotic without identifying the bacteria causing the infection.” Implementing a poorly chosen Tier 2 or 3 intervention for 20 weeks is not very strategic, yet that’s what many schools are doing.
• Intervention intensity is not the same as “longer and louder.” The key is aligning effective interventions with what struggling students need and constantly fine-tuning with an eye to what’s bringing each student to proficiency.
K-5 Writing ACPs
We have the ACP Writing Assessments for all students in K-5th grade, Tuesday, January 26, 2016.
· You will receive information this week about the K-5 Writing ACP.
All rated writing samples are to be placed in the student portfolios (IF you do not have a portfolio for your students, this will be a great opportunity to create them for your class).
Brighter Bites is on the Way!
See Ms. Jones if you have any questions.
What's Happening in the Hornet's Nest...
Coffee w/ the Principal
Celebrate the Chinese New year
Poets in 3rd
RESOURCES...
STAAR Resources:
- https://olc.region10.org/pd/mod/folder/view.php?id=11332
- Inside Secrets to STAAR Powerpoint - In Google Folder
Science:
- Planning Documents: Year at a Glance, 6th Week Framework, Unit Planner
- 4th Six Weeks: Documents are for 5th only
- 5th/6th Six Weeks: Documents will be for all grade levels
- Highlights... documents include, virtual labs and essential questions!
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1zE0W4usAc4a2hwYYhjxywG5ptqm7IdnusbmgYyAIB0o/edit#slide=id.p4
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1k2ARTnvUK65qUdusuo9doX2buvXEPSjvbMZqHEZJdwk/edit
- 5.7BCD Science Virtual Labs
5.7B U7 L2 How Does Water Change Earth's Surface?
5.7D U7 L5 How Can Scientists Use Fossils?
Reading:
- Planning Documents: Year at a Glance, 6th Week Framework, Unit Planner
- Grades: 5th will be the only grade with these documents for the Spring Semester
- Interim Assessments: Posted by January 15th for 5th, 8th, 9th, 10th
- https://sites.google.com/a/dallasisd.org/curriculum-departments/curriculum-departments/scope-and-sequence?pli=1
Math:
Planning Documents: Year at a Glance, 6th Week Framework, Unit Planner
Grades: 5th [SSI grade]
https://sites.google.com/a/dallasisd.org/curriculum-departments/mathematics/2015-2016-year-at-a-glance