Monday Morning Motivation
Central Elementary Staff News----March 13-March 17, 2017
Our Mission
Providing engaging academic experiences, the Central Elementary Community will inspire and support students to become caring, confident, lifelong learners.
Welcoming Spring
Dear Staff,
As we spring ahead into March, it is wonderful to see the flowers bursting and blooming with color. Walking around my own yard and seeing the purple and yellow flowers appear makes me smile. Welcoming new and old plants always puts one in a better mood.
In the spirit of welcoming spring, we also want to foster an atmosphere of welcoming both new and current students within the Central community. This past week, while working through some discipline, I was reminded that not everyone feels welcome and that bullying behaviors exist here at Central. Reflecting on how much time we spend talking about character and being a Central CHAMPS student, I am surprised when these things happen. However, it pushes me to face the reality that we can never become complacent in our work to create a safe and caring school for all students. Our school is a garden, filled with many students and staff of different perspectives, heritages, and lifestyles. Let's enjoy the flourishing during this season of growth.
Over the next two weeks, I encourage you to show our character company videos, pause in those teachable moments and continue with strong supervision.
Have a great week!
Julie
Two Weeks at a Glance
Central Calendar
MONDAY, March 13
- IREAD Proctor Meeting 8:45 in LGI
- Let's Talk in Central Office Board Room 6:30 p.m.
TUESDAY, March 14
- Science Committee Meeting Central Office 7:30 a.m.
- IREAD-3 test in the morning (quiet 9:00-11:30 with break 10:15-10:45)
- First grade meet with Laura D. 3:00 p.m.
- Fifth Grade Music program 7:00 p.m.
WEDNESDAY, March 15
- Central Celebration Committee Meeting
- Cabinet meeting
- 1:35 K meet with Laura D.
THURSDAY, March 16
- Team Leader meeting
- Envision math meetings at the Central Office (committee members)
FRIDAY, March 17
- IREAD window closes
MONDAY, March 20
- Smile Mobile Visit
- PTO meeting
TUESDAY, March 21
- Data Team--focus on growth
WEDNESDAY, March 22
- IA Models with new staff
THURSDAY, March 23
- Central Celebration
FRIDAY, March 24
- Spring Break/No School
Announcements and Reminders
- PTO Grants--These are due March 13th and May 8th. I encourage you to apply for a grant because they have money they want to give back to the school.
- Math Textbook Adoption Committee-March 16th enVision Math 2.0 training.Two sessions: 9:00-11:00 for K-2 Teachers and 12:00-2:00 for grades 3-5 Teachers
- Math Common Assessment for Third Quarter is scheduled for the week of March 6-10th and results must be uploaded by Monday March 13th. In PowerSchool CAQ3
March 10 end of third quarter. Please be sure you are updating grades in PowerSchool each week.
- Please continue to take still photos for the yearbook. For example, we did not include bus buddies in the yearbook as a club, but it would be very good to have photos of students doing this important job for us.
- IREAD Test Window March 13-March 17, 2017 We will be testing on Tuesday, March 14th. With make-ups the following day(s).
Don’t forget to put March 12 on your calendar as we welcome Daylight Savings Time and “springing forward” on your clocks by one hour.
March 20th Mobile Dentist will visit Central. From the nurse Encourage parents via email to send back their application form as soon as possible if they want their child to be seen by a Dentist here at school. I will take applications up until the day the dentists are here, but would like them back sooner if possible.
Substitutes Please reach out to Nicole Crum if you need a sub several months away. It will only be to your benefit to secure a substitute teacher early. FYI, the 8th grade breakfast will be held on May 12th. Thank you.
Legacy Foundation Grants-begin thinking about the next grant cycle which will be due early April
Central Celebration will be March 23rd--the committee is meeting--send ideas to members
Maker Boxes will be at Central Elementary April 3, 2017-April 21, 2017
Teachers, continue to work on collecting evidence for Domains 1 and 3. When you come to your observation conference, please bring your lesson plans. Due April 7th
STAR 360 EOY Benchmark window opens April 1-May 30.
Please share with students that the reward for completing the Math Facts Challenges in your grade level this year will be an "out of this world" experience! A dome planetarium will be in our gymnasium on May 17th to allow every student who has met the challenges to attend a 1/2 hour to 45 minute program, depending on the number of students. As we get closer, I will ask for an estimated number to begin creating a grade-level schedule for the experience. This "reward" goes along well with our math facts initiative since many are trying out the Rocket Math program this year.
HIGH ABILITY
I wanted to give you a few updates regarding 2017 spring high ability identification information for 17-18 service. CogAT scores are currently being uploaded to the district data base (thanks to Karla!). Cogat student/parent reports and letters went home to parents last Friday. I will be going through the data and narrowing our list of students. Data Team meeting previously scheduled for April 18th is now April 11th to work on High Ability Placement.
5th grade
The Algebra 1 Prognosis assessment should be given to 5th grade students who are currently in the accelerated math program. Shawn B. will pick these tests up at the end of this week for scoring. Please secure these tests in the envelope provided with the scantron sheets included. Also, be sure that student names are put on the scantron sheets.
April 11th 4:00 Central--Meeting for the 5th to 6th grade identification This committee will be discussing both advanced students (High Ability) as well as those students needing additional academic help (RTI).
Please be sure there is a writing sample provided for all 5th grade students. We are not providing a prompt so that the sample can be a current writing piece that is already being used in the classroom or something you are writing in the next couple of weeks. (Please be sure the sample is at least two paragraphs in length.) You will keep these and bring them to the meeting.
Grades K-4
We will work on April 11th to review student data and place our students. We will use similar criteria from last year. You will have specific objective data from several areas in order to place students.
Parent High Ability Meeting
Monday, May 15th at the at the Central Office Board Room 6:00
Parents of students who are placed in the High Ability Program will be invited to this meeting. At this meeting we will share that 4th grade high ability math students will go to Van Buren for the 2017-18 school year.
Curriculum and Instruction
Anchor Activities
Anchor activities are activities that students can do when they have finished their work early or they have demonstrated competency for the current lesson’s content.
Anchor activities can be an effective strategy for gifted student because the teachers can differentiate them for varying readiness levels. Additionally, they are versatile; they may stand alone or serve as an extension to the curriculum. They may be short in duration or designed to continue throughout a whole unit. They may offer students choices and tap into personal interests.
Some samples anchor activities include the following:
· Post problems of the week: Post challenging math problems including “Super Challenge” problems that students can try to solve when the other work is completed.
· Post a “Solution” on the board; students can generate as many problem statements as they can think of that equal the given solution.
· Post a thought-provoking prompt on the board: Students may add their own responses underneath.
· Post a brainstorming prompt or lateral thinking puzzle. Students can generate as many solutions as they can think of for the prompt.
· Have students select a biography to read and write a summary to share with their classmates; at the end of the year, combine the summaries into a class book of recommended biographies.
· Have students select from a number on non-fiction topics that are related to the content currently being studied, or that will be studied later in the year. These topics should not be what will be included in the class study, but be extensions that go into a related facet of the topic. Develop an organizer for such topics to guide student exploration. Include some factual knowledge, but that also look at more in-depth observations about the topics, e.g. different points of view, importance of the ideas, implications, etc. (Use Paul’s Reasoning Model or higher levels of Bloom’s to generate the categories). Allow students to report on what they found to be the most interesting part of the research and why. Offer the option of the student making a short classroom presentation as the Local Expert on the topic when it fits within the curriculum.
· Have a writer’s option in which the student can select the form of writing, the topic, and the goal of the written piece.
ARRIVALS & DEPARTURES
- Becky Stanley will be joining us Monday, March 20. We are thrilled to have her and thrilled to have our Team Time program fully staffed again.
Staff Celebrations!
- Congratulations to Diana White and Patty Price for receiving the Compass Award at the last faculty meeting.
- Thank you to Shonda, Lauren and Courtney for sharing updates regarding technology here at Central Elementary School!
Happy March Birthdays
- Julie Smith (5)
- Nicole McClatchey (15)
- Rhianda Szepski (15)
- Elizabeth Boles-Manuel (23)