Lincoln Lion's Local Buzz
September 18, 2020
Thoughts from the week
We will be meeting on Tuesday to review our EasyCBM and DRA data to reshape our MTSS groups to ensure we are addressing those who most need it. We have been very lucky that with our lower numbers we can maximize our IAs and our RA team to run targeted small groups. Did you know that all of our IAs this year are either returning to Lincoln with tons of knowledge about what we do here at Lincoln or, while new to us, have a teaching degree??? It's true! Our dream team of IAs are an incredible group of people who are so well trained and have a wealth of knowledge to support our lions. I can't remember a time when I've been at a school where this combination of IAs has come together to support the students in the school. We also have an incredible team of RA teachers who are willing and able to provide support for students during times they don't have classes due to our lower enrollment.
Two things I want each teacher to think about for our meeting on Tuesday:
- In what ways can we utilize our IAs and any support staff (RA team for some grades) to provide targeted intentional small group instruction to address the areas of concern based on student data--that is in addition to MTSS?
- What resources can we utilize from HMH to compliment the goals from MTSS for students to move students as much as we can in the next three weeks and beyond.
Two things that I want each IA to think about and communicate with their team of teachers:
- Reflect on your current schedule and think about what you see could be modified based on what you have experienced for the past three weeks to add more opportunities for small groups.
- What further training might you want to increase your ability to support our students and meet their needs.
We will be thinking about MTSS groupings on Tuesday, but we will also be thinking about how we can maximize the resources to execute well planned and targeted small group instruction that will be in addition to MTSS.
Put your thinking caps on, think outside the box, and be ready to come up with some great plans to use our human capital resources to support our lions!
I Scream! You Scream! We all READ for Ice Cream!
Student Of The Month
Kathy will need to know who you are recognizing no later than the week before so we can get out emails etc. I will need a non fancy copy of the award to read during the meeting from my office. Teachers will have the official certificate and we will provide you with the lanyard to give to students in the classroom.
We hope that this will be another way we can bring "normal" back to the school year and enjoy our Lincoln traditions in this time of not normal!
PLC topics for Upcoming Weeks
The next few weeks we will use PLC time on Tuesdays to address the following topics. All meetings will be in the Conference Room so that we can sanitize between groups.
Sept 22: MTSS Data Conferences
Sept 29: Committee Meetings Recap and Data Binders next steps
Oct 6: RCL Updates (How many students are we anticipating returning based on survey? How will this impact our current classes, if any?)
Oct 20: ELA (We will set an agenda based on grade level requests and needs such as -- review student work from myBooks and Performance tasks, score writing prompts, plan for small group instruction, pacing/structure of the block using HMH, preview the upcoming week including the texts and tasks, etc. Shasta will reach out prior to this meeting to get feedback from teachers on what is the most helpful use of this time.)
Oct 27: TBD (Math or MTSS depending on when MTSS is scheduled)
Nearpod Pilot
We are currently accepting applications for teachers who would like to use the full content in Nearpod as an instructional tool in the 2020-21 school year. We have expanded our number of full-content licenses and are looking for more teachers to take advantage of this powerful feedback tool. We'll contact all selected users with directions on how to set up your account and the next steps for Canvas integration.
To apply, please complete this Google Form (click here)!
Lock down drill in the time of Covid
LOCKDOWN REMINDERS
BOE Policy 3.202 requires a lockdown drill within the first 30 days of the school year. We will modify this drill to respect the challenges of our COVID safety measures while still having an opportunity to review lockdown expectations.
On this day, please do the following:
- Review procedures with your students
- Have students remain in their seats during our practice drill. Admin will still go around and check areas and classrooms for locked doors.
Lockdown/Intruder (to protect building occupants from potential dangers)
When the announcement is made:
- Students are to be cleared from the halls immediately and to report to the nearest available classroom
- Assist those needing special assistance
- Close and lock all windows and doors and do not leave for any reason even if the fire alarm goes off
- Cover all room and door windows
- Stay away from all doors and windows and move students to interior walls
- Shut off lights, remain QUIET! and wait for further instructions
Video Repository Update:
Although we are using the paid version of Screencastomatic, KCS has requested that we continue to save/upload Screencastomatic videos to teacher YouTube account provided by KCS email. The purpose in uploading to YouTube is so we will have access to the videos beyond this school year should we need them. Videos in Screencastomatic may/may not be available to use in future school years should we no longer have a subscription and/or if the teacher's account is deactivated should they no longer work for KCS.
If you have experienced technical difficulties, here is a quick video of the steps you must take in order to save/upload to YouTube after recording in Screencastomatic. A few things to remember - You must be logged in using your kcs email account. You cannot do this from your personal gmail account. It tends to work best when you are using your teacher computer because it has been set up to support the resources for KCS Curriculum, etc. but often times personal computers work just as well.
Reminders of How to Save to YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpbP7wYDS-4
Week of Sept 28-Oct 2 (Please submit YouTube links by Wed, Sept 23):
1st Grade ELA
4th Grade Math (partnered with Washington)
Week of Oct 5-9 (Please submit YouTube links by Wed, Sept 30):
3rd Grade Math (partnered with Washington)
Reminding parents about how to switch learning modalities
Below are the links for the forms to have kids switch back to F2F and if they want to leave F2F and be RCL. Rhonda sent out letters to all RCL families with this information on Monday and a second one on Wednesday. ASC is using Aspen which we are learning has some outdated information for emails etc. We have discovered that some parents are not getting those messages. Can you please alert your parents, and then remind them at least once a week about the need to fill out a form IF they want to change the way their child is receiving their instruction. If they are happy with F2F or want to leave them in RCL they don't have to do anything. Also, please ask parents to complete the form as soon as possible if they are making a change. This will help us make the staffing changes and student grouping changes that might be necessary to ensure strong class groupings for all students.
Thanks for getting this message our on dojo to our parents and reminding them about the timeline so no one is saying "I didn't know" after the deadline passes.
These links also can be found under the reopening plan on www.k12k.com.
Lincoln Swag
Lincoln's Playground Project Fundraiser
UPDATE!! Long sleeve shirts are now available!
Looking for some GREAT Lincoln SWAG that also supports our playground fundraiser? Look no further than this site: https://alespto.com/
Get your 100 years commemorative shirts, mugs, yard signs and car stickers here! Proceeds go to our new playground! Don't miss out on these awesome buys!!