Trantwood Times
Love. Learn. Lead.
Kudos
~Thank you Melissa Moore for always being so kind and helpful. Angela
~Thank you Mrs. Lewis for reaching out and checking on me and the progress of the students. Your support was greatly appreciated. Angela~Megan : Thank you for the kindness cards!!! They were sent to our everyday hero’s who work at Sentara! They brought many much needed smiles! ~Carolyne
~Kudos to Brooke for creating the Screencastify video to assist our Kindergarten parents with shifting to Schoology! Krista
~Thank you Brooke for saving my Chromebook from the sledgehammer! Cazzy
~Kudos to the TAs for working through the challenges of communicating with some students and parents they have never met. You are classy ladies! Cazzy
~Kudos to Tricia for being a team player and wanting to work smarter not harder. I appreciate you! ~ Claire
~Thank you to Maria for all of your help and tag teaming throughout this time. I couldn't do it without you! ~Claire
~Kudos to Jan for providing us with resources to use for our emergency learning plans and helping us map out the remainder of the school year! ~Claire
~Thank you Ashley Francisco for taking the massive planning document and simplifying it for us. You relieved a lot of the stress and anxiety that we were feeling. - Melinda and Emede
~Kudos to Brooke for all your help with the new tech tools and emergency learning plan ideas! Hannah
~Kudos to Julie for being a great teammate! Hannah
~Angela Haebler, I can’t thank you enough for always being there to help answer all of the questions I have, and point me in the right direction if you don’t have an answer for me. Quarantine has been tough but I am so thankful that I have you to lighten things up and make me laugh through this whole ordeal. Thank you friend! - Bessie
~Courtney Goffigan - I appreciate you always keeping me in the loop and up to date on PreK and our kiddos. I couldn’t have asked for a better partner. - Bessie
~Kudos to our AMAZING Administrative Professionals, Amanda, Michele and Donna! We are SO grateful for all you do!! -Lisa Lee
~Kudos to Stephanie Piron and Sule Genel for driving by their students' houses on their birthday to make them feel special! Lisa Lee~Kudos to all the teachers learning new technology to help support their students' virtual learning, and to Brooke for helping us learn it all with her awesome Screencastify videos! Lisa Lee
~LAM-- thank you for always being positive and upbeat. It's really needed right now. Mandy
~Mrs. Lewis-- Thanks for all of your behind the scenes work. Being able to help and stay busy means a lot to many of us. Mandy
~Maryanne-- Thanks for always wearing a smile in the zoom meetings! I always look forward to seeing you. Mandy
~Kudos to Ashley for going above and beyond for third grade. Melissa
~Kudos to Claire, Maria, and Tricia for being amazing. Melissa
~Kudos to Team Trantwood for still putting students first! Melissa
~Kudos to Ms. Haebler and Mrs. Cassidy for being so helpful. Melissa
~Kudos to Mrs. Lewis for calling to check in with me. Melissa
~Kudos and well wishes to everyone! Melissa
~Thank you, thank you, thank you to Karen for the countless hours you've been putting in to help us in SPED! I greatly appreciate your efforts and guidance during the twists and turns of Distance Learning. Sending you much gratitude & virtual hugs. Brandi
~Thank you to Elise & Leanne for being the best ECSE partners! It helps knowing I can reach out at any time for support! Brandi
~To all of our teachers and staff who have worked so hard to create learning opportunities through an SEL lens for our Cardinals! KL
~Thank you to Elena Bohn for supporting our sped staff and helping us navigate an extremely busy week! KL
~A way to go to the Special Education teachers for creating thoughtful Digital Learning Plans for their students. You all jumped into uncharted territory with a positive attitude and a focus on what is best for individual students. KL
~Many Kudos go to Tania for helping me navigate uncharted territory! I really appreciated your time and patience! Hope
April 27 - May 1, 2020
Monday, April 27
- 4th Nine Weeks begin
- Professional Learning Day
- Kg Collab, 2 pm
Tuesday, April 28
- Happy Birthday Sarah Gray!
- Morning Announcements recording for W, R, & F, 11 am
Wednesday, April 29
- Report Cards available to parents via Parent Vue
- Gr. 4 collab, 10:15 am
- Gr. 3 LA collab, 11:15 am
- Pk collab, 2 pm
Thursday, April 30
- ECSE collab, 9:00 am
- Gr. 5 collab, 10:00 am
- Gr. 2 collab, 11:00 am
- Gr. 1 collab, 12:00 pm
- Specialist collab, 1 pm
Friday, May 1
- Morning Announcements recording for M & T, 9:30 am
May is National Physical Fitness and Sport Month!
May 3 - 9, 2020 Staff Appreciation Week! National Music Week!
- Happy Birthday Cazzy Roberts!
Monday May 4
- Kg collab, 2 pm
- New Teacher meeting, 3 pm
Tuesday, May 5
- Cinco De Mayo
- Morning Annoucements recording for W, R, & F, 11 am
Wednesday, May 6: National School Nurse Day!
- Gr. 4 collab, 10:15 am
- Gr. 3 LA collab, 11:15 am
- Pk collab, 2 pm
Thursday, May 7
- ECSE collab, 9:00 am
- Gr. 5 collab, 10:00 am
- Gr. 2 collab, 11:00 am
- Gr. 1 collab, 12:00 pm
- Specialist collab, 1 pm
Friday, May 8
- Morning Announcements recording for M & T, 9:30 am
Resources
VBCPS Continuity of Learning Virtual Support
VBCPS 2019-2020 Emergency Learning Plans for Elementary Schools
Newly updated VBCPS 2019-2020 School Calendar
Emergency Learning Plan Webpage
VBCPS Mental Health Resources: You are taking care of our students. Here are some resources to help take care of yourself also.
Meals for families: These are the locations you can give to families in need of food. Kids must be with the family to receive food.
Chromebook Repair: Here are the sites families can exchange their broken Chromebook for a new one.
Dr. Spence's Deskside Chats: Closed- captioned videos shared every Tuesday and Thursday on YouTube, where Dr. Spence tackles a few questions and provide some updates.
VBCPS General Updates: Most current updates on nearly everything here.
Technology Tips: These are tips on working from home. You need to be logged in to your VBSchools account to access it. As always, the DoT Help Desk is available at (757) 263-1111 between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday should you need support as you work to ensure our students continue to learn.
CDC Guidelines: Tips to keep you and your family safe. We love you. Stay safe.
LAYING THE FOUNDATION SUMMER TRAINING
The Department of Teaching and Learning is pleased to announce the return of the National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI) Laying the Foundation Summer Training Conference. Delivered by expert educators, NMSI’s Laying the Foundation provides an opportunity for teachers in grades 3-12 to build and maintain subject matter expertise, enhance abilities to lead diverse classrooms, use new technologies and prepare students to be confident and creative problem solvers.
The event will take place Tuesday, Aug. 4 through Thursday, Aug. 6 from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and Friday, Aug. 7 from 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Princess Anne High School. Participants must register using the NMSI link: https://www.nms.org/LTFSI/virginiabeach2020.aspx to receive a ticket. Using promo code LTF458721F provides all Virginia Beach City Public Schools teachers with free access to the training and lunch.
Please contact Monica Robinson, Ed.D., k-12 academic support programs coordinator atmonica.robinson@vbschools.com with any questions. Thank you.
Q3 Report Cards
4/23/20 - Specialists must lock down by 5pm
4/24/20 - Homeroom teachers must lockdown by 5pm by 8pm report card PDF files will be emailed to you for review
4/27/20 by 5pm return to Carolyne - noting any changes made in system
4/28/20 PDF to admin to review
4/29/20 publish report cards on parentVUE
Important Note: Parents will not receive their child's report card via email. Please direct them to look at ParentVUE to see their child's Q3 report card. If they need assistance with this, direct them to call 263.1111.
Going above and beyond!
April 20, 2020
Dear Gina,
Again, Gina, . . . we are in your debt.
Thank you for the countless hours you shared serving on the lead team for the Elementary music Emergency Learning Plan (ELP) project. Your creativity and your attention to detail are first-class. Your work with the Fourth-grade ELPs was stellar. Your colleagues throughout the city have expressed their enthusiastic appreciation of all of your efforts on their behalf, and we wanted to do so, as well.
We hope that you will share some samples of your work with your principal so that she might know the quality of your work and the breadth of your influence.
With every best wish and our deepest gratitude,
Holly and John
Mrs. Holly B. Sunderland
Instructional Specialist - Performing Arts
Virginia Beach City Public Schools
Department of Teaching and Learning
Celebrating Our Staff!
LouAnne,
I am writing because in my helping the boys (mostly Gabe), I have developed a new (and very sincere) appreciation for the work that elementary teachers do on a regular basis. I think we are finally caught up (Eli has done much of his work independently), and today we celebrated that fact. I have thoroughly enjoyed working with Gabe. I am so impressed with the work Mrs. Booth and the team have provided. It is thoughtful, challenging, relevant and so far above what I thought a kindergartener could do. I am proud of the work Gabe and his teachers have done. I am also impressed with what Eli is doing. Today we read about Helen Keller. Eli actually recounted a book he read and taught me things about Helen that I did not know. You and your staff are doing phenomenal work. I just wanted you to know.
Fondly,
Claire LeBlanc, Principal Ocean Lakes HS
Visible Learning When Schools Are Closed: What Matters and What Does Not
This post was shared recently by Salem Elementary's Principal, Ann Shufflebarger, and it is worth the read. I found myself shaking my head, yes, yes, YES...this is such common sense - which is highly uncommon these days...
With the prospect of schools being out for a while, John Hattie reviewed some of the Visible Learning influences that may help understand what really matters and what does not matter as much. I’ve summarized a few key points for your below. If you delight in research like I do, you’ll want to check out the full article here.
First, does it matter that students are not in the physical place called school?
- Do not panic if our kids miss 10 or so weeks.
- Worry more about subjects in which parents have the least skill and about subjects and tasks where parents make kids skill and drill and lose the thrill (especially math)
- Make sure to provide opportunities to learn what students do not know and do not engage them in busy work.
- It is not the time in class, but what we do in the time we have, that matters.
What’s the effect of the home?
- The most likely implication of school closures relates to equity. Students who come from well-resourced families will fare much better than those from lower resourced families.
- Students should be engaged in projects where there is attention to the precious knowledge and not to completing some task at any level of quality and without learning new knowledge, new relations between ideas, or deeper understanding.
- The home factors that do matter include parental involvement, family communication quality, and especially parental expectations.
- The negative effects on learning increase for subjects where parents are least likely to be skilled or have knowledge, such as math, science, and history
So, what does all this mean?
Ensure that students at home engage in the optimal tasks; not just busy tasks, not just projects that keep them entertained, not boring repetitive activities. The choice of task matters critically. Use the technology for great diagnosis; share scoring rubrics and success criteria up-front with students before they get too involved in the task; be clear (teacher clarity matters more when students are not in front of you to correct, cajole, give instant feedback to), and evaluate progress as you do in the physical classroom.
Create as many opportunities for social interaction, not just between you and the student, but using technology for students to work, share, interact, and learn together, as you so often do in the regular classroom. Learning at home need not be a lonely activity, with the only or even primary resource the parent.
Remember that technology is the means and starting point, not the core, of teaching. Deliver mini-classes, make them clear, and provide oodles of opportunities for feedback. Worry more about subjects that parents are least likely to be able to help with, like math and science, and encourage kids and parents to read, read, read and also talk about their reading, so the story is important, the vocabulary is stretched, and then simultaneously keep teaching the skills of reading to make reading pleasurable.
Schools, no matter via what medium, can be hubs of response and recovery, a place to support emotional recovery and promote social togetherness—and this is as important as any achievement gains. It would be wonderful to use this pandemic as an opportunity to learn about learning from afar, so share stories of success of teachers and students learning from this crisis, pay particular attention to below average or special needs students, discover how to develop collective efficacy among teachers and school leaders, and use this experience to learn how to best work with all students.
Blog post shared with Kansas MTSS and Alignment by Dr. Hattie on April 7, 2020
For more professional learning go to corwin-connect.com
Social distancing selfie!
Yummy! Blueberry pancakes!
Here are Melissa Moore's niece and nephew after weeks of being quarantined. She thinks her niece Charlotte has finally lost it with her little brother!
Never forget...anyone can hold the helm when the seas are calm.
Put Students First ● Seek Growth ● Be Open to Change ● Do Great Work Together ● Value Differences
LouAnne Metzger, Principal
Email: louanne.metzger@vbschools.com
Website: http://www.trantwoodes.vbschools.com/
Location: 2344 Inlynnview Road, Virginia Beach, VA, United States
Phone: 757-648-4000
Twitter: @LouAnneMetzger