Anchor Weekly
A newsletter for Alta Vista Staff~Week of September 25, 2017
Don't Forget! Next Week's Calendar
- Insurance Information Meeting on Monday, September 25 at 3:30 **Custodial and cafeteria staff will need to meet at 2:30 pm**
- Faculty Meeting on Wednesday, September 27 **Triad Observations being discussed**
- Adopt A School Mentoring Kick Off Party on Thursday, September 28 at 9:30 am
- Observation PLCs on Friday, September 29
- Grades due Friday, September 29
Mrs. Logan and Mrs. Helton will be off campus Monday afternoon through Wednesday. They will return on Thursday.
COMING UP! CDCM Meeting Next Tuesday
Calendar Link: https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=wacoisd.org_ok91siiqr44vtt9t99o7ije19k%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America/Chicago
Safety Drills this Week!
Observation PLCs on Friday, September 29
The expectation for PLCs is that everyone comes prepared with the necessary materials. Before each content PLC, you should decide as a grade level what assignment you will be bringing to discuss. At minimum, you should have a low, medium, and high example of the assignment. Other things that should be brought to the content PLCS include: PLC binder, lesson plans, and student data (when applicable). Lead teachers should have their future unit assessment and an outline of lesson plans to be discussed.
From Your Captain
Just a reminder that district and campus policy states that campus staff should not wear T-shirts (even the cute "teacher" tshirts) on non-designated spirit days. If your team would like to wear a t-shirt for a special occasion, it needs to be pre-approved by Mrs. Logan and it should tie into with instruction (Example: Kindergarten had pirate-themed lessons on Tuesday so they dressed up like pirates). We should all be dressing for success.
The district grading policy has changes for the 2017-18 school year. Please see changes specific to elementary grades on pages 27-28 of the district grading policy here: https://drive.google.com/a/wacoisd.org/file/d/0BzPtZw5xT-LdR2tYUk55TG1Dd00/view?usp=sharing
Per district policy, all grades should be updated on a regular basis.
Once grades have been finalized, you will need to complete your tab on the "Interventions" worksheet in the Alta Vista Data folder here: https://docs.google.com/a/wacoisd.org/spreadsheets/d/1XepfD0YOaGKpFVex3qgQ0HAO0hAzkpjYB3p5KhaOEHg/edit?usp=sharing
This is due Tuesday, October 2.
All Rigby results should be posted here: https://docs.google.com/a/wacoisd.org/spreadsheets/d/13DvEKggvJa86cEuKVg4Ow-SUIptOXYosgBUx8f3jqZE/edit?usp=sharing
Enrichment for Intervention Time
Regular interventions will start on September 25 with math. Materials should be prepared and ready to go ahead of time. See Mrs. Helton if you have questions.
STEM Night Plans
Each grade level has been assigned a book that teachers will read to the class ahead of time. During the even, each grade level will have a STEM activity that relates a science and math concept to the book. For more details or to give input, please see Mrs. Helton.
STEM Night will be replacing our annual Science Night. 5th grade students will be expected to create a science fair project for display (TEK: design an experiment that tests the effect of force on an object). All other classes are asked to create a classroom project using the scientific method to test a current science objective (IE: forces, heating/cooling, properties of matter). The point of the project is to walk students through the scientific method as it relates to the science topic you are currently teaching.
Science Penguin has a great foldable for the scientific method. Click on the link above (Writing/Journaling Resources) to also download this FREE resource.
Behavior Team Notes
Students cannot learn if they are not connected to the class. As academic demands increase, we are seeing an increase in behavior issues as well. Keep working on routines, procedures, and activities that connect you with your students, and connect your students with each other. Morning meetings should be happening in every class every morning. If you need help getting morning meetings started in your class, contact Ms. Freeman or Ms. Maynard.
If you have a behavior situation and need assistance, call the office or text the entire behavior team. If you just text one person, he/she may not be able to provide the assistance you need in a timely manner due to other interventions.
As per our campus behavior management plan, teachers should be calling parents about behavior issues. If you need to call someone from the behavior team to assist with an issue, then you need to follow up with parents. Mrs. Freeman and her team should not be making the first phone calls to parents in regards to ongoing behavior incidents.
Math Professional Development
Opportunities:
- Lesson Design
- Differentiation with Envision
- Data Driven Decision
- Building Common Assessments
- Diagramming the TEKS
- Activities for Small Group Instruction
- Making Use of Manipulatives
- Intervening with Pearson Black Box