Food For Thought
January 23, 2015
School Improvement
Our JA Planning Guide Components are the foundation for high quality instruction. Having a solid foundation in the components will allow our professional conversations to move towards differentiating instruction in the next school year: What is our evidence our students have learned the information? After analyzing our assessments: How do we respond when students don’t learn the skill and how do we respond when students have already learned the skill. What resources and instructional strategies have we already identified to be effective? Without the school wide solid foundation of the aligned document these conversations cannot be achieved to the highest quality.
Our overall theme is Engagement for this school year. Under this theme the staff decided to focus on the two following Rising Star Indicators:
1. IIIA01: All teachers are guided by a document that aligns standards, curriculum, instruction, and assessment
2. CL7: The environment of the school (physical, social, emotional, and behavioral) is safe, welcoming, and conducive to learning.
Questions to think about with these two indicators:
IIIA01What outcomes/standards are students expected to engage in?
What curriculum/materials will students engage in to meet these outcomes/standards?
What instructional strategies need to be in place to provide for optimal intellectual engagement for students?
What assessments will be used to determine if students engaged in the outcomes/standards we determined?
CL7: How can we engage students with their peers, teachers, and community to promote a positive learning environment?
We will continue to work with staff to see the alignment between our Early Release Days and our School Improvement Goals.
IIA01:
Formative Assessment 9/12, 9/19, 9/26, 10/3
Domain 3 10/24
Time to work on IIA01 11/14, 11/21, 1/16
Performance Tasks 12/12, 1/20
CL7:
Domain 2: 10/10, 10/17
Integration 12/5
PBIS: Overall Universal Analysis: According to research & PBIS, an effective Universal system should have the following:
80-90% of students receiving 0-1 Major
5-10% of students receiving 2-5 Major
1-5% of students receiving 6 or more majors
JA 2014-2015 School Year:
94% of students received 0-1 Major
5% of students received 2-5 Majors
1% of students received 6 or more Majors
**Based on this analysis our universal system is currently working. We always have areas to improve and refine our Universal system. For example, many majors are from students that are F&R. This is another piece of data that shows that we need to provide behavioral instruction to help students understand our expectations.
Engaged to be Effective
Elaborate & Clarify
Skill #1 from Academic Conversations
Elaborate & Clarify
1. students are given a passage to read (via Google Docs - optional) or a topic to discuss
2. students read to determine the theme of the passage and find evidence (the purpose can change depending on what is being taught. (IE the students could read to determine who the main character is, or why the author's purpose)
3. When they meet with their partner they must share their thinking (he or she is the speaker)
4. The partner must listen and ask clarifying questions (stems provided)
5. Once one partner has shared, they switch.
Please email Rupal if you would like to see this lesson modeled, co-teach this skill with her, OR want to use Google Drive with your students!
Everyday Amazings
Kindergarten Integration
Game On
The Jane Addams annual Family Game Night took place on Tuesday, January 27th, 2015. Families enjoyed a variety of fun games, including Monopoly, Scrabble, Connect Four, Bingo, Checkers and Chess. Eighty-eight students and their families were in attendance. Students also participated in a raffle-many won prizes such as board games, cookbooks, bookmarks, pencils and hats. This fun filled event was organized by PTA President, Cheryl Michelotti and PTA volunteer, Lisa Ashby, who had the generous support of ten parent/student volunteers. The PTA appreciates all Jane Addams families who came to support this event-without you these amazing events would not be possible!
Everything Needs Structure
You Rock!!
- Molly Mahoney you are a great advocate for your students! You ROCK!
- Karina rocks for organizing the author visit!
- Belinda rocks for always being positive with her students and colleagues!
Miguel rocks for unlocking my door and turning on my lights every morning so that when I arrive with my multiple bags I'm never fumbling for my keys! It's the small stuff that goes such a LONG way :)
OMG!!! The quotation negotiation activity we did in 4th grade was AMAZING!!!! I'm so proud of my kids! Rupal and Lucky Great job putting that together! I absolutely loved this activity and can't wait to do it again!!!!
YOU ROCK Rupal and Lucky!!
Michelle A and Gabrielle D: For organizing and scheduling ACCESS-You both rock!
Debbie, Sara, and Sheri Rock for being so flexible with the PA schedule to support their colleagues.
ACCESS Team You Rock for all of your efforts!
Heather and Belinda Rock for their co-teaching of Math. They are in sync and make Math fun!
Pam Rocks for being so reflective of her teaching practice.
NBCT candidates Rock for their hard work towards writing their entries.
Mentors to Probationary Teachers rock for all of their support to our colleagues.
Kindergarten Team Rocks for Integrating their Math Centers