BESTeam Tidbits
August 20, 2017
Happy First Week of School
Celebrations!
- We get to welcome our Texans on Monday!!!!!
- Welcome to BES Jenna Fox, Kelsey Boatwright, and Ahsley Allenbaugh! We are so glad to have each of you setting the stage with us this year!
- Great meet the teachers on both Monday and Friday! Thank you for the extra time you spent at Bransford to make our Texans feel welcome!
- Wonderful week of learning, planning, and preparing for an incredible 2017-2018 school year! Thank you for your participation in our learning and growth opportunities!
- Thank you Shelly for the COUNTLESS hours you have spent enrolling Texans and ensuring class lists are all encompassing. Student enrollment: 40 new students (1st-5th) including 4 transfers; 73 kindergarteners including 11transfers with 3 being employee transfers! WOW!!!
- Thank you Cathy and Tonya for a student centered schedule while working with a myriad of constraints and educational needs! Thank you everyone for sharing your input and being flexible with the schedule!
- Fabulous team work as we prepared our hearts, minds, and spaces this week!
Eclipse
- Live stream to the solar eclipse: https://www.nasa.gov/eclipselive/#NASA+TV+Public+Channel
- Info about the eclipse from Nasa: https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/
- Optimal time to view the eclipse: http://amp.timeinc.net/time/4882923/total-solar-eclipse-map-places-view/?source=dam
- Interactive Eclipse Map: https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/interactive_map/index.html
- Education week info: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2017/08/4_tips_for_eclipse_teaching.html?utm_term=Stem&utm_content=buffer96354&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Attendance
We are going "LIVE" with attendance on day 1!
Per district guidelines please remember that attendance can only be taken between
9:45 am - 10:15 am.
Shelly will be preparing SUB rosters for you next week to leave for your substitute when you are off campus.
Please let Shelly know if you need any assistance with attendance.
Technology Delivery on Tuesday!
All of our students will be receiving new devices on Tuesday! What a great way to start the second day of school!!!! To assist with the process, please read through the instructions below.
- Technology Services and Instructional Technology will be on your campus Tuesday, August 22nd by 8:00am ready to go.
- Evan will bring all the iPads to your classrooms on Monday.
- All K-4 iPads need to be backed up before Tuesday. (This was done at the end of the school year. Double check with grade-level before you to ensure this was completed.)
- Technology Services will be making the exchanges for kindergarten.
iPad Exchange presentation.
- We will use these in the classroom to walk the students through the process.
- 1st - 4th Grade Teachers: https://docs.google.com/a/gcisd.net/presentation/d/1SeamgaX8JW5leoBcpS4LhFWjyvRHSsfWw6her-Yrwp4/edit?usp=sharing
- 5th Grade Teachers: https://docs.google.com/a/gcisd.net/presentation/d/1leBLK1nXYAmMoe5UksgYvXFT0DlGLNZ7VVhdhoM67z0/edit?usp=sharing
1st - 5th Grade Teachers:
- Have the iPad Exchange presentation (via the links above) queued up and ready to go. The technology team will be leading the students through the steps. Teachers please help with monitoring.
- Please have the students in their seats at their desk with their iPad, their current Student Account card, and the new slip of paper with the new Apple ID and temporary password.
- 3 Technology Services/Instructional Technology personnel will come into your classroom and walk the students through the exchange. We need your help monitoring the students and assisting them through the steps.
- New printed Apple ID's, iPad Name labels and 5th grade labels will be distributed to the classrooms for use Tuesday morning.
- Please wait until after Technology leaves before downloading any apps.
Kindergarten Teachers:
• Technology will be making the exchange for your students in the computer lab.
Thank you for being flexible as technology will flow from one grade level to the next. See schedule below.
- 5th grade
- 2nd grade
- 1st grade
- 4th grade
- 3rd grade
- Kinder
Science Curriculum Updates
The district teacher leadership team for elementary science met in the spring and summer and made significant changes to the curriculum. Please see below for changes. We will be working closely with Christi and Cathy to ensure a smooth transition with curriculum changes.
- The scope and sequence have changed for all grade levels. Life Science has been moved to the fall.
- Campuses will be responsible for ordering their own living materials.Please work with Brittany, our campus science learning leader, to facilitate the need for these.
- Living materials are not changing this year, each grade level will continue with what is indicated on unit maps.
- K-4 teams have elected to streamline TEKS this year. 5th grade will remain the same due to testing. Maps will be revised by the team throughout the year.
- We are adding assessments for 1st and 2nd grades. There will be a middle of the year and end of the year assessment for these grade levels.
- 5th grade will add a pre-test to be administered the first two weeks of school. TEKS checks were updated to include 2016 released STAAR questions.
- 2017 released STAAR questions may be used throughout the year for additional assessment. The 2017 released exam should not be used as a whole test or benchmark, it does not cover all the supporting standards that can be assessed on the 2018 test.
Art Contest
How could you integrate the art contest with science learning?
Three Terrific Texan Tweets
To do...
- Online Textbooks: Take a few minutes to access textbooks in the same way you had last year, mainly through ARMS or the individual publisher's platform. C&I is in the process of working toward implementing an even smoother access point for all online resources, Classlink, but this transition will take place gradually after the school year has begun with more information forthcoming. With newly hired teachers, C&I is hopeful that their online access is activated immediately upon their being entered into our Skyward system. This means that newly hired teachers *ought* to have resources to access next week upon returning. As hiccups with this arise, please be in communication with Laila Mohmand using the "Digital Textbook" form found in Eduphoria under Helpdesk. Please see Tonya if you have any questions regarding textbooks.
FLEX Learning
Thank you for working on FLEX Learning over the summer. Visiting the following link from the district website (http://www.gcisd-k12.org/Domain/3804), you will see the requirements, understand why Flex is important to our profession, and get access to the site. Once you get to the actual Flex site, find the tab that represents your job so you know which modules to complete.
If you begin working on the Flex requirements right away you may run into a couple of "coming soon" notes on certain modules. Those are currently being updated and will be ready to go very soon. The due date for completing Flex requirements is October 9, 2017.
Week at a Glance
Monday
Happy first day of school!!!
Back to school coffee for parents 7:45 a.m. to 8:30 a.m.
Eclipse at 1:09 p.m.
Tuesday
Technology distribution (see above)
Wednesday
Wonderful day for learning at Bransford!
Thursday
Red Barn Spirit Night 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Friday
Have a fabulous Friday!
Jeans and Bransford shirt!
Jamie Halliburton
Email: jamie.halliburton@gcisd.net
Phone: 806-441-6518
Twitter: @BESHalliburton