Cordata Weekly Bulletin
9/4/2018
Class meetings getting up and running...
Kids learning the routines for all sorts of classroom tools...
And a big community-building assembly with a Bobby the Bobcat welcome!
Good morning, Cordata family!
A few photos from a very successful opening of the school year! It was fun to watch children reconnecting with one another and all of you, and reaching out to welcome in those who are new to our community. Thanks for all of the ways that you built connections and community in your classrooms and around our school. We're off to a fantastic start!
The week ahead - 9/4 - 9/7
Upcoming Dates
- Sept. 4 - Phonological Awareness and MAP assessment windows open (through 10/12)
- Sept. 10 - BAS window opens (through 10/12)
- Sept. 10 - 1st General PTA Meeting - Cordata Music room from 5:30-6:45 pm - Childcare is provided
- Sept. 11 - 3:00-4:30 - Cordata Leadership Team meeting
- Sept. 13 - Salad Potluck - hosted by our Sunshine Committee
- Sept. 13 - ** This is scheduled as building Collaboration Time on our meeting calendar - possibility of swapping dates due to Open House the same evening. Watch for a survey to get your input.
- Sept. 13 - Open House for grades 3 through 5 - Tentative time is 6:00-7:00 pm, but stay tuned for more information
- Sept. 14 thru 16 - PTA fundraiser at Menchies, more information to come
- Sept. 18 - Hearing and Vision testing at Cordata
- Sept. 18 - Optional staff meeting to review beginning-of-year policy and law training ppt
- Sept. 20 - Cordata pub crawl! Stay tuned for more info from Sunshine committee
- Sept. 25 - Individual Student Picture Day
- Sept. 27 - DESSA assessment window opens
- Sept. 27 - Open House for kindergarten through 2nd grade - Tentative time is 6:00-7:00 pm, but stay tuned for more information
- October 5 - Pumpkin Fun Run
Other News and Information
- Cert staff, we will be having a staff meeting on Tuesday from 2:45-3:45 in the library. Please bring your laptops, as well as your iPod touch if you have one, as we will spend some time with SeeSaw.
- Many thanks to all who rode the bus or picked up our staff bus-riders last week! Kids are off to a very good start in following bus expectations as a result. Our bus drivers are grateful for the support, and when we've had the occasional kiddo on the wrong bus or missing a stop, kids and families have felt relieved to have staff there to help!
It is especially important to keep it up through this week so we can support our kindergartners riding the bus with big kids for the first time! Please consider signing up in the staff room to support a bus ride this week! - In the spring, teachers used pink and blue slips to share some information about individual students, and these were then used for class placement. If you would like to see the slips for students placed in your class, please see Laura in the office. Please note that you may find that the slips do not exactly match your current class list due to late changes in class placement. Simply put any extras in Laura's inbox, and request those that you are missing.
Much of this same data is available in Homeroom if you prefer to look there. - Collaborative planning time this week:
Wed. and Th. Collaborative Inquiry Time for general ed teachers - Analisa will meet with each grade level team to connect about inquiry possibilities and how we can support you.
Thursday Collaborative Planning time for all cert staff - This time is for any and all collaboration that you may find helpful: grade level team planning, cross grade level alignment, meeting with specialists or interventionists . . . you name it! We formerly called this PLC time.
There will be a Homeroom Data session in the library for those who would like support in accessing student data from past years.
- The new Cordata Staff OneNote 2018-19 is up and running. Cert Staff, you probably received an email with a link to it. I will address this further in a staff meeting, but feel free to explore. It contains all that you will need for the TPEP feedback and evaluation process this year, and more. As a reminder, I highly recommend that when you visit this notebook using the link above in your browser, you then click on "Open in OneNote" and choose OneNote 2016.
- As I mentioned in our staff meeting on Tuesday morning, we are all responsible to review and be aware of the information in the beginning of year training on relevant laws, policies and procedures. You have two choices - Take some time to view the powerpoint and read the accompanying notes on your own, then sign off on the sheet in my mailbox (look for the clipboard!), OR come to a staff meeting on Sept. 18 at 2:45 where I will go through the powerpoint with you. Either way is totally fine!
In closing . . .
In our district kick-off, Dr. Baker spoke about a focus this year on equity and inclusion, and shared a possible update to the Bellingham Promise Key Strategies . . .
We began talking about equity last year in our learning about Culturally Responsive Teaching, and there is a strong tie to the work we will be doing this year with Inquiry. Developing independent learners among populations of students who are historically marginalized is all about equity!
Below is a reminder of what Cultural Responsiveness is, and why it is so important to our work at Cordata . . .
This is an excerpt from a longer article, 5 Keys to Classroom Engagement.