GRE Staff Newsletter
For the Week of April 15, 2019
Dear Team,
Sorry for the delay in getting this week's newsletter out. Hopefully you had a great Monday and are ready for a super week. Sometimes these short weeks can seem even longer than our normal 5 days. Be sure that you are checking in on each other and lifting one another up. Even with four days, we are packing in the learning.
Not sure if we have any golf fans out there but watching Tiger Woods win the Master's yesterday was one of the best stories of perseverance I've seen in a while. At 43, Tiger Woods won his 5th Master's. Since he is in the public eye we have seen him at his best and his worst. When you stop to think about the fact that he won his first Masters at the age of 21 only to experience so many highs and lows, it's pretty remarkable that he was able to bounce back and finish strong. Whether he retires now or continues to play, I will remember his face when he made his winning shot. I will remember watching him hug his family members and the look he had when the put the famous Green jacket on him. Take a second to think, how will your students remember you at the end of this year. Are you ending the year stronger than you started? Are your students? Let's keep at it GRE-our students are worth it!
Here's to a great week!
Kate
News to Share
1. OST testing continues tomorrow and Wednesday! We will have students in small groups throughout the building so it's really important that we practice our level 0 voice. Ginna sent out a very important testing email a few Wednesdays ago. Even if you are not giving the test, please read through it carefully to make sure that you are ready to support our students. Most importantly to note is the schedule change for Tuesday and Wednesday.
Specials Schedule will be as follows:
Kindergarten - normal time
First grade: 9:45 - 10:25
Second grade: 10:30 - 11:10
Third grade: 1:05 - 1:45
Fourth grade: 1:50 - 2:30
2. First Grade has their Informances this week so be sure to wish DeAnne and the First Grade teachers good luck!
3. Last week we had our BAS Calibration meeting. Thank you for your hard work during this important meeting. As a reminder, we will be using Spring BAS data to form our beginning of the school year Intervention Groups. Key points include:
-Intervention teachers will do EOY Assessments on students they have in group
-Classroom Teachers will test all of the remaining students, unless a teacher communicates with their Intervention Teacher that they would like to test a specific student
-If you find you can't meet this timeline, please reach out to Kate and we will come up with a way to support you
-Classroom teachers need to make sure you know students as a reader because you will be speaking to whether or not a students is put in an Intervention Group in the Fall
-You do not have to test a student who is reading a year or more above Grade Level (I do expect that you will write what level text you are working on with the student in Guided Reading on the Benchmark Assessment Letter, there will be further discussion if we need to revise the letter to simply say Reading Level instead of BAS Reading Level)
4. We have PAC tomorrow after school. Click here for a DRAFT Agenda and be sure to let your PAC representative know if you have any questions or concerns to share.
5. SLO data is due to me by April 26th. I've got several walkthroughs to do so as a reminder, if I come in with my laptop, it's a good sign it's your walkthrough.
6. Please make sure that you refer to Lynn Starner’s email regarding the Kiosk. The goal is for all certified staff members to login in and make sure that your years are correct. Should you have any questions please reach out to Claire Paul or Lynn Starner.
7. Do you know someone who you would like to honor for their outstanding contribution to our District? Please take the time to nominate them for a Golden Eagle Mentor Award. Click here for more information.
8. BWMS Service Day is coming! Check out the following information from Josh Frame. We are excited to announce our 4th Annual BWMS Service Day on Friday April 26th, 2019. Once again, we anticipate that Assisting Teachers at various schools within Big Walnut will be a popular choice. Please click here to sign up.
PLC Challenge
Week at a Glance
Monday, April 15- D Day; Happy Birthday Beth Grove!; First Grade Informance
Tuesday, April 16 A Day; OST Math
Wednesday, April 17 - B Day; OST Math
Thursday, April 18- C Day; Elementary Assessment Committee Meeting
Friday, April 19- No School
Upcoming Important Dates:
April 15 & 17 1st Grade Music Informances
April 16 & 17 3rd and 4th Grade Ohio State Test-Mathematics
April 19 No School
April 22 No School
April 25 Art Show
May
May 6-10 Staff Appreciation Week
May 7 Box Tops Due
May 9 PTO 6:30 pm
May 10 3rd Grade Field Trip
May 20 Field Day
May 21 Variety Show 9:30-10:30, 2-3; Volunteer Lunch
May 22 Eagle Ed/Discovery Day
May 23 Last Day of School-Clap Out for 4th Graders; Report Cards & Assess. Letters
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