the RAH
March 19-23, 2018
from Bret-
Feedback about the March Elementary Learning meeting goes here.
Erica shared this great tech integration/Math IC presentation with the Learning Coaches. Feel free to use in your grade level team meetings and call me if you have questions about it.
Friendly reminder to send me the numbers of 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders eating at the ballpark for the Cardinals field trip ASAP. The cost of the lunch is $2.45.
The deadline to sign up for the June coaching training is Monday, March 19th. The sign-up is here.
AP Cadre will meet on March 22 at KAC. Shawn Dilday will be joining us to discuss the capital improvement process.
Delta team also meets on March 22 so please get agenda items to your feeder pattern representative ASAP.
from Brady Quirk-
During the week of March 26-30, the Special Services Department will recognize our first-ever Process Coordinator Appreciation Week! As you well know, our district process coordinators are an invaluable resource for information and compliance – they are the link between the schools, the Special Services department, and the community. They help us problem-solve, communicate effectively with parents, and provide the most current information on facilitating an effective special education process. Please take a moment during the week of March 26-30 to say THANK YOU to these crucial staff members. The department will be honoring them with a luncheon on Wednesday the 28th.
Learning Support and Partnerships-
Planning continues for Back to School 2018.
Many of you have expressed an interest in being a part of a site-based distribution led by representatives from James River, High Street, Second Baptist, Victory Mission, the Council of Churches, Crosslines, Freshwater Church and Life 360.
The current plan is for teachers to complete their class list of materials for purchase on the spreadsheet found at this link. Partners would then sign up to complete the list, purchase materials, box them, and deliver them to sites at a date determined by the building leader.
We are working with Stephen Hall to craft a series of communications to engage the community in this move to more adequately support teachers and students.
Upcoming Learning Support Events
March 5 - TenMarks Training (8-11 & 12-3)
March 8 - Split Grade Level Classroom Reconnect (8:30-11:30)
March 21 - K-12 PE CDC Meeting (8-11)
March 21 - K-5 PE CDC Meeting (12-3)
March 22 - K-5 Ele. Literacy Master Learner - Yr. 1 (8-11)
March 22 - K-5 Ele. Math Master Learner - Yr. 1 (12:30-3:30)
March 29 - K-5 Master Learner - Yr. 2 (8-11)
March 29 - K-5 Math Master Learner - Yr. 2 (12-3)
April 3 - Problem Based Math (8-3)
April 4 - K-2 Curriculum Writing (8-11)
April 4 - 3 5 Curriculum Writing (12-3)
April 5 - K-12 Master Learner Yr. 3 (8-3)
April 11 & 13 - Canvas for PE (8-3)
Guided Math Connection
We are in the process of prioritizing the Missouri Learning standards for mathematics in K-5. Your building representatives from CDC should have brought back information to present with your staff to review and provide comments on the proposed standards.
Here is the presentation that can be used with staff to review the criteria and background information regarding priority and supporting standards. The due date to have this complete is March 9th. If your building has not had the opportunity to review these yet, this might be a great item to add to your site agenda on March 9th.
In order to streamline this process while still allowing for feedback from individual teachers and sites, we created a Standards Committee with representatives from multiple sites and grade-levels. Those teachers spent hours prioritizing standards based on the criteria in the presentation above. These were a rough draft of thoughts that we then turned out to CDC to share with sites. The committee will meet again on March 20th to review all comments and participate in vertical discussions to ensure continuity and endurance that will allow all students to be successful and prepared for the next grade level.
Once the priority standards have been established, the standards team will update the rubrics and align PrBL tasks and differentiated activities for each. This is an ongoing process that we hope will support all teachers with differentiation in math workshop while providing a deeper understanding of their grade-level standards.
Master Learner Numeracy News - Next Year
Master Learner Numeracy will be changing from a K-5 overall focus to a grade-level focus in numeracy next year. There will be separate meetings for each grade-level. Teachers who were involved in Master Learner Numeracy this year may participate again next year as our meetings will be focused on:
Deep dive into grade-level standards
Content training focused on grade-level standards (differentiation)
Best practices in numeracy instruction
Implementation of Math Workshop
We will be sending out more details on this by the end of the year.
Literacy Connection
Writing Prompt and Scoring Guide Updates
Teachers provided feedback regarding our current district writing prompts and and district writing scoring guides during our Super CDC meeting. Teams of teachers are using this feedback to revise, rewrite, and provide resources for teachers across the district. They will be available for teachers this summer.
Based on teacher feedback, the majority of teachers would like to continue using the format of a district writing prompt at the beginning of the year and the same district writing prompt at the end of the year for one genre. Each grade level prefers to assess students using the following genres:
Kindergarten--Narrative
First Grade--Narrative
Second Grade--Narrative
Third Grade--Opinion
Fourth Grade--Opinion
Fifth Grade--Opinion
In addition to the beginning of the year and end of the year district prompt, we will provide teachers with prompts and resources for the other genres. This will allow teachers to use a writing prompt as a formative assessment and a summmative assessment for each genre they teach. These additional prompts will not be required, but will help teachers as they plan their instruction.
MAP Resources
As a reminder, there are many MAP resources to help students prepare for the state assessment. These resources will allow teachers to practice using the online tools and view sample released items. The resources can be found in Canvas>CIA>Assessments>K-5>MAP Resources.SPS Board Meeting
Tuesday, Mar 20, 2018, 05:30 PM
1359 East Saint Louis Street, Springfield, MO, USA
from J-
I enjoyed some time off with my family during spring break. I have a list of things that require my attention, but readily acknowledge things may slip through. Please call me out or send me a reminder if you are aware of anything that hasn't been done yet.
There was a lot of information in this newsletter. Please take the time to review it again, if needed. And I'll leave you with this below. Have an amazing 4th quarter 1st week!