Friday Focus
For Information and Inspiration
Our Collective Work
Consistent Curriculum Implementation In All Classrooms
Meaningful Feedback to Students and Teachers
Attendance Practices that Improve Regular Attendance
Social Emotional Learning
Weekly Message
I hope you are still soaking up summer fun. At school, I have been spending time getting to know Lindsay and Vicki. I can't believe how talented these two women are! We were able to hire our new Principal Secretary. Thank you to Kim for helping to interview candidates and select Yvett Rojo. She is coming to us from Oak Hills where I worked with her for two years. She is organized, efficient and extremely friendly. I can't wait for you to see how she manages her computer desktop. Her methods are genius! She will start on Monday.
You may have noticed that work has begun on our track. It is hoped that it will be finished by the time of Lap-a-thon on October 4th. PTO is planning to have a dedication ceremony at the Carnival.
I got so excited when I was preparing the weekly bulletin because it includes the first two weeks of school! As staff have been stopping by all summer and we chat, I feel confident that we are going to have a great year. I can tell how dedicated you are to your students and community. I can't wait to start the adventure of the 2019/2020 school year with each of you!
Warm regards,
Jennifer
Staffing News
District office has begun watching our numbers. Right now, kindergarten is very high. We will continue to monitor this. There is no budget to hire teachers into the classrooms that are large as there has been in previous years. Instead, a teacher could be moved to us from a school where numbers are lower OR we may have to make a plan internally to shift staff. I should know more about this next Friday. As I said in my email to classroom teachers, if anyone would like to volunteer to go to Kindergarten, you can email me. I will use volunteers first and then I will go to Plan B which will be reassigning a teacher from another grade level.
Summer Pictures!!!!
Welcome Letters
Work Party with Lindsay and Jennifer
Hi All,
It's been so nice to meet some of you this past week!
On Monday, we are having a work room clean up party from 1:00-3:00. We can bring some snacks and drinks for anyone who wants to join us! In addition to making a work room space work for you all, we want to make sure we have an accurate inventory of materials we have as well as materials that might need to be ordered.
Workrooms can be a central hub of a school, and we want to make sure ours meets your needs.
Best, Lindsay
Schedule
Middle School Meeting
Planning a UOS Lesson in 10 Minutes
1. Read the "In This Session" section and the teaching point.
2. A teaching point has 3 parts (skill, strategy, and purpose), name them to yourself.
What - skill
Today I’m going to teach you how to write a lead
How - strategy
When writers write a lead, they ask a question or tell a surprising fact
Why - purpose
It’s so important to write a big, bold lead because it hooks the reader
3. Skim the bold headings and think What will I say? What will students do?
4. Match the instructional method to the students: use a demonstration, a guided practice, an explanation with example, or an inquiry. As you move up this sequence, you remove scaffold and add rigor.
Demonstration
Watch me as I…
You demonstrate the strategy
When I’m crafting a lead, first I ...., then I …,
Guided Practice
Teacher says the step, but everybody does it
Everyone try a lead right now, try another one, which one works best?
Explanation with example
Do you see how this student tried 3 different leads and put a star next to the one that worked best? Great, now you try it.
Inquiry
Look at these three stories, let’s see if we can find how these authors hook their readers.
Tips for Prepping a Minilesson
The minilesson is just an invitation
The spirals are a manuscript, not a script
Spend more time prepping small group and conferring
10 minutes to teach, should be 10 minutes to prep
It's not going to hurt the kids if you read the spiral, but try to make them feel and sound like you. Don't be afraid to try your own stories and examples.
Getting kids to independent practice is the most important thing - Independent Practice is high leverage for moving students