LAW Staff Bi-Weekly Update
Feb. 10- Mar. 3
Hello all,
When reading this newsletter, please make sure you click on the newsletter to read it in another browser. If you don't you are not getting the complete newsletter and Courtney and I have some pretty awesome pictures of ourselves at the end and we wouldn't want you to miss those!
Well we have one more week until a well deserved February Vacation. When we return, it will already be the beginning of March! So let's push the pedal to the metal!
Historically, February and March can show an upswing in student behaviors. Could it be the long winter months? Possibly! It might be a good idea to review the behavior expectations again. Please be more vigilant in those unstructured areas such as hallways, when many students are getting ready for the next transition and lining up outside the cafe, to name a few. Remember, staff on recess duty should stay with students until they enter the lunchroom. We all get complacent and may need to restart the structured expectations again. We want to make sure our students are always safe from reckless student physical and verbal misbehavior that could be avoided.
I have embedded the End of the Year Calendar below as a link. Please fill in any events you may have planned. Make sure they do not conflict with another person's plans. If you are planning an event where parents are able to come in and visit, please consider not doing everything in May or June...use April! We have embedded the MCAS schedule already and it is also available in a button below.
Congratulations to all our LAW staff members. Although our data meetings are held mainly with general educators, special educators and specialist in attendance, it takes the whole school to help our students be successful. We are grateful for all that you do for our students in making them more academically, emotionally and universally successful. Check out some of the trending outcomes mid-year! We are trending in the right direction!
We hope you all get some rest, do something fun and enjoy family and friends during your break next week!
Thanks,
Beth and Courtney
End of Year Calendar 22-23
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wHFoxh129kl1aGWnilSPi3OQUOlK3xsOTyO0HtpSuE8/edit?usp=sharing
Maybe next year Pats!
Important Dates to Remember
Current:
Feb. 14 - Valentines Day - Wear something Pink/Red
Feb. 14 - DEI Meeting - Room across from Hillier room
Feb. 15 - School Comm. Meeting MS 6:30 p.m.
Feb. 15 - SSG Meeting 9:00 a.m.
Feb. 15 - PBIS meeting
Feb. 16 - Pre-K Virtual Info. Meeting 4-5 p.m. virtual
Feb. 16 - Kindergarten Info. Meeting 10-11 a.m. virtual
Feb. 16- Curriculum Team Meetings
Feb. 17 - Winter Carnival (click in link for schedule)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XqhvhITOM9QXd3y_SliB2gl15pSfMsc2FUscz_DI3Jo/edit?usp=sharing
On the horizon:
Feb. 20- 24 - Feb. Vacation
Feb. 27 - Kindergarten Reg. Opens for fall 2023 on website- electronically
Feb. 28 - Special Ed. meeting - (moved due to vacation) 1:30
March 2 - Marionette Show @ LAW 9-10 Gr. K-2 and 10:30-11:30 Gr. 3-5
March 3 - Math Team Meeting - Tech Rm 2:30
March 6- 10 - Literacy/Math Week Celebrations
This was sent to parents about Literacy/Math Week https://www.smore.com/tr3yc
March 6 - Community Reader Day 9:15
Professional Obligations: (check Elementary Assessment Calendar for other obligations)
Team Meetings:
Moving to Week of March 13th will post dates/times in next staff update on March 5th
Marionette Show @ LAW 9:00- 10:00 K-2 and 10:30 - 11:30 Gr. 3-5 March 2nd
Please mark your calendars.
Winter Benchmark results are looking good! Congratulations to the LAW Staff for moving our students in the right direction! It takes the whole school to make this happen! A celebration is in order!
Check out this trending data! We still have work to do - let's get our students over the goal line (Superbowl reference)!
STAR Math Gr. 2-5 Data Trends
Dibels Gr. K-5 comparison BOY to MOY
Star Reading Gr. 2-5 Data Trends
Mrs. Desrocher and her EL students made this wonderful "100 Compliments of LAW School" mural!
School-Wide Assembly Details - Feb. 28th from drop off until 8:55 a.m
On Tuesday Feb. 14th - this week's message - Student of the Month Awards
Students will congregate in the gym for our school-wide assembly. Students will sit according to grade level. Staff will join us at 8:45 a.m. The assembly will last approx. 10 minutes. When students enter, they will keep their backpacks and coats on in order to move quickly out of the gym once the assembly is over. Please continue to remind students of the message throughout the week. We hope students will begin to adopt these important work habits into their daily routines.
Grade 5- You can decide whether you want to go back to class and put things away or go directly to specials. You will have to make sure you take attendance.
SLC students attending- I will leave this up to those who run the SLC rooms.
Teachers: Please take a few minutes on Monday to remind students to gather in the gym when they arrive and to keep their coats and backpacks on.
What a cool way to use digital techniques to feature famous Black Artist - great job Mrs. Goddard!
Literacy/ Math Week March 6-10 Details
We will also be having a Math Night during that week and Mrs. Noll and her Math Leadership Team will be sharing more details as the date approaches.
List of events for the week: (I will send out a separate Smores with specific resources and more details as we get closer to the week)
1. Marionette Performance is on March 2nd - 9:15 @ MS
2. Book Fair - March 6-10 (evening fair - March 8th)
3. Community Readers' Day - March 6th (Sandra will assign a community member to your room 9:15-9:30)
LAW Family Math Night 5-7 p.m .
4. Poem in Your Pocket - March 7th
5. Vocabulary Parade - March 9th (if you have better ideas on list of vocab words let me know)
- Grade K - Words that have to do with Weather and Seasons
- Grade 1 - Words that have to do with Plants and Animals
- Grade 2- Words that have to do with Geography and World Maps
- Grade 3 - Words that have to do with Math
- Grade 4 - Words that have to do with Science
- Grade 5 - Words that have to do with Social Studies
5. March Book Madness - ongoing
Suggestions for Grade Levels to Do on Your Own
1. Schedule Mystery Reader in Classroom - Parents
2. Book Buddy events between grade levels
Due to the events falling early in March, I will putting something out to parents prior to the March Parent Newsletter, so they have enough notice regarding the events. The Parts of Speech parade was amazing last year and I want to give parents/students enough time to come up with a costume for the event.
I do, we do, they do, you do!
Mrs. Noll's PBIS Update
Student of the Month Update
It’s hard to believe that we are already almost halfway through February. This month we are focusing on student leadership. Each homeroom teacher will nominate one student. Please submit by February 16th. Additionally, we are asking UA teachers to collaboratively nominate one student per grade, and each Special Education Teacher to nominate one student (across the grade/grade levels you service). This will increase our student awards, and will also acknowledge that all teachers are working collaboratively to identify the same character trait through the month. Please reach out to Courtney or a member of the PBIS team with any questions. Please use this document to identify the student you are nominating.
With vacation, we need to identify our Students’ of the Month early on. We are hoping to invite family members for each nominated student to attend the ceremony. Our SOTM ceremonies will take place on the last Tuesday of the month during our weekly whole-school meeting. Please add your student name and letter by Thursday, February 16th so that we have ample time to alert families.
PBIS Update
Thank you to our staff for our continued dedication to our PBIS program. At this time of year, we often see a dip in “student buy in.” Teachers have worked so creatively with different incentives including lunch with the teacher, reading to a younger classroom, indoor recess with a teacher, and more. Thank you to our staff for going above and beyond for our students. Remember, if you are looking for different ways to get your students motivated, you can refer to this document for ideas.
Friendly reminder to homeroom teachers to please make sure that all minor behavior slips come back signed within 1-2 days. Maintain the white copy in your classroom and contact families if they are not returned. If you run into a problem, please reach out to administration for support. Courtney will make sure that bus slips and Major Slips are returned. As we are submitting the slips each month, you may choose to use the behavior slip organization chart to track the count. Once a student receives 3 minor slips (for the year), a parent meeting is set up.
Math Update
Our math team has been hard at work planning a family math night for Wednesday, March 8th. We will be putting together an informational presentation and games for families to participate in to practice math skills. The math night will run from 5:00-7:00. If you would like to volunteer, please fill out your name on this form. We would love to have you join!
Panther Leadership Team
Members will be working on the Winter Carnival for the month of February. Students will meet on Tuesday, Feb. 14th @ 3:25 in the gym and move to the cafe once PPU students are clear. We will be assigning students to work the Winter Carnival throughout that day. I will provide you with a schedule soon of students times/assignments for the Winter Carnival. Some students have actually designed new games for our carnival this year! We are looking forward to the fun.
In addition, we be watching a video on student leadership and packing up the food donations from Kindness Week.
New Game Created by a PLT Member!
Winter Carnival Information
- The carnival will have approximately 10-12 events that students can choose from within the 35 minute window allotted to each classroom. They may not get to everything. Some events are more appropriate for older students vs. younger students.
- Students will receive a "score card" and a ticket to the carnival which will be used for the raffle. These two items will be in your mailboxes this week. Please have them put their first name/last initial and grade on the top of the score card and the ticket and bring both items to the carnival. They will use the score card to collect "PAWs" stickers each time they accomplish a feat at each of the events.
- We ask that you split the younger students into groups of 4-5 and stagger their path through the carnival so there are not too many students waiting at the same event. Older students should be able to wander through and pick their own events to attend. It is solely up to you as to how you want to manage your students during the time they are visiting. This is our first time doing this so we hope the students make it to all the events. It may be wise to warn them before they arrive that they may not make it to all the events.
- Please be prompt - see schedule below.
- We have put out a sign-up genius for parent volunteers so hopefully there will be plenty of help to assist students through the carnival.
- I will be scheduling PLT members to assist throughout the day. I'll send a schedule before the event.
- Students can also enjoy a snowcone treat. After their carnival time is up, have your students move to the snowcone area in the Extended Day room to enjoy a snowcone.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XqhvhITOM9QXd3y_SliB2gl15pSfMsc2FUscz_DI3Jo/edit?usp=sharing
New Literacy Resource Activities and Lessons - Originally designed for Virtual Learning but can be adapted to in-person learning. Check it out below!
English Language Learner's Information
Access Info. From Audrey Desrochers below
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ibcsDG951CDnIa1-fkatYJGT22yJtDZ9KxFiloLqlGk/edit?usp=sharing
Extended Day News
Teacher Resources
LAW Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Mission Statement
At the Lura A. White Elementary School we value diversity, equity, and inclusion. We celebrate the uniqueness of each individual, embrace diverse backgrounds and respect differing points of view to build a strong inclusive community. As we learn together, we draw on the differences in who we are.