The Black Bear Corner
May
#AIMHIGH
Hello Black Bears!
You all have done an amazing job supporting our students during this challenging time. Thank you for your patience, resilience, and commitment to our students and their families. I encourage you to take care of yourselves and your families during this time. I know that many of you are not just AMS teachers, but you have become "Homeschool" parent/teachers as well. Please find a good balance and take a break when needed. I really need your mental and physical health to remain well.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Clarke
eLearning/Distance Learning Plan
Instructional Practices
1. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR COVERING ALL STANDARDS!
2. If you have covered all of your standards, please reinforce skills that will be critical for the proceeding grade level.
3. Cross-reference standards that you have taught with the K-8 Critical Standards Chart (Attached) from now to the end of the year. Document this information in a format that is easiest for you. Considering we have completed incremental Standard Audits, you all should be ahead of the game.
4. You should be accessible to your students during normal school hours. This is not optional.
5. If you are not comfortable with Flipping the Classroom resources, please reach out to Mrs. Higgins, Mrs. Kudlas, Ms. Faith Plunkett, Mrs. Britt Lovelace or any of your peers. (Resources --- Screencastify, online videos, powerpoint, Edmodo, etc.)
6. Use resources approved by the district and available on Clever.
7. Standards updates will be required biweekly (Friday), with a final audit due Friday, May 15.
Please upload them into the Google Shared Drive(Austin Middle 2019-20) titled "AMS Standards Audits 2019-20". [CORE TEACHERS ONLY!]
Virtual Student Support Schedule
In an effort to avoid conflict with multiple subjects/teachers, we have generated a schedule for each department to provide virtual support in large group (if necessary) via GoogleMeet, Google Chat, etc. This does not include one-on-one or small group support based on your students' needs.
ELA - Monday
MA - Tuesday
SC - Wednesday
SS - Thursday
Building Entrance Guidelines... May 6
School access...
Monday, May 4 - Mrs. Clarke & Mrs. Sledge return to the building
Wednesday, May 6 - Admin, Mrs. Sledge, Secretaries & Office Aide (alternating days); and rotating staff members
Wednesday, May 6 - BTCs will return all testing materials to the main office.
Friday, May 8 - Building is CLOSED! No one is permitted to enter the building
NOTE: Only one person is allowed to make copies for everyone! Either Mrs. Sowell or Mrs. Williams will make copies. They will be wearing protective gear.
Guidelines for entering the building...
- Must NOT have a fever of 99.1
- A nurse will be assigned to buildings to check our temperature
- No more than 15 - 18 people may enter the building at any given time
- Please practice all guidelines set by the CDC.
- Please do not congregate or gather for socialization.
- Pick up necessary items and exit the building.
- Teachers are encouraged to wear mask and gloves.
NOTE: You are NOT mandated to come during your allotted time.
Address Verifications for 7th Graders only!
The following stipulations are required for address verifications:
- "Current" utility bill/receipt
- Parents' name must be on the document
- Service address must be included
AMS Pick-up & Distribution Schedule - May 18...
Progress Monitoring (i-Ready Diagnostic)
Progress Monitoring May 4th -May 14th
(3rd through 8th-grade students only. Students on the Alabama Alternate Pathway will not use either of these assessments)
Each student should take ONE of the following assessments between May 4th and May 14th.
- iReady diagnostic (Reading and Math)
- may be used as the progress monitoring tool for SPE students who have been participating in the iReady program before we started virtual school.
- SPE teachers will administer
- advantage to using iReady- Computer reads the math portions
- Scantron (Reading and Math)
- will be used for all students not taking the iReady diagnostic (3rd through 8th grade).
- Regular ed teachers will administer Scantron reading and most math assessments.
- SPE teacher will administer ONLY Scantron Math portion and ONLY if the student needs the Math read aloud.
SPE teachers will receive a spreadsheet Wednesday, April, 29th to designate which students need Scantron and which students need iReady to forward to you and your BTC.
AMS Credit Recovery Plan
Students will halt their current coursework and begin Edmentum Credit Recovery beginning Monday, May 4. *** I know this may overlap with Scantron; however, we must begin Credit Recovery as soon as possible. The first phase of CR will be May 4 – May 22.
Parents will be contacted by the counselors to inform them that their child is now enrolled in Credit Recovery [phone call will be documented & explanation to the parents will be given]; No cost to the parent at this time. In addition, letters will be drafted and mailed to the parents containing all necessary information [CR, Instructor's name, dates, non-cost, etc.].
Mrs. Higgins will draft parent letter.
Mrs. Higgins has generated the classes for each subject.
The students will take a pre-assessment for each unit.
An Edmentum Credit Recovery team has been established and trained. The team is as follows:
ELA - Praytor/Sutherlin/Holcomb
MA - McBrayer
SC - Johnson
SS - Hill/Dudley, A.
A certified teacher will be added to the courses to provide support as needed. If the CR team member is certified, she will monitor the students' progress and provide academic support. Otherwise, a pre-selected certified teacher has been added to provide support.
Students may complete the course as early as their pace allows. A time frame for completion and a schedule for working will be given to the students [12-3pm].
Once a student completes the coursework via Edmentum, the counselors will generate a summer school session on the student's transcript and a Credit Recovery grade will be entered. The students are ONLY permitted to earn a 70 maximum for the course.
Critical Standards
All standards should be updated bi-weekly. Please remember to do so!
Million Word Reader Update...
As of April 26, our students have taken over 16K Accelerated Reader Tests. Please congratulate our students!
46 Million Words Readers
225,408,048 Million Words Read
15,960 Test passed
82% Accuracy
Congratulations to our NEWEST Million Word Readers!!!!
Emely Alonso
Sydney Brown
Clayton Dotson
Giselle Gonzalez
Vicky Canuto-Gutierrez
Jerslyn Fuller
Eli King
Cam Mahathey
Bailey McClung
Jhoana Pablo
Lyndi Perkins
Anaelisa Hernandez Ralios
Hannah Richardson
Jaidyn Wiley
Please encourage the students to continue reading and share our numbers with them.
Way to encourage our students ELA teachers!
Let's go BLACK BEARS!!!
Austin Middle School
Email: ams@dcs.edu
Location: 2715 Danville Road Southwest, Decatur, AL, USA
Phone: (256) 552-4622