Malabar Weekly Updates
April 4-April 8, 2022
Mindful Monday, April 4
Malabar Spirit Day-Wear you Malabar T-shirt!
Theatre Arts Teacher-Auditorium
Sixth Grade Students Leave to Clear Creek Science Camp
Monday Morning Assembly-Zoom Link: https://lausd.zoom.us/j/81211760535
10:00-11:00 a. m. Coffee with the Principal
1:15-2:30 p.m. Lead Team Meeting
2:45-4:15 p.m. Springboard After-School Intervention
3:00-4:00 p.m. Math Parent Workshop-Auditorium
Grati-Tuesday, April 5
Student Dismissal at 1:30 p.m.
9:00-10:00 a.m. 3rd Grade Breakthrough Meeting
10:00 a.m. Parent Workshop
1:40-2:40 p.m. Tuesday PD
Wellness Wednesday, April 6
12:00-2:30 p.m. SSPT
Thoughtful Thursday, April 7
Visual Arts Teacher-K. Ng
2:45-3:45 p.m. School Site Council
Springboard Intervention 4:00-4:30 on Zoom
Springboard Parent Workshop: 4:30-5:30 on zoom
Fun Friday, April 8
8:00-3:00 p.m. COVID Mobile Testing Unit-Auditorium
College Spirit Day-Wear a college T-shirt!
Progress Monitoring Day (Intensive)-How are students responding to our instruction?
9:00-10:00 a.m. BH Operations Meeting-M. Gutierrez
2:00-2:25 p.m. Student Council
2:00 p.m. 6th Grade Students return from Clear Creek Science Camp
Upcoming Dates to Remember
March 7-May 13 Physical Fitness Testing Window-5th Grade
March 1-April 22 Summer School Teacher Application Window
Saturday, April 2 Cesar Chavez Beautification Day 9:00-12:00 p.m.
April 11-15 Spring Break
Saturday, April 23-Teacher PD/Planning 9:00-12:00 p.m.
Updates from our Intervention Coordinator-Vanessa Chavez
Literacy Academy Observation
- Most teachers were working with a small group
- When students were not working with the teacher, most students were working on Amplify, RealWorks, Read Theory, and Benchmark
- 50% of classrooms had focus chart and schedule posted
Wondering:
How often are we checking for understanding on Reading Apps to continue to support student's needs?
Is the independent assignment differentiation among groups and connected to area of concern?
I will be placing an Observation Checklist in your box. If you have any questions or need support please let me know.
Thank you!
Reminders from our Intervention Coordinator-Lisa Martinez
SMALL GROUP DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION
The importance of Progress Monitoring is to guide our small group instruction. Analyzing the data will help to plan for the differentiated instruction in your small groups. As we walked through the Literacy Academies last Thursday, there were many positive structures and routines in place. Our Community of Schools director had concerns on how the differentiated instruction is explicitly being delivered. Let’s revisit our planning for small group instruction by analyzing our DIBELS Progress Monitoring Data. I will be scheduling Data Chats with teachers to discuss an action plan. Thank you for all your hard work and dedication. Our work continues to support our students!
Please see me for any questions/concerns.
Notes from our STEAM Instructional Coach-Angela Muro
Hello colleagues,
We are a week away from Spring Break! Yay! Like The Little Engine That Could, keep chanting “I think I can. I think I can.” We’ve got this. I know that everyone is busy right now. We have Open House, CFA’s, progress monitoring, Literacy Academies to tweak, testing, more testing, etc., etc., etc. Like you do not have enough to do, I am asking you to do two more things. Bear with me.
1. Please take five minutes to clean up or set up your individual School Loop page. I know, you’re thinking “What the heck?” Hear me out. Only two staff members have updated School Loop pages: Mrs. Gutierrez, and Ms. Cazares. Oh yeah, and me. We are a STEAM Certified School which means that we have more to offer than non-STEAM Certified schools. If potential families are deciding where to enroll their children come August, and they come across our School Loop pages that have posts dated from the 2020-21 school year on back, parents might get the wrong impression. I am not asking for a full-blown fancy page. Consider removing dated items like virtual schedules, assignments and Zoom links. Add a picture or Bitmoji of yourself, post a picture or two of students working in your classroom, or your schedule. Add some links to apps you use frequently. Add the “Morning Assembly” link or anything else you deem helpful or important. For some parents, it is easier to access our School Loop pages than our Schoology pages. Let's provide our families with another access point to all that info we want/must share with them. If you need help or refreshers, here is the link to Mr. Corona’s “how-to videos”
https://malabar.schoolloop.com/howto
2. Now that our “School Beautification” must be rescheduled, please find a way to join our “Day of Service.” I had not been down to the lower yard in months because of my injuries, but when I came up the stairs the other day, I noticed all the work that Ms. Cazares had been doing in the Reading Garden. Wow! The place looks great! Thank you, Ms. Cazares. She has been coming in early, staying late, coming in on the weekends to get our grounds to look beautiful. We should follow her example and donate our time, even if it is just a few hours on a Saturday. You know the old saying, “Many hands make light the work.” Let’s sign up for a project. Let’s invite our kiddos and their families to join us. Let's offer our students incentives like a “No Homework Pass” for attending. Let’s show our community our school pride! !Sí se puede!
“We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community.”-Cesar Chavez
COVID Updates
In preparation for the return of staff and students from Spring break, everyone will be given a rapid antigen test the week of April 4. Everyone will need to take the antigen test 48 hours before returning on Monday, April 18. If the test is negative, you will report to school. If you are positive, you will upload the test onto the Daily Pass Dashboard and stay home.
Antigen tests will be delivered to your classroom. Please distribute to students on Thursday. I will send a Blackboard connect message to parents so they can check student backpacks. For our kindergarten students, teachers may want to give the antigen test to the adult picking up the child.
The safety of all staff and students continues to be a high priority for everyone. Please follow all protocols and together we will help each other stay safe.
Progress Monitoring on Fridays
Focus on Classroom Observations-Standard 3: Delivery of Instruction
As we visit classrooms, we will be focusing on the following two elements:
3b2. Discussion Techniques and Student Participation Techniques are used to ensure that all students share their thinking around challenging questions
Effective Practice: Teacher uses intentional, differentiated strategies to engage all students in discussion, attempting gradual release from teacher-directed to student initiated conversation. Students participate in intellectually challenging discussions.
3c1. Standards-Based Projects, Activities and Assignments Standards-aligned learning activities cognitively engage students in the lesson
Effective Practice: Instructional projects, activities and assignments are aligned to the instructional standards, require higher levels of thinking, are culturally relevant, and may include real-world application. Most students are cognitively engaged, constructing their own understanding and exploring content. The learning activities are differentiated, as necessary, to meet the learning needs of student subgroups.
This week the focus will be on Literacy Academies. Our instructional expectations for literacy academies are the following:
- Teacher will be working with a small group of students targeting a specific skill.
- Students should be grouped by target skill.
- Progress monitoring should be evident.
- Independent work should support target skill for the student.
- Students should be using online platforms to monitor student comprehension and increase fluency such as ReadWorks, Raz kids, Amplify Reading, ReadTheory.
Please reach out to Lisa or Vanessa for any assistance.
Preparing for Spring Break
Enjoy your Spring Break!
Malabar Street ES
Email: margarita.gutierrez@lausd.net
Website: https://malabar.schoolloop.com
Location: 3200 Malabar Street, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Phone: (323) 261-1103