Wednesday Words
May 8-16, 2019
Nurture-Personalize-Engage-Succeed
New Prospect Elementary School Staff Notes
This week's spotlight is on.................. Lawanda, Melody & Becca!
Staff Birthdays!
May 8th-Ivon Van Der Lende
May 18th-Alissa Arco
May 24th-Amy Kraselsky
Action Steps
UPCOMING EVENTS
May 10- Year End Party! (See below)
May 13-14 4th Grade Milestones makeup days
May 13-14 Special Education Case Manager Check Out
May 14th- Spring Musical Concerts: 8-8:45 (5th, 3rd, 2nd & Hubble); 9-9:45 (4th, 1st & K)
Spring Showcase: 5:00
May 16th- Book Drive Class Pick Up
May 17th-Field Day
End of Year Checklists
Device Round Up-Important!!!!
- On May 15th someone from the county will be in your room removing the interactive box from your projector. Your projectors will still work, but they will not be interactive.
- Someone will also come in your classroom on May 15th to box up all of your desktop computers. You need to get boxes from Cari for each desktop you have. They should be taped and ready for use.
- If you are leaving the district, you need to return your county issued laptop including bag, mouse and charger by May 23rd, which is the last day of school. This is a non-negotiable date.
Return to the media center: OSMO games, teacher iPads (if leaving or if you don’t want it over the summer), iPad adapters that connect to the projector, stereos/boom boxes, speakers, cassette recorders, extra portable projectors, books, videos, DVDs.
Last date for student devices: Wednesday, May 16th. Please make sure all devices are in your carts. iPad users….please ask students to (1) delete all videos and pictures; (2) close out all apps; (3) go to Safari and close out all webpages
Student Folders and Tests
This year we will not be passing up student folders to the next grade level. Instead- You will just hold onto any math tests/ quizzes that you have received back and keep them in a folder for your files. If a student has a reading test that is attached to passages and/or questions then you will hold onto those too. We want to hold on to anything that may be similar for the next group of kids and to be able to defend a grade if need be.
If a student has writing pieces they can take them home, and reading tests (ex- student responses and RUOS/WUOS rubric is fine for them to keep). BAS reports do not go home with students either.
Please let Diana Z know if you have any questions about this!
Grading Timeline
Grading Timeline:
May 23rd: End of 4th 9 weeks
May 15th: HAC is turned off. Teachers can begin loading grades
May 20th : Teachers load from grade book due by 8:00 AM
May 22nd: Grade Verifications Due by 3:00 PM
May 23rd: Report Cards go Home
In case you forgot:
To begin your report cards you must first complete the “Load from Gradebook” function. Press the A+ button beside the subject and then once in that subject you press “L” for load button in the upper right hand corner. Remember you can mass assign grades and comments! This will be great for things like levels. The instructions are on p. 28 in the TAC manual linked below. You DO NOT have to do this, but it can save time in the long run.
A few important reminders:
Use the Comment Codes shown below for Reading and Math!
Book Drive!! Book Pick Up for Your Class
This should take about 10 minutes for your kids to be able to come by and select a book for the summer! The schedule is below. If your class is not listed please come stop by when is convenient for you during one of these times- or let me know to bring some select books by to your room for your kids!
8:00-8:10.... King/ Shultz
8:10-8:20.... Hubble
8:10-8:20... Goodhew
8:20-8:30... Johnson
8:30-8:40... Arco
8:40-8:50... Boegel
8:50-9:00... Gillman
9:00-9:10.... Tesmer
9:10-9:20... Soluiman/Williams
9:20-9:30....
9:30-9:40... Beasley
9:40-9:50... Lamaster
9:50-10:00... Flaherty
10:00-10:10... May
10:10-10:20...
10:20-10:30... Estes
10:30-10:40... McCarthy
10:40-10:50... Stryker
10:50-11:00... Pham/Moore
11:00-11:10... Pitman
11:10-11:20... Wells
11:20-11:30... Thoss
11:30-11:40... Turturro
12:30-12:40... Widis
12:40-12:50... Stohr
12:50-1:00... Alterman
1:00-1:10... Smith/Pape
Please let Diana Z know if you have any questions about this!
Recycling is Currently Stopped
What does this mean for you?? For right now we cannot collect any more recycling at the school level. If we are able to schedule some more pick ups then we will let you know. Please do not just store boxes by our current recycling bins as they are at max capacity. Next year we will try to build in more pickups or try to come up with an alternate plan, but since this is new we did not know how much to expect. You all blew us away with your great recycling!
PSC's Are Coming Up!
PSCs will need to go home on Thursday May 23rd with the students report cards. We can start to print the PSCs on May 1st so I would suggest you get ahead of them so you do not need to worry about them in the last 2 weeks of school.
Here is a sample timeline:
- April 23-26 Grade Level Teams get together to determine a template for standards taught so far this year (at this point in the year, that is only needed for advanced since everything is covered for on level by now).
- April 29-May 10 Teachers enter data in Illuminate. (All teachers can be working at the same time now. J)
- May 10- Homeroom teachers create the PDF and submit to Zarzour for review digitally.
- May 14-17 Zarzour reviews and works with teachers to make any edits and allows you to print and stuff in the folders for the next week.
- May 23 PSCs go home with students in Weekly Folders- OR if a student is leaving early and will not be there on the first day, then you can send it home with them on their last day.
If you want to be ever earlier than this timeline, I will review PSCs starting May 1st so you can print them once they are reviewed. I will sen out a calendar invite so you know the deadline though of the last day to submit to me- May 10th.
End of Year Textbook Inventory!
Since an inventory was done on an RUOS and WUOS kits last year I will not be coming around to do an inventory on those.
For RUOS Kits, WUOS Kits, Math in Practice, Reading Strategies, Writing Strategies- You may hold onto them this summer to look through, pack them in boxes to be moved to the gym, or ask Diana Z to store them for you in the bookroom. Please know that if you take them home you are responsible for them to return. IF you are not returning to the same grade next year OR you are no longer going to be at NPE :( then you will turn all of those items into me. More information is to come if you are one of those people.
Tech Tips from the Vanguard Team
Play Mystery Animal with Google
"20 Questions" has been a tried and true game. In addition to being a fun way to pass time, "20 Questions" actually helps build important skills including making good questions, communicating clearly, and critical thinking to narrow down the possibilities. Now Google has provided a newfangled way to play this age-old game with the launch of their "Mystery Animal" activity.
Google will choose a random animal that you need to guess. You can speak aloud to ask a wide range of "Yes" and "No" questions such as:
· Are you a mammal?
· Do you have feathers?
· Do you live underground?
· Do you eat meat?
· Do you live in North America?
· And such…
For each question you ask, Google will answer aloud. Since no typing or reading is needed, this game can work wonderfully with young children as well.
This is a great opportunity for students to work on creating good questions that will help narrow down the animal. You will have 20 "yes" and "No" questions to try to determine what the mystery animal is. If you don't, Google will let you know what the animal was in the end.
https://mysteryanimal.withgoogle.com/ (then click on "preview it here.")