Anchor Weekly
A newsletter for Alta Vista Staff~Week of April 24, 2017
Don't Forget! Next Week's Calendar
- 3rd/4th Grade Math Blitz with Mr. A (Region 12) on Monday, April 24 **Library Closed**
- CDAT Meeting on Monday, April 24 at 4:00 pm at WISD Conference Room **Sign up in Eduphoria**
- Campus Needs Assessment Groups Meet (instead of Faculty Meeting) on Wednesday, April 26 **CNA Responses due to Helton by 5:00 pm from each committee**
- ELL Teacher Input Forms due to Helton on Wednesday, April 26
- Math PLCs (Origo Training) on Thursday, April 27 **Library Closed**
- Send home report cards on Thursday, April 27
- 2nd Grade Field Trip to Innerspace Caverns on Friday, April 28
- Flashback Friday on Friday, April 28
Coming Up: Safety Drills coming soon; Mrs. Logan's Birthday (5/1), STAR Celebration (5/4), Cake Decorating (5/5), STAAR (5/8-5/10), PK Roundup (5/16), Family Science Night (5/23), Field Day (5/26)
Math PLCs
Bring your Box of Facts/Dominoes and something to take notes!
Conscious Discipline Update
Our school commitment for this week is "I will be responsible in the cafeteria by keeping food, milk, and juice on my tray or in my mouth; I will not throw, spit or flip food or beverages."
Next Book Study presented by 5th Grade on Wednesday, May 17. Read Chapter 10...almost done!
Flashback Friday
1st Grade: 1.2C and 1.3D/1.3F
3rd, 4th, 5th Grade: Focus TEKS From STAAR Review Plans
Reading Focus TEKS: Coming soon from Mrs. Boggess
A Message From Ms. Freeman
As the end of the year approaches and behaviors are increasing, the first thought is to take recess as a form of punishment for negative behaviors that are occurring in the classroom. The bottom line is that students need movement and sensory input to learn, attend and regulate their behavior and they get these movement and sensory opportunities at recess. Think about your "repeat offenders." Are they the ones who frequently demonstrate disruptive fidgety and inappropriate behaviors? Are they the ones that are likely to be sitting out at recess or be assigned to walk laps alone during recess. Here are some options for students to get more not less of what they need to regulate their bodies and behavior at school.
1. Walking laps around the playground with the teacher.
2. Cleaning up litter before they are allowed to participate in recess.
3. Choose designated motor or sensory activities to complete before joining friends on the playground. (These can also be used if there becomes an issue on the playground and the student needs to take a break from being around other students)
- Dance for 2 minutes
- Touch your toes 10 times
- 4 situps
- 6 Jumping Jacks
- Jog in Place for 1 minute
- March in Place for 2 minutes
- Reach Up High 10 times
- 5 pushups
4. Losing a specific (favorite) piece of playground equipment or specific activity. (e.g. no kickball today, no swings today)
5. Designate an area in the recess area as the designated "break space" and students complete movement activity. (Use sidewalk chalk to draw a pattern that they must walk, hop or skip over)
For students who are repeat offenders, set a goal with them during their most problematic time of the day and then if they reach the goal, have them create a game that they may lead during the first half of recess for the entire class. They could create a new form of kickball or relay race games, etc.
I hope that these are helpful suggestions. If you need help with the implementation or have questions about any of these activities, please don't hesitate to ask.
Textbooks
Science Fair!
Ms. Sparks' students will be displaying their learning from a science PBL on trash, so make sure to check out those projects.
Here is the link to my Google Drive folder with lots of resources for science fair. It includes a rubric with expectations for the displayed project and a template that students can use to plan and create their science fair project. Let me know if you have any questions.
Google Drive Folder: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0BzPtZw5xT-LdTHBCT2VKN2xtRWc?usp=sharing
MakerSpace
Sea Change is a wordless picture book, but tells the story of a girl who inspired a whole town to clean up the beach through her creation of art work made from beach trash.
All the Way to the Ocean is a conversation between two boys about the effects of throwing trash in storm drains (because all drains lead to the ocean).
The projects are not grade level specific because they can be easily adapted for your grade and the rigor of your TEKS. The two options are:
-Create an Earth Day poster using "found" objects and trash.
-Design a new ocean animal using "found" objects and trash. Write about the animal's adaptations, inherited and learned traits. Draw a picture of it's food chain.
Lesson plans can be found here: https://docs.google.com/a/wacoisd.org/document/d/1eZh1GhvyzeC2AVGMZOjdtY944lCD7oA1TrzHruTmTxI/edit?usp=sharing
Summer Professional Development
The link for Region 12 is: https://txr12.escworks.net/ Make sure you create an account/login using your WISD credentials.
Waco ISD has started listing PD in Eduphoria Workshop. You can currently sign up for some of the following opportunities:
- GT Basic 30 Hour Training OR GT Update
- ESL Academy (Highly recommended for all teachers that do not have their certification in order to become certified)
- TEA/Region 12 Math and Reading Academy (You need to sign up in Eduphoria AND through Region 12!)
- Waco ISD ELAR Academy (Gr 3-5)
- Gretchen Bernabei Writing Training
Check back regularly for more updates, including district math training.
From the Captain (aka Mrs. Logan)
Its critical to continue planning engaging lessons that minimally rely on worksheets. Besides the behavior/engagement issues that often come with work worksheets, they also use an extreme amount of paper. At the current rate, we will not have money in our general budget to purchase paper for the start of the new school year.
Students should continue to meet their Istation minute weekly goals based on their tier in Istation. Some grades have minimal or no usage for April.
TTESS Information
We have started TTESS Summative Conferences. The process is a little different this year and is detailed below:
Steps for Summative Conference
1. Teacher completes Part II Goal Plan of the TTESS Embedded Goal-Setting & Self-Assessment form in Eduphoria (Past Due Sunday, April 2)
2. Teacher gathers evidence for Domain 4 scoring to be presented to appraiser (Past Due Sunday, April 2). Review TTESS Rubric for understanding of how Domain 4 is rated: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzPtZw5xT-Lddk5RNDY3cjctRHc
3. Teacher has End of Year Conference with appraiser to discuss current progress towards goals, Domain 4 evidence, and set goals for next year.
4. Appraiser completes Written Summative Annual Appraisal Report in Eduphoria.
5. Appraiser submits summative report to teacher within 10 working days of conference.
Click Teacher Resources-->Evaluation Process-->End of Year Conference Tab-->Click on "End of Year Conferences Teacher Overview" Video
Here is a handout that details the expectations of the Summative Conference, including Domain 4 which will be the main topic of discussion: https://drive.google.com/a/wacoisd.org/file/d/0BzPtZw5xT-LdemRhTzNXSmVrY0k/view?usp=sharing
This is a new process for all of us, so we encourage you to ask lots of questions!