COWBOY COURIER
Week of September 28, 2015
Our Values in Action
Commitment
Sense of Urgency
Belonging
Belonging
Growth Mindset
Belonging
Achievement in Math
Closing Achievement Gaps
Student Progress
Achievement in Math
Closing Achievement Gaps
Achievement in Science
We made it to the end of the 1st 6 weeks!
This past week was, indeed, an incredibly busy week! Thank you to everyone that came out for our community meeting and PTSA Hispanic Heritage Night -- it was awesome to see so many staff members enjoying the festivities with our kids and their families. Extended planning went well for a first shot and we have a lot of ideas to upgrade it for the 2nd 6 weeks. Thank you for your flexibility and diligence as you worked to maximize the precious time we gave you. Thank you also to our amazing TAs for helping with student transitions and to our fine folks who presented to students in the auditorium.
The Thomas Jefferson HS Feeder Pattern Principals' meeting hosted at Cigarroa also went well -- thank you to the 15 teachers that were observed as part of the meeting agenda. We received great feedback from our sister schools including the following pluses and deltas:
Pluses
- 100% engagement, happy students, and great classroom cultures.
- Many spoke of solid classroom management throughout the building.
- Beautiful building and beautiful displays, anchor charts, etc.
- Bilingual labels evident throughout the building and in classrooms.
- Observations of intentional modeling for students.
- Evidence of students using complete sentences and articulating the importance of the day's content.
- Students had something meaningful to do when they were finished with their work.
Deltas
- Better pacing is needed throughout the lesson cycle.
- A need for economy of language on the part of the teacher and missed opportunities for student conversations.
- Opportunities to focus more on the "meat" of the activity versus making it neat.
As always, we own our feedback, smile about the great work we've done thus far, and shift our focus to our areas of improvement. We're sharing in this work together!
Here are a few reminders and updates as we head into next week:
Don't forget that your Student Learning Objective (SLO) and Professional Development Plan (PDP) must be entered in Schoolnet by September 28. Thank you to all of you who have already entered your SLOs and PDPs. We are scoring them as we receive them. We will follow up with anyone who has not submitted their SLO or PDP by 8:00 AM Monday morning.
Our first set of interim assessments (IAs) are to be administered this week. Please encourage and model our value of respect as you ask your students to quietly concentrate so that everyone can do their best. If you need support with ALL In Learning, our CICs (Christina, David, and Chris) can happily assist you as well as your grade level chairs. I'm pretty tech savvy as well, so I'm here to help, too!
The 1st 6 weeks officially ends this Friday. Please be sure to enter all remaining grades for this marking period into Gradespeed before the end of the week!
Have a fantastic week!
Morning Routine Responsibilities
Trinity (4B)
Morning Roundup Guests
Stanford (2E)
Week at a Glance
PDP and SLO goal setting deadline
Tuesday, September 29
Professional development until 5:05
- Principals’ Meeting feedback follow-up (5 minutes)
- Accelerated Reader with Leah Baldasare (10 minutes)
- Vertical Meetings (75 minutes)
- LPAC (5 minutes)
Wednesday, September 30
Anna Quer's Birthday!
PLCs during planning time
Thursday, October 1
New staff professional development at 3:35
Friday, October 2
Cigarroa Spirit Friday!
1st 6 weeks ends
On the Horizon
- SLO/PDP Schoolnet entry due date is Monday, September 28
- Friday, October 9 is Elementary Fair Day (No school!)
- Thursday, October 15 are Parent-Teacher Conferences
- Thursday, October 29 is the Fall Festival