Wednesday Words
March13 - March 20, 2019
Nurture-Personalize-Engage-Succeed
New Prospect Elementary School Staff Notes
This week our Spotlight is on.......Mari Diaz!
Action Items
Staff Birthdays!
Linda Miranda – 14th
Julie May-16th
Jenny Pitman-18th
Michelle Levine-21st
Sandy Rodney-29th
UPCOMING EVENTS
March 15th-Shamrockin Shindig
March 19th-Brain Building 1st and 2nd
March 19th-20th-5th Grade goes to Rock Eagle
March 21-Report cards go home
March 26-BB K/3
March 27-Core Team Meetings
April 1-5-Spring Break!
Resources from Amie Dean
From the Media Center
Calendar Update: To check to see if you have the Media Center in your shared calendars:
· Go to your Outlook calendar; scroll down on the left bottom of your screen under “Shared Calendars”
· If you see “Media Center” as an option, click it and it should pop up on your calendar view.
· If this does not work; go to the shared google drive; Media Center folder; open the file "Media Shared Calendar Instructions" for detailed instructions.
· If you are still unable to view the Media Center calendar; maybe you have an older version and it looks differently ....email me and I'll stop by personally to help.
· If I don’t hear from you, we’ll assume that it’s working 😊
Teachers: please use this calendar to view my availability for push-in times in your classroom and/or to schedule classroom time in the Media Center. The first two weeks of the month are available for push-in times; the last two weeks are used for check-out & lesson availability. Look to see what is available for you in March; then email me with what you’d like. I will be setting up April soon. Some examples of push-in are:
- Review FCS on-line resources for research
- Picture Perfect Science read-aloud
- Any read-aloud!
- Small group/one-on-one student assistance
- Extra set of eye & ears during science lesson (or any lesson!)
Tech Tips from the Vanguard Team
In search of some kid-friendly search engines?
We’ve all been there – our students need to do some research for an assignment or project and we keep our fingers crossed that their search results don’t turn up something that they really shouldn’t see. Well, I would like to provide you with a small list of kid-friendly search engines that your students can use that are designed specifically for kid searches.
KidRex
https://www.alarms.org/kidrex/
KidRex is a no-frills search engine that students can use to locate information. Just type in the topic and search away!
Kiddle
Need a kid-friendly version of Google? Look no further than Kiddle! The first thing your students will notice is how similar it is to the real Google site. Kiddle has all the bells and whistles of Google, in that it includes an image search, news search, and video search component.
Kpedia
Looking for something like Wikipedia? Kpedia is for you! It’s a kid-friendly search encyclopedia that looks just like Wikipedia but is meant for kids. Students just need to type in a topic to find a series of “Facts for Kids” pages that can give them information. This is a great site to use if you’re looking for something similar to an encyclopedia entry.
Kidtopia
Want search results with educator-approved websites? Kidtopia has your back! When students conduct their search, they will only come across websites that have been educator approved, which is a really great feature.
If you’d like some additional information, Diana Anderson can help!
Tech Reminders
March Grading Timeline
Grading Reminders
The end of the 3rd 9 weeks is sneaking up on us. Can you believe we are almost 3/4 of the way through the school year? As we look toward the end of the grading period please keep the following dates in mind:
Grading Timeline:
March 15th: End of 3rd 9 weeks. Teachers load from grade book due 3/18 at 8am
March 18th: Grade Verifications sent via e-mail
March 19th: Grade Verifications Due to Sandra by 3pm
March 21st: 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:
The first comment for Reading and Math should be the level. For reading, the continuous achievement comment should be based on the student’s grade level. So a third grader in fourth grade reading gets the comment Grade 3 Accelerated.
For math, the continuous achievement comment should be the year.semester that the student is currently working on.
- If a student has scored a C or below, the 2nd comment should reflect the reason for this grade and this should not be the first the parent is hearing of this. Please contact them personally before the report card goes home. If a child will receive an F or a U on the report card please email me with documentation that you have contacted the parents about this before the report card goes home.
- Please select a positive comment beside at least one of the subjects about the student. (Doing well, good citizen, etc…)
- If a student receives accommodations, receives support through EIP, etc… then this should be noted in the comments as well. (some students will have several comments)
- Please be honest about the conduct grade. A student who has been through the discipline cycle several times should not receive an S. There should be a comment to reflect the reason for the low conduct grade as well.
Please let Stephanie or Sandra know if you have any questions at all!!