March 4, 2019
A Communication Tool for the Seven Hills Staff
Spring Parent Communication:
This is a critical time to reach out to parents and make sure they are aware of their child's progress this year and ways they can help support their child in meeting their individual goals (and ultimately our campus goal!). If you haven't done so already, the DRA letters need to be sent to parents. It would also be a great idea to share benchmark assessment data, Imagine Math progress, and Lexia progress to date. If you have questions about the Imagine Math progress report or the Lexia parent report, please let Kim know. We will be happy to help you.
I have shared a letter with everyone in Google Drive "Spring Parent Letter." Teachers should use this as a base letter to communicate MOY assessment data and ways to support at home with parents. I think parents might also like to see their child's WIG for the 5th grading period. One idea might be to make a copy to send home with this letter.
Please work with your teams to determine a timeline for these updates to be sent. Once you have the timeline established, ILT members need to let me know.
NOTE: You will need to make a copy before editing the original letter. And, there is a blank copy of the campus letter for you to use as well. Please send the letter in an envelope marked, "To the Parents of ____" as it contains confidential student information.
Spring Parent Letter: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1l5EVeK4vDBqTWNygj5PQsGAPexHnxQrRDeVttQaMs3o/edit?usp=sharing
Leadership Expo/Open House is This Week:
Practice Habit 2 and 3 to be Prepared for GREATNESS at Leadership Expo:
- Check out the communication shared with you last week regarding Leadership Expo... https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1m7aC9E2YKxJlLrvbEIEzvYjvGViuj4AR40FYNDOca9E/edit?usp=sharing
- Make sure your students are prepared and their WIG charts and Leadership Notebooks are ready to be shown. This is a mini student led conference opportunity. How embarassing would it be to have students with incomplete WIG charts, messy Leadership Notebooks, etc. who were not able to speak to their goals. You can use Habit Huddle on Monday and Tuesday to prepare.
- Make sure your rooms are clean and the halls look ready for guests.
- Make sure all of the tools and resources prepared by LHT and ILT for the event are copied - I have been working with Lacy to get One School One Book materials prepared and the 30-30-30 flash cards. These are very large jobs. I am not sure that we can do anything else in the office...what is your plan to get materials ready?
- Communicate the event to parents.
- Even though this is designed to be student driven, that does not mean the teacher isn't important. Be prepared to coach students through the student-led confernce and explain the Leadership Expo to parents.
- You might consider offering a parent conference sign up sheet for intersted parents.
- Open house is a good time to share the MOY student progress letters if you haven't already done so.
Extended Day Turoial Support:
You will remember that back in the fall and again in early January, we discussed the incredible opportunity we have to offer extended day tutorials for students. We know that often, what students need to secure skills they are missing is more time. We started Friday Night Lights for grades 3-5 in February, and are experiencing success with this initiative. Students are excited to work in their groups, and the energy from staff supporting the tutorials is contagious! A huge shout out to Rachel and Tanya for getting this going, all of the teachers who helped plan lessons for groups, and the staff giving their time on Friday nights to support the tutorials.
GREAT NEWS….There are additional funds available to provide extended day tutorials in grades K-5. The vision for these funds is to offer tutorials one day a week after school for an hour to an hour and a half for at-risk students. At this time, the funds are limited to one teacher per grade level, but we might have the ability to add a teacher. If your team would like to have 2 teachers, let me know soon. Your teams need to develop a plan for these tutorials.
A couple of things to consider as you are creating your plan:
- Tutorials will run approximately 7 – 8 weeks, beginning the week after Spring Break and ending the week before May STAAR.
- Who will offer tutorials? This can be one teacher or it can rotate. Teachers are paid $25 per hour for tutorials. Time sheets have to be completed with Wilma.
- Tuesdays there are typically not any after school meetings, and could be a great day for your team to offer tutorials. Your team does not have to tutor on Tuesdays. Please keep Thursdays free for our staff meetings.
- Which students will benefit from extended day learning opportunities? You don’t want groups to be too big, and you want to make sure you are offering the time to the students that time will be the greatest leverage for closing gaps and moving the scoreboard? The group of students can be flexible.
- The students selected to be offered tutorials will need a permission slip. A basic letter and permission slip are attached.
- Invitations need to go out and
- Lexia has a plethora of resources in the Resources Hub, not to mention, the direct teach lessons. Low prep, but high yield for literacy! Fast Focus for 3-5 ELA and math would provide short, TEK based practice in testing format.
- Math resources- Origo, Math GPS, Motivational Math, or Engaging Mathematics
- How will you determine the skill or TEK focus for the sessions? The tutorials need to be skill focused, not random. The goal is to close gaps. You may consider looking at Lead4ward resources to determine where the majority of questions that are tested on STAAR come from to determine your highest leverage points for grades 3-5. See Tanya if you need help with this resource.
By Tuesday, March 5, please submit the Google planning sheet for your team, communicating the plan for extended day tutorials for your team. If you have any questions, please let me know.
Thank you for your work to provide the support and time our students need. What an incredible opportunity…to be paid for tutorials in order to ensure higher levels of student achievement and growth!
Tutorial Planning Sheet Folder:
NOTE: The intervention support for Tier 2 and 3 with Rachel's team will look differnt after first round scores come back. I know some have mentioned that there might not be a need right now for tutorials. Please keep this in mind as you are considering your options.
ALSO: K-2 teachers, there are funds for 2 teachers per team.
Student Discipline...A Proactive Approach
Even with a clear mission and a strong classroom community, some students will continue to challenge us and require extra support. At times, students will need a cooling off period outside the classroom, and teachers need to feel that school administrators support them 100 percent in maintaining a safe learning climate.
To reduce our high rate of suspensions, we needed to consistently implement the strategies I've already discussed. However, we also needed our "support center," an instructional learning cottage staffed by an instructional assistant trained to work with students who needed a safe place to decelerate (Sterrett & JohnBull, 2009).
When students are disruptive and do not respond to in-class support structures, the teacher writes a referral explaining the situation to the principal. The principal then determines the next step. If a support center visit is warranted, the principal will first confer with the student and explain the process while escorting the student to the support center.
The trained staff member then works closely with the student in cooling down, often by having the student complete a reflection sheet about the incident that brought him or her to the support center. The student also completes instructional work aligned to the work he or she is missing. (Teachers either provide work in advance to have on file or send work to the office if it's needed for a support center visit.)
At the end of the cool-down period, which typically ranges from a half an hour to an hour, the student is escorted back to the classroom and welcomed by the teacher. This act of welcoming sends a clear message to the student: You belong in class; we want you here. Further, this layer of support assures the staff and parents alike that we are doing everything possible to maintain an effective and safe learning environment—together.
Moving from a focus on discipline to a focus on relationships has implications for all stakeholders. For students, it clearly sends the message, You belong here. Students will not be given an easy way out; they will be expected to learn and to achieve—and will be supported in their efforts to do so. Teachers will see that a strong classroom community is the cornerstone to success. For parents, the implications are enhanced communication and a greater focus on their student as an individual. This, approach means closely attending to the structures that are required to reach the whole child. With a renewed focus on relationships, our students will indeed realize that they belong in school.
Habit Focus of the Week: Habit 2: Begin With the End in Mind
Habit Huddle Connection:
Campus and District Announcements and Updates:
- Stop Leaving "Free" Items in the Lounge: If you have things that are free for the taking, please send out an email to staff and invite them to YOUR classroom to come and "shop." The lounge is not a place for leaving items you no longer want or need. 95% of the time noone takes them, and the person who leaves them doesn't come back to clean up the mess. Thank you.
- Please remember to check ride changes every day in the google folder. We add changes until 2:45 when the bell rings.
From the Assistant Principal:
- 3rd and 4th grade Math benchmark- March 5th
- 3rd and 4th grade Reading benchmark- March 7th
- RTI tier 2 follow up meetings scheduled for March 4th. Teachers will get a scheduled time to meet and update students in RTI. Be sure your progress monitoring is uploaded with at least 3 data points in Estar. See Google classroom for more details.
Benchmark Schedule Changes:
There will need to be some changes to the schedule next Tuesday and Thursday due to benchmark testing. In order to accommodate our 3rd and 4th graders testing, we need to have a 4 hour block of uninterrupted time. We will start the benchmarks at 8:00 and go til 12:00 p.m. Below is the schedule for these days:
Thank you for your flexibility for these two important days. It takes a village. Please let Tanya know if you have questions.
From the CIT:
Teacher Mentors: Please meet with your mentee ASAP to fill out your goal that you are working on for the six weeks or for the year. I have delivered your goal sheets, so I will need them turned into me ASAP since I need to scan them and send them into HR. Place them in the yellow folder on the table in my office. Thank you to those who have already turned them in.
From the Librarian:
This is the info and links you need for the Digital Citizenship lessons, please make sure you complete all of them before next Friday, March 8. If you have any questions let Jeremy or I know. We will be glad to assist you in any way we can.
Middle School Trasnition Plan and Parent Communication:
Save the Date:
Notes:
- JA in a Day is March 29
Monday, March 4:
- Kim out of the office
- Intervention PLC/RtI Updates with Intervention Team
- Tuesday Tutoring Plan Due
- Benckmark Assessments: 3rd and 4th Grade Math
- Leadership Expo, 6- 7:30 pm, staff wear black 7 Hills polo shirt and professional bottoms to the Expo
Wednesday, March 6:
- Instructional Rounds, writing 8 -11
Thursday, March 7:
- Adventure Dash Kick-Off, 7:40 am in the gym
- Benchmark Assessments: 3rd and 4th Grade Reading
Friday, March 8:
- Leadership Rally and One School One Book Kick-Off, 7:40 am
- Growth and Development Education for 5th Grade - 2nd and 5th grade will switch specials today...5th grade teachers, is it imperitive that you turn in any opt out letters to Nurse Joy...These students should not see the program, nor should they receive any of the "swag" that is given...as the deoderant, etc. often has informational brochures, etc. Thank you for your careful attention to this.
- Digital Citizenship Due
Happy Birthday to You: