Super Star News Update
September 21 - September 25
"With courage, you will... have the wisdom to be humble."
Rebekah's Corner
Good morning!
Parent Partner Night and Dunk with Dads both had a splendid turnout! Thank you, again, for promoting our family activities and involving our students and their families. A special Thank You to Lisa for your professional-grade handouts, to Elizabeth for your coordination of these activities, to Faida, Liz B, and Jenny for your help behind the scenes to set up and clean up, and to our teachers for making the evening truly count in impacting our students. Have a stellar week, Starz!
Items to Note
- We will....I will... Thank you for your focus on ensuring our young learners know the What, How, and Why of their academic goals and objectives! It makes a difference!
- STAAR Distinctions: Several of you have asked why we did not receive a Distinction in Reading this year--That's a great question! Our scores were high enough, so what happened? As you know, nothing in TEA Accountability formulas is a short answer, but here it is in a nutshell: To earn a Reading or Math Distinction, we have to score in the top 25% of schools in 3 out of 5 unique categories. We achieved 2 of these with our exemplary 3rd Grade Reading and 4th Writing scores. Either of the following would have put us over the edge and into a fourth distinction: Higher attendance, or More students achieving Advanced (Commended) scores. There's more to this that I'd be happy to share in person, but "Now you know...the rest of the story."
- This week's staff meeting will spotlight "StemScopes," an online (and print) resource for Science that incorporates activities for corresponding TEKS in Math, Reading, and Writing. Once assigned an ID, students may also have the ability to log on at home or at school and complete experiments or other learning activities online. Please bring your laptop, have in mind an upcoming objective, and be ready to explore and collaborate on how we can use this tool to incorporate technology and critical writing across content areas. To give us a head start this afternoon, please try to log on prior to kicking off the meeting: https://n11091d40704.acceleratelearning.com/login. Your ID will be first.lastname (john.doe) and Password will be your employee ID# (12345).
- Also this afternoon, teachers will be electing members to our campus Placement Review Committee (PRC). Based upon your votes, 2 teachers and an alternate will serve along with a member of the professional staff to determine the placement of a student when a teacher refuses the return of a student to the teacher’s class. Hopefully, this committee will never have need to meet!
- Thank you to our classes who are leaving at a voice level 0 in the afternoon! Please remind our students that it is important to be safe and orderly at the end of the day, especially as we have students leaving at different times, in order to maximize both safety and instruction.
- Lunch! I met with Ms. Patton last week to brainstorm on how we can work together to move students quickly through the lunch line and ensure maximum time for eating in a structured and friendly environment. Please help us with the following:
- Teachers, please include in your student job assignments a student who will be responsible for taking the lunch card envelope to Ms. Patton each day (Ex: "Keeper of the Cards"). Several of you do this already. Thank you for sharing the idea!
- Ms. Patton will return the envelope to the end of your table each day, for either you or your assigned student to pick up, according to your classroom system.
- If a student does not have a lunch card, it takes much longer to ring up their lunch. How can you help with this? Thank you for asking! If you have kiddos with no lunch card, please create them an index card or slip of paper with their full name and ID#. This will help to speed up the process considerably, and Ms. Patton will then be able to create an ID for that child! =)
- Finally, please emphasize with your students that they should not bend, chew, fold, twist, or drool on their lunch cards. (Ew!) This makes the scanner not work correctly, which also "chews" through student lunch time!
- Please remember that if students bring lunch money, they should turn it in to their breakfast server or take it to the front office during the morning. This also will be a significant time saver.
- Finally, please arrive on time to lunch and recess. Two minutes can make a big wave in the flow of a campus, so thank you for being mindful of your time and transitions.
- Thank you for communicating with, collaborating with, and supporting our spectacular cafeteria staff as they take such great care of our Stars each day.
- Thank you for not using the released STAAR questions during instruction in your class! Please remember that Lonestar and Performance tasks are required elements to the instructional day. Thank you for incorporating them on a daily basis!
- Thursday! Our SuperStars have been invited to SHINE at the CISD Board Meeting. The meeting begins at 6:30, our students perform at 6:32, and we should be finished and dismissed by 6:45. Mrs. Everwine has done a phenomenal job working with our students and teachers to coordinate this performance. Come join us if you can! =)
- TEMI, going on this week! If you need a new TEMI poster, please email Tammy. Please also check your class roster on Aware and email Tammy if students are missing, ASAP, so that we can ensure this is corrected within the testing window.
- Istation: Should be set up and ready to go! Please remember to communicate login information with parents.
- Computer Lab Update: 44 of 48 computers are working! Almost there!
- Sycamore is known for its outreach to parents and to the community. That is a reality because of YOU, and your dedication to being here for our students and to support our campus initiatives. We host a great number of events. In order to share the load, we will share sign-ups for each event. While the Core activities of reading night, math night, and star night will need all hands on deck, some of the encore activities can be lighter on staffing. Please look over the attached activities and sign up for at least 2 events of your choice, (in addition to the Core activities).
- Christopher, thank you for ensuring your students were prepared each day for excellence during Announcements. Sandy's class is up next! We're looking forward to hearing from your class.
Welcome to Sycamore, where you make the difference.
Event Information
Big Kahuna Fundraiser Ends TUESDAY
Fundraiser Ends September 22.
Big Kahuna Delivery and Party Bus October 23.
When?
Friday, Sep 4, 2015, 08:30 AM
Where?
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Event Information
BOY ISIP Assessments..Coming Soon!
When?
Tuesday, Sep 22, 2015, 08:00 AM
Where?
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Event Information
Super Stars Celebrate for CISD
Our Super Stars and Ms. Everwine have been invited to perform before the CISD School Board and community, in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month. What a great opportunity for our students to SHINE! (They would love for you to join, if able!) Thank you, Ms. Everwine!
When?
Thursday, Sep 24, 2015, 06:00 PM
Where?
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Event Information
Muffins with Moms
When?
Thursday, Oct 8, 2015, 07:00 AM
Where?
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Event Information
Hispanic Heritage Program
When?
Thursday, Oct 15, 2015, 06:00 PM
Where?