Friday Review
Friday, December 1, 2017
Thoughts from Mrs. Lewis....
MTSS - How many students do you have on a Tier for behavior and academics?
K-12 Social Studies Essential Standards Wiki - NCDPI's K-12 Social Studies Essential Standards Wiki website is a resource designed especially for educators to assist in the preparation of moving to the K-12 Social Studies Essential Standards. The North Carolina K-12 Social Studies Essential Standards are available, along with a number of other resources such as the Instructional Toolkit components and professional development material.
Are you communicating with parents? Admin doesn't want to be the first point of contact with ongoing behavior. You will be surprised the number of parents that are willing to help, but don't get the opportunity because they were not notified.
Spring Semester Field Trips are due to Ms. Brayboy by December 13. Trips must be in North Carolina. Don't forget when planning a field trip to consider inviting programs/organizations to come to our school to present rather than taking students. Many organizations do this.
What's New?
- Please note: December 20 is an Optional Teacher Workday. If you are planning to take it off, you must enter your absence in KRONOS before Friday, December 15th. You can not access KRONOS from home. You may use Annual Leave, Leave Without Pay or Personal Leave. Also, please be reminded that you will be charged 4 Annual Leave days for Christmas Break. Please let Audrey Kingston know if you want to use your 3 Special Annual Leave Days at Christmas. These special annual leave days have no cash value but they must be used sooner than later. If you have any questions, please see Ms. Kingston.
- Athletic duty sign ups are now available. Make sure to sign up for at least 1 game duty this season.
- CTE Newsletter, November 2017 - https://www.smore.com/54hb6
- Last week's SIT minutes are located here: https://docs.google.com/a/scsnc.org/document/d/1nyqSU2fnNBHN9B-pDekGC91n4Y5yzG0IgzW_VI4cShI/edit?usp=sharing
- Teachers....if you have need of the Media Center resources, I am always here to help. If you need to send students for any reason, at any time, I am open. Please give them a note so that I know they are not skipping. (You can write it on a napkin if you're at lunch.) But, if you need to bring a small group or class for instructional purposes, please sign up with me on the calendar so that we can avoid scheduling conflicts. Thank you!!! RAH
- TEACHERS: On Monday, December 4, 2017, Mrs. Miller will be absent. Please send her students to their "A" Day Elective. 7th grade students: Monquise Braddy, Alexis Coates, Demaj McLean, Thorn Ring, Joshalyn Smiling, Linda Stafford. 6th Grade Students: Derriyana Bethea, Farrah Bethea, John Coble, Jalen Cousar, DeAndre Gibson, Alexis Grant, A'Jalon Oxendine, Kyra Peterkin. 8th Grade: Jessica Adams, Thomaz Austin, Kierra Clark, Andrea Hatcher, Cornqiue Leak, Glenn Locklear, Taliyah McLaughlin, Javion Wilson.
The "Frontline Family" spread some good luck in October, on Friday, the 13th. Hope it counteracted any bad luck mojo that was hanging around!! Anyway, we want to challenge the Olympians (Electives) team to spread some love to our staff on January 5th! See if you can start the New Year out on a positive note!!!
Faculty and Staff: Please be reminded that will still need your Sunshine Dues ($20). The Sunshine Committee is here to spread "Sunshine" to you or a loved one in time of need.
Shout Outs
- Shout out to Mrs. Motz for all of her work in maintaining the 7th grade EC caseload and mentoring our new EC teachers. You are amazing!
- Shout out to Jamie Bream for being the guest director at the Moore County All-County Band concert last week.
- Shout out to Victoria Henderson and Robin Miller for taking the students in NASA to the NC Native American Heritage Celebration in Raleigh last weekend.
- Shout out to Jen McRae and Jamie Bream for their hard work in the SCS Secondary Arts Showcase at SHS this week. We have such talented students!
- Shout out to the staff for your active and positive participation in Learning Focused PD this week after school. And shout out to Estella Johnson for your care in planning the session.
Clubs
- The remaining club dates for this semester are December 8, December 15, and January 5.
- Your homeroom's 2nd semester club selections has been placed in your box. Please verify this list and return to S. Brayboy by next Friday, December 8. The first 10 teachers to submit this list will receive a TREAT!
Learning Focused Tips
- Everything posted must serve a purpose for students, otherwise it is visual noise. We want students to understand why something is posted. Usually, it is to help them understand how to think using the graphic organizer.
- Regarding Anchor Charts- Commercial ones are usually an attempt at compliance.
Anchor Charts should show steps for thinking using a specific strategy (Higher Order Thinking or Reading Comprehension)
Keep info to just a student friendly description, the signal words, and clear steps in completing the accompanying graphic organizer
Student involvement in creating anchor charts is great. Students can add examples or other ideas on sticky notes, or by creating visual cues for each step.
Also involve students when creating the graphic organizer that goes with lesson instruction.
Both Anchor Chart and Graphic Organizer should be recorded in a student's notebooks. Only post Anchor Charts for current thinking strategy and always post in the same dedicated space.
Winter Concerts
- Band Concert- Thursday, December 7 at 6:30pm
- Chorus Concert- Thursday, December 14 at 6:30pm
We hope to see you there!
General Reminders
Apply now for the PRISM Award: PRISM grants, supported and distributed by Burroughs Wellcome Fund, were created to support North Carolina educators dedicated to bringing high-quality, inquiry-based learning activities to their classrooms. This one-year award is open to all certified K-12 public school educators, and covers up to $3,000 for STEM materials and equipment, and up to $1,500 toward the cost of relevant professional development. With the right materials and training, you could be looking at all-new levels of classroom engagement and fulfillment. December 5 is the deadline for submission. To find out more, or to apply online, visit bwfund.org.
Please remind teachers of the district expectation to enter grades in PowerSchool on a weekly basis. Parents, guardians, and student use the Parent/Student Portal to check grades and should be able to see their up-to-date progress. Your data manager can print a report for you to monitor this.
- 8th grade Math students will be participating in a field test soon. Stay tuned for more info.
- In June, the ELA team introduced 12 Instructional Practices important to the ELA classroom. These essential actions provide a framework for strongly aligned teaching and learning. In September, the SCOOP provided a close, in-depth look at the first four Instructional Practices. This November edition of the SCOOP takes a deep dive into the next four Instructional Practices (#5-#8) by including a description of what each Instructional Practice is, an explanation of its importance, and resources for implementing it. Each Instructional Practice is also followed by resources for PLC discussions. Click here to access the SCOOP and fall deep into Instructional Practices #5-#8.
- Please know that Jennifer Dorman, Indian Ed Teacher, will be assisting in classrooms to support Native American students with both reading and math. Please utilize her in the classroom with small group instruction, 1-1 sessions, and any other way that you see to assist your students.
- Common assessments cannot be a part of the student’s grades. These assessments, like benchmarks, are to be used to inform instruction. The upcoming dates for Common Assessments are listed below. November 28-30, 2017, February 13-15, 2018, and April 23-25, 2018.
Are you calling parents??? Make sure you are calling parents regarding attendance concerns (and document such). When we go to court, it helps when we can show ALL the contacts that have been made from the school (not just from PowerSchool letters and Social Worker contacts) (From Cabinet)]
COLLABORATIVE PAIRS: Please ensure that you implement collaborative pairs with roles within your lessons. This will be looked for in walkthroughs and observations.
What are you doing to be proactive to eliminate behaviors? What are your extra incentives in your class, team or grade level? (Extra TLC, computer time, double scans, pizza party, slushy parties, etc.)
- A list of grant opportunities is located: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0By0F01LHF8bhUEZVcFI1ZV84TVE/view.
Bus of the Month
December 2017
December Events
Saturday, December 2: Laurinburg Christmas Parade - SHMS Band to participate
Monday, December 4: 7th Grade MTSS Meeting; Electives, Magnet Teachers, Harris, E. Johnson, Brayboy and Dunham Meeting (Library 3:45); Boys Basketball Jamboree
Tuesday, December 5: ELA/SS/Science Planning Session; Staff Meeting Cancelled; CPI Training; Pearson Test Training in PD‐2 at 3:30 p.m (Contact Lolita Hargrave for more information)
Wednesday, December 6: Progress Reports Go Home, Student Support Staff Meeting @ 930am; CPI Training; Scoring of the Writing Assessments; Wrestling (A) West Pine 4:15
Thursday, December 7: Winter Band Concert 630pm
Friday, December 8: Staff Christmas Party @ Hickory Tavern - 6:30 p.m; Club Day
Saturday, December 9: Drama Club Field Trip to Triad Stage "A Christmas Carol" in Winston Salem - 9am
Tuesday, December 12: ELA/SS/Science Planning Sessions
Wednesday, December 13: Spring Semester Field Trips Due; Principal Leadership; Wacky Wednesday; Student Support Staff Meeting @ 930am
Thursday, December 14: Friendly Dental Van, Winter Choral Concert 6:30pm; AP Leadership; Math Planning
Friday, December 15: District Spelling Bee; Club Day
Tuesday, December 19: 1/2 day for Students
Wednesday, December 20: Optional Teacher Workday
Thursday, December 21 - January 1: Christmas Break
January 2, 2018: Students return