Hillcrest Hawk Happenings
The official newsletter of Hillcrest Elementary Staff
Supporting, empowering, & championing every single student, every single day, in every single way.
November 17, 2019
IMPORTANT DATES
TO ACCESS THE MONTH-BY-MONTH CALENDARS for the whole year, click HERE. Please know that these are still works-in-progress, so check back often to see the updates. October has been updated with the mandatory morning meetings -- calendar invitations to follow!
MUST READ
IMPORTANT LINKS
Hillcrest Classroom Sign-out Sheet
Hillcrest Reading Log/Response Choices
NEW!! Updated HAWKS matrix
Coming soon: 2019-20 Assessment Pacing Calendar (stay tuned)
Principal's Parking Spot: Al Ferony
This week, November 18-22, that honor ONCE AGAIN goes to AL FERONY. Last week was a short week, and the shortened week couldn't match the magnitude of Mr. Ferony's contributions to his class and our entire school community, we we extend this honor to him this week, as well! Thank you again, Mr. Ferony, for all that you do for Hillcrest!
To nominate an individual for this special privilege, click HERE.
THANK YOU!!!
LINKS FROM NOV 5 PLA DAY
REPORT CARD WINDOWS 2019-2020
Elementary Report Card Window
First Trimester
Window opens Friday, November 15th
Window closes Wednesday, December 10th (allows for edits after principal review)
Report cards sent home to parents on December 10th
December 12th and December 13th - parent report card conferences
Second Trimester
Window opens Friday, March 6th
Window closes April 1st (allows for edits after principal review)
Report cards given to parents April 1st
April 3rd - parent report card conferences
Third Trimester
Window opens June 1st
Principal reviews and window closes by June 25th
Report cards go home on June 26th to all parents
FYI: Good News STRINGS Program
STUDENT PORTFOLIOS
Writing- 3 pieces of writing (one per trimester) rubric scored with drafts and revisions attached
Dual Language - 6 writing pieces (3 in English and 3 in Spanish and/or 3 pieces that are bilingually written)
Reading - All F&P Benchmarks are in the portfolio
Dual Language- All Benchmarks are in the portfolio
Fundations - last unit test (June)
Estrellita- last unit test (if applicable-June)
Math
Math assessment - last unit or common assessmentStaff Celebration
LITERACY HAPPENINGS
- UNIT ASSESSMENTS
Teachers of Reading Workshop: Unit/end-of-trimester assessments should be administered by the end of this week to inform report card grading and parent teacher conferences. Please work with your colleagues to complete an item analysis.
- FISH IN A TREE/COMO PEZ EN EL ARBOL
See last week's Hawk Happenings for the links to the resources/lesson plans. Watch your inbox for
F&P Reporting
Below is the email from Mary from October 23rd re: the F&P tab:
Dear Teachers,
Please be advised that we will no longer use the RtI tab to record Fountas and Pinnell reading levels. We will use the F & P tab. The information in this tab is simplified. You will use the drop-down to select the instructional reading level that the student achieved on the assessment. You will not have to indicate comprehension % or fluency % on Infinite Campus.
The hard copy assessment must be fully scored with the student's full name and all errors indicated and the full scoring completed (see reading teachers or literacy leaders if you need support). The hard copy assessment (3 per year) MUST be placed in the student portfolio.
Dual Language students will have 6 per year. Two per trimester (1 in English and 1 in Spanish) and the hard copy MUST be placed in the student portfolio. Spanish F&P levels are recorded in Infinite Campus 3 X yearly as well. The EDL2 will have to be correlated to Fountas and Pinnell letter for now so that we can compare using the same letter system.
https://www.perfectionlearning.com/media/pdfs/rlChart.pdf
Please know that these are minimum requirements. If you have a student who is moving along and you need to administer an assessment to ascertain or verify a new reading level, please use your professional judgment, as there is nothing to preclude you from assessing as needed.
We will be discussing how best to assess students and continue instruction. Your building principals will advise.
Please remember that assessment is part of instruction. The date on IC is prepopulated so that we can pull data accurately. The date you put on the hard copy will be the actual date of the assessment.
MATH HAPPENINGS
Math teachers will be administering the End-of-Trimester Math Assessment this coming Friday. Multiple choice will be scored for teachers on Monday 11/25, and teachers will score short/extended responses 11/25 or 11/26, with the goal of reviewing data at the 11/26 and 11/27 Math Meetings.
- REMINDER: Bi-Weekly MATH MEETINGS WITH DR. SOBRIN
Grade level math meetings with Dr. Sobrin are listed on the monthly calendars (see link in calendar section above). Be prepared for each meeting by having your most recent student math data available and accessible. This is especially important with the pre-, mid-, and end-of-module assessments. We should be following the same protocol as last year when we completed the item analysis for our practice assessments.
- REMINDER: SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCES WITH ZEARN and ST MATH!
Let us know how it is going with Zearn and ST Math as you integrate it into your classrooms! Share photos and stories with us! If you would like to see it in action in another teacher's classroom, request a Lighthouse Visit using the Lighthouse request form.
SOCIAL STUDIES/SCIENCE/STEM HAPPENINGS
PBIS HAPPENINGS
- PBIS ASSEMBLY WEDNESDAY NOV. 27
Be sure to submit your Honorable Hawk in advance! Add your student's name HERE.
- ASSEMBLY ASSISTANCE
We need 4 classes (2- 4th and 2-5th?) to present for next month's assembly!
The monthly theme is Kindness and Gratitude and classes can present a song, skit, poem, book, etc. that can enhance our understanding of the monthly themes.
THE FOLLOWING ARE ALL ITEMS FROM LAST WEEK BUT ARE INCLUDED HERE AS REMINDERS:
- POINTS UPDATES!
Check for updated PBIS points on this excel sheet!
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Um5jYVMmhhrh4swo6LXYGpcN-zNLUjeyO_2eu8PV2As/edit?usp=sharing
*Check the "BRAVO BOARD" outside the office for the classes that receive the most PBIS points for the week! KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK! :)
- Reminder about "Cafeteria Crew Members of the Month"
Each month we are going to recognize 2 "cafeteria crew members of the month" that have shown they have done an outstanding job of supporting our students during lunchtime.
This month we are recognizing Ms. Jasmine and Ms. Ana Maria!
*Let's remind our students to acknowledge the monitors and kitchen staff and recognize the importance of being kind and respectful to all adults. (Greeting them, using manners, going to them for help, listening to directions etc.)
- MORNING MEETINGS
After hearing feedback from may teachers about the start to the day, students' needs to ease into the morning and the challenges with starting the instructional day as currently written into the schedules, we'd like to formally return to the practice of conducting brief morning meetings at the start of each day. From 8:20 - 8:45, please take the opportunity to connect as a class community. To begin, you can follow the Andrus Sanctuary model that we have been trained in as a staff, or another format with which you feel most comfortable. We would like each classroom to start by reviewing a value a day from the NEW HAWKS matrix so that we can ensure all students have been exposed to the new matrix. For example, pull up the new matrix on the screen and review what it means to be Honest in different areas of the school, and ask students to consider what that would also look like at home and in the community.
Adjustments will be made to the official schedules, but it will not impact any of the transitions, etc. that are already in your schedule. It will simply take a few minutes from your other instructional block, because if we do not intentionally plan to take a few minutes proactively to help our students, we will have to take that time (or more!) when we have to react to problems and behaviors which might have been prevented.
- MORNING MEETING LIGHTHOUSE CLASSROOMS
Our clinical staff will be adopting a few classrooms to lend their support for morning meetings as a way of establishing some Lighthouse Classrooms for Morning Meetings, who will then be able to host other teachers and serve as some examples of the many ways in which you might choose to format your morning meetings. Watch for more information on that in the days and weeks to come.
A reminder for those who wish to build upon the Sanctuary training:
Sanctuary Morning Meeting Questions to Review:
1.) How are you feeling today?
2.) What is your school goal?
3.) Who will help you?
This should not take longer than 5 minutes or so
OTHER OPTIONS FOR MORNING MEETINGS/BRAIN BREAKS:
Go Noodle- https://www.gonoodle.com
Calm- https://www.calm.com (free for educators when you apply)
MIND YETI- https://www.mindyeti.com/v2/s/
Headspace- https://www.headspace.com/
Calming Youtube Music with Scene:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlWiI4xVXKY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7e-GC6oGhg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77ZozI0rw7w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q634rbsypE
THIS calming website recommendation come to us from Lauren Batiste:
PBIS MATRIX:
Everyone should have received an updated PBIS matrix on Friday!
Please review the matrix and try to incorporate the HAWK Acronym into your daily common language to enforce explicit teaching and modeling.
Examples:
"I am so proud of you for telling me the truth, you are being HONEST
I love that you took out your notebook and got right to work, you are being AMBITIOUS."
"When you were frustrated I loved how you asked me to get a drink of water and not put your hands on someone. Thank you for making a WISE decision."
"When you used your manners when you spoke to the lunch monitors, you were being KIND."
"Thank you for walking in the hallway, you're being SAFE."
Specials Teachers- Please review the PBIS Matrix as well before starting your lesson.
HAWKS "KIND" Bracelets-
If you receive a Kind bracelet in your mailbox please continue to reward students for demonstrating acts of kindness for this month! :)
SPECIALS HAPPENINGS
COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS HAPPENINGS
The focus is on behavior, and how parents can help their children at home. We will discuss Zones of Regulation, our own PBIS matrix and how families can create their own, and home-based behavior plans and incentive charts. We are looking for volunteers, so please email me to express interest in volunteering!
PROFESSIONAL GROWTH HAPPENINGS
Repairing Harm: A Better Alternative to Punishment
This article and accompanying podcast addresses Restorative Justice practices, and discusses one specific resource (a book entitled Hacking School Discipline).
Why Children aren't Behaving and What You Can Do About It
This article discusses the national concern over student behavior; it points to some specific theories of what might be causing this phenomenon, and suggests some remedies, a few of which we already have underway at Hillcrest.
Complaining About Students Is Toxic. Here are 4 Ways to Stop.
This brief article from EdWeek talks about the age-old trap that many of us have fallen into: getting pulled into negative-speak about students. To go along with our theme from August PD Days of "Look for What's RIght," it suggests 4 remedies for the toxic practice of complaining about students.
Reminder: Upcoming Holidays
Also, remain mindful that not all families celebrate the way that you celebrate, so let's do our best to be inclusive of all traditions -- or that some students may have no traditions at all -- and value them all equally so that students don't feel that their family's situation or tradition is inferior to or inconsistent with our own or what we might see as typical.
I have not been able to check out all of the links within this document, so I can't vouch for all of them, but here are some ways to expand our thinking around Thanksgiving: A Racial Justice Guide to Thanksgiving.
Reminder: LIGHTHOUSE VISITS
Along with the required visits of new teachers to Lighthouse Classrooms, we want to encourage others to visit their colleagues to share best practices. Request a Lighthouse Classroom visit by signing up using this form.
ICYMI: MORNING ANNOUNCEMENTS
We are exploring some new ways to submit your announcements for the morning announcements. For the time-being, if you have something you would like to add to the morning announcements, click on this calendar doc and add it to the morning you would like it announced. Be careful not to type over someone else’s announcement. I know some people had difficulty accessing the document, but I have changed the settings to make sure everyone can edit the file.
WHO'S THAT?!?!
In response to last week's "Who's That?", I'm happy to announce that we had several people guess the correct response (after all, we only have so many male staff members!)! Congratulations to all of the people who correctly guesses that the handsome lad on his Pop Pop's lap was Troy Lepore. The winner chosen at random from the correct responses was VAL VALENZUELA. Our winner form last week (Tara Guerrero) and this Week (Val) will receive their extra special prize this week!
Now for this week's challenge: Who do you think is pictured lounging on the tiger skin rug in the photo below? After checking out the photo, Click here and make your best guess -- we will pick a winner at random from the correct responses to win a special prize! (oooh! ahhh!)