Green Meadow Update
Robert Rouleau
- Vern McLellan
Happy New Year!
2021-2022 School Goals
As we welcome 2022, I would like to take the opportunity to update everyone on what has been happening at Green Meadow as well as to share our school goals for the New Year to come. With the New Year upon us, we are once again given the opportunity for a fresh start.
Every year, each school is asked to draft an Improvement Plan which is used to guide the school along the way. The Improvement Plan, much like a New Years' Resolution, consists of goals and an action plan that is used in order to meet the specified goals.
Below you will find a copy of Green Meadow's Improvement Plan for the 2021-2022 school year along with an update which highlights the action steps that have already been taken in order to meet the school's goals:
Goal 1 - Importance of Social Emotional Learning:
Continue to strengthen the Green Meadow School Social Emotional Learning Website with frequent updates including resources for teachers, parents, and students
Continue emailing SEL Tips for Parents and SEL Tips for Teachers on a regular basis
Encourage staff collegiality by expending the staff buddies program where appropriate
Use the Route 117 Green Meadow Bulletin Board to showcase important SEL messages to the school community
Create a center in the library center where academic projects with SEL components can occur; increase children literature offerings and professional teacher literature with SEL themes
Continue the successful lunch bunch program
Increase time guidance counselors can model and co-teach effective SEL lessons with classroom teachers
Utilize a new part-time grant-funded guidance counselor to assist with student Social Emotional Learning needs at Green Meadow
Goal 2 - Revise Current Report Card Format:
Continue to gather existing report card formats from neighboring districts, especially those districts with a history of high performance and strong community support
Form Green Meadow Report Card committee in September with representation from each grade level K to 3
Develop systems for parent and teacher feedback (e.g. focus group)
Present a draft for School Council consideration by January 2022.
Goal 3 - Evaluate Early Literacy Strategies:
It has been decided to pilot one or more literacy programs for several months this fall
Teachers will be asked to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the program they are using, focusing on the way individual student learning can be enhanced
A decision about the direction of the literacy initiative will be made by January 2022
Extensive professional development for staff will be offered from January to June
The goal is to implement a new program fully in the 2022-2023 academic year.
Goal 4 - Evaluate and Enhance Services for our English Learners:
Under the direction of the Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Assessment, update the English Learner Program evaluation performed in 2019.
Continue to offer robust professional development in cultural proficiency and in Sheltered English instruction
Prioritize effective instructional strategies for English Learners in literacy and mathematics
Examine ways to increase parental involvement in the area of English Learners and work towards forming an English Learners Parent Advisory Committee
Update: December 2021
Goal 1 – Importance of Social Emotional Learning:
At the elementary level, effective SEL approaches help students achieve key developmental competencies, such as the ability to identify and express emotions and to establish and manage peer relationships and friendships with less support from adults.
Action Steps:
Purchased 30 SEL books for the counselors to use in class and during group meetings.
Counselors created a slideshow and presented it to the School Committee.
Counselors created a Green Meadow SEL website with tips, videos, and books to read
Lunch Bunch groups for students were scheduled and are in process.
Bulletin Board on Route 117- Positive Affirmations
Hired a PT Counselor who transitioned to a FT Counselor position
Goal 2 - Revise Current Report Card Format:
Due to the change in the student information system to ASPEN, changing the report card format has been postponed until 2022-2023.
Goal 3 - Evaluate Early Literacy Strategies:
Students will become fluent readers and writers with the goal of maximizing progress toward achievement of grade level standards through:
Explicit instruction in skills, including phonemic awareness, phonics, decoding, and encoding
Direct Instruction and independent reading using complex and challenging texts at their grade level and above, with extra support and scaffolding as needed
Engagement in frequent discussion of text and writing responses to readings to foster critical thinking skills and deeper understanding.
Action Steps
Assess Kindergarten and Grade 1 students acquisition of phonological awareness skills as a foundation for reading a minimum of 3 times per year.
Ongoing assessment and progress monitoring of students in all grade levels in the differing domains of reading for the 3 assessment benchmark periods. Analyze results of all assessments for targeted instruction.
Provide systematic instruction in phonological skills for all students as well as targeted remediation in a small group format 3 times a week for 8 week cycles.
Provide students with direct systematic instruction in phonics, spelling, decoding and encoding through Fundations in class as well as in small groups for reteaching and support.
Provided targeted Intervention and opportunities for extension for students as indicated by assessment results to meet their individual needs. Progress monitoring as well as pre and post tests will determine the effectiveness of the 8 week cycle. Possible results include discontinuation of intervention due to adequate progress, continuation for an additional 8 week cycles, or alternate strategies, interventions, and supports to better meet student needs.
Literacy Assessments
Students in Kindergarten were assessed using Heggerty, Dibels 8 and Early Bird
Students in Grades 1-3 were assessed using Dibels 8 and DRA
Heggerty- Phonemic Awareness Skills (Rhyme Recognition, Rhyme Production, Onset Fluency, Blending Compound Words and Syllables, Isolating Final Sounds, Segmenting Words into Compound Words & Syllables, Adding Words and Syllables, Blending Onset-Rime, Substituting Words and Syllables)
Dibels 8- Phonemic Segmentation Fluency (PSF) (Phonological Awareness), Nonsense Word Fluency (NWF) (Alphabetic Principle and Phonics), Word Reading Fluency (WRF) (Alphabetic Principle and Phonics Accuracy and Fluency),Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) (Alphabetic Principle and Phonics Accuracy and Fluency Comprehension), Maze (Comprehension)
Early Bird- Oral Language (vocabulary, word matching, oral sentence completion, following directions), Sound symbol (Letter Naming, Letter sound), and Phonological (rhyming, first sound matching, blending, non-word repetition).
DRA- is a series of leveled books and recording sheets designed to allow teachers to determine students' reading accuracy, fluency, and comprehension levels.
Curriculum Reading Plan (Kindergarten- Grade 3)
Heggerty- The Heggerty Phonemic Awareness Curriculum provides students with consistent and repeated instruction, and this transfers to developing a student's decoding and encoding skills.
Fundations- Presents the following concepts and skills in a cumulative manner from Unit to Unit and year to year:
Letter formation
Phonological and phonemic awareness
Sound mastery
Phonics, word study, and advanced word study
Irregular (trick) word instruction
Vocabulary
Fluency
Comprehension strategies
Written composition (spelling and handwriting)
Shared Reading- Covers skills in: Decoding, Fluency, Vocabulary, Print Concepts, Phonics, and High Frequency Words.
*Teacher’s Role in Shared Reading: Introduce the text, Read Aloud the first reading (students join in thereafter), Model Specific Strategies, Ask Questions.
Guided Reading- Covers skills in: Decoding, Fluency, Vocabulary, Print Concepts, Phonics, and High Frequency Words.
*Teacher’s Role in Guided Reading: Introduce the book, Help students activate prior knowledge, Listen to students read, Discuss text with students, Ask questions.
Decoding/Encoding
Decoding is the process of reading words in text. Encoding is the process of using letter/sound knowledge to write.
Decoding- With the teaching of letters and sounds, the skill known as phonological awareness develops. Children show their phonological skills when they are able to recognize and manipulate letter sounds in specific ways, like beginning, middle and end sounds of words, words that sound the same, and syllables.
This manipulation takes us to the final step in teaching reading - putting these concepts together to instruct children how to read words or decoding. It requires children to process several steps:
Recognize the letter
Associate the sound of the letter
Understand how the letter sounds work together to make words
Blend the letter sounds together to create speech
Encoding- The same process is NOT used when readers take this knowledge and write. Instead they are encoding, somewhat reversing the process. Take a look at the steps:
Understand how sounds work to form words
Take a word apart sound by sound
Remember the letter that goes with the sound, including what the letter looks like
String or blend the letters together on paper to create words
Goal 4 - Evaluate and Enhance Services for our English Learners:
The student population of ELL is growing in the Green Meadow School with over 9% of students requiring services. Parents of ELL students should be able to have a voice in committees and understand programmatic changes.
Action Steps
Increase teacher/student ratio by hiring a PT ELL teacher.
Continue with monthly meetings of the ELL committee
Lost and Found
School Council News
The link to the meeting can be found below:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/97974575014?pwd=bUNuMVZtMkhIaEdVK01DVHcwcllEQT09
Meeting ID: 979 7457 5014
Passcode: rG3ahY
Upcoming Events / Important Dates
January 11 - Virtual School Council Meeting
January 17 - No School - Martin Luther King Jr. Day
January 28 - Early Release Day
About Us
Email: rrouleau@maynard.k12.ma.us
Website: https://www.maynard.k12.ma.us/o/green-meadow-school
Location: 5 Tiger Drive, Maynard, MA, USA
Phone: (978) 897-8246