Hall Elementary Teacher Newsletter
September 29, 2014
This Week
STAR Testing Window. Test this week!
Monday
Send progress reports to office - with comments written- by the end of the day
Tuesday
Planning Meetings
Thursday
Meet with Mrs. Gray to discuss Test Security and Office 365 - Bring your laptop
Friday
Deadline for completing Google Survey for Mrs. Mitchell
Upcoming Events
September 29- Progress Reports Due in Office
October 3 - Progress Reports Mailed
October 6- FACULTY MEETING 3:30-4:30
October 6-9- EQT Testing
October 6-10 - Food Drive for Bay Area Food Bank
October 9- 1st Quarter Ends
October 13 - Fall Picture Day
October 20 - Statewide Parenting Day
October 20- Report Card Pick Up - 8:00-3:00
October 21- Read Across America
October 27-October 30 - Red Ribbon Week
TO DO
Hall Elementary Literacy Focus
Good News!
United Way Winner
Thank you for your support during the United Way Student Campaign. George Hall raised a total of $363.05! Mrs. Arensberg’ s class raised $73.23. Her class will receive 10 Golden Eggs and a pizza party in the Eagles Nest!
Box Top Winners
FYI
Classroom DoJo
Reminders
Eggs
Transition
Breakfast
Snack
Restroom Breaks
Mrs. Gray: Technology and Federal Programs Reminders
Parents need to sign and return Parent Compacts. Turn in one complete set to Mrs. Gray and keep one complete set on file in your classroom.
I will meet briefly with the staff on Thurs. Oct. 2 to discuss:
· EQT Guidelines and Security
· Office 365
They will need to bring their laptops.
Ms. Miller: Curriculum Notes
- If you have students in RtI, remember to progress monitor them weekly in STAR, and provide Tier II and Tier III intervention daily.
- Students in RtI should be on iReady daily.
STAR testing window is next week (M-F). All students need to test during this time to show up on the screening report.
o K-2 STAR Early Literacy
o 3-5 STAR Reading
o 1-5 STAR Math
Math Facts in a Flash (2nd-5th grade) – I will give 1 egg for each class when they get to 50% of the class at benchmark level, 75% of the class, and 90% of the class.
Think Through Math (3rd- 5th grade)– Model for the remainder of the quarter. Beginning 2nd quarter students will need to complete a minimum of 2 lessons per week.
Bulletin Boards
A reminder from the Teacher Handbook:
Bulletin boards are important part of the total physical and educational environment, and should be colorful, timely, relevant, and teachable. The classrooms and halls should feature student work that reflects what is presently being taught in your classroom. Bulletin boards must have the ACCRS standards displayed.
Bulletin boards must be changed by the 1st of each month.
Please take a look at your bulletin boards and ask yourself if they reflect the quality that has been the norm at Hall in past years. Our hallways should be vibrant and filled with student work.
Math PLT Notes
We had a very productive Math PLT meeting this week.
Our Math PLT goal as a building is: What can we do differently in our classrooms to facilitate the CCRS Math Practice Standards in order to engage students in productive discourse.
In order to do this, we will continue to use Engage NY lessons, with a focus on conceptual learning. We will focus on aligning essential questions and exit slips. Talk Moves are useful to help guide discussions. They should be visible to students and should be used throughout the school day in all settings. The Standards for Mathematical Practice should also be visible to students during math class, and they should be a useful reference for them. Your Math PLT grade level representative will share with you some ideas that we all discussed today.
We also discussed the need to deepen teacher understanding of the concepts before teaching them. A few resources that can help with this are: Learnzillion videos, Teacher Toolbox, Math Flip Book, and MCPSS resource available on Moodle.
Food Drive
Data
ACT Aspire
Below you will find the initial round of ACT Aspire data that has been released to us. Remember that the ARMT measured basic proficiency, while the Aspire measures ACT readiness. I will share more grade level specific data as I receive it. We will focus on growth in every area. I want to be sure that we focus on teaching the standards thoroughly so that we can be assured that our kids have a deep, meaningful understanding. I also want to be sure that we focus on creating assessments that mirror the types of questions and tasks expected on the Aspire. We will soon have access to computer based practice tests, but you need to make sure that the assessments that you create are rigorous and provide students with purposeful practice toward Aspire testing.
As you can see, we have work to do. We need to focus and work hard each day. We CAN do this! Please know that the need to provide meaningful, engaging, rigorous instruction and the immediate need to eliminate wasteful transition time are key to providing our kids what they need to be successful.
Accelerated Reader
AR is looking better each week. Thank you for the efforts you are making. Remember to work on finding the balance of having kids reading and scoring high on books within their ZPD and 35/Z/90 should come naturally.