Wednesday Words
November 28th-December 5th 2018
Nurture-Personalize-Engage-Succeed
New Prospect Elementary School Staff Notes
Staff Spotlight
This week’s staff spotlight goes to Susan Bohnet and Donna Paduano. They are so dedicated to their students and are always willing to help out. They go above and beyond to make sure their students are challenged. Working with multiple grade levels and multiple teachers is a difficult task, but they seem to do it effortlessly. Between them they see four grades, and work with at least seven teachers! Through all the paperwork, and addition of new students, they keep smiling their way through and can tackle anything. New Prospect is lucky to have such dedicated teachers!
ACTION ITEMS:
2. Complete the "Students for Possible Retention" Sheet and return to Stephanie by December 7.
UPCOMING EVENTS
November 29th--PBIS Committee Meeting @2:45
November 28th-30th-Holiday Boutique
November 28th- 4th and 5th Grade Classroom Spelling Bee
November 29th Mama's Pizza Spirit Night
November 30th- Brain Building Day 4th and 5th Grades
November 30th Top Golf Social @ 3:30
December 5th-Spelling Bee 8am
December 6th--Special Education Department Mtg @2:45
December 7th-Career Day!
December 7th-Staff Holiday Party @3:30
Ice Breaker Memes
Staff Birthdays!
December 4th - Sandra Durham
December 4th - Suzanne Peterson
December 6th - Anne Carter
Students for Possible Retention
Homeroom and SEC teachers,
In your box you have a sheet that needs to be returned to me by Friday, December 14. It asks you to document which of your students, if any, are possible candidates for retention. Please return the sheet to me. If you do not have any students in this situation, just put your name, write “none” and turn it in.
If you do have students for possible retention, the parents should have been made aware of your concerns. This may have happened in your parent-teacher conference or via a phone conversation. A parent should not first learn about possible retention via e-mail or a letter home. This needs to be a conversation. Additionally, I am attaching a checklist below that was created by the district and lets you know the type of documentation you should have. This includes the strategies and interventions you have been using, the student’s RtI Tier and interventions as well as the date of 1st notification. When I receive your lists, I will send a Letter of Possible Retention to the parents. Please make sure this will not be the first the parent is hearing about their child’s possible retention.
I will also take care of the school notification regarding retention law. This is simply the state’s law that students must pass the GA Milestones Reading Test in 3rd grade and Reading and Math in 5th grade.
Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Thanks!
-Stephanie Haga
Week of Code Dec. 3-7
- Want to join in on the action? Here are some great links for you to have your students use in class next week whether it be during class, indoor recess, or homeroom to practice coding.
- You can also add coding links to your website for parents to access easily from home.
https://code.org/hourofcode/overview
Code Commander- https://www.tynker.com/hour-of-code/code-commander
Code your own sports- https://studio.code.org/s/sports/stage/1/puzzle/1
Code Combat- https://codecombat.com/
Light Bot- http://lightbot.com/
Kodable- https://www.kodable.com/
Bits Box- https://bitsbox.com/
Monster Maker- https://groklearning.com/hoc/activity/monster-maker/
Dream Sequence- https://www.codesters.com/curriculum/hour-of-code-2017/Dream+Sequence/1/
Frozen- https://studio.code.org/s/frozen/stage/1/puzzle/1
Star Wars- https://code.org/starwars
Bits and Bricks- https://www.lego.com/en-us/campaigns/bits-and-bricks
Crisis Protocol
If you are made aware that a student has expressed a desire to kill them-self or another person, please notify administration right away via text or e-mail. Please make sure we are aware of the situation as soon as possible and definitely before the student leaves for the day.
If you hear students use phrases like this regularly but you don't believe they mean any harm, please have a conversation with your class about this and let them know that these cases will be taken seriously and that they should not casually joke about such serious things.
This protocol is not new, we just want to make sure that all staff members know what to do if they hear about something like this.
Thank you!
We are excited to announce that there will be a PAWS PD at the Apple Store at Avalon! The free event is set for 3:30 on Monday, December 10th. We'll learn about Clips - Creative expression through video with the Clips app on iPad. We'll learn how students can create videos to enhance assignments by following basic elements of story structure. Students can express ideas with built-in stickers, emoji, music, and more. Recommended for educators of students ages 5-17. Have the Clips app on your iPad or use one of the iPads at the Apple store. Feel free to bring your teacher friends from other schools.- Kati Searcy
"These are a few of my favorite things" PAWs PD by Kati Searcy
Location: Kati Searcy's room, A169
Time: 2:45-3:15pm
Tech Tips from the Vanguard Team
Don’t have time to learn something new? Tired of uploading class rosters? Try utilizing a familiar program to all of us: ClassroomDojo! If you haven’t created your classroom, subjects, and/or groups it is worth watching this video to help utilize this powerful educational tool: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f23bnZaWHNE
Set up your groups today and have classroom competitions, make instructions easy to see and understand, keep track of classroom noise, or just have pleasant music playing in the background.
Here are a few other ways to utilize this familiar classroom tool:
- Watch and discuss Growth Mindset. Print off questions for parents to continue discussion at home:
- Unlike the Remind app, ClassroomDojo gives teachers an easy way to send videos to students (even in different languages!) This helps provide extra visual support for difficult concepts, ESOL, IEP, or EIP students:
Six Flags Read to Succeed Program
Cecilia is the school’s coordinator for this program. The registration window is open! You will receive pink forms in your mailbox for students to log their reading time. Students must log 6 hours of reading between now and February 16. Teachers who have at least 8 students participate will receive a FREE Six Flags ticket. All tickets can be used at the Atlanta Six Flags location only. This is a great program. If students can’t read independently, the time that someone reads to them can be logged on the form.
Do you like to shop? If so, see below...
Save the Date for our Staff Holiday Party
Fastbridge Testing
Good news!!! Not everyone needs to take the Fastbridge areading and amath assessments in January.
Who needs to take it?
Students at risk (<30%ile in the fall)
Students in RTI for that area
New students that haven't taken it yet.
Please let Christina McLeod know if you have questions or need help.
January Professional Development Days
Kristine Mraz will join us for another virtual PD session on A Mindset for Learning!
When: January 3rd from 10:00-1:00*
Where: Alpharetta Public Library (we will be joined by Manning Oaks ES Teachers)
January 4th (district owned)
Click on button below if you are.....Art, PE, Vangard, METI, CST,
Optional PDs: Science Training, Microsoft Training, Instructional Strategies for the Gifted Learners