WATERFORD WEEKLY
May 16, 2016
FIRST ANNUAL WATERFORD KINDERGARTEN CELEBRATION
SLIDE SHOW OF OUR K YEAR!
SINGING TO CELEBRATE
RECEIVING THEIR BOOKS COMPLIMENTS OF THE PTO - FIRST GRADE HERE I COME!
KUDOS TO............................
Kari Welker and Wanda Scott for representing Waterford at the Board Meeting on Monday night in order to honor our Turn Around Award Winner - Brianna Miller.
Mr. "O" for grilling out for the staff on Tuesday!
Jen, Eli, Randy, and the K teachers for preparing our students for the Kindergarten Celebration tomorrow. We hope our "first annual" will be a huge success!
Dawn for preparing the Kindergarten slide shoe today!
Jennie for working with the K students on their songs: Days of the Week & Hello
Julea and Myrian for supporting our K students today!
The EL Interview Team for working diligently to find candidates that will be a great fit with our co-teaching model!
I'M MOVING ROOMS NEXT YEAR. WHAT SHOULD I DO?
If you are moving rooms next year, the following needs to be completed:
1. Pack up all of your personal items and label them with your name and new room #.
2. Let Todd know if you would like to take your teacher desk and chair. If so, he will "swap" the desk and chair from one room to another.
3. Leave ALL furniture in the classroom you are vacating unless it is a personal piece of furniture.
4. Leave ALL materials in the classroom for the new teacher.
5. Turn in your key to Sherrie for your old room when finished. She will then issue you a new key for your new room, once she has all of the keys turned in.
6. If you have questions, please ask Katrina or Todd.
New EL Teacher Recommended for Hire Next Year
Rachel Schember has been recommended for hire next year as an EL Teacher. Rachel graduated from Taylor University in 2015 with certification in Elementary Education (K-6) and English as a New Language P-12. She has been working the last year at Success Academy in South Bend as a 4th Grade Teacher. She is excited to put her ENL Certification to work since she is passionate about working with kids and especially, multicultural students! We are excited to have her on board the Waterford Train.
We still have one El opening. I will be making arrangements for additional interviews. As soon as the date and times are set, I will let you know.
TLT UPDATE
STATE SITE REVIEW FEEDBACK
Lisa Dercach was here from the state today to complete our yearly site review. She was extremely impressed with our Close Reading Strategy and how students were thinking during discussions. Teachers were using higher-level questions to activate prior knowledge and connections were being made to previous lessons.......kids were being pushed to think!
Additionally, Lisa suggested that we strengthen our reading and math stations in order to provide high expectations for all through differentiation and rigor. Knowing that time is a factor, she suggested stations that are "simple for teachers but not simple for students." She also thought it was important to continue to strengthen our planning, especially with new grade level teams next year, and that we continue to use data to support student instruction and learning.
Once we receive Lisa' report, we will be reviewing it and using it at the beginning of next year to help us to continue to move forward in a positive way for the success of all students!
Thanks for your continued hard work in helping our kids succeed!
Thanks for pushing our kids to think through Close Reading! The work that each and every one of you did on this strategy WILL propel our kids forward and allow them to think and problem-solve at higher levels!
Thank you! Thank You! Thank You!
NEWS FROM THE EL DEPARTMENT
Our EL schedule for next year is ready. There are some slight changes from this year. Next year EL teachers will each be working with a 2 grade level span. There will be 2 teachers supporting K and 1st, 2 teachers supporting 2nd and 3rd, and 1 teacher supporting 4th and 5th. This means that each grade level will have to regroup their classes during the whole ELA/Writing block. This change will allow the EL teachers give more support to each grade level and will allow for more time with students on collaboration days (Monday). We will also be welcoming 2 new team members next year. The configuration will look as follows:
K/1 - Supported by Gail and Marcia
2/3 - Supported by Rachel and TBD in Tom/Kristy's room
4/5 - Supported by Mark in Sarah and Shelley's room
Note: Classrooms for K-2 are TBD yet.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask as we move forward with a stronger co-teaching model next year.
Prayer Requests
Karen Hoover's mom
Teresa Vining and her family
June as she continues to recover at home
Linda and her family
DATES TO REMEMBER
NWEA TESTING IS MAY 2-20
May 16: Cluster 7:10-8:10 a.m. and 3:00-4:00 p.m.; K Interview from 3-5:30.
May 17: Child Study 3-4 p.m.
May 18: Staff Meeting 3:10-4:10 p.m.
May 19: ENL Exemption Meetings - Conference Room - All Day; TLT 3:10-4:20 p.m.
May 20: Attendance Meetings 9-9:45 a.m.
May 23: TLT Data Day from 11:30-3:30
May 24: Special Visitors - Canyon Ranch
May 25: 5th Grade Promotion Practice from 9-10 at First Baptist; School wide Picnic 10:30-12:30 a.m.
May 26: 5th Grade Promotion at First Baptist Church form 10-12; TLT Hacienda 3:15
May 27: Field Day and Last Student Day
May 30: Memorial Day - No School
May 31: Last Teacher Day
GCS News & Notes
Admin Cabinet Newsletter
Important End of Year evaluation procedures :
At the end of each school year, administrators meet with teachers to review the SKR score for the year. This year, the administrator will need to use the Individual Summary report exported from CODE into a pdf for this discussion. You will not need to use the End of Year Employment Recommendation Form. This recommendation form will be completed in the fall and will include the student achievement results from 2015-16 that will need to be factored into the overall effectiveness rating. Once signed, you should provide a copy to the teacher and send the original to the HR office for personnel files.
Administrators may remind returning teachers that they do have the right to request an additional evaluation for the coming school year. The deadline for making this request in writing will be August 19, 2016, but teachers may also submit the request now. Attached is the revised form.
TAP Attitude Survey
Last week, all GCS principals and master teachers received a message related to information on the administration of the annual TAP Attitude Survey. Response rates to this survey have wavered in years past, but we are hoping for high rates this year for several reasons:
So that the University of Indianapolis and CELL has solid data to use in their advocacy efforts with state and federal policymakers for funding support to sustain and strengthen the TAP initiative in Indiana.
Survey results that include high response rates will be beneficial to us locally as we share the GCS "TAP story" with various stakeholders such as school board members and other local policymakers.
Additionally, this attitude survey will provide GCS with data that can be highly useful in recruiting quality teachers to Goshen.
The survey is taken online by all TAP teachers and administrators and takes approximately 15 minutes to complete. The 2016 survey window for Indiana TAP schools is now open and will last through June.
Please encourage all teachers and members of the leadership team to increase the response rates this year.
Thank you!
Attention School Officials,
The GI Go Fund is once again honoring Memorial Day with “
Jeans For Troops
,” America’s most popular school dress down day to support our troops. As always, we are grateful for the support we are receiving from thousands of schools and school districts from across the country who give the opportunity to their employees to donate $5 and dress down in jeans and patriotic attire for the day.
We hope you can join the dress down program to benefit military personnel and veterans, including recently returned Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, as well as veterans of previous generations suffering from homelessness and other challenges. This year's national dress down day is May 26, the Thursday before Memorial Day weekend, but you can change the date while registering if another day works better. After registering, you will be mailed all the program information/stickers to host a great Jeans for Troops Day. Please sign up on our
Jeans for Troops Registration
page by clicking on this link
.
We are grateful for your support. If you have any questions please reply to this email or call our main office at 866-389-4446.
Thank you,
Alex.
About Us
Email: koverton@goshenschools.org
Website: http://waterford.goshenschools.org/
Location: 65560 S.R. 15 Goshen, IN 46526
Phone: 574-533-6811
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/waterford.elementary
Twitter: @WaterfordElem