Principal's Newsletter
February 24, 2020
Principal's Message
Dear Adelante Selby families,
I would like to call your attention to how English Language Development (ELD) and Targeted Instructional Grouping (TIG) instruction is taught at our school. English Language Development or ELD classes are required for students who have English as a second language at home. Students who are not learning English as a second language, receive targeted instruction (TIG) at their level in reading. In grades Kindergarten-3rd, students may switch classrooms to their ELD or TIG teacher according to their language development needs. In 4th and 5th grades, students circle for ELD support in small groups within the English Reading or English Science teachers classrooms because we have less English Learners in those grade levels. English Language Development is different than teaching of reading and has separate standards and purpose. ELD helps students in three ways: helps access content they are learning; helps develop language students need to Interact at school, and specifically teaches students how English works. For example, teachers focus on teaching using a Language Function such as Compare and Contrast, Cause and Effect, Description or Sequencing. The teachers then plan lesson around which Form (i.e., language structure) to teach such as the present, past, future tenses or adjectives. Ideally, this instruction is related to the theme about which the students are already studying so they have background knowledge to help comprehension. Cognate Charts and Spanish-English Transfer are also important tools to teach English as a Second Language. Teachers will use sentence frames and graphic organizers to make it easier for students to learn the language much the same way they do when they are teaching Spanish to students whose home language is not Spanish. Our last few faculty and team meetings have focused on ELD and also on Teaching of Reading as we know it is critical to our students success.
The school naming committee met on February 21st and narrowed down the community input to 9 names that met the criteria for naming the school as per Board Policy. Our community is now invited to vote for their top three choices in order of preference. You can choose your favorite school name as your first choice, your second favorite school name as your second choice, and your third favorite choice as your final choice. The deadline to vote is Friday, February 28, 3 PM. Based on the votes, the School Naming Committee will narrow down the list to three final possible names to turn in to Superintendent Baker. There will then be two public School Board meetings on March 11th and 18th to make the final school name decision. Remember that you have an opportunity to speak for 3 minutes at the School Board meetings by filling out a speaker card at the beginning of the meeting. The deadline to vote is this Friday, February 28th. The link to vote is here in English: https://bit.ly/396ClXf and in Spanish: https://bit.ly/3c3JMA2.
Our second trimester is ending this Friday, and teachers are finishing up their final assessments and report cards. The week of March 9th-13th is reserved for Parent Teacher Conferences and all students will be dismissed at 1:25 all week. Parents are not required to meet with the teacher this round of conferences unless the teacher schedules the meeting or the parent requests it. If you would like to speak with the teacher to discuss your child's progress, it is important that you do make that request to avoid hallway conversations that could keep the teacher from cutting into instructional time. I'd like to ask for parents to be mindful about avoiding hallway conversations throughout the school year, particularly in the morning. Please schedule a time to speak with teachers after school or email them as teachers do not always have time to stop and speak with parents as students are the priority.
During the month of February, we have been enjoying a Kindness Challenge at our school. Everyone has been encouraged to participate and help kindness grow in and amongst ourselves and community. The “challenge” is to see how much kindness we can spread in our Adelante Selby Spanish Immersion Community! A kindness tree is on display in the cafeteria. There are hearts to write acts of kindness seen, done, and received. These hearts are placed on the tree as we watch our kindness tree grow and spread. Hearts were provided to each classroom to get started and also in the cafeteria. A big shout out to the Student Council for cutting out hearts and for making wonderful kindness posters to be displayed around the school! We also encourage parent volunteers to help cut out kindness hearts here at school.
The School Site Council is looking for after school enrichment program opportunities, e.g., arts and crafts, choir/chorus director, science club, etc. We are also looking for volunteers to help with the after school garden club on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays. If anyone knows of a person or program that would be great for our school, please email Director Warren or Leslie.
We need your help volunteering at school for Rainy Day Recess at lunch time in order to provide students with more options for activities in break out rooms. We envision rooms for Legos, games, arts and crafts, reading, technology use, and more! However, to ensure safety, we need to have at least 2 adults for every classroom. Please email Director Warren or Leslie if you are interested in volunteering.
Please check out the Lost and Found in the Cafeteria as it is starting to overflow again with coats, sweatshirts, lunch boxes, and water bottles.
Please visit our school website , Adelante Selby Facebook Page and our PTO/Unidos webpage and social media accounts: unidospto.org, Facebook and Instagram for more information.
Regards,
Director Warren
3rd Grade Gallery Walk
Unidos PTO Family Dance 50s Theme!
February Kindness Challenge!!
Kindness Tree!
100 Reasons to love a 5th grader!
Kindness Tree with lots of Random Acts of Kindness!
Kindergarten Ardenwood Farm Field Trip
School Garden in Bloom!
Around School!
After school Ukelele class with volunteer Nick
4th grade Seismograph Project
Kindergarten students riding on the new track!
February Events
- 2/24 Danny G Dance performance for Kindergarten and 1st grade, Carrington Hall, 5:30pm
- 2/26 Ribbon Cutting for the Solar Panels, 9:00am
- 2/27 Food Distribution 3:30pm-5:30pm, Cafeteria
- 2/28 Principal's Coffee 8:30, Room 204
- 2/28 Crazy Hair Spirit/Free Dress Day
- 2/28 Final day to vote for the top 3 names for our school
March Events
- 3/3 Unidos PTO meeting 6:00pm Library
- 3/9-3/13 Parent Teacher Conferences, 1:25pm Student Dismissal All Week
- 3/11 Redwood City School Board Meeting to discuss new school name, 7:00pm
- 3/16 ELAC meeting 8:45am, Room 204
- 3/18 Redwood City School Board Meeting to discuss new school name 7:00pm
- 3/20 No School
- 3/25 School Site Council Meeting 3:00pm, Room 501
- 3/27 Principal's Coffee