Monday Morning Motivation
Central Elementary Staff News----March 6-March 9, 2017
Our Mission
Providing engaging academic experiences, the Central Elementary Community will inspire and support students to become caring, confident, lifelong learners.
Just to Make you Smile
Dear Staff,
On of my favorite programs is CBS Sunday Morning. They have a unique way of capturing current human interest stories that not only make you smile, but make you feel better and inspired after watching. The above is one of those stories. There is not a hidden educational meaning. It just makes you pause and celebrate the joys of working with children.
After a long week of testing and watching our children work so hard, I thought we could use something light.
Have a great week!
Julie
Two Weeks at a Glance
Central Calendar
MONDAY, March 6
- Mondays for Mike Jeans day! Wear jeans to honor our good friend Mike Underwood!
- Technology committee meeting 4:00 (office)
TUESDAY, March 7
- Let's wear Jeans to celebrate and awesome week of error free testing!
WEDNESDAY, March 8
THURSDAY, March 9
- Faculty meeting 7:30 a.m.
- School Board Meeting 7:00 p.m.
FRIDAY, March 10
- Principal's meeting
MONDAY, March 13
TUESDAY, March 14
- IREAD-3 test in the morning
- 3:00 First grade meet with Laura D.
WEDNESDAY, March 15
- Cabinet meeting
- 1:35 K meet with Laura D.
THURSDAY, March 16
- Team Leader meeting
- Envision math meetings at the Central Office (committee members
FRIDAY, March 17
- IREAD window closes
Announcements and Reminders
- PTO Grants--These are due March 13th and May 8th. I encourage you to apply for a grant because they have money they want to give back to the school.
- Math Textbook Adoption Committee-March 16th enVision Math 2.0 training.Two sessions: 9:00-11:00 for K-2 Teachers and 12:00-2:00 for grades 3-5 Teachers
- Math Common Assessment for Third Quarter is scheduled for the week of March 6-10th and results must be uploaded by Monday March 13th. In PowerSchool CAQ3
March 10 end of third quarter. Please be sure you are updating grades in PowerSchool each week.
- Please continue to take still photos for the yearbook. For example, we did not include bus buddies in the yearbook as a club, but it would be very good to have photos of students doing this important job for us.
- IREAD Test Window March 13-March 17, 2017 We will be testing on Tuesday, March 14th. With make-ups the following day(s).
Don’t forget to put March 12 on your calendar as we welcome Daylight Savings Time and “springing forward” on your clocks by one hour.
March 20th Mobile Dentist will visit Central. From the nurse Encourage parents via email to send back their application form as soon as possible if they want their child to be seen by a Dentist here at school. I will take applications up until the day the dentists are here, but would like them back sooner if possible.
Substitutes Please reach out to Nicole Crum if you need a sub several months away. It will only be to your benefit to secure a substitute teacher early. FYI, the 8th grade breakfast will be held on May 12th. Thank you.
Legacy Foundation Grants-begin thinking about the next grant cycle which will be due early April
Central Celebration will be March 23rd
Maker Boxes will be at Central Elementary April 3, 2017-April 21, 2017
Teachers, continue to work on collecting evidence for Domains 1 and 3. When you come to your observation conference, please bring your lesson plans.
Please share with students that the reward for completing the Math Facts Challenges in your grade level this year will be an "out of this world" experience! A dome planetarium will be in our gymnasium on May 17th to allow every student who has met the challenges to attend a 1/2 hour to 45 minute program, depending on the number of students. As we get closer, I will ask for an estimated number to begin creating a grade-level schedule for the experience. This "reward" goes along well with our math facts initiative since many are trying out the Rocket Math program this year.
ARRIVALS & DEPARTURES
- Jen Pasteur from the high school will be joining our staff. She is temporarily filling the vacancy in the emotional disabilities classroom. We are all grateful she is coming down to help us! Please make her feel welcome!
- With her elementary and special education teaching license hot off the press, Courtney Siepman will be going to the high school to help in the special education department. We will be working as a co-teacher. Although we will greatly miss her, this is a good move for her both financially and for her resume. :)
- Jessica Wilson is taking a leave of absence through spring break. We know this has been a tough decision for her and greatly support her.
- Alicia Hummel, a former elementary teacher here in Plainfield, will filling in for her during this time. Please make her feel welcome tomorrow!
Curriculum and Instruction
Graphic Organizers- Venn Diagrams, charts, flow charts, concept maps, vocabulary webs or other graphic organizers are a way of visualizing topics and the relationships between ideas. They are a great way to organize information when a student is first introduced to the topic. They can also be used to find similarities and differences between different theories, approaches, belief systems, cultures, etc. Venn diagrams can be helpful in writing activities as they help a student organize their ideas.
Differentiation can occur for the complexity of the diagrams used, the level of detail required, or the number of concepts to be included. Rubrics for evaluating can include such things as the importance of the ideas included, the correct relationships between concepts, the inclusiveness of the major ideas, the order of steps, and the level of detail. Be open to the students creating an organizer that will work for a stated purpose.
For Writing- A common model for writing is the hamburger model where the top bun is the introduction, the bottom bun is the conclusion, and the meat of the writing is in the paragraphs in the middle. A graphic depicting a hamburger can be used as prewriting tool.
For Pre-Assessment- Students can complete a concept map for an upcoming topic; ask them to indicate what they know about the concept, organizing ideas, main points, supporting details in a visual form so the relationships between the ideas and relative importance of the ideas is clear.
For Understanding Procedure- Use a flow chart to outline a specific procedure for algorithms, lab procedures, sentence diagramming, etc. The student can design these with differentiation coming in the complexity of the process.
For a Visual Explanation- For a quick understanding of major points, use an infographic to combine images, data, and explanation to create a quick understanding.
To Classify Information- Use a T chart or a Venn diagram to put things into categories.
Staff Celebrations!
- Our students did an amazing job on testing last week. Thank you for all of your positive attitudes. You could feel the energy in the school and it was great to see how hard our students were trying. Great job preparing our students.
- Awesome attendance this week 97.99 percent
- Thanks Amy and Rhianda for the donuts you have brought in over the last week or so :) It really is the little things that make a huge difference.
- Our special education assistants in room 238 have been wonderful and deserve a huge pat on the back.
- Thank you to Shonda for celebrating Happiness at Central by taking photos.
Happy March Birthdays
- Julie Smith (5)
- Nicole McClatchey (15)
- Rhianda Szepski (15)
- Elizabeth Boles-Manuel (23)