Winter Break Week

Staff,

A few reminders regarding some of the events going on this week. Below is the PBIS hot chocolate and candy canes schedule for Monday. Students will be independently reading while having their hot chocolate. During your scheduled time, please tune your Smartboard to channel 82 to project the bonfire in your classroom. Turn up the volume and your students will even be able to hear it crackle!

(9:00-9:40) Kindergarten-2nd Grade (Mrs. Strop will check in to make sure everything is running smoothly).  K classes will be served first, then first grade followed by second. Here are the morning parent volunteers:  Melissa Steiner, Laura Ludeman and Michelle Alters.

(1:00-1:40) Third-Fifth Grade (Mrs. Kiesler will check in to make sure everything is running smoothly). Third grade will be served first, then fourth followed by fifth. Afternoon parent volunteers are as follows:  Sutheree Lovell, the Dickmans and Jenni Derrick.

On Tuesday, weather permitting, we may get a fire drill in prior to the start of specials. After second recess on this day, I will also announce the classroom that will have the additional recess on Wedneday based on having the least amount of minors/majors during our December competition.

If you haven't already submitted your fun fact using the the following link please do so. I need all fun facts submitted by the end of the day tomorrow so I can prepare for the Tuesday Staff Meeting. Fun Fact Link 

Finally on Wednesday we will have our All School Sing Along starting at 2:45pm, and it will last about 36 minutes. Wishing you a great three days with your students and a well deserved winter break!

This Week's and Next Week's Staff Meetings

Staff,

A reminder that Andrea Voelker will be coming to our staff meeting this Tuesday to review the compensation model approved last year for certified teaching staff.  Here is an informational link to the information I sent out through email previously:  Teacher Compensation Handouts

At the staff meeting on Tuesday, December 22nd we're going to have some fun prior to winter break. Any staff (certified and support) may attend, but must fill out the following google form before the meeting. Fun Fact Link Try to choose something your colleagues don't know about you. Maybe you've traveled to all the continents, had a brush with fame with Bon Jovi or were a nationally ranked badminton player. Whatever your fun fact is, it will be used to play a "Guess Who" game where groups of staff will try to match each fun fact with the correct staff member. 

Day 6 Progress Monitoring and Late Start Planning

Staff,

On Tuesday we have our second progress monitoring Day 6 of the year. We will meet in Kara's classroom for these meetings. Please bring any student data/anecdotal notes you feel will assist with the discussions and decision making.

As I emailed out last week, our late start on Thursday is building based with the focus on lesson planning using the "New Old ELA Maps." This should allow you to continue the planning you began at your most recent district ELA professional development. Below are links to each grade level's "New Old Maps."

Finally during the weeks leading up to winter break, if you have opportunities to recognize students through Celebration Reports, please do so. Recently more Celebration Reports have been turned into the office and the students who received them have been so proud of their accomplishments. This is a great way to send our students into their break on a positive note.

Kindergarten Curriculum Map  

First Grade Curriculum Map

Second Grade Curriculum Map

Third Grade Curriculum Map

Fourth Grade Curriculum Map

Fifth Grade Curriculum Map

Progress Reports and ELA Professional Development

Staff,

One last time, here is the schedule for progress reports for this week. 3rd-5th grade teachers make sure your progress report envelopes include the individual MAP report and letter explaining it. K-2 you should also have these two documents, as well as the student PALS report and the PALS informational letter.

Monday - 11/30 - Grades in Skyward by 11:59 pm

Tuesday - 12/01 - Progress reports will be printed in the morning

Wednesday, 12/02 - Reopen the grade window @ 8:00 am until 11:59 pm to make any changes. Give Sue a list of students who need a progress reports reprinted

Thursday - 12/03 - Final printing and progress reports go home with students:  this will include MAP reports with MAP letter and PALS reports K-2 with PALS letter.

During the month of December, we won't have an All School Meeting because of our All School Sing Along on Wednesday, December 23rd. 

Finally, this week we wrap up our second round of district ELA planning. Once you have had your professional development, please connect with your SMART Team grade level member on what you believe is the most pressing next steps for ELA/SLO planning. The SMART Team and I will use this information to develop our building late start plan for Thursday, December 10th.  Here's the PD schedule for this week. 

Tuesday, December 01, 2015	District PD	Bldg	2nd	ELA/IUI leaders, LSS
Wednesday, December 02, 2015	District PD	Bldg	1st	ELA/IUI leaders, LSS
Thursday, December 03, 2015	District PD	Bldg	Kndg	ELA/IUI leaders, LSS
Friday, December 04, 2015	District PD	Bldg	5th	ELA/IUI leaders, LSS

Thanksgiving Week Fun

Staff,

5th grade has fun activities planned for our two day school week! Again here is the PBIS acknowledgement schedule. 5th grade will come to your classrooms at the scheduled time. Within the table below, I've also listed the differentiated activities based on each grade level. On Tuesday, Turkey Bingo will start at 10:25am and run until 11:00am.

	Monday, November 23rd	Tuesday, November 24th
10:15-11:00am	2nd Grade-Catapults	Turkey Bingo
11:15-12:00pm	4th Grade-Balloon Cars	3rd Grade-Airships
1:30-2:15pm	Kindergarten- Art (William Wegman)
2:30-3:15pm	1st Grade-Flight

The early release is set aside for you to work on your progress reports and to update your students' instructional reading levels in Skyward. If you have forgotten how to do this, my October 4th blog can help you out. Here is a review of the progress report schedule for this week and next. Wishing you all a great work week and five day weekend!

Tuesday - 11/24 - Early Release - work on progress reports and update your instructional reading levels within Skyward before you leave for the day. 

Monday - 11/30 - Grades in Skyward by 11:59 pm

Tuesday - 12/01 - Progress reports will be printed in the morning

Wednesday, 12/02 - Reopen the grade window @ 8:00 am until 11:59 pm to make any changes. Give Sue a list of students who need a progress reports reprinted 

Thursday - 12/03 - Final printing and progress reports go home with students:  this will include MAP reports with MAP letter and PALS reports K-2 with PALS letter. 

Day 6: Submitting SLOs and Growth Mindset in Math

Staff,

Tomorrow with your Day 6 time, please use this to finalize and submit your SLOs. If you've submitted your SLOs already, you may use this Day 6 for your most urgent planning. My goal is to finalize your SLOs next week, and I'd like them all submitted by the end of this week to make this possible. On a separate note, I wanted to share a great mindset video on math by Jo Boaler and some of her students. A few of us on the district math committee were able to see her speak last year regarding math and mindset. You'll notice familiar themes we've discussed previously in our building about the positive impact of a growth mindset, specifically through the lens of math.

Planning Your Next Steps in Guided Reading

Staff,

A week removed from your SLO data day many of you have reflected upon, made adjustments and finalized your SLOs. As you begin to implement your SLO action plans, this article from Fountas and Pinnell highlights a lot of the practices we've implemented and provides some tips you might want to include in your guided reading instruction. This is an article you may want to dig into over time or with your grade level teams. Guided Reading: The Romance and the Reality

Friday Data Day: PD on Teacher and Specialist Assessment Standards and SLO Creation

Staff,

This week our conferences are sandwiched by assessment:  Day 6 progress monitoring on Wednesday and our Data Day on Friday focused on the Stronge teacher/specialist assessment standards and SLO development. Classroom teachers, if you did not upload your instructional reading levels on Friday, please do so on Monday, so I can get our progress monitoring spreadsheet updated by Wednesday.

Below I have attached a link to a video tutorial reviewing how to complete your self assessment (step two) in the EP professional goal setting plan followed by completing the SLO process (step one). I will walk staff through the process in person on Friday, but I also wanted to give a virtual option for those who felt that was all they needed.

Standard Reflection and SLO Development

Parent Teacher Conferences

Staff as you prepare for your conferences this week, below I  shared some tips I found helpful from the Harvard Family Research Project.  Also remember we have a District Forum on Tuesday at 8:05am, and your Day 6 collaboration time is set aside fo you to prepare for your conferences. Have a good week and a great start to your conference nights!

Entering F+P Instructional Levels into Skyward

Staff,

This year instead of entering your F+P Instructional levels on the T drive, you'll be entering them in Skyward through your class options under test scores. The video below will walk you through the process, and on Monday there will be a hard copy of the directions in your mailbox. The first update of F+P instructional levels is Friday, October 16th. Please do not start entering into Skyward until I verify ITS has aligned each F+P test score session with our assessment calendar dates.

A reminder that your collaboration time will be on Wednesday with Kelli instead of tomorrow. She will first review Big Universe and the other platforms available through the media center homepage. Then she will have time to plan with you regarding what blended learning support you'd like to develop within your class/grade level. 

Finally, Monday is the start of using minor communication forms for reteaching below the line behavior. The reteaching video will be shown on the news tomorrow.

Importing Reading Data into Skyward

Staff Meeting: Conference Scheduling and PBIS World

Staff:

Duing the first part of Tuesday's staff meeting, we will review Parent/Teacher Conference scheduling through Skyward. In the afternoon on Thursday, Sue will open up the conference scheduling to parents. Before then, you'll want to block off some breaks within your schedule, and reach out to parents you'd like to pre-schedule. This was done mostly for parents with students who also had an IEP case manager.

During the second half of the meeting, we'll be digging into the PBIS World website which is one of the tabs on this blog. Please come to this meeting with a student in mind who you'd like to provide more behavioral support to. You'll be working with another colleague at this staff meeting using this website with that student in mind. If you like, feel free to play around with the PBIS World website prior to the meeting.

Day 6: ELA Lesson Planning

Staff,

First-fifth grade teachers had very productive ELA PD days with time to work collaboratively on first trimester lesson planning. As a reminder, this Friday's Day 6 will be set aside for you to continue to develop your specific lesson plans digging into how you may gradual release these learning targets to your students. Please let me know what would make this time the most beneficial for your team. Below I have linked each grade level's lesson planning document created at your PD. Feel free to also use your grade level planning time on Wednesdays for this work, if your team so chooses. As we begin our week, remember there will be a 9:10am fire drill on Monday.

1st Grade ELA Sept-Oct Lesson Plans

2nd Grade ELA Sept-Nov Lesson Plans

3rd Grade ELA Sept-Nov Lesson Plans

4th Grade ELA Sept-Oct Lesson Plans

5th Grade ELA Sept-Oct Lesson Plans

Big Universe and District ELA/IUI Staff Development

Teachers,

One last reminder on the district staff development which begins this week. 

• 5th Grade - Sept. 14
• 4th Grade - Sept. 15
• 3rd Grade - Sept. 16
• 2nd Grade - Sept. 17
• 1st Grade - Sept. 18 
• Kindergarten - Oct. 1

You can also view the district staff development for the year using the PD Calendar for Scheduling Subs tab on this blog. 

This week's staff meeting focus has changed. Kelli Hedlund is going to give you a tutorial on using the Big Universe digital book library (new this year)so please bring a laptop or Chromebook to the meeting. Students can access this digital library from a device during independent reading time in Readers Workshop, teachers could utilize these resources for guided reading (if you have enough devices for students)and students can access these books away from school for at home reading. If you would like to learn more about Big Universe prior to the staff meeting, below is a youtube video overview. 

Teaching Center

Staff,

Thank you so much for getting our school year off to a great start for our students! Knowing you have plenty on your plate going into the second week of school, I wanted to share a fun video of appreciation from "Teaching Center" to start your week off right. Have a great week!

Welcome Back!!!

Staff,

Tomorrow the students will be here, and by the end of the week you'll probably feel like you had never left for summer vacation. When thinking about the start of the year, I forgot to talk to you all about one way to begin to build positive relationships with your students:  greeting them each morning as they enter your classroom. Not only does create a built in connecting time with your students, it can also give you insight regarding what a child's evening or morning may have been like prior to coming to school.

At the district Welcome Back, you had an opportunity to learn more about Dr. Nick Oullette and his beliefs and values around education. I wanted to share with you his introductory letter regarding his goals for this year. If you have an event you'd like him to attend, he'd love to receive an email from you. If he can make the event, he will.

"I am excited to begin the 2015-16 school year with a dedicated team who are committed to providing the best education for Hudson's students. I have three goals in mind as I set out upon my first year as Superintendent of the Hudson School District. First, I would like to listen and learn about the school district and the goals set forth to ensure a successful and seamless transition as Superintendent. Second, I would like to get to know all the stakeholders in the Hudson community. From the students who count on our education to prepare them for their future, to the parents who have entrusted us with their children, their most valued asset. From the staff that have dedicated their lives to the service of our kids, to the community members who rely upon us to be good stewards of both their tax dollars and their trust. Each of these groups is an important part of a successful school district. Lastly, I want to ensure that the community and all stakeholders believe in what we are doing as a school district. I want to build upon the great successes of the district and rally community support around an organization that truly has the best interest of all that it serves. Understanding where we want to go, hearing from those to help set the direction, and building trust and belief in what we are doing sums up what I want to work towards this first year.

I want to thank the Board of Education for the opportunity to lead such an outstanding school district. My family and I look forward to being active members of Hudson's vibrant community which clearly takes pride in Hudson School District's tradition of academic success."

Dr. Nick Ouellette
Superintendent of Schools

Finally as you utilize my blog for the 15-16 school year, I wanted to point out some resources I've linked through the use of tabs at the top of this entry. You'll now have direct access to the HSD PD site, HSD Educator Effectiveness Resources which includes the timeline for the 15-16 school year, as well as your requirements over your three year evaluation cycle for both teachers and specialists (two separate documents). I've included the calendar for scheduling substitutes for District PD, support for new teachers, Amanda McCarthy's blog and a PBIS website the PBIS Tier I team will be using this year to assist teachers with additional Tier I and Tier II techniques. 

I look forward to having you all back in the building tomorrow, and wish you a great start to the year cultivating another crop of students!

Dolf

Summer Reading and Wednesday's Staff Meeting

Staff,

Here's the final blog for the 14-15 school year, even if it is a day late. Kelli has organized a reboot of the summer book check out from our media center. Sue will highlight this in Thursday Folder this week, and I'll also mention it at our All School Meeting on Friday.  The book check out will occur on Tuesdays from 9:30-10:30am, and Kelli is supervising most of these dates. However, there are three dates we could use volunteers:  June 16th, July 21st and August 4th. If you are interested in facilitating the book check out on one of these dates, please sign up on the check out schedule in the office. Thanks Kelli for your work on this!

Also a reminder regarding our short celebratory staff meeting this Wednesday at 8:05am. After the celebration instead of cleaning Rice Lake (which you'll still need to do as part of check out) Kelli will be videotaping the staff goodbyes for the end of the year All School Meeting. Be thinking about your goodbye choreography before this meeting. Great job facilitating another wonderful year for our students!

Writers' Extravaganza, SLOS and ELA Curriculum MAPS

Staff,

Tomorrow is our third annual Writers' Extravaganza starting at 2:30pm for first through fifth grades. Thank you for all the work you've put in with your students to get ready to share their writing with family and friends!

On Friday, I was able to meet with some grade level teams who had their end of year data completed to discuss SLO results. Teachers who are not on cycle, you can submit your Goal Setting Review document once you have completed the End of Interval SLO Review and uploaded your end of year data as a file. Tuesday, June 2nd is set aside as a Day 6 for classroom teachers to finalize SLOs for the 2014-2015 school year. A reminder for non-classroom teachers who are not on cycle for evaluation this year you can submit your SLO electronically, but if you would like to meet directly with me, please schedule a meeting during the next two weeks through Sue.

This week's staff meeting is on Thursday instead of Tuesday. Amy Wise will be leading the staffing meeting familiarizing you all with the ELA curriculum maps for the 15-16 school year. Wishing you all a great two last weeks to cap off a wonderful school year!

End of Year SLO Planning and Reflection

Staff,

The next two Day 6s will be set aside for you to work on your end of year SLO reflection. If you have completed your SLO before these dates, we can use one of these Day 6s to review it. Teachers not on cycle for evaluation can choose to submit your SLO electronically, or meet as a team, if your team members also are not on cycle. Teachers on cycle, your SLO review will be done as an individual conference with me with, or separate from, your summative evaluation review.

Below is the end of the year SLO review Kevin Moore and I created. I do have two things I need to clarify from the video though because they were stated incorrectly in our tutorial.

The first narrative box in the end of year SLO is the end of year status of goal. This is where you give your final update on your data. The next narrative box is the evidence of goal completion, and this is where you talk about the practices you've put into place and the progress of individual/groups of students have made as evidence of goal completion. I recommend also looking back at how you filled out these two boxes from your mid year SLO as a reminder. Please also remember to attach your year end data using the add file. By doing this, your data will stay within your SLO document, instead of flowing into your documentation log under standard four.

Late Start Focus, Volunteer Appreciation, Professional Practice Goal and SLOS

Staff,

This Thursday's late start will set aside for information sharing regarding the new salary structure model. I will be out a math conference during the late start, but I wanted to remind you of the breakfast option from 7:30-8:00am in the high school cafeteria followed by the elementary and high school staff salary structure meeting from 8-9am in the HHS auditorium. I'm more than happy to meet with any staff when I return on Monday who have questions about the new salary structure model.

After the late start presentation, the remaining late start will be back at the building set aside to work on My Learning Plan and team collaboration. Specialists (art, music, physical education, counselors, media and reading) are welcome to meet (K-5) at a preferred location or back at the building to also work on My Learning Plan.

I also wanted to remind you of the volunteer breakfast on Tuesday morning (8:05am) in the media center. Please stop down and have some breakfast while showing your appreciation for all of our wonderful volunteers. Also K-4 teachers make sure your pink/blue class placement cards are ready for our meetings on Tuesday.

Below I have a video tutorial regarding the reflection you'll do this Wednesday on your SLO PPG during your Day 6 Collaboration. I wanted to give you time to complete this portion of the SLO before you have your end of year data and were working on the majority of the End of Year SLO Review. Next Sunday, I will be sharing a video Kevin Moore and I created to review the steps to complete your End of Year SLO review, including teacher self-scoring using the SLO rubric.

Badger Exam Kick Off, Day 6 Planning and Six Practices for Supporting Students with Challenging Behaviors.

Staff,

This Monday North Hudson Elementary kicks off the Badger Exam with third grade students taking the math session one in the morning and 5B and 5S taking their math session one in the pm. Test proctors remember to review your testing locations and the test directions you'll be giving your students (found in your accordion binder).

For Tuesday's Day 6, remember you can use this time as a team to complete mylearningplan requirements (teachers on cycle: documentation logs need to be submitted by the end of the day Thursday), planning for instruction using the google doc agenda or completing your pink/blue sheets for class placement day.

Finally I wanted to share with you an article from my educational leadership magazine: Principal regarding practices that support students who act out. Student behavior can be challenging this close to the end of the year, and the article reinforces six strategies (many of which we have built into our building/classroom cultures). Ranging from building strong relationships with students to teaching the behaviors we expect. Below is the link to the article.

When Students Act Out

Earth Week, Power Up Challenge and Staff Meeting Action Items

Staff,

Thank you for all your help setting up or manning different stations during the Kids Karnival. The NH PTO truly appreciates all your help!

The following are reminders regarding the Earth Week activities, week three of our Power Up Challenge and completing artifact uploads and the LOTI survey. Don't forget to turn in your week two packets with completed student forms into the office from the Power Up Challenge.

EARTH WEEK – April 19 -25

Monday, April 20 - White Out Day - Save Paper

Save to your computer rather than print; use Google; use less towels to dry your hands.

Sharing district building comparisons of duplicating trends; travel trophy goes to E.P. Rock for the most staff who DECREASED their duplicating amounts (2014 to 2015).

Tuesday, April 21 - Yellow Out  - Save Energy

turn off sections of lights for the whole day; lights out for parts of the day; no devices?

Wednesday, April 22 - Green Out - Outdoor Learning

Work in school gardens / forest; clean up litter; go for nature hike; plant a tree or flowers. (Feel free to spend time learning in the NH courtyard or hiking through Webster Park)

EARTH STEWARD Announced (nomination form due Friday, April 17) Community recognition and gift certificate for staff and/or community member recognized for their efforts to reduce, reuse and recycle.

Thursday, April 23 - Blue Out- Save Water (www.water.org)

bring a re-usable water bottle; turn off faucets; river or lake clean-up; shorter showers

Friday, April 24 - Black Out - Save Fuel (carpool)

ride your bike; walk; ride with a friend or make a new friend

Teacher Tips

Q: What do I do with the coloring sheets?

A: These coloring sheets are for students to creatively color or draw how they have powered up with the School Challenge and how it has helped them to Try for 5! These works of art can fill the school hallways, plus be sent in at the end of the Challenge to PowerUp for a chance to win prizes and be on display!

Q: What happens now that the challenge is over?

A: The Challenge might be over, but the fruit and veggie fun doesn’t have to be!

·         Your school will receive PowerUp Bucks to be used to improve the health and wellness at your school (The amount of dollars we receive is directly connected to the percentage of students participating during the three weeks.)

·         You can use the PowerUp classroom prizes all year long to bring movement and activity to your classroom.

·         In class or in the lunchroom, continuing to celebrate fruits and veggies is a wonderful way to encourage your kids to PowerUp all year long!

Staff Meeting on Tuesday Bring Your Laptop

On Tuesday, there's time built into the staff meeting so you can work on completing your artifact uploading if you are off cycle or completing your documentation log if you are on cycle for evaluation this year. The following link is a video reminder for staff on cycle completing documentation logs created by Kevin Moore Uploading Artifacts to a Doc. Log Teachers on cycle, your documentation logs need to be submitted to me by Thursday, April 30th. If you are a year two probationary or non-probationary teacher, double check you've had your students/clients complete the second survey and you've submitted your survey analysis document through mylearningplan.

If you haven't already, you can choose to complete the LOTI survey during the staff meeting too. Here are the directions from Nancy Toll:

If you were in the Hudson School District last year and took this survey:

1.     Go to http://www.lotilounge.com

2.     Under "Member Login" type in your username and password.  (In the past we encouraged everyone to use their school computer login name.  If you do not remember the password you used, there is a link under the boxes, "Need help signing in?"  Click here and then you will be able to click on "password request form" and have your password emailed to you.)  If you don’t remember either, please email me and I can have an automatic email sent to you from the system with your user information in it.

3.     Once you are logged in, click on "Take the LoTi Digital-Age Survey"

4.     Select "2014-15 Digital-Age Survey for Teachers" if you are a teacher, specialist or counselor. Select "2014-15 Digital-Age Survey for Instructional Leaders" if you are a principal or associate principal.

5.     Click on the “Start a New LoTi Digital Age Survey”

6.     Continue on ... you may save and complete the survey at another time but it must be completed by May 29th.

7.     At the end they have added many new results reports and recommendations with web links to resources that will help you grow professionally in digital age skills.  Please take the time to explore and check these things out.

  

Substitute Support for Assessments and Power Up Challenge Teacher Tips Week Two

Staff,

Following the late start focused on the two spring state assessments:  PALS and the Badger Exam, I wanted to remind you of of the substitute teacher support grade levels have for spring assessments (F+P and PALS). The following are the number of substitute days you've been allocated for the year. Please see Sue if you are unsure how much you've currently used:  Kindergarten- second grade (one and a half to two full days), third-fifth grade (one day). The PALS window is May 11-22 and the F+P spring window closes on Friday, May 29th.  

Teacher Tips

Q: How can I help keep my classroom Powered Up each week?

A: Here are just a few ideas:

·         Use the PowerUp videos (found at PowerUp4Kids.org) each week to get kids excited about Trying for 5 and being active! Don’t forget about the brain break videos!

·         Check out the PowerUp website for great ideas on how to incorporate fruits and veggies into your Math, Science, English, and Art lessons.

·         Make sure to celebrate your success with the classroom prizes.

Q: How are families involved in the school challenge?

A: Every family received a Power Pack Family Fun Magazine full of tools and tips to help them PowerUp at home. Any way to help encourage parents to use the Power Pack or send your students home with dinnertime and weekend project ideas are welcomed (family cook- off anyone?).

Power Up Challenge, Standard 4 Assessment and Late Start

Staff,

As we begin our first week of the Power Up Challenge here are the week one tips I sent out to you all at the end of the day on Friday. Remember to have your students track their fruits and vegetables each day and then at the end of the week collect all of their tracking sheets. Please place them in your designated envelope for the week.

On Tuesday, with the help of our Teaching, Learning and Assessment Team (Maren and Jennifer), we are going to be digging into the Educator Effectiveness Standard 4:  Assessment. This was a big part of their mid-year TLA district meeting, and will probably be a focus standard in the future regarding the district's compensation plan. As a result, I want us to continue to prepare ourselves by reflecting on teaching practices we are currently using, or could use in the future, aligned to the distinguished portion of the Standard 4 rubric. Below is the rubric language for both effective and distinguished practice within this standard. 

Finally during the building based late start of Thursday, certified staff will be learning/planning regarding the following topics K-2 teachers/PALS, 3-5 teachers/Badger Exam and Educator Effectiveness Documentation for all other staff:  Documentation Logs, year two Survey Analysis, SLOs, etc. I appreciate the time the district set aside so you can prepare for these state initiatives. Teachers involved in the Badger Exam, here is the DPI website with testing resources:  Badger Exam Training Modules  

Staff,

Late last week you should have received an email from Alycia Flynn-Benzer regarding volunteering for Kids' Karnival on Friday, April 17 or Saturday, April 18. If you did not, here is the link to sign up to volunteer:  http://vols.pt/gY5Lbp   Again it is my hope that North Hudson staff can either support the PTO through working the Kids' Karnival or Pepper Fest. 

If you wanted to volunteer an activity to be included in the raffle remember to contact Amy Kell at AmyDavid@kelldental.com. If it is something done after school hours, make sure to have the location at North Hudson Elementary. It could also be something that happens during the school day like lunch with you. 

Just a few other reminders for this week. Your Day 6 common planning time on Thursday is set aside for you to continue your literacy action planning or complete your math protocol.  Our All School Meeting will be on Friday starting at 9:00am with our Power Up Challenge Kick Off and our Pennies for Patients Wrap Up. Students have also earned their pj day and popcorn party, and this will also occur on Friday. Below are some of the specifics regarding the Power Up Challenge. 

Educator Effectiveness Documentation Logs

Staff,

At our staff meeting on Tuesday, you'll have time to work on your documentation logs. Within the Educator Effectiveness tab on my blog, I have added another document, the table showing what components you're responsible for each year of your evaluation cycle.

During our work session on Tuesday morning, SMART Team members will be available to refresh your memory on how to upload documents into my learning plan. One document I am requiring for Standard 6 is a professional development log. This is something you can be adding to every year of your evaluation cycle to show you're effective or distinguished in the area of professionalism. This log is available in your my files tab in mylearningplan, and it looks like this.

You can download this document and be adding to it each year from now until your summative evaluation. Kelli is also working on figuring out how to make this a google doc that you link into your documentation log, so any time you update it, the form automatically updates in my learning plan too.

Remember all teachers need to upload three documents total this year (except year three probationary teachers:  one document). Please refer to the form on the EE tab of this blog for which standards you can specifically pick from depending on the year you are on within the evaluation cycle. Teachers on cycle for evaluation need to have their documentation logs submitted to me before May 1st.

Action Planning on Monday and Tuesday

Staff:

Here's hoping you all had a chance to rejuvenate either locally or at some exotic destination. I was able to mark some things off my honey do list:  painting Heather's home office and Griffin's room while also ordering his bedroom furniture at the Treasure Island Casino furniture market. 

We hit the ground running this week on Monday (Day 6) and Tuesday (staff meeting) with your most pressing literacy planning/preparation. Again here some of the suggested planning ideas. 

• Writing planning (K-2) to support new binders

• Supporting K-5 above level readers – guided reading complexity of the F+P continuum (within, beyond and about the text)

• Writing about reading: digging into this tab in the F+P continuum

• Informational and/or opinion writing

• Whole group/small group planning using the F+P or MAP continuum

• Planning around increasing the frequency/quality of turn and talks during mini-lessons (see Amanda for support)

• Utilizing running records and comprehension interview to access students’ instructional levels (Amanda and Kara can support)

• Planning for guided reading

• Next steps with SLO actions

Friday is an early release designated for you to work on progress reports. Please remember to update your independent and instructional reading levels also on this day. The March assessment window is important for your instruction because we are removing the mid May update. Instead your last reporting will be done at the end of the year. This will be used for Title One determination, SLO and SMARTgoals and to share with next year's teachers. With all the May assessments, we felt this would give you more flexibility on when you complete your year-end F+P assessments. Here's the progress report schedule for next week. 

Finally remember to wear husky gear or blue and white on Friday for our morning All School Meeting. We will be taking an all school photo which will be included in our school yearbook. Again I hope you had a wonderful break, and I look forward to seeing you tomorrow!