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