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