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