Forum and Report Cards

Staff,

On Monday at 8:05am, we have our first forum on the year in the media center. Also on Monday it is the NH PTO's all day Pita Pit fundraiser. Marcie Andrews is willing to pick up orders placed by North Hudson staff on this day, and bring them back to school. Tuesday is the November NH PTO meeting, and it will be held in the art room.

On Friday the early release is set aside for report card work and uploading instructional reading levels into Skyward. Below I have included the guidance on report cards sent out by Sandi Kovatch last Friday.

As you prepare for first-trimester grading and reporting, Skyward is now open and there is a specific designated time for you to work on report cards next Friday at the early release. The Office of Teaching and Learning is re-sharing these documents, which are found in your grade-level essential documents folder, so we can continue to provide high levels of support as we transition to standards-based grading, this year in mathematics and next year in all other subjects.

Even though the report card shared with you shows overall grade marks and standard/ skill marks, Skyward would not allow us to differentiate. Overall grade marks by subject will continue to be 4, 3, 2 or 1.  Grade marks for standards/skill marks will be +, M, D or -.

Report cards - November 2017 version

Kindergarten

First Grade

Second Grade

Third Grade

Fourth Grade

Fifth Grade

To assist you in determining grade marks for ELA, the progress report rubrics have been updated to reflect +, M, D and -.

ELA Progress Report Rubrics

This is for your reference only - not to be shared with parents or students.

In addition, to support math grading this year, Lisa created the following progress report document - Tri 1 EM4  (for teacher use only) to provide clarification in reporting on student progress for the first trimester. There is a tab along the bottom for each grade level on this document.  You will note that the standard language aligns with the report card. The statements listed under each unit are taken from the star statements from the teacher manual and/or the mastery tracker. At the bottom, you will also find links to the priority standards and mastery tracker, please refer to your ACIs and assessments for more specific information. From your Tri 1 EM4 document, any area that is shaded for all three units is automatically an NA on the report card.

Tri 1 EM4

SLO Submissions and PLCs

Staff,

By the at the end of the day on Tuesday your Professional Goal Setting Plan is due to be submitted. The next Educator Effectiveness item due pertains to Year 2 teachers, and it is the Survey Growth Plan due November 30th.

On Wednesday, November 1st common planning time will be devoted to essential learning work. Here's the current google document teams are using to catalog PLC planning for the year so far:  NH 17-18 PLC Products.

Below is the update from grade level teams regarding their PLC work in October.

• K: Letters/sounds and level A sight words and getting ready to move to Level B sight words. 
• 1st: Making connections and responding to texts. 
• 2nd: Text to self connections
• 3rd: Choosing just right books, sticking with chosen books, reading stamina and moving into connections.
• 4th: Getting students into books that engage them and moving onto text features.
• 5th: Text features and determining levels of understanding.

Finally remember we have our 3rd-5th grade dress rehearsal on Thursday afternoon and the November All School Meeting on Friday at 2:50pm. 

Conferences

Staff,

I read through some different online resources to support you while preparing for parent/teacher conferences. This one from Eutopia aligns the most with what I'd want you as teachers to be able to accomplish when meeting with parents over the next couple of weeks:  Parent/Teacher Conference Blog.

At our staff meeting on Tuesday, Kelli will provide more information on our Husky Headline News streaming platform, and we will have a our second math staff meeting with Lisa Skoyen. Part of the math time in the agenda will be set aside to assist you with the talking points around standards based grading in math for conferences.

Curriculum Roll Through, Book Sale and PBIS Staff Meeting

Staff,

Tomorrow you'll have your first curriculum roll through with Amy Wise and Lisa Skoyan. They will be coming to grade level classrooms during common planning time. The Hurricane Harvey book sale begins Monday in the Art Room and runs through Tuesday.

I am setting time aside at Tuesday's staff meeting to complete the PBIS Self Assessment Survey. This survey assists us in knowing where we are with our Tier I implementation of PBIS. Below is information provided by Chris Strop to prepare you for taking the survey. We will review taking the survey in the media center at 8:05am, and then I will release you to take it on your laptop in your classroom. Prior to the meeting a link will be shared with you so you can access the survey.

The SAS provides an opportunity for all staff to provide feedback to the building leadership team, can indicate priorities for improvement, and provides perceptual data from the staff around PBIS implementation for sustainability.

46 Questions/4 Categories

1.  Schoolwide

2.  Non-classroom

3.  Classroom

4.  Individual

Two questions for each statement

·Status: In place, partial, not in place

·Improvement priority: High, medium, low

·If something is "In place", it would be "low priority" for improvement.  If something is partially or not in place, it could be high, medium or low priority (you may or may not care if it is in place)

PBIS team – is available to clarify any questions you may have regarding the questions.  

SLO

Staff,

On Tuesday's staff meeting, I will review the SLO process for your late start work on Thursday. Here is the planning document for working through your Professional Goal Setting Plan

You'll complete the first three steps referenced in this document on Thursday. To prepare for our staff meeting, please read the two blog posts below from Fountas and Pinnell giving guidance on expected yearly growth and on how far teachers should go with instructional reading levels for above grade level readers. Both of these articles are helpful when thinking about your SLO goal setting for your students.

F+P Growth Guidance

Grade Level Cut-Off

Patriot Day and Staff Meeting

Staff,

I have some reminders regarding Patriot Day tomorrow. Thank you to all the staff who helped plan the Patriot Day program. Here's the schedule of events for tomorrow.

• On Husky Headline News a video slide show will recognize service men and women related to our students and staff at North Hudson Elementary. 
• By 2:45pm classes should be out by on the driveway facing the flagpole so we can begin the Patriot Day program promptly at 2:50pm.

 Program Agenda

 Raising of the Flag – St. Joseph Fire Fighters

  Star Spangle Banner

  Pledge of Allegiance – All School

  Welcome – Mr. Schmidt

  5th Grade Reflection – Student

  Song – This Land is Your Land – All School

          5th Grade Reflection – Student

  Thank you to local heroes – Team

  5th Grade Reflection – Student

  Closing Remarks – Mr. Schmidt

At our Tuesday staff meeting, agenda items include technology and Everyday Math 4. Kelli will begin the meeting with a class links overview. Then Lisa Skoyan has the following EDM4 agenda topics based on your feedback:  what's go well, some quick tips with the new curriculum, differentiation and recommendations from you regarding our next steps at the October 10th EDM4 staff meeting. 

Research/Production Studio

Staff,

This fall our computer lab 118 will be undergoing a renovation. It will be transformed from a traditional computer lab into a research and production studio. The news studio will be broadcasting from here via live streaming with new updated equipment. This production studio can also be used for class video projects and other go public type presentations. Other items in the studio include the Smartboard for whole group presentations, admin 03 copier, individual research and recording stations, as well as six computers for printing and researching needs. The computer lab 153 will continue to be utilized for media lessons and available to classroom teachers. Below is a rough sketch of what the space may look like, and we are hoping to have the renovation completed by the end of September.

Raider Portal and PLC

Staff,

Last week our office got the North Hudson Raider Portal up and running for the 17-18 school year. Our weekly newsletter will be posted on this site, as well as social media updates from the District's twitter and facebook accounts:  North Hudson Elementary Raider Portal.

Tomorrow our PBIS Tier I team will meet to reflect on the kickoff for the year and our plans during the first six weeks. Please pass on any input you have to this team regarding the initial PBIS stations and the acknowledgements with the paws.

During Thursday's common planning time. Teams will begin deciding upon and creating plans around their first essential learning within ELA. Here's the spreadsheet Amanda McCarthy created for teams this year. Instead of a tab for each round, grade level teams have their own tab to use while working through essential learning planning:  NH 17-18 PLC Products.

More Eclipse Information

Staff,

Here's some additional information from NASA on safety measures using the eclipse glasses tomorrow with your students.

• Always inspect your solar filter before use; if scratched or damaged, discard it. Read and follow any instructions printed on or packaged with the filter.
• Always supervise children using solar filters.
• Stand still and cover your eyes with your eclipse glasses or solar viewer before looking up at the bright sun. After looking at the sun, turn away and remove your filter — do not remove it while looking at the sun. 
• If you normally wear eyeglasses, keep them on. Put your eclipse glasses on over them

We will have indoor recess for both recesses tomorrow to minimize the chance of students looking up at the eclipse without eye protection. Kelli Hedlund is going to live stream the solar eclipse from the news studio. Please have this up on your Smartboards during both lunch and afternoon recess. Students who are opting out of viewing the solar eclipse with their class can come down to the office and watch the NASA streaming there. 

Also on starting on Tuesday through the rest of the week, I can use as many staff as possible in the front and back of the building, to assist 4K and Kindergarten students transitioning to and from school. Wishing you all a great first FULL week of school with your students. 

Welcome Back!

Staff,

I look forward to seeing you all tomorrow to kick off our 17-18 school year! At 8:15am, a continental breakfast will be provided in the media center followed by our beginning of the year staff meeting starting at 8:45am. After the staff meeting, you'll be on your own for lunch, and will have time to meet with your team and prepare your classroom for the new year.

Tuesday is our district day starting at the high school stadium at 8:00am and walking to the middle school. District messages start at 8:45am in the gymnasium at Hudson Prairie followed by elementary common messages at 9:30am (also in the Hudson Prairie gymnasium). A reminder that student pictures also happen on Tuesday from 4:00-8:00pm at North Hudson Elementary with Meet the Teacher Night occurring from 5:00-6:30pm.


Finally to prepare for the staff meeting, I want you all to think about what inspires you? What's that "thing" that you are passionate about and gets you up every morning? I will be asking for you to share your thoughts early on in the staff meeting.