February 28, 2016

February, or as I call it the armpit of the school year is almost over!  I hope you had a great weekend and were able to get outside to enjoy the weather.  If you are feeling like spring is far away perhaps you are in a 'Winter Slump,' check out these 8 ways to avoid falling into a winter slump. 

Have a great week!

Great Things Noticed:

In Meaghan Phillips' class  students have difficulty reading and comprehending material in the novel the class reads.  There are times when se cannot make herself available for a 'whole class' read aloud, but she has found a solution to this problem.  Meaghan reads each chapter aloud and records it the shares it out via Google Classroom.  This way students can read/hear the book just as they would during a whole class read aloud.  If you have questions on how to do this she is happy to share.

Grammar is one of those areas that is important to teach but with so many other ELA skills to teach it can be difficult to find ways to infuse it.  Lori Loredo has a student take over as teacher and reviews grammar skills for 5-10 minutes.  The students are eager to participate and even try to act like and say things Lori would say.  This is something I know math teachers do as well but could be infused in any lesson.

Rachael Ward's class had students read resumes of candidates for president without their names attached, and then had students vote.  She took greats like Washington and Lincoln and mixed them with the candidates of today.  So many times students have a perception when it comes to history or current events based on what the conversation is at home.  It was interesting to hear about this activity which provided the students with the opportunity to make a decision on their own.

Tracey Manser has a great way to check for understanding.  When the students enter the room there is a problem for them to work on.  When they finish they put their answer on a post it and then onto a bulletin board in the back of the room.  Tracey is able to quickly look and identify which students need to be pulled immedately for a mini lesson and which students can go on their   Tracey entrance ticket with board.

In Wanda Hernendez's Spanish class students move at their own pace throughout the lesson.  Students work on several lessons and are then assessed by her before they are allowed to move on.  It was great to see students who were not held back by students who needed to move at a slower pace.  Wanda also was able to choose her location in the classroom and made sure she spent the majority of her time right next to a group of students who needed her attention.

In Ginette Garrity's class the students take comprehension checks during the year.  As she does this she teaches the students how to use split screens to navigate the page.  The skills she is assessing are important, but the manner in which she assesses the students is done in a way so that when the students take the PARCC they are not surprised by a format they have not experienced before.  Below are screenshots to show how the the students computer screen looks.

#1S1W:  Thank you to all who took part in the #1S1W activity.  It was interesting to see pictures of schools from around the world. If you click HERE you can read the blog by Pernille Ripp and see the pictures at the bottom of the page.

Nuts and Bolts:

The third marking period is almost at its half-way point.  Please make sure your grades have been entered to keep parents up to date.  For classes that meet every day a good rule of thumb is to have one grade per week, this includes interdisciplinary class.

Please remember to use the SchoolWay App to alert parents about upcoming homework assignments and tests consistently.

This year we will be changing the way students obtain their supply list.  We will be giving parents the option of ordering all the supplies from a company and having them shipped to our school and packaged individually.  Please stop by the office on Wednesday morning before school to take a look at the packages.  Grade levels will be asked to put together a list of supplies they will be asking for by March 10th.  Our goal is to keep the supply order under $30 per student.  

UpComing Events:

March 1 Mid-point Marking Period 3

March 7 Faculty Meeting 

March 8 PNC Bank Visit

March 10 I & R S Meeting

March 11 BIS Spotlight

March 14 Faculty Meeting

March 16 BOE Meeting

March 22 & 23 CAP Program – 6th Grade

March 22, 23 & 24 Parent Conferences – Early Dismissal

March 25 – April 1 Spring Break – School Closed

Lincoln Financial Visit