May 20, 2013

By Allan  

Hi Everyone,

Only 13.5 more student days and eight items of note for the week:

• Spring Writing Work Samples Scoring Schedule 5/29 – The K-2 and 3-5 writing work samples are due to me by this Friday and attached is the sub schedule for scoring the morning of Wednesday, May 29th. Attached are the K-2 and 3-5 writing prompts, along with the teacher directions, for the spring writing work samples. Let me know if you have any questions.

• Work Sample eSIS Entry – I’m sure teachers already know this, but just in case you need a reminder, work samples for 3rd, 4th & 5th Writing, Speaking, Mathematics Problem Solving, and Scientific Inquiry are to be entered into eSIS. I also wanted to remind teachers that the contract allow you 12 hours sub time for “record keeping, assessment or planning related to standards based instruction.” Attached are directions on how to enter work sample into eSIS. Hopefully Synergy will be a simpler process!

• Last Days of School Calendar & Schedule – To help make sure everyone knows what’s happening the last two weeks of the schools year (and the one odd half-day), attached is a calendar of events from May 27 – June 11. I’ll include an updated one in next week’s announcements if anything is changed or added, which I’m sure will happen.

• Year End Checklist – With the school year winding down, attached is the end-of-year checklist for teachers, with a list of tasks to complete before you leave for your well deserved summer. It’s pretty much the same checklist that’s been used in the past, but please let me know if you have any questions.

• Library TV and Cart Disposal – Unless anyone speaks up, I am having the dust-covered TVs and carts in the back of the library sent down to district warehouse. Julie or I haven’t seen anyone use these this year, so I think we might as well start cleaning house now before we (hopefully) move into a new building. I may keep the carts, but I don’t think we need to keep the TVs.

• 4J Teacher Resources – Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment, PD and more – Lupe sent this link out to the new 4J Curriculum Website, but I wanted to highlight it again. Besides having the CCSS sample tests Lupe mentioned, it also contains all of the information that was previous housed on the various district wikis (ESCs, Math, ELA, etc…). Please note that you cannot access this site unless you are connected to a 4J network, or VPN. If you do not have VPN installed you can get it from the Network Services VPN page.

• Ken Robinson: How to escape education’s death valley – It’s almost 20 minutes, but here’s an entertaining and thought provoking video you might throw up on your projector one day after school. Sir Ken Robinson outlines 3 principles crucial for the human mind to flourish — and how current education culture works against them. In a funny, stirring talk he tells us how to get out of the educational “death valley” we now face, and how to nurture our youngest generations with a climate of possibility.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wX78iKhInsc[/youtube]

• Schedule of Events for the Week – See the Google Calendar for future events, but here are the events of note for this week:

May 20 (M)
Referral Free Window Begins
Reading and Math Spring Benchmark Window Opens
9:00-11:30, Allan to Superintendent’s Cabinet Meeting (Ed Center)
2:30-5:00, Allan to Elementary Principal’s Meeting (Ed Center)

May 21 (T)
Election Day!
2:30-3:30, Staff Meeting (Library)
6:00-7:00, PTO Meeting (Library)

May 22 (W)
OAKS Testing Window Closes
12:30, 5th Grade Group Photo
1:30-2:30, HM Journeys Training for 2nd, 3rd and Title 1 Teachers (Room 6)
2:30, Allan to Teacher End-of-Year Summative Evaluation Meeting
4:00-5:00, Allan to New Principal and Mentor Meeting (River Road)

May 23 (H)
Last Day for Library Checkout
2:30-3:30, IPBS Meeting (Room 10)

May 24 (F)
NOTHING! – Can you believe that?

Have a great week and an even better three-day weekend!

Allan