Madison Middle School

By barsotti_p 　https://blogs.4j.lane.edu/madisonstaff/2021/10/08/october-8th-2021/

Hi Monarchs,

Here’s the news for this week:

MADISON INFORMATION         

• Staffing Update: We are working on hiring a 6 hour Covid Utility Utility Support person to assist with contact tracing and support students on quarantine, which will free the office team up a bit to support other systems in the building. Thank you all for your support while we’ve been juggling everything, these last several weeks.      

• EasyCBM: Remember that Focus teachers will be administering MATH easycbm next week. Please see Peter’s email for directions and let Gina know if you need help. We anticipate that most classes will finish by Wednesday, and we’ll be able to do circle time on Thursday. Circle topic forthcoming, early next week.

• Covid Support and Next Steps Document – Teachers, here is a sample of a new document that we’ve created that I will be emailing/canvasing home  (and cc’ing the teaching team) when a student is placed on quarantine. It lists pertinent details about the nature of the quarantine and includes directions and resources for families in order to help their student be successful during their time at home. We are hoping to begin using it after progress reports, once we’ve hired our covid support person.

DISTRICT INFORMATION 

• October 18 – Has been changed from an instructional day to a day in which teachers will be allowed to prepare and collaborate on plans for the second half of this first term.  No meetings with teachers will be planned on that day.   PLEASE NOTE:  Normally, all grades should be submitted no later than 8:00 am on the Monday morning following a Friday grading day.  In this case, all mid-term grades should be completed and submitted no later than 4:00 pm on Monday, October 18.   

• Professional Development – We are pausing ALL district and building admin facilitated Professional Development until January 2022.  This also means that the PD days scheduled for October 15 and November 12 are now dedicated to teacher planning/collaboration. Similarly, early release Fridays through the end of the calendar year are dedicated to teacher planning and collaboration.  One Friday each month (with the exception of 10/8 which has already been dedicated to teacher planning/collaboration) will likely be dedicated to a staff meeting.  
  
  

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING AND OTHER INFORMATION   

• The Truth About Reading: This documentary, coming in 2022, gives insight into the growing impact of balanced literacy on both students and adults. It also discusses the research referred to as the Science of Reading that tells us what works for a vast majority of students when teaching them how to read. 

Next Week at a Glance:

Have a good week!

Gina and Peter

At least once a day…