Monday, May 18, 2015

May 18th, 2015

High Point News
Week of: May 18th, 2015
********NEWS*********************

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Welcoming Baby Billits!
We are so excited to welcome Chance Joseph Billits into the world! Shannon had her 7 lb 10 oz baby boy Friday. We are very happy for Shannon and her husband!!!!

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Congratulations!!!  
Congratulations to Rachel Salmons on her engagement Thursday night!!!!  We are so happy for her and Alec!!!

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Hall Sale!!!!!!
We have heard that a lot of you have great things you don't wish to keep next year so we are going to have a "School Hall Sale" Tuesday afternoon. Beginning at 3:00, please put whatever you would like to get rid of outside your classroom door for others to take. Please only put out items that were purchased with your personal funds and not items that belong to the school.

We will have from 3:00-3:45 for everyone to take advantage of "someone's trash is another's treasure!"
At 3:45, if you have anything that was not taken, please bring it back into your classroom or discard it in a large trash can.

Thank you!!
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Kindergarten EIEI Oops
The kindergarteners presented EIEI Oops last week to their parents and our Pre-K students. The students did an amazing job!!! Many thanks to every Kindergarten teacher and paraprofessional as well as Amanda Reich for pulling off such an amazing show!!! 

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Social Studies Standards Review meeting with Hess:
This Thursday, (May 21st) during your common planning time, each grade level will be meeting with me to look at our current Social Studies standards. Periodically, the State Department of Education asks for teacher comments about the standards and revises them according to the feedback received. We will start the discussion during your common planning time to look at possible changes to the content, the wording, and/or the sequencing. As a team, you will all meet that afternoon (short PLC) to complete the State Dept. of Ed. Survey, that the county is requiring us to complete.


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Collegial Days
Bring your completed Pink and Blue index cards to your ½ day collegial with Hess.
You will be in Lib’s Portable.

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Summer Bridge Books
Summer Bridge workbooks will be placed in your boxes over the next few days.
Please send home with the students on THURSDAY.

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Office 365 
All Fulton County Schools are changing to Office 365 which includes cloud-based email and collaboration tools to modernize and improve productivity – including desktops, laptops and iPads. 


High Point staff will be upgraded to Office 365 this week.
When we get notice, EVERYONE MUST EXIT FROM ALL MICROSOFT OFFICE PROGRAMS INCLUDING OUTLOOK, WORD, EXCEL, POWERPOINT, AND PUBLISHER on our assigned day. You will not be allowed to access any of these programs after 4:00 on our assigned day (even from home!).

Some benefits of Office 365:

·         Share your own documents with others through Office 365 or, upload documents to a team site to build a document library and a project history.

·         Use Outlook and Outlook Web App to access your email, calendar and contacts.

·         Create a customized Office 365 site to collaborate with others.  Create document libraries, add apps, and use community features to enhance sharing.

·         Use Lync for online meetings that have full web conferencing features, including audio, video, sharing and presentations.

*******MATH CORNER*************
Strategies of Assessment for Learning: How Can I Close the Gap? 

Strategy 7: Provide Opportunities for Students to Track, Reflect On, and Share Their Learning Progress

Any activity that requires students to reflect on what they are learning and to share their progress reinforces the learning and helps them develop insights into themselves as learners.  These kinds of activities give students the opportunity to notice their own strengths, to see how far they have come, and to feel in control of the conditions of their success.  By reflecting on their learning, they deepen their understanding and will remember it longer.  By sharing their progress, students develop a deeper commitment to making progress.

Formative Assessment Strategies as a Progression

1.     Provide students with a clear and understandable vision of the learning target.
2.     Use examples and models of strong and weak work.
3.     Offer regular descriptive feedback during the learning. 
4.     Teach students to self-assess and set goal for next steps.
5.     Use evidence of student learning needs to determine next steps in teaching.
6.     Design focused instruction, followed by practice with feedback.
7.     Provide students opportunities to track, reflect on, and share their learning progress.

The seven strategies are not a recipe to be followed step by step, although they do build on one another.  Strategies 4 & 7 are “destinations,” Strategies 1-3 are “enablers,” and Strategies 5 & 6 are “floaters.”  The destination strategies are where we want students to arrive as a result of being learners in our classrooms.  These essential college and career readiness skills can be developed as early as pre-K.  The enabler strategies, especially strategies 1 & 2, are generally undervalued, and yet without them-without a clear picture of where we are going-it is hard to determine where we are now and even harder to identify actions to close the gap.  Imagine attempting to get from Point A to Point B using a GPS system only gives your current location, which is akin to what grades do.  Strategies 1 & 2 equip the GPS with information it needs to communicate next steps.  The floater strategies 5 & 6 can happen at any time and often follow strategies 1-4 as part of a series of lessons.  Taken together, these formative assessment strategies represent actions that will strengthen students’ sense of self-efficacy, their motivation to try, and ultimately their achievement.
Chappuis (2015). Seven Strategies of Assessment for Learning.
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Want to get emails with great professional development ideas?

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*****WRITERS' GALLERY**********

The pledge is hosted by the Pre-K classes this week.

******CALENDAR OF EVENTS*******


Monday, May 18th 
8:00 - 5th Grade Ceremony Practice
Move-Up Day for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th

Tuesday, May 19th 
8:30 - 5th Grade's Wax Museum
1st Grade Collegial AM
2nd Grade Collegial PM
10:30 - 5th Grade to Ridgview for Picnic
1st Grade EOY Celebration
STAFF MEETING CANCELED

Wednesday, May 20th
3rd Grade Collegial AM
4th Grade Collegial PM
8:30 - 1st Grade Awards Celebration
12:00 - 3rd Grade EOY Celebration

Thursday, May 21st
8:00 - 5th Grade Completion Ceremony
Grade Levels meet with Hess during Specials
12:30 - 4th Grade EOY Celebration
12:30 - 2nd Grade EOY Celebration
1:15 - Pre-K EOY Celebration
2:50 - PLC to fill out SS/Science Survey

Friday, May 22nd  
Last Day of School!!
1:00 - 5th Grade EOY Celebration

******BIRTHDAYS! ****************

Happy birthday to Lori Simon on the 19th, Yolanda Charles on the 22nd, and Staci Arnold on the 27th! We hope you each have a wonderful birthday!!! 
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Monday, May 11, 2015

May 11th 2015

High Point News
Week of: May 11th, 2015
********NEWS******************************


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10 More Days!
We have 10 more days left of school and we appreciate everyone for making the most of these last 10 days! Even though we celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week in February, we still appreciate all that teachers do to support our students, teach them new things, and make them feel loved. 

 Hopefully our students won't "make you use your teacher's voice" these last two weeks! If you are a teacher and did not get a cup, please let Marie know. 

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TKES
The deadline for TKES evaluations has been extended to May 22nd. Pitchford and Alexander will try to be finished with formative assessments by Friday, May 15th. 

 Once your formative is complete and you have received your summative evaluation, please email you evaluator to sign up for a summative conference. The conference has to be completed and signed-off by May 22nd!!!

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End of Year Checklist and Map
End of the Year checklists will be given to each teacher this Thursday. The tentative map for next year will also be sent out. The map is in draft form and changes can be made. It is extremely difficult to project where each ESOL, SPED, and EIP teachers' rooms need to be considering we do not know who will be teaching which grade levels next year. The current map is a DRAFT. We will know more definite locations during post-planning. Please let Pitchford know if you have any questions or concerns. 

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.1 Day Lucy Calkins Writing Workshop Training:
The Teachers College at Columbia University of NY is coming to do a 1 day writer’s workshop training on June 11th. These are the same ppl that are presenting at the 4 day writing training that is happening in July. This 1 day training will be extremely beneficial for all certified teachers in grades K-5 that will be teaching writing next year. They will be going over the writing units that we purchased. Also, each participant will receive 1 PLU. I would like to see at least one person from every grade level attend so that you will have additional support on your teams.

Please email Sheri Hess BY TOMORROW (Tuesday) to let me know if you are available and interested in attending this 1 day writing training on June 11th.

**If you are attending the 4 day training in July, you don’t need to sign up for this**
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ESOL/SPED/EIP PLC Meeting
We will have our last PLC meeting on Wednesday in the portable. Please come with ideas for how to make next year even more beneficial for our students in terms of our focuses, schedules, and how we will continue to share information about our students and look at current data. Each ESOL, SPED, and EIP teacher is an expert in their particular field so bring all ideas and suggestions to the meeting for 2015-2016!!! 

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*****VISUALS OF BEST PRACTICE******
           


In Ms. Collins’ 3rd grade math class, students are showing what they know by creating their own math board game. The students were given a checklist with what was needed to be included in the game board. There were specific standards that students were covering in their board game. Students took academic risks and were challenged! Students were also given constant feedback on their progress and knew the clear expectations of the teacher. 

*******MATH CORNER*************

Strategies of Assessment for Learning: How Can I Close the Gap? 

Strategy 6: Design Focused Instruction, Followed by Practice with Feedback
This strategy scaffolds learning by narrowing the focus of a lesson to address specific misconceptions or problems identified in Strategy 5.  If you are working on a learning target having more than one aspect of quality, build competence one block at a time by addressing one component at a time.  For example, mathematics problem solving requires choosing the right strategy as one component.  Writing requires an introduction as one component.  Identify the components of quality and then teach then one part at a time, making sure students understand that all of the parts ultimately will come together.
After delivering instruction targeted to an area of need, give students opportunities to revise their work, product, or performance based on feedback focused on just that one area of need prior to taking a grade.  This narrows the volume of feedback students, especially struggling learners, need to attend to at a given time and raises their chances of success in doing so.  It is a time saver for you and more instructionally powerful for students.

FROM THE CLASSROOM
Discovering Misconceptions
On practice work, instead of marking the errors with an X, place a dot next to each error.  Pass the papers back, and have students work with a partner to explain why the dots are on their papers-specifically in which part of the process they made the error.  Put samples of correct and incorrect answers on the board and have students work individually or with a partner to identify correct and incorrect solutions and to find out in which step of the process the error occurred for the incorrect answers.

Impact on Learning
Students look at their errors differently.  They look at their work in steps and then understand their mistakes through their own analysis.  They can now draw conclusions about the types of mistakes they are making.  Students are also able to analyze other students’ work and can more effectively coach each other.  Essentially, students are discovering their own misconceptions and working with each other to correct them.

What Kids Say
“I see where I made my mistake,” and “I have discovered why I made this mistake.”  We want students to understand that deliberative practice leads to competence and that mastery requires hard work.  Effort leads to success in mastering learning targets.


Something to Think About: Grading Too Soon
If we grade practice work too soon, and use that information is figuring final grades, students who have a steeper learning curve will receive a lower grade than those who have less to learn. If the assignment is the last one students will do to show level of mastery on the learning target, then by all means grade it.  If it isn’t, then consider using information formatively, tracking it if needed and acting on it…
If we want students to understand that we learn from mistakes and to regard mistakes and wrong turns as learning opportunities, we have to build time for instructional correctives and penalty-free practice into the pacing of our teaching.

Chappuis (2015). Seven Strategies of Assessment for Learning. Page 253.


*****WRITERS' GALLERY**********

The writers' gallery/pledge is hosted by Ms. Kehn's class this week.


The pledge will be hosted by Pre-K for the last week of school.

******CALENDAR OF EVENTS*******


Monday, May 11th 
Muffin Monday
Pre-K Collegial and Conferences 

Tuesday, May 12th 
3:00- New Student Roundup

Wednesday, May 13th
Title I Parent Meeting
5th Grade Collegial AM
Kindergarten Collegial PM
2:50 - ESOL/SPED/EIP PLC Meeting 

Thursday, May 14th
Field Day for Prek - 2nd 
3:00 - Staff End of Year Party @ Chastain Tavern

Friday, May 15th  
Move Up Day for Prek, K, and 1st
Send your tickets down and change your Student of the Week for last week!!!

******BIRTHDAYS! ****************

There are no birthdays this week. 
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Monday, May 4, 2015

May 4th, 2015

High Point News
Week of: May 4th, 2015
********NEWS******************************

PKES
All staff members who are evaluated using PKES will need to complete their self-assessment by Thursday, May 7th at the latest. 

 All summative evaluations will be completed by Pitchford or Alexander beginning on the 8th. The deadline for completion is May 29th. Meetings will be scheduled as needed. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the process, please let us know. Thank you! 

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TKES
All staff members who are evaluated using TKES will receive a formative observation, a formative assessment, and get a summative evaluation. A summative conference is required immediately following your evaluation. If there is information that was not included in your formative or summative and you believe it's important information to either document or to change a score, please let your evaluator know! Once you sign-off, a score cannot be changed. 

 It's imperative that all lesson plans are posted and up-to-date (times, subject areas, etc...) as we are using those to create our observation schedule. 

 All summative evaluations and conferences must be completed and signed by May 15th. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the process, please let us know.

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Think First Stay Safe for K-3

You will complete your 1-2 lessons during this week. Please remember the following information for these lessons:

·         Please review any returned permission form from the fall- Send any students not allowed to be part of a lesson to the media center. Please send a student to pick them up when you are done.
·         There needs to be 2 teachers in the room at all times.
·         Please let me know if you have any student concerns or if you need help answering any questions.


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PBIS This Week
Thank you to everyone who filled out a buddy brag this month and recognized a colleague! 

 As we have only 3 weeks of school left, please don't forget to reinforce the positive behaviors students display in class and in the hallways! Keep your routines and procedures as much as possible and maintain your high expectations!!
Below is a picture of a great way to keep students motivated and behavior under control for the last few weeks. This bingo board is a fun system that can easily be implemented in your classroom! As you catch kids being good, let them sign any space on the Bingo board. The students will aim to get on there as much as possible during the week, and on Friday (or as often as you would like) you draw a letter and number. Those coordinates show you a space on the board and whoever's name is on that space wins a prize!



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Writer’s Workshop PLU
If you have been attending Writer’s Workshop meetings with me this year (all gen ed, ESOL, and SPED teachers) then follow the steps below to get your 1 PLU:

Registration Instructions: 

§  Log into the Employee Portal
§  Locate the blue Edivate icon in the My Apps section
§  Once you’re on the Edivate homepage, click on Resources (upper left-hand corner)
§  Click on Learning Targets
§  Click on Catalogs
§  Select  High Point catalog
§  Choose the title of the course (click on the word TITLE in the grey bar to sort alphabetically)
§  Click REGISTER icon
§  The course will no longer show in the Catalog.  It will be listed under the Transcript tab


**To receive credit for the course, participants must register **

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What I've Been Thinking About… 
As we begin to wind down our school year, we need to keep focused on how much impact we can still have on our students over the next 3 weeks. The learning is not over!!! This is a great article to help us stay focused and remind us that "students have to be prepared for next year and ultimately what we do in the months of April and May has a huge impact on that preparation."

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F & P Scores
F and P scores will be due at your ½ day collegial (except 5th grade) NOT on May 15th.  

This will give, most of you, a few more days to get them completed. 

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*****VISUALS OF BEST PRACTICE******

           

Students in Ms. Griffin’s and Ms. Bassett’s 5th grade team-taught math class were working collaboratively on converting units of measurement.  The teachers gave the students a gallon of water and they were to discover and explore, as a group, different units of measurement using pints, cups, and quarts.  This activity was used as an engaging unit opener that challenged them to take academic risks and explore new ideas. 

*******MATH CORNER*************
Strategies of Assessment for Learning: How Can I Close the Gap? 

Strategy 5: Use Evidence of Student Learning Needs to Determine Next Steps in Teaching
With this strategy, we build a feedback loop into the teaching cycle, checking for understanding and continuing instruction guided by information about what students have or have not yet mastered.  After having delivered a lesson and after students have done something in response, we use what they have done to determine further learning needs.  Do their responses reveal incomplete understanding, flawed reasoning, or misconceptions?  Are they ready to receive feedback?  Strategy 5 includes a repertoire of approaches to diagnose the type of student learning needs in preparation for addressing them.
The answers to these questions should tell us more than, “Do something.”  They should help answer the question, “Do what?”

Ideas for Helping Kids Correct Misconceptions
Make a list of major conceptual understandings you will address in a given unit, mixing in statements reflecting misconceptions students typically have.  Before you begin instruction, distribute the list ask students to mark, “True,” “False,” or “Unsure” next to each statement.  Periodically distribute a fresh copy of the list and have students revisit the statements related to what you have taught up to that point, marking the statements as either true or false, accompanied by an explanation: “I think it is true/false because..”  Here is an example of this activity.
Shapes Ahoy: Geometric Measurements
Name:                                                                      Date:
Before Learning
Statement
After Learning
True   False  Unsure
Area is the measure of the inside of a two-dimensional figure.
True   False
True   False  Unsure
Volume is measured in square units.
True   False
True   False  Unsure
The area of a composite shape can be found by breaking the shape down into common shapes.
True   False

Find the Mistake
In this activity, students receive a question and a solution that has a problem or mistake embedded in it.  The students work individually or in groups of two to three to find the mistake, correct, and solve the problem.  Kids on left side of the classroom and the right side of the room complete different questions on a similar topic.  The teacher walks around the room to observe and gives support through questioning.  She may stop the activity for a minute or two to offer some global comments to the class.  After group members have worked the problem, the students switch sides of the room and work on the other question.  This allows students to see the question and concepts in two completely different ways.  Both ways are beneficial.  Afterwards, kids share their ideas, strategies, and new understandings with the whole group.  This is a great use all of the Standards of Mathematical Practice.

TIPS for Formative Assessment

Traffic Light
Before or during a unit of study, ask students to categorize their understanding of concepts using traffic light icons.  They mark their work with a green, yellow, or red dot to indicate strong, partial, or little understanding.  Students can discuss their judgements in small groups and explain their rationale.  Students with green and yellow dots work together while the teacher conducts a lesson for students with red dots.  Kids can also mark learning targets this way, so that the teacher can use the information to differentiate instruction, or help the students create a study plan identifying what they will do for the red and yellow highlighted targets.
Chappuis (2015).  Seven Strategies of Assessment for Learning

With new learning strategies, kids tackle higher-level math:
New math strategies might frustrate parents but they prepare students better in the long run

http://in.chalkbeat.org/2014/12/17/this-is-what-higher-level-math-looks-like-and-why-its-important/#.VJNBgFJ0yUk


*****WRITERS' GALLERY**********

The writers' gallery/pledge is hosted by Ms. Spears' class this week.


The writers' gallery/pledge will be hosted by Ms. Kehn's class next week.

******CALENDAR OF EVENTS*******


Monday, May 4th 
Meeting with Pitchford during Specials 

Tuesday, May 5th 
Cinco de Mayo
1:45 - Leadership Meeting

Wednesday, May 6th
College Spirit Wear Day
Kindergarten Registration
Talent/Art Show @6:00

Thursday, May 7th
Kindergarten Registration
5th Grade Field Trip
2:50 - PLCs
Pitchford to Principal's Meeting
Hess to CST Meeting

Friday, May 8th  
E-I-E-I Oops by Kindergarten @8:30
Send your tickets down and change your Student of the Week!

******BIRTHDAYS! ****************

Happy birthday to Benita Bearden and Michelle Nobles on the 5th!! We hope you both have a wonderful birthday!!!
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