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 11^th. 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 11^th.

**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’ 3^rd 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.